Behold the Lamb of God (John 1: 29-34)

WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.639 Let's hear God's Word now from John Chapter One. This is the Fourth Gospel, 2 00:00:06.639 --> 00:00:11.910 John Chapter One, versus, excuse me, twenty nine through thirty four. 3 00:00:11.949 --> 00:00:21.460 Much as the angels proclaimed the entrance of the Messiah into this world, 4 00:00:22.219 --> 00:00:30.579 John the Baptist did the same as Jesus entered into his public ministry. I'm 5 00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:36.490 here. We have more of John's proclamation and of our hope in the incarnate 6 00:00:36.570 --> 00:00:40.369 son of God. Let's hear God's word now from John One, verse twenty 7 00:00:40.409 --> 00:00:45.649 nine through Thirty Four. The next day, he, that is John, 8 00:00:46.450 --> 00:00:52.159 saw Jesus coming toward him and said, behold the lamb of God, who 9 00:00:52.200 --> 00:00:56.719 takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said 10 00:00:56.759 --> 00:01:00.840 after me comes a man who ranks before me, because he was before me. 11 00:01:00.920 --> 00:01:04.909 I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing 12 00:01:06.069 --> 00:01:10.709 with water that he might be revealed to Israel, and John bore witness. 13 00:01:11.670 --> 00:01:15.870 I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on 14 00:01:15.989 --> 00:01:19.659 him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to 15 00:01:19.739 --> 00:01:25.379 baptize with water said to me he on whom you see the spirit descend and 16 00:01:25.659 --> 00:01:30.379 remain. This is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit, and I have 17 00:01:30.540 --> 00:01:37.170 seen and born witness that this is the son of God. Amen may be 18 00:01:37.250 --> 00:02:00.680 seated well. There are many parallels between this passage and and Jesus's birth. 19 00:02:00.829 --> 00:02:07.669 You remember that when Mary became pregnant, it was a result of the spirit 20 00:02:07.750 --> 00:02:13.870 of God hovering over her. The word dove isn't used. They are, 21 00:02:14.030 --> 00:02:19.020 but there is this kind of bird like imagery that happens at the conception of 22 00:02:19.099 --> 00:02:27.020 Jesus. Is a reminder to us that Jesus is both fully God and fully 23 00:02:27.139 --> 00:02:31.490 man, and this reminder comes in the stories of his birth and at the 24 00:02:31.530 --> 00:02:36.689 beginning of his public ministry and in many ways that are parallel to one another. 25 00:02:37.930 --> 00:02:44.439 And this truth about Jesus being fully God and fully man in our saviors 26 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:50.840 is so important. It's so important because it involves our salvation, our hope 27 00:02:51.240 --> 00:02:59.229 in this world. Do you have hope? Are there ways in which are 28 00:02:59.270 --> 00:03:04.349 there things that you look forward to? And I don't just mean tomorrow or 29 00:03:04.469 --> 00:03:07.830 the next day or maybe five years from now if things go according to plan. 30 00:03:09.150 --> 00:03:15.259 I mean hope, everlasting hope, eternal hope, hope that satisfies, 31 00:03:16.139 --> 00:03:21.939 hope that lifts up hope that can give you confidence even in the midst of 32 00:03:22.060 --> 00:03:29.569 of death itself. That kind of hope. Is it yours? I hope 33 00:03:29.610 --> 00:03:35.409 so, and I hope in a different way then the hope that is talked 34 00:03:35.409 --> 00:03:38.569 about in scripture. Sometimes we talk about hope and the way that I just 35 00:03:38.729 --> 00:03:43.159 used it as a kind of wish, like I think this will happen or 36 00:03:43.199 --> 00:03:47.360 I desire that this will happen. But what you want is more than that, 37 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:53.520 I hope, what I hope you want, what I desire for you 38 00:03:53.599 --> 00:04:00.469 to want