John (the Baptist) says COME!

[0:00] the string go okay awesome i know i'm like i'm thinking as doug's praying i'm like what am i going to do i'm not supposed to do that while you're praying but doug you did a great prayer brother thank you yeah i'm like my son's here he knows music yeah it's either michael or war you don't want war doing that there goes another string if you're visiting we don't have this much fun normally so we're normally pretty stuffy so anyways take your bibles go to the gospel of john we've been in the gospel of john for uh two weeks now i actually figured out uh we're going to be in john for 63 weeks the gospel of john and chapter one so we've been in two weeks so 61 more weeks in john's gospel john chapter one we're going to do verses 19 through 34 this morning john 1 19 through 34 for this morning uh oh if you're visiting you need a bible page 71 and that black bible in the chair in front of you towards the back excuse me they renumber the new testament so page 71 actually page 70 uh you'll find um uh john chapter one i'm going to start reading verses 19 1 19 through 34 and remember i'm kind of i'm reading through greek so i'm mixing numeric standard with greek so sometimes it might sound a little odd so i'm just i've been doing that it's just helps me as as i'm studying so if it sounds kind of weird that's that's why i break away a little bit from the new american standard so uh gospel of john chapter one verse 19 and this is the witness of john when the jews sent him priests and levites from jerusalem to ask him who are you and he confessed and did not deny and he confessed i'm not at all the christ and they asked him what then are you elijah and he said i am not are you the prophet he answered no they said then to him who are you so we may give an answer to those who sent us who do you say or what do you say about yourself he said i am a voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the lord as isaiah the prophet said now out of those who have been sent were of the pharisees verse 25 and they asked him and said to him why then are you baptizing if you're not the christ nor elijah nor the prophet john answered them saying i baptized by water among you stands one whom you do not know the one who comes after me the strap of whose sandal i am not worthy to untie these things took place in bethany beyond the jordan where john was baptizing verse 29 the next day he saw jesus coming to him and said that's how he said it this is he on behalf of whom i said after me comes a man who has come before me for he existed before me and i did not know him but in order that he might be manifested to israel i came baptizing by water verse 32 and john bore witness saying i have beheld the spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and he remained upon him and i did not know him but he who sent me to baptize by water said to me the one upon whom you see the spirit descending and remaining upon him this is the one who baptizes by means of the holy spirit and i have seen and i have testified that this is the son of god excuse me

[4:04] when i was uh like 17 18 years old i bought a 1969 dodge dart it was red it was sweet i love that car and i bought it from who would become my father-in-law so i was much more interested in the daughter rather than the car obviously anyways uh graduated from high school and i went two years to san jose state university and um we lived on the north end of san jose and so i had to travel it was like 30 minutes or so into downtown san jose san jose state university is right there in downtown uh and you could do the parking garage and all that stuff you had to pay a fee so i would park in the street and most students just park in the street i mean it's like downtown so there's like houses and stuff you just park in the street and then you just walk to class walk to on campus so i did that every day uh you know three days we five days a week whatever one time um i drove to school and it's like seven seven thirty in the morning well they had things blocked off the whole street and there was cones set up and then they had like you know the caution tape so there's cones set up and then the caution tape blocking off that you couldn't park there there was one section that had cones over on this side and cones on that side but this one section did not have cones it was not blocked off so i went oh i can park there so i did yeah guess what happened i parked there went to class gone for like what a four hour five hour came back my car was gone so i found out you know it was towed and all that stuff blah blah blah i challenged it in court i went to court and i was decked out in a tie a suit whole nine yards and i said to the judge i remember this i said to the judge your honor that everything was marked off and blocked off but that one section was not blocked off so that's why i thought i could park there he let me go he gave me my car back with no fines there was my testimony there is i testified this is what i saw this is what i did i know it's hard to believe it actually happened it's true it's true story testifying bearing witness it's an important aspect like in a civil case it's especially important when it comes to crime scenes you have one witness but if you have more than one witness the more witnesses the better because they testify a witness testifies gives evidence to what happened or this took place or this is true this is real and that's exactly what you see here in john's gospel in john chapter one starting verse 19 to 34 it's so important for john the apostles he's writing this and remember he's writing this to jews and jewish proselytes primarily for jews to see not just witnesses one witness but two or three witnesses to who jesus truly was is and john's gospel is about coming and receiving jesus coming and trusting jesus coming and knowing jesus

