502: Behold the Lamb of God | Dave Sloop

Good morning. That's good—we need to practice that more. So glad that you guys are here as we continue in our series walking through the gospel of John. This week we're still in chapter one, and as you're turning there, I wanted to pick up where Tim left off last week. If you remember, we were looking at the person of John the Baptist and we're going to look at him again this week. As you saw from the reading this morning, I actually want to go a little bit before where our passage starts today.

Because as we looked at that passage last week, there was a piece of it that we didn't quite get to, and it just struck me that it was a bit odd. If you remember, here's what happens: John the Baptist is asked by a number of people who come to question him. "Are you the Christ?" No, I'm not the Christ. "Are you Elijah?" He says no, I'm not Elijah. "Are you the prophet?" No, I'm not the prophet. And then they say, "Who are you?" And he says, "I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord."

He believed himself to be this prophetic fulfillment from the book of Isaiah, chapter 40, of a voice who was crying, "Make straight his path. God is coming to you." And John believed that his ministry was one of preparation. He really believed that. But then after he says this, they ask a question, and this is the part that we didn't have a chance to get to. Here's the question that they asked, and I want us to understand why they asked it—it was a significant question. They said, "Well then, why are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, if you are not Elijah, and if you are not the prophet? Why is it that you're baptizing?"

John answers the question, but before we get to his answer, I want to explain to you why this was so confusing to this group of religious people who came out to ask this question: Why are you baptizing?

You may or may not know that in the Old Testament there is no mention of baptism. But by the first century, this practice of full-body water baptism was common for a specific case. Now, the Jews had ceremonial cleansings all of the time throughout the year for different reasons that they would become unclean. But a whole-body baptism, where you would have to cleanse your whole self—that was reserved for one kind of person. And that was a Gentile dog, a proselyte. If you were someone who was a Gentile, a foreigner, not one of God's chosen, then if you wanted to come into God's family, you had to get baptized. But an Israelite never would have condescended to this practice.

But John the Baptist was not just calling Gentiles out to the Jordan. He was calling everyone for a whole-body immersion. And what he was telling them is: You're all Gentile dogs. You're all unclean like the Gentiles. You're no different than them. You need to be clean. It would have been incredibly offensive. So they ask him, "Why are you doing this? Under what authority?" And here's his answer, which doesn't sound like much of an answer.

Here's what he says: "I baptized 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."

Why do you baptize? John's answer: I baptized with water, and there's one coming after me. But he doesn't say anything about him baptizing in this passage. It's an odd kind of incomplete answer. But in the passage that we just looked at, he more fully answers the question and even explains what he meant in this first one.

Let me just read to you starting in verse 29 what John says. This is the very next day:

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! This is he 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 purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel." — John 1:29-31

Here's the answer: he came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel.

As I studied this passage, that was the phrase that just kept jumping off the page. Because John believes something here, and we know that John was incredibly humble. He was constantly pointing away from himself. As we're going to look later in his gospel, he's going to say things like "He must become greater, I must become less." Behold the Lamb, follow him, not me. This is the life of John.

But here, what he claims—don't miss this, it's significant. He's saying: There's something that's so significant about his ministry that if he does not carry it out, Christ won't be revealed. Did you catch that?

For this purpose I came baptizing with water so that he might be revealed to Israel. — John 1:31

John's ministry was a ministry of preparation, and he believed that what he was doing was preparing people to see. And if he didn't do it, they wouldn't see. The Christ might come, but they would not be able to see him.

The Ministry of Preparation

I want to spend a little time talking today about this ministry of preparation, because I think that there are implications for you and I—well, corporately as a church. There are implications about this ministry of preparation.

Then also there are personal implications for you and I because what John is suggesting is that there is a kind of heart he comes to, but we have to be prepared so that we don't miss him.

The Ministry of Preparation

Here's what he says about the ministry of preparation. First of all, as he says in Isaiah 40:

A voice cries in the wilderness: "Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God." — Isaiah 40:3

The first thing that we need to know about John's ministry is that it happens intentionally in the wilderness. Now, that phrase "in the wilderness"—if you know your Bible, specifically the Old Testament—that phrase in the wilderness draws something to mind. Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, and John is saying that his ministry, that's where it's gonna be.

