Father, we ask that you would pour out your Holy Spirit upon us and bring your word home to us at a very deep level.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.
So, where I live, I'm near the part of the Cross Canada Trail, and I run on it when it's not covered in snow.
At least occasionally I run on it. And about a year or so ago, maybe a year and a half ago, I was on the trail going for a run.
And as I'm running down the trail, a woman starts waving at me. She's running the opposite way, and she starts to wave at me.
And as she gets close, she says, there's a really big snake on the path up ahead.
And there are two places along the path where there must be a nest of snakes or something, because you often see them.
Now, I hate snakes. I am a complete and utter wuss when it comes to snakes.
One of the, many of you don't know my oldest son, Tosh. He's really neat in lots of respects.
But one of the things which is about him and me, if we had both been together on that run, Tosh would have said to me,
Dad, if we hurry, we'll be able to see the snake.
And my reaction was, maybe I should go the other way, because I don't want to see the snake.
And I went, and I never, it must have kept on slithering into the grass.
And it was obviously just a garter snake, not some python that had escaped or something like that.
But I mention this because, this little while ago, I was in some email correspondence with a friend of mine who lives in Atlanta.
And just on the off, I just happened to mention, it was one of those days where I think when we woke up, it was minus 39.
So I said that to him when I woke up, it was minus 39.
He had a couple of comments about it. He can't even imagine that cold.
So I said to him via email, I said, well, on the bright side, it keeps the snakes and insects small and the poisonous snakes away.
And he almost instantly emailed back and he said, if you move to Hawaii, there's no poisonous snakes or poisonous spiders.
That sounds like a better option than living in Ottawa, to which I could only agree.
Anyway, at that particular time, anyway, I've never been to Hawaii.
Here's the thing. We're doing this, going through the Gospel of John.
And when we did this a couple of years ago, a similar thing with 2 Corinthians.
There's this church in Vancouver called St. John's Vancouver.
And they have this big church, the good staff, and they develop a study guide to go along with the sermons.
And in that church, what they do is they encourage people to read the study guide, either by themselves or with others, before the sermon.
And they didn't have one with Galatians, so we didn't do it.
But people who did this with 2 Corinthians, they found it very helpful.
And I thought we would do this with John, because I knew they had a study guide for John.
But the problem is, it means I have to sort of break up the book the same way that their pastor breaks the book up.
And he's a master at taking very big parts of the Bible and being able to preach through big chunks of the Bible.
And I'm not very good at that.
I confess that to you right now.
So today, in theory, I'm going to look at verses 19 to 51.
That's 43 verses.
I feel a little bit like a python that swallowed something way too big that's going to probably kill the snake.
That's where the snake analogy all came by this way.
I've swallowed some huge hippopotamus, and I can't really handle it.
So if you just bear with me.
Of course, it's a really, really, really rich text.
And so just let's begin this python process of trying to go through John 1.19 to the end of the chapter.
John 1.19, and we'll start reading in a moment.
And just in terms of placing how John's written the book,
John, in the first 18 verses, we looked at that over the Christmas season.
It's called the prologue.
It's very philosophical.
You know, the Word was made flesh, and Jesus is the exegesis of God.
It's very abstract, very powerful, very deep.
You can write big, fat, thick books just on those 18 verses.
And the interesting thing is that John goes from these very big philosophical ideas.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was with God in the beginning, and all things were made through him,
and without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
And it's a very profound, simple, deep, just explanation of God.
You know, it's just, before we get into it, I finally watched the movie Wonder Woman on Friday night.
And I don't think there's any spoiler here with it, but at the end of the movie,
the Wonder Woman gives this, you know, short little speech about the importance of love.
And, you know, as a Christian, I can't disagree with it, but, you know, for non-Christians,
and for most people, they have this basic sense that love is, I mean, and it's a true sense,
that love is just something fundamental and deep.
But it's a sense that people have that just sort of hangs there in the air.
It's not really based on other things, other than that they have this just basic sense,
this basic longing, this basic understanding that love is just somehow basic and fundamental.
But in the Scriptures, that longing is given roots.
It's given a basis.
Because when John begins his Gospel,
in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God, as I talked about when I preached on it a couple of weeks ago.