[8:04] that's the theme and today we'll see in these few verses john the baptist says come john says come john says to you come another way to put this a long longer way john calls us to come to jesus testifying that he is supreme he's the lamb of god he's the baptizer by the spirit and he's the son of god i brought up past two weeks that john is going to bring up to us who jesus is and why it should matter to you so why does it matter that you know even believe this about jesus why does it matter that you believe jesus is supreme why does it matter that that you believe he's the lamb of god the baptizer by the spirit the son of god why does it matter jesus is supreme humble yourself jesus is the lamb your sin is taken away jesus is the baptizer you now belong to him jesus is the son of god worship him as your lord that's why it matters that's why it matters that's why it matters he's supreme you should humble yourself he's the lamb of god he's taking away all your sin we're going to celebrate that in a few moments he's the baptizer you now belong to jesus he's the son of god worship him as your lord that's why it matters man that's why it matters remember to receive jesus is to believe in him to believe in jesus is to know jesus who he is who the father is all that he's done that's what john's about he says come why because of who jesus is come how by believing in jesus trusting in jesus and what happens what does that entail eternal life well what is eternal life it's knowing god and jesus christ whom he has sent that's eternal life knowing christ points not to just knowledge but volition your will so remember as we come to john's gospel and really any time you read the bible we should not come and say okay how does it apply to my life like like that no the question is how does your life fit in with who jesus is and what he's done it's not about you it's about jesus so john's gonna teach you who jesus is and why it should matter to you how does your life fit into this it's not like well i need to take this out for me i mean what's about what's in it for me god's doing this how does your life fit into that so notice how he begins john testifies first jesus is supreme and he's gonna begin with it's not me john's gonna say

[12:06] it's not about me john the baptizer it's not about me notice the emphasis and this is the witness of john and he's gonna end in verse 34 i have seen have borne witness the same word testifying bearing witness yes a testimony to the delegation from jerusalem but his testimony regarding who jesus truly was or is this is who he is and what we'll see here see john trying to fade himself out and lift up the word and lift up jesus because he'll know he'll understand jesus is supreme that's what you'll see john do the baptist that is and john the apostle he's writing he's gonna show how john the baptist did that now i want to bring up too verse 19 and this is the witness of john when the jews sent him priests and levites from jerusalem to ask him who are you this word this noun jews who are these guys in john's gospel there's a variety of meanings for the word jews but most commonly it refers to the jewish leaders not all the time just sometimes the jewish leaders and the jewish leaders especially from jerusalem or judea and context will tell you otherwise but that's what's meant here in verse 19 it's the jewish leaders and these are the guys who actively opposed jesus they misunderstood him and they were the ones who would seek to kill him as you're gonna see in john's gospel as we continue on on this journey and these jews jewish leaders sent some priests and levites he was of the sanhedrin who were controlled by the high priest family they wanted to know who this guy was who was baptizing jews who are you who authorized you to do this who gave you this authority you see this again verse 25 because you're gonna say why are you baptizing why is that so why is that a big deal proselytes to judaism they were baptized and they were converted to become a jew and to judaism you would be baptized but actually you would actually baptize yourself but if you were already a jew you wouldn't get baptized so they're like why are you baptizing what are your what are your origins what are your intentions what's your message this doesn't make any sense who are you verse 20 and he confessed and did not deny and he confessed so this is a forceful way of saying no way

[15:11] Jose there's no stinking way that I am even remotely close to being the Messiah no I am not at all the Christ remember John this John the one the baptizer he'll be content to fall by the wayside and let Messiah be supreme be first 21 they asked him what then are you Elijah John did not see himself as Elijah even though actually Jesus called him that in the synoptic gospels he said I am not are you the prophet he answered no the prophet from Deuteronomy chapter 18 he would bring in the eschatological age that was a belief by the Samaritans no I'm not any of these guys okay well then who do you say about yourself who are you then verse 23 he said

