1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:04,680 Well, good morning everyone, please have your Bible open at the passage that’s just been 2 00:00:04,680 –> 00:00:06,160 read to us in John 1. 3 00:00:06,160 –> 00:00:11,520 This is week 3 of our series in John’s gospel entitled, Meet Jesus. 4 00:00:11,520 –> 00:00:17,139 We began in chapter 1 in verse 18 where we read that no one has ever seen God, but that 5 00:00:17,139 –> 00:00:23,160 God, the only God who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known. 6 00:00:23,160 –> 00:00:29,480 We saw that Jesus Christ is indeed the eternal, personal, divine, creating life giving incarnate 7 00:00:29,480 –> 00:00:30,860 son of God. 8 00:00:30,860 –> 00:00:35,700 That he was with God, that he is God, that he has come from the Father, and that it is 9 00:00:35,700 –> 00:00:39,740 for this reason that he and he alone is able to make the Father known. 10 00:00:39,740 –> 00:00:44,380 So, when we are asking the question how can I know God, where can I find God, the answer 11 00:00:44,380 –> 00:00:46,840 lies in Jesus Christ. 12 00:00:46,840 –> 00:00:53,279 That is why he says later in John’s gospel, he who has seen me, Jesus said, has seen the 13 00:00:53,279 –> 00:00:54,279 father. 14 00:00:54,279 –> 00:00:58,279 And then we saw last week that when you meet Jesus you’re not only get to know who God 15 00:00:58,279 –> 00:01:00,279 is, but you get to know who you are. 16 00:01:00,279 –> 00:01:03,400 We look to the question, Who am I? 17 00:01:03,400 –> 00:01:06,360 And we saw how John the Baptist answers that question very clearly. 18 00:01:06,360 –> 00:01:13,099 He says, I’m not the Christ, I’m not the savior, the answers do not lie in me, I am 19 00:01:13,099 –> 00:01:17,120 not able to fix myself, I am certainly not able to fix other people. 20 00:01:17,120 –> 00:01:22,839 In fact, he said with reference to Jesus, I am not worthy to untie the sandals on the 21 00:01:22,839 –> 00:01:24,120 feet of Jesus. 22 00:01:24,120 –> 00:01:32,339 And we saw the amazing gift of Jesus Christ, the incarnate son of God, whose sandals I 23 00:01:32,339 –> 00:01:39,839 am not worthy to untie, that he should reach out to us in love and in mercy and that he 24 00:01:39,839 –> 00:01:44,839 should embrace us in his redeeming love and that he should call us his own. 25 00:01:44,839 –> 00:01:50,339 Now today our title is knowing what Jesus does and, uh, I want to draw your attention 26 00:01:50,379 –> 00:01:54,620 to two marvelous statements in the passage today. 27 00:01:54,620 –> 00:02:00,360 And friends, as I’ve reflected on them this week, what has impressed me is that there 28 00:02:00,360 –> 00:02:07,040 really could not be a clearer statement of what Jesus Christ does and indeed of what 29 00:02:07,040 –> 00:02:10,500 he is able to do for every one of us today. 30 00:02:10,500 –> 00:02:15,220 And so if we can get this clear in our minds it will get us to the very center of Christian 31 00:02:15,220 –> 00:02:16,220 faith. 32 00:02:16,360 –> 00:02:20,039 And I’m looking at the statement first in verse 29 – 33 00:02:20,039 –> 00:02:27,960 behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and then in verse 33 – 34 00:02:27,960 –> 00:02:33,479 this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. 35 00:02:33,479 –> 00:02:35,899 So what does Jesus Christ do? 36 00:02:35,899 –> 00:02:39,660 He takes sin away. 37 00:02:39,660 –> 00:02:42,580 He gives the Holy Spirit. 38 00:02:42,660 –> 00:02:49,580 These are the great works of Jesus Christ, and they lie at the very centre of everything 39 00:02:49,580 –> 00:02:51,919 that He does for His people. 40 00:02:51,919 –> 00:02:54,179 Well let’s focus in on these together. 41 00:02:54,179 –> 00:03:03,500 The first is Christ takes away sin – behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of 42 00:03:03,500 –> 00:03:04,539 the world. 43 00:03:04,539 –> 00:03:11,300 Now remember Jon the Baptist is out in the wilderness, he is speaking about prepare to 44 00:03:11,300 –> 00:03:13,220 meet with God. 45 00:03:13,220 –> 00:03:15,740 God is coming, kingdom of God is at hand. 46 00:03:15,740 –> 00:03:18,539 You’re going to meet with God Himself. 47 00:03:18,539 –> 00:03:24,720 And people are coming to Jon because they know that they need to get ready for that. 48 00:03:24,720 –> 00:03:26,460 And they confess their sins. 49 00:03:26,460 –> 00:03:32,139 They want to be baptised in water, because they’re aware of their need to be made clean. 