is more than a desire, but certainty, confidence that the Lord 39 00:04:00.509 --> 00:04:05.229 has given himself to you. Why? Because, as we read at the 40 00:04:05.270 --> 00:04:10.939 very beginning of this letter, this one, this Jesus who comes into the 41 00:04:11.060 --> 00:04:16.379 world, was everything, to remind you, from the words from the beginning 42 00:04:16.379 --> 00:04:19.300 of this letter, in the beginning was the word, and the word was 43 00:04:19.379 --> 00:04:24.060 with God, and the word was God. He was in the beginning with 44 00:04:24.180 --> 00:04:28.730 God. All all things were made through him and without him was not anything 45 00:04:28.970 --> 00:04:32.410 made. That was made. In him was life, and the light was 46 00:04:32.490 --> 00:04:36.569 the light of men. The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has 47 00:04:36.649 --> 00:04:43.279 not overcome it. Jesus is God himself who is come into this world to 48 00:04:43.399 --> 00:04:47.800 give us light to shine in the dark places. He has come in this 49 00:04:47.959 --> 00:04:55.509 world to give us life, life even out of out of death. But 50 00:04:55.629 --> 00:04:59.149 this God who was in the beginning, John tells us in our passage that 51 00:04:59.230 --> 00:05:05.269 he was also a man. He says in verse thirty, this is he 52 00:05:05.470 --> 00:05:12.019 of whom I said after me comes a man who rinks before me, because 53 00:05:12.060 --> 00:05:15.699 he was before me. This is a reference both to Jesus as humanity, 54 00:05:15.740 --> 00:05:20.019 as a man, and his divinity as God, who was before John, 55 00:05:20.339 --> 00:05:27.449 not just a little bit, or even according to their births, because John 56 00:05:27.569 --> 00:05:30.930 was born first, or even according to their ministries, because Gee, John's 57 00:05:30.970 --> 00:05:39.920 ministry was first, but according to Jesus's divinity, of course he is first. 58 00:05:40.759 --> 00:05:45.920 God is always, always first. And so I want to talk to 59 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:50.430 you today about this Jesus, particularly this Jesus who is both fully God and 60 00:05:50.509 --> 00:05:56.949 fully man, particularly as John describes him, as the lamb of God who 61 00:05:57.069 --> 00:06:04.180 takes away the sin of this world. John, I want to begin by 62 00:06:04.220 --> 00:06:08.579 thinking about the work of Jesus, and then we'll think about the manner of 63 00:06:08.660 --> 00:06:14.620 Jesus, the manner in which he does the work. The work of Jesus 64 00:06:14.819 --> 00:06:19.129 is this to take away the sins of the world. This is how John 65 00:06:19.209 --> 00:06:25.490 Describes what Jesus came to do. This is how Jesus begins his public ministry. 66 00:06:26.209 --> 00:06:30.129 Of course these things were prophesied about in the Old Testament. The angels 67 00:06:30.209 --> 00:06:33.639 declared similar things at the birth of Jesus. And then when Jesus begins his 68 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:39.199 work in the world in earnest, I'm in this particular way, this public 69 00:06:39.319 --> 00:06:46.199 way, it is announced. This is what he's doing to take away the 70 00:06:46.360 --> 00:06:50.269 sins of the world, which means that the things that John is already told 71 00:06:50.310 --> 00:06:55.189 us about him being light and life, need to be coupled with this. 72 00:06:56.829 --> 00:06:59.870 In other words, when Jesus brings light into the world, he doesn't just 73 00:07:00.310 --> 00:07:06.699 bring a nice thing, but he shines in the darkness, and that darkness 74 00:07:06.699 --> 00:07:13.699 is to be understood in moral terms, among others, in terms of our 75 00:07:13.819 --> 00:07:24.209 sin. You know this, I think, from experience. Sin Is attached 76 00:07:24.290 --> 00:07:28.889 to darkness, isn't it? What do we often do with our sins in 77 00:07:29.129 --> 