Behold, the Lamb of God - John 1:19-34 - March 1, 2026

Matthew Poole: My name is Matthew, I'm one of the pastors here. It is a joy to gather and worship Jesus with you, and it is a joy to serve you with his word as well this morning. May we pray for his help, for him to do what only he can do to open up our eyes, to see himself, to see his glory. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a speaking God who has spoken to us and that those words that you speak, God, are words of life, words of comfort, words of grace and mercy. God, thank you for your heart this morning for us. We're not here accidentally. We're here because you have drawn us, you have gathered us. You want to display yourself to us. We pray, God, that you would give extra grace, grace upon grace, that our eyes, the eyes of our hearts would be open to see and behold your son Jesus. God, would you do that work this morning? That you may receive all the glory and that we may receive the joy now and forever. And it's in your name that we pray, amen. LeBron James wasn't just a player. He was a moment. This is what this Nike marketing team writes. Something people would tell their kids about. The question wasn't whether he was good. It was whether you were paying attention. We wanted to make fans feel like they weren't just watching basketball. They were witnessing something that only comes around once in a generation. I helped shape the We Are All Witnesses campaign for Nike. The centerpiece was 110 foot by 212 foot billboard near Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland. There's LeBron arms outstretched, chin raised, inviting the city and the world to watch. It was bold, almost biblical, and it worked. The message was simple. This is happening. Don't miss it. We are all witnesses. Became more than a tagline. It became a statement. A shared understanding that we were watching history unfold in real time. watching history unfold. game of basketball. There's something glorious about that, an athlete that so dominates his sport. There's a glory there to be sure. But are we truly missing out if we don't see LeBron James? Are we truly missing out? And as great as that might be, what if there was something infinitely greater we could behold? something that we actually need to or must behold, needs to be witnessed. You see, this morning, our great problem is not entertainment. Our great problem is sin. And we are standing underneath the wrath of God, and we need out from that. That's our problem. That's our problem. We don't need to see a superior athlete, we need to see a sin bearing savior. That's what we need to behold. And this morning our text in John one shows us that. John the writer is writing about John the Baptist. This is the forerunner called to witness to this very thing. Listen to what we saw last week in John chapter one, verse six. John writes, there was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to bear witness about the light that all might believe through him. The call this morning is very simple for us in this text. It's to believe the witness of John about Jesus. and have our sins forgiven. to believe the witness of John about Jesus and to have our sins forgiven. That's the call for every one of us this morning. The first section we see here is this. John bears witness that he does not take away, said, starting in verse 19. And this is the testimony of John 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. So there's all this end time expectation going on at this point. It's like a fever pitch. People are wanting to know is there a revolution coming? Is there a new thing coming? And John's out there and he's gaining, he's like a celebrity. There's all this attention being given to John. And so an official delegation goes out. And it's like they're putting John on trial. What's going on and who are you? John answers, I'll tell you who I am by telling you who I'm not. I'm not the Christ. I'm not him who you think I might be. It's not very clear, is it? So they continue, and they asked him, well what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? 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 of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah had said. So John is denying any identification with these end times characters. He is referenced as Elijah, but it's likely he had no idea that he was even playing that role here. John is just fading in the background. He knows why he's here, and they're like putting him in a corner. You gotta give us something. We came all the way out here, we gotta go back, we gotta give them something. So you give us something, we don't wanna come out here for nothing, so can you please just give us anything? John says, yeah, I'll tell you what. And he references Isaiah chapter 40, an anonymous voice in Isaiah chapter 40. a voice crying out in the wilderness. And the context of Isaiah 40 is important here. It frames the whole thing. What's happened in Isaiah 40 is up to that point, the Jews, Judah, has blown it. They have sinned against God, there's been full idolatry everywhere. They don't worship God, they don't love God. Now walking