Live With the Lamb: John 1:35-39
I want us to think just now of the one most important reason why anybody should follow Jesus Christ over, say, Mohammad. Or why would we follow Christ over Buddha, or Confuscious, or the religion of Hare Krishna, or Hinduism or Taoism. You kids here today are going to hear when you grow up that all religions are basically the same. You follow Christ I follow Krishna. You read the Bible I read the Bhagavad Gita. You have your path I have mine. Why should we follow Jesus over any of the other religious leaders in the world? You say, “because Jesus Christ created the world, and nobody else did. Yes, that’s good. You say, “He rose from the dead, He’s alive, unlike the others.” Yes, that’s good too.
But there is one big reason, one main reason why anyone should become a follower of Jesus Christ, and that one reason is also why we should totally reject the religions of the world. The reason? Because Jesus Christ, alone, takes away our sin.
Let’s see that today as we look together at verses 35-39:
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. 38 Turning 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. John 1:35-39 (NIV)
Last week we read of John the Baptist’s invitation to “look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” We see that his intention was to point people away from himself and to Jesus Christ. And here we see two disciples going away from John to Jesus. Why? They heard John speak of Christ as the Lamb of God, and so they followed Jesus. They heard him speak of Christ as the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world, and this made them follow him. What promise of hope is in that introduction! It’s the promise of the removal of sin. And that promise is like a magnet, drawing these two men, and then drawing unnumbered millions down through the ages.
Let’s apply this to ourselves this morning. Did you know, that the greatest reason ever for someone to follow Christ is that Jesus Christ takes away sin. Let me speak to the children here today: there is a reason why you should become a Christ-follower if you are not already. He takes away sin.
There is a reason why you should not follow Mohammed in the Muslim religion, there is a reason why you should not follow Buddha in the Buddhist religion. There is a reason why you should not follow Sun Myung Moon in the religion of the Moonies. There is a reason why you should not follow Mizra Husan of the B’hai faith. All these religions have millions of followers, but they are all wrong. They are deceived and enslaved, and covered with guilt and they are wrong.
I’ve read the Koran, I’ve read the Bhavagad Gita (the “Song of God” in the Hindu religion). It says, “The main objective of the Gita is to help people struggling in the darkness of ignorance cross the ocean of transmigration and reach the spiritual shore of liberation. The central teaching of the Gita is the attainment of freedom from the bondage of life by doing one’s duty” (Introduction to Bhavagad Gita). So they recognize the problem, we are enslaved and need liberation, we are in bondage and need freedom. The goal of the Bhavagad Gita is liberation, freedom from bondage, isn’t that great? It’s a great goal, a wonderful goal. The only problem is did you notice how we attain that goal? “By doing one’s duty.” And here is where we might as well throw away the whole teaching/the whole religion. How can we “do our duty” when we are enslaved? How can we perform service when we’re in bondage? They got the problem right, but the solution wrong. Only Jesus takes away the sin of the world, thereby simultaneously freeing us from condemnation and securing our liberation, freedom, deliverance, release. We should follow Jesus because He takes away the sin of the world.
I’ve read Tao-Te-Ching in Taoism (which means “the Path”, or “the Way”). Taoism has 20 million followers today. Taoism says that “the development of virtue is our chief task. The Three Jewels to be sought are compassion, humility and moderation” (introduction to the Tao-Te-Ching). Wonderful! Very good goal, the development of virtue; compassion, humility and moderation. The problem is we are born captive to sin, self and Satan. We need to have our sin removed before we can develop virtue in our character. The Tao-Te-Ching says:
Nowhere in the writings of any other religion do you find the complete and total annihilation of your sin. Only Jesus removes sin. The greatest reason to be a Christ-follower is that He alone takes away the sin of the world.
Notice also that this is the beginning of the church and that it is a small beginning, just two disciples, who then later get a third, and here is the church, 3 people in all.
