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We've been going through the Gospel of John, and I'd like to invite you to turn to our text.
So, with myself, please turn with me to the Gospel of John, this fourth Gospel we shall read this morning.
Verse 29 through verse 37. I'd like to...
For the past two weeks, we've been focusing on verse 29, and that's really the main text,
I really believe, of this chapter. And you can actually say it could be the text and the key verse to this whole entire book.
Not only the Gospel of John, I believe that this could be the text for this entire book of 66 books.
It's compiled as the Bible itself, because that's really Christ is what the entire
Bible is about. He is the grand subject of the Bible. So we're looking at verse 29 through verse 37.
Verse 39 through 37. Hear the word of the living
God. 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 is preferred before me.
For He was before me. I did not know Him, but that He should be revealed to Israel.
Therefore I came baptizing with water. And John bore witness, saying,
I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove. And He remained upon Him, and I did not know
Him. But He who sent me to baptize with water said to me,
Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is
He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the
Son of God. This is the Son of God.
Please bow with me as we pray, as we seek our Lord's face now, and ask of His help through His Holy Spirit in this time of worship.
Our Father and our God, once again, dear
Lord, we come before You. We come before You, Lord, recognizing that You are alone worthy of praise, glory, and honor, and blessing, and power, and thanksgiving.
Lord, we come humbly before You, Lord, and trembling before Your Word, with an attitude of rejoicing as well.
Our first great desire is to know You, Lord. To know You in truth and in Your beauty.
Lord Jesus, as You prayed before the Father, and You prayed for Your glory in John 17,
You prayed for Your disciples, and You prayed for the believers, that they may know
Thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent. Father, what a great revelation.
And as much as we think of ourselves of knowing
You, how much more do You desire that we would come to You?
You have taken far, far more steps in coming after us.
Descending from heaven, sending Jesus, Your Son, to die.
Sent Him into darkness, so that those that are in darkness would come to see the true light,
Christ. Lord, we truly realize without Jesus Christ, we are absolutely nothing.
Father, I recognize my own weakness. I confess my own weakness.
That Lord, that we can do nothing, I can do nothing, without Jesus Christ.
So Lord, I pray within this hour, may
I just be a voice to speak of the glories of heaven from Your Word.
Lord, we come, and as we humbly bow before You, we ask Lord, that Your blessed
Holy Spirit would help us see Jesus. Hide myself behind the cross,
Lord. We desire to only see Jesus Christ and Him only. And that we would know that we know
Him, we honor Him, and lift Him up, lift
Christ up, and You will honor us, Lord, as we honor
Him. You honor Your Word. Father, we ask
You that as we lift Christ up, we know that He is the magnet.
He is the great magnet that draws souls to You, Lord. So Father, we thank
You. Thank You for Your Word this morning. Bless our time now as we look into Your Word. And as Your Word says, speak
Lord, for the servant hears. And we ask this in Jesus' name, Amen.
Well, message 1, day 1, as we have looked, He's here.
Jesus is here. This is what John the Baptist was proclaiming.
He's here. Message 2, basically day 2, look at Him.
Behold Him. Behold the Lamb of God. Look at Him. He is the
Lamb of God. Day 1 was basically a private delegation. Day 2 was a public proclamation.
As Jesus comes toward John the Baptist, coming toward him in verse 29, the next day
John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, look at the Lamb of God.
Look, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Look at Him. Take Him in.
He is here. This is He. This is He who He is. He is here and this is who
He is. The very Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Beloved, think of this. John the Baptist, as we've seen in the latter verses, was a man that was sent from God.
His primary reason and purpose in His existence for being called of God and sent from God comes to this one sentence alone.
This is the reason why God sent Him. Right here. He was born to say this one sentence.
Think of that. Could you imagine living your entire life prepared in ministry as God has prepared you and you come to this part and He sees
Jesus coming and in the process, in His ministry,
He's baptizing, He's preaching, but His primary purpose is for this one reason here.
To say this one sentence. Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
One sentence. One sentence. This was the introduction to the world of Jesus.
