John's Testimony of Christ: Part B

I want you to turn your Bible this morning to John chapter 1.

John 1 · chapter mention

We are going to be studying the passage beginning in verse 29, John chapter 1 verse 29, and carrying

John 1:29

a lobby. We have a collection of Gospels of John, and these Gospels put together by the,

what league is that, Pastor? Do you remember? New Pocket Testament League. Anyway, an excellent

little Gospel of John, and one of the things that we are encouraging all of you to do is

prayerfully take one of those and then look for an opportunity where you can give it to someone

in a personal way, not just kind of a drive-by shooting. You know, I threw a Gospel at you across

the lobby or something like that, but make a connection and make a prayerful focus and give

the person a Gospel of John and then follow up on it. And what I want to do is about a month or so

from now, I'd like to kind of gather some of the stories, the little vignettes of how

God has been using these Gospels in the lives of the people that you have been sharing them with.

Instead of having recitations of various parts of the Gospel of John, we're going to share

stories of how the Gospel of John, having given it to other people and encouraging them to focus and

read that book, that's making it different in their lives. Well, let's look, if you will,

at John chapter 1 and we begin in verse 29, and I'm going to read the passage just to set it in your

John 1 · chapter mention

thinking and in your mind and then ask that you join with me in prayer as we take this text to hand.

The next day, he saw Jesus coming toward him and said,

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Heavenly Father,

we are thankful

for the undeserved blessing that we have

of being your children,

of having the Word of God in our hand

and having the

indwelling Spirit whose ministry

includes

helping us comprehend

the Scriptures

and helping us

grow in our understanding

of the glory and preeminence of Christ.

Christ.

And so we, without apology

and with confidence,

ask that the Holy Spirit would work

to give to us

understanding and a growing affection for the Lord Jesus

and that that

understanding and growing affection

would end up

being an effective part

of the witness that you have called us to be.

And we ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Well, as we take the passage in hand

and we are looking at the second part

of the opening statement

that is made

after the prelude.

The prelude

is the part where

the Apostle

basically introduces

all of the book of John

in kind of a broad outline fashion.

And in verses 1 through 18,

we have there

all the different parts

that the remainder of the book

is going to cover.

Early in John's gospel

in chapter 1,

we were reminded

of the fact

that God sent

John the Baptist

in front of the Lord Jesus Christ

and his ministry

was, in essence,

kind of as an announcer,

as a person explaining

the coming of the important individual,

namely the Messiah,

the one who would be

the Savior of the world.

And we saw last week

that one of the things

that characterized

John the Baptist's ministry

was that he was faithful

as a witness.

One of the things

that I trust

was kind of stuck

in your mind

was this,

is that John the Baptist

in his ministry

was all about Jesus,

not about himself.

And I want you to understand

that whenever we share

our story,

if we are sharing it

from the perspective

that John the Baptist

engaged in sharing it,

we're not the hero

of our story.

We are always pointing

to the Lord Jesus Christ,

who is the one

and only Savior

of the world

and the one who I trust

has made all the difference

in your life.

With that as background,

we see, first of all,

as we saw actually,

that the first part tells us

that John was

a faithful witness.

Now, what we want to see

in these verses

is what John witnessed about.

And if you want to know

in advance

or you want to make

a note in your Bible

so that you can kind of

have these things

firmly fixed in your mind

and understand,

one of the underlying purposes

of preaching

the Gospel of John

is that it helps you

to be more effective

in what God's called us to be.

What have He called you to be?

He's called you to be

just like John the Baptist

and a witness

to the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so if we're going

to be effective as a witness,

we need to understand

that what John the Baptist does

is model,

model the characteristics

of what should be said.

Number one,

we find out that Jesus

is the Lamb of God

and He came to make sacrifice

for our sins.

Without question,

when we share our testimony,

front and center

to our testimony

is the fact

that we had to come

to the point

of recognizing

that we were sinners

deserving the judgment

of God

and yet God sent His Son,

the Lord Jesus Christ,

who died in what?

In our place.

He died for my sins

and He satisfied

God's judgment

against my sins.

Jesus is the Lamb of God.

Number two

that we're going to see

is that Jesus is the Savior.

The only one

who can really save us

is the Lord Jesus Christ.

Salvation is not something

that takes place

because you grew up

in a good home

or you were a good person

or you've done

a lot of nice things

and you've helped

different situations.

