Behold The Lamb

Intro

Good morning, Campus Church! If you have your Bibles why don’t you go ahead and grab those and turn with me to the Gospel of John. And we will be back in this morning.

I’m glad to see that all of you survived Hurricane Irma. That was truly a monster storm and many people are still without power but I really believe that God showed us grace. It was looking a lot worse than it was before it got here. When something as destructive as Irma comes and leaves many people with loss… Let me encourage each of you to look for ways to serve your neighbors and be a blessing. It is in times like these that we have a real opportunity to be Light in this dark world. For people to see Jesus in us.

I hated missing worshipping with you all last week so this morning we are going to jump right back into our sermon series entitled Behold. We are looking at snapshots of who Jesus is as found in John’s Gospel. This is a fantastic book in the New Testament that shows the deity of Jesus and it teaches our need for him in our lives. When a new believer or a non-Christian has a desire to read the Bible and they ask me where they should begin… I almost always point them to John. 

If you remember two weeks ago, Pastor Barry opened up in and he talked about John’s statement of Jesus is the Word and the implications of this is that there is no one more powerful than Jesus… that Jesus created all things and all things are sustained by Jesus. Jesus being the Word means that Jesus is God. You will hear that a lot here… We believe that Jesus is God and he put on human flesh to live and die for his people… the Church.

John The Baptist

This morning we are going to look at the words of John the Baptist… John the Baptist is different from John the Apostle who wrote this book. John the Baptist is Jesus’ cousin who was miraculously birthed by Jesus old aunt Elizabeth and uncle Zechariah much like when Abraham and Sarah having Isaac when they were 100 years old.

We don’t know much about John’s childhood but we can assume that his parents died early on because John is described in the Synoptic Gospels as living in the wilderness as a homeless man, he wore camel hair for clothes, and for food he ate bugs and honey. He truly was Jesus’ crazy cousin. We all have that cousin am I right?

John is considered to be the last of the Old Testament prophets before the New Covenant is established by Jesus in the upper room. John was a godly man. Jesus said this of him in the Gospel of Matthew,

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater thanJohn the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

John is prophesied about in the Old Testament as the one who would come before Jesus. He would come and prepare the hearts of people to receive him. Isaiah says in ,

3 A voice cries:“In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD;make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

He was called John the Baptist because he preached and people repented so he baptized them in the Jordan River. The Lord was showing him so much fruit in his ministry that the religious leaders… the bad guys in the New Testament… were noticing. They sent spies to see what was going on. To ask him questions about who he is and what he was doing. John gives an incredible testimony that displays humility and glorifies God. Check out what he says. If you’re in look down with me starting in verse 19…

BIBLE VERSE

John 1:19–34 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.”

19 And this is the testimony of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” 20 He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed,“I am not the Christ.” 21 And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” 22 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?” 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.”

JOHN THE BAPTIST’S TESTIMONY

19 This was John’s testimony when the Jews from Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him, “Who are you?”

20 He didn’t deny it but confessed: “I am not the Messiah.”

21 “What then?” they asked him. “Are you Elijah?”

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” 26 John answeredthem, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he whocomes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” 28 These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

“I am not,” he said.

“Are you the Prophet?”

“No,” he answered.

22 “Who are you, then?” they asked. “We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What can you tell us about yourself?”

23 He said, “I am a voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Make straight the way of the Lord,at—just as Isaiah the prophet said.”

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! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes aman who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 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.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

24 Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. 25 So they asked him, “Why then do you baptize if you aren’t the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?”

26 “I baptize with water,” John answered them. “Someone stands among you, but you don’t know him. 27 He is the one coming after me,,ax whose sandal strap I’m not worthy to untie.” 28 All this happened in Bethany across the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

THE LAMB OF GOD

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Here is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I told you about: ‘After me comes a man who ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ 31 I didn’t know him, but I came baptizing with water so he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and he rested on him. 33 I didn’t know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The one you see the Spirit descending and resting on—he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”,a

Christian Standard Bible (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2017), Jn 1:19–34.

OPENING PRAYER AND TRANSITION TO FIRST POINT

This is the Word of the Lord… Let’s pray. Holy Spirit… We desire to behold Jesus… Who he is, what he’s done. Come now and move our hearts. Give us eyes to see… give us ears to hear. Be our teacher through your Word in these next few minutes. Amen.

There are three things that I want us to look at this morning together and this is the first thing…

Point I: Treasuring Christ like John (vs. 19-23).

