The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 2: Behold the Lamb

Episode Date: April 18, 2021

“Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” – John 1:29 Do you know Him? Visit coe22.com/john to download the journal, find series resources and more.

Amen and amen. How many of you know that this is a movement for all people to discover and deepen a relationship with Jesus Christ? Amen? And so on May 16th, we're going to be baptizing. And if you're saying, hey, should I get baptized? If you believe that Jesus Christ is your Lord and Savior and you have never been baptized as a believer, then the answer to you is yes, you should be baptized. Hey, grab your Bible.

We're going to be in John chapter 1. We're in week two of this 28-week series. I hope we're excited. You need your theological big girl panties on tonight because we're getting after it. You understand? I probably shouldn't have said that, but I say a lot of stuff I shouldn't say. So let's go. We are going to talk about this guy named John the Baptist, kind of an eccentric guy, kind of a weird guy, but how many of you know God uses weird people?

Look at your neighbor. And if you're like, my neighbor's not that weird, guess what? Chapter 1, verse 19, and this is the testimony of John. I told you last week we were going to talk about John. This John is not the gospel writer John. This John is named John where we call him John the Baptist. I like to say John the baptizer, because if you, you know, some of you, you know, some of you southern. and Baptist think that this was like your first guy.

This was not the first Baptist. It's not like Pete the Presbyterian and Luther of the Lutheran. That's not how this works. He was the baptizer. And if you remember last week, he's already been mentioned two times in chapter one. Back in chapter six, it says there was a man sent from God. That this man, John the baptizer, was prophesied about and purpose of God. And he was sent from God, whose name was John.

he came as a witness to bear witness about the light, that all might believe in him. That who? All. That's pretty good. You're way better than last week. That all might believe in him. That he was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light.

And then if you skip down to verse 15 in chapter one, it says John bore witness about him and cried out, this was he of whom I said, he who comes after me ranks before me because he was before me. And yet John the baptizer was six months older than Jesus, But what John was saying is that Jesus is eternal, so Jesus is forever years old, so he's a lot older than me. And Jesus holds John the baptizer in very, very, very high regard.

In fact, in Matthew chapter 11, this is what Jesus says about John, the baptizer. He says, truly I say to you, among those born of women, there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Now, I know you think you're awesome, but Jesus says, compared to John the Baptist, you're not that awesome. Because of all mere mortals ever born, according to Jesus, John the Baptist is the greatest. And then he goes on to say, yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. For the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence and the violent take it by force. By the way, I love

this verse. Some translations say from the jays of John the Baptist until today, the kingdom of God advances forcefully and forceful men and women take hold of it. So if sometimes you look at me and be like, why ain't got to be so aggressive, you can take it up with Jesus and John the Baptist, you understand? Because we ain't sitting on the sidelines waiting. That's not what we're doing. And we're not huddled up in our little holy huddles scared of the world. Oh no, no, no, no, man. When Jesus says it is finished, the death blow has been established against the enemy and the Victory is ours. And from that day till this day, the kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and forceful men and

women take hold of it. Amen? For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, here's what Jesus says about John the Baptist. He is Elijah who is to come, he who has ears to hear. And what Jesus is talking about is Jesus is referencing the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, Chapter 4. This is what Malachi, the last might.

prophet says. These are the last words, some of the last words of the Old Covenant, the Old Testament. Malachi says, behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. That before the Lord shows up here on the earth, there is going to be one who comes in the spirit of Elijah, and he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. And then if you do Bible study, that's the last words of Malachi, almost the last words of Malachi, and then the next page in your Bible is just a blank

page, and that's 400 years of God's people waiting on this one who was going to come in the spirit of Elijah and turn the hearts of their fathers and fathers to their children, and he was going to prepare the way of the surfing crusher. And for 400 years, people that study the Bible and love Yahweh, they're waiting and waiting and waiting. You ever notice God seems to be on his own timing? Because you know what his calendar says? Eternity. Never in a hurry. God's never late. But man, he's rarely early.

Can I get a witness? So if you ever praying about a thing and praying about a thing and praying about a thing, come on, Lord, I've been praying since last Tuesday, you might want to give him a minute, okay? Because for 400 years, they're waiting on one to come in the spirit of Elijah to prepare the way of the Lord. And then what happens in Luke chapter 1, you hear this, but the angel said to him, don't be afraid, Zachariah. He was a priest, and he gets a word from the Lord in the temple. He says, your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,

and you shall call his name John. Now, by the way, it was customary in that day to name your kid after you. But a big shift is happening here because what we're about to shift from in the old covenant to the new covenant is, is we find out this, that God doesn't save last names. God doesn't save you because of who your parents is. God saves first names. And the angel says to Zachariah, you're going to name him. John, and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth, for he will be

great before the Lord, and he must not drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb, and he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord their God, and he will go before him in spirit and the power of Elijah to do what, to turn the hearts of fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready for the Lord a people prepared. that for 400 years they've been waiting, Malachi prophesied about it, and then on the scene steps, John the baptizer. And this is the testimony of John.