50 00:03:32,139 –> 00:03:36,080 And the delegation comes from the Pharisees to find out what’s going on and Jon gives 51 00:03:36,300 –> 00:03:41,199 this true testimony about himself and about Jesus. 52 00:03:41,199 –> 00:03:47,759 And the very next day we’re told in verse 29 Jesus comes to this place where Jon was 53 00:03:47,759 –> 00:03:52,100 in the wilderness and Jon sees him and he says, look behold. 54 00:03:52,100 –> 00:03:58,580 The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 55 00:03:58,580 –> 00:04:03,339 Now Jon was speaking to people who knew their Old Testament and it is there that we must 56 00:04:03,460 –> 00:04:06,059 look in order to find out what this means. 57 00:04:06,059 –> 00:04:16,279 And I want you to grasp that the Lamb in Scripture is a substitute, a sacrifice, and a sin bearer. 58 00:04:16,279 –> 00:04:19,040 These are the three things to get clear. 59 00:04:19,040 –> 00:04:24,119 First the Lamb is a substitute and here I’m thinking of the story in Genesis in chapter 60 00:04:24,119 –> 00:04:30,700 22, the extraordinary story where God tested Abraham and said, take your son, your only 61 00:04:30,779 –> 00:04:36,799 son who you love to the Mount of Moriah and offer him as a burnt offering there. 62 00:04:36,799 –> 00:04:43,140 Do you remember the story of how Abraham goes with his only son Isaac, the son he loves, 63 00:04:43,140 –> 00:04:48,480 and Isaac says, we have the fire and we have the wood, he says to his father, but where 64 00:04:48,480 –> 00:04:49,899 is the Lamb? 65 00:04:49,899 –> 00:04:52,500 That’s the word he uses for the burnt offering. 66 00:04:52,500 –> 00:04:57,899 And Abraham says to his son, God will provide the Lamb. 67 00:04:58,380 –> 00:05:03,339 And do you remember the story that a ram was caught in the thicket and the ram takes the 68 00:05:03,339 –> 00:05:06,899 place of Isaac on the Altar of God. 69 00:05:06,899 –> 00:05:11,500 The ram became in other words, the substitute for Isaac. 70 00:05:11,500 –> 00:05:17,459 And the death sentence fell on the animal instead of falling on the boy. 71 00:05:17,459 –> 00:05:20,859 Now, this story, of course, always raises questions. 72 00:05:20,859 –> 00:05:27,220 I recall, I think it was a Woody Allen film in which the story is told, and then someone 73 00:05:27,220 –> 00:05:33,459 makes the comments, you know, of course the real question here is, What kind of God would 74 00:05:33,459 –> 00:05:37,079 ask Abraham to do such a thing? 75 00:05:37,079 –> 00:05:42,959 Now, you will not find an answer to that question in the Old Testament. 76 00:05:42,959 –> 00:05:48,579 To find the answer to that question, you have to go to the New Testament where you see that 77 00:05:48,579 –> 00:05:56,339 the sacrifice that God provided was His only and dearly loved Son. 78 00:05:56,459 –> 00:06:03,559 And that God, in fact, did what He would never allow Abraham or indeed Isaac to do. 79 00:06:03,559 –> 00:06:13,820 In Christ, think about this, God himself became the Lamb that saved Isaac. 80 00:06:13,820 –> 00:06:19,480 And the whole point of that ancient story, that always makes us squirm in some degree, 81 00:06:19,519 –> 00:06:27,500 is to give us a sense of what it meant for God not to spare His one and only Son, but 82 00:06:27,500 –> 00:06:29,619 freely to give Him up for us all. 83 00:06:29,619 –> 00:06:32,600 That’s Romans chapter 8 and verse 32. 84 00:06:32,600 –> 00:06:42,359 Think of it, Christ who was with God and is God, is the Lamb provided by God as the substitute 85 00:06:42,359 –> 00:06:46,640 whose life is given in the place of His people. 86 00:06:46,640 –> 00:06:51,320 This is the central mystery at the very heart of the gospel itself. 87 00:06:51,320 –> 00:06:59,220 Bearing shame and scoffing rude, in my place,” there substitution, condemned He stood. 88 00:06:59,220 –> 00:07:02,779 He sealed my pardon with His blood, hallelujah. 89 00:07:02,779 –> 00:07:04,679 What a Savior. 90 00:07:04,679 –> 00:07:10,559 So, Lamb is a substitute, second the Lamb is a sacrifice. 91 00:07:10,559 –> 00:07:15,980 I’m thinking here of the story of the Passover in the book of Exodus. 92 00:07:15,980 –> 00:07:20,320 Remember that God’s judgment was coming across the land of Egypt, where God’s people had 93 00:07:20,320 –> 00:07:23,839 been held in captivity as slaves. 94 00:07:23,839 –> 00:07:29,239 And God called them to to sacrifice a lamb and to paint the blood of the lamb over the 95 00:07:29,239 –> 00:07:32,559 doorposts and the lintels of their houses. 