The Son of God. The Lamb of God. God's Lamb. John's public proclamation literally shocked them.
What did I mean by that? Well, what does He say? Behold, look, the
Lamb of God. Why would this shock them? Why would the
Messiah be a lamb? I want you to think of this for a second. A lamb.
A lamb is innocent, weak, helpless, innocent, dependent, frail.
They would probably have expected Him to say,
Behold, your King. Behold, the Triumphant One.
Behold, the Exalted One. Behold, your
Ruler. Behold, the Anointed One. All those titles actually speak true of Jesus.
Right? But, here John says, Behold, the Lamb of God.
John says this by the Holy Spirit, beloved. This is the revelation. There's no mistakes in it.
John said this. It literally shocked the Jews. The Jewish people did not expect this.
And actually, they got it. They understood what it was. And the Old Testament sacrifices years and years of what it meant to sacrifice a lamb.
And John says, The Lamb of God. The Lamb of God.
And John said it literally shocked them. A lamb meant sacrifice.
An animal that was weak, dependent, helpless, as I mentioned. As Isaiah would say,
Led to the slaughter for sacrifice. The Lamb of God is chosen to be the ultimate sacrifice.
This Lamb that God has chosen, He's come to deal with sin once and for all.
Not twice. But, He comes to deal with sin at last. And to be wounded for our transgressions.
To be bruised or crushed for our iniquities. As the
New Testament, The Apostle Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians. I'm sorry, 1
Corinthians. I think it is. I think it's 2 Corinthians 5.
5 .20 .21 That Jesus Christ became sin for us.
That He who knew no sin became a sin offering for us. He referred Himself as the sacrifice on the cross.
The Lamb of God. And this is exactly the meaning of it. He bore our sins in full. And in His own body,
God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. Think of that. A sin offering in the
Greek. A sin offering to be sacrificed up to God.
And take upon Himself in one package. The sin.
As it says, plural. Not plural, but singular.
The sin of the world. All in one package. Once and for all. So, all those
New Testament revelations. The Jews wanted a great prophet. The Jews wanted a great king.
They got a Lamb. John says, Behold the
Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. You know, I love what
Spurgeon said this. He said, You could sum up my theology in four words.
Jesus died for me. And actually I read where Spurgeon actually said,
He says, If I called to preach, and he believed in preaching the whole counsel of God. All the way from Genesis to Revelation.
But he said this. He says, If it sees fit, that if I were to preach on just the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ until the day
God calls me on. Every time I preach, God will be smiling upon me. And how true.
Our theology should be, Jesus died for me. Just as Spurgeon said. And that's exactly what this whole wonderful book is about.
It's about the Lamb of God. Who takes away the sin of the world. Well, the
Jews wanted a great prophet. The Jews wanted a king. They got a Lamb. They wanted a great leader.
They got a humble substitute. They wanted an exalted Messiah. And they got a humiliated, humble, weak, supposedly weak, sacrifice.
And he did offer himself up in weakness before God. Now, actually, they could not have had a great king, if you think of it.
Not until they got a humble Lamb. First, and being found an appearance as a man, as Paul said in Philippians 2.
He humbled himself. He became obedient to the point of death. Even the death of the cross.
Therefore, God also has highly exalted him, and has given him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and those on earth, and those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is
Lord to the glory of God the Father. Did you get that? Did you see the order? First, there had to be
Him coming. He came in the virgin birth. He entered into this world.
He took flesh. He pitched His tent. That's exactly where John the
Apostle takes us. He said, the word became flesh in verse 14, and dwelt among us.
He tabernacled among us. He pitched His tent. And we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
And then he says, John bore witness of Him, and cried out saying, this was He whom I said,
He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me, and of His fullness we have received, and grace for grace.
For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen
God at any time. The only begotten, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared
Him. Jesus came in the appearance as a man. He humbled
Himself, and Scripture goes on to say, He became obedient.
Isn't that wonderful? As a man He obeyed, to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
And then the transition takes place. Therefore God also has highly exalted
Him. First He's a Lamb, then He's King. Now we're looking forward to Him coming back in this great second coming, as King of Kings, right?