in the ways of God, they've blown it. And God says, you're not getting away with your sin. I'm gonna judge you. Harsh judgment is coming, your worst nightmare is coming. Worst nightmare, exile. Babylonian army's gonna come in, gonna destroy everything, siege the city, wreck Jerusalem, and take you and your families and carry you off to a foreign land. That's coming, Judah, because of your sin. consequence. The consequence for going against God, God being just, must punish. So that's chapters one through 39. And then chapter 40 begins with a word of comfort. Comfort. There's a harsh judgment coming, but there is comfort. Do not lose heart. There is comfort coming. And this voice is crying, this anonymous voice is saying, crying out to prepare the way in the wilderness for the Lord, that you're gonna come back. God is gonna draw you back to Jerusalem. And this gets a partial fulfillment in God raising up Cyrus, the secular ruler, to send the people of God back and pay to have the temple rebuilt. It's an unthinkable answer, it's an unthinkable provision by God. So that happens. But that's just a foreshadow of the greater fulfillment to come from this verse. That 700 years later, there would be another voice to come. The voice of John the Baptist. A return prophesying and declaring a return not to physical Jerusalem, but to spiritual Jerusalem. A new Exodus out from slavery to foreign powers and into the freedom of the glory of God, not physically, but spiritually, out from under slavery to sin, slavery to Satan, slavery to death. John is here crying out that the Lord is bringing about a new Exodus. One that is unthinkable. We pick back up in verse 24. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees or some of these Pharisees, these are the religious experts, scholars, and they asked him, okay, if you're just this voice, if you're nothing, then why are you baptizing? If you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet, and John 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 was baptizing. John's baptism of water, he is saying, is a forerunner to the one coming who's gonna baptize not with water, but with the Holy Spirit. John's ministry is a ministry of pointing. It's a ministry of pointing away from himself and to another that's coming, doing what water cannot do. What we wanna see here is that John is so not interested in them seeing anything about himself. All he wants is all the attention to be given to this one that's coming. He is so content to remain anonymous and just be a voice. Why, John? Help us understand why you can be so content to do that. And he gives us that answer. says, I am not worthy. to even untie the straps of this guy's sand. And in this context, there's something unique happening here. So like a disciple would be following a rabbi, have a master, and the disciple would be the servant. And you would have to serve. You could serve in all capacities, whatever the master rabbi was wanting. But there was one exception. One exception, you would not have to untie the shoes. That's too low. It's too low for you to go. And some traditions would even say, you know what that is? That's fit for a non-Jew slave. Only a slave foreigner is fit to do that type of And John says... worst and lowest task that could possibly be done for this man that's coming. I am. to do. I'm not worthy to be of lowest of lowest ranks, and I'm not worthy to do the lowest task to serve this man. That is why John is not worthy because of the greatness of the one that he sees that is coming. Streetlights in the 1800s in London ran on gas, so they would have to be lit one at a time. Charles Spurgeon tells the story this late one autumn evening. He's coming into town, and it's dark and kind of gloomy, and it's... getting late and he can look out on the hillside and there's just these lights that just start dotting like a train of lights start going up the hill as this lamp lighter is lighting these lights and he reflects on this. Oops, sorry. And he says, he says, I did not see the lamp lighter. I didn't see him. I do not know his name. nor his age, nor his residence, but I saw the lights which he had kindled. And these remained when he himself had gone his way. As I rode along, I thought to myself, how earnestly do I wish that my life may be spent in lighting one soul after another with the sacred flame of eternal life. I would wish myself, I would myself be as much as possible unseen while at my work and would vanish into eternal brilliance above when my work is done. I would myself be as much as possible unseen in my work and would vanish into eternal brilliance above when my work is done. Charles Spurgeon is aspiring to do what John the Baptist is doing in our text. Becoming nothing, that Christ may be everything. He's content to be a nobody, a nothing burger. in order that Christ make it all the glory, all the light to Christ. And that is to be what we are aspiring for this morning as well. And this is a place where we all struggle. Because don't we like the light? Don't we like to be in the light? Don't we get jealous when the light skips over us when we're not appreciated? We