John is a really, really big deal. John is a really, really big deal. And he's out in the wilderness, dressing all funny in his camel hair clothes and his leather belt with his big beard in the woods, just yelling at people. I don't know if you know this, man. You get you a big beard and some different clothes and yell at people. people will show up and listen to you, trust me, okay?

And it says, so everybody's checking it out, because, I mean, lots of people are going. It says, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, here's what they ask him. Who are you? Who are you? By the way, when you live the way of Jesus like John did, people will ask you, who are you?

Now, again, a part of the reason they're asking who are you is because he did, man, he dressed weird. He was like Jesus' rural, homeschool cousin that lived in the country, you understand? And the Bible says all he ate was locusts and honey. Everybody knows they're roaches. It's like when you call someone, that's a palmetto bug. Ain't no such thing as a palmetto bug.

That's just a roach, people, okay? And so he's eating weird food, and they're like, this guy's weird, all right? Now, by the way, just for this sermon, in honor of John the Baptist's kind of, you know, outdoorsy clothes, I got some new boots. They ain't camel, though. You know what these are? Here's what I love most about these boots. A gator had to die for me to get these boots. Praise God.

But it wasn't the fact that he wore real clothes. And by the way, his whole sermon, all of his sermons were very, very short. It was just repent and be baptized. Repent. Prepare yourself. And people were coming in to get baptized. And it wasn't just his message. It was also his lifestyle.

And people, he led people, it led the Pharisees to send the Levites and the priest to him and say, ask him this question. Who are you? Because I'm telling you, if you refuse to be conformed to the pattern of this world, people around you will begin to ask you this question, who are you? Which, by the way, if somebody has not asked you that question in the last few years of your life, it could be because you were just going with the flow. And that your life is indistinguishable from this culture.

Now, showing up in Jedi robes, and yelling at people won't do it anymore and eating weird food because that won't make you stand out anymore because if you just eat bugs and honey, people would be like, oh, that's some kind of gluten-free vegan weirdo, okay? According to the scriptures,

let me give you four ways to lead people that you work with and live with and go to school with that will lead them to ask you this question, who are you? You want to be radically different in this world? It ain't the bumper stickers you put on your car. It's the way we live.

Here's one, power. If you're the boss, if you have some power, And I know you may not feel like you have a ton of power, but all of us have some degree of power. And you begin to see the powerful position you're in, not as a reward, but a responsibility. And you leverage your power, not for your own glory, but for the service of others, people will say, who are you? Like if you're the kind of boss that doesn't just walk in the room and tell everybody what to do, but you assess the situation to see how you can lower yourself to lift everybody else up and you use power that way, people will say, who are you?

Here's another one. Nobody likes to talk about money. And I'm not talking about tipping a charity here, there. I'm talking about if you reorient all of your life to establish that you believe that more money isn't my money, that everything I have

is a blood-bought grace gift from God. And I bring to him my first and my best, and I begin to leverage the way I live for the sake of some other people. If I jump into the rescue mission and dump all I got into the rescue boat so that I can throw lifesavers to everybody out there,

people will look at you and be like, what are you doing with all your money? Who are you? Another one is this. You want to change the world? Paul says, from a jail sale to the city of Philippi, he says this, do everything without complaining or arguing. Let's just stop right there. The Greek for that, you know what the Greek word for complaining and arguing is? Twitter. He says, do everything without complaining or arguing, so which leads me to encourage you the next time you feel the need to complain, just see if it falls in the everything category, and if it does, then the Bible says, don't. He says, do everything without complaining or arguing so that you might shine like stars in a crooked and depraved generation. Here's what this

means, man. Next time you're in your cubicle, and I know that your bosses has fallen to Satan, I understand, man, I understand. No problem. And I knew this software system that they're implementing so that you can get your paid time off and all that stuff. I know what you're it's horrible and they don't know what they're doing. And when everybody else in your cubicle is, and I can't believe, and then you know it. You're thinking it too, and you go, and don't complain or argue, they're going to say, who are you? Here's one more. You want to change the world? You don't want people to say, who are you? It comes with anxiety. The Bible says this, Paul says this, also in the book of Philippians, be anxious for nothing. So when all the

rest of the world and all of your friends and all of your family when they're freaking out about everything, hello, 2020 and beyond. And you are anxious for nothing, which is how do you do that? You think I'm a little abrupt. Paul, if you were to come to him and say, Paul, can I get some counsel for you? Yeah, sure thing. What's going on? I'm anxious. He goes, cool, stop. Thanks, Paul. How? Be anxious for nothing, but by prayer and supplication, make your request known to God. and then here's the promise. And then the peace of God that transcends understanding will guard your heart and guard your mind.