When was Israel in the wilderness? After Egypt, before the promised land. In between their slavery and their freedom. The wilderness—we might put it this way: the road from slavery to freedom always passes through the wilderness.

And here's why. Moses would tell them in Deuteronomy 8, "This was the purpose for the wilderness: so that I might know what is in your heart." That's what God was doing in the wilderness.

In fact, if you look at the first couple of verses of Isaiah 40—of which John the Baptist is a fulfillment of—he says:

"Comfort, comfort my people. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem." — Isaiah 40:1

God is often bringing his people into the wilderness. Why? So he can speak tenderly to them. That word "tender" actually means heart—so you can speak to the heart.

Do you know where the same concept comes up? Hosea chapter 2, verse 14 (I believe, might be wrong, but I think it's that):

"Therefore I will now allure her. I will lead her into the wilderness, and there I will speak tenderly to her." — Hosea 2:14

John is telling us that part of preparing to receive the God who is coming has to do with being in the wilderness. In the wilderness, everything gets stripped away. I mean, it didn't take long for Israel to be grateful that they were out of slavery, but then pretty quickly, as they wandered in the wilderness, they started to complain.

Have you ever heard the song by Sara Groves called "Painting Pictures of Egypt"? She says, "I've been painting pictures of Egypt, leaving out what it lacks." And that's what we do. That's what Israel did. But God is teaching his people through his prophet John the Baptist that part of preparing to receive me is getting stripped of everything that you love, everything that you worship.

And if you read Isaiah 40 through 44—which is, by the way, the speech of that voice—it's a pretty long one. It's not just that one little passage that John the Baptist quotes; it's this whole section. And over and over again, there is this conversation about the wilderness, about being in the wilderness.

John's ministry of preparation is a ministry first, primarily in the wilderness. But secondly, it's a ministry that has something to do with water. You notice that John continues to say, "I baptized with water." I think he says it three times in this handful of verses: "I baptized with water. I baptized with water."

There's something about the water in the wilderness. Now, what comes to mind when you hear water in the wilderness? Perhaps one of the first things that you think of is Israel passing through the Red Sea as they go into the wilderness. Perhaps another image is Moses striking the rock in the wilderness and water pours forth. Water throughout the Old Testament has just significant biblical imagery around it.

It starts in Genesis chapter 1. You see the Spirit of God hovering over the waters at creation. And so water has become a symbol of creation. In Genesis 6, what do we see? The flood. Water is also a picture of God's condemnation, God's judgment on humanity for their sin. You have creation, you have condemnation. What do we have next? Cleansing. That's what John was doing here. He's saying you're all dirty; you need to be washed with a water baptism, which points to a more significant baptism that comes by the one who comes after me. But there is a cleansing that needs to occur.

And throughout the Old Testament, there are Old Testament ritualistic cleansings that need to happen. But then finally—and for our purposes, when you look at Isaiah 40 to 44 up against John, and you start to interpret John the Baptist's ministry with those four chapters in mind—do you know what you see over and over again? There's water in the wilderness. There's water in the wilderness. There's water in the wilderness.

But let me read to you what I think John has in mind, because it is a quenching of the thirst that you can't experience until you get out into the wilderness:

"Behold, I am doing a new thing. Now it springs forth. Do you perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I will give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself, that they might declare my praise." — Isaiah 43:19-21

He's saying, "I'm making a way in the wilderness. In a place where there's not supposed to be streams and satisfaction, that is where I will meet you. That's where I'm coming."

There's a sense of thirst-quenching, satisfaction. David says:

"My soul longs for you. My flesh thirsts for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water." — Psalm 63:1

We experience that.

Fulfilling thirst happens when we get ourselves in the wilderness. I wonder how many of you today find yourself there.

But then finally, John the Baptist's ministry of preparation involves not just wilderness and water, but words. He is primarily a voice. He is one who calls out. He is declaring someone is coming. He's shouting because he wants you to know.

I mentioned this earlier, but the first verse of Isaiah 40 says:

Comfort, comfort my people, says the Lord

And here comes John. He is that voice. Do you know what John said? I wonder how many of us would explain or describe John's words by using the word "comfortable."

Let me read to you a couple of things that John the Baptist said in Luke chapter 3. John went after the word of the Lord came to him. He went out into all the region around the Jordan proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And the crowds came out.

