Introducing the real and true God

Father, we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and bring your word home to us at a very deep level.

And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

So, where I live, I'm near the part of the Cross Canada Trail, and I run on it when it's not covered in snow.

At least occasionally I run on it. And about a year or so ago, maybe a year and a half ago, I was on the trail going for a run.

And as I'm running down the trail, a woman starts waving at me. She's running the opposite way, and she starts to wave at me.

And as she gets close, she says, there's a really big snake on the path up ahead.

And there are two places along the path where there must be a nest of snakes or something, because you often see them.

Now, I hate snakes. I am a complete and utter wuss when it comes to snakes.

One of the, many of you don't know my oldest son, Tosh. He's really neat in lots of respects.

But one of the things which is about him and me, if we had both been together on that run, Tosh would have said to me,

Dad, if we hurry, we'll be able to see the snake.

And my reaction was, maybe I should go the other way, because I don't want to see the snake.

And I went, and I never, it must have kept on slithering into the grass.

And it was obviously just a garter snake, not some python that had escaped or something like that.

But I mention this because, this little while ago, I was in some email correspondence with a friend of mine who lives in Atlanta.

And just on the off, I just happened to mention, it was one of those days where I think when we woke up, it was minus 39.

So I said that to him when I woke up, it was minus 39.

He had a couple of comments about it. He can't even imagine that cold.

So I said to him via email, I said, well, on the bright side, it keeps the snakes and insects small and the poisonous snakes away.

And he almost instantly emailed back and he said, if you move to Hawaii, there's no poisonous snakes or poisonous spiders.

That sounds like a better option than living in Ottawa, to which I could only agree.

Anyway, at that particular time, anyway, I've never been to Hawaii.

Here's the thing. We're doing this, going through the Gospel of John.

And when we did this a couple of years ago, a similar thing with 2 Corinthians.

There's this church in Vancouver called St. John's Vancouver.

And they have this big church, the good staff, and they develop a study guide to go along with the sermons.

And in that church, what they do is they encourage people to read the study guide, either by themselves or with others, before the sermon.

And they didn't have one with Galatians, so we didn't do it.

But people who did this with 2 Corinthians, they found it very helpful.

And I thought we would do this with John, because I knew they had a study guide for John.

But the problem is, it means I have to sort of break up the book the same way that their pastor breaks the book up.

And he's a master at taking very big parts of the Bible and being able to preach through big chunks of the Bible.

And I'm not very good at that.

I confess that to you right now.

So today, in theory, I'm going to look at verses 19 to 51.

That's 43 verses.

I feel a little bit like a python that swallowed something way too big that's going to probably kill the snake.

That's where the snake analogy all came by this way.

I've swallowed some huge hippopotamus, and I can't really handle it.

So if you just bear with me.

Of course, it's a really, really, really rich text.

And so just let's begin this python process of trying to go through John 1.19 to the end of the chapter.

John 1.19, and we'll start reading in a moment.

And just in terms of placing how John's written the book,

John, in the first 18 verses, we looked at that over the Christmas season.

It's called the prologue.

It's very philosophical.

You know, the Word was made flesh, and Jesus is the exegesis of God.

It's very abstract, very powerful, very deep.

You can write big, fat, thick books just on those 18 verses.

And the interesting thing is that John goes from these very big philosophical ideas.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning, and all things were made through him,

and without him was not anything made that was made.

In him was life, and the life was the light of men.

And it's a very profound, simple, deep, just explanation of God.

You know, it's just, before we get into it, I finally watched the movie Wonder Woman on Friday night.

And I don't think there's any spoiler here with it, but at the end of the movie,

the Wonder Woman gives this, you know, short little speech about the importance of love.

And, you know, as a Christian, I can't disagree with it, but, you know, for non-Christians,

and for most people, they have this basic sense that love is, I mean, and it's a true sense,

that love is just something fundamental and deep.

But it's a sense that people have that just sort of hangs there in the air.

It's not really based on other things, other than that they have this just basic sense,

this basic longing, this basic understanding that love is just somehow basic and fundamental.