wanna be seen, right? I know I do. It can hurt when you're not seen for something that you want to be seen for. We need the credit. We need the glory. This is a struggle with sinful, selfish hearts. The flesh of Adam that's in all of us wants it. It's a self glory, a self obsession that we have. And the consequence for that is judgment. We deserve to be judged. For wanting the light and wanting the glory, God says very clearly, he will not share his glory with another. And so we are stealing and robbing God's glory, which rightfully and only belongs to him when we take things for ourselves. We live this way. So we deserve judgment, but are we without hope? Absolutely not. That's why John is here. That's why we're here gathered this morning. And this is where John now pivots. He's made clear who he's not, and now he wants to make clear who Jesus is. The second section here is that John now bears witness that Jesus takes away sin. Jesus takes away sin. up in verse 29. The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him. I Jesus coming. and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The Lamb of God, first identification here with John seeing Jesus, Lamb of God. First time that we see the reference of Lamb of God in the scriptures is all the way back to Abraham. When Abraham was called to go up the mountain to sacrifice his son Isaac, and at the last moment, the angel of the Lord stops Abraham's hand. Don't sacrifice. Don't sacrifice. There's a provision of another. There's a lamb over there in the thicket. Grab him. He's sufficient for the sacrifice. God provides a lamb in that moment. And the next big time we see this lamb is in the first exodus out of slavery in Egypt. And the word comes, hey, we are getting out of here, but there's a special way we're gonna get out from slavery to Pharaoh. We're gonna take a precious spotless lamb, and we're gonna slaughter that lamb, and we're gonna wipe blood of that lamb on the doorpost, and at night, the angel of death is gonna come. to wipe out the firstborn. But anybody, any family who has this blood on the doorpost, the angel of death is gonna what? Pass over. Pass over. Spare them. Allow them to live. All right, John's picking up on all of this language here. purpose of this lamb is to take away sin. It's the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's why the lamb of God is here, to take away sin. He also mentions the scope here, which is important. This is now lamb of God for the whole world. Anybody who believes in this lamb, sin is removed. It's not limited to geographical or ethnic Israel. It's available for all. Warren Wiersbie tracks this progression through the scriptures. He says this, in Genesis 22, the lamb was provided for one person, Isaac. In Exodus 12, the lamb was provided for one family. On the day of atonement, the lamb was provided for one nation, Israel. But in John 1, 29, the lamb of God is provided for the whole world. God has sent a lamb for you and for me. So John is declaring this Jesus is the lamb, but let's also make sure that doesn't allow us to diminish who this lamb actually, you might think lamb of God, okay, ⁓ some weak person, some weak thing, a weak lamb, John kinda tips it back and he says this doesn't diminish who Jesus is, it augments it, verse 30. This is he, this lamb is he whom I said after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. What he's saying here is that this lamb of God is the eternal one. The righteous one, the holy one, this lamb is God. Just because you call him lamb is not diminishing who he is. He is in essence God himself. He existed prior to his incarnation. Jesus has always been. He just came and he put on his flesh suit 2,000 years ago. It's the incarnation that John is pointing us to see. So he's God in the flesh. Revealed as a lamb, as the hope of Israel, the fulfillment of all the covenant promises of God. Fulfilled here for Israel, revealed to Israel before the whole world. John testifies when he saw this, so this happened prior to this moment, verse 32, and John bore witness, I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. This is how John knew that this was the lamb of God. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I've seen and I've borne witness that this is the Son of God. So here John's baptism clearly foreshadowing the baptism of Jesus. John was doing something with water, Jesus is doing something with the Holy Spirit, and the reason why Jesus can do this with the Holy Spirit is because he has the Holy Spirit. Spirit of God comes down on Jesus, identifying Him as the Messiah and filling Him. He's got the Spirit of God, it remains upon Him. So again, we're like putting these themes together. This Lamb of God is the eternal one who's always been, who is filled with the Holy Spirit. and who is now giving that spirit to others. He's inaugurating a whole new age in the spirit of God, doing something that water could never do. Water, trying to just kind of wash, cover yourself, insufficient to cleanse, but the spirit can. And then we find this last little bit here, the Son of God. So John ties that now together with this. So the