Good morning, Rhema Church. It's good to see you here this morning. It's good to see

you here this morning. A couple of things, housekeeping things before we get started, before

we dismiss our children. If you're visiting with us today, we want to say thanks for coming

out and thanks for stopping in. There's some visitor cards in the chairs located in front

of you. Take the time, please, to just fill that out. Just give some information about you

just so we can touch base with you and put it in one of the churches here in the front or

in the back as well, too. I want to bring you up to speed. We have been faithfully praying

and keeping our eyes on the situation in our community with COVID-19, the increased cases

that have been flourishing like crazy. We just have to pay attention to some of that.

And what we're doing is we are postponing Camp Rhema. We just feel like that's the wise thing

to do right now in order to love our neighbor well and to be mindful of all that. And so we're

just postponing until October. There's a lot of people that have put a lot of work in on the

front end of this. And it's not a decision that we wanted to make necessarily, but we

think that at this point in time, it's the right decision to make. It's best for kids

and best for everyone else right now. And it's the first weekend in October, I believe we're

looking at right now. It'll be a Friday and Saturday night and we'll have a Sunday celebration

for Camp Rhema. So those of you who, I know we had some volunteers that were being tested as

well too. So it's just a snowball of just things. And we're just trying to be mindful

of everything and trying to be, again, to love our neighbor well. And so right now we're

going to put it on pause and we're going to move it to October. So you get some more information

about that. Pay attention in the emails that are coming out and the announcements and the

group me messages. Taylor does a good job of keeping you guys posted on all that. And I

think that's really all we need to say about that. The other thing is, is that please,

please, if you haven't already, take one of the baby bottles in the back and fill it up

with your change for Skylark Pregnancy Center. Or you can do it virtually. You can go to their

website and make those donations as well too. But we're trying to, at the end of this month,

be able to get all of those baby bottles to Skylark. So bring them in next week if you can

or the following week. And we'll get them over to Skylark. We'll make sure that everything's

disinfected and all that good stuff. So with that being said, we want to dismiss

our kids at this point. If you want to send your kids back there with Taylor and

Caitlin. And if you would rather allow your children to stay in here, that is

completely understandable as well too. And there's some coloring things in the back if

you want to slide one of those over to them. If not, then have them turn to the

Gospel of John. We are continuing in our series, Faith to Believe. And this

morning we get to the message of the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. This is a huge book

and I've been excited for a long time to be able to walk through the Gospel of John

with you guys in this. And we get to this section in chapter 1 where the, I'll talk

about it in a moment. But the outline, the briefing is over with now. We get into some

of the nuts and bolts. But sometimes you find the word great attached to a name and

it's almost like a formal name like Alexander the Great or in the Bible it talks

about Herod the Great. And I did some research and I discovered that there are

142 different names, different people who have the name great attached to them. So and

so the great. And if a person adds the name great to their own name, it's not only connoting

or denoting that they are great, but it's also connoting that you're not so great, right?

If you don't have great attached to your name. And most of the people would never think of

John the Baptist in terms of great. You think of John the Baptist and you think of terms

like weird, eccentric, out there, crazy, you know, needs a better, needs a better fashion

designer, right? All the, all those things about John the Baptist, but great would not

be attached to John the Baptist. Although Jesus himself said, I will tell you all of who have

ever lived, none is greater than John. And that's quite a statement because John didn't live

that long. And his ministry was very, very short. And his ministry was also in a very,

very exclusive area. It was in the small Middle East area. Okay. But by the way that he lived

his life and the choices he made.

and being human, they must make visits to the dentist and the doctor and the barber and meet with their wives about domestic matters. What makes men great is their ability to decide what is important and then focus their attention on that. And that's exactly what John the Baptist did. He decides what's important and he's going to take all of his attention and he's going to put it on that. And it's all going to be summed up in part of the paragraph that we're going to talk about and we discover this morning when John says,

Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Now we've already talked briefly about how in the Gospel of John, John the Baptist is mentioned in verses 6 and 7.

And the author of the Gospel of John says of John the Baptist that he begins and says that there was a man sent from God whose name was John.

And then we read about John the Baptist again in verse 15.