So, it's relational language, it's love language, and the Bible begins by saying that love is deeper and older than creation.
Love is deeper and older than creation, because from all eternity, God the Father has loved the Son.
And from all eternity, God the Son has loved the Father.
And the Holy Spirit is in some ways almost as if He Himself is love as a person in this eternal procession between the Father and the Son.
And before there were planets, before there were galaxies, before there were human beings,
from all eternity, the Father loved the Son, and the Son loved the Father.
And so John, who's going to begin this Gospel and touch on many, many deep things,
he begins his Gospel by saying,
Listen, listen, the God who really does exist, the God who really does, did create all things,
the God who not only created all things, but sustains all things,
from all eternity, the Father loved the Son, and the Son loved the Father.
And John wants to say, whatever you see in the world,
and we have this basic sense that love is central and deep,
that in fact, that's a true intuition that human beings have.
That love itself really is deeper and older than creation itself.
And we were made for love.
So John, who wrote this Gospel, he begins with these big ideas,
and then in verse 19, and in the original language,
well, actually in my version, it says,
And all of a sudden, from these big, big ideas, he goes into history.
He enters us into history.
In fact, he's going to introduce John the Baptist,
and he's going to talk about Pharisees,
and he's going to talk about priests,
and he's going to talk about Levites.
And it's really, really interesting because,
I don't know how many of you know this,
but John the Baptist is a known historical figure outside of the Gospels.
There are non-Christian sources that talk about John the Baptist
and what he did and how important he was in his followers and his disciples.
And Pharisees are a known historical phenomenon in Jerusalem at this time,
as are priests and as are Levites.
And it's very interesting.
It's very interesting how God works,
that he's going to emphasize that the God who does exist isn't just a distant God,
a God far away,
but that this God,
John's going to talk about how God introduces himself to human beings
in space and time and in history.
And that's where we get with verse 19 of chapter 1.
And this is the testimony of John the Baptist,
when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him,
who are you?
Now we're going to pause right here.
This phrase, the Jews,
it's a bit of a troubling phrase, isn't it?
I remember being at a Christian gathering
where somebody did a dramatic reading of a text in John's Gospel.
And if you've read John's Gospel, he uses the phrase,
the Jews, time and time and time again.
He uses it a lot.
And in the history of the world,
this phrase has often been part of the basis
by which people have justified the murder of Jewish people
and discrimination against Jewish people.
In other words, the phrase, the Jews,
has been part of how people who've heard the Bible
have used it to justify prejudice, hatred, discrimination,
and even murderous acts against the Jewish people.
And I remember being at this Christian gathering
where a fellow did a dramatic reading of the text.
But the thing which was so bothersome to me
is that there were several Jewish people
who were there in the room.
In fact, even with their,
I can't remember what it is right now,
the little head, more Orthodox Jews.
And I just thought to myself
that the person doing the reading,
he probably offended them.
They couldn't get past probably this troublesome text
and description.
And I'm going to probably say,
I'm going to say this several times throughout the John
because I know that there's not always the same people here
and people I don't expect.
If you remember 10% of what I say today,
that's pretty good.
But if you could put up the first point,
Andrew, here's what you need to understand
all the way through reading the Gospel of John.
The Jews, on one hand, it's, of course, literal.
But in a sense,
and as you're going to see,
all the way through John's Gospel,
he uses light, bread of life, shepherd.
He uses words that are like code
or a symbol maybe would be a better word.
It's a symbol to help you to enter into a bigger world,
to think more broadly.
And what John does,
because the writer of this Gospel is Jewish,
and Jesus is Jewish,
and all the apostles are Jewish.
And in fact,
John,
in his Gospel,
has Jesus saying one of the most significant phrases
in all of the New Testament,
salvation is from the Jews.
So, John is not being anti-Semitic.
The Jews is code,
or symbol might be a better word,
for the religious,
spiritual,
world of meaning,
and the moral world,
organized and established,
apart from faith in Jesus Christ crucified.
That's how he uses the term.
In other words,
when we read it,
if we think,
oh boy,
those Jewish people are so conniving,
and we've completely and utterly missed the point of the Scriptures.
What we should hear when we see this,
is we should hear the Anglican Church of Canada.
