A Famine Not of Bread

"John the Baptist Points to the Christ" by Bartolome Esteban Murillo Click here to listen to this sermon. The next day [John] saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because He was before me.’ I myself did not know Him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that He might be revealed to Israel.” And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on Him. I myself did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God” (John 1:29-34). Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! Well-versed in Scripture, the disciples of John the Baptist knew all about the lambs. There were stories of one-time...

"The Nativity" by John Singleton Copley Click here to listen to this sermon. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! A great mystery of the ages. The key sentence of John’s Gospel. Everything before it anticipates this verse and everything that follows grows out of this verse: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). The eternal Word who was with God in the beginning and who was very God of very God, “became flesh.” Notice: The Word didn’t stop being who He is, namely, true God. But He also became true man—a real flesh-and-blood human being. Fully God and fully man. The eternal Word by whom all things were created took on flesh and received the name Jesus. He was born in the flesh like every human being, complete with human emotions, human frailties, human needs. In His life, therefore we see Him weep and sleep and eat and hurt an...

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"Madonna with the Infant" by Albrecht Durer Click here to listen to this sermon.

Click here to listen to this sermon. “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light” (John 1:6-8). Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ! This Sunday could easily have been called “John the Baptist Sunday.” But I’m quite certain that John would have objected. John was the forerunner of Christ, not the Christ. He was a witness to the light, not the Light. He was a voice, preaching Christ, the light of the world. He was a finger, pointing people to Jesus, and saying, “There He is, the One you’ve been waiting for—the Lamb of God.” Ancient Christian art depicts John with an overly large mouth and a  hyper-extended  index finger pointing to Jesus. A big mouth and a pointing finger—that was John. Now, in our culture, such an image doesn’t seem very flattering, does it? As children...