Here's what this looks like. You've seen it in other people. People are going through something, and somehow they have this peace, this like inner peace that defies logic. And you lean into them and you go, how are you doing it? Who are you?

Because I think if I was in that situation, I don't think I could handle it the way you were handling it. And what they will say is, they might not use these Bible words, but ultimately what they will say is, I didn't think if I was ever in this kind of situation, I would handle it this way either, but it's hard to explain. It's almost like I have a peace that doesn't even make sense. It transcends understanding and the God of the universe is guarding here, my head, and here my heart.

When's the last time somebody said, who are you? So they're asking him, who are you? And listen, man, this is a time that John the Baptist, could make much of himself. Poor old homeschool, weird, rural kid, just out there in the woods this whole life, eating cockroaches and honey. This could be the time where he could be like,

you know, I don't know if you know this, it's kind of a big deal. The Old Testament talked about me, God has a plan for me, can I get a book deal? Maybe you can put me on Oprah and interview me. It'll be cool. But he doesn't.

And revival is happening. People are showing up, and they say to him, who are you? And he confessed and did not deny, but confess, listen to this, I am not the Christ. And they ask him, what then? Are you Elijah? And the reason they ask him if he's Elijah is because they know Malachi 4.

They've been looking for him. And he goes, nope, I am not. Now, I think he's jacking with him because he knows he's there in the spirit of Elijah, but it's the technicality. He's not actually Elijah. Are you a prophet? Are you the prophet? This is the one that Moses prophesied about, that God would send the prophet.

and he answered, no. And so they ask him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent to us. What do you say about yourself? And he said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. This is big, that John the baptizer does not define himself by what he does. He defines himself by his relationship with Jesus.

Let's try it out again. John the Baptist does not define himself by what he does. He defines himself by his relationship with Jesus. How do you define yourself? All he's saying is this. The point in my life is to point people to Jesus. That's why I'm the voice, not the face, but just the voice in the wilderness, crying out, make straight the way of the Lord.

Now, again, there are two things here that I think are big. Number one, he is saying, I am not God. I am not the Messiah. That John the Baptist is not only clothed in camel hair, he is clothed in humility. Because he's saying this, it's just not about me. It's all about him. He is saying, I am not the Christ, I am not God. Now listen, do you realize that that's true of you?

Now I know no one would say that about themselves, though all the universe revolves around me because I am preeminent. But when I scroll through your social media, it looks like you're preeminent. Seems like the point of everything you put out there is to point to you, which is fine. Not really, it's awful. It's idolatry,

because I want to tell you, man, one of the most freeing things that could ever happen to you is that you realize you're not the center of the universe. It really is there's freedom there. Because when you think that the point is you, do you know how much pressure that is? Do you know how much pressure and expectation you put on all the rest of the world to worship you

like you think you deserve to be worship. Again, I know you would never use that terminology. It's just the way we live. That means our boss has to treat us like we're a big deal. Our kids have to treat us like we're a big deal. Our spouse, good Lord, she should be thankful for this gift that she has. Traffic all has to line up just the right way.

See you coming in the left lane and scoot right over. Whoever's in charge of the lights. They need to go green, green, green, green, green, amen. And when this world gets its head. head on straight and realizes what a big deal I am, then I'll be able to satisfy this world. You realize what a miserable existence this is? This is why you see, like, professional athletes that the world has worshipped and they have helped them, and when they step away from that kind of identity, they're miserable because when you

get confused about what you do and who you are, if you don't do what you used to do, then who are you? But he says, I'm going to tell you who I am. I am here to just make straight the way of the Lord. He is saying this, I'm not the Messiah. Have you realized that one? You're not the Savior? You're not the Savior.

Especially for the people that you love. In other words, all of the world's problems and everybody else's issue, primarily their sin issue, you can't fix it. And the moment you realize that God sent a Savior in his name is Jesus, not you, then you can begin to help point people to Jesus and quit trying to act like you are. Jesus in people's life. That's what he does. Ultimately, what John the baptizer is saying is the point of my life is to point to Jesus. Just ask yourself that question. Is that what you do?

Are you using, leveraging your life is the point of your life to point people to Jesus? And I don't care if you're John the Baptist or John the plumber or John the stay-at-home mom or John the teacher. No matter what you're doing, are you living this kind of life that helps people come to you and say, who are you? And you can say, I'm going to tell you who I am. I am his. Can I point you to him?