You got a lot of...

You're a good person.

That's not what gets us

to heaven.

Salvation is only

of the Lord Jesus Christ

and He is the Savior

of the world.

Third,

we are going to be reminded

of the fact,

and listen to this carefully,

that Jesus is the Son of God

and in making that statement,

we are affirming

the glory and the supremacy

of the Lord Jesus Christ,

Lord of Lord,

King of Kings,

the one who we will enjoy

and adore and worship forever.

And as you think about these things,

I want you to push

these things together

and have them clearly

in your mind,

the Lamb,

the Savior,

and the Sovereign.

Now with that in mind,

I want you to pick up,

if you will,

and see first of all,

there in verse 29,

that Jesus is sin's sacrifice.

Jesus coming towards Him,

John the Baptist says,

behold,

the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sins of the world.

The very next day

after John the Baptist

had that delegation

come from Jerusalem

and the delegation said,

all right, all right,

we want to know who you are

and what you're doing.

I mean, after all,

you don't have a degree

from us here in Jerusalem.

What is going on?

And they said,

are you the Messiah?

Well, no, I'm not.

Are you that prophet?

Are you Elijah?

And in each case,

John the Baptist said,

no, I'm not.

No, I'm not.

And he said,

in very, very simple terms,

he says,

I want you to understand

all I am

is somebody

who's kind of walking

in front,

well in front of the king.

I'm a little bit

like a road worker

who is out there

kind of saying to people,

hey, make the road clear

because the king is coming.

He'll be here soon.

The very next day

after making this

very humble statement

about who he was,

John the Baptist

sees Jesus coming

and he makes this

unbelievable statement.

There in verse 29,

he says,

look,

look,

and I want you

to understand that

the way in which

the text frames it

is that John the Baptist,

here he was going

about his normal business,

and he kind of looks up

and he says,

whoa,

there he is,

that's him.

And I trust that one

of the characteristics

of your testimony,

and we're always engaged

in testifying,

do you realize that?

Every day,

every place we are,

we are either being

a good testimony

or a bad testimony.

And being a good testimony

means drawing attention

to the Lord Jesus Christ

and that's exactly

what John the Baptist does.

He says,

behold,

look,

the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

In an instant,

John's message changed

from get ready,

he's coming,

to here he is.

This is the one.

And I want you

to remember that

up to this point,

John's preaching

had exposed sin.

That's what he'd been doing.

Make no mistake about it,

as John the Baptist preached,

people were convicted

of the things

that were going on

in their lives

that were wrong.

They were convicted

of the darkness

of their life.

They were convicted

of the ugliness

and the shame

and the horror

of what they really

were inside.

And John the Baptist,

as a result of his preaching,

he had many, many people

come and say,

I need to be baptized.

That baptism

was not a baptism

that had anything

to do with salvation.

It was just a baptism

that was a public recognition

of the need

of their soul

for a redeemer.

And so here it is,

in the midst

of this process

of baptizing people,

that John the Baptist

stands up

and he says,

Jesus is God's Lamb

who will be sacrificed

for your sin.

Make no mistake about it.

Jesus did not die

just for a short list

of certain kinds of sins.

We have a tendency,

when we think about sin,

to think in terms of sins

that other people do

that are pretty bad.

I mean,

it's a nice thing

and I hope it's true

that none of us

sitting in here

have done the filthy five

or the nasty nine.

You know,

we're not,

we don't do those things,

you know,

and we have an idea

that, well,

there are some really bad sins

and, yeah,

those are things

that Jesus had to die for,

but the rest of them,

you know,

they're all kind of okay.

No.

Very interesting

that it says here,

Jesus came to be

the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the,

not sins,

sin.

Talking about all of it,

the disease,

not just some of the symptoms.

And so,

as we look at the issue

of what the Bible

has to say,

we recognize

the Bible is very,

very clear

about what sin is.

I want you to think with me

just for a moment

to Romans chapter 6,

Romans 6:23

verse 23.

Take a look at it

if you will.

Romans,

you're there in John,

so turn ahead

just for a second.

And incidentally,

as we are doing this,

let me explain again.

One of the purposes

of studying the book of John

is that the believer

would be edified.

Do you know what that means?

That we as believers

would grow in our affection

for the Lord Jesus.