But now again, we're done with the whole prologue in here.

And now we get the real story as told of John the Baptist.

And I think we're going to discover this morning, hopefully, one of the big lessons that we dissect this is how we can witness for Christ.

How do we truly be a witness for Jesus Christ?

How can our lives be impactful?

How can we represent Jesus Christ in this world around us, in this world on fire around us, you know?

How can we really be a witness and do more than just take up air, take up time, take up space and just go through the routines of my everyday life and punch the clock and this, that and the other.

And I would suggest that there are two things that are significant in here.

And first is about our identity.

And second is about our activity.

And we're going to discover, using John the Baptist as a mirror, we're going to see John the Baptist's identity and we're going to see his activity.

First, I want to show you the identity.

Look here and we begin in verse 19 where we left off last week in chapter 1, John 1.

And this is the testimony of John.

When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?

He confessed.

And he did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ.

And they said to him, what then?

Are you Elijah?

And he said, I am not.

Are you the prophet?

And he answered, no.

And they said to him, who are you?

We need to give an answer to those who sent 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.

So here's John the Baptist.

He's down at the Jordan River and he's baptizing.

And we'll get to that activity in just a moment.

But a delegation comes from Jerusalem to find out what this guy is doing and what he's all about.

Now the group that was sent there is a delegation that was sent by a group called the Sanhedrin.

And the Sanhedrin were a group of 70 rulers in Jerusalem.

And these guys were in charge of the spiritual welfare of the nation.

They wanted to protect the nation from any of the false messiahs that would rise up in this whole thing.

But the problem is, in trying to protect the nation from any of the false messiahs, they protect the nation from the real messiah who is to come in their actions.

And so they send out this delegation because John the Baptist has been getting quite a crowd.

We talked about that last week.

And in Luke it says, multitudes of people were down at the river and they're following him.

Now I suppose if somebody went out to the Altamaha River and they started baptizing people like crazy,

it really wouldn't draw that big of a crowd, to be honest with you, if that happened right now.

But because of the times that they were in right now and they were living,

and because of the amount of people that it drew, now the religious community is interested.

And there's a term that he uses here in verse 19 that's very important.

You'll notice it.

You'll see it a lot in this book and it's the term Jews.

And it's used 71 times in the book of John, more than Matthew, Mark, and Luke use all put together.

And the term used by John, the Jews, he's not speaking racially.

He's speaking formally or legally.

And he's not referring to the nationality as much as John is referring to the group of leaders in Jerusalem

who were hostile towards Jesus.

Anybody, you know...

there that are sent to find out who john was so they send these priests and these levi's now that

makes sense because john's dad was a priest okay zacharias okay he worked in the temple and so

john was from the priestly line he was a pk okay he was a priest kid okay he was a preacher's kid

gone rogue though okay if you will he was a preacher's kid gone gone uh rogue because john

the baptist he had left jerusalem and now he's a preacher out in the desert okay um the the levites

and the priests during that time they never preached all they did was perform rituals that's

that's that's all they did but not john and they want to find out what the deal is so they ask him

a question who are you they said who are you and it's interesting that they ask him this question

and john answers it by telling them you know who he's not before he tells him who he is

he answers it negatively before he goes positively so he wants to immediately set their minds at rest

and he says i'm not the christ i'm not the christ and the reason he says that is because they thought

he was they thought he was he was the messiah and the reason they thought that john might be the

messiah their christ was because there was a high level of anticipation that the messiah was going to

come in their generation and so there was this all this talk that messiah was going to come in this

generation all the talk is going on so they think that and here's why because for years the jewish

people had suffered at the hands of all these groups that had enslaved them over the years the greeks

the seleucis the ptolemites and now the romans and before that they were taken captive by the assyrians

and the babylonians and so for generations they had suffered all this enslavement uh man so they're

crying out for a deliverer and the historians believe at this point in time there was there

was a fevered pitch that the messiah was coming messiah is coming and so john says just to clear the

air i ain't him i'm not the messiah and so they ask him another question well are you elijah are you

elijah and so now why would they ask that well part of the reason is one of the ways the way he looked

and the way he acted okay he was he was bold in his in his confrontation and the way he dressed in

