(John) the Powerful Proclamation of John — Willie Mullan

The Word’s Eternal Glory and Incarnation

Last week, we began with John, chapter one, verse one, and we found our Lord Jesus Christ away in the glory. The Word was there before the beginning of all things. In the beginning was the Word. When anything began that ever had a beginning, the Word was, and the Word was God, and we found the eternal Son away in the glory before the world was.

And then we traced Him coming down to Samaria, to Nazareth. You see, I didn't want to clutter up the chart with all these names. If I would make them as big as this for you to read at the back, then the whole thing would be cluttered up.

So here is Nazareth right in here. These blue lines are leading us in to where these cities are in their proper place. And it was at Nazareth that the great, miraculous conception took place. The Virgin Mary conceived, and the Word became flesh.

And then, you see, when the Roman authority commanded the whole world to descend, Miriam Joseph had to come down to Bethlehem. Now, while I drew a straight line through the map, I believe, like all the other Jews, they crossed out of Galilee, came down the Jordan Valley, crossed in here, and came down to Bethlehem.

And it was there we saw the Word now speak, dwelling among us. Yes, the Word became flesh and then dwelt among us. He was in the world now, and the world was made by Him, but the world knew Him not. And then we followed John the Baptist preaching out to Bethlehem, beyond Jordan, just over the Jordan River, at the place called Bethlehem Barrow, John preached the great messages.

And that's where we finished last week, in the John's Gospel, chapter 1, and at verse 28. Now, let's have a look at it again. John 1, verse 28. These things were done in Bethlehem Barrow, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing.

You see, John was outside the land of Judea here, and it was here that he was baptizing, and it was here that he preached his great message. Now, we're commencing at Bethlehem Barrow this evening, and we're going to trace the Lord Jesus, starting on His ministry.

I believe He went right back up the Jordan Valley, across into Galilee, and we shall finish at the first verse of John, chapter 2, this evening, when we get Him up Cana of Galilee, right up here in Cana of Galilee.

Now, there are quite a few interesting things take place in those two verses, and that's what we're after this evening. In these verses, I have divided the message into four. If you're looking at your notes, you'll notice this, that the first thing that I want to underline in these passages this evening is the proclamation of John.

John’s Proclamation of the Lamb of God

And I believe that I should have called it the powerful proclamation of John, because it was done here at Bethlehem Barrow, beyond Jordan, that John gave God never to be forgotten Christ. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

So, we'll deal with the proclamation of John. And then, in these ten verses, we'll find the conversion of Andrew and John and James and Peter. And, you know, the story of conversion are always very interesting, well worth paying attention to.

And you will notice this evening that two of these men were brought to saving faith in Christ by the teaching of John the Baptist, and then other two were fished out by two disciples, so that there is a great deal for us to learn in the conversion of Andrew and John and James and Peter.

Then we have a very special word to say about the addition of Philip this evening. You'll see from verse forty-three that when the Lord Jesus was going back towards Galilee, the day following, Jesus would go forth into Galilee and find us Philip.

I believe, you see, on the journey back here, after our Lord left Bethlehem Barrow and he came up the Georgian Valley, and many of these Galileans were returning home, that the Lord overtook Philip, made himself known unto him, and called Philip into full-time service right at that very wonderful spot.

So, we have a word about the addition of Philip, and then the chapter ends with the adoration of Graphanian. And these are what we'll underline for you this evening. The proclamation of John, the conversion of Andrew, the addition of Philip, the adoration of Nathanael.

And we are beginning our Bible reading tonight in verse twenty-nine. John's Gospel, chapter one, verse twenty-nine. The next day, John sees Jesus coming unto him. The next day. What day was that? That was the day after the Pharisees and scribes had come out to question John the Baptist.

Remember, we ended the Bible reading last evening where the Jews came out from Jerusalem to question John the Baptist, why he was preaching, why he was baptizing. He wasn't one of the priests of the temple.

He didn't belong to the Sanhedrin. What right had he to do these things? And John might well have answered that God sent him, and he might well have told them that he was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb.

