Let us now pray and ask for the Lord's blessing
of the preaching of his word. O Lord our God,
we give thanks unto you that by your sovereign
grace you have made us your people. You have
surrounded us with your mercies and your protecting
care. Make us grateful morning and night, joyful
in your providential care and your grace. Take
our eyes from our burdens and griefs and grant
that they may always be fixed upon your goodness
and your grace. Teach us this day and always
the things that we need to know so that we may
serve you with all our heart, mind, and being.
And so make the words of my mouth and the meditations
of all our hearts pleasing in your sight for
the sake of your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Amen. Sermon text again is our gospel
reading. Let us hear it once more. The next day
John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold,
the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes
a man who was preferred before me, for he was
before me. I did not know him, but that he should
be revealed to Israel. Therefore I came baptizing
with water. And John bore witness, saying, I
saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a
dove, and he remained upon him. I did not know
him, but he who sent me to baptize with water
said to me, upon whom you see the Spirit descending
and remaining on him, this is he who baptizes
with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified
that this is the Son of God. Again the next day
John stood with two of his disciples and looking
at Jesus as he walked and he said Behold the
lamb of God The two disciples heard him speak
and they followed Jesus Then Jesus returned and
seeing them following said to them. What do you
seek? And they said to him rabbi, which is to
say when translated teacher Where are you staying
and he said to them come and see? And they came
and saw that where he was staying and remained
with him that day. Now it was about the tenth
hour. One of the two who had heard John speak
and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first found his own brother Simon and said
to him, we have found the Messiah, which has
translated the Christ. And he brought him to
Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, he said,
you are Simon, the son of Jonah. you shall be
called Cephas, which is translated a stone. These
are the words of Almighty God. Receive them in
your hearts. This past week, we've been subjected
to several very public revelations that demonstrate
the confused and sad state of the people of our
country. First, in arguments before a Supreme
Court, the question of whether there is any true
distinction between women and men who think that
they are women. So that's one question. Is there
a distinction between women and men who think
they're women? Secondly, in a Senate oversight
committee, a senator asked a doctor of obstetrics
or a doctor that specializes in birthing of babies,
right? asked him, the senator asked this woman,
can a man get pregnant? The doctor danced around
the answer because she said that there were pregnant
people who don't identify as a woman. Both of
these questions, which have garnered attention
at both the highest levels of power and probably
even around your dinner table, have the same
root error or problem. They are rooted in the
assumption that every person has the right of
self -definition. Or to put it another way, every
person is only held to his own truth. For people
who desire to live this way, reality and truth
do not matter. It is like a short video I once
saw where there was apparent lighting what appears
to be a Roman candle on a stick. For those of
you that don't know what a Roman candle is, it's
a firework that's a bit of a tube and sometimes
they're sticks because they want all the excitement
for you to be able to point them around. And
what it does is it fires a rapid succession of
these fireballs at different colors. Now in this
video, there's a child about six or seven and
he is giddy about being able to hold this firework.
And the parent, his mother is telling him, hold
still, hold still. He's so excited. She lights
it on fire. And man, this is where the chaos
ensues. And of course, many of you can imagine
what's about to happen. This is all happening
on what appears to be their front porch and the
front door standing open. And so he is standing
there. And as this begins to happen, he's real
excited. And when the first explosion comes off,
he is beside himself. And the parent is yelling,
let it go, let it go. And he's like, ah. And
he takes off running full speed. Now here's the
thing. He doesn't run out into the driveway or
the yard. He runs in the house. He's still holding
this. And of course, as he does this, this firework
rapidly and repetitively explodes all over the
house. And the video ends with the parent screaming,
no. We're all sitting here imagining that the
fire department was called to that house Where
there may have been fire in the house? There
were probably some burns on both the child and
for all the recipients of the exploding fireballs
that were already in the house Now what was the
cause of this funny but terrifying event? For
some the answer might be that the boy ran into
the house where that Where this is true, it was
rather not the boy's fault, but the parent that
handed the lit fireworks that hurls fireballs
rapidly. I imagine that the parent blamed the
child and didn't realize that the problem was
her own sin and foolishness. We live in a world
where we mistakenly think that we know what our
problems are. So people go to court to fight
over what they believe is their enemy or their
biggest problem. Others, for the sake of their
ideology, don't want to answer obvious questions
lest they undermine the truth as they define
it. Dearly beloved our biggest problem is our
sin so as we go through today's passage I want
you to see these three things our biggest problem
is our sin Certainly collectively, but for each
one of us individually So our biggest problem
is our sin Jesus here's the good news Jesus is
the lamb who takes away our sin Jesus is the
lamb who takes away our sin. And finally, because
of Jesus, we shine as his light to the world.
