Turning to the Lamb

John 1:19-34

Hook - Think of your favorite concert. The big headlining band you went to see and how great it was. There was a band who opened for the headliner.

The smaller band was not as well known. Maybe rising talent.

One of their purposes was to get you ready to for the headliner.

They were to hype the crowd.

Prepare them.

There are many ways that we prepare.

-Engagement is one step in preparing you to make that marriage commitment.

-Taking birthing classes helps prepare you for the the big day.

-Reading an advent devotional helps prepare our heart for Christmas.

God prepared His people for the formal ministry of Jesus.

How did God prepare His people by sending a man we know as John the Baptist.

At the beginning of the Gospels we are in a time when the Jewish people felt very stuck.

Their nation needed help.

2 very large things were going on.

A) They were occupied and ruled by Roman Government.

B) God had not spoken to them through a prophet for 400 Years.

The people were oppressed and it didn’t appear that God was going to do anything about it. Some may have wondered if God even cared.

-Some Jews looked for the Messiah to come and fix their problem with Rome.

Then, something very odd, but special began to happen.

-John the Baptist arrives - out of not where. Not expected.

To these generations who had never seen a prophet John was strange.

This man was dressed like an Old Testament Prophet.

Camel hair for a clothing

He would be about 30 and due to being a Nazarite would have never cut his hair - even as a child. And never cut his beard.

-Round bushy wild beard

-uneven hair down past the back of his knees.

-Very rough clothing.

-Strange

-He’s not at all like one of the traditional spiritual leaders.

The traditional spiritual leaders were high style. The lesser spiritual leaders would be put together.

-They were concerned with how they looked.

-They were after honor.

But - John the Baptist was not in Jerusalem and in the synagogues teaching.

He was out doors.

Telling people that God’s Kingdom was near. The Kingdom of God was close by.

Even though John was odd, there was just something special about him.

What the people can’t put their finger on is this.

The Spirit of God is on Him...

Have you ever been with a person who is full of God’s Spirit?

There was a guy that I knew that walked so closely with God that when I was around Him I would feel convicted. No joke.

John brought a message from God.

-This message was meant to prepared the people for Jesus.

To get their heart and life ready to meet the King.

Transition - What was John’s message?

-It was a message that applies to you 200 years later.

I. Repent, because God is with you.

-The message John gives is this, Repent God is with you. “The Kingdom of God is at hand.”

The Messiah is here. Prepare yourself to meet the King.

vs, 23 In the book of John, John the Baptist message is described this way

Read verse 23

Make straight the way of the Lord sounds like coded language to us today.

Let’s unpack it.

If you have advanced notice that Caesar the great Roman King will be making a visit, you don’t just power wash the walls of the city and plant some shrubbery.

-You want Caesar to be impressed with your city.

You certainly want Him to not be distracted by how difficult it is to get to you.

You also want to honor Him.

-So, you work on the roads that need attention. Because of who it is that is coming to visit you, you do heavy expensive work.

You take out curves and straighten them.

You take dirt from the peek of a steep incline and you fill in the valley. You smooth and flatten the road for the Great King.

-Let’s be honest this straightening the roads is difficult and expensive work. Out on number 1 with massive machinery it’s going to take years.

Illustration - Each year in Augusta in February and March there is a major clean up. Flowers are planted all around the city. Plans for traffic to be rerouted are made. Many home owners deep clean the inside and outside of their home & may even buy new furniture.

Why? The Augusta National is about to happen...

They are preparing for the players, media, and guests.

-If you have lived in Augusta you have witnessed over the decades the roadways change to the attenders of the Augusta National.

How does straitening roads have anything to do with my spiritual life & repenting?

-There are roads to your heart and life.

-God travels these roads to do a miracle work in your life.

-Our sin makes these roads difficult to travel on.

-We have blocked God from some of the entrances into our heart.

My friend

-You have some roads in your life that are crooked.

-There are some roads that you have set up barriers or even built walls into your life to keep Messiah Jesus from penetrating.

How does John the Baptist tell us to deal with our sin?

Matthew 3:2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.””

Matthew 4:17 Uses the same language. But this time it was Jesus saying these same words.

“Repent, for God’s Spiritual Kingdom is upon you.”

While the Jews looked for a physical Kingdom to come and save them for the Romans - God is focusing on His spiritual Kingdom.

The King of the Spiritual Kingdom has arrived. Hearts and lives must be prepared.

The physical kingdom of God will come. We see this in Revelation where Christ Jesus comes back for His people and a New Jerusalem is set up on earth.

A heavenly city. And Jesus not only redeems His people, but turns all of creation from it’s brokenness.

But for now - The message from John into our lives is Repent, The King has come.

What does repent mean.

-Not just confess or sins

-Not just ask forgiveness for our sins

Repent - Completely turn away from the sin & turn back to God.

Repent is an action. It is a turning away from selfishness & sin.

The repentance that God calls for is not behavioristic moralism.

Repentance is not just a change of action.

-It is also a change of heart.

-It changes the whole person, heart, and action.

Why is there such a strong call to repentance from both John the Baptist and later Jesus?