He might have said that he was one of the prophets, for he was the last of the Old Testament prophets. In fact, our Lord Jesus said of John, there was not a greater than John the Baptist. But then came the question.

The Pharisees would question men of God's truth. But the day after the questioning, John sees Jesus coming unto him and says, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Now, I want you to notice that John is identifying the Lamb of God.

The Lord Jesus is walking before him, and you can see the flaming prophet, whose eyes were like a flame of fire, pointing up at blessed Lord Jesus and crying from the depths of his soul, Behold the Lamb of God.

He was identifying the Lamb. And, you know, the moment that John the Baptist began to talk about the Lamb, and he's the first one in the New Testament talking about the Lamb, the moment he began to talk about the Lamb, he was touching the central doctrine of the Bible.

All the great truths of the Bible center round the Lamb, just like all the planets lie round the sun. The Lamb is the central doctrine of the Bible. You take your Bible sometime and go from Genesis to Revelation, and try to gather up everything about the Lamb, it'll take you a few weeks to do it, but oh, my dear, what a wonderful thing it is.

You remember when Abraham was going up Mount Moriah to offer up Isaac, that Isaac said, Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the Lamb? And Abraham made a statement, and I don't think that he himself knew the depth of the statement he made.

He said, God shall provide himself a Lamb. God's Lamb. That was the Lamb being prophesied. And if you go into Exodus and Leviticus, you will find all the types in shadow. You will find the Lamb of the burnt offering, the Lamb of the trespass offering, the Lamb of the sin offering.

That's the Lamb typified. You have the Lamb prophesied, and then you have the Lamb typified. And then when you come into the great central prophetic chapter of the Bible, Isaiah 53, it begins like this, Who hath believed, thou report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?

The arm of the Lord turns out to be a person. A person, a person who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, and he was led as a Lamb. That's the Lamb personified. You have the Lamb prophesied, you have the Lamb typified, you have the Lamb personified.

But tonight you have the Lamb identified. That's the Lamb. No other Lamb either. That's God's Lamb, the Lord Jesus. And if you go along with me in John's Gospel, one night you'll see the Lamb crucified.

And if you come to the writings of John at the end of the book, you'll see the Lamb glorified. Why, the whole book talks about the Lamb. The Lamb prophesied, the Lamb typified, the Lamb personified, the Lamb identified, the Lamb crucified, the Lamb glorified.

Why, the whole book swings around the Lamb. It's a wonderful thing. Yes. But I want you to get the hold of this. Oh, I wouldn't like you to miss this. John cried, Behold the Lamb of God. And what John was underlining, I believe, was this.

He was trying to direct the attention of all and sundry to the sacrifice that God was making. It was God. And what it was costing God to provide salvation for man. You see, John's Gospel last week brought before us the Word.

In the beginning was the Word. Then in verse fourteen it said, The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father. The Word was the Son.

And you know, God so loved the world that He gave His Son up for sacrifice. That's just how much God loved you, sir. He loved a big man like you so much that He gave His only begotten Son. And the Son of God became the Lamb of God.

That's the identification of the Lamb. But there's another bit in this wonderful statement, isn't there? You'll notice how I put the second heading under the proclamation of John, and I want you to notice it very carefully.

The Cross and the Sin of the World

Not only have we the identification of the Lamb, but here we have an explanation of the cross. I want you to be very careful with that, because I was very careful with it. John cried, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

I want you to get that. That's an explanation of the cross. Now listen to me. That's not the explanation of the cross, that's our explanation. You know, there was so much accomplished at Calvary that you couldn't get it all into one phrase.

But this is one side of the cross we're looking at this evening. And don't forget that. It's only one side. You know, I think it would be good for all you younger students, and especially for you young men who are going to preach the Gospel, if you listen to me carefully just now, that when you come to gaze at the cross of Calvary, would you kindly remind yourself that you don't know one solitary thing of what happened in the darkness yonder, only what God has revealed.

You just don't know one solitary thing about it, nor neither do I. And if you were not standing at the cross without the book, you wouldn't know what happened. And don't ever forget that, either. You don't know.

You only know what God tells you, and you'll have to be very careful with what He tells you. And so, as you stand before the cross here, because John was contemplating the Lamb going to Calvary, and here is one side of the cross worked.