Lord of Lords, and He's going to come back, and very soon. Now, they could not be coming,
I should say, becoming a King, they could not be a coming
King in glory, to reign, until there's a coming, and humiliation.
And, there's no one that ever humbled himself as much as Jesus, and there's no one that will ever be exalted above Jesus.
He is the most humbled, and because He chose to humble Himself, His whole life was a life of true humility.
If we want to see true humility, look at Jesus. That's why Jesus said, Come unto me, all you labor and heavy laden,
I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. And then He says, Learn of me, for I am meek, and lowly in heart.
Isn't that amazing? We can't say that about ourselves. We can't say, look at me, I am meek, I am lowly.
Our humility isn't really genuine. True biblical humility is dead to self completely.
We haven't got there yet. Even though we have to come in humility and strip ourselves and come bankrupt before God and broken, but Jesus can actually say,
Look at me. Come to me. I am meek in heart. I am lowly.
So you really want to see true meekness? Look at Jesus. Look at Jesus.
Behold the Lamb of God. He comes in humiliation to die.
He died to death. And He died to death to put to death, death.
Eternal death. And He succeeded and won that victory as He died upon the cross.
Now, that's why John says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
What that means is that for the whole world there is only one and only one who can take away sin.
And that is Jesus Christ. The only one who would die as the sacrificial
Lamb that God accepts. And He's it. Now, that means basically that His death is sufficient to save all.
And people say, Well, Pastor, is this meaning universal salvation? No, it doesn't. It means the offer is to all people.
It is the general call. It is to whosoever will. But as the
Scriptures point out, God draws His people whom
He has appointed to believe, whom He has elected. We don't know who that elect is.
So that's why we obey Christ's command, right? We go into all the world and preach the gospel to every person.
That's the command. But God knows who the elect are. So when God's word goes forth,
His word will snatch them and draw them to Himself. Miraculous power of God.
That's the effectual call. That's the effectual call. You have the general call, the effectual call.
So, you see here, this is basically the general call that whosoever will come to Him will believe.
That is the gospel in which we believe. And we also believe those who believe are
God's elect. Even John Calvin said that. How do you know that I'm God's elect?
By believing the gospel. That simple. You know,
I was thinking about this this morning. Why have we so complicated these things? It seems so complex, doesn't it?
But you know why? Because sin has muddled our brains. Sin has muddled our knowledge of God.
That's why when we start reading through the Scripture, God brings it right back to the point, right to where it needs to be.
That's why Paul says, let God be true and every man found liar. That's why
Scripture says that God will shut every man's mouth. He will shut the mouth of the world.
God will stand alone and be exalted alone and no one else. Rightly so.
Rightly so. Look at verse 30. John then says this.
This is he whom I said, after me comes a man who's preferred before me. For he was before me.
This is he on behalf basically of whom I said, after me comes a man who's higher rank.
This is what he's saying. Jesus is higher rank. John is saying, Jesus is the
Messiah. He is higher rank than I. For he existed before me.
Now, basically John is saying, Jesus was born after I was born, and yet he existed before me.
He's preeminent, right? He's preeminent. Get your eyes on this eternal one, this preeminent one.
Get your eyes on this exalted one who is higher rank than I am, the one you don't know.
This is the message that every one of us should have. Ministers, capital
M, and small m, ministers, right? We point people to Jesus Christ.
Just as John the Baptist was brought up and had this one purpose in life, behold the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. So our one purpose is to point people to Christ, to know
Him, to know this true and living God, but also to make Him known, and to tell people about Him.
And I agree with exactly what Spurgeon, I mentioned
Spurgeon, I love Spurgeon. He said, Every Christian is an imposter or a missionary.
Probably the other way around. Every Christian is a missionary or an imposter. I think that's the right way. But that's the truth.
We don't have a hidden faith. We have a public faith.
We confess Christ publicly. We confess Christ before Him.
We are witnesses before Him. And actually the word witnesses in Acts 1 .8 means martyrs.
