1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,440 We continue our sermon series, What's in a Name? The names of Jesus in John's gospel. 2 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:15,040 It's more than names even though that's just an easy way to call it. There are more titles 3 00:00:15,040 --> 00:00:21,880 and distinctives as we talked about last week. Most of these were given as prophecy, as kind 4 00:00:21,880 --> 00:00:26,880 of prophetic distinctives and kind of charting a course for that who, what, when, where, 5 00:00:26,880 --> 00:00:36,240 why of Jesus. And today we're going to look at a, again I make the point of it, there's 6 00:00:36,240 --> 00:00:40,600 going to be a lot of scripture early on so we're going to go quick. So April and I, we've 7 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:47,600 got it but we're going to go fast because the Lamb of God was nothing new to the people, 8 00:00:47,600 --> 00:00:53,200 the Israelites in Jesus' day. So set the scene, we're at the River Jordan, people are being 9 00:00:53,200 --> 00:01:02,400 baptized by who? John, okay, but it's not the John of the gospel, John the Baptist, 10 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:12,640 very good. And so wild man, right, just one would say the last prophet before Jesus and 11 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,600 everyone's being baptized, they're all crowded around him, you've got the religious leaders 12 00:01:16,600 --> 00:01:21,680 doing their judging, kind of wanting to stir up trouble, they're very scared and nervous 13 00:01:21,680 --> 00:01:25,800 about John the Baptist because he was a wild man, he was a zealot and so that's a whole 14 00:01:25,800 --> 00:01:33,720 nother sermon series. But understand he stops everything to see one coming down and he makes 15 00:01:33,720 --> 00:01:42,760 a declaration, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This is 16 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:51,560 not just a casual observation of a man, right, this is not, nobody in our culture, right, 17 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:56,040 unfortunately as I'm thinking through, you know, who would be one person that, you know, 18 00:01:56,040 --> 00:02:00,520 if we're in a crowd and we see it, our eyes would lock on and we'd be able to say, look, 19 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:05,080 there is, I don't know, come up with something, who in our culture would be somebody that 20 00:02:05,080 --> 00:02:10,920 you would be able to kind of tell who it is and declare that they're in the room? Shaquille 21 00:02:10,920 --> 00:02:17,620 O'Neal, all right, very good, I was going Taylor Swift, so you know, and I just completely 22 00:02:17,620 --> 00:02:23,800 judge myself for saying that out loud, Father forgive me, but you know, politicians, athletes, 23 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:30,600 musicians, that we all hold them as pretty high-grander, this is nothing compared to 24 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:37,260 what John is actually saying in the person of Jesus. So let's jump in. So we're going 25 00:02:37,260 --> 00:02:44,400 to look at the Lamb in different lenses. The Lamb foretold comes to us from John 1.19 and 26 00:02:44,400 --> 00:02:49,160 this is the testimony of John, again we talked a little bit about that last week as well, 27 00:02:49,160 --> 00:02:54,640 when the Jews sent priest and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you? He confessed 28 00:02:54,640 --> 00:03:01,080 and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? 29 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:08,800 Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? He answered, no. So they said 30 00:03:08,800 --> 00:03:13,480 to him, who are you? We need to give you an answer, or we need to give an answer to those 31 00:03:13,480 --> 00:03:19,680 who sent us. What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of the one crying 32 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:25,600 out in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord as the prophet Isaiah said. Now 33 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:31,640 they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him, then why are you baptizing? If 34 00:03:31,640 --> 00:03:36,360 you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet, John answered them, I baptize 35 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:42,720 with water, but among you stands one you do not know. Even he who comes after me, the 36 00:03:42,720 --> 00:03:49,600 traps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. These things took place in Bethany 37 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:57,200 across the Jordan where John was