In verses 19-28, we see John the Baptist give three testimonies of who he is in light of the Kingdom of God. In light of Jesus. He absolutely did not want to be confused with Jesus. They asked him, “who are you?” The Jews were waiting for the Christ to come and so instead of John being like, “I’m John,” he answers with, “I’m not the Christ.” “I’m not the Messiah.”

“Are you Elijah?” “No.” “Are you the Prophet that Moses prophesied about?” “No.” “Well then who are you? Because we have to give an answer to those who sent us.”

You see the Pharisees, the self-righteous leaders, were too good to go check it out themselves. They probably didn’t want to be seen with some wacko in the dessert that ate bugs and makes his own clothes.

John gives an answer to these guys by quoting .

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.”

He is the one that comes before the Christ and prepare the way for his ministry here on earth. This answer isn’t good enough for them. Look at the next verses…25,

24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.) 25 They asked him, “Then why are you baptizing, if you are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

I love John’s response… 

26 John answered them, “I baptize with water, but among you stands one you do not know, 27 even he who comes after me, the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.”

Look at John’s humility. He understood who he was in regards to the Kingdom. He knew that he had his own specific place and ministry. And it was not to build himself up. It was not to get as many followers of John as he could. It was to get people ready for the coming of the one who deserves to be built up… the one who deserves to be followed… Jesus.

John is standing there pointing to Jesus and these guys that came to get information out of him totally missed it. John says that they wouldn’t even know him if they saw him.

ILLUSTRATION

After Ben got back from Asia, I took him to a legit but kind of sketchy Westside Chinese restaurant. I thought he would enjoy some authentic Chinese cuisine after only eating authentic asian food for three months… He mentioned something to me that I really never thought about…

How many of you have Bibles here? Not an app but an actual Bible. Hold it up. Chances are if you look at the page right before the table of contents it says this… “Printed in China.” Big deal right? China is the world’s manufacturing powerhouse so why shouldn’t the Bible be printed there. Just think about the Irony about this…

Since China’s only legal printer of Bibles, Amity Printing Company (which is where your Bible was most likely printed), published its first Bible in cooperation with the United Bible Societies (UBS) in 1987, 117 million Bibles have followed. More than half of those were printed in the last six years, including 12.4 million in 2013, making China the world’s biggest Bible publisher.

And the place that should have more Bibles than any nation puts insane restrictions on God’s Word. You know if you take more than three Bibles into China they will be confiscated? The Chinese people can’t just go down the street to the Lifeway or the Barnes and Noble and pick up a new Bible cause theirs is worn out. I was reading and in most cases, the only Bible that the normal Chinese person has access to is the one that is not a reliable translation and is sanctioned by the Chinese government and they can only get from government sanctioned churches.

They have something that is absolutely priceless and they don’t even know it. Just like these Jewish guys who were around with John at the Jordan River when John told them that they wouldn’t even know the Christ if he was right in front of them… and as we will see as we go through this book… they didn’t!

APPLICATION

God has given us his Word so that we can see and hear Jesus. We may have access to the Bible but how many of us treat it not as something that is priceless but as something as worthless. I know on my bookshelf I have lot of Bibles. I’m almost a little embarrassed to tell you how many. On the outside I look like I treasure the Bible a lot. But if I was honest, I really struggle getting in the Word on a regular basis. And I bet some of you know this struggle. It takes discipline… it takes hard work to read the Bible regularly but when you do you will begin to treasure the Bible. You will begin to treasure Jesus just like John the Baptist did.

This is the secret to treasuring Jesus the way John treasured Jesus. DesiringGod posted this great article on Facebook where they gave Five Ways to Go from Head Knowledge to Heart Application. Number two in their list talked about persevering through scripture reading even when it is half-hearted. They say this...

If we lose our appetite for the things of God, it should come as no surprise when we do not feel God’s presence in our lives. Regular scriptural intake and worship are every bit as vital as sleep, exercise, and diet ().

That humility that John showed… we will show. Because we truly are unworthy to untie Jesus’ shoes That’s just how great he is. I love what R.C. Sproul says in his commentary on John. He says...

John John’s Right to Baptize

Those of us who believe and trust in Christ are His disciples. But like John, we need to see that we are not worthy in and of ourselves to untie His shoes, for we have sinned against God and despised His just rule. Despite that, Jesus gave Himself for us, to redeem us from our sin. May we never cease to give thanks for such a great salvation.

Transition to second point.

We’ve seen what John said about himself. He essentially says to stop focusing on me because Jesus is the point. Now look at what he says next… and this is the second thing that we will look at this morning.

