The Lamb of God

Good morning!

This mornings text we will be covering John 1:29-34. Which I should sub title as Johns Second Testimony

Greg was with you last week and preached over 19-28, I believe he entitled it “A Humble Voice

That is what is considered the first part of Johns the Baptists testimony

Or his sermon if you will

Please stand with me as we read the word of God

John 1:29–34 ESV

The next day he 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.”

There is so much to cover here,

we are going to touch briefly on the atonement

the Holy Spirit

and Jesus as the Son of God

Sermon Illustration

Me growing up with a dog and covering it so that my dad wouldn’t shoot it

I covered it

Dad saw me and not the dog

Intro to the text

We finished up the Prologue 2 weeks ago

And so far John the writer has done a great job of introducing Jesus and setting the stage

We know who Christ is, we know where he came from, and we know what is mission is, if you will

So now that we have made it through the prologue we enter the introduction to Jesus’ public ministry

This intro covers Johns Sermon or testimony in verses 19-36

Then the witness or introduction to the first disciples

After that we will get into Jesus’ public ministry which rotates around 3 pass overs and the famous seven signs

Its amazing how Johns timing works

Here we are starting things off, if you notice in our text starting last week with in V19 we see a pattern

It starts with V19 as day 1 of Johns testimony

then this morning in 29 the next day

35 - the next day

43 - the next day

and starting in chapter 2 “on the third day”

So here we see that this testimony is 4 days long, then moves to the wedding at Cana to round out the week

After that we have 3 years of Jesus’ public ministry before John spends 13-21 in essentially Jesus’ last week

John is so masterful in his set up and construct of this Gospel account that its almost like he was inspired and had some help

lol

We see through the patterns that John sets up in his gospel different witnesses or testimonies and accounts

And the first witness, he brings to the stand if you will

Is john the Baptist

Now we learned of him in the prologue, and you all talked about his last week

So we wont go into any depth as far as that is concerned

But, today is part of last weeks testimony

See last week John was proposed with the question from priests and Levites who are you

See, John was beginning to stir up trouble,

He was gaining a following and the priests sent these men to find out what all the fuss was about

Well they asked him, or he admitted

that he is not the messiah

He denied being the Elijah

He denied being the “Profit”

Instead, He said he is the messenger, he is the one that is clearing the way if you will for the one to come

And this week, where we are about to start

On the second day of his testimony John Introduces the one whom he is here to prepare the way for

Here He Comes!

John 1:29 “The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

The next day as already discussed is day 2 of Johns testimony

On this day, he sees Jesus coming towards him

Where is he coming from?

Well thank you for asking

We learn from the other gospels that John baptized Jesus right?

We see that in Matt 3:13-17, Mark 1:9-11, and Luke 3:21-22

Well John the author skipped over that part

see, after Jesus was baptized by John, he departed into the wilderness for 40 days.

This point picks up upon Jesus’ return

right, because John is essentially remembering what happened when he baptized Jesus, that is how he knows that Jesus is the messiah.

That he is the one that takes away the sin of the world

So John is being questioned, on this second day he sees Jesus coming

And remember, we are told nothing about Jesus’ looks in the gospels

We only have one reference to the what the messiah may look like in Isaiah 53:2 “b...; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.”

See Jesus didn’t look like Jim Caviezel or whatever the guys name is that plays him in the chosen

Jesus didn’t walk up looking like a knight in shining armor, good looking and with a perm

No, he was ordinary looking man

And when John saw him approaching he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world”

We are going to conclude our message with this same statement

But I would like to briefly discuss a couple of things

Why did John the Baptist use this metaphor?

Their idea of the messiah was a conquering messiah, one that would lead a revolt and free Israel

The 3 main thoughts on this are

1 - The apocalyptic Lamb who will triumph over evil and crush the sins of the world by force

2 - The suffering servant of Isaiah 53 ( the aramaiac word for servant could also mean lamb)

3 - a sacrificial lamb, possibly drawing from the imagery of the Passover Lamb, the scapegoat, or the lamb used daily for sacrifices. Either way this possibility is of the sacrificial element.

And this this last one makes sense, I mean the passover is quickly approaching, as we will see is shortly in Chapter 2

And within this context of the passover quickly approaching that the is the one John is eluding to here is a mixture of the 2nd and 3rd options.

