Badenoch Free Church

Sunday Morning 16th march 2008

 

John 1v29,35-37.

In this first chapter of John we are given many descriptions about Jesus, who he is and what he had done. We saw some of them last time we looked at this chapter.

John wrote his gospel as a witness statement about Jesus.

He wants the world to know who Jesus is.

And he wants his readers to ask as they read, “who is this Jesus”?

It is a fundamental question and the answer that you give to it will affect the rest of your life.

So who is Jesus according the testimony of John the Baptist?

Note that all our learning about what is true and real comes from testimony.

Thus a testimony account is something that we need to give real consideration to.

1) John 1:15 ¹⁵ John testifies concerning him. He cries out, saying, "This was he of whom I said, `He who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'"

John believes in the Eternity of Jesus. He is saying that because of his eternal existence he is greater than himself.

2) John 1:24-27 ²⁴ Now some Pharisees who had been sent ²⁵ questioned him, "Why then do you baptise if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?" ²⁶ "I baptise with water," John replied, "but among you stands one you do not know. ²⁷ He is the one who comes after me, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie."

John believes Jesus is so much greater than him that he is not even worthy to untie his shoe laces. This witness reveres and respects Jesus.

3) John 1:29-30 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! ³⁰ This is the one I meant when I said, `A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'

John 1:35-36 ³⁵ The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.

³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

John believes Jesus is the Lamb of God. God’s sacrifice for the sins of the world.

And the Eternal One.

4) John 1:32-34 ³² Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. ³³ I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptise with water told me, `The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptise with the Holy Spirit.' ³⁴ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."

John believes that Jesus is the Spirit filled Son of God.

 

Out of all these things where can we focus?

John 1:29 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 1:35-37 ³⁵ The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. ³⁶ When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!" ³⁷ When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

I single this out because it is this statement more than anything else that made the disciples of John become disciples of Jesus.

Jesus according to John is “the Lamb of God.”

This can only be understood in light of OT teaching about the Passover Lamb.

What was the Passover lamb? Ex12 - the lamb that was sacrificed so that the destroying angel of God would not kill any of the Israelite children!

The lamb died in place of the child.

The lamb represented salvation for the child.

He would not die because the Lamb had been killed in his place!

Further the Lamb symbolised the national freedom of the Israelites.

They had been in captivity for 430 years and now on the night the lamb was sacrificed the people go free.

The Passover was then to be remembered and celebrated every year.

The people of Johns ministry knew all this.

They were good Jews, they would have celebrated all these things.

Thus when John says about Jesus - look the Lamb of God! What news!

The disciples left and followed.

In Jesus they saw hope, freedom, escape from Roman captivity, God etc.

What about us?

When we see who Jesus is we should feel all these things as well.

He is the Great Hope of God. He is our Salvation. Our ticket to freedom, our forgiveness, our only chance,

Do you see this Jesus?

He is the answer to all of life’s problems.

He will not take all our problems away but he will help us see them clearly.

He is the One that will get you right with God.

 

What can you do to get Jesus?

John 1:37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

1) listen to Johns Testimony.

That means understand that what John is saying about Jesus is for you to.

Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away your sin!

 

2) then having heard and applied it to yourself you need to follow Jesus.

You will be glad to hear that following is not as simple as it sounds!

Nothing of momentous value and life changing consequence is ever simple!

The two disciples of John, decided to follow Jesus.

This meant that they left behind one teacher and joined another school.

They enrolled in the School of Christ.

They were signing up for a full time occupation!

To follow means the same thing for us today.

You commit your whole life to learning from Jesus in His school!

What a decision to make. Are you going to make it?

 

sunday evening 16th march 2008

 

John 1v20

This morning we noted that the Gospel of John was written so that people would come to know Jesus and then follow him, become disciples.

Which as we will see tonight leads to knowing yourself and your place in the world.

This is no small issue.

We have a need to know who we are and why we are here.

Much of the hopelessness that is seen in society today comes from the feeling that life is inconsequential. That there is no point to my life!

The bible of course tells us a different story.

Humans were created at the climax of Gods creative work.

Created to have authority and power in the world as Gods friends on earth.

Created in Gods image with great abilities and potential.

Yes, the Fall brought about much damage to what God had created, but yet, it made us no less special in Gods eyes.

So special in fact that God sent his Son: “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”

So it is vitally important to know who we are and why we are here.

The short answer is that we are eternal spiritual beings, created to have a relationship with God through discipleship to Jesus Christ.

But how does that work? Lets look at the chapter for some answers:

 

1) negatively first of all, we need to know, who or what we are not!

John 1:20 ²⁰ He did not fail to confess, but confessed freely, "I am not the Christ."

Negatively John notes who he is not!

Said he was not the Messiah

This shows what a great man John was. He could have taken glory for himself. He could have become proud. But no, he stayed humble, honest.

His humility is astonishing v23 says he is only “a voice”

Also his humility is seen in the way in which he happily lets his disciples go and follow Jesus. These disciples would have been a real lose to his ministry! But he lets them go.

We to need to know our place in the world.

Thus, we start off negatively with the statement the we are not God!

This has to be our starting point.

Mans great struggle has always been that he thinks he is in control. That he is God.

The fall happened because of this very thing - Adam and Eve thought they knew best!

One of the great struggles of parenthood is teaching children their place!

But many of us never get over our childish ways!

“I want / it’s mine” becomes our life mantra! This is shown by our selfish attitudes - I can do what I want, when I want, to whom I want! I know best!

In order to find our place in the world we must go through a humbling process.

We must bow the knee to the Lord. We must confess that He is Sovereign.

That is the starting point to finding our place, to finding meaning and ultimately to finding success and happiness!

Proverbs 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge

John knew his place, he knew his role, and what a great heritage he has left!

What a truly great man he was!

And how counter cultural his attitude was. Today humility has no place in the ways of the world. To get anything we need to fight our corner, we need to demand our rights, blow our own trumpet!

 

Question:

What about you? Have you found your place in the world yet?

Have you bowed the knee to Jesus. Or are you still the one in charge?

We start off finding who we are by saying who we are not then we ask:

 

2) who we are:

John was asked that very question:

John 1:22-23 ²² Finally they said, "Who are you? Give us an answer to take back to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?" ²³ John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, "I am the voice of one calling in the desert, `Make straight the way for the Lord.'" {Isaiah 40:3}

John was the forerunner. The voice to call people to prepare for the Messiah.

In other words John saw himself simply as a servant with a job to do!

As noted above - “a voice”

He was preparing the way for the Saviour.

Application:

Who are you?

“A followers of Jesus, I am a disciple”.

“A servant of God.”

Have you ever thought of yourself in that way?

Discipleship to Jesus is what gives life meaning and purpose.

Johns role was a humble one but also a glorious one.

It was glorious because of the One he proclaimed - the Messiah.

We are servants of the Messiah.

No matter what our calling, however humble and irrelevant it may seem, it is glorious. Jesus makes it glorious.

What does discipleship involve?

Discipleship involves being “a voice”.

Have you ever considered that God wants to use you as his voice on earth?

In your work, at home, wherever you spend your time, God wants to use you!

Why? To prepare the way for Jesus.

Very rarely, if ever, does God simply go to a person for salvation without the use of a human servant!

Instead God’s great plan is to use you! Your voice as His voice!

This is why it is important to see our place in the world! Because we have been put here to make a difference! Your life is precious to God, and God wants to make it precious to others also.