second kings chapter eight it tells us that elijah was hairy and he he wore a belt around his waist

okay and that's how he was he was dressed that was elijah john the baptist comes he's wearing camel's

hair and he has a leather belt around his waist and so they go are you elijah and so now elijah was

dead and so why would they ask if he was elijah well here again the last chapter of the last book of

the old testament predicts that elijah would come before the messiah and the last paragraph god says i will

send my messenger elijah before the great and dreadful day of the lord okay and this is why to this day

you can't go to a passover feast or to a satyr feast without there being an empty chair in that feast

they have it it's for elijah just in case he shows up during the feast and they so if he shows up then

you know that christ has either come or he's on his way so they are they always leave an empty chair so

he says i'm not elijah but we have a problem here if you're a student of the scriptures at all because

you know what the problem is because in matthew chapter 11 jesus says

of john the baptist that this is elijah who is to come

so you have you have jesus saying that this is elijah you have john the baptist saying

i'm not elijah okay and moreover when uh john the baptist was born

his father zacharias if you remember had a message um

i was where was i going to turn to matthew 17 uh his father zacharias had a message from the angel of

the lord if you remember that said that um you're you're going to have a son and you're good and his

your name's going to be john and he's going to come in the power and the spirit of elijah

and his dad was even given that and so i wanted to bring that up so i know i'll get questions about

this later on i want to answer the answer the question if you turn to matthew chapter 17 you're

looking verse 10 it says and the disciples ask him asking jesus then why do the scribes say that

elijah must come first okay

okay

has already come and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they please so also the

son of man will certainly suffer at their hands then the disciples understood that um that he was

speaking to them of john the baptist so you see what's happening john the baptist uh came not in

the person of elijah but he um but he comes as the angel said in the spirit and in the power of

elijah he was an elijah like forerunner to the messiah to christ and so jesus is saying yep

he partially fulfilled that he didn't fulfill it completely but he partially fulfilled it

the real prophet of elijah is going to come and when he comes the prophecy says in malachi 4 it

will be on the great and dreadful day of the lord that's future tense that's during the great

tribulation and i submit to you in my opinion that one of the two witnesses that are recorded

in revelation 11 i believe one of them will be elijah because of what he says and what he does

uh and what it was given to us in the old testament so anyway john denies it he says i'm not the messiah

i'm not elijah and the third question they ask him is well are you the prophet are you the prophet

well what prophet i don't know we don't we don't know now i can take a stab at it i got a couple

i got a couple good guesses here but according one of them is according to the ancient jewish writings

there was this idea that before the messiah come either jeremiah or elijah i'm sorry isaiah

would come back just before the messiah came and restore the ark of the covenant to its rightful

place in the temple in the worship so they could be referring to that as one as the prophet another

stab at it is is in deuteronomy 18 15 moses said the lord god will send another prophet like me

and him you shall hear now we believe that and the disciples to believe that that meant jesus himself

that the prophet that they're speaking that would be christ but the jewish leaders thought that the

prophet was some other prophet that would come before the messiah so by this point though they're

frustrated with john's short negative answers are you the messiah nope you elijah nope are you the

prophet nope and so and so they press him a little bit and they press him look at verse 22

so they said to him who are you we need to give an answer to the to those who sent us what do you say

about yourself and so now he answers their question but he's he's he's he's going to tell him he's he

won't tell him who he's not he's going to tell him who he is and i love his answer in verse 23 he says

i am the voice of one out in the wilderness crying out in the wilderness excuse me make straight

the way of the lord as the prophet isaiah said i'm the voice i'm not the word i'm not the word

he's the word i'm just the voice i'm just the voice crying out in the wilderness i'm a nobody and

i'm telling you about a somebody that's what john john is saying okay i'm just the voice crying out in

the wilderness he's quoting isaiah chapter 40 in this and i reaching back some 700 years and i love

this isaiah um john's like listen i'm just a road worker i'm just clearing the path i'm clearing the

path that all you guys are that you need to walk on right now get get your lives straight with god

and that's all that i am and you know john could have answered that question a number of different

ways you know he could have said based upon what we know about john and based upon what jesus has told