baptizing. So the lamb being foretold, Jesus enters the 38 00:03:57,200 --> 00:04:05,240 scene. We see John the Baptist declare, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of 39 00:04:05,240 --> 00:04:12,700 the world. Friends, what we need to understand is this title of Jesus is everything to us. 40 00:04:12,700 --> 00:04:19,520 It is the fulfillment of God's plan for redemption. Now some of you would say, no Jim, the death 41 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:25,440 and resurrection of Jesus. And absolutely, all part of the same answer. That Jesus has 42 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:31,480 come down, we talked about that last week, word made flesh, Jesus. Now he is going to 43 00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:38,020 be baptized as the start of that plan, not only unfolding, but three and a half years 44 00:04:38,020 --> 00:04:45,080 later will come to completion in the life, death, and resurrection. But we will get to 45 00:04:45,080 --> 00:04:51,800 that in another sermon series. So foretold, meaning there were people that were before 46 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:56,940 the day that this happened talking about the lamb. And friends, this goes all the way back. 47 00:04:56,940 --> 00:05:01,600 This goes all the way back to the book of Exodus. That we have Exodus, now bear with 48 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:06,360 me, there is a lot of scripture here, the Passover lamb, Exodus 12. The Lord said to 49 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:11,840 Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall be for you the beginning of months. 50 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:16,240 It shall be the tenth month of the year for you. Tell all the congregation of Israel that 51 00:05:16,240 --> 00:05:22,000 on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their father's houses, 52 00:05:22,000 --> 00:05:26,680 a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for the lamb, then he and his 53 00:05:26,680 --> 00:05:32,380 nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons. According to what each 54 00:05:32,380 --> 00:05:37,800 can eat, you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, 55 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:42,660 a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep 56 00:05:42,660 --> 00:05:47,700 it until the fourteenth day of this month. And when the whole assembly of the congregation 57 00:05:47,700 --> 00:05:52,960 of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight, then they shall take some of the blood and 58 00:05:52,960 --> 00:05:58,400 put it on the two door posts and the lintel of their houses in which they eat it. They 59 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:03,560 shall eat the flesh that night roasted by the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 60 00:06:03,560 --> 00:06:09,160 They shall eat it. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head 61 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:15,640 with its legs and its inner parts. And you shall let none of it remain until morning. 62 00:06:15,640 --> 00:06:19,900 Anything that remains until morning you shall burn. In this manner you shall eat it with 63 00:06:19,900 --> 00:06:25,520 your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall 64 00:06:25,520 --> 00:06:30,720 eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt 65 00:06:30,720 --> 00:06:36,680 that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, 66 00:06:36,680 --> 00:06:42,880 and all the gods of Egypt. I will execute judgments. I am the Lord. The blood shall 67 00:06:42,880 --> 00:06:48,040 be assigned for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood I will pass 68 00:06:48,040 --> 00:06:54,880 over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 69 00:06:54,880 --> 00:07:00,600 So I don't care what version of it, whether the Prince of Egypt from 10, 12 years ago 70 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:07,120 or Charlton Heston, the Ten Commandments, either one I was freaked out, especially the 71 00:07:07,120 --> 00:07:11,480 green mist in Charlton Heston's version when that was the angel of death that kind of creeped 72 00:07:11,480 --> 00:07:16,360 through and you heard the screaming or the more creative artistic way that the Prince 73 00:07:16,360 --> 00:07:26,760 of Egypt did it, that was the initial Passover lamb understanding that God, Yahweh, saves. 