Verse 24, now they have been sent from the Pharisees. We talked about this a lot last week. The Pharisees were the people that knew the Bible the best and missed Jesus the most. You realize that? Because they fell in love with the rules and they missed out on a relationship with him. Verse 25, and they asked him,

then why are you baptizing? If you were neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet and John 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 was baptizing. Here's what John is saying. You see, when you were growing up, if you were a student, you didn't pick a school, you picked a teacher.

You would follow a rabbi. And the rabbi would invite students to follow him around. and do everything that he did. And you weren't just learning what he learned. You were trying to become who he is. And the servants did everything that the slaves did, except one thing, is that the students did not have to wash the master's feet.

Because that job was so low, so low, that they didn't have to do that. By the way, how many of you hate feet? I mean, even like nice, pedicured. They're nasty, man. Let's just be honest. Especially right now, this time of year is the worst because it was cold and winter and it ain't tan yet, but you think you can wear the flip-flot and be like, come on, man, put them sausages up.

That's nasty. Get you a tan on it or something first. Get away from me. And you think some 21st century Jacksonville feet are nasty. Think about you some first century. You seen the Jesus movies? All that beach, no ocean, you know what I'm talking about? They just walking around and all that sand.

There was no paved roads. There was animals just walking. You know what animals do? And then you walk right behind that. And then somebody rolling up. you're going to get down there and take their sandals off and wash their feet. I mean, there's stuff under them toenails that ain't on the periodic chart. You understand? You're like, come on.

And what John is saying here, this whole untie the sandal, he's like, all right, they're the students, and then there are the do loss, says the word. There's the slaves. I go right under that. And what he's saying is, I am here to baptize with water. And my baptism, here's what he's saying. My baptism with water is just a picture, man. And by the way, Jewish people didn't get baptized.

reason people would baptize, the reason they would baptize people during this day, they would only baptize those dirty Gentiles that were converting to Judaism. But what John is calling people to do, the nice clean cut, well-dressed, moral, vote, pay their taxes people. The good Jewish, memorize their Bible, obey the Sabbath, don't eat pork people. Those people that go to the synagogue, obey all the rules people, he's saying, you need to get washed too. But this washing was a preparation of repentance so that when this one that was coming, they would be prepared to see. And what he's saying is, there is one coming. I can't even carry his gym bag.

But when he comes, he's going baptized by his blood with the Holy Spirit, not for preparation, but for redemption. Now, what is baptism? You see these baptism videos all the time, and a lot of people have different. ideas of it based on your tradition, and I'm trying to knock anybody's tradition. There's really good traditions about baptism. But if you look in Romans chapter 6, the Bible talks about why we are to get baptized and what baptism is. In Romans chapter 6, verse 3, Paul says this, do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his

death? We were buried, therefore, with him by baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. So here's what the Bible says about baptism. That baptism is an outward and visible symbol that we have already been immersed in Jesus Christ. The word baptized in the English is transliterated from the Greek word, which is baptizzo. Baptizo simply means to dip, dunk, or submerge. That's what it is. In fact, it was a cooking term. There are first century cookbooks that say,

the way that you make a pickle is you take a cucumber and you baptizo it in vinegar. Now, that doesn't mean that you take a little bit of vinegar and you go, oh, and then the cucumber doesn't go to hell. That's not what it means. It means you dip, you dunk, you submerge. That's it. And so what Paul is saying is,

don't you know that all of us who have been submerged, immersed into Christ Jesus, anybody that believes that when Christ died on the cross, that he, that counted for you, that we were baptized into his death, we were buried, therefore, with him by baptism, into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. That first of all, that if you were a believer, your next step of obedience is to get baptized. By the way, to the 61 people that surrendered their life to the Lordship of Christ last weekend, your next step is to get baptized.

And that includes the 185 of you that got saved the weekend before. You should get baptized. Now, the reason, again, that we don't just sprinkle is because this word means dip, dumps, emerge. Okay? And the way we do it, the reason we dump people back the way you see it like that, like you see it on the videos, is because we are basically enacting what Roman 6 says here. So if you get baptized, here's what happens. Again, it is an outward invisible symbol of an inward working grace that is a,

already happened. It is a picture and a declaration to the world of a relationship that you have. It's very similar to a wedding band. Say I have this wedding man here. And the reason I wear this wedding band, it is it is an outward and visible symbol to a personal relationship that I have with Gretchen. Okay. And if I take my wedding ring off, that doesn't mean I'm not married. If I never put it on, that does not mean I'm not married. And if you put my wedding ring on, it does not mean that you are now married to my wife. You wish, sucker, but I kill you. You understand? So it's not the wedding ring that establishes the relationship. It's the wedding ring that just points to that relationship. That's what baptism is. It's an outward declaration that Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior.

