Look, The Lamb Of God Who Takes Away The Sin Of The World!

LOOK, THE LAMB OF GOD

John 1:29-41 - January 18, 2004

JOHN 1:29-41

29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30This is the one I meant when I said, `A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."

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

35The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"

37When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?"

They said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?"

39"Come," he replied, "and you will see."

So they went and saw where he was staying, and spent that day with him. It was about the tenth hour.

40Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. 41The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, "We have found the Messiah" (that is, the Christ).

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

Today, we are going to study the testimony of John the Baptist concerning the Lamb of God. You may recall for yourselves some of the things you know about John the Baptist. He was a little bit strange in comparing his lifestyle to others. John did not go into the cities but stayed in the areas surrounding the cities, stayed mostly by the Jordan River and became known as John the Baptist. He needed water to baptize. We are told that he wore a garment of camel hair and ate locusts and wild honey to sustain him. It was to this character that the crowds came out to see. Who was this John the Baptist? John preached a message of repentance, but yet still people came out to see who was this John the Baptist. His message of repentance attracted many people. This message attracted them, because they realized that he had hit a nerve. John had reminded them to look at themselves and see that they needed God’s forgiveness. Thus the message today is what he says twice in our text today: "Look, the Lamb of God!" The Lamb of God meant forgiveness of sins.

In the letter that Peter wrote are these words: "You were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers...with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect" (1 PETER 1:19b, 20). When John called Jesus the Lamb of God, this is what the people thought of right away. The Lamb of God was sacrificed for the sins of the world. The Lamb of God, as they recalled it from the Old Testament, was what the high priest sacrificed for their sins. Today, we are going to look how that Lamb of God is our Lamb of God, our perfect sacrifice. We consider what John says,

"Look, the Lamb of God." We look

I. at what Jesus does

II. and we learn to imitate Jesus’ love

I. Look at what Jesus does

Because John had been attracting great crowds, the church leaders sent a delegation to him to find out who he was. They came to John and they asked him, "Are you Elijah come back to life?" John told them, "No." They asked him, "Are you the Messiah who was promised?" John said, "No, I am only the way-preparer. There is one greater than I coming after me." John always pointed to the Lamb of God with his words.

After these things happened, our text says: 29The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! The leaders, the delegation and probably some of the people in the crowd did not know whom the Lamb of God looked like. So when John is walking among the crowd and he sees Jesus coming toward him, he says, "That is the Lamb of God whom I was preaching about. That is the Lamb of God who is going to take away the sins of the world. That is the Lamb of God for whose purpose I came baptizing." 30This is the one I meant when I said, `A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’" John reminded the crowd that this Jesus, even that He looked like an ordinary human being and even though they knew He was the son of Mary and Joseph, was more than that. This Jesus was God’s Son from eternity. John knew this Jesus was going to come and take away the sins of the world.