But in the Scriptures, that longing is given roots.

It's given a basis.

Because when John begins his Gospel,

in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God, as I talked about when I preached on it a couple of weeks ago.

So, it's relational language, it's love language, and the Bible begins by saying that love is deeper and older than creation.

Love is deeper and older than creation, because from all eternity, God the Father has loved the Son.

And from all eternity, God the Son has loved the Father.

And the Holy Spirit is in some ways almost as if He Himself is love as a person in this eternal procession between the Father and the Son.

And before there were planets, before there were galaxies, before there were human beings,

from all eternity, the Father loved the Son, and the Son loved the Father.

And so John, who's going to begin this Gospel and touch on many, many deep things,

he begins his Gospel by saying,

Listen, listen, the God who really does exist, the God who really does, did create all things,

the God who not only created all things, but sustains all things,

from all eternity, the Father loved the Son, and the Son loved the Father.

And John wants to say, whatever you see in the world,

and we have this basic sense that love is central and deep,

that in fact, that's a true intuition that human beings have.

That love itself really is deeper and older than creation itself.

And we were made for love.

So John, who wrote this Gospel, he begins with these big ideas,

and then in verse 19, and in the original language,

well, actually in my version, it says,

And all of a sudden, from these big, big ideas, he goes into history.

He enters us into history.

In fact, he's going to introduce John the Baptist,

and he's going to talk about Pharisees,

and he's going to talk about priests,

and he's going to talk about Levites.

And it's really, really interesting because,

I don't know how many of you know this,

but John the Baptist is a known historical figure outside of the Gospels.

There are non-Christian sources that talk about John the Baptist

and what he did and how important he was in his followers and his disciples.

And Pharisees are a known historical phenomenon in Jerusalem at this time,

as are priests and as are Levites.

And it's very interesting.

It's very interesting how God works,

that he's going to emphasize that the God who does exist isn't just a distant God,

a God far away,

but that this God,

John's going to talk about how God introduces himself to human beings

in space and time and in history.

And that's where we get with verse 19 of chapter 1.

And this is the testimony of John the Baptist,

when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,

who are you?

Now we're going to pause right here.

This phrase, the Jews,

it's a bit of a troubling phrase, isn't it?

I remember being at a Christian gathering

where somebody did a dramatic reading of a text in John's Gospel.

And if you've read John's Gospel, he uses the phrase,

the Jews, time and time and time again.

He uses it a lot.

And in the history of the world,

this phrase has often been part of the basis

by which people have justified the murder of Jewish people

and discrimination against Jewish people.

In other words, the phrase, the Jews,

has been part of how people who've heard the Bible

have used it to justify prejudice, hatred, discrimination,

and even murderous acts against the Jewish people.

And I remember being at this Christian gathering

where a fellow did a dramatic reading of the text.

But the thing which was so bothersome to me

is that there were several Jewish people

who were there in the room.

In fact, even with their,

I can't remember what it is right now,

the little head, more Orthodox Jews.

And I just thought to myself

that the person doing the reading,

he probably offended them.

They couldn't get past probably this troublesome text

and description.

And I'm going to probably say,

I'm going to say this several times throughout the John

because I know that there's not always the same people here

and people I don't expect.

If you remember 10% of what I say today,

that's pretty good.

But if you could put up the first point,

Andrew, here's what you need to understand

all the way through reading the Gospel of John.

The Jews, on one hand, it's, of course, literal.

But in a sense,

and as you're going to see,

all the way through John's Gospel,

he uses light, bread of life, shepherd.

He uses words that are like code

or a symbol maybe would be a better word.

It's a symbol to help you to enter into a bigger world,

to think more broadly.

And what John does,

because the writer of this Gospel is Jewish,

and Jesus is Jewish,

and all the apostles are Jewish.

And in fact,

John,

in his Gospel,

has Jesus saying one of the most significant phrases

in all of the New Testament,

salvation is from the Jews.

So, John is not being anti-Semitic.