96 00:07:32,559 –> 00:07:38,179 And God said, when I see the blood of the sacrificed lamb, I will pass over you, which 97 00:07:38,179 –> 00:07:42,200 is where we get the word Passover from. 98 00:07:42,200 –> 00:07:49,420 So the life of a lamb here was given, and the blood of a lamb here was shed. 99 00:07:49,420 –> 00:07:56,720 And John says when he sees Jesus in the desert, behold, the lamb of God. 100 00:07:56,720 –> 00:07:58,279 So you see what he is saying. 101 00:07:58,279 –> 00:08:04,320 Here is the one, Jesus is the one who will stand as a substitute in your place, who will 102 00:08:04,320 –> 00:08:07,779 die the death that otherwise would have come to you. 103 00:08:07,779 –> 00:08:15,540 And this Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the sacrifice whose blood will be shed on your behalf. 104 00:08:15,540 –> 00:08:19,540 Then there is one more thing to know about the lamb, and we learn it again from the Old 105 00:08:19,540 –> 00:08:24,500 Testament, that the lamb is the sin bearer. 106 00:08:24,500 –> 00:08:29,940 The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 107 00:08:29,940 –> 00:08:36,840 And what is so significant about the well-known prophecy of Isaiah is that Isaiah makes it 108 00:08:36,840 –> 00:08:47,119 clear that this lamb who will be the substitute and will be the sacrifice is actually a person. 109 00:08:47,119 –> 00:08:51,640 See throughout the history of the Old Testament there have been all these animal sacrifices. 110 00:08:51,640 –> 00:08:56,260 And Isaiah is the one who makes it clear all of these animal sacrifices are pointing to 111 00:08:56,260 –> 00:08:58,280 a person. 112 00:08:58,280 –> 00:09:01,880 He will come among us as a servant. 113 00:09:01,880 –> 00:09:04,799 He will be despised and rejected. 114 00:09:04,799 –> 00:09:09,580 The Lord will lay on him the iniquities of us all. 115 00:09:09,580 –> 00:09:15,840 And he will be lead like a lamb to the slaughter. 116 00:09:15,840 –> 00:09:19,280 And so when Jesus comes John says, behold, look. 117 00:09:19,280 –> 00:09:24,559 This is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 118 00:09:24,559 –> 00:09:28,500 This is the substitute who will die the death that otherwise would have come to you. 119 00:09:28,500 –> 00:09:32,719 This is the sacrifice whose blood will be shed as the Atonement for your sins. 120 00:09:32,719 –> 00:09:33,880 This is the sin bearer. 121 00:09:33,919 –> 00:09:40,000 The Lord will lay on him the iniquity of us all. 122 00:09:40,000 –> 00:09:44,359 Now secondly, as we focus in on what John says here. 123 00:09:44,359 –> 00:09:47,919 These enormously significant words. 124 00:09:47,919 –> 00:09:50,159 I want you to notice the word sin. 125 00:09:50,159 –> 00:09:58,080 Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 126 00:09:58,080 –> 00:10:03,200 Now notice here that the word sin is singular rather than plural. 127 00:10:03,200 –> 00:10:07,919 Most often when this verse is quoted and I’m sure I’ve done this many times, we say takes 128 00:10:07,919 –> 00:10:10,760 away the sins, plural, of the world. 129 00:10:10,760 –> 00:10:15,260 But what is said here, What John said is sin in the singular. 130 00:10:15,260 –> 00:10:18,260 Now let me give you a quotation here. 131 00:10:18,260 –> 00:10:24,299 This is from Dr Harry Ironside who was the esteemed pastor of the Moody Church here in 132 00:10:24,299 –> 00:10:29,659 Chicago in the 1930s and in the 1940s. 133 00:10:29,659 –> 00:10:32,500 And with great insight, he writes these words on this point. 134 00:10:32,500 –> 00:10:42,380 He says, sins are the effect of a cause and the lamb of God came not only to take away 135 00:10:42,380 –> 00:10:50,179 the individuals sins, plural, but to deal with the sin question as a whole. 136 00:10:50,179 –> 00:10:57,320 He not only atoned for all of our acts of sin but he died for what we are as sinners 137 00:10:57,320 –> 00:10:58,640 by nature. 138 00:10:58,739 –> 00:11:07,900 then says Dr. Ironside, within this heart of mine, there are tendencies to sin that 139 00:11:07,900 –> 00:11:14,179 are worse than any act of sin I have ever committed. 