WHAT GOD DID ABOUT IT
John 1:29-34
#John1
READ John 1:29-34 [Responsive Reading, Congregation Reads Bold Print]
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the One I meant when I said, 'A Man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.' 31 I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel." 32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. 33 I would not have known Him, except that the One who sent me to 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.' 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."
I. THE SIN OF THE WORLD
This passage starts out in verse 29 describing that the Lamb of God has come to take away the sin of the world. Is the world really that bad? Are we in need of sin taken away? We believe, as Christians, that the answer to both those questions is ‘yes.’ ‘Yes,’ the world really is that bad and ‘yes’ sin does need to be taken away.
Errors. Corruption. Misstep. Misspoke. Disobedience. Mistakes. Attitude problems. Immoral choices. Faults. Wrongs. Violations. Every single one of us deal with personal issues that break our life to pieces and cause chaos… a great umbrella term for that is ‘sin.’ Sin is really a church word anymore, but it is a good word for the wrongdoing that we do that often snowballs into more wrongdoing.
* Romans 3:23, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
* Romans 5:12, “and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.”
* 2 Peter 3:17, “be on your guard so that you may not be carried away by the error of lawless men and fall from your secure position.”
* 1 Corinthians 15:33, “Do not be misled: "Bad company corrupts good character."
What do all these verses (and certainly other verses) tell us? The Bible describes to us that human living is fraught with error. We mess up. We all sin, but do so differently in different situations. We at times do what we want and it is not what God wants for us. We all can be corrupted by our own thoughts, people around us, and situations we put ourselves in. We all sin.
ILLUSTRATION… We all sin (p)
Adam is a 23-year-old college drop-out who came home from college and lives in his grandmother’s basement because he has no job and doesn’t plan on getting one. Gran Gran pays for everything.
Bart always wants what everyone else has. He got a John Deere 4066M even though he just needed a push mower. He also got an addition to his garage and put in a backyard patio with a fire pit in order to keep up with all his neighbors.
Cory decided he would go to church with his family so he could find new clients for his business.
David is concerned with running the Kingdom of Israel and doesn’t have time to discipline one of his sons who sexually harmed one of his sisters. He was furious with his son, but he let it go. He didn’t say anything good or bad to any of his kids about it. (2 Samuel 13)
Ellen just couldn’t help it when she fell in love with Rosie and everyone else should just accept that this is who she loves. She divorced her husband and now lives with Rosie.
Fred told the preacher who stopped by his house that he just didn’t have time for God. Golfing, fishing, watching his grandkids playing sports at the high school, and working on his car all kept him pretty busy.
Gigi loved that she got a raise at work. She even told people and used the words “Praise the Lord.” When the offering plate came by at church, she still put in her quarter, just like she had since she was 8 years old.
Henry screamed and yelled at the other driver and gave her a double fisted middle finger as he tail-gated her through downtown. He decided to follow the other driver all the way to their destination and then glowered at her as she parked.
Ingrid just loved it when the men stared at her. That’s why she wore short tight skirts and low-cut tops. God created her curvy and beautiful and she loved to show it off.
Judas just can’t understand why his Master allowed the woman to anoint His feet with the expensive perfume. It was worth a year’s wages. Now there would be less for him to steal from the money bag. He needed the money in the bag so he could skim off the top and pay for some stuff. (John 12:6)
King Hezekiah had visitors from another country and wanted to show off. He showed them his treasure rooms, all the weapons in his armory, storerooms full of spices and rare goods to trade, and showed them all the gold, silver, and jewels in the Temple of God. He showed off everything he had to impress these visitors. (2 Kings 20)
Lulu uses curse words non-stop and really doesn’t care. Lulu is 12.
Mona knew it was wrong, but she took the packages off of her neighbor’s porch anyway. They always had stuff being delivered and they needed to share the wealth.
Nancy knew that her rent was due, but she also knew that the Powerball Jackpot was up to 545 million. She spent all of her rent money on lottery tickets and was so angry when she did not win.
Odie turned on his computer late at night after his wife and kid went to bed. He put his computer in private mode and typed in the words “XXX videos” and wished he had a life like the real lives he saw in the videos.