The Jews is code,

or symbol might be a better word,

for the religious,

spiritual,

world of meaning,

and the moral world,

organized and established,

apart from faith in Jesus Christ crucified.

That's how he uses the term.

In other words,

when we read it,

if we think,

oh boy,

those Jewish people are so conniving,

and we've completely and utterly missed the point of the Scriptures.

What we should hear when we see this,

is we should hear the Anglican Church of Canada.

We should hear Christian churches,

that have lost their faith and confidence,

that Jesus is the Savior,

and Lord,

and basis of the church.

They should hear the faculty club,

at a major university.

They should hear the CBC.

They should hear the Green Party,

or the NDP caucus.

In other words,

the different ways that human beings organize themselves,

in spiritual ways,

in moral ways,

in religious ways,

in terms of meaning,

or in terms of morals,

that John is saying,

all the way through this,

if you trace it all the way through the book,

in every case,

he's not actually trying to say something,

something so we point our finger at somebody else,

he's trying to fashion a mirror,

so we can see ourselves.

That what happens,

when we try to organize the world of morals,

or the world of meaning,

or the world of religion,

or the world of spirituality,

and we try to establish it,

completely and utterly separate,

from God revealing himself,

in the person of Jesus,

and in the words and miracles of Jesus,

and in the death and resurrection of Jesus,

and to establish morality,

or meaning,

or religion,

or spirituality,

apart from that,

read the gospel of John,

and every time you see the word,

the Jews,

that's what we're to think of.

We're to think of our own efforts,

to establish morality,

and meaning,

and spirituality,

and religion,

apart from God,

breaking into human history,

in the person of his son.

You see,

when I read the Bible,

on one level,

it's not about me,

it's about Jesus,

but on the other level,

it's always about me.

It's never so that I can say,

gosh,

I wish my wife would learn more about this.

Then she'd treat me better.

My wife treats me fantastic,

by the way.

I have a wife beyond what I deserve.

But it's so that I'll see myself in the text.

That's always what's at work in God's word.

So,

the Bible here is definitely not encouraging anti-Semitism.

It's trying to see,

and it's going to show,

this is the very beginning of it,

is these,

as we're going to see in a moment,

as I read the next few things,

is that there's this phenomenon going on,

that John the Baptist,

is doing to Jewish people,

what Jewish people did to pagans.

And that part of the way that a pagan,

who would become,

on the path to becoming Jewish,

is that they'd be baptized.

And John the Baptist,

is having Jewish people be baptized.

And for some reason,

rather than offending everybody,

it's drawing people.

And so,

the establishment,

the establishment,

the religious establishment,

the spiritual establishment,

the moral establishment,

the establishment of meaning,

sends its representatives

to try to figure out

what's going on with John the Baptist.

They want to try to put them,

John and what he's doing,

within some type of category of their thought,

so that they can get a handle on it,

and manage it.

Well, let's continue.

Verse 19.

And this is the testimony of John the Baptist,

when the Jews sent priests,

and Levites from Jerusalem,

to ask him,

who are you?

He confessed,

and did not deny,

but confessed,

I am not the Christ.

And they asked him,

what then,

are you Elijah?

He said,

I am not.

Are you the prophet?

And he answered,

no.

So they said to him,

who are you?

We need to give an answer

to those who sent us.

What do you say about yourself?

And he said,

I am the voice.

I'm just a voice.

I'm God.

I'm the voice of one

crying out in the wilderness,

make straight the way of the Lord,

as the prophet Isaiah has said.

Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.

They asked John the Baptist,

and why are you baptizing

if you are neither the Christ

nor Elijah nor the prophet?

And John the Baptist answered them,

I baptize with water,

but among you stands one

you do not know.

Even he who comes after me,

the strap of whose sandal

I am not worthy to untie.

These things took place

in Bethany across the Jordan

where John the Baptist

was baptizing.

And you'll notice on one hand,

it's very,

I don't know if you caught it,

isn't it sort of curious

how John the Baptist speaks?