140 00:11:14,179 –> 00:11:19,760 Now think about that, he’s saying now there are things that I could speak off that I’ve 141 00:11:19,760 –> 00:11:26,979 done wrong in my life, but in my heart there is a tendency toward sin that’s actually 142 00:11:27,820 –> 00:11:32,000 worse than the list of things that I have done because actually it’s what underlies 143 00:11:32,000 –> 00:11:37,460 my particular sins. It’s this tendency, this impulse within my heart, and then he 144 00:11:37,460 –> 00:11:41,140 says this is true of us all. 145 00:11:41,140 –> 00:11:48,140 We are sinners by nature, sin dwells in us, and Christ died to put away sin, not merely 146 00:11:48,159 –> 00:11:55,159 sin not merely sins plural by the sacrifice of himself. God took all of that into account 147 00:11:57,820 –> 00:12:01,900 when Jesus Christ hung on the cross. 148 00:12:01,900 –> 00:12:08,140 Now friends this is the most marvelous good news, Jesus Christ died to take away sin that 149 00:12:08,140 –> 00:12:14,400 is sin as a barrier has been dealt with in its totality by Jesus Christ, and that goes 150 00:12:14,440 –> 00:12:20,719 as much for the sins that are in your mind, the root of sin that is in your heart and 151 00:12:20,719 –> 00:12:27,080 your desires and your imagination as much as in your words and in your deeds. All that 152 00:12:27,080 –> 00:12:31,640 would separate you from God all that would make you feel unworthy to come near to God 153 00:12:31,640 –> 00:12:38,640 today has been dealt with in its totality by Jesus Christ on the cross. 154 00:12:39,280 –> 00:12:46,280 Thirdly, behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world – ponder that 155 00:12:52,080 –> 00:12:59,080 with me – takes away the sin of the world. In Leviticus Chapter 16, some of you will 156 00:12:59,359 –> 00:13:06,359 know this well, there is the marvelous direction that God gives for the day of Atonement that 157 00:13:07,159 –> 00:13:14,159 pointed forward to Christ taking away sin. And what happened on that day was that a live 158 00:13:14,539 –> 00:13:21,539 goat was brought to the high priest and the high priest had to lay hold of the head of 159 00:13:22,059 –> 00:13:28,239 the live goat and publicly confess all of the sins of the people of God. I’m so glad 160 00:13:28,239 –> 00:13:32,340 I did not have to do that job. You imagine how difficult this would have been. You know 161 00:13:32,539 –> 00:13:37,099 there’s this live animal and you’re involved in this prayer in which you’ve got confess 162 00:13:37,099 –> 00:13:44,099 a year’s worth of the sins of God’s people. Think how long that list is. And in Leviticus 163 00:13:44,320 –> 00:13:51,320 chapter 16 we read these words. That the high priest is to put the sins of the people onto 164 00:13:52,119 –> 00:13:59,119 the head of the goat, so what is being symbolized here is a transfer of guilt that’s going through 165 00:14:03,599 –> 00:14:09,159 the mediation of the high priest onto this live goat and then what happened, and this 166 00:14:09,159 –> 00:14:16,159 is beautiful, was the goat that was now seen by the people to be bearing all of this guilt 167 00:14:16,559 –> 00:14:22,039 is taken away, out of the camp, led away into the desert, never to be seen again. Can you 168 00:14:26,380 –> 00:14:33,380 imagine the power of that drama? My sins have been put to another place, on the head of 169 00:14:33,719 –> 00:14:40,719 another and that other has taken them away and I will never see the guilt off them, ever, 170 00:14:41,080 –> 00:14:48,000 ever, again. Now when Christ comes into the desert John 171 00:14:48,000 –> 00:14:55,000 says look, here’s the lamb of God that takes away sin. That’s what he does. And notice 172 00:14:57,479 –> 00:15:03,280 the present tense here. The great work of Jesus Christ to bear our sins and to atone 173 00:15:03,280 –> 00:15:09,619 for them took place once and for all at the cross. But remember Jesus rose from the dead, 174 00:15:10,000 –> 00:15:17,000 ascended to heaven where he lives to take away the sin of his people and Matthew Henry 175 00:15:17,700 –> 00:15:24,700 puts it this way. Christ is always taking away sin. He does it by the continual intercession 176 00:15:25,760 –> 00:15:32,760 of His blood in heaven and He does it by the continual influence of His grace on earth. 177 00:15:32,900 –> 00:15:38,700 In other words, He’s always taking away sin so that it’s record is erased in the presence 178 00:15:38,739 –> 00:15:44,539 of the Almighty and He’s always taking away sin so that your own heart is being cleansed 179 00:15:44,539 –> 00:15:50,619 and being purified. This is what Christ does. And so you see what this means for us friends. 