"Do not despise the day of small beginnings. Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel." Zechariah 4:10 (NIV) What had happened is that the Jews had returned from captivity and had begun rebuilding the Temple, but there numbers were smaller and the temple was not as glorious as their previous temple was. And the encouragement was don’t despise the day of small beginnings, men will rejoice when they see the plumb line. In other words, when people see that we are founded on the Word of God, the plumb line, then they will rejoice. Here we see that the Scriptures are the foundation for rejoicing.
So here we have the first church, very small but about to spread over the whole world with its constant drumbeat of forgiveness and the removal of sin through the death of its Founder.
Next, please notice something from verse 38: Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, "What do you want?" John 1:38 (NIV)
They came behind him; but, though he had his back towards them, he became aware of them, and turned, and saw them following. Notice something here. Jesus takes notice of the first desires of a heart that is beginning to seek after Him. He recognizes those who take the first steps toward heaven. Maybe someone has come to church today, not sure of why they came, but maybe just a small desire to know more. Jesus takes notice of you. He sees your movement toward him. Parents, it is no small thing when your child says, “will you read the Bible with me? Or “Daddy, I want to be baptized to show that I love Jesus and want to follow Him.” Take notice of that. They may not understand everything, they may not know why they are beginning to follow after Jesus, but Jesus notices these first steps of following Him, and so should we. That’s why we let kids be baptized here, as soon as they can express their desire, and articulate their faith in some small way. We take note when there are first steps of following after Jesus, whether in an adult or a child.
But we notice that Jesus asks the disciples a question: “What do you want?” or “What are you looking for?” “What is your request?” or “What can I do for you?” This question is what we should all ask ourselves when we begin to follow Christ: What do we want? What is it that we desire when following Christ?" If we follow Christ, but do so to gain honor for ourselves, a position, or to hear the praise of men, we deceive ourselves. If we are seeking to advance ourselves by following Christ, that is the wrong motive. "What do you want in seeking Christ?” If we seek a Lord, a Savior, One Who can remove our sins, a Teacher, then we have the proper motive. The Bible says, “If your eye is single, you are full of light.”
Then we see that the disciples answered Jesus and said, "Rabbi" (which means Teacher), "where are you staying?" We notice that these disciples called Jesus Rabbi means “Teacher” so they indicated that they came to Jesus Christ to be taught by Him. They came to learn from Him, to be His scholars. They did not come to him to teach, to impart their wisdom, to give their opinions, no they were there to learn. This must be our attitude when we come to Jesus as well. He is the Teacher, we are the students. The Bible says in Jesus are all the Treasures of Wisdom and knowledge, and our objective should be to study Him, to learn of Him, to be taught by Him. “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:29 (NIV)
John had told these disciples that Jesus was the Lamb of God; now this Lamb is worthy to take the book and open the seals as a rabbi (Revelation 5:9). And why is He worthy to open the Book? Because He died, and with His blood He purchased men for God. And now we are to surrender ourselves to learn of Him, to be taught by him, to be ruled by Him. Just like these disciples who heard that Jesus removes the sin of the world and so followed Him, but they followed in order that they might be taught. It is my desire that we come to church on Sunday to learn from the greatest Rabbi that ever lived, so that during the rest of the week we might live in the wisdom and knowledge we gain by focusing on Him and learning from Him.
Their request was “where are you staying?” In asking this, they indicated that they wanted to get better acquainted with Jesus. They wanted to receive instruction from Him, to get to know Him. They wanted more than a few words spoken along the way, they wanted to not only learn from the Lamb but also, at least temporarily, to live with the Lamb. They were making it their business to learn from Him and to live with Him.
Let’s apply this to ourselves this morning: to the person who has looked at the Lamb, who has seen the Lamb remove his sin, it is not enough for him to take a turn with Jesus every now and then. He’s seen the Lamb die for Him, and now He wants to learn from the Lamb, and live with the Lamb. It’s not enough for him to read His Bible and pray only in church on Sunday. He has a longing for more. Something within him yearns to know more of Jesus, and he wants to spend time with Jesus and to live with Jesus.
You know what this is? What this longing to be with Jesus? It is the work of the Holy Spirit in a person’s life as the Holy Spirit draws us to Christ, gives us longings in our heart for more of Him, draws us to be with Him and spend time with Him.