I want you to imagine: John is telling people, "Baptism for the repentance of sin." Repentance is a Greek word—metanoia—it's a compound word that means to change your mind or to change your heart. He's letting people know something needs to change. "Now come on out! I got a message for you!" And the crowds come. He's out in the wilderness. He's a weird guy.

And here's what he says—opening line. You ready?

You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our father." He can make children of Abraham out of stones. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees.

He's shaking them out of their comfort. He's like, "Don't think that you're secure just because of your heritage, because you've come from the line of Abraham."

But here's my question: Is it unkind that John would be this painfully honest with these people? Let's think about that, because I think it's important for us to consider, especially today in this age that we live in.

I want to show you a video clip that you might not immediately see the correlation. It's from a movie called John Q, starring Denzel Washington. He plays the character John Quincy Archibald. He's got a son named Mike. One day, this cute kid Mike is playing baseball. He's running to first base and he collapses. They rush him to the hospital and do some tests. The scene I want to show you is where the doctors bring in John and his wife to hear the results of the tests.

[Video plays]

Is it unkind for the doctors to tell these parents who are terrified at the possibility that they would lose their son? Is it unkind for the doctors to say, "We're well beyond corrective surgery. Mike's going to need a transplant or he's going to die"? It's uncomfortable, but it is not unkind.

And that is what you and I are called to: uncomfortable kindness. And I mean both of those words.

Two Approaches (And Why Both Are Incomplete)

I want to pause here. I think most people fall into one of two camps. And I would say this is true of people and churches. Let me start with churches.

I think most churches can find themselves safely in one of these two camps. One: churches that are very comfortable talking about sin but very uncomfortable welcoming sinners, loving sinners—and often not seeing themselves as part of that group called sinners. They might like to pick out specific sins that are worse than others in their mind, and they talk a lot about those. There are people comfortable talking about sin, not comfortable loving sinners.

Then over here, there's another group of churches and people who are really good at loving sinners but not talking to them about their sin. And here's what I would say to this group of people: To not talk about sin is not loving to sinners.

But over here, if we're only talking about people's sin, we're not really loving sinners either.

Let me say it this way: If we're not loving sinners first, we can't talk to them about their sin. If we're afraid to tell the truth about sin because we want to be loving—and here's what that might look like—"I don't want to offend. Jesus loved people, and therefore we can't be honest with them about their sin because Jesus was accepting of all kinds."

of people but Jesus—which is true—but Jesus's acceptance of all people did not keep him from telling the truth about their sin. In fact, you know this: you might not know it, but John the Baptist said the axe is at the root. He said God's wrath is coming and it's imminent, and it's coming because you're a brood of vipers. And that word "brood" meant offspring, and viper is a kind of serpent. He's saying—he's hinting at—you're children of the devil.

You know what Jesus said? I think this is John chapter 8. Jesus was a little more direct. He didn't use code. He said, "You are children of the devil and you're doing what your father wants you to do." Jesus called out sin, but John the Baptist and Jesus—they loved sinners. And their honesty with people about their sin was fueled and motivated by a love for sinners.

If you're only talking about sin and sinners, then what ends up happening inadvertently is that you end up vilifying this whole group of people over here for whom Christ came to die.

Finding Balance: Grace and Truth

There is an opportunity in our world right now, and for the church right now, to stay right here in the middle. And here's what I don't mean by that: I don't mean compromise—we give a little bit, take a little bit. What I'm saying is that we be like Jesus, who was—get this—full of grace and full of truth. Those ideas are not mutually exclusive. Jesus was able to maintain a posture of complete graciousness and complete truth at the same time.

It is not unloving to be honest about sin. In fact, it's the most loving thing we can do if we actually believe that the Bible is true, that the axe is at the root, and that people are facing a death sentence if they don't know Jesus.

That was John's ministry of preparation. And only when we prepare hearts—only when our hearts are prepared—can we get to part two of John's ministry, which we're going to talk about for less time but it's more important. And that is his pointing ministry.

The Lamb of God

Look what he says in verse 29. The next day—by the way, John says, "I'm the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord." And it says the next day Jesus was coming towards him. "I'm out here preparing the way for Yahweh. The next day, here comes Jesus." And he says, "Behold, the Lamb of God. It takes away the sin of the world."