And so if you get baptized, you'll walk out in the water, the next one we're doing, is that the beach in May? You should be there. And we're going to ask you this question. Who is Jesus to you? and the answer is Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior and then as we have been instructed in Matthew 28 some of the pastors and elders and honestly if like your friend led you to Jesus you can come on out and you can be the dunker we're cool with that and we will say some version of upon your public

confession of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior I baptize you my Christian brother in the name of the Father and the Son of the Holy Spirit and then we grab you and with great violence and regardless of the serve report every time we do baptism, man, the Lord just is erupting. I mean, waves are crushing you in the head. You've already been baptized like six times before you make it out to get baptized. That's how it go. And then we bury you with Christ. That's what that's a picture of. You don't have to do the stuff you used to do because old you is dead. And we bury you. It's like a watery grave that

we are putting you in. And then depending on the amount of sin you have, that's how long we hold you over. No, that's not worth. some of us we still be out there come on and then the best part is it's a picture of the spirit of god by the blood of jesus washing away your sin and then we resurrect you to a newness of life and the reality is that event has already happened the moment that you surrendered to christ all of those things

happen but this is a public declaration that you are claiming christ as lord That's why we invite everybody to show up and everybody cheers and it's a big party because this is a party. And you ask, should I get baptized? If you have never been baptized as a believer, the answer is yes, you should get baptized. And I know, I know like 1122 is like half Southern Baptist and half Catholic and half I ain't ever been to church. And I know the math doesn't make sense, but whatever. That's just how it is, okay? And so some of you, some of you like youth group kids, you've been baptized like 15 times every week, every time you go to camp.

Like I need to do it. Make sure it takes. all right if you've surrendered your life to christ one and done is fine all right you're going to have to redo it every baptism because you get all into it and then there's a bunch of you and you're like but i was baptized as a baby where are you i know i know what was happening what was happening is that your parents in that tradition were doing a very very noble thing what your parents were doing is your parents were essentially bringing you to the church and under the authority of the church they were praying into you. And they were saying, we commit to raise this kid under the gospel. And that church was

saying, and we commit to help raise this kid in the gospel. But that was your parents' decision, not yours. And so if that's the kind of baptism you experienced, then you're not negating what your parents did. No, no, no, no, man. You're stealing the deal. Essentially, you're saying, thank you so much for loving me enough to pray those kind of prayers over me. And I've got good news. your prayer has been answered, I am ready to confess Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior, and be buried with him in death and be resurrected with him in the newness of life. So you should take the plunge. And so this is what John the Baptist is doing.

He is out in the water, baptizing. And then in verse 28, it says this, and the next day. So this is after the little inquisition where the religious leaders come up and ask him all the questions. and then the next day John the baptizer saw Jesus coming toward him and he said but we just sang it

Behold Behold is not a casual word in Greek Behold means pay attention I have an announcement to make this is very very very important Behold and this line is essentially the gospel

he's speaking to primarily a Jewish audience so the way they would have heard this would have been astounding Behold He Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of who I said. After me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose, I came baptizing with water that he might

be revealed to Israel. Ultimately, he's answering the questions that the Levites and the Pharisees asked before. Why are you baptizing? What he didn't realize, he says, I thought I was here to just prepare the way of the Lord, but now what I realize is God had me out here baptizing people to reveal who the Lord is, and behold, there he is, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world. Now, every person that grew up in Hebrew Sunday school, the moment they heard this word, their mind goes all over the Old Testament, all over the old covenant.

Because if you've been doing Bible study with us at all, you realize the point of this whole book, ain't you, it's Jesus. He's on every page. and so maybe their minds go back to Genesis chapter 3. Then in Genesis chapter 1, God creates everything. In Genesis chapter 2, we get a detailed account of God's personal relationship with Adam and Eve. In Genesis chapter 3, we find out that Adam and Eve reject God, both through rebellion and religion, by the way. God says, be fruitful and multiply.

God says, whatever you do is don't eat from that tree. It'll kill you. I love you enough to warn you, don't do that. And essentially what Adam and Eve, after being tricked by the enemy say, forget you, God, we don't need you, we got this. Because what the enemy always wants us to do is question the work of God, the will of God, the word of God, and the worth of God. And Adam and Eve, sin, and sin fractures everything.

And they run and they hide and God chases them down. And he says, where are you? And they said, we're naked and afraid. We're ashamed. The very first religion starts. They sow fig leaves to cover over their own sinfulness and shamefulness. You realize that? That is works-based righteousness.