This is an explanation, not the whole revelation of the cross. An explanation. He's only showing one side of the work. He was the Lamb of God which bareth away. Now, what's the wording? The sin of the world.

And when I hear young preachers on the street quoting, they see it as over-quoted. The Lamb of God which bareth away the sins of the world. Well, has nobody ever taught you that, son? That's a text of your own, and if you preach text that's your own, you're a fool, because God will not bless anything that you create.

You'll just have to take the word as it's written. And if you don't, it'll be a pity of you. For if you create text and then preach them, God will not be with you. My dear friend, I think we want to get the hold of this completely.

John was standing and saying, Behold the sacrifice that God is making. The sacrifice that will bare away forever the sins of the world. The sins. Thank you, that's not sins, sir. No, it's a bit of it.

I believe if you start preaching about and bearing away the sins of the world, you'll be in the universal preaching of the gospel, and it'll be a pity of you. Look, there is one thing that we must recognize, that every baby that's born into this world, why can't you see the tiny, little, curly-headed, dimple-cheeked baby?

Well, it's a sinner. I know that shocks you, but that's the truth. Say, could you prove that, man? I could prove it. See, the book that I'm reading out of, well, Ephesians, chapter 2, says that by nature, we are children of wrath, even as others.

You see, inside the tiny, little baby, there's something that condemns it. It's a thing called sin. Now, it's a principle that's inside. Nobody ever had to teach me to tell lies, you know. When I grew up and something inside me taught me all that I needed to know about doing things like that.

And you never have to teach a baby to tell untruths, or to do a whole lot of wee things you don't want them to do. There's something inside looks after that. And you see, the thing inside condemns them already.

Oh! Why would he die if he's not a sinner? Why does he die? He's absolutely cut to the nuclear bomb. Oh, you're going to be faced with the terrible, awful fact that they die, aren't you? Yes, they die.

And they die because they're condemned already. And they're condemned already because the thing inside is called sin. And, of course, every mother who ever lost a baby, and I'm being as tender here as I can, but I must speak some truth.

You know, she always wants to know, just where did that wee baby of mine go? Well, I'll tell you this. The only thing that condemned it was a thing inside called sin. And that thing was dealt with in its brutality, a calvary by Christ, for all eternity, and your baby as stiff as God could make it.

It happened. It happened through the work of the cross. Man, that's something to praise God. You should smell your soul now. And every wee baby that goes out, the soul, the cross crushes it. And it condemns it by the sacrifice of himself.

I and every boy and girl that was brought into this world, and their mind just wasn't right, and they never were truly rational beings, and you couldn't hold them responsible for anything. Sin! Sin! It's sin!

It's inside, and it was dealt with in its totality itself. Ah, that's an explanation of the cross. There's only one of them. But you know, if you wanted to get the full explanation of the cross, you'd have to go in through all the verses and get them all together.

You know, the Lord Jesus didn't only go to the cross as the Lamb to bear away the sin of the world. Let me tell you this, that he went to yon cross, and he gave himself the ransom for all men. Ah, that's something, isn't it?

That's different. You see, in the one place we're watching them dealing with sin, and it's the sin that condemns everybody that enters there. And he took it away for all eternity in its totality at Calvary.

But in the same second, on the same cross, he was giving out his life's blood as the ransom for all men. And on the ransom, the great eternal God stands tonight on the finished work of the cross. And he's offering to every man of Adam's race a full, free, perfect, present, eternal salvation, if you'll trust the Savior who died and rose again.

Let me tell you this, the moment you bring in this word, trust, or believe, my, look, let me get this over to you. The moment a believer comes to the cross, and sees the finished work that God rests on, and puts the arms of his faith round the Savior that God has given, my, he stands with a thousand other believers, and he says, Christ died!

Intelligent Gospel Preaching and the Finished Work

And that's how to know, isn't it? And every time you get... You young fellows will need to get the gospel in an intelligent way. And I believe the greatest need of all country tonight is intelligent gospel preachers.