That he understands himself

as being so unworthy

that when they finally know

who it is who's present amongst them,

that the Lord,

because Isaiah is saying

about this day

when God himself

will come to earth.

and John the Baptist

on one hand says,

I'm just that voice

that Isaiah talked about

announcing that God himself

is about to walk among us.

And on one hand,

that can sound awfully proud,

although it isn't.

And he balances it

by saying,

I'm not even worthy

to touch his sandal.

Now just pause here.

This is,

over the next couple of weeks

when we look at the John the Baptist text,

in Protestant spirituality

and in fact

in classical Anglican spirituality,

John the Baptist

is very important

because he's seen as sort of

the different things

that he says about himself

are to be the model

for a minister.

And by minister,

I don't just mean ordained people.

I use the word minister

as servant.

It's to be the model

for Mike

who's a host at the door.

It's to be a model

for the Sunday school teachers.

It's to be a model

for the small group leaders,

for the women's ministry,

the men's ministry,

for our church,

our mission on campus,

for coffee,

for child care.

The word minister

just means an attempt,

a servant.

So if you could put up

the next point.

Here's just a,

pray that the ministers

of Messiah

will know

we are but witnesses

and in ourselves

we are unworthy

to touch the sandals

of Jesus' feet.

On Saturday

in the paper

there was a newspaper report

of a funeral

that took place

in Victoria

and it was a very,

very,

it was a very tragic situation

which I guess is why

even though it happened

in Victoria

it made it in a paper

that you could read

in Ottawa.

and,

but in the article

it's quoted

that the minister

at the church,

a mainline denomination,

she said,

I,

who am paid

to be wise,

can't make sense of this.

Now could you please pray

that I,

neither me,

nor Daniel,

nor Sean,

nor Jonathan,

nor your small group leader,

or anybody in the church

ever thinks

that to be a minister

is that you

are paying me

to be wise.

I'm not.

I'm not worthy

to touch the sandal

of Jesus

apart from grace.

and neither is Sean

and neither is Neil

and,

uh,

the day we start

to think

that we're paid

to be wise

is the day

we turn our backs

on the Bible.

And,

uh,

some of you

who lead small groups

and all,

you're not paid

to do that.

You just do it

out of the,

out of,

out of a calling

that God has given you.

But,

John,

we'll develop it

more over the coming weeks,

but John the Baptist

is seen as sort of

the,

a type of model

that every minister,

all we're doing

is to prepare

the way of the Lord,

is to point to Jesus

and to point to Jesus

unworthy as we are

knowing that apart

from grace

we're not even

worthy to touch

Jesus' sandal.

But thanks be to God

for grace.

So it's a bit of an aside

but it's,

it's a really important

principle to get there

and we'll keep going on it

as we look at the different

things about John the Baptist.

Now,

I just was reading

something about

Ricky Gervais.

You know,

he's the,

I don't know if I'm

pronouncing his name

correctly,

he's the,

the British comedian

who,

who,

who was at the

Star of The Office,

the original UK version

and he's done lots

of other comedy stuff

and he's a well-known

atheist.

And,

I might get the numbers

of this wrong

but in an interview

with the Wall Street Journal

a couple of years ago,

he says in that,

they ask him about his

atheism and,

and he jokes and says,

you know,

people give him a hard time

about being atheist

but most people

who are atheists,

they're really not

that different from them.

In fact,

he said,

the most devout Christian

is really not much

different than me.

And,

and the interviewer says,

well,

how is that,

Ricky?

And,

Ricky says,

well,

I'll just ask them

something like this.

You know,

in the Roman Empire

there were,

you know,

whatever,

3,000 gods

and goddesses.

And,

so I say to somebody,

do you still believe in Zeus?

Do you still believe

in Hercules?

Do you still believe

in Artemis?

Do you still believe

in Diana?

And,

of course,

he said,

my Christian friends

will all say,

no,

no,

no,

no,

no.

And,

I say to them,

well,

you don't believe

in 2,999 gods.

I've just gone one past you.

But,

we're all basically

on the same journey

of just disbelieving

in all of the gods.