74 00:07:26,760 --> 00:07:34,000 But this is direct in line to what the Passover lamb will be for the world in the person of 75 00:07:34,000 --> 00:07:40,180 Jesus Christ. This foreshadows Christ as the Passover lamb. Just as the blood of the lamb 76 00:07:40,180 --> 00:07:46,600 shielded God's people, Christ's blood covers and redeems us. So when John the Baptist, 77 00:07:46,600 --> 00:07:55,680 behold the lamb of God, Pharisees, Sadducees, Levites, your everyday Israelites, and probably 78 00:07:55,680 --> 00:08:01,640 even some Gentiles, would automatically go to this. This would be something kind of ingrained, 79 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:06,440 passed down not only in the scriptures of the prophets and the history books, Genesis, 80 00:08:06,440 --> 00:08:13,080 Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, but this is a massive thing that was talked about 81 00:08:13,080 --> 00:08:18,000 generation upon generation upon generation by the people of Israel. That the Passover 82 00:08:18,000 --> 00:08:27,520 lamb is the thing that saves us from our sins. It saved the firstborn in Egypt, it will save, 83 00:08:27,520 --> 00:08:33,080 the Messiah will come and save people from their sin. But there's a laundry list of things 84 00:08:33,080 --> 00:08:36,200 that people would have thought about. It would have been almost like a checklist, especially 85 00:08:36,200 --> 00:08:42,160 those that made its way through the school system, maybe even those that became disciples 86 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:50,320 or rabbis. The second is the suffering servant. And this is from Isaiah 53, 7. He was oppressed 87 00:08:50,320 --> 00:08:56,000 and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth like a lamb sent to the slaughter 88 00:08:56,000 --> 00:09:03,200 and like a sheep that before it shears is silent. So he opened not his mouth. Again, 89 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:10,080 messianic prophecy, this is Messiah language. So you got the lamb of God, now Messiah language, 90 00:09:10,080 --> 00:09:14,880 people are starting to make some of these connections. This is then talking about the 91 00:09:14,880 --> 00:09:21,160 sacrificial system. Now what's interesting is in the Old Testament you had more of what 92 00:09:21,160 --> 00:09:27,480 we would call the pure sacrificial system. When God set it up Himself in the historical 93 00:09:27,480 --> 00:09:33,840 books, you have Aaron, you have the Levites doing all the work. But unfortunately as we 94 00:09:33,840 --> 00:09:40,800 see even in our lives, things that are started off pure don't always stay that way. That 95 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:47,760 in this first century in Jesus' day, the temple has become corrupt. The sacrificial system 96 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:53,760 was for authority, power, and financial gain, but they would have gone back to Leviticus 97 00:09:53,760 --> 00:09:59,680 16. Then He shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring 98 00:09:59,680 --> 00:10:06,080 its blood inside the veil and do with its blood as He did with the blood of the bull, 99 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:12,720 sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. Thus He shall make atonement 100 00:10:12,720 --> 00:10:18,160 for the holy place because of the uncleanliness of the people of God or the people of Israel 101 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:24,440 and because of their transgressions all their sins. And so He shall do for the tent of meeting 102 00:10:24,440 --> 00:10:30,240 which dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanliness. No one may be in the tent of 103 00:10:30,240 --> 00:10:35,640 meeting from the time He enters to make atonement in the holy place until He comes out and has 104 00:10:35,640 --> 00:10:41,200 made atonement for Himself and for His house and for all of the assembly of Israel. Then 105 00:10:41,200 --> 00:10:47,160 He shall go out of the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it and shall 106 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:51,360 take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat and put it on the 107 00:10:51,360 --> 00:10:57,520 horns of the altar all around. And He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with His 108 00:10:57,520 --> 00:11:04,240 finger seven times, a number of completion, and cleanse it, consecrate it from the uncleanliness 109 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:11,240 of the people of God. And when He has made an end of atoning for the holy place and the 110 00:11:11,240 --> 00:11:17,480 tent of meeting and the altar, He shall present the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his 111 00:11:17,480 --> 00:11:22,360 hands and his head on the live goat, confess over all of the iniquities of the people of 112 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:28,320 Israel and all of their transgressions, all their sins. And He shall put them on the head 113 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:34,000 of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of man who is in its readiness. 