I believe John had some understanding of how the suffering servant and the passover lamb both would bear the sins of the nation and take away the sins of the world

But I don’t think he fully understand exactly how the atonement would work

Because we see later that he suffers from some doubt about if Jesus is really the messiah

But none the less, isn’t that such an amazing statement

So, back to our question

How was John able to point him out.

How was he able to tell the or testify who the Lamb of God was

Because, he had already seen what he is about to describe

And here is the beginning of his answer

Baptized in water

John 1:30–31 “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.””

John is describing the fact that while he (John) is older by early standards or bodily standard

but..

He that comes, the one I am paving the way for ranks before me

as in he is eternal, he has always been

everything we learned Johns prologue right about Christs eternal being and diety right, pretty much a restatement of John 1:15

well we already covered that

he ranks before me as in he is preexistant

he ranks before me in worship

But, John adds that he didn’t know him?

Of course he knew Jesus, they were cousins

What he is saying here is that he did not know Jesus as the messiah until he baptized him

So what is this baptism of water...

See, Jews didn’t get baptized

The only “baptism” of this day would be when a gentile would convert to Judaism

So this was a new concept to them

But John baptized with water, it was a outward sign of an inward repentance of sins

And John wanted to make sure that the Jews knew that even they needed baptism

That they to needed to repent of their sins, and turn to God

Much like we all must do correct?

In fact that is the cornerstone of the beginning of our faith

the beginning of our own personally saving faith is the acknowledgement of our sin

the acknowledgement that we must turn from that sin

and turn to the one that can take that away

Sadly many today do not and will not do that

and it was the same back then

if we remember it is them whom John called a brood of vipers… in Matthew 3:7–8 “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.”

Those that didn't think they needed a savior, because all the good things they did were righteous

Unfortunately, they couldn't be any further from the truth

But I digress

We see the purpose of Johns Baptism confirmed in

Matthew 3:6 “and they were baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins.”

Acts 19:4 “And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.””

Matthew 3:11 ““I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.”

This purification by water that John provided was to ready and prepare the hearts of those to receive their savior

This was done also so that He (Jesus) would be revealed to Israel, as their savior.

And how would he be revealed..

Thank you for asking again

by being..

Baptized in the Spirit

John 1:32–33 “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 John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him.”

This is how the messiah was revealed to John,

This is the very moment when John realized who the messiah was

His cousin Jesus

He saw the Spirit (the 3rd member of the trinity) fall or descend onto Jesus

And in the form of a dove

Luke says the Holy Spirit came down in a bodily shape

almost as if it had outstretched arms as it descended

Now, the spirit is just that, a spirit, however it took on a visible form in order to be seen by most importantly John, and most likely by others

The dove is a symbol of holiness, innocence, and peace

We see after Noahs flood that he released a dove from the ark

and it came back with an olive branch in its beak

we know the olive branch is a symbol of peace

and symbolically, the dove delivered that peace

peace that was declared after God purged the world of wickedness during the flood

And this dove here, well the spirit described as a dove, was delivering the good news of the savior, so that peace may be revealed

And it remained on him

This is symbolic as well as part of the notification

we see all through the OT moments when the spirit would dwell or come upon someone when God was going to use them for specific tasks

we see it very well in the story of Sampson and many of the Judges

with Elisha requesting a double portion of Elijah’s spirit

We see is in King David and Ezekial

and it was Isaiah who said that the sprit of the Lord would rest on him

It was essentially the anointing of Jesus

Much like the kings and profits were anointed in the OT

here, Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit

and it was Isaiah who said that the sprit of the Lord would rest on him

and we know how important the profit Isaiah was when it comes to predicting the messiah

We round out V33 by John repeating the fact that he did know who the Messiah was until he was revealed to him by the spirit

And this is clearly a revelation from God to John, because it is God that described to John what he would see and how it would confirm the one he has been preparing the way for

The one that will baptize with the Holy Spirit

There is a clear parallel between Johns baptism of water, and the baptism of the Holy Spirit

The confession of sins, repenting, and committing to a life following Christ as your savior is represented by the water baptism and fulfilled by the baptism of the Holy Spirit

and it is this same spirit that decended upon Jesus so that he could do the work of God