Because of Jesus, we shine as his light to the
world. Our passage this morning happens sometimes
after Jesus' baptism and temptation in the wilderness.
Presumably Jesus is returning from the wilderness
temptation having defeated Satan. Now I believe
that the Holy Spirit led the writers of the New
Testament to write what we now see as the Gospels
in order. So we have Matthew, Mark, Luke, and
they give us detailed information relating to
both Jesus' baptism and his temptation. As a
matter of fact, we're told in Mark that Jesus
after his baptism immediately goes into the wilderness
and fasts for 40 days. So we know that that happens.
So this is happening afterwards. And really,
this is really important for us just to think
about. You have those first three books. They
give these detailed accounts of particularly
this section. But what this allows John to do
under the influence of the Holy Spirit is give
us some deeper things, some other perspectives,
kind of like the big 30 ,000 foot view of who
Jesus is in the first half of the book of John.
We see this all over the place. But it also allows
John to focus from chapter 12 to the end about
the last week of Christ's life. Really so at
the beginning we get all of who Jesus is and
then we see fulfillment of what Jesus does in
the last week That's the whole book of John summed
up So this text tells us that in verse 28 that
these things happened and bethah barbara The
place where Joshua this is important the place
where Joshua led the people of God into the promised
land Okay, so this is the same place where Joshua
came across brought deliverance. It's also the
place where Elijah leads Elisha out into the
wilderness. Elijah is taken up in a whirlwind
and Elisha comes back and crosses over in the
same place. This isn't happening here by accident.
Jesus like Joshua crosses the Jordan River to
cast out demons, false kings, false priests,
and to lead God's people out of bondage and into
being reconciled to the triune God for service
in his kingdom. Christ came not just to save
people to heaven, but to set people free in order
to bring the will of God to earth as it is in
heaven. One more time, I want to say this. Christ
came not just to save people to heaven, but to
set people free in this life in order to bring
the will of God to earth as it is in heaven.
That's not just a petition, that is an action
item for all Christians. In this passage, John
the Baptizer declares four titles of Jesus. I'm
going to give you what those are real quick.
There are four titles that we see where we see
Jesus revealed. One, this is obvious. The Lamb
of God who takes away the sins of the world.
The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the
world. That's verse 29. We also see that John
identifies Jesus as the eternal one in verse
30. This is where he says, as the one before
me. We look at that, we understand that best
as the eternal one. And we'll get to that in
just a moment. He also identifies Jesus as the
one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. He identifies
and illumines us, lightens us to the idea that
Jesus is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.
That's verse 33. And finally we see Jesus as
the Son of God. Jesus is the Son of God. Now
John reveals his revelation here actually is
book -ended because we see that in these he starts
with, Behold the Lamb of God takes away the sins
of the world. And then we see, behold, the Lamb
of God. And in between are those other three.
So the foundational thing is Jesus is the Lamb
of God who takes away the sins of the world.
And any time God repeats himself, he tells us
something two times, we should say, wait, that's
the key point here. That is the key point. In
this epiphany or revelation of who Christ is,
John The baptizer who is the greatest of all
the prophets? Reiterates that Jesus is the eternal
one in the very beginning of John chapter 1 we
hear this and 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 him was life and the life
was the light of men And the light shines in
the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend
it. Since Jesus is the eternal God, the Son through
whom all things are made, all life and light
comes from Him. Everything that has breath in
colluding every person before us in history and
every person that will be alive in the future
has been given life by God in Jesus. Jesus brings
light that is truth and reality to men But by
sin men live in darkness grasping for truth and
meaning But darkness doesn't comprehend the light
that is shining in it Of course we expect the
unbeliever not to understand these truths But
too often as Christians we live thinking in the
same ways that we always have Not comprehending
the light that is the truth that Jesus provides
for us Too often we think that our biggest problems
are everything but our sin and We especially
think our problem and our problems are the sins
of other people As the eternal creator Jesus
defines the world and everything in it he rightly
identifies our enemies and he is and rightly
tells us what the way to life and peace are.