My dear friend, I believe that the gospel that I preach, the gospel that I sat down at Christ's feet to learn many years ago, is the most wonderful message that ever fell on a mortal ear. There are so many sides to it, so many wonders at Calvary, we're only looking at one of them tonight, the Lamb of God which beareth away the sin of the world.

That's just an explanation of Calvary. You see, if you get these phrases all upside down, on one side you'll be preaching universalism, and that'll be a pity of you, and on the other side you'll be among the limited redemptionists, and it'll be a double pity of you.

But if you get the phrases the way God gave you, and you don't know a thing beyond what God gave you, then you'll have an intelligent appreciation of the gospel. You see, there's not only the identification of the Lamb and an explanation of the cross, but John goes quickly to the thirtieth verse, This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man.

I like that bit. You know, while John knew the pre-existence of Christ, and that he was God's Son who became the Lamb, John was recognizing the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus. There was a recognition of the man.

And then he went quickly to say this, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me, for he was before me. You see, that word was, well, it's the same Greek word as was in the first verse. In the beginning was the word.

It's the Greek word eto. And it means, in the beginning, when anything began that ever had a beginning, the word existed. And that's what John's verse is true. John says, This man is preferred before me, for he existed before me.

Isn't that very wonderful? You see, there's not only a recognition of the man, but there's an information of his pre-existence here in this wonderful thing. And then John in verse thirty-one says, this is still John preaching, I knew him not.

You know, I think that's tremendous. You see, the Lord Jesus was born definitely in Bethlehem, and then had to run because of heaven into Egypt, and then was brought back to Nazareth. Now John spent all his days in Judea.

His father was Zechariah the priest. His mother was Elizabeth. And the Lord Jesus spent all his youthful days in Galilee. And so they never came together. While John was six months older than the Lord Jesus.

You know, they hadn't seen much of each other as they ever saw each other at all. And John's now saying, I knew him not. I didn't know. And then he goes on to say this, verse thirty-one, But that he should be made manifest to Israel.

Now get the hold of that. Manifest to Israel. You see, some people have no future for the Jew. None at all. I wonder what they were manifesting him to Israel for. And I could very soon tell you. He was the king of the Jews.

You know, if you're taking in the revelation that comes in John, he was the Word of God. He was the light of men. He was the life of men. He was the Lamb of God. He was the Son of God. He was the king of the Jews.

Oh, it's a tremendous thing, isn't it? You know, there's a tiny little hint of the expectation of Israel here. John says, verse thirty-one, I knew him not. But that he should be made manifest to Israel.

Therefore am I now come baptizing with water. John was preparing a people for the coming of the king. And John there echoed saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it abode upon him.

And I knew not but. But he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost.

Well, John was looking far ahead now. My, there was a day when the Lord Jesus was baptized at Jordan by John. And as he came up out of the water, you know, the Holy Ghost came upon him like a dove descending.

And John saw this and this was the sign. Because God had told John, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending like a dove, this is the Lamb. And he's not only the Lamb, he's the one who will eventually baptize with the Holy Ghost.

But you know, the Lord Jesus couldn't baptize with the Holy Ghost until he went home to heaven. The Holy Ghost was not yet given to John's gospel because Jesus was not yet glorified. And when Jesus went home to heaven, he sent the Holy Ghost and he baptized all the followers into one body.

And there and then became the head of the church. Yes, we're all connected with him tonight by one church. And there is one body, and it's the church of Jesus Christ. And there are Presbyterians, and Methodists, and Baptists, and Brethren, and Pentecostals, and all the rest from all prophets in the church, you see.

Now, they don't believe that only Baptists are saved in this place. Praise God, I've seen some of the godliest Methodists. I am Presbyterian, that the world has ever known. Root to God, I would give this pulpit up tomorrow if we could fill the land with men like Matthew.

Well, I would. Root to God, we'll have a thousand of them. You know, sometimes I get blamed for hardly seeing anybody but Baptists. It's a lie. My dear friend, let's get godly men and we'll recognize them.

But when you bring a character like Schubert across, and he denies the virgin birth, and modernists who say, Here's what a modernist said some time ago. Now, see if it's sweet. He said, Our Lord Jesus flirted all the days of his life with Mary and Martha.