us about john he could have said you want to know who i am i'll tell you who i am i am the son of

the great priest zacharias and you know him and they would have said wow that's pretty cool yeah we

do know zacharias he he was he was but he doesn't say that he doesn't say that he could have said well

i'll tell you who i am i'm the child that was filled with the holy ghost from the womb when i was in

the womb i mean none of you guys can say that that would have been pretty cool too but he doesn't say

that either he could have said you know i'm the greatest guy that's ever lived and it would have

been right because jesus made that statement he talked on talked about him but he's like i'm the

herald of the messiah i'm the herald but in humility i'm just a voice i'm just a voice i'm not the message

i am the messenger okay the message the word is jesus christ i am

you

my friend

my friend

aank

he doesn't go into the priesthood like his dad and moreover we believe that john took a special vow that's outlined in the old testament in the book of numbers called the nazirite vow it was a vow of dedication we understand john the baptist had taken this and under the nazirite regulations he had to let his hair grow he would never cut his hair he would be a mess you think about what he would look like his hair his beard he would never cut his hair nothing

you know that was that was part of it so you can imagine what he would look like and so he could never defile himself by getting getting close to or touching a dead person so if his dad ever died he couldn't even go to the funeral he couldn't have anything from the vine so he couldn't drink wine he couldn't have raisins he couldn't have grapes he couldn't do any any of that it was a strict vow of separation okay john lived listen he lived an uncontaminated life

and wanted to do that because he wanted to do nothing to hinder the message that he was going to preach he wanted nothing to hinder that message and if there was ever a reason for any preacher not to do certain things that are questionable that's the reason to live an uncontaminated life so that the message can be preached in a clear and a very undiluted manner man that's a word for today with people today that stand and want to give you the word of god

i think people who are called to teach the word of god ought to seek within their hearts to live a life and to live as as undiluted as possible so that they can give you the message with a clear mind and a clear heart

john lived that way he knew what his calling was going to be i don't want anything to be said against me because i know

if i'm the forerunner for the for the messiah meant talk about responsibility

growing up your dad had to tell you he's the priest listen you're going to tell folks about about the

messiah what no pressure right no pressure man but he says i'm a voice crying in the wilderness that so that was

his identity let's look at his activity beginning in verse 24 now they had been sent from the pharisees and

they asked him then why are you baptizing if you are neither the christ nor elijah nor the prophet

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 sandals i'm not worthy to untie these things took place in bethany across the

jordan where john was baptizing so we're told his activity was uh baptizing uh people he's putting

them underwater okay and here's what you need to know about baptizing and baptism and and its

background baptism is not a christian ritual okay it was a it was it originally didn't originate in

christianity originated in judaism okay when a gentile wanted to become a jew or they proselytize you

okay that means you convert you into the jewish faith let's say you were a a pagan gentile and you

wanted you've come to believe in the one true god of israel and you wanted to convert and you wanted

to worship him you uh you that's called proselyte okay and three things had to take place first of all

you were instructed by the scribes that means you were taught the word you had to go through these

serious bible studies secondly you had to be circumcised if you were a male and third you had

to be baptized in a ritualistic cleansing and that spoke at the moment that you were baptized of leaving

the old way of life and becoming a citizen of the jewish community now that's the problem because john

the baptizer is down at the jordan river and the people around him are not gentiles they're jews

they're they're not gentiles he's baptizing he's not baptizing gentiles coming into judaism he's

baptizing jews okay so they have an issue with this and so verse 25 again he says um then why are you

baptizing if you're neither the christ nor uh elijah nor the nor the prophet and and i love john's answer

he just he just sort of dismisses the whole baptizing water thing and he says i baptize with

water but among you stands

That's what it seems that he's really doing

But what he really is doing in essence is

He's pointing people to Christ

He's pointing everyone to

Jesus Christ

And so again in verse 29

It says in the next day

Jesus coming toward him

Toward him

And said

Behold the Lamb of God

Who takes away the sin of the world

And every time you see that word behold

And it just means

Hey look

Check it out

Check it out

You need to notice this

You need to notice this

So here's John saying

Check it out guys

Here comes the Lamb of God

Who takes away the sin of the world

This is the one of whom 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 person I came baptizing with water

That he might be revealed to Israel

And John bore witness

I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove

And remained on him

And I myself did not know him

But he who sent me

To baptize with water

And 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 bore witness

That this is the Son of God

This is big stuff

And so you have to understand the scene of what's going on

These representatives

These guys are shocked

To see this crazy guy baptizing people

And they demand to know

Who are you?