But it's before Christ. But it's also not only before the face of God. That's first and foremost.
It's before, publicly, this courtroom of the world in which we live in.
Whether it be in the home, to our children. We're ministering to our children, making disciples to our children.
Or we witness at the workplace to the people we work with. Or we go abroad in the highways and the byways to strangers and we tell people about Jesus.
It's all focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's our purpose. This was
John's purpose. Behold the Lamb of God. He's here. He's here. Three things.
He's here. Behold Him. Look at Him. Follow Him. Follow Him. Again.
Verse 29. Behold the Lamb of God. Go to verse 36. And looking at Jesus as He walked, again
He says, Behold the Lamb of God. There's a difference between verse 29 and verse 36.
If you see verse 29, it begins the second day. Actually the next day. As John saw
Jesus coming toward him. See. Here Jesus is coming toward John.
And for the first time, He says, Behold. Notice if your translation says,
Behold with an explanation point mark. It's almost like He's saying, Look!
Look! He shouts it. I guarantee you when
He says this, it went down through every cavern of hell and shook every demon.
The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And then you have verse 30, 31, 32, and 33.
But if you look at all the way down to 36, day 3, verse 35, again the next day, that's day 3.
John stood with two of his disciples. We're coming to this, we're going to look at this more, Lord willing, next week.
Two of his disciples. And looking, then looking at Jesus.
Then John is looking at Jesus. As he walked. And he says,
Behold the Lamb of God. So basically, and then verse 37, the two disciples,
John's disciples heard him speak and they followed Jesus. This is what made John glad.
This is his reason. This is the purpose of his ministry. He's here.
Behold Him. Follow Him. And they followed Him. They followed
Him. Well, John the Baptist's one purpose in life was to proclaim that great one sentence,
Behold the Lamb of God. That's his purpose. His purpose. We see a sacrifice for God's demand.
We see a substitute for man's downfall. We see a savior for man's depravity.
I'll say that again. We see a sacrifice for God's demand. We see a substitute for man's downfall.
And we see a savior for man's depravity. Where is the
Lamb? That's what, that's basically the question in the Old Testament. Right? We looked at that. Where is
He? John says He's here. He's here. He's arrived. Now since He's arrived, look at Him.
Behold Him. All eyes of faith on Him. I remember when
I was in the military, they would always, at times, when we were distracted with other things, when
I was in the army, and Ben knows what I'm talking about here. At times, a drill instructor would say,
Eyes on me! Eyes on me! He'd snap to it. And it's almost like John saying this.
Eyes on Jesus. Get your eyes on Jesus. Don't get your eyes on me. Eyes on Him.
Eyes on Him. Praise God. Isn't that what we are about?
Is to say, Take your eyes off me. We're nothing.
We're creatures of the dirt. And we have failed miserably. But put your eyes on the
Lamb of God. The spotless, perfect, Lamb of God.
We must preach this to ourselves every day. Look at Him. Let's jump ahead a little bit.
I'd like to take you somewhere else in Scripture. As we look at Jesus, as we behold the
Lamb of God, go with me to John chapter 19. We're going to see something here that's in Scripture that basically says,
Behold the Lamb of God. But also, Pilate says, Behold the man. Look at chapter 19.
I'd like to read a few verses here. As we look at this account. Where does this lead the
Lamb? Well, the Lamb had to be led to slaughter, right? He goes to the cross.
He goes to the cross. Look at verse 1.
And I'd like to read it to verse 16. And just look at the story. Let the Word of God speak. So then
Pilate took Jesus and scourged Him. And the soldiers twisted a crown of thorns and put it on His head.
And they put on Him a purple robe. And then they said, Hail, King of the
Jews! And they struck Him with their hands. Pilate then went out again and said to them,
Behold, I'm bringing Him out to you, that you may know that I find no fault in Him.
And Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. And Pilate said to them,
Behold the man. John the Baptist said, Behold the Lamb of God. Pilate now says, Behold the man.
Verse 6. Therefore when the chief priests and officers saw Him, they cried out saying,
Crucify Him! Crucify Him! And Pilate said to them,
You take Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him. That's a typical politician, isn't it?