We should hear Christian churches,
that have lost their faith and confidence,
that Jesus is the Savior,
and Lord,
and basis of the church.
They should hear the faculty club,
at a major university.
They should hear the CBC.
They should hear the Green Party,
or the NDP caucus.
In other words,
the different ways that human beings organize themselves,
in spiritual ways,
in moral ways,
in religious ways,
in terms of meaning,
or in terms of morals,
that John is saying,
all the way through this,
if you trace it all the way through the book,
in every case,
he's not actually trying to say something,
something so we point our finger at somebody else,
he's trying to fashion a mirror,
so we can see ourselves.
That what happens,
when we try to organize the world of morals,
or the world of meaning,
or the world of religion,
or the world of spirituality,
and we try to establish it,
completely and utterly separate,
from God revealing himself,
in the person of Jesus,
and in the words and miracles of Jesus,
and in the death and resurrection of Jesus,
and to establish morality,
or meaning,
or religion,
or spirituality,
apart from that,
read the gospel of John,
and every time you see the word,
the Jews,
that's what we're to think of.
We're to think of our own efforts,
to establish morality,
and meaning,
and spirituality,
and religion,
apart from God,
breaking into human history,
in the person of his son.
You see,
when I read the Bible,
on one level,
it's not about me,
it's about Jesus,
but on the other level,
it's always about me.
It's never so that I can say,
gosh,
I wish my wife would learn more about this.
Then she'd treat me better.
My wife treats me fantastic,
by the way.
I have a wife beyond what I deserve.
But it's so that I'll see myself in the text.
That's always what's at work in God's word.
So,
the Bible here is definitely not encouraging anti-Semitism.
It's trying to see,
and it's going to show,
this is the very beginning of it,
is these,
as we're going to see in a moment,
as I read the next few things,
is that there's this phenomenon going on,
that John the Baptist,
is doing to Jewish people,
what Jewish people did to pagans.
And that part of the way that a pagan,
who would become,
on the path to becoming Jewish,
is that they'd be baptized.
And John the Baptist,
is having Jewish people be baptized.
And for some reason,
rather than offending everybody,
it's drawing people.
And so,
the establishment,
the religious establishment,
the spiritual establishment,
the moral establishment,
the establishment of meaning,
sends its representatives
to try to figure out
what's going on with John the Baptist.
They want to try to put them,
John and what he's doing,
within some type of category of their thought,
so that they can get a handle on it,
and manage it.
Well, let's continue.
Verse 19.
And this is the testimony of John the Baptist,
when the Jews sent priests,
and Levites from Jerusalem,
to ask him,
who are you?
He confessed,
and did not deny,
but confessed,
I am not the Christ.
And they asked him,
what then,
are you Elijah?
He said,
I am not.
Are you the prophet?
And he answered,
no.
So they said to him,
who are you?
We need to give an answer
to those who sent us.
What do you say about yourself?
And he said,
I am the voice.
I'm just a voice.
I'm God.
I'm the voice of one
crying out in the wilderness,
make straight the way of the Lord,
as the prophet Isaiah has said.
Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.
They asked John the Baptist,
and why are you baptizing
if you are neither the Christ
nor Elijah nor the prophet?
And John the Baptist answered them,
I baptize with water,
but among you stands one
you do not know.
Even he who comes after me,
the strap of whose sandal
I am not worthy to untie.
These things took place
in Bethany across the Jordan
where John the Baptist
was baptizing.
And you'll notice on one hand,
it's very,
I don't know if you caught it,
isn't it sort of curious
how John the Baptist speaks?
That he understands himself
as being so unworthy
that when they finally know
who it is who's present amongst them,
that the Lord,
because Isaiah is saying
about this day
when God himself
will come to earth.
and John the Baptist
on one hand says,
I'm just that voice
that Isaiah talked about
announcing that God himself
is about to walk among us.
And on one hand,
that can sound awfully proud,
although it isn't.
And he balances it
by saying,
I'm not even worthy
to touch his sandal.
Now just pause here.
This is,
over the next couple of weeks
when we look at the John the Baptist text,
in Protestant spirituality
and in fact
in classical Anglican spirituality,
John the Baptist
is very important
because he's seen as sort of
the different things
that he says about himself
are to be the model
for a minister.
And by minister,
I don't just mean ordained people.
