Behold

all right last week we talked about Jesus as fully God and taking on flesh and becoming fully ,an, so he is both fully God and fully man

and that for those who believe in this truth, who walk in his light, will have life with him

But tonight i have a deep question for you guys, are you ready?

Why did Jesus take on flesh?

Did he have to? why didn’t he just send a list of rules to follow,

why did God become incarnate?

have two to three students answer

I like where you guys are going but I’m not going to give you the answer right away

But we are going to find out tonight as we see who John the baptist is, Jesus fulfilling OT prophecies, and the calling of his first disciples.

all right turn to John 1:19-51

John 1:19–51 ESV

And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Christ.” And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” So they said to him, “Who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.” (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing. 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.” The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas” (which means Peter). The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said of him, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Nathanael said to him, “How do you know me?” Jesus answered him, “Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Nathanael answered him, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.”

Pray in

Who are you and what are you doing? 19-28

Ok so i know that was a long section, so a quick recap on (vv. 19-28) This is where the priest and levites come to ask John the Baptist two questions, Who are you and what are you doing?

(v.19) tells that they simply ask John, “who are you?” and John responds in a way that would not have expected.

They ask him if he is the Christ, Elijah, or the prophet?

Ok, would they think he is the Christ (anointed one, aka future king)

Well, remember how it has been 400 years or silence, well a number of people would come to the Jordan up to this point and try to act that as through they were the future returning king and try to “retake” Israel, and with all of the people coming out to see John to be baptized we see later in this passage, and also in the other gospel accounts, they were probably thinking this might be another of these fake Christ attempts.

But John confesses clear, nope I’m, not the guy,

(v.21) So they ask are you Elijah, an OT prophet (who was peak) who never died and was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire

John again being humble confess, nope not that Guy

What about the prophet from Deut 18? “no, not him”

(v.22) well who are you, we have to give our bosses a response

So John then alludes to Isaiah 40 and says that John 1:23 “He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,’ as the prophet Isaiah said.””

So he’s that guy the one making the way for God

Ok so we as readers should be thinking, whoever we see next that John is making a way for that must be God or Yahweh

(v.25) So these Priestly people then ask so why are you baptizing, if you are just this little humble guy WHAT ARE YOU DOING?

John responds in (V.26) saying that he is just baptizing with water, but one stands among the people who they do not know, who John is not even worthy to untie this guys sandals, He is saying that God is among their midst

(v.28) small note here, the reason why it is important that this is happing across the Jordan is that this where the people first entered into the land after the exodus and began the conquest, so this place represents a new conquest, but we will see this is not in the same way

So you should take away from this section that John is a humble confessor, who is making a path for God, let’s se who John is making a way for.

Behold the Lamb 29-34

In this section we are goin to see howJesus is the fulfillment of prophecy, taking away sin, and baptizing with the Holy Spirit

Ok so John sees Jesus, and says 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!”

Pause, why is John calling Jesus a sheep?

Does any one know

Well it is a fulfillment of Isaiah 53 in which a suffering servant must come and bear the sins of the world, like a sheep who would have been sacrificed.

And this gets to the first major reason why Christ had to take on flesh

because sin must be atoned for, or paid for, Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Some one must be a spotless lamb with out sin who fulfills the prophecy that were was written about 700 years before

So what does this mean, Christ became human, because someone with out sin (only God) could be the only person to be the spotless lamb and be a sacrifice to turn away God’s wrath. That is the first reason why Jesus took on flesh, but we will get to another reason in a bit.

Ok there is a lot in the next couple of verses, so here is a shorted version, John claims (v.30) that Jesus is the one who ranks before him, So this is who he making a way for God who is Jesus

This is further confirmed in (v.33) as the text says that while John was baptizing Jesus the Spirit remand on him and that this is the one who would baptize with the Holy Spirit.

Only God can baptize with the Holy Spirit as he says he will do in Ezekiel 36:27 “And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.”

And then in (v.34) he calls Jesus the son of God, meaning he is God

So this sections we should take away that Jesus is God, but also is the lamb the fulfilment of Isaiah of the suffering servant who would take away the sins of the world.

now let’s get to the final reason we are going to talk about tonight why Jesus took on flesh

Come and see 35-51

In this section we are going to see Jesus calling his first disciples, Andrew, probably John, Peter, Phillip, and Nathanael,

we not going to look at all the fine details, but i want to look at the calling of the first, two and the calling of Nathanael

So look at (v.35) John points out to two of his disciples Jesus, saying his the lam of God, so they follow Jesus and ask him a question

Now they could ask him anything, this is the guy they are hoping for,

what would you guys would have ask?

two or three students

well what do they ask John 1:38–39 “Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” He said to them, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.” “

Ok they ask him where is he staying, why?

because they just want to be with him,

and that what Jesus wanted too, he wanted them to be with him, the word here for “stayed” in the original greek is the same word that is used for abide later in the chapter 15, remember at camp the glove analogy, that is the same idea here

to be with Jesus

Ok let’s look at the calling of Nathanael

ok a quick summarization of (vv. 43-48) is that Nathanael is told by Phillip is the Christ, old Nate doubts this but is convinced because of Jesus supernatural knowledge, of Nathanel.

Jesus than says

John 1:50–51 “Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.” And he said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.””

Ok he tells him because of his belief that he will see greater things, which are angels ascending and descending on the son of man

What?

Ok this is a referring to Genesis 28

basically Jacob the father of all the tribes of Israel sees a later to heaven

the idea is a way for heaven and earth to meet

so Jesus is saying it is possible because of him for humanity to be with God

Or to stay with God abide with him

If you look at other religions they will say that you need to so a long check list to make it to God

What is unique about Christianity is the story about the Bible is not how to get to God but how God comes to us

he wants to be with us, which gets us to our main point tonight

Main Point: Jesus as God and as the lamb can into world as a human to take away sin and to be with us

This is why Jesus took on flesh, because only a perfect person could pay the price for sin, and he desires to be with us to stay with us, so we could abide with him

The disiples just wanted to be with him, not make a long list of too doos,

are faith should be built with our relationship with Jesus, never what we doo

Take aways

Follow in the humility and action of John the Baptist

Know that Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 53

Stay (or abide) with Christ

Guys we should be humble like John the baptist don’t be trying to build up a kingdom with your name on top, no make the way for God

We also need to know that it is Jesus who bears are sins and takes them away not in what we do so if you are Christian don’t get prideful like you just don’t sin, no be humble

If you don’t follow Christ, come and see who Jesus is but for faith in him, that your sins may be taken away by him, you can not do it on your own

Finally guys stay or abide with Christ

What does that mean, seek to be with him

How, keep it simple prayer and Bible reading

maybe read Genesis 28 and Isaiah 53 for some ideas.

But let me clarify something

Let’s be honest, i would say most of the time, we do these two things trying to something other that Christ out of it

we want are life to easier we want that better teach, to be the cool kid

maybe the primary reason we read scripture is so we can be a good person, and it is good to pursue righteousness don’t get me wrong but if that is the only reason you pray and read the Bible you are missing the point

No we should desire to pray and read scripture just to be with the person of Christ, and yes righteousness will be a natural by product

This is one of reasons why Jesus took on flesh, to be with us

be with him, just to be with him

to dwell with him

Behold the coming of the Lord

Tonight we got to see the story began of Jesus as the Lord as God, coming as a man to atone for sins, and to be with his people.

That is why he took on flesh

Let’s go and live this out, staying abiding with Christ

no check list a relationship

let me pray for you guys.