-Everything sin touches it eventually kills. (x2)

Illustration - A few years after Susan I were married we purchased a small town house in Augusta. In the spring I noticed some crab grass coming up in our tiny front yard. I made the mistake of thinking that taking my yard weed sprayer and spraying a few drops of round up on the weeds was a good idea.

A few days after I sprayed the weed, not only did I have dead weeks, but also brown polka dots all over the yard where the grass was killed all around the weeds.

- We can keep sin to just an area or two of our life and it won’t really effect anything. We make the mistake of thinking we can contain our sin. We can manage our sin.

-Not only does sin kill whatever it touches, but it begins to disseminate into other areas of your life as well.

-In God’s great love for you. He doesn not want your spiritual walk to be ruined by sin.

-So He calls you to repent.

Jesus is so serious about repenting listen to the language He uses.

Matthew 5:29-30 “29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.”

Part of the point is this, the Christ Follower can not have even a hint of sin in His or her life.

Why? Christ wants to bring His life and His light to every corner and crevice, so your whole body is full of joy.

Your repentance is how you participate in the life changing work of God.

When you turn to God and let His light in, all of your being rejoices in God’s greatness and goodness. Pause

-There is some within the sound of my voice who God’s finger is on right now.

-There is something in your life that you know is poisoning your walk with God.

-There is an unforgiveness, lie, an addiction, gossip … something that God is calling you to surrender to Him.

-What is it. Will you give it to Him now?

-Do not wait. It will only get worse and more out of control.

For those who are not a Christ Follower. Will you come and give you whole life to fully trust in Jesus? You don’t have to clean yourself up to come to Him.

He will miraculously take care of the problem areas of your life. Pause

Transition - In our passage today, we see water baptism being given as a sign of repentance and faith. So we see an outward sign of repentance.

I will be brief on this, but as a baptist minister could not resist saying a few words.

II. Sign of Repentance

1. -This full emersion water Baptism. Baptizo (Greek word for Baptism) means to immerse (dunk under).

2. - Later in the Gospels Jesus will command that full immersion takes place as a sign of repentance and faith.

4. - There is not a single example in scripture of a child being sprinkled, not a single one.

5. - All Baptism we see in scripture comes after someone has made a decision to turn their lives over to God.

6. The sprinkling of children is not found in a single place in all the scriptures. Pause

What is baptism? - A sign of turning from our sin and placing our full faith in God.

Transition - Then we see in our passage who we are repenting to. vs. 24-34

III. The Lamb of God Revealed

Read John 1:24-34

Why would John use this term Lamb of God to describe Jesus?

The Jewish people would be very familiar with lambs being sacrificed. Especially at Passover - Lambs sacrificed for sin.

Because we know the end of the story, we know that Jesus is one who was sacrificed sacrificed on a cross for sin. He is our suffering servant.

Similar to the lamb that was sacrificed at the 1st Passover in the Exodus in Egypt, Jesus is the one who causes your Eternal Judgement for sin to pass over those who put their full trust in Him.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away sin.

But does Jesus really take away the sins of the world? vs. 29

Does God universally save every person who has ever lived? Of course not.

-One has to have faith in Christ and His work on the cross for forgiveness.

The what does it means that The Lamb takes away the sins of the World?

-It means that Jesus takes away sins without distinction of whether or not you are: male/female, slave/rich, dark skinned/light skinned, educated/uneducated

-Why would God say that The Lamb takes sin away “without distinction”?

-Bigotry has been present throughout all of human history and in almost every single culture.

Bigotry is so prevalent that after you die, there will still be bigotry.

-Some people were taught that because they were a poor & female slave that it was impossible for them to have salvation.

-I was doing mission work with a group in the slums of Brazil.

-50 Million people live in the Brazilian slums alone.

-They are poorly educated. -Live in very unsanitary conditions. -High crime rate.

-They pick through the trash at the massive dumps to find their food.

-They have an accent, they speak differently than the rest of the population.

-They stick out.

-They are hated and forgotten.

-You ask a little girl that lives in the slum what her dream is.

-She will tell you it is to become a house made.

-The highest job a slum girl could ever attain.

-The poverty and abuse is so bad most children start to sniff glue to make them high to escape the pain.

-The people of the slum today are forgotten and thrown away.

-Jesus came to bring hope and salvation to the people of the slums.

-He came to bring salvation to the different and the broken.

-He came to bring salvation to you.-

-He came to bring salvation to your neighbor.

-In saving you, God doesn’t take into account your past or your present.

-God only takes into account your faith.

-He gave you your gender, your language, your skin color, your accent, your nationality.

-The Lamb came to save every kind of person, from all nations and tribes.

-We must spread His message to all kinds of people.

-Will you tell your neighbors and friends about Jesus?

Transition - The Lamb of God revealed Himself.

Read vs. 33

Jesus Baptism was not a baptism of repentance.

Jesus Baptism marked the beginning of His ministry.

In His Baptism the great Savior revealed Himself.

At Jesus Baptism we see the Trinity, The Spirit came upon Jesus, And the Father said, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased.”

Closing

God has revealed who we are to repent to.

When you make a 160 degree turn from your sin, who do you turn around and go to?

You go to Jesus.

You go to the Lamb of God who takes away your sin.

You go to the God who has left the inner room of the Tabernacle and who has dwelt with us.

-Will you draw close to the God who has come to save you?