You think that man's fit for a pulpit? He wouldn't last two seconds in this one. No, friends, we're all in the church this evening. Touched to the head by the Holy Ghost. Now, here's how John ends the message.

Verse thirty-four. And I saw and there record that this is the Son of God. I think that's wonderful. You see how much he packed into that. My, as he preached, there was the identification of the Lamb, there was an explanation of the cross, there was a recognition of the man, an information of his preexistence, there was a touch of the expectation of the King, the demonstration of the head, and the revelation of the count.

My John was a great preacher. My dear friends, you know, we haven't pictures like that now. Just in that small space, how much he packed and watched what a revelation he was given of the Christ of God.

Good to God we've had men like that again. But then he was a man sent from God and filled with the Holy Ghost, and that's what he is. Now, that will do for the proclamation of John. Now comes the conversion of Andrew and John, James and Peter.

Andrew, John, James, and Peter Follow Jesus

See verse thirty-five. Again, the next day. You see, the writer of this Gospel is very particular about days and times. He says, again the next day, that's the next day after John had preached. I want you to notice this bit, this is wonderful.

Again the next day after John, the next day after John stood on two of his disciples. Now, he wasn't preaching to a crowd now. He was just standing with a couple of disciples. That's all he's doing, he's not preaching now at all.

And you know, as the Lord Jesus went past, John, looking upon Jesus as he walked, says, Behold the Lamb of God. You know, I think there's something here for the whole crowd of us. You know, it's a wonderful thing to be able to move men with preaching Christ, says the Lord Jesus.

But it's a great thing that you can bring Christ into everyday conversation. Yes, I know some of them could talk about football for a week, but never mention Christ. Wonder how you get on with the ordinary conversation.

Wonder how you get on in the, how do you get on in the office. How do you get on in the business? How do you get on in the factory? Do you never hear His name? No wonder you're no help to anybody. Because John wasn't only a great preacher, man, he practiced what he preached.

He's just standing talking to two boys. He says, Look, the Lamb of God. Isn't that lovely? And you know, something happens. You must have said it with so much conviction that verse 37 says, And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

That was wonderful. Wonderful, you know, when you can draw men to Christ by your preaching. And it's wonderful when you can send men after Christ by your talking. Oh, that's great. Great lessons to learn there.

Verse 38, Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and said unto them, Watch this ye, and said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where dwellest thou? Now, I think that there's something lost here if you don't know the customs of these.

You see, if you are following close behind a man for some time, he will stop in the far east and turn around and say, Stop this ye, sir. Because if you want an interview with a man in the east, and especially in those days, they didn't phone them up, they hadn't got a phone.

You see, he followed along the road, and then the man will stop and say, Watch this ye. And then they will say, Where dwellest thou? And the idea is this, we want fellowship with thee. We want to talk with thee.

We want to have a cup with thee of ourselves. And if he's going to make an appointment right there and then, he'll say, Come and sit. And so these fellows followed on until the Lord turned and said, Watch this ye.

And they said, Where dwellest thou? And they're just asking for an interview. We want an appointment with you.

And the Lord made it there and then. I think that was lovely. He didn't keep them waiting.

He said, Come and sit. And he said unto them, Come and sit. And they came and saw where he dwelt. Now, watch this. And abode with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour. Now, you'll always have trouble in the Gospels with time.

I think that I have read about a dozen and a half commentaries between last week and this week on John, the second half of the chapter. And I don't think two of them are agreed on what hour this is. There's so many ways of counting time that they can't agree.

And yet, I think, for me, it's very simple. I'll show you what I see, and it's debatable. You see, the Jew counted time like this. His day began at sundown. That's when his day began, at sundown. And then his first part of the day went on until sunrise.

Then he counted the second part of the day from sunrise to sundown. Now, if they're counting from sunrise to sundown on the second part of the day here, then it was four o 'clock in the afternoon. We say sunrise at six.

Up to twelve is six, and then to four is ten. It was the tenth hour. And some of the commentators believe it was the tenth hour of Jewish time. That was four o 'clock in the afternoon. But I feel that John, of all the Gospels, counts in Roman time, not Jewish time.