Another purpose

is that we would be encouraged

in our evangelism.

And so,

as we study

John's gospel,

there should be,

oh, man,

that's how to do it.

That's what he wants me to do.

And so,

we're dealing with

Jesus is the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin

of the world.

Romans chapter 6,

Romans 6:23

verse 23,

for the wages of sin

is death.

What's the penalty

for sin?

It's death.

How bad is sin?

It is incredibly horrible.

And it's amazing

that we sometimes

kind of think of sin

as being just something

normal and natural

and, well,

you know,

God ought to overlook it.

But I want you to understand

the holiness of God

cannot overlook sin

without compromising

his justice

and his holiness.

And as we see here

in this passage,

it tells us

that sin,

which is a rebellion

against the sovereign

and holy God,

brings death.

As I was thinking

earlier this week

about this subject

of sin

and the consequences

it brings,

I was kind of struck

by actually reading

a little post

on Facebook

by one of the individuals

that I've known

for many, many years,

used to be a pastor,

no longer involved

in ministry,

and he was making

a comment about

the fact that

hell is just

something that

angry people believe in.

And I thought to myself

as I read through

his post

and the notes

attended to it,

I thought,

you know,

sadly enough,

to make that kind

of statement

indicts Jesus as well.

Do you understand

that Jesus was the one

that talked the most

about hell?

And the reason

Jesus came into the world

was to keep people

from going to hell

by paying the penalty

for their sin.

And this person

was talking about

how can sin be so bad?

Well, I want you

to understand,

if what you are doing

is comparing sin

and its effect

upon us as sinners,

it's not quite

as significant

as comparing

the offense

that sin is

to the holiness

of God.

Sin is supremely

offensive to God.

It is unbelievably

offensive.

And so,

here is Jesus

willing to take

the penalty for us

and to die

in our place.

And it says,

wages of sin or death,

but the free gift

of God

is eternal life

in Jesus Christ,

our Lord.

For another,

as we see there,

God sent his son

to make full payment

for our sins.

When it says,

the free gift of God

is eternal life

through Jesus Christ,

it's not just giving

all the details

of the cross,

but it's speaking of it

in kind of generalized terms.

How is it

that God could give us

the gift of salvation?

It is not by

overlooking

our sin.

His judgment

and his holiness

could not do that.

It is because

he was willing

to sacrifice

his son

for our sins

that he is able

to give to us

the gift of salvation.

So,

what Romans chapter 6

Romans 6:23

verse 23

summarizes,

John introduced

to the stunning

Jewish audience

that was listening

to him.

The theme

of God providing

a substitute

for our sin

actually flows

throughout

the Old Testament.

It is not

a new surprise.

Now,

I have to tell you,

I have no doubt

that when John the Baptist

made that statement,

behold the Lamb of God

that takes away

the sin of the world,

it must have been

stunning to his audience.

But think with me

about the theme

and you can go back

to the book of Genesis

and remember

that when sin

entered the world

through the sin

of Adam

that God provided

a clothing

and a covering

for the nakedness

that sin

exposed in men's lives

and he did that

with the skin

of animals.

Later on,

we find that

when God

called to Abraham

and said,

I want you to

sacrifice your only son,

Abraham,

as he was taking

his son up

the mountain,

he said,

God will provide

a lamb

and God provided

the ram

caught in the thicket.

and then when Israel

in the nation

of Egypt

was enduring

the hardship

that they were

going through

and God said

to them,

on this night

I am going

to bring you out

and the thing

that you are to do

is to sacrifice

a Passover lamb

and you are to put

the blood of that lamb

on the lentil

and in the doorposts

and when I see

the blood

I will pass over

that place.

The Old Testament

Jew understood

that that lamb

died as a substitute

for them

and then week

after week

time after time

when the Old Testament

saint had to deal

with sin

in a personal way

they had to sacrifice

a lamb.

They had to sacrifice

a lamb.

One of the things

that I did last week

was I actually went

to YouTube

and I watched

the sacrifice

of lambs

on YouTube.

I am not suggesting

it is for weak

of heart to do it

but it is pretty graphic.

Do you follow that?

I mean

how many of you

have ever seen

a lamb

killed by hand?

Anybody in here?