180 00:15:50,619 –> 00:15:57,619 As often as we become aware of sin in our lives what must we do? We must give it to 181 00:15:58,739 –> 00:16:05,739 Jesus. We must give it to Jesus because He is the one who takes it away. And however 182 00:16:05,739 –> 00:16:09,780 much you grow in your Christian life there will never be a time when you do not need 183 00:16:09,780 –> 00:16:16,780 to do this. Jerry Bridges says this particularly well in two lines. He says your worst days 184 00:16:17,880 –> 00:16:24,880 are never so bad that you are beyond the reach of God’s grace. And your best days are never 185 00:16:27,219 –> 00:16:35,020 so good that you are beyond the need of God’s grace. 186 00:16:35,500 –> 00:16:42,659 It takes away sin. Thank God we need that, I need that. 187 00:16:42,700 –> 00:16:49,840 Fourthly, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 188 00:16:51,859 –> 00:16:56,559 Now as you follow this theme of the substitute and the sacrifice and the sin bearer in the 189 00:16:56,559 –> 00:17:03,559 Bible, what you find, wonderfully, is a widening stream of God’s wonderful mercy. 190 00:17:04,199 –> 00:17:11,199 In the story of Abraham, the lamb is a substitute for one person, Isaac. 191 00:17:14,040 –> 00:17:21,040 In the story of the Passover, the lamb is a sacrifice for one family. 192 00:17:23,040 –> 00:17:30,040 In the story in Leviticus, on the day of atonement, the scapegoat takes away sin in relation 193 00:17:30,680 –> 00:17:38,180 to one nation. But when Jesus Christ comes into the world, John says behold the lamb of God, 194 00:17:39,800 –> 00:17:46,819 he takes away the sin of the world. Isn’t that beautiful, the expanding stream of God’s mercy? 195 00:17:47,540 –> 00:17:54,540 For whom is this good news? Jesus Christ is good news for the person who wants to be rid 196 00:17:55,020 –> 00:18:02,020 of their sin. See, Jesus takes sin away, that’s what he does. Now if you want to hold on to 197 00:18:03,859 –> 00:18:08,520 your sin, if that’s what your determined to do then clearly Jesus Christ will not be good 198 00:18:08,520 –> 00:18:12,500 news to you, you’ll not want to be close to him because he takes sin away. That’s what 199 00:18:12,500 –> 00:18:19,500 he does. Remember Jonah on one occasion testifies to this, there was a time in his life that 200 00:18:19,760 –> 00:18:26,760 was a time in his life when he really wanted to hold on to his sin. God said I want you 201 00:18:28,160 –> 00:18:32,140 to go this way and Jonah said I’m going to go that way. And nothing’s going to change 202 00:18:32,140 –> 00:18:36,339 my mind. I’m determined, I’m going to hold on to it, I’m not going to give it up, I’m 203 00:18:36,339 –> 00:18:43,339 not repentant. And God dealt with him in an extraordinary way and do you know the story? 204 00:18:44,579 –> 00:18:49,319 And when finally he comes to his senses this is what he wrote in Jonah 2 he said those 205 00:18:49,439 –> 00:18:56,439 who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs. In other words if you 206 00:18:57,020 –> 00:19:03,819 were determined to hold on to sin you miss the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ who takes 207 00:19:03,819 –> 00:19:10,819 sin away that so wonderfully could be yours. But you see when you come to a place of saying 208 00:19:11,739 –> 00:19:18,739 a place of saying I want to be clean. If you will come today to a place of saying you know 209 00:19:19,640 –> 00:19:26,500 what I want to be free from my sin. I want to get this off my shoulders. I want to get 210 00:19:26,500 –> 00:19:32,119 this off my back. I want to be done with it. I want to know that my record is wiped clean 211 00:19:32,119 –> 00:19:37,479 before God. I want to be at peace with him today. I want to walk with him today. I want 212 00:19:37,560 –> 00:19:43,800 to be able to look into the future and say there is no condemnation for me today. Then 213 00:19:43,800 –> 00:19:50,800 Jesus Christ is good news for you because he takes sin away. He is the Lamb of God who 214 00:19:54,640 –> 00:20:01,640 takes away the sin of the world. Here is where faith begins. You figure it this way. I believe 215 00:20:02,239 –> 00:20:07,500 what is said here in the Bible, that he is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of 216 00:20:07,500 –> 00:20:11,400 the world, and if he can take away the sin of the world, he can certainly take away the 217 00:20:11,400 –> 00:20:18,719 sin that is mine. You personalize this, and that is where faith begins for you. 218 00:20:18,719 –> 