2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-3 (NIV)
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Revelation 21:3 (NIV)
So let me say it this way: this is one of the great designs of the gospel, that we, like these first disciples would live with the Lamb. This is why He removed our sin at the cross that we might live for all eternity with Him. This is why He died for us so that He might live with us, and we with Him. “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him.” Romans 6:8 (NIV)
So the disciples asked, “where are you staying?” because they wanted to be with Him. And to this question Jesus responds, “Come and see.” What a gracious invitation. Jesus would invite them into his life and home. He would call them closer, draw them into intimacy with Himself, open up His heart and home to them. “Deceivers maintain their interest in their followers by keeping them at a distance, but Christ would draw out the love of his followers by inviting them to come and see”. He opens up His heart and home to these disciples just like Paul said to the Thessalonians: “We loved you so much that we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well, because you had become so dear to us”. 1 Thessalonians 2:8 (NIV)
Those who have a desire to minister to others must share two things: the gospel, and their lives. Ministers must have a singular focus on the Lamb, on forgiveness, on the cross, that must be their message. But they must also have open homes with a standing invitation for people to “come and see”, so that there is a commitment to share both the gospel and our lives.
So Jesus makes the invitation to “come and see” and the disciples take Him up on it, and they were so pleased with Jesus that verse 39 says “they spent that day with Him.” Let me put this as plainly as I can: to know Jesus is to want to know more of Jesus. To be with Him is to want to be more with Him. To spend some time with Him is to want to spend the day with Him, to spend our lives with Him, to spend eternity with Him. How do you know that the Holy Spirit is working in your heart and life? He is drawing you to Jesus, giving you a hunger to know Him, to learn of Him, and then to live with Him.
So I wonder just now, is there anybody within the sound of my voice who hears the call to “Come and See”? Does anybody here feel a pull within them to learn of Jesus, and to live with Jesus? For those of you who do, you will have a strong desire to be in the Word of God.
If you want to live with the Lamb, live in His Word. The invitation to “come and see” could be restated, “come and read.” Open up this Book and begin to study for the purpose of knowing God.
And if we obey the invitation to “Come and See” do you know what we will see? Let me give you just five things that we will see if we live with the Lamb:
1. We will see that our sins are crucified, obliterated, annihilated. This is the forgiveness of our sins, and the removal of all our guilt and shame. “…give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, Luke 1:77 (NIV)
2. We will see that we have a clean slate, a fresh start, a new beginning, a new life. "Go, stand in the temple courts," he said, "and tell the people the full message of this new life." Acts 5:20 (NIV)
3. We will see that we are adapted into the family of God. We are not orphans but through adoption we are children of the Father, in God’s family. “he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will”-- Ephesians 1:5 (NIV)
4. We will see that we are reconciled to the Father. Whereas in our sins we were enemies of God, now through Christ’s death, we are made friends. “But now he has reconciled you by Christ’s physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation”-- Colossians 1:22 (NIV)
5. We will see that we have eternal life. Wayne Dyer said, “when you wake up early in the morning, and your creative juices are flowing, don’t go back to sleep, get up, afterall “we have all eternity to sleep.” What? When I die I’m going to be sleeping? Be in an eternal coma? Unconcsious? No! Believers in Jesus will not be sleeping, we will be living with Jesus, singing to Jesus, worshipping Jesus.
So at Jesus’ invitation we “come and see” where He is staying, and what we see is that our sins are gone, that we have a clean slate and a fresh start, that we are adapted into God’s family, reconciled to our Father, and that we have eternal life.
So yes, the greatest reason to follow Jesus Christ, instead of Mohammed, or Krishna, or Confucius, or Buddha, or the latest New Age guru. The greatest reason to follow Christ is because He is the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world. But once we begin following Him and learning from the Lamb, we want to live with Lamb. We want to be where He is, to live in His Word. It is my greatest desire that we will be a people who, like the first disciples, not only learn from the Lamb, but also live with the Lamb.