114 00:11:34,000 --> 00:11:39,520 The goat shall bear all the iniquities on itself to a remote area and He shall let the 115 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:46,520 goat go free in the wilderness. So again, we might not, right, some of us, we may not 116 00:11:47,040 --> 00:11:52,520 go to these things, but first century Israelites, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the 117 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:58,160 sins of the world, they're going to go down to all of these things. This is how and why 118 00:11:58,160 --> 00:12:05,160 it is set up. God sets it up this way as a foreshadowing because God knows that Jesus 119 00:12:05,160 --> 00:12:12,160 was going to come to be not only the fulfillment of the sacrificial system, but be the atoning 120 00:12:13,160 --> 00:12:20,160 Lamb of God. The day of atonement required the shedding of blood to cleanse sin. Hebrews 121 00:12:20,160 --> 00:12:27,160 10 reminds us that the blood of animals can never fully atone, only Christ, the perfect 122 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:32,160 Lamb, only He could achieve this. I've said it before, I'll say it again, our blood on 123 00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:38,160 the cross shed would mean nothing. It would be a bad day for our families, they'd mourn, 124 00:12:38,160 --> 00:12:43,160 they'd grieve, they'd probably be angry, but it would not have any effect over the atonement 125 00:12:43,160 --> 00:12:50,160 of sin itself like the Lamb of God is, Jesus the Christ. Another place it would have gone 126 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:57,160 would have been Abraham's sacrificial ram, and this is Genesis 22. Abraham said, God 127 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:03,160 will provide for Himself the Lamb for the burnt offering, my son, so they both went 128 00:13:03,160 --> 00:13:08,160 of them together. When they came to the place of which God has told him, Abraham built the 129 00:13:08,160 --> 00:13:15,160 altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, 130 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:20,160 on the top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter 131 00:13:20,160 --> 00:13:27,160 his son, but the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham, 132 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:32,160 and he said, I am here. He said, do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, 133 00:13:32,160 --> 00:13:38,160 for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son 134 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:45,160 from me. And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught 135 00:13:45,160 --> 00:13:50,160 in the thicket by his thorns, and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as 136 00:13:50,160 --> 00:13:56,160 a burnt offering instead of his son. I don't know the last time you guys thought about 137 00:13:56,160 --> 00:14:05,160 that scripture, but it's pretty intense. And the thing that I find fascinating is when 138 00:14:05,160 --> 00:14:11,160 the account tells us that he took the knife and he raised his arm. His son is laying right 139 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:18,160 there, not really knowing at all what's going on. But out of the faith and obedience of 140 00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:26,160 God, Abraham was going to carry out the death of his only son. I don't know about you, 141 00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:33,160 but that takes faith that I don't think I have, and maybe you wouldn't either. I'll 142 00:14:33,160 --> 00:14:38,160 just talk to the dads in the room for a second. Though there are days, I'm sure our kids 143 00:14:38,160 --> 00:14:45,160 drive us nuts. I don't think we'll ever go there, right? But you think Abraham was a 144 00:14:45,160 --> 00:14:52,160 devout believer in Yahweh. Now granted, he had tremendous interactions with God, ones 145 00:14:52,160 --> 00:14:59,160 that we probably can't necessarily relate to. But there was by faith, he trusted that 146 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:07,160 the creator of all had all things put together in a way that made sense to the creator. 