And,

I mention that

because what's about

to happen,

what John is doing here

is John

in a world

with lots and lots

and lots of gods.

John

is being used

by God

to introduce himself

when he walks around.

And,

because there's so many gods,

and because

it's such a natural

human tendency

for us to extrapolate

from our experience,

our experience of love,

our experience of pain,

our experience of suffering,

our experience of institutions,

it's so natural

for us to extrapolate

from our experience

onto what God

must be like.

John wrote his gospel

to record

how God

introduces himself

so we don't

misunderstand

who God

really is.

And,

that's what's going on

here in John's gospel.

It goes on all the way

through it,

especially in the first half

of it before it gets

to the crucifixion.

But,

but look

at how God,

if you take that

as the idea,

and that's what John,

that's what John

is the claim he's making,

John the writer

of the gospel.

And,

if thinking about that,

it's very,

very interesting

how God

first

has himself

introduced.

Like,

just imagine

for a second

that you were

God's spin doctor,

his media consultant.

And,

and God

said to you,

I think I'm going

to go

send my son down

to earth

to introduce myself.

What do you think

I should do?

Well,

I don't know.

I know,

you know,

we're all

well-instructed

Christians,

and we'd say,

well,

you should send

them down

to be born

in a manger

and all that.

But no,

just for a second,

like,

just apart from that,

like,

how,

how would we,

well,

how do human beings

naturally want to

think of God?

Well,

you know,

we might think of God

as a mountain,

as an ocean,

as the sky.

We might like to

think of God

as being everything.

We might like to

think of God

as being something

like a force

or the force

or energy.

We might want

to try to,

we might want

to try to emphasize

that God

is very powerful,

so have him be

introduced to somebody

who's very powerful.

We might want

to have him be

introduced to somebody

who's unbelievably

beautiful,

that will be

attractive to us,

that it might be

something in terms

of melody,

that some beautiful

melody that will just,

you know,

because music can be

so good and just

draw our hearts

and our minds,

and so we might

want to have God

introduce himself

in that way.

But it's very,

very interesting

how God chooses

to have himself

introduced.

Look at verse 29.

The next day,

John the Baptist

saw Jesus

coming toward him

and said,

Behold the Lamb

of God

who takes away

the sin of the world.

Now just sort of

pause.

That's how God

chooses to first

have Jesus

introduced.

Not as a mountain,

not as a superhero,

not as wealthy,

not as powerful,

not as the ocean,

not as energy,

not as music,

not as an idea,

not as a principle,

not as an organization,

not as an institution,

not as a technique,

but God introduces himself

in the person.

Well, if you could

put up the first point,

and I had some grammar

issues with this.

If you smarter grammar

people want to help

me out later on,

I'd preach,

and that's going,

there we go.

The Trinity

introduces themselves.

Google doesn't like it

when you say that

because it should be

themselves,

but I don't know

how to introduce

the unity

and the Trinity,

you get my point.

So if you grammar

geniuses have a better

way to put it,

I'd love to hear it,

and you'll be better.

But anyway,

the Trinity introduces

themselves in Jesus

of Nazareth.

That's what is going

on here.

In the beginning

was the Word,

and the Word was

with God,

and the Word was

God.

He was in the beginning

with God.

All things were made

through him,

and without him

nothing was made

that was made.

And John says

that there's been

these ancient prophecies

that someday God

himself will come

and walk among

his people.

And so John

is making the claim

that the Trinity

introduces themselves

in Jesus of Nazareth.

If you could put up

the next slide,

please.

And isn't it

interesting that God

introduces himself

as the Lamb of God

who takes away

the sin of the world?

That's how he

introduces himself.

This is a very,

very powerful phrase.

I was,

this week I bumped

into an old friend

of mine that I hadn't

seen in a long time.

I used to work for him

a long, long,

long, long time ago.

And he's a very,

very secular Jew.

Probably hasn't been

to synagogue

in decades.

Dabbles and a lot

of New Age stuff.

Really funny guy.