Who are

What are you doing?

Why are you baptizing?

And John beautifully points the spotlight away from him

And he puts it on Jesus Christ

And he says

Look

Who I am is not the issue

And the water baptism isn't the issue

The issue is the one who is coming

And is here among you

Behold the Lamb of God

Behold the Lamb of God

And two things John says about Jesus in his word

Is his person and his mission

He talks about his person

John unmistakably

Is declaring Jesus as God

In this declaration

When he says

He ranks before me

Remember that following the language

That's something that we talked about

Just a few weeks ago

He's repeating this again

He ranks before me

He existed before I ever existed

That's what John is saying

And so they have to be going

What in the world are you saying?

He existed before the earth ever came about

This is what he's getting at

And if you know anything about John so far

You know that

In the premise of John chapter 1

The author is telling you the story

And he says

I'm going to tell you about the word

And the word is Jesus Christ

He was God

And he was with God

And that word became flesh

Became a human

So Jesus Christ

I want you to know

The author is saying from the get go

He is God

And I want to call to the witness stand

My first witness

And that is

John the Baptist

John

Come on up

And John the Baptist gets up

And the witness stand says

Yep

I agree

He's the son of God

He is the son of God

And he's called the son of God

And that's a term for deity

And we'll see that in this book

In this as well

And so

But there's something marvelous in here

And I don't want you to miss this

If Mary

The mother of Jesus

And Elizabeth

The mother of John

Were cousins

That makes Jesus

And John the Baptist

Like second cousins

Right?

So they're related to each other

They know each other

They were related

And to me

This adds even more weight

To the integrity

Of the statement

And the testimony

That John's giving

Because

I mean

How many of you here today

Would ever step up

And say

My cousin

Is the Lamb of God

Who's come to take away

The sin of the world

Think about that

Next time you go to a family reunion

See if somebody comes up

And says

Here comes the Lamb of God

If they do

It's a joke

Right?

You know your cousins

Ain't none of them

Ain't none of them

The Lamb of God

Some of you

Are reviewing

Some of the family reunions

You've had recently

And you're thinking

Wow

Yeah

I would think of some things to say

But that's not it

But Jesus and John

Had to interface

At some point

They had to interact

And at least have some sort of

Family reunions

Because at least

I would think of some kind of

Who takes away the sin of the world It says in verse 29 Now John makes that declaration But what does he mean by Lamb? What does he mean by Lamb? Because from an animal perspective The Lamb is not a very impressive animal Okay? And the Jewish nation was looking for a king They were looking for the Lion of Judah They were looking for the Lion King Okay? And what they wanted was it was a lion And God gave them a lamb

Look, the lamb Look, the lamb Look, the what? The lamb Here comes the lamb And you know People don't use lambs To protect themselves When was the last time You came upon a place of business Or a house And the sign said Beware of the lamb Lamb bows In the yard, right? I mean You don't read that It doesn't exude strength Okay? The idea of a lamb And that's not what it's meant to exude

It doesn't exude Or to speak of John John was the son of a priest John was the son of a priest And the priest Sacrificed lambs in the temple And so to say Behold the lamb All of the Jewish nation Would know exactly what he means By saying that Here is the one Who would be sacrificed And John says Sacrificed for what? For the sin of the world Man, what a magnificent statement It's huge

And so Maybe John When he introduced Jesus Maybe he was thinking back to Isaiah 53 You know In the passage Because he'd already He'd already recited Isaiah 40 But maybe he was thinking back to Isaiah 53 When the prophet says That he will be led Like a lamb to the slaughter We don't know But maybe he was thinking about the Passover And the Passover lamb That was killed And the Jewish nation Had to put the blood of the lamb On the doorposts And on the lentils To be preserved