So John the Baptizer next reveals that Jesus
will baptize with the Holy Spirit. This is real
important because during the Old Covenant the
Spirit of God came down on judges and kings and
prophets and priests for a particular time place
Not every God -fearing Israelite or Gentile believer
in God received the Spirit But because of the
work the Lamb of God all Christians are given
the Spirit and are empowered by the new heart
new mind given by the Spirit To be able to do
the works of God freed from the bondage of sin
Now John here also reveals that Jesus is the
son of God the one of whom all the prophets spoke
of Psalm 2 reminds us that God set his son on
the throne So all authority in heaven and earth
is his He not only set him on the throne, but
he set him on the throne and as Psalm 2 describes
in a time of conflict Right. There are all these
people and kings and leaders rising up Break
the bonds of God and God just smirked Psalm 2
actually says that he laughs at all those that
are conspiring against him Because he's already
set his son on the throne And so because of this
all authority given to Christ Jesus all Truth
comes from Jesus Jesus speaking in John 14 says
I am the way the truth and the life No one comes
to the Father but by me. Our sin is what separates
us from God, and this is our chief problem. We
cannot know the truth, the way, or what life
is outside of Christ Jesus. Jesus made the world
and all men, so He has the only way, the only
truth, and the only way of life. So in that God
defines all things. So if you want to know can
a man get pregnant or What a woman is we must
look solely to the Bible If any person wants
to know what their chief Difficulty or biggest
problem in their life is we must look to the
words of God From Genesis to Revelation man's
chief problem is our sin And that is what separates
us from God. The only solution is Jesus, for
he alone takes away the sin of the world. But
why does God use the title, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world? We understand
that there's imagery in the Old Testament regarding
the Passover lamb whose blood was used for the
deliverance from the angel of death during Passover.
And, of course, the eventual deliverance out
of Egypt, the land of bondage. Again, we see
God using lambs for the sacrifice for sins and
for trespasses and for the peace offering. Faith
in the mercy of God, using a little lamb for
deliverance from the bondage of sin, and it gives
us God's grace and peace. What's this image?
They had to have faith that God said, okay, here's
what you're gonna do. You're gonna do these things.
You're gonna get a little lamb without spot and
wrinkle, and you're gonna put him on this altar,
and his blood's gonna be spilled for you. They
had to believe what God was telling them in order
to receive that grace. You know, even for all
of Christendom, right? What's one of our symbols?
It's called the Angus Day. It is this banner.
This big pole with a flag is flying. It's got
a cross on it. We're all like yeah Right, but
what's at the base of that little banner a little
tiny lamb? Why is there a lamb for deliverance?
After all a lion sounds more glorious and more
likely to be able to deliver his people We see
that John later in Revelation 5 sees this dramatic
situation unfolding, where he sees the mercies
and judgments of God that close out the old covenant
and brings in the new creation. And in this situation,
here is this call. Who is worthy to open up this
scroll, right? And it says this. What's this
scroll? Who can open it up? This is the scroll
from Daniel. Where this lays out all the things
that's going to happen to transition the world
from the old covenant to the new the old creation
to the new creation and of course John says this
you know the angel says who's worthy and it looks
like no one is found and so John says in verse
4 of Revelation 5 so I wept much because no one
was found worthy to open and read the scroll
or to look at it But one of the elders said to
me do not weep behold the lion of the tribe of
Judah and you can hear you never The lion of
Judah, that's right Jesus is the fulfillment
of Jesus of David rather and He is called the
lion of Judah by the way just pointing back to
the original Prophecy that that Jacob gives to
Judah about being the one who holds the scepter.
He calls him a whelp Like a little little baby
lion you might be fine, but you're just a baby
Right the root of David has prevailed to open
the scroll and to lucid seven seals But then
it says when he looked when John looks and behold
in the midst of the throne and of the four living
creatures And in the midst of the elders stood
the lamb as though it had been slain having seven
horns and seven eyes Which are the seven spirits
of God sent out to all the earth? Then he came
and took the scroll out of the right hand of
him who sat on the throne So here it is our expectation
is in strength many times our own strength to
find deliverance, but God Consistently brings
deliverance through what we see as the weak and
the impossible We see in Genesis God takes an
imprisoned slave to deliver the whole world from
famine and preserve the seed of the woman. That
is Jesus. In Judges we see Gideon's 300 men with
torches and trumpets defeat a field of 135 ,000
Midianites. Are you kidding me? They didn't even
have swords. They had a torch in a clay pot that
they waited to break open at the right time,
right? And what else? A trumpet. And yet that's
how God delivered. They repented of their sins
and they obeyed. And there was deliverance. We
see David against Goliath. We see Israel at the
Red Sea with the whole Egyptian army coming down
on them. And God brings deliverance to the people
of Israel by leading them through the baptism
of the Red Sea. Much, much later, we see King
Hezekiah facing off with the Assyrian army. There's
185 ,000 Assyrians surrounding Jerusalem. And
Hezekiah goes to the Lord and says, have mercy.