lamb is filled with the spirit. giving life in the Spirit to others is the eternal Son of God. This is Him. This one you are beholding is Him. The Lamb of God is the Son of God, and the Son of God in righteousness becomes the Lamb of God for sinners. That's the big theological point that John is. We this morning are in need of this land. We're in need. I know that was just a lot of theology we just went through. But it lands. This is God communicating to us we are in need of this lamb. There is no other option out We need a lamb, and we need that lamb to be of God. Only He is sufficient to pay the debt. few months ago, my wife was fixing her normal smoothie, and it tasted anything but normal. And what do you do if you're a wife and your food doesn't taste right? You give it to your husband. Here, try this. Taste this. I tasted it, I start sipping this smoothie, and I'm like, huh, that really doesn't taste right. I'm wanting to, I think I take like another sip, like come on, surely it can't be that bad. the berries are just gone a little bit moldy, it's like, ⁓ ⁓ No, no, that's bad. It's bad. Whatever this is, is bad. So we start investigating the thing and we're taking the little thing off the smoothie and there's like liquid, so something's not, some seal's broken, something's not right. We're like, okay, we got an idea. How about let's empty the smoothie out. We'll put water in the blender. We'll press go and see what happens. We do. The clear water that we put in turned black. Like, who? That's not good. That's really not good. What was happening is that motor oil from the engine of the blender was getting up into the smoothie. I'm like, okay, I just drink that. That smoothie deserves to be judged. That blender deserves to be judged. Throw it away. called the people, which we did. We got a replacement. Just like there is no straining out of motor oil from a smoothie, there's no straining out of sin from our corruption. It has affected our entire nature. There is no straying in it out. There is no scrubbing ourselves to try to clean ourselves up to get us in some way presentable. There's no enjoyment that God has in our flesh, in our sinful nature. We deserve to be judged. why this baptism of John doesn't do anything. We deserve death. Therefore, church and unbeliever this morning, we need a substitute. We need a substitute to do for us what we cannot do ourselves. That is what John is showing us. Though John was unworthy to untie Jesus' feet. We see later, we're see this later in the Gospel of John, Jesus during the Passover feast on the night before his crucifixion, so he's literally becoming this lamb. He does and reverses every cultural expectation at this meal. stops the meal and he bends down. To do what? To wash the feet of the disciples. Every bit of that is against the grain of what should be happening. That's why Peter recalls it, the thought, Jesus, get away from me, don't do that. That's shameful, what you're doing. Jesus' response, Peter, if I don't do that. This must be done. This must be done. This is shocking, surprising, radical grace being displayed. This is what the Lamb of God is all about. This is what He is about. He's not doing it begrudgingly. He's doing it because he loves his people so much. He's not burdened here. He's saying, I will delight to become less than a slave that you might become a child of God. The son of God saying that and doing that. It's unbelievable. And the washing of the feet is the humbling, sacrificial, cleansing work of what's about to happen as Jesus becomes the actual Passover. dying in our place, a righteous sacrifice and substitute so that you and I don't have so that we're free, so that the angel of death passes over us, that God in his holy justice says, yes, sufficient is the payment for them and my son. Sufficient. Coming out of the grave is the declaration of that sufficiency. Paid in full is what the resurrection says. Signed, done, all sins forgiven. Washed away. New life to my people. New life. The word says if we believe in Christ's sacrifice, we are new creations. The old had to die. It dies with Christ. The story of Christ becomes our story. As he rises out of the grave, so you and I rise out of the grave. Right now we have spiritually come out of the grave if we believe we're new. Born of the Spirit of God, not by flesh. And one day. We will be with God in resurrected glory in the Kingdom of His Son. What news for us? And what grace, as we just consider, just like John, if we could put ourselves in John's Baptist shoes for a moment, sandals. Jesus, this is the one whom we are looking at. And it just hits me. We are not worthy to even look. Savior. It is a grace for you and I to even see Him. It's a gift to us that we may see Him. We do not deserve to see Him. don't deserve that. And yet that is the message that John comes with. That's what God in heaven is doing with us this morning. He's saying, see him. He's come so that you may see him in all of your filth, in all of your shame, in all of your guilt. Behold him and be made new, sins forgiven. Welcome to the family of God forever. Jesus' great victory is not the victory that