I use the word minister
as servant.
It's to be the model
for Mike
who's a host at the door.
It's to be a model
for the Sunday school teachers.
It's to be a model
for the small group leaders,
for the women's ministry,
the men's ministry,
for our church,
our mission on campus,
for coffee,
for child care.
The word minister
just means an attempt,
a servant.
So if you could put up
the next point.
Here's just a,
pray that the ministers
of Messiah
will know
we are but witnesses
and in ourselves
we are unworthy
to touch the sandals
of Jesus' feet.
On Saturday
in the paper
there was a newspaper report
of a funeral
that took place
in Victoria
and it was a very,
very,
it was a very tragic situation
which I guess is why
even though it happened
in Victoria
it made it in a paper
that you could read
in Ottawa.
and,
but in the article
it's quoted
that the minister
at the church,
a mainline denomination,
she said,
I,
who am paid
to be wise,
can't make sense of this.
Now could you please pray
that I,
neither me,
nor Daniel,
nor Sean,
nor Jonathan,
nor your small group leader,
or anybody in the church
ever thinks
that to be a minister
is that you
are paying me
to be wise.
I'm not.
I'm not worthy
to touch the sandal
of Jesus
apart from grace.
and neither is Sean
and neither is Neil
and,
uh,
the day we start
to think
that we're paid
to be wise
is the day
we turn our backs
on the Bible.
And,
uh,
some of you
who lead small groups
and all,
you're not paid
to do that.
You just do it
out of the,
out of,
out of a calling
that God has given you.
But,
John,
we'll develop it
more over the coming weeks,
but John the Baptist
is seen as sort of
the,
a type of model
that every minister,
all we're doing
is to prepare
the way of the Lord,
is to point to Jesus
and to point to Jesus
unworthy as we are
knowing that apart
from grace
we're not even
worthy to touch
Jesus' sandal.
But thanks be to God
for grace.
So it's a bit of an aside
but it's,
it's a really important
principle to get there
and we'll keep going on it
as we look at the different
things about John the Baptist.
Now,
I just was reading
something about
Ricky Gervais.
You know,
he's the,
I don't know if I'm
pronouncing his name
correctly,
he's the,
the British comedian
who,
who was at the
Star of The Office,
the original UK version
and he's done lots
of other comedy stuff
and he's a well-known
atheist.
And,
I might get the numbers
of this wrong
but in an interview
with the Wall Street Journal
a couple of years ago,
he says in that,
they ask him about his
atheism and,
and he jokes and says,
you know,
people give him a hard time
about being atheist
but most people
who are atheists,
they're really not
that different from them.
In fact,
he said,
the most devout Christian
is really not much
different than me.
And,
and the interviewer says,
well,
how is that,
Ricky?
And,
Ricky says,
well,
I'll just ask them
something like this.
You know,
in the Roman Empire
there were,
you know,
whatever,
3,000 gods
and goddesses.
And,
so I say to somebody,
do you still believe in Zeus?
Do you still believe
in Hercules?
Do you still believe
in Artemis?
Do you still believe
in Diana?
And,
of course,
he said,
my Christian friends
will all say,
no,
no.
And,
I say to them,
well,
you don't believe
in 2,999 gods.
I've just gone one past you.
But,
we're all basically
on the same journey
of just disbelieving
in all of the gods.
And,
I mention that
because what's about
to happen,
what John is doing here
is John
in a world
with lots and lots
and lots of gods.
John
is being used
by God
to introduce himself
when he walks around.
And,
because there's so many gods,
and because
it's such a natural
human tendency
for us to extrapolate
from our experience,
our experience of love,
our experience of pain,
our experience of suffering,
our experience of institutions,
it's so natural
for us to extrapolate
from our experience
onto what God
must be like.
John wrote his gospel
to record
how God
introduces himself
so we don't
misunderstand
who God
really is.
And,
that's what's going on
here in John's gospel.
It goes on all the way
through it,
especially in the first half
of it before it gets
to the crucifixion.
But,
but look
at how God,
if you take that
as the idea,
and that's what John,
that's what John
is the claim he's making,
John the writer
of the gospel.
And,
if thinking about that,
it's very,
very interesting
how God
first
has himself
introduced.