Trying to please people. Verse 7. The Jews answered Him, We have a law.
According to our law, He ought to die because He made Himself the Son of God. Verse 8.
Therefore when Pilate heard that saying, he was more afraid. See, he's a typical politician, isn't he?
He's afraid of people. And went again into the praetorium and said to Jesus, Where are you from?
But Jesus gave him no answer. You know, Jesus knew when to speak and when not to speak, folks.
We need to take a lot of counsel from the Word of God on this. Notice our Master. He knew not to cast these precious pearls before Pilate because Pilate wouldn't understand.
He doesn't have eyes to see or ears to hear, right? He asked a question, Where are you from?
Notice verse 10. Then Pilate said to Him, Are you not speaking to me? That's a question.
Listen, listen. Then he says this. Then he asked the question, Do you not know that I have power to crucify you and power to release you?
Now Jesus speaks. Rightly so. This worm here, this maggot of the dust, has no idea who's standing before Him.
He knows now. He knows now. We're talking about the creator of the ends of the earth.
Jesus then said this and answered. Jesus answered right here now in verse 11. And notice what
He answers. You could have no power at all against me unless it has been given to you from above.
Therefore the one who delivered me to you has the greater sin. You have no power over me.
Jesus said, I have the power to lay my life down and I have the power to take it back up again.
Actually, as Pilate doesn't know who's standing before him, all power comes from Christ.
All power. Verse 12. From then on Pilate sought to release
Him but the Jews cried out saying, If you let this man go, you are not Caesar's friend.
Listen to that plight. Whoever makes himself a king speaks against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought
Jesus out and sat down in the judgment seat in a place that is called the pavement, but in Hebrew, Gabbatha.
Now it was the preparation day of the Passover about the sixth hour and he said to the Jews, Behold your king.
Isn't it interesting? Notice these words, behold. John the Baptist says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
He's the prophet, none greater than John. Pilate says, Behold the man.
And now he says before the Jews, Behold your king. Verse 15.
But they cried out, Away with him. Away with him. Crucify him. Pilate said to him,
Shall I crucify your king? And the chief priest answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Then he delivered him to them to be crucified. And then they took
Jesus and led him away like a lamb led to the slaughter. He's God's lamb. And folks,
God sovereignly appointed every single step of this. No accident.
God had appointed this. Paul the Apostle actually speaks of this.
And if you go with me to 1 Corinthians. If you notice in 1
Corinthians chapter 2.
Verse 6. Look at verse 6. After Paul has mentioned that I preach
Christ crucified. In verse 2. I determine not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.
In verse 3. I was with you in weakness and fear and much trembling. Verse 4. My speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power. That your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
Now he unpacks this. Notice. However, Verse 6. We speak wisdom among those who are mature.
Yet not the wisdom of this age. There's a difference between heavenly wisdom and earthly wisdom.
God's wisdom and demonic wisdom. Listen to what he says.
The wisdom of this age nor are the rulers of this age like Pilate and so forth who are coming to nothing.
They're coming to nothing. But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.
And notice what he says. The hidden wisdom of God which God ordained before the ages for our glory which none of the rulers of this age knew.
They didn't know it. Blind. For had they had known they would have not crucified the
Lord of glory. If they would have really known who Jesus really was they'd have never crucified
Him. They didn't believe. Pilate didn't believe. He even said in another place
What is truth? Truth is right before Him. And Paul says it.
But as it is written Eye has not seen nor ear heard nor have entered into the heart of man the things which
God has prepared for them who love Him. Love Him. Praise God.
Well we see the wonderful, wonderful story here of how the
Lamb of God was led to the cross. But it's for our glory as well.
Think about it. He dies for His people. I shall call His name
Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins. Well so much more could be said of that.
So Jesus Christ and through His death and resurrection He has accomplished and has won the victory.
He has accomplished salvation. He has accomplished redemption. Let's go back to John's Gospel.
Chapter 1 where we are. Look at verse 31. John the
Baptist after in verse 30 he said This is He of whom I said after me comes a man who is preferred before me basically higher rank for He was before me.