I want you to notice a few things about this lamb.

First of all, this is the first time that this phrase shows up in the Bible. John the Baptist coins this phrase—"the Lamb of God"—but lamb imagery is all over the Old Testament. One of the earliest places we see that is in the Exodus. Before God leads the people out of Egypt and into the promised land, he sends his final plague. He's going to take the firstborn son of every Egyptian household, and the only way for Israel to avoid the same fate is by killing a lamb and rubbing the blood of that lamb on the doorpost. And the angel of death would pass over.

The lamb is a picture in the Bible—in the Old Testament—of substitutionary atonement. That's the theological word for it. It is something or someone dying in your place for something that you deserve. Substitution. That is the significance of this phrase: "the Lamb of God."

But notice, secondly, the scope of the lamb. "The Lamb of God takes away sin of the world." This would have been a radical idea to John's Jewish audience. He would have understood—they would have understood that Isaiah 40 was God speaking to his people. And John is saying, God is doing something new. The sin that this lamb takes away is the sin of the world—the sins of the world.

It doesn't matter how far you think you've wandered; his love has gone further. And it covers all of your sin. No matter how deep, how dark, how vast—it covers it. It takes it away.

Have you heard of Yom Kippur? What they would do during this celebration is that they would put all the sins on this goat, they'd send him off into the wilderness, and he would bear the sins of the people. This lamb, John says, is that. It's that image. He's taking away, removing the sins from the people.

But then, third—and I want you to know this, it may be most importantly—notice the source of this lamb. This is the Lamb of God. I want that to sink in.

Every other time you had a lamb sacrifice for you, and in the Jewish daily ritual twice a day they were sacrificing lambs—morning and evening—a two-year-old lamb, spotless—they would sacrifice that lamb. Why? Because your sin. It was a reminder that you were unclean and that something had to die as a result. It was a sacrificial system that God gave them to keep on the front of their mind: you need salvation.

But this lamb is not a lamb that they would provide for themselves. It is a lamb that God would provide for them. It is the Lamb of God.

In fact, John immediately tells you the identity of this lamb when he says, "This is he of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me.'" Do you know when that phrase showed up first? In the first 18 verses of John's gospel—the prologue—that we looked at: the Word of God, the one who was pre-existent from all eternity with the Father. That one, he says, is the Lamb. That's the Lamb at the end.

of this passage he's going to say the son of God—God the son, the word of God—who is the son of God here becomes the lamb of God. In Isaiah 40, God coming to his people, he is depicted as a shepherd who comes to rescue his flock. But John does not depict him here as a shepherd, but rather as a sheep. The word of God who is the son of God has become the lamb of God.

You know, the first time we see the picture of a sacrificial lamb in the Old Testament, it's the passage we had read earlier in Genesis chapter 22—the story of Abraham and Isaac. If you're new to our church or if you're new to church in general, and this is kind of the first story you've ever heard, it's a weird one. God asks Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac, and so Abraham goes up the mountain with his son and some wood. In fact, Isaac starts to get suspicious. He's like, "Dad, I see the wood, I see the altar, but where's the lamb for the burnt offering?" And do you know what Abraham says? He says, "God himself will provide the lamb for the burnt offering—God himself will provide the lamb, my son."

And then he reaches up his hand with a knife to kill his son, and God stops him. And it says, "Behold, Abraham looked up and he saw in the thicket a ram"—so close to being the lamb that was promised, but it was a ram. I think it was a ram and not a lamb because the promised lamb was forthcoming. I don't think this is an accident. God provides a ram here because this is not the prophetic promised lamb that was to come—not just to be a substitute for Isaac, but a substitute for the whole world. God would send his lamb. God would send himself coming to save his people.

How do you know this happened? This happened on Mount Moriah—that is where the temple mount would eventually be. And just beyond that, there was a place called Golgotha, a different mountain where God would come in the flesh. The God that made all that out there, that knows so many hairs on your head—that God came. He became a human being, and he grew up, and he lived a perfect life. And then he was rejected by the ones that he loved, and so they crucified him just beyond where Abraham almost sacrificed his son. God said, "Abraham, don't you do that. I'm going to take it."