Like,
just imagine
for a second
that you were
God's spin doctor,
his media consultant.
And,
and God
said to you,
I think I'm going
to go
send my son down
to earth
to introduce myself.
What do you think
I should do?
Well,
I don't know.
I know,
you know,
we're all
well-instructed
Christians,
and we'd say,
well,
you should send
them down
to be born
in a manger
and all that.
But no,
just for a second,
like,
just apart from that,
like,
how,
how would we,
well,
how do human beings
naturally want to
think of God?
Well,
you know,
we might think of God
as a mountain,
as an ocean,
as the sky.
We might like to
think of God
as being everything.
We might like to
think of God
as being something
like a force
or the force
or energy.
We might want
to try to,
we might want
to try to emphasize
that God
is very powerful,
so have him be
introduced to somebody
who's very powerful.
We might want
to have him be
introduced to somebody
who's unbelievably
beautiful,
that will be
attractive to us,
that it might be
something in terms
of melody,
that some beautiful
melody that will just,
you know,
because music can be
so good and just
draw our hearts
and our minds,
and so we might
want to have God
introduce himself
in that way.
But it's very,
very interesting
how God chooses
to have himself
introduced.
Look at verse 29.
The next day,
John the Baptist
saw Jesus
coming toward him
and said,
Behold the Lamb
of God
who takes away
the sin of the world.
Now just sort of
pause.
That's how God
chooses to first
have Jesus
introduced.
Not as a mountain,
not as a superhero,
not as wealthy,
not as powerful,
not as the ocean,
not as energy,
not as music,
not as an idea,
not as a principle,
not as an organization,
not as an institution,
not as a technique,
but God introduces himself
in the person.
Well, if you could
put up the first point,
and I had some grammar
issues with this.
If you smarter grammar
people want to help
me out later on,
I'd preach,
and that's going,
there we go.
The Trinity
introduces themselves.
Google doesn't like it
when you say that
because it should be
themselves,
but I don't know
how to introduce
the unity
and the Trinity,
you get my point.
So if you grammar
geniuses have a better
way to put it,
I'd love to hear it,
and you'll be better.
But anyway,
the Trinity introduces
themselves in Jesus
of Nazareth.
That's what is going
on here.
In the beginning
was the Word,
and the Word was
with God,
and the Word was
God.
He was in the beginning
with God.
All things were made
through him,
and without him
nothing was made
that was made.
And John says
that there's been
these ancient prophecies
that someday God
himself will come
and walk among
his people.
And so John
is making the claim
that the Trinity
introduces themselves
in Jesus of Nazareth.
If you could put up
the next slide,
please.
And isn't it
interesting that God
introduces himself
as the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world?
That's how he
introduces himself.
This is a very,
very powerful phrase.
I was,
this week I bumped
into an old friend
of mine that I hadn't
seen in a long time.
I used to work for him
a long, long,
long, long time ago.
And he's a very,
very secular Jew.
Probably hasn't been
to synagogue
in decades.
Dabbles and a lot
of New Age stuff.
Really funny guy.
Great guy.
And he was just
telling me about
how he'd been
really struck
with Jordan Peterson's
series of videos
not on gender stuff
but on God.
And it was very
interesting that he
was really struck
with this idea
of sacrifice.
Which Jordan,
according to him,
Jordan Peterson
sees as being central
to the idea
of a proper idea
of God.
And if you were
a Jewish person,
one of the most
important parts
of the entire
Old Testament
is Genesis 22.
And in Genesis 22,
God asks Abraham,
appears to ask Abraham,
or asks Abraham
to go and kill
his son Isaac.
Isaac.
And it's a very
important story
in Jewish thought
in Genesis 22.
And in that story,
and there's a bit
of debate about
the Hebrew,
whether in fact
God,
whether Abraham
actually kills
Isaac.
There's some ambiguity
in the history
in the Hebrew,
whether Abraham
actually kills
Isaac and then
God brings Isaac
back to life.
And Abraham's
determined and he
goes to kill him
a second time
or whether he's
just about to
kill him the
first time.
But the main
thing is that
God stops him.
And in that
whole story,
there's a ram
that gets killed.
But God says,
reveals to Abraham
that he will
provide the lamb
for the sacrifice.