I did not know Him but that He should be revealed to Israel therefore
I came baptizing with water. Now this is an interesting statement by John.
I did not know Him. I did not know Him. But that He should be revealed to Israel therefore
I came baptizing with water. John is basically deflecting here. He is deflecting.
I did not know Him. I did not really recognize Him. And I read
MacArthur's notes on this and I liked what he said. He said What about Elizabeth and Mary?
I am paraphrasing what I read here in his commentary but I think this is really great.
What about Elizabeth and Mary? The parents of the earthly parents
Mary of Jesus and the parents of John the
Baptist. Elizabeth being John the Baptist's mother and Mary Jesus' mother.
Weren't they related? Were not they related? They were cousins? Weren't Jesus and John cousins?
Can we say that? They were. Yes they were. Another question is
Didn't Elizabeth know John was a miracle baby? Didn't they know? I believe they did.
Yes they did. Here is another question and I will bring it out. Didn't Mary know that she had conceived miraculously a virgin birth?
A virgin not a man knew her that Jesus was the very
Son of God without a human father humanly speaking. Didn't she know that? Absolutely.
Another question MacArthur I got these questions from MacArthur I thought it was really great. Didn't they talk among themselves about about this through the years?
Do you think that they talked about this Elizabeth and Mary of these these special children that they were going to have and they would carry?
Absolutely. I believe that. Now another question
Wouldn't have these women told their sons being the mother that they were who they were that there was something special about them?
Do we believe that? I believe that. We don't have a lot of record of them conversing but they were there.
And I love MacArthur's questions here because it helps us think a little bit that this had to be this we can assume it but we can say it had to happen.
There had to be some communication. And it goes on to say this Wouldn't John know
Jesus was the very son of God? Wouldn't John know that? Yes. A resounding yes.
I believe the answer to all these is a resounding yes. Now Elizabeth the mother of John I believe would have told
John the Baptist as we look at these questions and Mary the mother of Christ may have told him and certainly was known in the family.
I got parenthesis right here in my notes highlighted and I want to tell you this and I believe you would be with me on this as a
Berean as you would search the scriptures but actually scriptures does not give us the details, right?
So we can't assume, go too far but we can say I'm sure that they had conversations among one another about these special young men that God gave and especially
Mary because she was carrying the very son of God and we know the story, right?
When Elizabeth was speaking about this what happened in John the
Baptist being in her womb literally leap for joy the scripture says and he was filled with the
Holy Ghost from his mother's womb speaking of Jesus of course
John the Baptist wouldn't remember all that we can't remember anything from our mother's womb can we?
but there was something supernatural that was going on there we do not know that Jesus in that sense who was 30 years old at this time when he arrives on the scene why?
because 30 years Jesus is in obscurity Jesus is not known and this is where John is going basically
Jesus as we know of is his earthly father Joseph was a carpenter and we would say
I think we can rightly say that Jesus grew up for many many years being by his by Joseph's side being a carpenter but he's in obscurity he's not well known he's in a small town in Nazareth he's not well known and I think that would raise some questions here at John the
Baptist, wouldn't it? John is just admitting from the text here as far as I can see that he did not recognize in a full sense according to the original
Arabic here, in a full sense of Jesus and who he is but we do know he might be manifested and revealed to Israel look at verse 32 it tells us more
John bore witness saying I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and he remained upon him
God had previously revealed to John the Baptist that this was the sign that was to indicate the promised
Messiah this would be the sign and we see this look at verse 33
I did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining on him this is he who baptizes with the
Holy Spirit John baptized with water but Jesus will baptize with the
Holy Spirit no mortal man can do that folks only
Christ the Messiah can do that so when John witnessed this act he was able to identify the
Messiah as Jesus which act is he talking about? well look with me to Matthew go with me to Matthew's Gospel chapter 3 he's speaking of the baptism this is very significant look at chapter 3 look with me to verse 13 through 17 those portions of scriptures there
John basically baptizes Jesus verse 13 then
Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him
John tried to prevent him now he truly recognized here the greatness of Christ and this is what
John says I need to be baptized by you and you are coming to me that is a wonderful question shows
John's humility I need to be baptized by you and you are coming to me but Jesus answered and said to him