It is a sobering

process to observe

and so when

John the Baptist

said

I will explain it

to you

okay

yes

Ethan

come up here

please

you are going

come on

come on buddy

he has been

perpetually terrified

of me

I did

okay

come on

Noah

come

sacrificial

Noah

here is what

happened

in the Old

Testament

the person

who was

confessing

his sins

put his hand

on that

lamb

and admitted

that he

had committed

sin

and then

a knife

was taken

and someone

held the arms

and the legs

of that

lamb

hold your hands

like that

right there

in front

okay

and then

they bent

the neck

to the side

and they

drew the

knife

across

the artery

do you know

what was

happened

next

blood

would

squirt

out

and that

lamb

would shake

and shake

and shake

and try

to release

itself

from the

bind

and then

it bled

out

and died

thank you

Noah

and John

the Baptist

says

behold

the lamb

of God

that takes

away

the sin

of the

world

do you

know

what he

was

saying

God

has

provided

someone

to die

in your

place

I want

you to

understand

that

when John

the Baptist

announced

that morning

behold

the lamb

of God

that takes

away

the sin

of the

world

he was

announcing

this fact

that God

sent his

son

to die

in your

place

there's a

second piece

that we need

to understand

and it's

a little

complicated

here

but bear

with me

as we

work our

way

through it

Jesus

is our

savior

we're

dealing

in

John

chapter

one

and we're

looking

now

we finished

29

but we're

now

looking

in

verses

30

through

33

30

through

33

this is

he

of whom

I said

after

me

comes

a man

who ranks

before

me

and so

John

the

Baptist

goes on

now

to point

out

that

Jesus

is also

the

savior

of the

world

and he

begins

by pointing

out

in verse

30

the

eternality

of

Christ

he was

before

me

he was

before

me

and how

was

Jesus

before

John

the

Baptist

well

the fact

of the

matter

is

that

he

is

God

the

son

and

eternal

we're

not

talking

about

birth

order

here

because

we

know

for

a

fact

that

in

the

biological

sense

John

the

Baptist

was

actually

born

before

Jesus

but when

he made

that statement

he was

talking about

the

eternality

of the

Lord

Jesus

Christ

and

he

understood

that

Jesus

was

and is

the

only

individual

who

can

actually

save

men's

souls

now

we

understood

something

last

week

that I

want

to

remind

you

of

that

John's

baptism

and

the

baptism

of

Jesus

were

essentially

different

both

of

them

were

spoken

of

as

baptism

but

John's

baptism

was

merely

immersion

in

water

and

it

had

nothing

to

do

with

genuine

salvation

can

a

person

be

baptized

immersed

in

water

and

not

be

saved

and

what's

the

answer

absolutely

over

the years

of being

a

pastor

here

I

have

baptized

a

number

of

individuals

more

than

once

and

I

do

want

you

to

know

I

go

to

lengths

to

not

do

that

what

I

mean

by

that

is

that

when

a

person

comes

and

says

I

want

to

be

baptized

we

work

carefully

to

see

to

it

that

they

have

a

clear

testimony

of

their

faith

I

came

to

conviction

realizing

my

sin

and

understood

that

I

needed

Christ

as

as

a

public

testimony

but

there

are

individuals

that

having

been

baptized

later

on

5

10

15

20

years

the

burden

of

sin

in

their

life

brings

them

to

the

point

of

really

crying

out

and

in

genuine

salvation

coming

to know

Christ

and

subsequently

be

baptized

again

John's

baptism

was

not

a

baptism

that

saved

but

one

of

the

things

that

we

find

here

is

John

bearing

testimony

to

the

supremacy

of

Christ

and

to

the

baptism

of

Christ

now

there

in

verse

31

I

myself

did

not

know

him

in

other

words

I

didn't

have

an

idea

who

the

actual

Messiah

would

be

but

I

came

baptizing

with

water

that

he

might

be

!