It will not work, and it is by definition self-righteous. And then God curses the man, the woman, and all of creation because he is a just judge and all sin must be judged. And in chapter 3, verse 21, the Bible says, and the Lord made for Adam and for his wife, garments of skins and clove them. And for the very first time in human human human human, he said, and the Bible says, and the Lord, human history, blood was shed for the covering of sin. Maybe when he says, behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the world,

maybe their minds went to this animal's blood being shed for the making of garments and the covering of the shame of Adam and Eve. Their mind for sure went to the Passover. Every year, every little good Jewish family, every year would celebrate the Passover. The Passover harkens all the way. back to the book of Exodus, when God hears the cry of his people, and he goes to Moses, an unlikely leader, and he says, Moses, I got a plan for you. Moses, like, I don't think I have the skill set to do what you're going to do. And he goes, don't worry about it. I'm with you. I want you to go to Pharaoh,

the most powerful man on the planet who thinks he is a God. And I want you to tell him that I am, that I am sent you. And he goes, what do I say? You tell him, let my people go. And so he goes, 10 times, 10 times. How gracious, how patient is our Lord? 10 times, he warns them. How many of you do that at the house? I'm going to tell you 10 times. No, 10 times. And ultimately, if you go through the text, what God is doing is, God is defeating every little G God that Egypt had, like the frog God and the blood God and the sun God. He's the g. God, he's whipping them all. and then he gets to the 10th plague. And he says,

Moses, you go tell my people, go get a perfect spotless lamb without blemish. And you shed the blood of the lamb and you put that blood on the doorpost of your house because tonight an angel of death is coming through Egypt. And this is called the plague of the firstborn. And anyone that has the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of the house,

that angel of death will pass over. That's why we call it the Passover. And so all the dads, they go home to their families and say, hey, come here, kids, come here. Hey, listen, son, junior, we need to go get a lamb. A perfect, spotless lamb. And we got to shed his blood and we're going to take that blood and we're going to paint the doorposts of our house with that lamb's blood. And I'm sure Junior was like, what's that lamb ever done? It ain't his fault.

And then he said, because the angel of death is coming. And if we don't do that, he's going to take the firstborn. And the junior said, come here, come on. Sure enough, the angel of death comes over, and anyone that had the blood of the lamb on the doorpost of her house, they were spared. And every single year, according to the command of Moses, given to him by God, these people celebrated that Passover. And at the Jordan that day, John the Baptist is saying, behold, the Passover lamb is a person. There he is. And I'm sure their minds went to Leviticus 16.

We talk about this a lot here because it is key to understanding the sacrifice that Christ made. In Leviticus chapter 16, after God has laid out all of his laws, then he lays out his sacrificial system. Because the law is the instruction of how people are to live rightly with a perfect and righteous God. There's just a problem. None of us can pull it off. We can't even pull off our own law. We can't even keep our own promises to ourselves, much less the perfect, righteous law of God, that the law of God is a gift. It is both a map.

Here's how we are to live. Now, it's not the kind of maps that we are used to now. The kind of maps that we are used to now, if you take a wrong turn, what does your map say to you? Recalculating. There's a whole bunch of people that try to take this Bible and recalculate it unto where they are going. That is not how the law of God works. You don't break God's law. You break yourself against it.

And then the good news is, is right behind the law of God, there's a sacrificial system because God knows that we can't pull it off, that it is both a map and it's a mirror, that we would hold it up and say, uh-oh, I need someone to do for me what I cannot do for myself. It's sort of like your bathroom sink. There's a map. I mean, excuse me, there's a mirror. And what happens when you look in it? You look at it and you say, uh-oh, I got to do something about this.

And right under it is a sink to do something about it. that. That is the sacrificial system. You look at the law and say, I am marred and sinful, and I need to do something about this. And so God sets up this sacrificial system. And one day a year, the day of Atonement, the highest holy day of the Jewish people, they would all gather together before the high priest. They would confess their sins out loud. And then the priest would transfer the confess sin of the people to the head of this goat. It was called the scapegoat. That's where we get that word from, he would take that goat to the edge of town and send it out into the desert because we serve a tactile God and God wanted the people to see their sin go as far as the east is

from the west and then the high priest would cleanse himself ceremonially and then he would take a perfect spotless land shed his blood and go into the temple inside this room inside this room inside this room. It was called the Holy of Holies. It was where the very presence of God was, and he would take the blood of the lamb, and he would sprinkle it over the mercy seat. Under the mercy seat was a box called the Ark of the Covenant. In the Ark of the Covenant was the Law of God that every single one of us break every single day. And the idea here is that when God would look down on his people, he didn't see the broken law because they were covered by the blood of a land. And they did it every year after year, after year, after year.

Another lamb was slain to cover the sin of the Jewish people until next year. And then John, the baptizer, says, behold, behold, there he is. The lamb, not another lamb, the lamb of God, not of you. you don't go and purchase this. God sent this lamb. The Lamb of God who comes to take away, not cover over, but to take away the sin of the world. Not just our little tribe or 12 tribes over here in the Middle East, but there he is. Behold, the Lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of the entire world.