Point II: Jesus is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world (vs. 29-34).

Verse 29...

English Standard Version Chapter 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! 30 This is he of whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel.” 32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 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.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

This is the Agnus Dei. Jesus’ title of Lamb. John says behold the Lamb. The Lamb who takes away the sin of the world...

The Bible Knowledge Commentary 1:30–31

Though John and Jesus were related, as Mary and Elizabeth were relatives (Luke 1:36), nothing is known of any contacts between them in their years of childhood and adolescence. John did not know that Jesus was the coming One until He was revealed by the Father. All John knew was that he was to prepare the way for Him by baptizing with water. God would send His Man to Israel in His good time.

This is the Agnus Dei. Jesus’ title of Lamb. John says behold the Lamb. The Lamb who takes away the sin of the world...

Jesus is called many things in the Bible. Especially in the Gospels. Son of Man, Son of God, the Lamb of God.... These titles can be confusing. It can be hard for us to fully grasp what some of Jesus’ titles mean.

Even John the Baptist didn’t fully grasp it. In Luke’s Gospel, after John is arrested he sends a messenger to Jesus to ask him if he truly is the messiah. You see, the Jews at the time this is all taking place were under Roman occupation and many of them thought that the Messiah was going to come and just free them from their political oppression. When Jesus came and instead of going to battle with the Romans, he was preaching, John wanted to be sure that he was the Christ.

Jesus responds in by saying...

English Standard Version Chapter 7

“Go and tell John what you have seen and heard: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, the poor have good news preached to them. 23 And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”

He quotes ! It’s like Jesus is saying, “This is what the Bible has always said I would be doing! Did you miss that verse?”

We often place our own expectations on Jesus.

John Tracing the Theme of the Lamb

We, of course, are prone to the same confusion. Only when we look at the whole picture, taking into account the cross, the resurrection, the ascension, and the outpouring of the Spirit at the Day of Pentecost, do we begin to see the depths and the riches of all that God was communicating through the announcement of His messenger, who said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

Let’s take a look at what it means for Jesus being the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.

We’ve talked about this before here at Campus Church but it’s important. If you read the Old Testament, you will see this theme of sacrifice and atonement a lot. A few weeks ago, we opened up where God tests Abraham by telling him to sacrifice his son Isaac but at the last minute God provides a ram to be sacrificed in the place of Isaac. Jesus, in the same way is our substitute sacrifice. In , the Passover is instituted.

During the tenth plague of Egypt… an angel of death would take the lives of the first born. In order to be saved from this… they were required to take a perfect lamb, slaughter it, and wipe it’s blood on the doorposts of their homes, and eat it’s flesh. This is a picture of Jesus being our perfect lamb so that God’s wrath would passover us.

When Moses wrote the Law that he got from God, he established a sacrificial system because men are sinful and in need of atonement. But there is one problem… The sacrifices only provided a temporary atonement. Each time these people sinned they were required to take their best lamb and slaughter it on the alter. They had to do this at least once a year!

The writer of Hebrews said in .

English Standard Version Chapter 10

4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

The blood of animals is impossible to take sins away! So every time an animal was sacrificed it was meant to serve as a picture of Jesus’ sacrifice. Every year on the Day of Atonement, every time the High Priest would would make the sacrifice… it was pointing to Jesus. Because only Jesus can take away sin once and for all.

Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) Behold the Lamb of God

That whole system was pointing forward to what would happen someday in a final sacrifice for sin. And John is saying: It’s happening now. God is sending his own Lamb into the world to take away sin, once and for all.

Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) Behold the Lamb of God

That whole system was pointing forward to what would happen someday in a final sacrifice for sin. And John is saying: It’s happening now. God is sending his own Lamb into the world to take away sin, once and for all.

It had to be Jesus. But why Jesus? Why couldn’t have been any ordinary human? It’s because Jesus is no ordinary human. Jesus is the perfect lamb without spot or blemish. He’s the only man without sin.

Peter said in his first letter… ...

English Standard Version Chapter 1

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

Jesus is the Lamb of God without spot and without blemish. He is without sin. In the Old Testament, God required the best of the best. These Jewish worshippers had to offer a lamb that was perfect.

John’s proclamation: Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world… has two profound meanings to why Jesus came.

Two Meanings.

Jesus came to die.

Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) Behold the Lamb of God

He was called the Lamb of God, because he would die. That is why God sent him. And that is why he came. That’s why the Word became flesh. Otherwise, he could not die. And he was God’s Lamb for the world—not just a Jewish lamb for Israel.