The Climax of Love

I want to close with a video—the end of the movie John Q—that I showed you that opening clip from. At the end of that movie, John Archibald is desperate because his son needs a new heart. That's what he was told: "If your son doesn't get a new heart, he's going to die." So he goes to his insurance to get on the donor list, but he had just been laid off from his job or been reduced to part-time, and so he no longer had health insurance. He didn't know he needed two hundred fifty thousand dollars just to get on the donor list. He wasn't going to come up with that kind of money. And so John, in a moment of desperation, holds the emergency room hostage.

I want to show you a picture of the lengths a father that loves his kid is willing to go to save his life. He is holding a gun here, but he doesn't point it at anyone. I just want to warn you if anyone's sensitive to that, but I think I've cut out everything else that might be shocking. So let's roll that clip.

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[Video excerpt]

"We're in trouble. John, my blood pressure has dropped into the mid-40s. His age, well, blood pressure should be in the low teens. It's 35. I'm sorry, John. Without a new heart, he's not going to make it."

"Okay, take mine."

"What? You heard me—take my heart and you put it in Mike."

"You can't be serious."

"You bet I'm serious. I'm dead serious. John, you can't do this."

"The only way—now you don't understand. Physically, you can't do this."

"Yes, I can. I kill myself. You open me up, you take my heart, man. It's just crazy."

"No, no, we can't just remove your heart and put it into Michael's body. John, there are too many unknowns. Matching a donor and a recipient is extremely complicated. There are several critical tests that have to be taken. Like what? Cross matches for blood type, chest cavity measurements. If both blood tissues are not completely compatible—"

"Come on, I know all about compatibility, okay? We've been tested up the wazoo. We're both B positive. Our tissues match. His heart's three times the size of a normal heart, so mine will fit."

"Out of the question. Too risky, Doc. I'm telling you, he will make it."

"Can't do it, John."

"So what—if I'm laying on the floor dead, you're not gonna take my heart and put it in him to save his life? You'll let two people die instead of one because of a technicality?"

"It's so brave. It's brave. But what do you think, Michael? What about your wife?"

"Mike's too young to know what's good for him. I miss my father. It's my job to protect it. Besides, Denise would do the same thing."

"John, look, I know what's happening to Mike is bad, man. Matter of fact, it's the worst. Sometimes you just got to let go and let God."

Just accept it, brother. Accept it. What? The mic is going to die? No, no. I don't accept that. Ever. No, I reject that out of hand.

I mean, look—he's a patient, you understand. But if he's a good kid, I mean, he loves bodybuilding. He wants to be a bodybuilder. Can you believe that? And he's funny. You'd like him. You'd like him, Doc. If you got to know him, I do like that. Then please—I'm just picking you—step outside the way I like to, John. I really would, but what you're asking crosses the line. It is completely unethical.

I'm crossing the line? You're crossing the line. The old system causing a lot of gas. Maybe you don't understand what I'm talking about. My son's gonna live. Maybe you guys haven't figured out by now—I'll do whatever I got to do for him to live.

So what are you gonna do? You're gonna shoot me if I don't operate?

No. What happens next is that John takes that gun and he says, "I'm gonna kill myself. And then you're gonna take my heart and you're gonna put it in my son. He needs a donor. If he doesn't get a new heart, he's gonna die. I'm his father. It's me."

Friends, he doesn't end up doing that—go watch the movie. But here's where I want to close:

We're surrounded by people that don't know that they need a heart transplant or they're gonna die. And it is unkind to be silent. We have to be honest. In fact, I hope that maybe there are some here, even today, who for the first time are recognizing that you are under that judgment—that the axe is at the root.

But do you know why John can be so bold about sin? Because he was so convinced of the solution. We can be bold telling the truth about sin because there is a solution for it. His name is Jesus. He is the Lamb of God, and he takes away the sins of the world.

And to all who put their faith in his life and his death and his resurrection, they receive freedom from condemnation. They receive cleansing from sin. They receive all saving, all satisfying love—the thirst-quenching, spiritually love of the Father will come into your life in ways you could not possibly imagine.

Is anyone thirsty? Come to me and I will quench that thirst once and for all. — John 7

Do you know him? He gave his life so that you could live.

Let's pray.

Father, thank you for this Word. We need it, Lord. Forgive us for our silence. But also, even more, Lord, forgive us for not loving the people that we desperately want to know you. It's in Christ's name we pray. Amen.