[16:11] I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness make straight the way of the Lord as Isaiah the prophet said actually John the apostle quotes a lot from Isaiah's in the book of Isaiah interesting I'm the voice of Isaiah chapter 40 verse 3 and the context of Isaiah chapter 40 is that of the good news to Zion because their king Messiah was coming John was the announcer that Messiah was here he was the prophetic voice he's here I'm the I'm the preparation for him it's me but I'm nothing it's him verse 25 they asked him why then are you baptizing actually excuse me go back to verse 24 some of those who had been sent were from the Pharisees Pharisees were a pious group that started in like the 100's

[17:18] BC when Antiochus Epiphanes took control of Palestine and these guys they observed the minute details of the law they established an oral tradition on how to obey the law strictly and precisely these end up becoming Jesus' adversaries so it's these guys who said well verse 25 why then are you baptized if you're not the Christ you're not Elijah nor the prophet because Jews don't get baptized what's the matter with you by whose authority were you baptizing these Jews to prepare for the kingdom and they didn't understand John had insisted Jews come to be baptized unto repentance for forgiveness of sins that was John's purpose John the Baptist similar to Old Testament prophets who would call for a remnant to return to the Lord he was the last Old Testament prophet so John the baptizer he called

[18:19] Jews to repent lest they would not be able to receive the coming one the Pharisees didn't get that they didn't understand that they understand his role they understand his aim they understand that his water baptizing was preparation of what was to come baptizing they didn't understand that so you see John he's trying to divert attention away from himself it's not me it's not me but then notice how he transitions here when they're asking why are you baptizing verse 26 he's going to transition from not me but him and then look what happens this is different from the synoptics from Matthew Mark and Luke John answered them saying I baptize by water among you stands one whom you do not know wait a minute what happened the mode of baptism the reason of baptism just blows away it just goes away he doesn't talk about that anymore it's not about that anymore he's not talking about that anymore his emphasis was who who is first who's the focus he's saying the person who does the baptism comes to the forefront the focus is now upon

[19:44] Christ I'm not important in this whole equation Messiah is important he's important I'm doing what I'm called to do I bear witness to the hidden Messiah who's so much greater than me notice what he says among you stands one whom you do not know verse 27 the one who comes after me the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie not me but him see what he's doing John was not even worthy to untie the strap on his sandal talk about great humility Jesus is supreme I am nothing his whole purpose was to prepare people for him

[20:53] Jesus and for him John to be small you know slaves would take care of their masters in the first century and the most demeaning task given to a household slave was to care for the feet of his master I'm not worthy of that I'm not worthy to undo the strap on a sandal notice how he's emphasizing the superiority of Jesus and John's lack John was committed to Jesus being supreme and he humbled himself verse 28 these things took place in Bethany another city called Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing and then notice what happens John does this same thing look at verse 30 verse 30 this is he on behalf of whom I said after me comes a man who has come before me for he existed before me this is what he said in chapter 1 verse 15 so because of

[22:12] Jesus pre-existence Jesus should have first and absolute precedence and be pre-eminence it's him he's supreme he was superior to John John wanted Jesus to increase and for him to decrease chapter 3 verse 30 we'll see that later so learn from John why does this matter to you learn from John Jesus is supreme let's respond to him in humility respond to him in humility he is supreme number two Jesus is the Lamb of God verse 29 the next day he saw Jesus come in him and said look the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world there's a couple things you have to keep in mind when you're reading this gospel first belief progresses because you'll see it says the disciples believed in him

[23:21] Jesus they believed in him it says they believed in him they believed in him wait I thought he said just over here they believed in him you'll see their belief progresses to see if it's true and genuine that's what happens so when John says here the Lamb he probably didn't think of Jesus as the Passover Lamb or one of the lambs in the book of Leviticus the other thing you'll see about John's gospel is this John here as well as others in the gospel they will speak better than they know you ever had like a little kid say something and you're like oh that's so true and yet the little kid has no idea what they're talking about like right but you're like they're like blah blah blah they just repeat something they're like oh yeah that's so true yet they had no idea what they're saying that's what you're gonna see in this gospel these people speak better than they know and that's what John is doing here he's speaking better than he knew