Peter was so scared. Everyone was staring at him because this servant girl just said he knew Jesus and was one of His closest disciples. Peter denied ever even knowing Jesus which was a lie and a denial of the last three years of all he had seen, heard, and experienced. “I don’t know the man!”
Quentin hears the news about violence and angrily fires off a tweet disparaging police which affects his brother-in-law who is an officer. Turns out, none of what he was angry about actually happened and he severely embarrassed his brother-in-law.
Ron just couldn’t let it go. This other guy had mistreated his family and he would never forgive him. Never.
Susan decided it was okay to lie to her teacher about the other student. The other kids didn’t like that girl anyway so that made it okay to lie.
Thomas hears what everyone else is saying, but just really doubts that Jesus rose from the dead. (John 20)
Uzziah decided that even though he was king, he could also be a priest and in his pride wanted to offer sacrifices to God instead of the priests. He could do what he wanted when he wanted because he could. (2 Chronicles 26)
Veronica gets emotional. When she is emotional, she eats and eats and eats until her emotions change.
William looked at the woman across the table from him and wondered two questions. First, how he could ask her out on a date? Second, how could he hide this from his wife?
I don’t want you to think that the sin that Jesus came to save is only out there in the world with other people. The reality of sin is in each human heart. The reality of sin and the brokenness of sin is not just “out there,” but is absolutely an issue in here and in our hearts. In your heart. In my heart.
ILLUSTRATION… Greg Morse, "Is Venom in Our Veins?" Desiring God, October 6, 2018 [adapted]
There is a movie that came out in 2018 that illustrates sin in us very well. Eddie Brock was an investigative reporter fighting corruption on behalf of the oppressed, and tried to make a difference in the world. He was trying to take down evil. A hungry alien that devours flesh and has a great desire for blood and violence takes him over. The thing that first scares Eddie soon becomes a guilty pleasure, a redeemer, a friend. The alien monster, bent on survival and satisfaction, finds a companion in a down-and-out Eddie. Destructive darkness finds a home in the human heart.
Allured by its power, Eddie tries to reason with it to do good. But the parasite lives by a different rule: "We will do what we want." In his dark suit, gripping a man by his throat, the creature answers who he and Eddie are: "We are Venom."
Like the classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde story that preceded it, Eddie Brock wrestles with the “inner voice in his head,” the propensity to evil within us all, which, here, is embodied in an alien life-form. The monster is fiction, but what it represents is not. We all deal with that desire in us to “do what we want.”
A pastor writing about this movie says, “Doing wrong comes naturally for our race. With minds bent towards lust, tongues that stab our closest relations, eyes fixed unflinchingly upon ourselves, fists that shake at their Creator, hearts that too often shelter our inner demons, we are Venom. And God agrees." However, we have hope. Jesus came as Light in the “darkness.”
II. WHAT GOD DID ABOUT THE SIN OF THE WORLD: JESUS
John the Baptist, prophet of God extraordinaire and forerunner of the promised Savior of God, pointed out Jesus to the crowds who were following him and confirmed for all of them the identity of Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the answer to the sin of the world and the darkness in us.
Jesus Christ is the answer to the sin of the person sitting next to you.
Jesus Christ is the answer to the sin in our own hearts.
John the Baptist labeled Jesus’ identity as the answer to sin in three important ways:
First, Jesus was the “Lamb of God.” What does that mean? John the Baptist was using Old Testament language to describe Jesus that every single listener would have immediately identified and known. A lamb was used in offerings in the Old Testament by Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, the priests, and others. Another Old Testament passage, Isaiah 53, directly states that when the promised Messiah Savior comes that He will be like a lamb led to slaughter. By stating that Jesus is the “Lamb of God,” John is directly tying Jesus of Nazareth to Isaiah 53 and saying He is the Messiah. He is the Christ. Just so you know, Christ and Messiah are the same word just in different languages. Both mean He is the Promised Savior that the Old Testament talked about.