He begins his day at midnight like we do. And from midnight to midday is before noon, and from midday to midnight is the afternoon, putting the day into two like that. And you see, if John was beginning at midnight, and he was counting ten hours, then it was ten in the morning, not four in the afternoon.

Now, there are five or six more ways of counting time that I'm not going to this evening, for I'll really get into a muddle, and then you'll be in a muddle, but we'll just keep at these two. You see, here's the governing phrase of the whole thing to me.

Verse thirty-nine. He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day. From the nearly how the day was. And I believe that John is counting Roman time from twelve o 'clock at night to ten o 'clock in the morning.

And they had from ten o 'clock in the morning the whole day were along. They abode with him that day. Sure as it had been Jewish time, they would have had to say, they abode with him that afternoon. But they had a whole day with him.

Tell me this. Did you ever have a whole day with him? Did you? Did you ever get shot in with him at ten o 'clock in the morning, and spend the whole day with him? No, did you? Why, there's nothing so wonderful in this earth.

You know, I believe that one of the great necessities to the Christian church is this, to have men in our pulpit who can teach the gospel, and to have men and women in our pews who spend time with God.

Now that's it. Now watch. Here's what happened when they spent time with him. They were there the whole day in verse thirty-nine, verse forty. One of the two which had John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

One of the two. You know, the other one was John himself. John has a wonderful way of covering himself up. Why, on another occasion he says, the disciple whom Jesus loved leaned down his roof. He'd never say anything about himself as he can get out of it.

And so one of the two. The two that John the Baptist was standing cutting to were Andrew and John. And these two followed Jesus and went and spent the day with him, and they were so thrilled with the Master that at the end of the day, one of them, whose name was Andrew, here's what happened.

One of them whose name was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, he first findeth his own brother Simon and saith unto him, We have found a Messiah which is being interpreted to Christ, and he brought him to Jesus.

Well, that's good, isn't it? You see, that's how Simon came to the Lord. You know, it was just because a little fellow called Andrew listened to a man called John the Baptist and followed Jesus and spent the day with him and was so thrilled that the great Peter came to know the Lord.

You know, if we had more Andrews in the church, we might get more Peter. Might get more Peter. That's how it is. Oh yes, I know he became the great Peter, I know he's the leader, I know he did so many wonderful things.

I know he was the outstanding apostle and rightly so. But let me tell you, it was his wee brother Andrew who brought him here for to notice how a man Baptist chatting to these two that sent them after Jesus.

And it was this fellow who went and brought Peter. Let me ask you, did you ever bring anybody to the Lord? You see, I believe we are facing three great necessities. Oh, I'd love to really preach on this, but time won't permit it.

I believe the greatest necessity of the whole Christian church tonight is this. A man in your pulpit who can really preach the gospel intelligently. And I'll say this, and I mean this. If you can find a man in the crowd who can intelligently preach the gospel, take your friend there.

Take your man. I mean that. Friend, you take your friend where the gospel is being preached. You take a man. I believe that's one of the greatest needs, an intelligent gospel preacher. Secondly, we need men and women who will speak.

More time with a telegraph than you do with a Lord's sermon. You know every phrase that's on it. Let me ask you, did you read your Bible today? Or how long did you spend with the Lord? Did he talk to you?

Where were you all day? Mind if I made you stand up? Some of you Christians would blush. I'll tell you this. We don't only need good gospel preachers. We don't only need men to spend time with God. But we need men who go out and fetch the souls and bring them in.

One of the biggest needs in the church tonight is men who will fetch the souls. You know, when I was preaching at Bloomfield, the detective who looks after the attorney general got saved when I was there.

Oh, he's a great fellow. And he's still in the job yet. I was at Stormont not so long ago and saw him. One Sunday he came to me in Bloomfield and he said, You know, Pastor, I found out something. I found out that I'll never be a preacher.

I'd be good at it, but I'm no good. And I found out that I can't pray very well either. I can't really get started in the family. But I found this out. That if I make an effort, I can bring a half a dozen people every Sunday to the church who needs to be saved.