JESUS IS THE LAMB OF GOD

John 1:19-51

Key verse: 1:29

“The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’”

Last week we studied the prologue of John’s gospel. It showed us Jesus’ deity. That is, Jesus is the eternal God who created all things and who gives us the meaning and purpose of life. We also learned that he is full of grace and truth. In today’s message, we will get to see who Jesus is more specifically by witnesses such as John the Baptist and the first disciples. I pray that this message may begin to help you to know who Jesus is. May God help you open your spiritual eyes to believe in your hearts that Jesus is the Lamb of God and the Son of God.

Part one. John witnesses to Jesus. (19-34)

Let’s read verses 19-21, “Now this was John’s testimony when the Jews of Jerusalem sent priests and Levites to ask him who he was. He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, ‘I am not the Christ. Then who are you? Are you Elijah? He said, ‘I am not. Are you the Prophet? He answered, ‘No.’” John’s answers to the religious Jews who came from headquarters became shorter and shorter. They went from five words to three words and then to just one word.

What does this reveal about John the Baptist? John’s answers reveal that he did not want to talk about himself or advertise himself. At that time, John had been preaching in the region of Judea. His preaching and lifestyle moved the hearts of many people to come and be baptized by him. There was a great spiritual revival going on because of John’s life of faith and mission. The religious leaders became unsettled and disturbed. They wanted to know what was going on. They wanted to get some information from him.

However, John did not try to focus on himself or his ministry. He did not say that his success was his doing. Instead he tried to focus the attention from himself to Jesus. This is what all true servants servants of God do. Though the temptation is great to seek praise and honor from men, they deny this and put the attention on Jesus. This was John’s clear attitude. We can see this in his answer to their question in verse 22 when they said, “Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” What was John’s answer to them? Let’s read verse 23, “John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, ‘I am the voice of one calling in the desert, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’” John said that he was just a voice. You see this Scripture does not give any names, it just says a voice. What? This does not make sense. What does he mean? It means that he was there to proclaim the one coming after him, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. Then after that, he would leave.

This verse which he quoted from the prophet Isaiah reveals that John’s sole mission was to prepare people for the coming of the Lord Jesus. Look back at verses 6-8. They say this about John the Baptist, “There came a man who was sent from God; his name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all men might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light.” John was a great man because of his uncompromising and holy life of faith. But what made him so great in God’s eyes was that he lived to point others to Jesus. He didn’t let all the attention and all the people that were coming towards him to hear him and be baptized by him get to his head. He didn’t say, “I have now baptized 5,000 people! This must be a record! I have set a new record!!” Rather, he prepared others for Jesus who would come by preaching a baptism of repentance. In this way, he prepared people’s hearts to either receive Jesus or to reject Jesus. This role was very important, so important.

Like John the Baptist, we have this very important and special role to prepare students for Jesus. We are only voices to prepare others to either accept or reject Jesus. In order to do this we need to have a clear identity as a voice. I can see that David Park Jr. is beginning to accept that he is a voice of God for University of Maryland students. I was encouraged to see him feeding his first sheep, Matt and bringing him to Sunday Worship service. David Park appears quiet, but when he speaks his voice is speaking God’s word with confidence to college students.

Therefore, we see it is important to have a clear identity who we are and what we are to do. Through our witnessing and inviting students to Bible study and through our 1:1 Bible study with students, we are preparing their hearts for Jesus. Just as John the Baptist prepared people for Jesus’ first coming, we are preparing people for Jesus’ second coming when he comes as the Judge of all people.

In verses 24-28, John witnesses to the greatness of Jesus. Let’s read these verses, “Now some Pharisees who had been sent questioned him, ‘Why then do you baptize if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?’ I baptize with water, John replied, but among you stands one you do not know. He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. This all happened at Bethany on the other side of the Jordan, where John was baptizing.”

. John did not answer their question directly. Instead he minimized himself in order to maximize Jesus. In these verses he declares the greatness of Jesus. How did he do so? He said that the one coming after him is so great that he is not worthy even to stoop down and untie his sandals. In other words, he was saying to them, “If you think I am great, you haven’t seen nothing yet! The one coming after me is so great I am not worthy to bend down to untie his sandals. I am nothing before him!” To untie the thongs of sandals was a servants job. John said he was not even worthy to do this. We see the reason why John was so humble and why he could be used by God. It was because he knew the one he was proclaiming was the Creator God in the flesh (1:3) and he knew that before this Jesus he was nothing, not worthy to serve him or even come to him.