Protected And it was the blood of the lamb That protected them And to me This is significant And I want to This whole concept Of the lamb Because you know People will say things A lot of times Like well I just believe That Jesus was a really good teacher You're right He was the best teacher He wasn't just a good teacher He's the best teacher But he's more than that That's not the reason he came

It's not the reason He came Okay To this earth To teach people A lot of nice things Okay Others will say Well I believe that Jesus Was a great miracle worker And he made so many people happy With all the miracles That he did You're right He did But that's not why He came to this earth And others will say Well I think Jesus Was the ultimate example Of love and acceptance And he certainly was that But that's not the reason Why he came John nails it

He is the lamb He is the lamb He is the lamb He is the lamb Who came to take away The sin of the world Behold the lamb Who came to take away He is first and foremost The lamb Israel wanted a king God gave them What they needed A lamb We want a lot of different things In our life And we ask God For a lot of different things But God gave us ultimately What we needed First and foremost And that was a lamb

I want to come I want to wind this down With a question And bring it back To a question That I asked you In the very beginning How can we be witnesses How can we be representatives Of God In this world How can we make Our lives count For something In this crazy world That seems to be spinning Out of control At times And seems to be on fire At times And not just breathe air

And take up space And take up space And take up space And take up time And take up time And all this But actually represent God Being faithful And being a witness A true witness I want to give you Just four quick application points And we'll wind this down This morning Some of you are like Holy cow We're already done Yeah we're done First of all Be aware Be aware That is Know who you are Know who you are And in knowing who you are That also means

Knowing who you are Knowing who you are Not Knowing who you are Not John said You know I I know who I'm not I'm not the Messiah I'm not I'm not Elijah I'm not the prophet I'm a voice

neither are you you're not the Messiah you're not the Messiah I hate to break the news to you okay and you know what that should take that should take so much weight off of you as you do ministry as you do as you minister to others as you try to help someone you know and someone comes to you for some sort of counsel and you want to give them care and compassion and you want to fix the problems you want to get them into a place and give because people think well you know what

I'm coming to you they're coming to me for advice so I've got to give them something that's gold I got to give them something that's going to get them over the hump okay I got to fix that person no you don't you're not Jesus you're not Jesus you're not the Messiah but you can take them to the one who has all the answers but you're not the answer you got to keep that in mind be aware of who you are be aware of who you are

be aware of the gifts that God has given you and the talents that God has given you and the things that God has gifted you to do and stay in your lane stay in your lane know who you are but know who you're not you're not the end all be all for everyone

we put so much pressure on ourselves and it's so crippling in our relationships be aware be aware of who how God has gifted you walk in that walk in that second thing is be vocal if you're going to be a witness for Christ at some point you are going to have to open up your mouth and tell people you're going to have to open up your mouth John said I'm a voice crying in the

wilderness he didn't say I'm just a good example I'm a lifestyle I'm a lifestyle though I'll watch my lifestyle and just be drawn okay you know I see a lot of people you know well I really can't I talk I can't really tell anybody about Jesus I'm not good at that I'm not good about telling people about Jesus you know I'm just want to live the Christian example and they're going to look at my example hey listen I hope for good examples all the time I really do and that's a good thing but if you're a wonderful exemplary example

and you're a changed person and you're a changed person you have a changed life but you never tell anybody how you got that way you're not helping them out you're not helping them out if you never have a voice they're just going to think but you're just one in a million you're just a really sweet girl you're just a really you're just a really nice person but then you have to tell them the reason you got this way the reason that you are this way you have to tell them about Christ who has changed your life eternally

it's not just good news it's not just good news it's great news the gospel is great news it's life changing news and if you don't share that if you have no desire to share that I wonder if you've really even grasped that news some of us some of us need to be reminded of what God saved us from so we can understand the glory that now resides in us and how we are different I think about my past sometimes and I don't even know who that guy is sometimes

I mean I talk about family reunions I talk to some of my family sometimes they're like they haven't heard from me in forever what you doing now Curtis you're in the ministry yeah 20 something years I've been in the ministry oh but man remember back I know I know but God who is rich in mercy but God he did the work I didn't do it