And it's interesting
because it's a ram
that's provided
right there.
And so Jewish
people have taken
that and ends
up becoming so
important with the
sacrifice of a
lamb being
somehow far more
significant in all
of the whole
sacrificial system
of the Jews.
And the lamb
being slain in
the Passover.
And here,
Jesus is
introduced by
John.
God maneuvers
all of the
Old Testament,
the Tanakh,
to prepare people
so that when he
comes and walks
among them,
they can start
to understand
that all of
their notions
of God
are wrong.
And he's
going to
introduce himself.
And he
uses John
to begin
to introduce
himself.
And he
introduces himself
as the Lamb
of God
who takes
away the
sin of the
world.
If you could
put up the
next slide.
behind this
phrase of
the sin of
the world
is this
idea that
we human
beings,
by seeking
to become
like God
ourselves,
that we
have broken
and bent
ourselves in
terms of our
relationship to
ourself,
our relationship
to the
created order,
our relationship
socially,
our relationship
in things like
marriage and
family,
intellectually,
that everything
is slightly
bent.
And the
idea that
there is
this sin
that's present
in every
human being.
I mean,
the newspaper
bears that out
every day when
we read it,
doesn't it?
But part of the
implication of
that is that
because of
human sin,
no human
being can
correctly
extrapolate
from their
experience to
God.
No human
being,
not the
wisest,
not the
best,
can extrapolate
by themselves
from their
own experience
to God.
They'll always
be off.
They'll make
God too
passive.
They'll make
him too
active.
They'll make
him too
judgmental.
They'll make
him moral
about certain
things and
immoral about
other types
of things.
They'll make
him too
personal.
They'll make
him too
impersonal.
They'll make
him too
cuddly.
They'll make
him too
angular.
Not they,
we.
Not we,
me.
That I
can't do
that.
That I
need God
to reveal
himself to
me.
And unless
God reveals
himself to
me, I
can't really
know God.
I'll end up
thinking God's
a little bit
more like
Zeus or a
little bit
more like
Diana or
a little bit
more like
Artemis or
a little bit
more like the
force or a
little bit
more like the
ocean.
That I
need God
to reveal
himself to
me because
no human
being because
of sin can
extrapolate with
their mind or
their emotions or
their imagination or
their memories or
their will can
extrapolate to
know God.
God needs to
take the
initiative.
And the
gospel of
John, the
New Testament,
is the story
of God coming
among us to
make himself
known.
But here's the
other problem
with sin.
If you could
put up the
next slide.
This is
really, really
important.
True revelation
from God needs
to include
redemption.
revelation.
And true
redemption from
God needs to
include revelation
from God.
You see, because
that's the fact
of sin.
It's the fact
that, you see,
here's the thing
that John
understood.
When John said
that salvation is
from the Jews,
John understood
that the Jewish
people were the
only people
listening to
God's actual
revelation.
They were the
one.
Isaiah was
Jewish.
speaking to
the Jewish
people.
It's the
Jewish people
who understand
that God
created all
things out of
nothing.
It's the
Jewish people
who understand
the holiness
of God on
one hand.
Because God
reveals these
things to
them.
But even
though they've
heard it,
their hearts
are hard.
There's sin
in their
hearts.
They don't
get it right.
And they
take these
bits and
pieces of
the revelation
and they
make it into
bits and
pieces and
they extrapolate
from the
sin of their
emotions.
and the
sin of
their will
and the
sin of
their mind
and the
sin of
their culture.
And they
extrapolate
and they
bend.
And so
if there is
to be
true revelation
from God
because of
sin,
if there is
to be true
revelation
from God,
there has
to be also
some means
from God
that takes
away the
sin of the
world.
God
and in
particular
takes away
the sin
of George
and the
sin of
Andrew
and the
sin of
Louise
and the
sin of
Diane
and the
sin of
Jason,
if God
is going
to reveal
himself,
unless that
sin part
is dealt
with,
he can't
reveal
himself.
And at
the same
time,
if God
is just
redeeming
us without
revealing
himself,
then are
we really
being redeemed
to return
to God
and to
know him?
Or are
we just
being lost
in some
fantasy of
our own
imagination,
of our
own fallen,
rebellious,
sinful,
willful
emotions
and mind
and will?