I love this don't you? permit it to be so now permit it to be so now for thus it is fitting for us
John's joining in on this Jesus brings him in on this for us to fulfill all righteousness it's incredible then he allowed him the old king
James says he suffered him he allowed him he submitted he basically submitted to Christ verse 16 when he had been baptized
Jesus came up immediately from the water I see immersion there but I won't go there from the water and behold the heavens were open to him and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove and a lightning upon him and suddenly a voice from heaven saying this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased here you see the whole trinity right the father speaks from heaven Jesus the son is there and then the spirit of God the
Holy Spirit comes upon him in the form like a in the form of a dove like a dove a lightning upon him descending upon him and that was the sign in which
John had so we see this verse 15 certificate folks
Jesus answered and said to him permit it to be so now that it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness and he allowed him so we see here he was ultimately
Jesus was actually identifying himself with sinners you know we have to be baptized it's an outward sign of what
God does miraculously within us right the new birth this is an outward sign to show that there's been a death a burial and resurrection with Christ but here
Jesus is literally not in the sense of by no means he's the spotless
Lamb of God he's without sin so why does he do this he's identifying with sinners this is so significant that he will ultimately bear the sins our sins as the
Lamb of God the perfect righteous son of God the righteous one and his perfect righteousness that will be imputed to them to the sinners this is the transference that he's identifying so again
I pointed this out last Lord's Day there's a double imputation we hear a lot about Jesus forgives our sins and that is so important it is he takes our sin but that's only one part of the transfer he takes our filthy rags of our righteousness our sins even our good deeds are rotten before God right he has all the good perfect good deeds
Jesus does so he gives us his robe of righteousness there's a transfer there's a great exchange that's double imputation that's what we need to tell people just not half of it yes he forgives you your sins and he takes your sins he blows it apart in the sea of forgetfulness it's gone he did that isn't that great but also he gives us his righteousness to live a holy life now our you know we're not perfect in the sense of living our sanctified holy life but we are dressed in the righteousness of Christ because in salvation that's what happens that justification takes place and then there's the sanctification well this act of baptism was necessary part of righteousness and secured for sinners now
I got a quote by MacArthur here I really like it's very good listen to what he said quote this public event of his ministry is also rich in meaning number one it pictured his death and resurrection number two it therefore prefigured the significance of the
Christian baptism three it marked his first public identification with those whose sins he would bear and fourth it would be a public affirmation of his messiahship by testimony directly from heaven end quote that is so good and we can break each one of those down and look into it but we're not going to do it today because we have communion verse 34 chapter 1 notice what he says in verse 34 and I sing and testify that this is the son of God this is
John's testimony folks so on day 2 we can rightly say
John the baptist says to the crowd look at him look at him the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world he is the son of God he is
God's son the lamb of God that's John's ministry he knows it without with absolute certainty he knows this he's seen it he testified he heard the voice from heaven here at the baptism of the father that this is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased he's seen the spirit coming down like a dove descending upon Jesus the dove signifying gentleness grace and alighting upon Jesus so we have the finest the most believable trustworthy voice
John the baptist this is his testimony of who Jesus is who
Jesus is that all Israel affirming that this is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world application what's my application this great message that gives us hope that gives hope to the world folks this is a living hope that we must take to every person we must have a all consuming passion to tell people who
Jesus is and what he has done right there's a grave difference of what religion tells us and you've heard me say this before all religions of this world is man's attempt to get to God that's all it is it's man's attempt to try to get to God on their own terms and their good works but Christianity the gospel is
God coming to us and what has God done right that's why we say behold the lamb of God look at what
God done on the cross he took your sin he took my sin and he also gives us his righteousness see this is the living hope that we give, we give the gospel this is the remedy for the horrible sin and we're redeemed