He came to die. Like we were just talking about… like a lamb. And that death leads to the second meaning which is...

He came to die. Like we were just talking about… like a lamb. And that death leads to the second meaning which is...

Jesus came to take away the sin of the world.

Both of these are beautifully articulated by Caiaphas as he not-knowingly prophesied the death of Jesus as he and the Jews were plotting Jesus’ death. He says in ...

English Standard Version Chapter 11

50 Nor do you understand that it is better for you that one man should die for the people, not that the whole nation should perish.” 51 He did not say this of his own accord, but being high priest that year he prophesied that Jesus would die for the nation, 52 and not for the nation only, but also to gather into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.

Yes he came to die and take away the sins of his people who are in the nation of Israel but he also has people among other nations. This is good news for you and me because the majority of us are not Jewish.

John goes on back in chapter 1 by saying Jesus ranks before me… and he was before me because he has always existed… You know it’s interesting because that Isaiah passage that John quotes...

English Standard Version Chapter 1

I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord,

If you look back in … LORD is all capitalized. What this means is that in the original Hebrew it says Yahweh. John came to prepare the way for Yehweh (which is God’s name). Jesus is Yahweh on earth! I just thought that was interesting… that John is calling Jesus God.

It had to be Jesus who came and died for our sins because he is God. Have you ever thought about this? It had to be an infinite God who paid for our sins because our crimes are infinite.

Jesus is holy. He is without sin.

Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) Behold the Lamb of God

Jesus asks in John 8:46, “Which one of you convicts me of sin?” The answer was, No one has ever been able to convict Jesus of sin. “He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth” (1 Peter 2:22; cf. Hebrews 4:15; Romans 8:3).

And this will be the last thing that we will talk about this morning...

Point III: Jesus is our Lamb that takes away our sin.

This text is profound and it has profound meaning for each of you today. Every single one of us who are sitting in this room this morning are sinners. We are sinner’s that are deserving of God’s wrath. And this is why Jesus came. To be our expiation. That’s a weird word I know. But listen to it’s meaning...

expiation has to do with removing something or taking something away. In biblical terms, it has to do with taking away guilt through the payment of a penalty or the offering of an atonement. Expiation is the act that results in the change of God’s disposition toward us. It is what Christ did on the cross. - Ligonier

Jesus on the cross takes away our sin and to bring us back to God. The Lamb of God comes to remove the wrath of God that we are under.

Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) Behold the Lamb of God

we see this precious wrath-removal in John 3:36: “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). This means that when John says, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,” he doesn’t mean that every person in the world is saved. He means every person in the world—Jew or Gentile—will be saved if they believe in Jesus and follow him. If they believe, their sin has been taken away by the Lamb. If they believe, God’s wrath has been removed by the Lamb.

There is no race, no nationality, no ethnicity, no socio-economic status excluded. To as many as receive him, who believe on his name (John 1:12), their sins are taken away (John 1:29; 1 John 3:5) and the wrath of God is removed (John 3:36; 1 John 2:2) and they are made the children of God (John 1:12) and given eternal life (John 3:16).

We will talk more on eternal life in Jesus next week when we jump over to but I want to conclude this morning… and Andrew you can come on up here… by inviting each of you to Behold Jesus the Lamb.

If you are not a Christian here this morning let me say this, you are welcome here and we are so glad that you are here. If you have questions then we would love to hang out and talk about that. We may not have all the answers but we can show you Jesus.

Jesus can be your lamb and your Lord this morning. It’s simple… All you have to do is believe in the gospel. Believe that he came for you… that you are a sinner desperate for someone to rescue you… and Jesus came to act as your sacrificial lamb to appease the wrath of God. But it doesn’t end there, he gives you a new life centered around his righteousness and his mission to see others experience this life giving message.

Isaiah said in ...

English Standard Version Chapter 53

6  All we like sheep have gone astray;

we have turned—every one—to his own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.

John Piper says it like this:

Sermons from John Piper (2000–2014) Behold the Lamb of God

There is only one way to have your sins taken away and find favor with God—not working for God. Not cleaning up your life first. That comes later. That’s fruit, not root. The one way is believing in Jesus as the glorious Lamb of God. Jesus said in John 8:24, “Unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).

If you are one of God’s people in here… rest in this reality. That Jesus has made a way by his blood and there is absolutely nothing that can take that away. I’m going to pray and we will worship together...

Prayer

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. 20

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

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

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

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

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .

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

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton: Standard Bible Society, 2016), .