[24:25] John here when he says the Lamb of God most likely had in mind the apocalyptic Lamb who would be a warrior Lamb and would deal out judgment and destruction as opposed to being an expiatory sacrifice he wasn't thinking Jesus was the expiatory sacrifice when he said that he wasn't thinking he was the Lamb to die he wasn't thinking that now for John the Apostle his readers and for us this Lamb who took away sin would be understood in a richer fuller way won't it when we read this we have the fuller understanding of what is meant by Jesus the Lamb who takes away the sin of his people interesting too is John the Apostle he used a word for Lamb that's used according to the

[25:28] Greek translation of the Old Testament in Isaiah chapter 53 verse 7 the Lamb and he was probably John the Apostle applying this to Jesus even though John the Baptist he really had no idea what he was saying when he said that the fuller understanding this one is God's Lamb as depicted as prophesied in the Old Testament who takes away sin and notice who takes away the sin of the world John the writer the Apostle wants to make sure we understand his sacrifice would not just be for Jews only but for all human beings without exception no it's not just for Jews this is a hot button big time hot button for Jews especially Jewish Christians what Gentiles for them too their sins are taken away yeah them too you know what's interesting is when you meet someone who's a Jew and they completely and totally reject their own Messiah doesn't it just amaze you and here you are goyim

[26:56] Hebrew word for nations here you are a Gentile telling them about their Messiah the prologue made it clear he came to his own and his own rejected him they did not receive him but remember it's all who receive him anyone who receives him to them he gave them the right to become children of God for them the lamb has taken away their sin he cleanses not just Jews but also Gentiles without exception all without extinction he could take away your sins too are you here and not a Christian are you here and not a follower of Jesus Jesus can take away your sins you can be saved if you repent and trust Christ he will take away your sins he'll forgive you of your sins he'll cleanse you he says come receive me that's why he died for sinners he can be saved he can take away your sin that's why we celebrate the Lord's Supper we're gonna celebrate we're gonna come to the table with this promise when you have that bread and that juice in your hand you have that promise

[28:17] Jesus the lamb of God he's taken away my sin you're not gonna be punished for your sin he's taken it away so Jesus is supreme he's the lamb of God three Jesus is the baptizer verse 31 to 33 31 I did not numeric standard recognize him literally it's no he didn't know him what he knew him well he knew him but what John is saying here John the baptizer when he speaks he did not know that he was the coming one the unique son of God as a matter of fact John the baptist even doubted that later he has had his disciples come to Jesus and say are you the coming one or should we expect somebody else you see that in the synoptics but notice what he says

[29:21] I did not know him but in order that he might be manifested Israel I came baptizing by water so he may be manifested Israel preparing them for cleansing preparing them for the baptism by means of the spirits look at verse 32 and John this baptist bore witness saying I have beheld the spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and he remained upon him so this visible descent of the spirit upon Jesus which John saw it served as a sign by which he would know that this one is the coming one who baptizes by the spirit because notice what he says verse 33 I did not know him but the one who sent me to baptize him that's God remember chapter one there came a man sent by God whose name was John the one who sent me to baptize in water said to me he upon whom you see the spirit descending and remain upon him this is the one who baptizes by the holy spirit the spirit coming upon him was characteristic of the coming messiah it was a mark that Jesus was God's messiah

[30:28] God's suffering servant so God sent john to do a baptism a preparation a preparation cleansing for the messiah and that's why he's saying that's why I'm nothing I see who he is and I point to him because I'm meant to truly really testify to what I've truly seen it's him he's the one who baptizes by the spirit it doesn't matter about my baptism necessarily what matters is him I'm just the forerunner I'm just the preparer for him you know what's interesting too is in this section about john the baptist I keep saying john the baptist but john the apostle never calls him john the baptist did you notice that because there really is only one who baptizes it's Jesus he's the one who baptizes by means of the spirit again the focus is upon

[31:28] Jesus who would be equipped to baptize others by the spirit this baptism would be the fulfillment of old testament prophecy where God's people would have the spirit poured out upon them and the eschatological age begins this is who Jesus is and when he pours out the spirit you belong to him the last days have begun the last days began when this whole virus broke out the last days began when Jesus came we are in the eschatological age right now we're in the last days now this is what Israel needed to have revealed to them this is what the world needs to know and understand he is the one who takes away sin and he is the one who baptizes by means of the spirit and you know you're not told in any of the gospels