I

was

preparing

the

way

verse

32

and

John

bore

witness

I

saw

the

spirit

descend

from

heaven

like

a

dove

and

it

remained

on

him

in

verse

33

I

myself

did

not

know

him

but

he

who

sent

me

to

baptize

with

water

said

he

on

whom

you

see

the

spirit

descend

and

remain

this

is

he

who

baptizes

with

the

Holy

Spirit

now

if

you

will

think

with

me

to

when

Jesus

came

to

John

to

be

baptized

after

John

had

baptized

Jesus

by

immersion

we

know

that

two

things

or

several

things

happened

for

one

there

was

a

voice

from

heaven

does

anybody

remember

what

the

voice

said

I

like

this

part

this

is

my

beloved

son

in

whom

I

am

well

pleased

and

here's

the

other

little

part

listen

to

him

and

we

have

the

spirit

descend

on

Jesus

and

abide

and

as

we

understand

in

verse

33

this

is

he

who

baptizes

with

the

Holy

Spirit

now

one

of

the

advantages

that

believers

or

listeners

had

in

John

the

Baptist

day

is

that

they

knew

the

Old

Testament

and

so

when

they

heard

John

the

Baptist

say

this

is

the

one

who

baptizes

with

the

Holy

Spirit

guess

what

does

anybody

know

where

their

mind

probably

went

I

want

your

mind

to

go

there

take

time

to

turn

to

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 36:24–27

chapter

36

verse

24

through

27

turn

to

Ezekiel

Ezekiel

Ezekiel 36:24–27

chapter

36

verse

24

through

27

I

want

you

to

understand

something

that

salvation

is

not

a

decision

just

to

try

harder

salvation

is

just

not

another

set

of

rules

to

follow

salvation

is

a

work

that

God

alone

can

do

in

the

sin

sick

soul

and

as

John

the

Baptist

spoke

of

what

Jesus

would

do

he

made

it

clear

that

Jesus

would

fulfill

the

promise

that

God

made

to

Ezekiel

in

the

Old

Testament

now

listen

to

it

verse

24

I

will

take

you

from

the

nations

and

gather

you

from

all

the

countries

and

bring

you

into

your

own

land

there's

a

part

of

Ezekiel's

prophetic

utterance

that

has

not

been

entirely

fulfilled

yet

but

verse

25

I

will

sprinkle

!

clean

water

on

you

you

shall

be

clean

from

all

your

uncleanness

and

from

your

idols

and

I

will

clean

you

and

I

will

give

you

a

new

heart

and

a

new

spirit

I

will

put

within

you

and

I

will

remove

the

heart

of

stone

from

your

flesh

and

give

you

a

heart

of

flesh

and

I

will

put

my

spirit

within

you

and

cause

you

to

walk

in

my

statutes

and

be

careful

!

to

obey

my

rules

how

tells

us

salvation

is

of

the

Lord

salvation

is

when

God

works

to

first

of

all

convict

us

of

our

sin

and

bring

us

to

redemption

and

glory

and

he

puts

his

spirit

within

us

and

what

does

his

spirit

help

us

do?

His

spirit

helps

us

be

different

than

we

once

were

as

a

sidebar

someone

moved

the

pastor's

Kleenexes

I

can

talk

and

get

a

Kleenex

at

the

same

time

as

a

sidebar

in

Malachi

and

just

taking

a

second

to

explain

to

you

the

ministry

of

the

Holy

Spirit

particularly

in

the

Old

Testament

in

the

Old

Testament

the

spirit

did

not

abide

in

general

on

all

believers

there

were

individuals

who

were

enabled

by

the

spirit

for

specific

tasks

!

God

put

his

spirit

on

certain

individuals

to

help

with

all

the

details

there

were

times

when

the

Holy

Spirit

would

come

on

a

person

and

he

would

prophesy

if

you

want

to

know

how

important

God

thinks

marriage

is

in

Malachi

it

speaks

about

the

fact

that

God

in

respect

to

the

issue

of

marriage

gives

to

a

husband

and

wife

a

portion

of

his

spirit

that's

a

very

interesting

statement

God

cares

so

much

for

the

outcome

of

a

marriage

that

he

gives

you

the

enabling

in the

Old Testament

he gave

the

enabling

to

the

Old

Testament

saying

of

the

Spirit

of

God

to

help

them

with

that

how

many

of

you

have

discovered

that

actually

an

effective

and

God

honoring

marriage

is

not

something

you

can

pull

off

by

yourself

you

need

the

Holy

Spirit

right

and as

you look

at this

passage

and you're

dealing

with what

it says

here is

John the

Baptist

saying

Jesus

is the

one

who

fulfills

the

prophetic

utterance

of

Ezekiel

in

relationship

to the

fact

that there

will

come

someone

who

will

put

his

spirit