As John spoke, he was overwhelmed, thinking about Jesus. His heart was full of awe, knowing that one of those who was to come and be baptized by him was God in the flesh. Then the next day, God revealed Jesus to John. Let’s read verse 29, “The next day John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” John was moved to see Jesus. He was without words. All he could say, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

This is John’s witness to us. He is saying, “Look!…” Let’s look and see why Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. First, Jesus is the Lamb of God. This is indeed a revolutionary statement. How can a man be the Lamb of God? Usually it was an animal that was the lamb for sacrifice. This means then, that Jesus, God in the flesh, will sacrifice himself.

Up until now, the sacrificial lamb was offered once a year for the forgiveness of sins for all the people of Israel. This was God’s way to fulfill his law because he said that without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. However, this law was not meant to be permanent. This is because God had something better planned. He wanted to bring his Son into the world to sacrifice himself in order to show the great love of God for sinners.

God wanted to do this to solve our sin problem and to take away the sin of the whole world. All the problems of the world come from man’s fundamental and original sin. Because men sinned, men separated themselves from God. They chose darkness rather than light. Though they knew good, they also knew evil and could not even think good thoughts. Their actions testified to their evil and dirty and dark thoughts. When we look at society, we see how rampant sin is. We even hear of young boys ages 7 and 8 killing others. We hear of mothers drowning their young children in the bathtub. Sin has no age limit. Last month I read of an 85 year old man killing another old man.

Sin is a disease that has spread to all people, like a cancer. It is worse than AIDS. Because all have sinned all are sick with sin. There is no human cure for sin. You can not go to CVS drug store to get a pill to take away your sins. Some people think it is a psychological problem. So they go and see their psychiatrist and have therapy sessions. Then the psychiatrist prescribes drugs. However, sin is not a mental problem nor is it a physical problem. It is a spiritual problem. This is because it is from the heart. It can only be solved by God, not by men

Now people are frightened and terrified by a sniper who has killed eight ordinary people in the Washington area. People can’t go along with their ordinary way of life because of this one crazy man. People might say we need better gun control. Others might say we need better police protection. Still others might say we need better education. But what people really need is to believe that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Here the words, “takes away the sin of the world” means that on Jesus God laid on him the weight of everyone’s sin, both past, present and future.” It means that God paid for our sins when he crucified Jesus on the cross. Jesus became the ransom sacrifice for the sins of the whole world and not just a few people. We can’t say that he has only forgiven some of my sins. We can’t say that he will stop forgiving us. Once and for all by the death of Jesus on the cross, all our sins have been taken away.

This is why when John the Baptist saw Jesus he was overwhelmed. He was full of joy and excitement to see that the Holy Son of God will become the Lamb of God sacrificed for the sins of the whole world. So to believe in Jesus means what? It means that he is our Lamb of God who suffered for me because of my sins. It means to believe that he has taken away all my sins once and for all. This is why Jesus is full of grace (1:14,16)

There is another very great testimony that John gave about Jesus. It is in verse 34. Look at verse 34, “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” How could John make this testimony? God revealed it to him. John did not know him, but God revealed to him that Jesus is God and the Son of God. According to verse 32, God opened his spiritual eyes to see the Spirit come down as a dove and remain on Jesus. It was revealed to John that this was the sign that this was the Son of God. John saw and testified. In view of John’s faith and his testimony we can believe, too that Jesus is the Son of God.

Part two. We have found the Messiah. (35-51)

Now let us see about the first disciples and how they met Jesus. They first met Jesus by witnesses. The first witness to them was John the Baptist. Let’s read verses 35-36, “The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, ‘Look, the Lamb of God!’” Jesus’ first disciples were actually John’s disciples. John did not hold his disciples to himself. He led them to Jesus. Verse 37 says that when the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

When Jesus saw them following him, he asked them a very important question. Let’s read verse 38, “Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, ‘What do you want?’ They said, ‘Rabbi’ (which means Teacher), ‘where are you staying?’” He asked them, “What do you want?” This seems like a very ordinary question. But it is not. It is in fact a deep question which is to help them to find the reason why they have come to him.