I think when he says that, people think about Genesis 3 and the Passover Lamb and the Day of Atonement. And then maybe also they go to Isaiah 53. Some people call Isaiah 53 the Fifth Gospel, which is crazy because it was written about 600 years before Jesus ever walked on the earth. But this prophet of God, Isaiah, says these words about Jesus. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. He is prophesying

about the death and resurrection of Jesus. But he was pierced for our transgressions. By the way, crucifixion won't be invented for 300 more years by the Persians, by the way. And yet 300 years before it's even invented by the Persians. Isaiah says, he, this Messiah, this Christ that was to come, he will be pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. Anybody testify there? All we, not all y'all. Not all y'all sinners, but to tighten up.

No, no, no. Isaiah, a prophet of God, It says, you know what, we all have in common? All of us, like sheep, have this tendency that we're prone to wonder. Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. All we, like sheep, have gone astray, and we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. And then listen, like a lamb that is led to the slaughter.

like a sheep that is before it shears is silent, so he opened not his mouth. And I think John the baptizer is saying, there he is, man. This prophecy is a person, and he's walking into the water. By oppression and judgment, he was taken away, and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgressions of my people, and they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death by the, the way Jesus was buried in a rich man's tomb. He borrowed Joseph of Arimathea's tomb. You know why he

borrowed it? Because he didn't need it after three days. He gave it back. But this is prophesied 600 years before he ever dies. Although he had done no violence and there was no deceit in his mouth, yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him, that Christ dying in our place was God's plan from before the beginning, that the Lamb of God that had come to shed his blood for the forgiveness of sin was not God's response to our sin, and it was not God's response to the enemy, but the execution of God's son was the execution of God's plan. It was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put him to grief when his soul makes an offering for guilt. He shall see his offspring. He shall prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in his

hand. Out of the anguish of his mouth, he shall see and be satisfied. By his knowledge, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted as righteous. Isaiah says this. This lamb will be slain. He will be resurrected. He will see people have eternal life. And my righteous servant by his death will give righteousness to other people. The way Paul is going to say this later on, in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 21, is this, that God made him who was without sin to be sin, that we might become the righteousness of God. This is what he's saying. Out of the anguish of his soul, he shall see and be satisfied by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.

All of the life of these Jewish people that were standing there at the Jordan in line, to get baptized. Jesus says, stop the press. Stop the baptism. Behold. Behold. There he is. The one Isaiah talked about, there he is. The Passover land, there he is. The sacrificial lamb in Leviticus 16. There he is. The lamb of God who comes to take away the sin of all people. And then Jesus lives a perfect life. Jesus goes to the cross to die in our place. And on the cross, he pushes up on his nail-pierced feet, and he says, it is finished. The word is to tell us die.

It means paid in full. A part of what he is saying is this. John, you're exactly right. By my death on this cross and three days later, I'm going to get up out of this grave. The bill has been paid in full. Archaeologists have found in first century banks that when a loan was paid off, they would stamp the word to telestai on it. Why? Because it had been paid in full. And when Jesus Christ dies on the cross, then his punishment on the cross was for the iniquity of us all. It was paid in full.

And John the Baptist is saying, there he is. There he is. And the moment he does this, there's there's an earthquake in Jerusalem that cracks right through the temple and it rips the curtain that's separated where the blood of that lamb will be sprinkled on the ark of the covenant the only person that could go in there was the high priest but when Jesus was crucified that curtain was torn and it was torn from the top to the bottom which matters it's not from the bottom to the top like we all do our part to rip our way up no no no it was like god grabbed that curtain and from top down he tore that thing. Why? Because the penalty had been paid. The bill has been paid in full, and now God's people can be reunited with him through the death of his son, Jesus Christ. John the Babistice

going, there he is. There he is. And John bore witness. Now John's going to talk about Jesus's baptism. You don't get very much detail here, and I think it's because John goes last, and he knows Matthew, Mark and Luke have already written about it, so he's like, you can read about it there, but he's going to tell us what's going on. And, John, he's going to get very much detail here. John bore witness, I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. That's a big deal. Jesus was spirit filled. That the spirit never left Jesus.

It remained on him. Then he says, I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain. This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and I have borne witness that this is the son of God, that at the baptism of Jesus, the Godhead is present. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Matthew describes the baptism of Jesus this way.

In Matthew 3, 16, and following, it says, and when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were open to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him, and behold, a voice from heaven said, this is my beloved son, with whom I am well pleased. that at his baptism, there's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. I want you to pay attention to what God the Father says about God the Son.