And all
of this
is captured
in this
spectacular,
it's so,
you know,
the thing
about John
is that
there's time
and time
again in
John,
such a
small number
of simple
words that
probably even
a three-year-old
could be taught,
a two-year-old
could be taught
them.
Behold the
Lamb of God
who takes
away the
sin of the
world.
So simple,
so brief.
Behold the
Lamb of God
who takes
away the
sin of the
world.
Why is
John the
greatest
prophet?
He sees
Jesus walking
and if
Jesus has
just had
a breakfast
of some
dried fish
and maybe
some pita
bread and
Jesus probably
would have
had a big,
long,
good Jewish
beard because
working class
Jewish people
wouldn't have
been shaving
themselves every
day,
they wouldn't
have spent
the time
on that.
And like
anybody with
a beard,
sorry you
folks with
beards,
there's probably
crumbs of
bread and
dried fish
in their
beards,
sorry,
I don't mean
to offend
you,
I'm sure
you with
beards,
looked in
the mirror
before you
came here
or you
had a
wife or
somebody else
say,
you've got
stuff all
over here.
Jesus was
single,
he might very
well have
been walking
with stuff
in his beard
and it would
have been
dusty from
walking and
there would
have been
sand on
his feet
and on
his legs
and you
would have
seen the
sweat of
his brow
and Isaiah
had words
from God
and Ezekiel
had words
from God
and Moses
had words
from God
and people
had maybe
seen God's
back or
heard his
silence
but only
John the
Baptist,
he is the
end and the
final of all
of the
prophets
and John
alone sees
this man
with dried
fish and
dried pita bread
in his beard
walking along
in the day
with the sweat
on his brow
and the dust
on his feet
and he says
behold the
lamb of
God who
takes away
the sin of
the world
and God
is introduced
not as
thunder,
not as
lightning,
not as
ocean,
not as
energy,
not as
a tyrant,
not as
a rich man,
not as
a superhero
but as
the lamb
who comes
from God
who will
take away
the sin
of the
world,
the one
who comes
to be
like a
lamb
by which
human beings
like
ourselves
can put
our hands
in his
hands,
in a sense
put our
hands on
his precious
face
and so
that when
he dies,
he dies
to take
my doom
and I
die to
take his
he gives
me his
purity
and I
give him
my doom,
I give him
my sin,
I give all
of those
things to
him and
he is
the one
who comes
from God
and the
fundamental
image,
the first
image is
the lamb
of God
who takes
away the
sin of
the world,
God is
revealing
and redeeming
at the
same time,
he redeems
and reveals
at the same
time,
if there
is in
fact the
sin of
the world,
it is the
only way
that the
true God
can make
himself
known,
is to
redeem and
reveal and
redeem.
Let's just
wrap this
up.
Just
two more,
let's just
read a few
more verses
and then
we'll all
stand and
we're going
to spend
some time
praying.
Because you
see,
this story
involves you
and me
and I
don't have
time to
go into
it more
but I
want to
show you
how this
story all
involves you
and me
after this
profound
revelation
and he's
going to
reveal more.
Look how he
continues on
in verse
30.
This is he
of whom I
said,
after me
comes a
man who
ranks before
me because
he was
before me.
John is
here affirming
the preexistence
of God,
the son of
God.
I
myself
did not
know
him.
In other
words,
by my
natural
ability,
he would
have known
that Jesus
was related
to him
but he
didn't
know
who he
was.
It
wasn't
that his
mind
was able
to grasp
this
by itself.
But for
this purpose
I came
baptizing
with water
that he
might be
revealed
to Israel.
And John
the Baptist
bore witness,
I saw
the spirit
descend
from heaven
like a
dove and
it remained
on him.
I
myself
did not
know
him.
But he
who sent
me to
baptize
with water
said to
me,
he on
whom you
see the
Holy Spirit
descend and
remain,
this is
he who
baptizes
with the
Holy Spirit.
And I
have seen
and bore
witness that
this is
the Son
of God.
This image
of the
baptizing
of the
Holy Spirit
means that
Jesus is
the one,
the Holy
Spirit
will work
in and
through
Jesus
to wash
me.