makes its way on news feeds and billboards. It's not that type of victory. It's a victory not by dunking on others, but by sacrificially being dunked on the very ones who deserve his sacrificially and in great love. But here, church, this is, for those that God would give eyes to see, here is the revelation of the glory of God. God's glory is being revealed in the crucifixion of Christ in the place for sinners as a criminal outside the gate. That's glory if we will see it. That was the slam dunk the world needs to see. And is the slam dunk the world needs to see? Right there, outside the city gates, history is unfolding if we will see it. Right there, everything is changing if we will see it. Right there, sins can be washed away forever as far as the east is from the west. That's history unfolding. That's something to behold. Is it not? That's the greatest news in the world. Praise God. Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. There's not another sacrifice to be given. You don't owe God another sacrifice. It does nothing. Once and for all, in Christ the Son. My question this morning is are you a witness to this? Are you a witness beholding the lamb of God, slain for sinners? Are you witnessing that? Stop trying to cleanse yourself. Stop running. Stop despairing in your sin and behold Christ the Lamb in your place. Robert Murray McShane, a Scottish pastor, he has this quote that I like. says, for every one look at your sin. Take 10. For every one look at your sin, take 10 at Christ. What is he getting at? He's getting at, we have such a self preoccupation. We have such a preoccupation with looking at ourselves, even in our sin. And what happens there is we say... I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy of the Savior. And we wallow and we sink into shame. And so the auction is, well, there's no hope there. The hope is to look to the Savior. To look to the Savior in whatever sin you're struggling with. So this morning, may it be real for us. Last night's failure. see Christ You said that awful thing to your spouse. What you were looking at on the screen that you had no business looking at, look to Christ. Walking in self-righteousness, judging your brother and sister because they're not as good as you are, look to Christ. Because you lost your temper on your family, look to Christ. Because you're wrecking your life, look to Christ. Because you've blown it? Look to Christ. Look to Christ. Look to Christ. And have your sins. Your sin, your struggle is not too great for His grace. Where sin runs deep, grace runs all the deeper still. This is the message and the revelation of the glory of God for us. This is what God is like, full of grace and truth. This morning, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and therefore takes away your sin. Done. Accomplished. What glory, what grace, what wonder. May we believe, may we rejoice, and then may we be God's glad witnesses on this earth, testifying just like John to one greater than who we are, to the one full of grace, dying in the place of sinners to give eternal life to all who would trust. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word this morning. Thank you that you aim the affections of our hearts towards your Son right where they need to be. Thank you that you've given us hope this morning out of sin, out of shame, out of guilt, into beautiful forgiveness, eternal welcome, eternal acceptance. Thank you, God. Lord, would you cleanse and wash us this morning and remove all the filth and the grime of our sin? God, maybe those in this room that have never even seen Christ, would they see him today? Place their faith and their trust in him as a sufficient savior on their behalf? And we say yes to the sacrifice of God. God, make us a people that are humbled. in light of your greatness and your love. But God make us also a people that are confident. Give us a humble confidence that our sins are forgiven. Encourage us this morning, God. as the weight of sin and shame just still crushes us. Lord, we know we're not right. We know that we're not who we need to be and should Fill our hearts with joy this And Lord, we praise you. Thank you for your sacrifice. Thank you that you said for the joy set before me. Christ endured the cross. The joy that was set before him, you endure. God, thank you that we are that joy. That today there are people that rejoice in salvation, that rejoice in the lamb. God, may we be those people now and may we witness across this whole world, God, that more and more people, because this lamb is not for myself or Harvest Church, this lamb is for the whole world. Because that's where we're going. We're going to a new kingdom where the lamb will be in the absolute center of that city. the new Jerusalem, standing as one who's been slain, with every tribe and tongue and nation and peoples around him praising his name, forever and ever and ever, you, ⁓ Lord, are worthy. God, may our lives reflect hope and the praise that corresponds rightly to the sacrifice of Christ and to his great love for us. It's in your name that we pray, amen.

Isaiah 40 · chapter mention Isaiah 40 · chapter mention