Great guy.

And he was just

telling me about

how he'd been

really struck

with Jordan Peterson's

series of videos

not on gender stuff

but on God.

And it was very

interesting that he

was really struck

with this idea

of sacrifice.

Which Jordan,

according to him,

Jordan Peterson

sees as being central

to the idea

of a proper idea

of God.

And if you were

a Jewish person,

one of the most

important parts

of the entire

Old Testament

is Genesis 22.

And in Genesis 22,

God asks Abraham,

appears to ask Abraham,

or asks Abraham

to go and kill

his son Isaac.

Isaac.

And it's a very

important story

in Jewish thought

in Genesis 22.

And in that story,

and there's a bit

of debate about

the Hebrew,

whether in fact

God,

whether Abraham

actually kills

Isaac.

There's some ambiguity

in the history

in the Hebrew,

whether Abraham

actually kills

Isaac and then

God brings Isaac

back to life.

And Abraham's

determined and he

goes to kill him

a second time

or whether he's

just about to

kill him the

first time.

But the main

thing is that

God stops him.

And in that

whole story,

there's a ram

that gets killed.

But God says,

reveals to Abraham

that he will

provide the lamb

for the sacrifice.

And it's interesting

because it's a ram

that's provided

right there.

And so Jewish

people have taken

that and ends

up becoming so

important with the

sacrifice of a

lamb being

somehow far more

significant in all

of the whole

sacrificial system

of the Jews.

And the lamb

being slain in

the Passover.

And here,

Jesus is

introduced by

John.

God maneuvers

all of the

Old Testament,

the Tanakh,

to prepare people

so that when he

comes and walks

among them,

they can start

to understand

that all of

their notions

of God

are wrong.

And he's

going to

introduce himself.

And he

uses John

to begin

to introduce

himself.

And he

introduces himself

as the Lamb

of God

who takes

away the

sin of the

world.

If you could

put up the

next slide.

behind this

phrase of

the sin of

the world

is this

idea that

we human

beings,

by seeking

to become

like God

ourselves,

that we

have broken

and bent

ourselves in

terms of our

relationship to

ourself,

our relationship

to the

created order,

our relationship

socially,

our relationship

in things like

marriage and

family,

intellectually,

that everything

is slightly

bent.

And the

idea that

there is

this sin

that's present

in every

human being.

I mean,

the newspaper

bears that out

every day when

we read it,

doesn't it?

But part of the

implication of

that is that

because of

human sin,

no human

being can

correctly

extrapolate

from their

experience to

God.

No human

being,

not the

wisest,

not the

best,

can extrapolate

by themselves

from their

own experience

to God.

They'll always

be off.

They'll make

God too

passive.

They'll make

him too

active.

They'll make

him too

judgmental.

They'll make

him moral

about certain

things and

immoral about

other types

of things.

They'll make

him too

personal.

They'll make

him too

impersonal.

They'll make

him too

cuddly.

They'll make

him too

angular.

Not they,

we.

Not we,

me.

That I

can't do

that.

That I

need God

to reveal

himself to

me.

And unless

God reveals

himself to

me, I

can't really

know God.

I'll end up

thinking God's

a little bit

more like

Zeus or a

little bit

more like

Diana or

a little bit

more like

Artemis or

a little bit

more like the

force or a

little bit

more like the

ocean.

That I

need God

to reveal

himself to

me because

no human

being because

of sin can

extrapolate with

their mind or

their emotions or

their imagination or

their memories or

their will can

extrapolate to

know God.

God needs to

take the

initiative.

And the

gospel of

John, the

New Testament,

is the story

of God coming

among us to

make himself

known.

But here's the

other problem

with sin.

If you could

put up the

next slide.

This is

really, really

important.

True revelation

from God needs

to include

redemption.

revelation.

And true

redemption from

God needs to

include revelation

from God.

You see, because

that's the fact

of sin.

It's the fact

that, you see,

here's the thing

that John

understood.

When John said

that salvation is

from the Jews,

John understood

that the Jewish

people were the

only people

listening to

God's actual

revelation.