Water can
wash my
skin,
but only
God can
go beneath
my skin
and have
the Holy
Spirit start
to wash
and penetrate
my mind
and my
emotions and
my affections
and my
will and
my memory
and my
fears,
my shame.
Only God
can do
that.
The next
day,
verse 35,
John the
Baptist was
standing with
two of his
disciples and
he looked at
Jesus as
Jesus walked
by and
John again
says,
Behold the
Lamb of
God.
The two
disciples heard
him say
this and
they followed
Jesus.
Jesus turned
and saw them
following and
said to
them,
Now here
folks,
if you have
this version
of the Bible
I have is
called a
red letter
Bible and
it has this
idea that
whenever Jesus
speaks you
put the
writing in
red,
whether it's
a good idea
or not,
it's a
separate
discussion.
But what
you'll notice
is it's
so cool,
the first
words of
Jesus
recorded
aren't,
gosh,
you're a
terrible
person,
get down
on your
knees and
repent,
or give
me some
money,
or don't
you think
I'm great,
or don't
you think
I'm
beautiful?
No,
what are
the first
words of
Jesus?
It's a
question.
What are
you seeking?
What are
you seeking?
That's a
question for
the rest
of your
life.
Like in a
sense,
if you're
having some
marital
problems,
you can
almost ask
each person,
okay,
you're having
problems,
like what are
you seeking?
What are
you seeking?
like what's
going on in
your life?
What are
you seeking
that's helping
to cause
this discord?
In terms
of career,
like it's
such a
profound,
open-ended
question for
the rest
of your
life.
And Jesus'
first words
are a
profound,
open-ended
question,
what are
you seeking?
They don't
know how to
answer.
They said,
Rabbi,
where are
you staying?
like,
I think
this is so
brilliant,
because,
you know,
if we were
just inventing
this,
we'd say,
we'd give
them some
deep thing
to say,
but instead,
they're just
working-class
guys.
They go,
um,
where are
you staying
tonight?
I mean,
like that
has to be
historical,
because it
just,
where are
you staying?
like,
it's not
profound,
where are
you staying?
And then
Jesus says,
come and
you will
see,
which is
loaded with
all this
other meaning.
And then
later on,
and you see,
and here's,
here's part of
the thing,
is Jesus
doesn't want
us to trail
after him,
he wants
us to
follow him.
And if we
want to know
what we're
seeking,
we've got to
follow Jesus,
and he will
start to
reveal
how so
often much
of my
unhappiness
and so
much of
my pain
and so
much of
my trouble
comes from
what I'm
seeking,
and why I
need Jesus
who is the
Lamb of
God who
takes away
the sin
of the
world,
and who
can baptize
me with the
Holy Spirit
and begin to
write his
word on
the inside
of who I
am.
And he
can do
that for
you.
Let's
stand.
Father,
we ask
that your
Holy Spirit
would do a
deep work
in our
hearts and
have our
hearts not
be hardened.
Father,
may your
Holy Spirit
soften our
hearts,
that we
might hear
you,
introduce
yourself,
and we
might meet
you afresh
or meet
you even
more deeply.
And thank
you,
Father,
for Jesus.
Thank you
that he
is the
Lamb of
God who
takes away
the sin
of the
world.
Father,
thank you
that this
is shown
and vindicated
by his
resurrection
from the
dead.
Father,
make us
disciples of
Jesus who
are gripped
with who he
is and what
he's done
for us.
And make
us disciples
of Jesus
who follow
him,
Father,
throughout our
day to
learn from
him,
to be
clarified about
what we're
seeking,
and to
learn to
live in a
way redeemed
in him
that is
filled with
grace and
mercy and
bears witness
to you
truly.
So,
Father,
may your
Holy Spirit
move and
work deep
within us.
and if
there are
any here,
Father,
who have
not yet
given their
lives to
Jesus,
may your
Holy Spirit
help them
to take
that step
over the
threshold.
Father,
help them
to even
now open
the door
as your
son knocks
on the
door of
their heart,
to open
the door
and to
let Jesus
come into
their lives.
Father,
may that
happen this
morning if
there are
those here
who need
it.
But for
all of
us,
Father,
make us
disciples of
Jesus,
gripped by
the gospel,
learning to
live for
your glory.
And we
ask this in
Jesus' name.
Amen.