147 00:15:07,160 --> 00:15:12,160 And a lot of us don't like that. Because we would much rather have it make sense to us 148 00:15:12,160 --> 00:15:17,160 in our kind of understanding. God, just give me what you want me to do, let me figure out 149 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:22,160 the details so I'm comfortable with it. Nobody would ever be comfortable with this. If you 150 00:15:22,160 --> 00:15:28,160 are, we probably need to sit down and chat because there's probably something a little 151 00:15:28,160 --> 00:15:34,160 wrong. But understand that this is all the kind of things the Israelites would have 152 00:15:34,160 --> 00:15:42,160 thought about. So the weight of behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the 153 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:49,160 world, this is a foreshadow and an understanding that they didn't have about Jesus, 154 00:15:49,160 --> 00:15:55,160 John had about Jesus, but that God already had planned for Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate 155 00:15:55,160 --> 00:16:03,160 substitute, the Lamb provided by God to take away our sins. We got two more that they 156 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:07,160 would have downloaded, then we'll move on. The second to last is the prophecy of 157 00:16:07,160 --> 00:16:12,160 redemption from revelation and behold the throne and the four living creatures and among 158 00:16:12,160 --> 00:16:17,160 the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns and seven 159 00:16:17,160 --> 00:16:24,160 eyes which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. And he went and took 160 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:28,160 the scroll from the right hand of him who was seated on the throne and when he had taken 161 00:16:28,160 --> 00:16:34,160 the scroll the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb each 162 00:16:34,160 --> 00:16:40,160 holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense which were the prayers of the saints and 163 00:16:40,160 --> 00:16:46,160 they sang a new song saying, worthy are you to take the scroll and open its seals for 164 00:16:46,160 --> 00:16:54,160 you were slain and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and 165 00:16:54,160 --> 00:17:01,160 language and people and nation and you have made them a kingdom and a priest to our God 166 00:17:01,160 --> 00:17:06,160 and they shall reign on the earth. And then I looked up and I heard around the throne 167 00:17:06,160 --> 00:17:12,160 and the living creatures and the elders the voice of many angels numbering myriads and 168 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:16,160 myriads and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who 169 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:24,160 was slain to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and 170 00:17:24,160 --> 00:17:32,160 blessing. This is the prophecy of redemption. Now understand this piece it takes a little 171 00:17:32,160 --> 00:17:37,160 bit of a right turn. This one's for us. This wouldn't necessarily have been one that the 172 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:42,160 Israelites would have thought about but it's messianic language and so that is helping 173 00:17:42,160 --> 00:17:50,160 us see the full picture. And then finally the binding of Isaac, right? Genesis 22, 14 174 00:17:50,160 --> 00:17:56,160 and so Abraham called the name of the place the Lord will provide as it is said to this 175 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:04,160 day on the mount of the Lord it shall be provided that God did the provisions. Isaac 176 00:18:04,160 --> 00:18:13,160 didn't have to be killed. So insert us for that. That in order for us to atone for our 177 00:18:13,160 --> 00:18:20,160 sins and I know for me are many, my blood does not have to be shed. Your blood does 178 00:18:20,160 --> 00:18:28,160 not have to be shed. Thanks be to God that the lamb was slain so you and I might find 179 00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:36,160 life and life to the fullest. We though we do suffer in life we have the hard days, 180 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:41,160 things don't always go our way, you know we actually may be hated on for our faith. 181 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:48,160 Suffering was done by the lamb of God. Lord's Day 15, question answer 37, what do we 182 00:18:48,160 --> 00:18:54,160 understand by the word suffered? The answer that during his whole life on earth but 183 00:18:54,160 --> 00:19:02,160 especially at the end Christ sustained in body and soul the wrath of God against the 184 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:09,160 sin of the entire human race. This he did in order that by his suffering as the only 185 00:19:09,160 --> 00:19:17,160 atoning sacrifice he might deliver us body and soul from eternal condemnation and gain 186 00:19:17,160 --> 00:19:28,160 for us God's grace, righteousness and eternal life. Okay there's a lot there I get it. 187 00:19:28,160 --> 00:19:34,160 That was like drinking from an Old Testament fire hose. But understand a couple things. 