All the ways we've sinned, forgive us. Bring
deliverance to us, please. They didn't even have
to go outside the walls of Jerusalem. God Himself
brought defeat against those 185 ,000. God wants
us to trust in Him for our deliverance. Standing
behind a little lamb for deliverance is God's
way of telling us, don't trust in yourself and
in what you think is strong. We look at our lives,
the struggles, the challenges, and the hardships.
And we look towards other means for deliverance.
We often look to ourselves, and how are we going
to deliver ourselves? Behold, the Lamb of God
who takes away the sins of the world. That includes
you. That includes of us This is important because
what truly ails all of us this morning is our
sinfulness Christ came and died for our sins
So confess your sins and turn away for your own
efforts in your salvation So much theology today
so many churches are teaching a false gospel
Because they say you choose you bring Dearly
beloved the only thing we bring to our salvation
is our wretched sinfulness and We are delivered
from our sin because of the work of Jesus Christ
So confess your sins and turn away from your
own efforts in your salvation Now Jesus is revealed
by having his titles named And this is what's
interesting. He goes out, he has his title's
name, and he immediately goes out and begins
to name others, defining them in him. Right?
We saw right there that Simon, the son of Jonah,
was renamed into who God had him to be. That
is Cephas the Rock. That's verse 42. And then
a few verses later, we see Nathaniel, an Israelite
that we're told, that Jesus declared an Israelite
in whom there is no deceit. That's a very interesting
thing that happens right there. In all of the
gospels, Nathaniel is the only one named as an
Israelite. What's the description used in the
gospel for all the other people that we find
in the land of Judea? They're Jews. Here though
we have an Israelite Jesus names Nathaniel and
Israelite. What's an Israelite a son of Abraham
who actually believes and follows God Dearly
beloved you have been named by Jesus as his in
your baptism Jesus calls you to a life of confronting
your sin and confessing your sin because you
carry His name. Reigning sin is defeated for
the Christian. You're no longer in bondage to
it. But what we must do is deal with our remaining
sin. What worries do you have now? What do you
believe? Or who do you believe are your chief
enemies? For some of you, The answer is your
spouse. Might be your children. Maybe it's your
coworkers. Maybe it's what's going on with your
finances. Maybe it's in the labors of the education
of your children. It might be loneliness. You
might be pointing towards your community or country.
Dearly beloved, let me tell you this before I
go there. I want you to understand that you need
to believe in the forgiveness of Christ. And
then do what? You're set free. All of us come
here in this room and we gather and glorify God,
and we are grateful for the forgiveness of His
sins, but we get bowed up because we forget that
there's something that we are set free that we
are to do, and that is to obey Him. So what happens
is we become totally stymied, stuck, and we don't
take the next step. We know that we're baptized.
We know that our sins are forgiven. We know that
we're no longer in bondage. And then what do
we do? We waller in self -pity. And then all
the things we think are the problems in our life,
instead of believing Jesus, confessing your sin,
and know that by the power of the Spirit, we're
going to get to that in a second. You are enabled
to do these things. Dearly beloved, Jesus is
the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world,
and this includes your sin. Jesus, the Son of
God, in whom all authority in heaven and earth
dwells, has claimed you. So stand with the Lamb.
Your chief problem is your sin. Confess it. and
believe Jesus has in fact delivered you from
the bondage of your sin. Jesus is the light and
life of the world. Trust in Jesus' work on the
cross and so get up and walk in obedience to
Him. You desire a better marriage? Confess sin
and obey Him. I'm going to tell you right now
across this church and across the Church of Jesus
Christ broadly, there are people looking for
every way to make their marriage better. So they're
reading books, listening to podcasts, maybe even
going to counseling, and none of those things
are wrong, but they are not the way to a better
marriage. The way to a better marriage is to
confess your sin and then go walk in obedience
to God. See we want to believe Jesus for the
forgiveness of our sins But we don't want to
believe that if we just simply do what he tells
us to do that it'll work out We want to have
faith in Jesus because it soothes our conscience
for our sins, but we don't want to have in Jesus
To obey him So what do we do we think our enemy
is our husband or our wife or our children, or
the other problems, or the other difficulties,
or all those other rotten sinners out there,
confess your sins. And then go and walk in obedience.