[32:28] Jesus baptizes by means of spirit into what nobody tells you Paul does Jesus baptizes by means of the spirit to put you into the body of Christ so now you belong to him you're part of the body now the body of Jesus he truly is the Messiah who pours out the spirit on his people to bring them into his body we now belong to him and he's inaugurated the last days and this is the great part too so we're celebrating the Lord's supper today right well here's the part we celebrate the Lord's supper he inaugurated the last days and then we're also looking forward to the we partake the Lord's supper we're proclaiming his death until he comes again see this is why it matters this is why it matters that

[33:34] Jesus is supreme this is why it matters that he's the lamb who takes away your sin this is why it matters that Jesus is the baptizer by the spirit and number four Jesus is the son of God verse 34 notice the verbs I have seen and have borne witness Jesus is the son of God he clearly saw Jesus and spoke with strong conviction based upon his historical sighting Jesus truly is the son of God he is the word made flesh he is the light why does it matter because he's God worship him for all you geeks out there this is for you son of God there's actually a variant here some translations manuscripts have elect one of

[34:40] God and some manuscripts have son of God based upon John's emphasis that Jesus is the son I choose the latter I think it's the son but you can do your own little lower textual criticism come to your own conclusion but I think this takes us back to the prologue which is the word the God man the only begotten God is in the bosom of the father who created everything he's saying he is God in the flesh worship him this one is greater than us this one takes away our sin this one baptizes by the spirit this one is the son of God he's superior the lamb the baptizer the son of God this is why it matters how does your life fit into that what does this mean what are you going to do with this Jesus is supreme let us humble ourselves

[35:42] Jesus is the lamb we'll celebrate he's taking away our sin Jesus is the baptizer we now belong to him we're in the body of Christ now we have the spirit Jesus is the son of God worship him as your Lord that's why it matters we're going to partake of the Lord's Supper and if you're a Christian you know the Lord Jesus Christ come from a church of like faith and practice we would prefer if you've been baptized by immersion preference partake of this with us if you're not a Christian it's not for you and if you know Christ and yet you have something against someone else Christian or otherwise it probably would be better that you not partake of the Lord's Supper first try to reconcile with that person if you have not done so and then come and partake of the

[36:44] Lord's Supper with us when we do that next time but this is for us to remember what Jesus has done this doesn't do anything to you it doesn't change you it doesn't create you more holy let's do that doesn't change it reminds you what Jesus has done it reminds you that belief is so strong it's like taking Jesus in and assimilating him into your life and it reminds you that as Jesus kept his promise excuse me as God kept his promise to bring Jesus his son who died and rose he's going to keep his promise that Jesus is going to return we proclaim the Lord's death until he comes so we can begin to prepare our hearts examine your heart remind yourself of gospel truth and the promises given to you and that you're forgiven let's take a moment and pray

[37:46] Lord Jesus we acknowledge that you are supreme so we come before you with humility realizing you are superior and you deserve our praise help us in that Jesus we acknowledge you're the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world you've taken away our sin we praise you for that you're the baptizer by the spirit you brought us into the body of Christ we now belong to you Jesus you're God the son for the father loves the son the son loves the father the eternal generation of the son we come to worship you and we've come to remind ourselves who you are and what you've done it's not about us it's about you help us to direct our focus off of ourselves and unto you help us to remember that you've forgiven us of all our sin we're undeserving of it and yet you are gracious merciful and kind and this bread represents that

[39:22] Jesus this juice represents your shed blood may impact our hearts towards greater love greater joy in you greater thanks for your grace and your mercy so take this time if you would please sometime a moment of silence you know we go about a minute or so for you to reflect and pour into your mind the truth of gospel of grace let it flow in fill your mind with it and after some time of of reflecting upon the truth of the gospel

[40:24] I'll bring us back together and we'll sing just take that moment just about a minute or so examine your heart and may it drive you to the gospel of grace would you do that now please you you you you you you you you you