00:20:23,119 Brothers and sisters in Christ. Isn’t this the most wonderful thing that we have a savior 219 00:20:23,119 –> 00:20:30,119 to whom we can come every time you become aware of sin in your life? You have a high 220 00:20:30,380 –> 00:20:37,380 priest to whom you can confess, and more than that, he is able to do for you what no person 221 00:20:37,520 –> 00:20:44,520 in this world could ever do. See, think about it, you can confess your sin to a trusted 222 00:20:45,420 –> 00:20:52,420 friend, to a pastor, to a priest, to a counselor, or to a small group for accountability. Maybe 223 00:20:53,359 –> 00:21:00,359 a very good thing to do may help you. That person can hear your confession. But Jesus 224 00:21:02,140 –> 00:21:09,140 can do more than hear your confession, Jesus can take your sin away. And no one else in 225 00:21:09,280 –> 00:21:12,920 all of the world can ever do that for you. That’s the uniqueness of Jesus. Behold the 226 00:21:12,920 –> 00:21:17,920 Lamb of God, says John, he takes away the sin of the world. That can only baptize you 227 00:21:17,920 –> 00:21:23,780 in water, he takes away the sin of the world. That can only baptize you in water. I can 228 00:21:23,780 –> 00:21:27,900 do something that indicates your desire before God to be made clean. But there’s only one 229 00:21:27,900 –> 00:21:31,880 person in all the world can actually take your sin away. So whoever else you confess 230 00:21:31,880 –> 00:21:37,260 your sin to, you’ve got to confess it to Him. You’ve got to look to Him. Behold the Lamb 231 00:21:37,260 –> 00:21:43,020 of God, put your trust in Him because He is the one who takes sin away. And how far does 232 00:21:43,160 –> 00:21:53,400 He take sin away? Just love the verse in Psalm 103. As far as the east is from the west, 233 00:21:53,400 –> 00:22:01,500 so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Last year we were favored with a visit 234 00:22:01,500 –> 00:22:07,339 from the writer and author, Jerry Bridges. And I will never forget his comment on that 235 00:22:07,339 –> 00:22:12,760 verse. I’ve never heard it in my life before, but he said, think about this, if you go north 236 00:22:12,760 –> 00:22:16,939 and you get all the way to the north pole, there is a point when you keep going that 237 00:22:16,939 –> 00:22:24,719 you’ll eventually be going south. North and south meet. But if you go east, there will 238 00:22:24,719 –> 00:22:31,540 never be a time when you’re going west because the east and the west never meet. And the 239 00:22:31,540 –> 00:22:36,359 scripture does not say that He removes our sin as far as the north is from the south, 240 00:22:36,420 –> 00:22:44,719 He says. He removes our sin as far as the east is from the west, so that your sin and 241 00:22:44,719 –> 00:22:55,739 you will never meet again in the grace of Almighty God through Jesus Christ our Lord. 242 00:22:55,739 –> 00:23:04,439 Behold the Lamb of God. What does Christ do? He takes away sin. And then John says there’s 243 00:23:04,439 –> 00:23:16,339 something else that He does. He gives the Holy Spirit. This verse 33 is he who baptizes 244 00:23:16,339 –> 00:23:24,619 with the Holy Spirit. Now what does that mean? This word baptize, 245 00:23:24,619 –> 00:23:33,359 it means of course to dip, or to immerse, or to drench, or to saturate, or to sock. 246 00:23:33,439 –> 00:23:43,160 It means therefore an abundant supply. And John says here that Jesus Christ baptizes 247 00:23:43,160 –> 00:23:51,979 with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God Himself, the third person of 248 00:23:51,979 –> 00:23:59,939 the Trinity. So to be baptized with the Holy Spirit is to be drenched, or to be saturated, 249 00:23:59,939 –> 00:24:05,900 or to be soaked, or to be filled with the very life of God Himself. 