I didn't do it if I was looking for a vocation that paid a lot of money and made made my family just wealthy and took all my all my problems off the table it wouldn't be this one

but I understand what John Wesley says when he says I've got a message inside my heart God has given me a message he has brought about a change in my life and all I know to do is set myself on fire every day and the people come to watch me burn

there's something in the gospel wells up in me I can't help but to tell people it's Christ Christ in me that's my hope of glory and it can be yours too

it can be yours too

and you don't need the secret handshake and the 15 things and all the no no just come to Jesus

let's let's work this thing out together let's walk

let's walk

herald of Christ third thing is be filled be filled with the Holy Spirit Luke 15 1 115 talks about that you know John the Baptist was filled with the Holy Spirit from the womb no wonder he was sold out no wonder he was so crazy no wonder he was faithful to keep preaching the message week after week after week after month after month after month and and and down at the Jordan River do you think that John cared one eye

Iota what the priests and the Levites thought about his message oh I hope they like it I hope I don't step on too many toes I hope they don't you know this that and the other you know um I don't think he lost one bit of sleep I think if somebody came up to him down that in that watering hole at the at the Jordan River and said you know what I don't like the message you're giving around here and we're just gonna find another preacher down another wandering hole that gives us a little bit different message it helps us feel better about ourselves

John will say deuces see ya go ahead what I'm what I'm peddling here is the unadulterated truth you think I would wear my hair like this if I did if I had a choice no I'd have good looking hair you think I'd have I have my beard out you think I you think camel hair it's hot here man you think camel hair but no

no God has no God has something for me and I don't want to have anything that would diminish the message what a way that we would live what a way that would change us if we really concentrated on not allowing anything in our lives to diminish the message of Jesus Christ that dwells within us if we really took it that earnestly

John was was not only filled with the Holy Spirit but he was controlled by the Holy Spirit be filled in control and the fourth thing here is be a signpost be a signpost we are to point people to Jesus and that's what John did when they tried to make it about John they tried to make it about water baptism John said it's not about me it's not about what I'm doing here

it's not about this whole water thing okay and in my whole life has always been about him he's the one I'm a nobody he's a somebody be a signpost and and here's what you'll discover if you start talking to people about Jesus they are going to want to shift the conversation away from Jesus they're going to want to shift it away from them and Jesus and onto something else

and they'll say things like well I hear you you know but if you know um how can there be so many other religions in the world you know why are there so many other religions and then after you spend countless hours dealing with that issue with that one person okay then they'll come back and say yeah I hear you but you know but how come there's so many different denominations even within the Christian faith

and then so after you spend the next five hours dealing with that and work through that one um then um they'll want to take the conversation away from the heart of the issue which is Jesus Christ his claims his person and how he relates to them and your job is simply to be a signpost and point and say hey look it's the lamb

it's the lamb of God it's the lamb of God and notice how it doesn't say take away the sins of the world the sin of the world the sin of the world the sin of the world

so it's just once it is sin because we talked about last week the law came through Moses the grace and truth comes through Jesus Christ so the law shows us that we can never hold up the standard pure holy standard of God

so if I look in the mirror and I see that I have something in my teeth I can't take the mirror off and try to get that off of them I need something different

so grace and truth came through Jesus Christ

that we might have a saving knowledge

and by the way as you point people to Jesus

would you please point them to the

that's not Jesus that's not the Jesus of the Bible that's not the Jesus of the Scripture you know the biblical Jesus is first and foremost the lamb who died on a cross for your sins first and foremost and that's what John knew and that's why John could say behold it's the lamb of God the lamb of God so if you're going to

talk and you should and if you're going to be if you're going to live it out and you should and if you're going to be a signpost and we should do that point them to the real Jesus okay and focus on his death on the cross and what and and that's what can forgive people of their sins and and you know what I I've been accused of it and maybe you have too you know this when you start talking about Jesus and his death on the cross and people will come up and say well that Christianity is such a bloody religion why do you guys maybe you've heard that before it's just such a

bloody religion why do you have a bloody religion why do you have to have all that amen absolutely it is it absolutely is the very heart of our faith is the blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses a man or a woman from all sin and to remove the blood of Christ to take the blood of Christ out of Christianity you don't have Christianity you don't have Christianity John nailed it that day you know it's been it's been said it's been said that if we if if our