Why did they come to Jesus? It was because they heard John say, “Look the Lamb of God!” and they were curious. No one ever said this about anyone. Who is this guy that John said is the Lamb of God? Later, they would say to Jesus, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’” (Jn.6:68-69)

Jesus asks this question to all who consider following him. What do you want? What do you want from Jesus? Why did you come here in the first place? Was it because someone told you to come? Did your parents make you come? Did you come out of duty. Some come to Jesus with their own hidden agenda. They want Jesus to for them what they want. Some come looking for a future husband or wife candidate. Others might come just for the food after Sunday Worship and the fellowship. But these can’t be the real motives for us to come to Jesus.

Our real motive should be to know Jesus. When we have this simple motive, then Jesus will invite us to come and see. This is what he did. Let’s read verse 39, “Come, he replied and you will see.’ So they went and saw where he was staying and spent the day with him. It was about the tenth hour.” Jesus invitation to them shows his humbleness.

He invites sinners like us to come to him. (Mt.11:28-30) He stands at the door of our hearts and knocks so that we may let him in. (Rev.3:20) It is when we accept his invitation and spend time with him that we have come and seen where he is staying. Here, Jesus’ promise is very great. He promises us that we will see. This means that he opens our spiritual eyes to know him better. When I first studied the Bible, I began with Genesis. I did not pay much attention. After I studied for awhile, I told my Bible teacher that I wanted to switch to John’s gospel because Genesis just seemed to be a lot of stories. After switching to John’s gospel, I began to know who Jesus was. I saw that he was not just some good man. But he really is the Son of God. God opened my eyes to see so that I could know this.

When the disciples spent time with Jesus they got to know who he was. They saw he was God in the flesh. Let’s read Andrew’s reaction. So this is what they did. Let’s read verse 41, “The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah (that is, the Christ). Andrew was full of joy. He did not waste any time. The first thing he did was to go and tell. He became a witness to his brother. To be a witness of Jesus does not mean we have to know the Bible from cover to cover. It does not mean that we have to spend hours at a time praying. All we need to know is that Jesus is the Messiah in our hearts.

Usually when we come to know Jesus we have a great testimony right away. We don’t have to wait. We should then go first tell those who are closest to us like family. Then there can be a chain reaction in our family. I heard that Tinuke first came to know Jesus. Then she went and told Jay who believed. The after she told Folake but Folake took a little more time to believe because she was stubborn. Nevertheless here we see three sisters coming to believe because of one testimony.

What happened when Jesus saw Simon? He said in verse 42, “You are Simon son of John. You will be called Cephas, which when translated is Peter.” Jesus saw Simon as a man who could be great. His name given to him by his parents, Simon means “sand.” His character was like shaky sand. He was impulsive, emotional and unpredictable. But Jesus said you will be called “Cephas” which means rock. Peter or Cephas would become an unshakable and faithful leader of the first church. Jesus would use him to bring the gospel to the world. We see here the hope that Jesus had for Simon. This is the hope that Jesus has for all of us. He sees us as greater than who really are. He sees us with eyes of faith. This is how we should see ourselves and our sheep. Shepherd Steve used to be an atheist. His Bible teacher invited him many times to Bible Conferences, but each time Steve said, “No.” However, his Bible teacher did not give up on him because he had the hope of God for him. Later, Steve became changed through God’s word and has became a great man of God with amazing Bible knowledge and interpretation of the Bible.

Let’s look at some more witnesses and how they came to believe. The next one is Philip. He came to believe when Jesus also simply called him. Look at verse 43. Then when Philip spent time with Jesus he went and found Nathanael. What did he tell Nathanael? Let’s read verse 45, “We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote---Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”

Nathanael’s reaction was shocking. He could not believe anything good could from Nazareth. How could the Messiah come from that city? Philip had a shepherd heart and said to him, “Come and see.” (46) Let’s read verses 47-49. Nathanael was moved by Jesus. When Jesus told him these things, he was amazed and made a confession of faith. It was at this time that Nathanael was born again. But that was not the end. Let’s read verses 50-51. For Nathanael and for us, believing is just the beginning. Jesus promises us that we will see greater things. These greater things here for Nathanael was the amazing second coming of Jesus! We who believe will also see this great and glorious day one day. However, this future glorious event is not the only “greater things” that we will see. As we come to study the Bible and hear the word of God with the right heart, God will open our spiritual eyes to know Jesus better as the Lamb of God.

As we study John’s gospel let’s come to Jesus and see and learn from him and spend time with him so that he may show you greater things. I’m sure you want to see greater things than the Redskins or the World Series. I’m sure you want to see great things. Do you? May God help you to accept the witness of John the Baptist to Jesus. May God help you to have faith that Jesus is the Son of God and Lamb of God.