250 00:24:05,900 –> 00:24:18,160 Now think about what this would mean. If you were immersed in water, there would be a certain 251 00:24:18,160 –> 00:24:29,439 wetness about you. If you were to be bathed in light, there would be a certain brightness 252 00:24:29,520 –> 00:24:38,520 about you. If you were to be dropped into a tank of sewage, there would be a certain 253 00:24:38,520 –> 00:24:45,520 stink about you. What am I saying? I’m making this point very simply, that whatever you 254 00:24:45,599 –> 00:24:54,680 are immersed in will, in some degree, impart its nature to you. You’re in water, it imparts 255 00:24:54,680 –> 00:25:00,880 its wetness, and so forth. Now here we are being told something very wonderful. Jesus 256 00:25:00,880 –> 00:25:09,339 Christ immerses his people in the Holy Spirit of God. If you were drenched, immersed in 257 00:25:09,339 –> 00:25:16,520 the Holy Spirit of God, there would be something holy, something God-like, something Godly 258 00:25:16,520 –> 00:25:21,359 about you. In other words, there would be new thoughts, there would be new affections, 259 00:25:22,119 –> 00:25:27,160 there would be new desires that reflect the thoughts and desires of the heart of God himself, 260 00:25:27,160 –> 00:25:31,319 there would be a love for the things that God loves that would be borne into you, there 261 00:25:31,319 –> 00:25:38,479 would be hatred for the things that God hates that would be evident about you. And notice 262 00:25:38,479 –> 00:25:46,560 again that Christ does this. It’s described in the present tense, baptizes. So this is 263 00:25:46,640 –> 00:25:52,719 not a one-time thing, it is an ongoing outpouring of the Spirit from Christ in the life of a 264 00:25:52,719 –> 00:25:58,880 believer.” This is what Jesus was referring to later in John’s Gospel. John 7. He says 265 00:25:58,880 –> 00:26:05,060 “‘If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink.’ And whoever believes in me, out of 266 00:26:05,060 –> 00:26:13,339 his heart will flow rivers of living water, and John adds, and by this he spoke of the 267 00:26:14,260 –> 00:26:20,160 So you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you put your trust in him, and here’s what happens. 268 00:26:20,160 –> 00:26:25,359 He pours the very life of God into you, and there is a flowing of that life that comes 269 00:26:25,359 –> 00:26:30,719 as you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and go on looking to him. Behold, the Lamb of 270 00:26:30,719 –> 00:26:37,819 God, he takes away sin and he fills, baptizes with his Holy Spirit. Notice that it’s Christ 271 00:26:37,819 –> 00:26:48,699 who does this. This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. In other words, the ministry 272 00:26:48,699 –> 00:26:55,300 of Jesus, try to get this settled in your mind, what does Jesus do? Well, here is his 273 00:26:55,300 –> 00:27:02,020 twofold ministry that’s introduced to us here. He takes away sin, he baptizes with 274 00:27:02,020 –> 00:27:10,599 the Holy Spirit. He never does the one without the other. He takes away sin and goes on taking 275 00:27:10,599 –> 00:27:15,979 it away in the lives of his people. He drenches in the Holy Spirit and goes on pouring out 276 00:27:15,979 –> 00:27:21,719 the Spirit into the lives of his people. That is why in Jesus Christ there is forgiveness 277 00:27:21,719 –> 00:27:29,979 for yesterday’s failing and there is strength for the challenge of today. And do you see 278 00:27:29,979 –> 00:27:34,900 how wonderfully Jesus then fulfills the two great promises of the Old Testament. He put 279 00:27:34,900 –> 00:27:40,540 all of the Old Testament together and what is actually promised? Ezekiel puts it down 280 00:27:40,540 –> 00:27:46,699 to two lines. He says, Ezekiel 36 and verse 25 God says, 281 00:27:46,699 –> 00:27:53,180 I will sprinkle clean water on you and you will be clean. There is the taking away of 282 00:27:53,180 –> 00:27:59,699 sin. And then two verses later he says, And I’ll put my spirit into your heart to move 283 00:27:59,699 –> 00:28:08,260 you in the direction of keeping my statutes and my laws. 284 00:28:08,260 –> 00:28:14,020 Now again for whom is this good news? Obviously this is good news for people who hunger and 285 00:28:14,020 –> 00:28:21,680 thirst for God. It is not good news for people who are satisfied with their religion. And 286 00:28:22,199 –> 00:28:26,500 friends I do want you to think about this today. It, there are many many people in our 287 00:28:26,500 –> 00:28:35,500 country who would say, You know, I was baptized as a baby. I go to a place of worship. I pray 288 00:28:35,500 –> 00:28:41,819 when I feel I need to, I give from time to time, I read the Bible when I moved to and 289 00:28:41,819 –> 00:28:47,420 you know, that’s all that I need. And there were certainly people in the time of Jesus 290 00:28:47,699 –> 00:28:54,699 would have felt like that, but not the ones who came to John the Baptist in the desert. 