00:07:34.720 our sinfulness? We hide them, we cover them, we put them away 78 00:07:34.759 --> 00:07:41.680 where they can't be seen, we try to protect them, we move away 79 00:07:41.720 --> 00:07:46.350 from God, who is light and life. Of course we describe our sins 80 00:07:46.389 --> 00:07:53.430 in terms of darkness as well. When when we think about an evil when 81 00:07:53.509 --> 00:08:01.860 we think about the Prince of darkness, Satan himself, when Jesus comes into 82 00:08:01.899 --> 00:08:07.139 the world shining his light, he does so to remove the darkness. This 83 00:08:07.300 --> 00:08:09.980 is what light does. It's the nature of light, right. You go 84 00:08:09.100 --> 00:08:13.170 into a room and you turn on the light and where does the darkness go? 85 00:08:13.569 --> 00:08:18.730 It's gone. It is overcome by the light. It's the same thing 86 00:08:18.810 --> 00:08:24.730 that Jesus does. And in our hearts, in our in relation to our 87 00:08:24.889 --> 00:08:30.519 sin, Jesus comes to take away that sin, the things that we would 88 00:08:30.519 --> 00:08:33.279 protect, the things that we would hide, the things that we would cover 89 00:08:33.360 --> 00:08:39.440 up. He exposes, not to shame US and leave us in our shame, 90 00:08:39.960 --> 00:08:45.269 but to remove our shame. He doesn't sort of take us and expose 91 00:08:45.309 --> 00:08:48.110 us in our sins and point a finger and say look, there he is, 92 00:08:48.509 --> 00:08:54.070 look how awful is, look how disgusting he is, look how despicable 93 00:08:54.230 --> 00:08:58.980 she is. You can't stand or can you? That's not what he does. 94 00:09:01.539 --> 00:09:07.419 He doesn't merely expose our sin, but he takes it away. Remember 95 00:09:07.460 --> 00:09:11.769 the words we read earlier in Psalm fifty one. He makes us clean and 96 00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:16.889 is white as the snow. He doesn't just rip open our hearts so that 97 00:09:16.049 --> 00:09:24.879 all the pollution and putrification can be seen and mocked and laughed at, but 98 00:09:24.039 --> 00:09:28.399 he opens up our hearts so that he can get in there with a surgeon's 99 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:35.120 knife and clean it all out and put new life in there, so that 100 00:09:35.399 --> 00:09:39.629 on the day of Resurrection, we don't stand before the judgment seat shaking in 101 00:09:39.750 --> 00:09:43.269 our boots, wondering whether or not will be saved. We stand before the 102 00:09:43.389 --> 00:09:50.190 judgment seat as saints in light, as those who have already been justified, 103 00:09:50.669 --> 00:09:54.139 as those who are so obviously the sons and daughters of God that no one 104 00:09:54.179 --> 00:10:05.700 can deny it. He takes away our sins. This is why Jesus comes 105 00:10:05.740 --> 00:10:11.169 into the world. This is why God, who was from the beginning and 106 00:10:11.250 --> 00:10:16.289 even before the beginning, comes into the world and takes on human flesh. 107 00:10:18.330 --> 00:10:22.000 Well, that reminds us of the humble way in which he comes and helps 108 00:10:22.039 --> 00:10:28.320 us to understand how John Describes this met the manner of Jesus's work. He 109 00:10:28.519 --> 00:10:33.879 describes him as the lamb of God. Behold, he says, it's not 110 00:10:35.000 --> 00:10:37.789 just a Bible word, by the way, that actually means look at it, 111 00:10:37.149 --> 00:10:45.309 but look at him, pay attention behold, take notice, the lamb 112 00:10:45.389 --> 00:10:52.139 of God who takes away the sins of the world. The work that Jesus 113 00:10:52.299 --> 00:11:00.460 does is described by Jesus as being the lamb of God. That's a striking 114 00:11:00.500 --> 00:11:05.090 and unusual phrase, isn't it? The Lamb of God. If you have 115 00:11:05.610 --> 00:11:09.809 some familiarity with the Old Testament, you might say, well, it sounds 116 00:11:09.809 --> 00:11:13.649 a little familiar. I remember that there are animals and the Old Testament that 117 00:11:13.730 --> 00:11:18.840 are important, particularly for sacrifices and other things, and a lot of commentators 118 00:11:18.919 --> 00:11:22.720 will go back to the Old Testament and say, well, what is John 119 00:11:22.360 --> 00:11:26.519 a talking about here? What language is he picking up? And there's all 120 00:11:26.559 --> 00:11:31.000 kinds of different attempts to think about what is John mean when he calls him 121 00:11:31.000 --> 00:11:35.950 the lamb of God? Maybe he's referring to the morning and evening sacrifices that 122 00:11:37.029 --> 00:11:41.190 were offered at the temple, or maybe he's referring to the Passover lamb, 123 00:11:41.230 --> 00:11:46.629 or perhaps not even to a lamb directly, but to the ram that God 124 00:11:46.950 --> 00:11:52.340 provide bided so that Isaac would not have to die, or maybe the scapegoat 125 00:11:52.419 --> 00:11:56.659 that was that took on the sins of God's people and the Day of Atonement, 126 00:11:58.340 --> 00:12:01.330 the thing is, when you go to each of these various connections with 127 00:12:01.450 --> 00:12:05.289 the Old Testament, you try to say, is this the lamb that's being 128 00:12:05.450 --> 00:12:09.929 talked about? Is this the thing that Jesus is from filling? None of 129 00:12:09.970 --> 00:12:16.159 them really fit quite right. And the answer is that Jesus is is like 130 00:12:16.480 --> 00:12:20.759 them, but he's also different. He is a lamb of God, but 131 00:12:20.879 --> 00:12:28.279 he's not just the new kind of lamb. He takes all of these other 132 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:35.029 things and he fulfills them all together. Jesus is a lamb of sacrifice who 133 00:12:35.029 --> 00:12:37.830 will give his life for the sins of the world, but he's not just 134 00:12:39.509 --> 00:12:43.379 the fulfillment of this sacrifice or that sacrifice or that one either, but of 135 00:12:43.620 --> 00:12:50.539 all of them. Jesus takes the whole sacrificial system in the Old Testament, 136 00:12:50.620 --> 00:12:56.100 all of the various types and shadows, and he fulfills it all in himself. 137 00:12:56.700 --> 00:13:00.129 He is the lamb of God, but he's a new kind of lamb, 138 00:13:01.009 --> 00:13:05.929 a better kind of lamb, and the whole Old Testament system and worship 139 00:13:05.529 --> 00:13:09.210 is found in him, not just part of it, all of it. 140 00:13:11.809 --> 00:13:15.440 I think this is the best way to understand John's reference to Jesus is the 141 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:22.200 lamb of God and in particular, to prophecies that are mentioned in Isaiah one, 142 00:13:22.279 --> 00:13:26.990 in particular Isaiah fifty three seven, where we read this. He was 143 00:13:28.070 --> 00:13:31.269 oppressed. Yet when he was afflicted, he did not open his mouth, 144 00:13:31.350 --> 00:13:37.029 as a lamb that has led to the slaughter, and as a sheep that 145 00:13:37.190 --> 00:13:41.379 is before it shears his mute, he did not open his mouth. Here, 146 00:13:41.460 --> 00:13:46.700 Isaiah is not describing a particular lamb with a particular sacrifice. He's talking 147 00:13:46.740 --> 00:13:54.220 about the coming Messiah and the way in which this Messiah will be quiet and 148 00:13:54.539 --> 00:14:01.970 gentle and peaceful in his obedience, which is an amazing thing, considering that 149 00:14:03.049 --> 00:14:09.600 Jesus is obedience required so much difficulty, including being led to the slaughter, 150 00:14:09.639 --> 00:14:13.960 hung on a cross with a crown of thorns on his head and being whipped 151 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:20.559 on his back, mocked by the government and the leaders that were supposed to 152 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:26.909 be supporting him and helping him, left by his disciples and abandoned. This 153 00:14:28.350 --> 00:14:37.549 Jesus did willingly, obediently, quietly. There is a gentleness in his suffering 154 00:14:37.669 --> 00:14:41.620 that is important. Jesus didn't go kicking and screaming to the Cross. Even 155 00:14:41.700 --> 00:14:48.220 when people asked him direct questions, he didn't use it as an opportunity to 156 00:14:48.379 --> 00:14:52.419 stand up on a soap box and push his weight around, even rhetorically. 