Text: John 1:29-42a
Facebook live: The Lamb of God!
32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”
This weekend we celebrate the gift of Life from conception to God’s calling us to our eternal rest. Whether in the womb, childhood, adult life or old age, life is precious and a gift of God.
We, who are born in sin unto death, receive rebirth by God’s work in Christ, bringing us in relationship to him and back to the original righteousness he intended.
We are his workmanship.
In the beginning of the book of Genesis we hear of:
God’s creating work.
God’s all-powerful word.
God’s illuminating Spirit hovering over the waters.
God’s breath of life, that was breathed into the formed dust of the ground giving life to Man which God had created,
Male and female we’re told he created them. Gen 1:27c
We think of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, the fruit of the tree in the midst of the garden, the fall into sin … and death that came as a result.
The thing that gets asked all the time is why does a loving God, allow suffering?
I’ve asked it and I’m sure you’ve asked it. And we all know we’ve lived it.
My friend lost his first child, Diana, 48 hours after birth in 1979. He was devastated.
Young people who stare death in the face is so heartbreaking.
Parents taken from their children at a young age. How can we make sense out of it?
Doesn’t God care?
Couldn’t he do something?
What kind of God do we have?
The wages of sin is death. It is the fall into sin
To remove sin is to remove death, a death that separates you and me from God. The problem is not in us, like we can find a way back but in God who is both Just and Righteousness.
How can he both condemn sin and forgive the sinner?
What God had created perfect, had been broken by the fall of man into sin. God has now in Christ, stepped into his creation through this Lamb of God, to restore all that was lost, through this Jesus!
So, it is not just a temporal death that we are saved from, but an eternal death that separated us from our loving God forever.
God has stepped into our lives and our reality.
Our joys and our sorrows.
Proclaimed and pointed to by John as God’s lamb, who takes away the sin of the world.
32 And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. 33 I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son[ of God.”
Jesus is the Lamb of God!
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted. Isaiah 53:4
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth. Isaiah 53:7
Jesus is the Sacrificial Lamb
18 knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.
1 Peter 1:18-19
24 He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
1 Peter 2:24
Jesus is the Mighty and Victorious Lamb spoken of in Revelation.
… I saw a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain … 9 And they sang a new song, saying,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
“Worthy is the Lamb who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might
and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:6-12
John’s testimony points to Christ
No longer is Jesus a babe in a manger
He is the fullness of the Godhead in bodily form. Col. 2:9
He is God for us.
He is God’s Son, marked for death so that you might be his child marked for life!
Jesus, is:
God in the flesh, God’s redemption, God’s Messiah, the King of Israel, the kingdom of God among you, God’s peace, and your redemption!
35 The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36 and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!”
37 The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. 38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking?” And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying?” 39 He said to them, “Come and you will see.”
It is God who desires all to see Christ.
At times it is during the trials of life that the Spirit makes him known.
It is at times in the lives of others, that we can see clearly by that same Spirit of God, work more clearly.
And it is at times like these that we need to share and shine forth all that God has made known and done for you and me through the Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world!
Andrew … found his own brother Simon and said to him,
“We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ). 42 He brought him to Jesus.
The truly good news is that Jesus who seeks and finds and saves the lost!
Jesus has found you!
He has stood in your place.
He has called you to faith.
He will be with you always by the work of his Spirit until the end of the age
God’s love is not only temporal but eternal!
This Good News is something to shout about!
This Good News is something to share with others!
This Good News needs to be proclaimed and heard!
God has overcome the wages of sin, death, and the Devil so that Satan is defeated and by his Spirit you have eternal life in his name!
In the name of the Father and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit
Amen
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