Sermon Tone Analysis

*Lamb of God *

 

June 1, 2008

John 1:35-42                   

 

Before beginning today’s message, I’d like to share with you the reading from “Experiencing God Day-by Day” from April 23 – it touched me; I hope it does the same for you.

/For My people have committed a double evil:/

/They have abandoned Me,/

/the fountain of living water,/

/and dug cisterns for themselves,/

/cracked cisterns that cannot hold water/.—Jeremiah

2:13

There should never be “dry spells” in the Christian life.

God said that He would be like an artesian well in the life of a believer.

Artesian wells bubbled forth with a cold, fresh, never-ending supply of water from the depths of the earth, quenching any thirst and always satisfying.

This is the picture of the spiritual refreshment that belongs to the person in whom the Holy Spirit resides.

Have you ever heard people say they are experiencing a dry spell in their Christian life?

What are they saying?

Are they saying that the Lord ran out of water?

It should never cross your mind that the fountain of living waters residing within you should ever be reduced to a trickle.

You don't need to run all over the country trying to find sources of spiritual refreshment.

Conferences, retreats, and books can all bring encouragement, but if you are a Christian, the source of living water already resides within you.

Have you exchanged the living fountain for man-made cisterns that cannot hold water?

Why would you exchange an artesian well for a broken water tank?

Artesian wells do not dry up.

Broken cisterns do.

If you are experiencing spiritual dryness right now, is it because you have been attempting to find your source of spiritual refreshment from man-made sources, which will fail you every time?

Jesus extended an invitation to you when He said: “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink” (John 7:37).

Have you been refreshed by the living water only Jesus can provide?

In April we started our study of the book of John.

In previous messages we studied Jesus as the Word and Jesus as the light.

Both the Word and the Light illuminate.

But today our metaphor is a lamb – the Lamb.

The Lamb of God (v.29,35) is the metaphor John the Baptist chose for Jesus on this day, and there is no doubt it alludes to the sacrificial lamb of the Passover from Exodus 12:3.

But this time, the Lamb is for universal atonement – not just to spare one family, but to spare all families.

How much John foreknew about Jesus’ purpose to save all men is not spoken in Scripture, but from today’s passage, we can surmise John the Baptist knew his Scripture.

He had discerned the ultimate purpose of the Christ.

“Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

At this point, we start to sense the tension between those who anticipated the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53:7 like John, and those looking for a king, like the Pharisees.

This is the second day of the week that the Apostle John recorded, and no doubt some of the same Pharisaical committee members who had gone to John and asked him if he was the Christ (Jn.

1:19-28), were present to hear John the Baptist’s message.

He called Jesus “the Lamb of God” (John 1:29), a title he would repeat the next day when he said in, John 1:35-36: /“Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and ~* said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"/  In one sense, the message of the Bible can be summed up in this title.

The question in the Old Testament is, “Where is the lamb?”

It says in Genesis 22:7: /“And Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!"

And he said, "Here I am, my son."

And he said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?"/

God provided a ram, didn’t He? Now sacrificial ram became the sacrificial lamb: Jesus.

In the four Gospels, the emphasis is “Behold the Lamb of God!”

Here He is!

After you have trusted Him, you sing with the heavenly choir, “Worthy is the Lamb!” (Rev.

5:12)

The people of Israel were familiar with lambs for the sacrifices.

At Passover, each family had to have a lamb; and during the year, lambs were sacrificed at the temple altar, for personal sacrifices.

Those lambs were brought by men to cover the sins of men, but here is God’s Lamb, given by God to atone for the sins of men!

Those lambs could not take away sin, only the Lamb of God can take away sin.

Those lambs were for Israel alone, only this Lamb would shed His blood for the whole world!

What does John’s baptism have to do with Jesus as the Lamb of God?

It is generally agreed by scholars of all denominations that, in the New Testament, baptism was by immersion.

It pictured death, burial, and resurrection.

When John the Baptist baptized Jesus, Jesus and John were picturing the “baptism” Jesus would endure on the /cross/ when He would die as the sacrificial Lamb of God.

As Isaiah 53:7 prohesied:  /“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth.”

/And in Luke 12:50, Jesus says: /“"But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!”

/It would be through the baptism of death, burial, and resurrection that the Lamb of God would “fulfill all righteousness” (Matt.

3:15).

Perhaps John was mistaken.

Perhaps John was not sure that Jesus of Nazareth was the Lamb of God or the Son of God.

But he should have been sure after the Father made it clear to John just who Jesus is by sending the Spirit like a dove to light on Him during His baptism.

What a beautiful picture of the Trinity!

I want to follow each day in these events as our gospel writer set them out, so turn to John 1. Day one starts at verse 19 and goes through to verse 28.

Day two begins at verse 29 – notice, it states “the next day….”

Day three begins in verse 35, again with the words “the next day”.

Day four begins at verse 43 with the words “the following day”.

Our key passage this morning follows day three.

Let’s turn to it now.

We are reading John 1:35-42  /“Again the next day John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked upon Jesus as He walked, and ~* said, "Behold, the Lamb of God!"

And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.

And Jesus turned, and beheld them following, and ~* said to them, "What do you seek?"

And they said to Him, "Rabbi (which translated means Teacher), where are You staying?"

He said to them, "Come, and you will see."

They came therefore and saw where He was staying; and they stayed with Him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.

One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.

He found first his own brother Simon, and said to him, "We have found the Messiah" (which translated means Christ).

He brought him to Jesus.

Jesus looked at him, and said, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas" (which is translated Peter).”

/

Did you know who the two disciples of John were who followed Jesus?

They were John, the writer of the Gospel, and his friend Andrew.

Andrew is clearly identified in verse 40, but in verse 37 it says two disciples of John the Baptist went with Jesus that day.

Why isn’t the other disciple named?

There is a simple explanation.

None of the gospel writers identified themselves by name in their writing.

Later in the book of John, he will identify himself as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (Jn 13:23; 19:26; 20:22;21:7,20).

So, now we know John, the writer of our gospel, was a disciple of John the Baptist.

That is why he could so accurately record John’s words, /“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.

/Then our gospel writer became a disciple of the Lamb of God.

John the Baptist rejoiced when people left him to follow Jesus, because his ministry focused on Jesus.

/“/"/He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice.

So this joy of mine has been made full.

He must increase, but I must decrease”/ it says in John 3:29-30.

John the Baptist’s purpose was clear!

Just as our purpose as followers of Jesus should be!

When Jesus asked two disciples, in 1:35,  /“What are you seeking?”/

He was forcing them to define their purpose and goals.

Were they looking for a revolutionary leader to overthrow Rome?

Then they had better join the Zealots!

Little did Andrew and John realize that day how their lives would be transformed by the Lamb of God.