188 00:19:34,160 --> 00:19:40,160 When John says this about Jesus more than half of that people would have downloaded 189 00:19:40,160 --> 00:19:45,160 in their brain. Would have downloaded in conversations they had with previous 190 00:19:45,160 --> 00:19:51,160 ancestors and relatives that again go all the way back to the Israelites in Egypt. 191 00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:57,160 I say that this morning, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, 192 00:19:57,160 --> 00:20:02,160 what jumps into yours? Rhetorical question but one that I want you to wrestle with this 193 00:20:02,160 --> 00:20:11,160 week. What does it mean that the lamb of God takes away your sins? And here's the catch 194 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:17,160 and this is hard to say, it was hard to say when I even said it to myself. What does it 195 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:23,160 look like when we understand that? We thank God for that yet we want to put our sin back 196 00:20:23,160 --> 00:20:31,160 on our life. We knowingly understand what the lamb did and we go, I actually like that 197 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:36,160 sin. I actually don't want that sin to go away. I mean in front of everybody I'm going 198 00:20:36,160 --> 00:20:40,160 to say yeah I've been delivered from that sin but secretly behind closed doors that 199 00:20:40,160 --> 00:20:47,160 we think omnipotent and omnipresent God doesn't see, I actually want to keep that sin. Does 200 00:20:47,160 --> 00:20:55,160 that mean that the lamb's actions didn't, it wasn't fulfilled, didn't go to completion? 201 00:20:55,160 --> 00:21:01,160 No, that's the daily battle you and I have against sin. And one of the first things we 202 00:21:01,160 --> 00:21:08,160 need to do daily is to be honest with God where we love that sin or we like to keep 203 00:21:08,160 --> 00:21:12,160 that sin or we're just going to keep it around, put it in our pocket and we're going to use 204 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:20,160 it when we feel like it. Because in what you're saying then is I don't really care that the 205 00:21:20,160 --> 00:21:25,160 lamb of God took away my sin. Wrestle with that this week, wrestle that with me because 206 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:32,160 that was the lamb foretold. What's happening now at the Jordan River is the lamb revealed. 207 00:21:32,160 --> 00:21:39,160 John the Baptist identifies Jesus not as a prophet or a king but the lamb of God. So 208 00:21:39,160 --> 00:21:47,160 let's explore this for a second. Verse 29, he takes away sin. He takes away sin. The 209 00:21:47,160 --> 00:21:52,160 next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said behold the lamb of God who takes away 210 00:21:52,160 --> 00:21:58,160 the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said after me comes a man who ranks before 211 00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:06,160 me because he was before me. I myself did not know him before this purpose I came baptizing 212 00:22:06,160 --> 00:22:13,160 with water that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the spirit descend 213 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:20,160 from heaven like a dove and it remained on him. I myself did not know him but he who 214 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:27,160 sent me to baptize with water said to me he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain. 215 00:22:27,160 --> 00:22:34,160 This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and I have seen and I have borne witness that 216 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:44,160 this is the son of God. So now the connection is made. Behold the lamb of God who takes 217 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:52,160 away the sins of the world is the son of God or the son of man. The Greek word aureo implies 218 00:22:52,160 --> 00:23:00,160 lifting and carrying away that though we are bound by sin the shackles of sin weighing 219 00:23:00,160 --> 00:23:07,160 you down that Jesus the lamb of God the son of man physically lifts those sins and removes 220 00:23:07,160 --> 00:23:13,160 them from you. As the Psalmist writes as far as the east is from the west I remember your 221 00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:21,160 sins no more. This reminds us of the sanctification begins at the cross where sins penalty is 222 00:23:21,160 --> 00:23:33,160 lifted freeing us to grow in more sinfulness. No. It frees us to grow in holiness. The shackles 223 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:39,160 of sin have been taken off so we can become holy. Even if you are here today and you don't 224 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:46,160 think you are worthy to become holy guess what in of yourself you are not. But the lamb 225 00:23:46,160 --> 00:23:54,160 of God took away your sins lifted them from you to give you a path to grow in holiness. 