291 00:28:54,699 –> 00:28:58,619 No, the ones who came to John the Baptist in the desert were different. Remember they 292 00:28:58,619 –> 00:29:03,020 were folks who were circumcised. They were folks who went to the synagogue. They were 293 00:29:03,020 –> 00:29:07,560 folks who kept the festivals. But for all that, they felt in their hearts that they 294 00:29:07,560 –> 00:29:12,479 were not yet ready to meet with God, they knew that there were sins to confess and they 295 00:29:12,479 –> 00:29:18,260 felt within their lives that they needed to be made clean. They had a deep longing to 296 00:29:18,260 –> 00:29:23,280 come to know God. And that’s why they came out into the desert and they confessed their 297 00:29:23,280 –> 00:29:29,239 sins, and John baptized them in water. And then Jesus comes on the scene and says, look, 298 00:29:29,239 –> 00:29:33,479 here’s the lamb of God, he’s the one who’s going to take away your sin and he is the 299 00:29:33,479 –> 00:29:39,579 one that will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. I can dunk you in water. I can baptize you 300 00:29:39,619 –> 00:29:45,359 in water, and that will be a sign that you long to be clean, but the one who can actually 301 00:29:45,359 –> 00:29:51,160 make you clean and the one who can give you the power to live in a new and different way, 302 00:29:51,160 –> 00:29:58,160 He’s over there. That’s Jesus. Behold, the lamb of God. In verse 35, the next day, again 303 00:29:59,060 –> 00:30:04,839 Jesus comes to this place where John is. And again, John says the same thing. Behold the 304 00:30:04,880 –> 00:30:11,880 lamb of God. And when John’s disciples heard this, they left John and they followed Jesus. 305 00:30:13,479 –> 00:30:20,479 Who’s surprised at that? Of course they did. Why would you stay with John when you could 306 00:30:20,780 –> 00:30:27,780 follow Jesus? John has been saying very clearly I’m not the Christ. My role is simply to 307 00:30:28,760 –> 00:30:35,760 point to him. I’m not even worthy to untie the sandals that are on his feet. I can hear 308 00:30:38,239 –> 00:30:45,239 a confession of sin. You could say to John, here’s what I’ve done wrong. John could 309 00:30:45,500 –> 00:30:51,859 listen to that confession, but only Jesus could actually take the sin away. John could 310 00:30:51,859 –> 00:30:56,260 baptize them in water as a sign that they wanted to live a new different life, but only 311 00:30:56,260 –> 00:31:02,060 Jesus can baptize in the power of the Spirit to give them the ability to do it. 312 00:31:02,060 –> 00:31:09,060 So here’s what I’m saying. Don’t settle for the outward form of religion. See Jesus 313 00:31:09,060 –> 00:31:15,780 Christ has come into the world to do for you what no religion, what no religious leader 314 00:31:15,780 –> 00:31:22,900 and what no religious ritual can ever do. He has come to take away sin. And he has come 315 00:31:23,060 –> 00:31:30,060 to baptize you in the Holy Spirit. So I want to say today, behold the Lamb of God who takes 316 00:31:33,420 –> 00:31:40,420 away the sin of the world. This is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. 317 00:31:40,640 –> 00:31:47,640 And I hope we will be saying, that is exactly what I need. That is exactly what 318 00:31:52,939 –> 00:31:59,939 I want. I want and need my sins to be taken away. I want and need for this life 319 00:32:03,319 –> 00:32:10,319 that has been drenched in way too much muck in the past, for this life to be drenched 320 00:32:11,060 –> 00:32:18,060 in as much of the life of God as I can possibly contain. Therefore I will follow Christ. 321 00:32:19,160 –> 00:32:26,160 Therefore I will walk with Him. Therefore I will believe in Him, therefore I will look 322 00:32:29,339 –> 00:32:36,339 to Him, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world and baptises with the Holy 323 00:32:36,939 –> 00:32:42,719 Spirit.” And John who wrote this fourth gospel would say to us that as we do that and as 324 00:32:42,719 –> 00:32:49,719 we follow in that path, we will find life in His Name. Let’s pray together. 325 00:32:57,040 –> 00:33:04,040 Lord Jesus Christ, all that You have is what I want, and all that You give is what I need. 326 00:33:04,180 –> 00:33:11,180 And all that You are is what I seek. Take away my sin today. Fill me with Your Holy 327 00:33:18,380 –> 00:33:25,380 Spirit today that I may find peace in Your forgiveness for the past and strength in Your 328 00:33:26,119 –> 00:33:33,119 provision for the future. For these things I ask through the Savior who came that these 329 00:33:36,479 –> 00:33:42,979 things should be mine. Amen.