You can. Do you desire less stress in your life?
Confess your sin and obey. because you can because
Jesus remember it said he one of the titles was
he baptizes with the Holy Spirit because Jesus
sent the spirit to give you a new heart if he
says he gives you a new heart you have a new
heart yes and do you have a new mind in Christ
Jesus yes and so if you have a new heart a new
mind you're able to obey him and in that you
will bring light and life to the world You think
there's darkness and confusion in your household?
Confess your sins and be obedient, you, yourself.
Children, are you listening to that? Confess
your sins, be obedient, joyfully so. In Philippians
chapter two, we see all this great stuff about
Jesus coming down, and we all know that first
part of Philippians two very well. And we see
that he condescended to us, he stooped down low,
he cared for us, he did all the things. And because
of his obedient death on the cross, God lifts
him up and all creation, every voice in history
will say Jesus is Lord. We all go, right? We
think, here's the lion. Well, here's the lamb.
In verse 12 of Philippians chapter two, therefore,
my beloved, You have always obeyed now. This
is to the church and Philippi. This is all the
Christians there But as you have always obeyed
not as in my presence only But now much more
in my absence Work out your own salvation with
fear and trembling. What does this mean? Well,
you believe Jesus is forgiving your sins You
want to work out your salvation and fear and
trembling? Obey what he says and trust that the
creator of the world, the definer of all things
says, this is how you're delivered. This is what
brings you life and peace. This is what brings
change to the world so that my will is done on
earth as it is in heaven. And here's the thing,
he says all this. How can you figure this out?
And and and he says this for it is God who works
in both to will and to do for his good pleasure
Because Jesus died and he has sent the spirit
you can do the will of God and please him and
Then he says so here it is again. We're kind
of like yeah this spiritual thing. God's doing
Here's the tangible part for you right now. Are
you ready verse 14? Right so you work out your
your salvation and fear and trembling The spirit's
going to give it to you. Here's the crux for
you. Are you ready? Do all things without complaining
and disputing. Every one of us in this room is
guilty of complaining for the circumstances that
we find ourselves in. We do not submit to the
fact to say that this is God's providence in
our life. Dearly beloved, stop complaining and
disputing. You know where the disputing here
is? This is debating with God as to whether or
not if I do what he says that the things will
work out the way he says them. Are you with me
on that? The disputing a lot of times we think
is with one another. That's not what this is
talking about. We are disputing with God to say,
yeah, I'll take your forgiveness, but I don't
want to go be and do what you say and be obedient.
In the hard providences and the good graces.
that He gives us. Dearly beloved, believe in
the Lamb that takes away the sins of the world,
and then go and be obedient. And what does He
say? Do all things without complaining and disputing,
that you may become blameless and harmless. Harmless
to what? Yourself and the world. Children of
God without fault in the midst of a crooked and
perverse generation, which we all admit that's
where we are. And he says this, among whom you
shine as lights in the world. Dearly beloved,
when you walk in obedience to God, you will shine
as lights to the world, bringing his truth to
everyone else. You want to see your coworkers
come to Christ and stop acting bad? Be a light
in the world. You confess your sins and then
walk in obedience to God. You want to see your
marriages improve, your family life get better,
confess your sin, and get up and be obedient.
Behold, Jesus is the lamb who takes away the
sin of the world. Believe it, confess it, and
confess your sin, and go and obey all that Jesus
commands. That's the battle. Not all these other
struggles that vie for your attention. So ask
in every situation and circumstance, what does
God's word say? And if you've sinned, confess
it. And then go and sin no more to the glory
of God and be life and light to the world. Our
biggest problem is our sin. Jesus is the lamb
who takes away our sin. And because of the work
of Jesus, we shine as His light to the world.
Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank You for
the refreshing power of Your Word and of Your
Spirit. Make us ever mindful of the wealth that
we have in Christ for the forgiveness of our
sins and that the Holy Spirit has made us His
habitation. Your love, mercy, and strength surround
us. Your Word Your promises are in our hands
and in our heart. How rich you are unto us, O
Lord, and we to you. Help us to believe in the
strong work of the Lamb, your Son, our Savior
Jesus, who reigns with you in the Holy Spirit,
world without end. Amen.