Behold, my son in whom I am well pleased. Now let me ask you a question. What ministry has Jesus done so far? Literally, the only thing he has done is semi-disobeyed his parents back when he was 12. Remember when they left him at the temple? and Mary was like, you've distressed me. He goes, why are you looking for me knowing I'm going to be in my father's house? Loose translation, but that's what he's saying.

Seems a little snippy. And yet, you know what God the father does? God looks at his son, his only begotten son. He hasn't healed anybody yet. He hadn't gone to the cross, hadn't walked on water, hadn't preached the sermon, hadn't let a Bible study. And he goes, behold, my son in whom I am well pleased. Let me tell you why this matters.

Because in the gospel of Jesus Christ, the verdict, comes before the performance. It's the only place that happens. Every other relationship you've ever had in your life, the performance comes first. Listen, if you're dating right now, you are basically, it's performance, and then we'll give you a verdict.

At work, it's performance, and then we'll give you a verdict, tell you how you did. I mean, it's what we are trained in. It's the way we think everything works. It's what all religions are based on. All right, give you your best shot. at the end of it, we'll see how it goes.

And in the gospel, what we find out is God the Father looks at his son and says, verdict, behold, my son, in whom I am well pleased. And from that moment on, Jesus only does the will of his father. Now, let me remind you of what we talked about last week is this. In verse 12, the Bible says, but to all who did receive him, who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. So what do you think God says about you if you have received him and you have believed in his name? some of you could have skipped the previous 53 minutes in 12 10 seconds okay to just hear this

if you were in Christ Jesus the Father God the Father the Almighty judge and creator of the universe looks at you if you are in Christ Jesus and he's not disappointed in you he is not let down by you he's not surprised by you he's not he is not dissatisfied in you The Bible says this is love, not that we love him, but he loved us and said his son as the propitiation for our sin. By the way, that seat on the ark of the covenant is called the Hillisterium. Literally is translated the perpetuation. It means a payment that satisfies.

So that means that if you are in Christ, then Jesus is your perpetuation. Jesus is the payment that satisfies and he paid it in full. Therefore, if Jesus has paid it in full and satisfied the wrath of God, and the judgment of God and the law of God, and you are in Christ, and he cannot be dissatisfied in you. Because dissatisfaction has to do with surprise, unmet expectation.

God's never been surprised. Church, hear me. If you are in Christ right now, I want you to see the heavens open up. I want you to hear the voice of your Heavenly Father saying this about you. Behold, my son, in whom I am well pleased.

You see, here's the point. John the baptizer says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let me just ask you this. Do you know him? Do you know him? Have you ever trusted

the Lamb of God to take away your sin? I'm not talking about have you been to church. I'm not talking about you trying to do better and straighten up. That's not what we're talking about. I'm not even talking about

have you asked for forgiveness. I'm saying, have you ever trusted the Lamb of God to take away your sin? Have you ever admitted it? I'm a sinner in need of a Savior. Have you ever believed? or trusted that when Jesus said to tell us die on the cross that it is paid in full that somehow that counted for you.

No matter who you are and what you've done, where you did it, that it counted for you. Have you ever confessed him as your Lord and Savior? If not, I want to give you the opportunity to do that right now. To in your own heart, to your own self, say, behold, for the first time, I realize it, behold, there he is, the Lamb of God, who came to take away the sin of my entire world. Would you bow your head, close your eyes? And if you would say, that's me, that's me, I am ready to confess Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Right where you are, just lift your hand.

Say, Father, here I am. Father, here I am. Save me. I trust that when Christ died on the cross, it took away my sin. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, we love you more than anything. And Lord, we thank you that you sent Jesus Christ to shed his blood, and that his blood on the cross paid it all. It's paid in full.

And Lord, I thank you and I praise you for everyone in here that is in you, that is a follower of you, that has trusted you for salvation, that God you're not disappointed in us, you're not let down by us, that you delight in us. You sing over your sons and daughters. You dance over your sons and daughters. You say about us, behold, there he is, there she is, my son. my daughter, in whom I am well pleased.

God, not because everything we do is pleasing, but because if we put our faith in Christ, then he has put his righteousness on us. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Church, would you please stand, and we are going to respond. I love to invite you to come and pray. Like I mentioned, that the curtain is torn

between the people of God and the presence of God. And so, like a child going to their father with a request in the middle of the night, you are invited to come before your Heavenly Father. And whatever is going on in your world, you cast your cares upon him because he cares for you. And we worship God in our finances

by bringing our first and our best. If you're regular here, you know how to do that. And we're going to join our voices together. And we're going to go old school and sing a hymn. Jesus paid it all, which is a declaration of the gospel. Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin has left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.

Now, if you believe that, if your crimson stain of sin has been washed away, then I want you to sing this like it's the most important thing you've ever said because it is. So let's pray, let's bring, Let's sing. Let's respond.