Second, Jesus “comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.” What does that mean? We know from Luke 1 that John and Jesus were cousins and that John was already in the womb growing in his mother when Mary gets the news that she is pregnant. John was physically older. John began his ministry first. Jesus definitely came after John in age and in beginning His ministry. So how could Jesus be “before” John? Jesus surpasses John in authority because He is God. Jesus Christ existed eternally before John. Jesus existed before He came to this Earth and was born to Mary. Jesus was and is the divine eternal being who holds all authority. Jesus is 100% God.
Third, Jesus was “The Man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain.” Well what does that mean? That means that Jesus Christ was not only divine, but was also a flesh and blood human being. The person standing before them was a real human being with a physical body. He got hungry and thirsty. He had a family. He had feelings. He walked and talked. John the Baptist is highlighting the humanity of Jesus and shows that He fulfilled all right things before God even though he had no sin. Jesus had no sin, but Jesus is 100% human.
So we have John the Baptist, a prophet of God, identifying Jesus as 100% God and 100% human who is the Promised One from the Old Testament. Jesus Christ is the answer God provided to sin. No matter what sin. No matter how big or how small or the consequences of sin… Jesus Christ is the answer to sin.
PAUSE AND HAVE THE CONGREGATION STAND OR SIT AND IN PRAYER PRAISE GOD FOR JESUS OUT LOUD
III. JESUS DEFINES SO MUCH
To be honest, Jesus Christ changed absolutely everything about human life. Jesus changed death, the afterlife, how we see time, how we tell time, how we view love, what forgiveness looks like, and hundreds of other things we could talk about. Jesus changed everything because… yes… He was just that important. He is the most important Person who has ever lived. I know that is a bold statement. It is not helpful really to just say “Jesus changes everything” or “Jesus is the answer”…so I’d like to expand on those two broad thoughts for a moment.
JESUS CHANGES HOW GOD IS VIEWED
Jesus Christ changed how God is viewed. God is not an omnipotent being who created the world and then just let it go to spin on its own. God is not indifferent or uncaring about the lives He has created. Our God is a personal God who emptied Himself of all that He had in Heaven and came to Earth to sacrifice Himself for sin (Philippians 2:6-8). We know God is love because He acts in love on a consistent basis and showed that through the life of Jesus. We know God is holy because Jesus lived a holy and completely righteous life. We know God is compassionate because in every instance Jesus acted with compassion. Jesus shows us exactly who God is in a tangible way. Because of Jesus, we now have a picture of what the invisible infinite God is like because of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
* John 14:7, “If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."
* John 14:9, “Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father.”
* Philippians 2:6-8, “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross!”
JESUS CHANGES HOW WE RELATE TO GOD
Jesus Christ changed how we relate to God. For thousands of years, to access God one needed a priest or a prophet. God used intermediaries to communicate His Laws and His Word. Noah. Moses. Isaiah. Jeremiah. God chose a particular people to live out life as a light amongst the darkness to show how God wanted life lived. The Israelites.
Now, the curtain in the temple which separated us from God has been torn because of the death of Jesus and all people have direct access to God (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:45). That means you and I can have a personal relationship with God because of Jesus Christ and the presence of the Holy Spirit within us. Because of Jesus, we now have God inside us and the ability to pray at will and seek His constant guidance.
* 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price.”
* Ephesians 1:13-14, “And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit 14 who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession-- to the praise of his glory.”
JESUS ANSWERS HOW SINS ARE FORGIVEN
Jesus Christ answers any questions we have about how our sins are forgiven. I hope you understand that every single person who has ever lived, except for Jesus, has sinned and fallen short of God’s standard (Romans 3:23). We are all broken. We all have darkness inside us as our default setting. There was no permanent fix for our sins until Jesus Christ came along and willfully and innocently died for our sins. It is only through accepting Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord that we have access to forgiveness of sins. Jesus is the only sacrifice that can permanently wipe our sins clean. Sins are forgiven in Jesus. That’s it. No other way.
* Hebrews 10:4-7, “because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, 'Here I am-- it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.'"
CHALLENGE
RE-READ John 1:29-34
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the One I meant when I said, 'A Man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.' 31 I myself did not know Him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that He might be revealed to Israel." 32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on Him. 33 I would not have known Him, except that the One who sent me to 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.' 34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God."
CHALLENGE: May we testify that Jesus is the Son of God.
INVITATION TO ACCEPT CHRIST
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