226 00:23:54,160 --> 00:24:02,160 That it is a universal offering that we understand that Jesus is not just Israel's lamb but the 227 00:24:02,160 --> 00:24:07,160 one who takes the sins of the whole world. This fulfills God's promise to Abraham that 228 00:24:07,160 --> 00:24:16,160 all nations would be blessed by his offspring. Whoa whoa whoa. But what about the elect 229 00:24:16,160 --> 00:24:23,160 Pastor Jim. Absolutely. Yes that is mission that is modus operandi mission number one 230 00:24:23,160 --> 00:24:29,160 that the Israelites would understand this but don't stop reading the New Testament. 231 00:24:29,160 --> 00:24:35,160 The Gentiles are brought into this and understand that this offering of the shed blood of the 232 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:43,160 lamb is for the whole world. If it were just to the elect and there are denominations that 233 00:24:43,160 --> 00:24:49,160 would hate that I am about to say this. If it wasn't for the whole world Jesus would 234 00:24:49,160 --> 00:24:55,160 not tell us to go out into the world. Jesus would not have done that. He would not have 235 00:24:55,160 --> 00:25:02,160 instructed us to go and share the gospel. The gospel extends to all people calling us 236 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:10,160 to share the good news of Christ boldly. And for some of you and this may sting we can 237 00:25:10,160 --> 00:25:18,160 talk about it later. You like to play kind of like a kind of like an American Idol version 238 00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:23,160 of who is a Jew and who is a Gentile. That you get to know someone you go there is a 239 00:25:23,160 --> 00:25:29,160 there a Gentile and we walk away. That is not the right way to do it. That is terrible 240 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:34,160 evangelism and that is not the way of the church. What if we had a scanner by the east 241 00:25:34,160 --> 00:25:40,160 door or the west door that scanned whether or not you were a Jew or a Gentile. How many 242 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:46,160 people would come to this church? Probably not a lot. I didn't grow up in the reformed 243 00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:51,160 understanding. So I was probably a Gentile. So I probably wouldn't have been asked to 244 00:25:51,160 --> 00:25:56,160 take this call. But understand that we can get so caught up in all of this when really 245 00:25:56,160 --> 00:26:03,160 what we need to be caught up in is the waters of baptism. Those baptized those cleansed 246 00:26:03,160 --> 00:26:11,160 by the blood of the lamb. Bring them with you to the gospel. Let your light be kind 247 00:26:11,160 --> 00:26:18,160 of magnified that Jesus is your life. And guess what? What is the worst that can happen? 248 00:26:18,160 --> 00:26:25,160 Well I am actually already a believer. Great! Let's do it together. How great would it be 249 00:26:25,160 --> 00:26:31,160 if you ran out of family and friends that weren't believers because you did your job? 250 00:26:31,160 --> 00:26:36,160 Guess what? Now you have a big crew. Not to do a crusades. Really bad look for the church. 251 00:26:36,160 --> 00:26:42,160 But understand now is your job to take all of you and go. What is that called again? 252 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:48,160 The church. That it is a universal offering for us to share the gospel and how are we 253 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:54,160 identified? We are identified by the spirit. We are not identified by what church you go 254 00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:58,160 to, what school you went to, how many years of catechism you did. Even though that is 255 00:26:58,160 --> 00:27:04,160 very important to grow deeper in your faith. Not what committees you are on or what you 256 00:27:04,160 --> 00:27:11,160 have done for the church. We are identified by the spirit. John testifies that the Holy 257 00:27:11,160 --> 00:27:17,160 Spirit descends on Jesus confirming not only his identity as the son of God but that he 258 00:27:17,160 --> 00:27:27,160 is prophet, priest, and king. Lord's Day 12. Why is he called Christ? Meaning anointed. 