They were the

one.

Isaiah was

Jewish.

speaking to

the Jewish

people.

It's the

Jewish people

who understand

that God

created all

things out of

nothing.

It's the

Jewish people

who understand

the holiness

of God on

one hand.

Because God

reveals these

things to

them.

But even

though they've

heard it,

their hearts

are hard.

There's sin

in their

hearts.

They don't

get it right.

And they

take these

bits and

pieces of

the revelation

and they

make it into

bits and

pieces and

they extrapolate

from the

sin of their

emotions.

and the

sin of

their will

and the

sin of

their mind

and the

sin of

their culture.

And they

extrapolate

and they

bend.

And so

if there is

to be

true revelation

from God

because of

sin,

if there is

to be true

revelation

from God,

there has

to be also

some means

from God

that takes

away the

sin of the

world.

God

and in

particular

takes away

the sin

of George

and the

sin of

Andrew

and the

sin of

Louise

and the

sin of

Diane

and the

sin of

Jason,

if God

is going

to reveal

himself,

unless that

sin part

is dealt

with,

he can't

reveal

himself.

And at

the same

time,

if God

is just

redeeming

us without

revealing

himself,

then are

we really

being redeemed

to return

to God

and to

know him?

Or are

we just

being lost

in some

fantasy of

our own

imagination,

of our

own fallen,

rebellious,

sinful,

willful

emotions

and mind

and will?

And all

of this

is captured

in this

spectacular,

it's so,

you know,

the thing

about John

is that

there's time

and time

and time

and time

again in

John,

such a

small number

of simple

words that

probably even

a three-year-old

could be taught,

a two-year-old

could be taught

them.

Behold the

Lamb of God

who takes

away the

sin of the

world.

So simple,

so brief.

Behold the

Lamb of God

who takes

away the

sin of the

world.

Why is

John the

greatest

prophet?

He sees

Jesus walking

and if

Jesus has

just had

a breakfast

of some

dried fish

and maybe

some pita

bread and

Jesus probably

would have

had a big,

long,

good Jewish

beard because

working class

Jewish people

wouldn't have

been shaving

themselves every

day,

they wouldn't

have spent

the time

on that.

And like

anybody with

a beard,

sorry you

folks with

beards,

there's probably

crumbs of

bread and

dried fish

in their

beards,

sorry,

I don't mean

to offend

you,

I'm sure

you with

beards,

looked in

the mirror

before you

came here

or you

had a

wife or

somebody else

say,

you've got

stuff all

over here.

Jesus was

single,

he might very

well have

been walking

with stuff

in his beard

and it would

have been

dusty from

walking and

there would

have been

sand on

his feet

and on

his legs

and you

would have

seen the

sweat of

his brow

and Isaiah

had words

from God

and Ezekiel

had words

from God

and Moses

had words

from God

and people

had maybe

seen God's

back or

heard his

silence

but only

John the

Baptist,

he is the

end and the

final of all

of the

prophets

and John

alone sees

this man

with dried

fish and

dried pita bread

in his beard

walking along

in the day

with the sweat

on his brow

and the dust

on his feet

and he says

behold the

lamb of

God who

takes away

the sin of

the world

and God

is introduced

not as

thunder,

not as

lightning,

not as

ocean,

not as

energy,

not as

a tyrant,

not as

a rich man,

not as

a superhero

but as

the lamb

who comes

from God

who will

take away

the sin

of the

world,

the one

who comes

to be

like a

lamb

by which

human beings

like

ourselves

can put

our hands

in his

hands,

in a sense

put our

hands on

his precious

face

and so

that when

he dies,

he dies

to take

my doom

and I

die to

take his

he gives

me his

purity

and I

give him

my doom,

I give him

my sin,

I give all

of those

things to

him and

he is

the one

who comes

from God

and the

fundamental

image,

the first

image is

the lamb

of God

who takes

away the

sin of

the world,

God is

revealing

and redeeming

at the

same time,

he redeems

and reveals

at the same

time,

if there

is in

fact the

sin of

the world,

it is the

only way

that the

true God

can make

himself

known,

is to

redeem and

reveal and

reveal and

redeem.