That is sent to us, that is sent straight to our hearts

it is what convicted us to follow Christ as our savior

because we could not have come to that realization on our own

Is through this power of the Holy Spirit that we are able to change, that we are able make progress, that we are able to endure

see, with out the spirit, we are not able navigate this broken world

This spirit illuminates us, it helps us to understand Gods word

It helps us to do what His word commands

It is the one that testifies as well as John

That Jesus is the son of God

and it is only the son of God, only the perfect begotten son, that can take away the sins of the world

Which leads us back to our opening verse 29

I would like to conclude this mornings message by revistiting what we briefly discussed at the beginning of our text

John 1:29 “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

I know we have come a long ways just to get back to our opening verse

But the language here is so important

The Lamb of God!

See in the OT the lamb represented the sacrificial animal, the animal that atoned or paid the penalty for us, or them in that case

the word Atone is a theological term that means to cover, or to take away

To really understand this, we must understand the OT sacrificial system in some context

See after the fall of man, we became bound with sin

And we learned that the first sacrifice made to atone (cover or take away) for the sin of man is when God sacrificed an animal to cover adam and eve when they realized they were naked

Ever since then God has been in the reconciliation business

And the way that the sins of the Hebrews would be atoned or covered,

was through the sacrifice of an unblemished perfect, spotless lamb

But we well know that that was just a foreshadow, that was just a temporary fix because the blood of an animal could never fully pay for the sins of man

So, God, in his Grace sent a perfect unblemished lamb,

in the person of his son, Jesus Christ, to pay ultimately for the sins of the world. Not just the sins of the Israelites.

It was the blood of an unblemished lamb in Exodus 12 that was placed on the door posts so that the destroyer would pass by

and it is the unblemished blood of Jesus, the lamb of God, that is placed on us via the cross. That allows Gods judgement to pass over us

See as I alluded to this morning with the illustration of my dog Rambo

When God looks down on us, and sees that we are broken, sees that need help, sees that we fall short

He doesn’t see our imperfections, he doesn’t judge us against our sins,

because we are covered by perfection

and that perfection that covers all of our imperfections is Jesus, the lamb of God

And it is through his death that we are saved, that we are granted salvation,

and that is a gift of God for those that believe

1 Peter 1:18–19 “knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Brothers and sisters we were bought and paid for by something so much more precious that silver or gold

...

**IF WE HAVE TIME **

Now, this whole concept of atonement and substitution is almost always based on how Christ died for us

But, It is also about how he lived

See Jesus lived a perfect, spotless life

A life of righteousness, a life that if we are honest, we cannot obtain

so let us not take for granted his sacrificial death in lieu of his life

Just think about, those of us that are Christians

probably most of us sitting in these pews

Think about how easy it is to become comfortable with the fact that Jesus died for our sins and how easy it is to take that for granted

How easy it is to downplay our sin

to continue to gossip, when we know gossip is not fruitful

to tell white lies, because, is it really hurting anyone?

how about the lusts of money, things, possessions,

how about in the way we spend time with God

Do we spend more time on our cell phones on social media or in the news than we do in the bible?

Brothers and sisters the atonement wasn’t made for us for when we die, it is also made for us while we live!

Its easy to fall in the trap of being deceived into comfortable christianity, with our cushioned pews and air conditioning

I don’t believe this to be the case here

But Im curious how many people would show up for church if we only had a bible and few chairs

No production, no lights, no tv’s

Just Jesus and the word of God!

I will take a room of 20-30 faithfull believers any day over a auditorium filled with people just wanting their ears tickled

Jesus lived a perfect sinless life

and he died a perfect sacrificial death

SO let us not take advantage of his death by living a life that does not honor it

Let us live our lives as a worthy reason for sacrifice

Now don’t get me wrong, we will not be perfect until we reach the other side of eternity

But, we can strive for that perfection with the help of the HS and the atoning death of christ

John was faithful to his assignment

He testified that Jesus is the messiah

Faithfully, and he died for it

and we are to do the same

So as we start our week lets dwell on the atonement

the fact that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and died a perfect atoning death so that we may be forgiven

Then, lets live like that as well

Let us pray