259 00:27:27,160 --> 00:27:31,160 Because he has been ordained by God the Father and has been ordained by the Holy Spirit to 260 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:38,160 be our chief prophet and teacher who fully reveals to us the secret counsel and will 261 00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:46,160 of God concerning our deliverance. Our only high priest who has delivered us by the one 262 00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:52,160 sacrifice of his body and who continually pleads our cause with the Father and the 263 00:27:52,160 --> 00:27:58,160 eternal King who governs us by the word and spirit and who guards us and keeps us in the 264 00:27:58,160 --> 00:28:07,160 freedom he has won for us. Friends as I land this plane understand we have not won for 265 00:28:07,160 --> 00:28:16,160 us anything. Behold the lamb of God who did the work of Genesis chapter 3 on the cross 266 00:28:16,160 --> 00:28:24,160 in the tomb rose three days ascended into heaven so we could have the victory. So Al 267 00:28:24,160 --> 00:28:34,160 Pierbolt could have the victory that on Thursday morning he received his reward. So what does 268 00:28:34,160 --> 00:28:41,160 that look like in our life? I know friends this is a lot but I'm landing the plane. The 269 00:28:41,160 --> 00:28:47,160 lamb becomes applied. How is it applied in our life? It's through the process of 270 00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:54,160 sanctification. John doesn't just identify Jesus as the lamb but he calls us to behold 271 00:28:54,160 --> 00:29:01,160 the lamb. Are you looking for those opportunities? Are you looking for those individuals in your 272 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:09,160 life that don't know Jesus and are you doing your best to bring them to the cross? Well 273 00:29:09,160 --> 00:29:16,160 you know what pastor I took your advice and I tried to do it on Christmas day at dinner. 274 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:23,160 Great you may want to pick your shots a little better but understand that planting seeds 275 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:29,160 you never know what's going to happen. We don't have the complete like kind of Lego 276 00:29:29,160 --> 00:29:34,160 drawing of how the seeds that we lay out are going to grow and the thing I hate even as 277 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:40,160 a pastor is I know that I'll be planting seeds I may not be around to see them grow. I think 278 00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:45,160 it's one reason why you had a lot of pastors over there stay for a long time because this 279 00:29:45,160 --> 00:29:52,160 church has been and always will be known for spreading seeds and when pastors see people 280 00:29:52,160 --> 00:29:57,160 at work in the harvest what does that mean? It means he's not doing it all and it means 281 00:29:57,160 --> 00:30:04,160 that I'm going to be here longer I hope because we all get to do it together. So three things 282 00:30:04,160 --> 00:30:11,160 how we can work this process for our head. What does this mean for us? Know the lamb. 283 00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:17,160 Study and meditate on the truths of Jesus. Go to the discussion group. Dive into a Gospel 284 00:30:17,160 --> 00:30:25,160 of John study somewhere. Deepen your theological understanding of Christ's atoning work. How 285 00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:31,160 do we how does knowing Jesus the lamb shape your understanding of sin and salvation? There's 286 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:37,160 a great conversation for halftime meal today as you're watching football. For the heart 287 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:44,160 trust the lamb. Rest in the assurance that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient for your sin. 288 00:30:44,160 --> 00:30:52,160 Some of us play the dumb game of I'm going to out sin Jesus. That doesn't make any sense. 289 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:58,160 Why in the world are you going to try to do that? Because the wages of sin is, okay for 290 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:04,160 the four of you still awake, the wages of sin is death. But in Jesus we find life and 291 00:31:04,160 --> 00:31:13,160 life everlasting. Let that truth shape your work, your worship in your lives. And then 292 00:31:13,160 --> 00:31:20,160 finally for our hands proclaim the lamb. Follow John the Baptist's example of wearing furs 293 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:27,160 and eating insects. No. No, please don't do that. Follow John the Baptist's example and 294 00:31:27,160 --> 00:31:33,160 point others to Jesus. Live sacrificially demonstrating Christ's love through service 295 00:31:33,160 --> 00:31:41,160 and evangelism. Who can you share the hope of the lamb with this week? And next week, 296 00:31:41,160 --> 00:31:48,160 it doesn't get easier, maybe a little bit, but now we go Jesus is on scene. Jesus has 297 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:55,160 been baptizing, or has been baptized, and now he goes to be the teacher of our lives.