Let's just

wrap this

up.

Just

two more,

let's just

read a few

more verses

and then

we'll all

stand and

we're going

to spend

some time

praying.

Because you

see,

this story

involves you

and me

and I

don't have

time to

go into

it more

but I

want to

show you

how this

story all

involves you

and me

after this

profound

revelation

and he's

going to

reveal more.

Look how he

continues on

in verse

30.

This is he

of whom I

said,

after me

comes a

man who

ranks before

me because

he was

before me.

John is

here affirming

the preexistence

of God,

the son of

God.

I

myself

did not

know

him.

In other

words,

by my

natural

ability,

he would

have known

that Jesus

was related

to him

but he

didn't

know

who he

was.

It

wasn't

that his

mind

was able

to grasp

this

by itself.

But for

this purpose

I came

baptizing

with water

that he

might be

revealed

to Israel.

And John

the Baptist

bore witness,

I saw

the spirit

descend

from heaven

like a

dove and

it remained

on him.

I

myself

did not

know

him.

But he

who sent

me to

baptize

with water

said to

me,

he on

whom you

see the

Holy Spirit

descend and

remain,

this is

he who

baptizes

with the

Holy Spirit.

And I

have seen

and bore

witness that

this is

the Son

of God.

This image

of the

baptizing

of the

Holy Spirit

means that

Jesus is

the one,

the Holy

Spirit

will work

in and

through

Jesus

to wash

me.

Water can

wash my

skin,

but only

God can

go beneath

my skin

and have

the Holy

Spirit start

to wash

and penetrate

my mind

and my

emotions and

my affections

and my

will and

my memory

and my

fears,

my shame.

Only God

can do

that.

The next

day,

verse 35,

John the

Baptist was

standing with

two of his

disciples and

he looked at

Jesus as

Jesus walked

by and

John again

says,

Behold the

Lamb of

God.

The two

disciples heard

him say

this and

they followed

Jesus.

Jesus turned

and saw them

following and

said to

them,

Now here

folks,

if you have

this version

of the Bible

I have is

called a

red letter

Bible and

it has this

idea that

whenever Jesus

speaks you

put the

writing in

red,

whether it's

a good idea

or not,

it's a

separate

discussion.

But what

you'll notice

is it's

so cool,

the first

words of

Jesus

recorded

aren't,

gosh,

you're a

terrible

person,

get down

on your

knees and

repent,

or give

me some

money,

or don't

you think

I'm great,

or don't

you think

I'm

beautiful?

No,

what are

the first

words of

Jesus?

It's a

question.

What are

you seeking?

What are

you seeking?

That's a

question for

the rest

of your

life.

Like in a

sense,

if you're

having some

marital

problems,

you can

almost ask

each person,

okay,

you're having

problems,

like what are

you seeking?

What are

you seeking?

like what's

going on in

your life?

What are

you seeking

that's helping

to cause

this discord?

In terms

of career,

like it's

such a

profound,

open-ended

question for

the rest

of your

life.

And Jesus'

first words

are a

profound,

open-ended

question,

what are

you seeking?

They don't

know how to

answer.

They said,

Rabbi,

where are

you staying?

like,

I think

this is so

brilliant,

because,

you know,

if we were

just inventing

this,

we'd say,

we'd give

them some

deep thing

to say,

but instead,

they're just

working-class

guys.

They go,

um,

um,

where are

you staying

tonight?

I mean,

like that

has to be

historical,

because it

just,

where are

you staying?

like,

it's not

profound,

where are

you staying?

And then

Jesus says,

come and

you will

see,

which is

loaded with

all this

other meaning.

And then

later on,

and you see,

and here's,

here's part of

the thing,

is Jesus

doesn't want

us to trail

after him,

he wants

us to

follow him.

And if we

want to know

what we're

seeking,

we've got to

follow Jesus,