God has provided this all in the Lord Jesus Christ the person of Jesus Christ person and works of Jesus Christ so how does it work, how does it work behold the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world he took our penalty he took our judgment once and for all he took that the wrath of God was poured upon him because God is perfectly holy again he that knew no sin became sin that we might become the righteousness of God in him once and for all he died he took
God's wrath he took God's judgment he took our iniquity he took it in his own body and he bore it to Calvary as the ultimate sacrifice folks is not this not our message, this is our story, this is our song as the family crossed we said praise my savior all the day long, perfect submission perfect delight
I am my savior it goes on this is what it's all about Christ and Christ alone
I love what Stephen Lawson says he preaches powerfully and he says Christ and Christ alone is enough actually if you got something else you don't need it all you need is
Jesus Christ nothing added to it, nothing taken away Christ is sufficient he took our sin he bore it all the way to Calvary and to accept us into the beloved by his atoning grace,
Ephesians 2 3, 13 -16 let me read it, but now in Christ Jesus you who were once were far off, listen to this you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ, that's what brings us near is the blood of Christ for he himself is our peace brother
Keith mentioned last talking about peace with God, that's what really matters the only way to get peace with God is being justified and Jesus is the just and the justifier he brings us peace with God then the peace of God comes in our sanctification but the peace with God then the scripture says who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation having abolished it in his flesh the enmity that is the law the law of commandments contained in the ordinances so as to create himself one new man from the two thus making peace that he might reconcile them both to God that's what it's about, ministry of reconciliation and both to God in one body through the cross, through the cross, through the cross thereby putting to death the enmity so the
Holy Spirit does this and he does something supernatural within us something we can't do for ourselves, amen it's through the supernatural new birth and God does an incredible operation by the spirit, he takes out a stony heart he puts in a heart of flesh and even in that heart of flesh he says
I will write my laws upon that heart of flesh and you know what that's what gives us cause, that's how he causes us to love him and to fear him and to love him and to and he writes those laws on the tablet of a fleshly heart it's not external it's not on the external trying to be something good or trying to be a
Christian it is the desire within that he changes by the new birth that we're changed and that's why
Paul says, therefore if any man be in Christ he is what, a new creation then he says the word behold, look all things have become new all things have passed away, all things have become new, right so that is the supernatural work of the
Holy Spirit well I must close this down 1st
John 1 .7 but if we walk in the light as he is in the light we have fellowship with one another in the blood of Jesus, there it is the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin oh beloved look to Jesus, look to Jesus and Jesus alone, look and live behold the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, let me tell you a story in conclusion here again, I speak of Spurgeon you can tell
I love Spurgeon, right I love old Charles Spurgeon because every time you read
Spurgeon, he takes me, every time I read him, he takes me to Jesus he takes me to Jesus this is a true story and I mentioned this to brother
Zach last week and you might have heard me mention this before he was testing the acoustics one day in the metropolitan tabernacle and of course it was the echo and it was quite a large church because he preached to a lot of people, thousands in that sanctuary and he didn't realize this, no one was in there he thought he didn't see no one and he shouted out just testing it behold the
Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and not realizing it when he said that there was a lady in the loft that heard him say that great proclamation
Spurgeon Spurgeon didn't realize it, he just unleashed the Lamb not realizing it that woman heard that and she got on her knees and her face before God and she repented gave her a complete life and heart and soul to Jesus Christ and believed in the gospel that's the power of God's word folks, unleash the
Lamb, by faith faith comes by hearing, hearing by the word of God, Amen Amen Amen, let's pray
Father how wonderful it is that we have this wonderful gospel the gospel of light the gospel of truth the gospel that is all in all to us and that is
Jesus Christ, he is the gospel God is your gospel it is your good news and all that we need to know is in Jesus and Jesus alone thank you for the salvation that you've given us through faith, by grace through faith,
Lord that we have looked upon Christ by your spirit and we see who he is and who we really are and we beheld his glory full of grace and truth
Lord I just pray, bless us in the remainder of this time as we come before your table and seek your face, continue to bless us in this hour of worship as we commune with one another and commune before you and we ask this in Jesus name