greatest need was information God would have sent to us an educator if our greatest need was technology God would have sent to us a scientist if our greatest need was money God would have sent to us an economist if our greatest need was pleasure God would have sent to us an entertainer okay but our greatest need was forgiveness so God sent to us a savior behold the lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world and that's John's testimony it's not about me

it's not about me it's not about me it's not about me I know who I am but I know who I am but I know who I'm not it's all about him the lamb of God who's come to take away the sin of the world and this morning church he can take your sin away too he can take your sin away he can wash he can wash away your sin and give you a brand new guilt-free fresh start in life but you've got to let him do it he has to do it

he has to do it you know

as we close this morning worship team come on up this morning I'm just going to say one thing and then we're just going to be done

you know you think about John's testimony and

it was it was John who baptizes Jesus

you know he comes to Jesus comes to the river and John baptizes him first of all

John knew something was up but John was told that you will see the

the Holy Spirit descend upon the one who is

Messiah

and so he baptizes Jesus and something beautiful happens that day remember

the Trinity is is revealed

and all throughout scripture there's a there's a hint of the Trinity

the uh the writers of the scripture in the Psalms David knows that there's a plurality to God but

can't really define that it's three in one the Godhead three in one

but at the baptism of Jesus

the Trinity is revealed it's God the Father he speaks down from heaven this is my son whom I am well pleased

the son who's come is revealed who he is the

behold he's the Lamb of God who's come to take away the sins of the world

and the Holy Spirit descends upon him as a dove

and the Trinity is revealed in its fullness on that day

and so

John baptizes Jesus that day and he doesn't make the declaration that day

if you remember remember Jesus goes off and where does he go into the desert

he's gonna deal with Satan 40 days

and then after all that all that

all that God bless you

he keeps coming in on in on to him

behold the lamb of God who has come to take away the sin of the world you see that

Christmas time that beautiful away in the manger that little baby that's a great thing we celebrate that and you know why are we talking about Christmas in June it's Jesus it doesn't matter but that little baby didn't stay a baby he grew up and he fulfilled the call of the father

a little baby that little baby grew up and he experienced everything that you could ever experience humanly everything what about what about being left behind by friends everything what about sickness everything what about death everything what about feeling lonely everything everything you could ever experience that's why the writer of the gospels of Hebrews tells us that we have a high priest that knows exactly

what we have a high priest that knows exactly what we have a high priest that knows exactly what we are going through he understands he's not someone that we just pray to up there and just has no idea what it means to be here I've been there that little baby didn't stay a baby he grew up and he became the lamb of God who took away your sin and my sin that's great news that's the good news

let's let's be aware of who we are let's be signpost let's be vocal about these things let's be filled with the spirit amen let's let the spirit empower us

to be able to say in all humility you know what I don't have all the answers but I know who does I'll help point to him

I'll hold your hand as we as we ask him together I'll hold your hand as we walk and try to find out some answers together

there are a lot of questions out there today and if we don't approach all these questions from a biblical

standpoint first then everything just becomes really messy and we're dependent upon the the opinions and the

feelings of man and not the authority of scripture it's got to be from the authority of scripture first

and I'll stop there because I'm going to go into a whole nother sermon

I love you greatly let's stand father we just come before you in the name of Jesus today and we thank you

for your beautiful son who is the lamb of God we thank you Lord that he has taken away our sin

and he has reconciled all things to you and that word reconciliation means that he has cleared the

path anything that anything that could be an obstacle between us and you father has been cleared by your

son Jesus Christ and the invitation is come all you who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest

if any man comes and knocks on the door I will open

I will open

father we love you we pray Lord that we'd be but better witnesses for you Lord God we pray that we

would be a a true mouthpiece for the changed life that you have given us father if there's someone

here this morning or listening online that has never really made that profession of faith I pray that

they would they would fall upon their face before you Lord God and understand that you love them intensely

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son

that whosoever whosoever is all-encompassing believe upon him would not perish but have everlasting life for God did not send his son into the world that the world might be condemned

that the world might be saved

give thanks and praise in your name today

and all God's people said together

amen