157 00:14:54.169 --> 00:15:01.090 It's not that Jesus never said anything. It's not that Jesus didn't, wasn't, 158 00:15:01.049 --> 00:15:05.649 wasn't clear about his message and his mission. If you eat the Gospel, 159 00:15:05.730 --> 00:15:09.480 and we will continue to go through John, Jesus was extremely clear, 160 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:15.000 especially as he got closer and closer to the cross, about why he came. 161 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:18.799 Indeed, John is clear. He says behold the lamb of God, 162 00:15:18.120 --> 00:15:22.549 who takes away the sins of the world. He's saying it right there in 163 00:15:22.629 --> 00:15:31.070 the waters of Jordan as the Holy Spirit himself descends upon Jesus, and John 164 00:15:31.230 --> 00:15:33.669 is and and is God. I'd rather in the other gospels we read, 165 00:15:35.230 --> 00:15:45.740 says this is my beloved son day. Frederick Dale Bruner, a commentator, 166 00:15:46.620 --> 00:15:50.370 makes this connection there, puts it this way and connects this with the spirits 167 00:15:50.450 --> 00:15:56.409 descending as a dove. He writes that the spirit comes down like a dove. 168 00:15:56.610 --> 00:16:02.889 Corresponds nicely with the earlier fact that the savior came on earlier as a 169 00:16:03.090 --> 00:16:07.759 lamb. No lie in there, no eagle here, but dove on lamb. 170 00:16:10.480 --> 00:16:15.720 Surely these two animal pictures seek to depict the gentle, Nonviolent Messiah from 171 00:16:15.759 --> 00:16:22.429 the Synoptic Gospels, that is Matthew, mark and Luke so massively spell out. 172 00:16:22.710 --> 00:16:29.830 Gentleness, not obvious power, seems to be the most authentic mark of 173 00:16:29.909 --> 00:16:38.500 Christian messianism. All the Gospels Unite here. Jesus comes with great glory, 174 00:16:38.700 --> 00:16:45.059 right, the angel singing in the sky, the the wise men traveling from 175 00:16:45.100 --> 00:16:52.529 afar, this miraculous birth and concern and conception, all of these things. 176 00:16:52.809 --> 00:16:57.409 And yet at every point there is great humbleness in them well as well, 177 00:16:57.610 --> 00:17:03.640 gentleness right, we don't have the the mighty army of angels riding up over 178 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:08.480 the hill into Jerusalem with Jesus on his horse. Slang the thousands as he 179 00:17:08.640 --> 00:17:21.630 comes. They go out to shepherd's foreigners Mary. There's Jesus wrapped in swaddling 180 00:17:21.789 --> 00:17:27.190 clothes in a manger. Here's Jesus and his own cousin. He says, 181 00:17:27.230 --> 00:17:32.700 I didn't even recognize him until God said the one on whom the dove or 182 00:17:32.819 --> 00:17:40.019 the spirit descends like a dove, that's the one who's come. His own 183 00:17:40.140 --> 00:17:48.049 cousin didn't recognize him as such until God revealed him this way. That's always 184 00:17:48.130 --> 00:17:55.609 this way, and it's this way for a good reason, because God comes 185 00:17:55.809 --> 00:18:00.319 to those who are in need of a savior. If Jesus came and all 186 00:18:00.400 --> 00:18:08.200 of his glory and majesty and Power, without any humility, without any suffering, 187 00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:15.190 we would simply be among those who are slayed. We would simply be 188 00:18:15.509 --> 00:18:18.390 the dead body is on the battlefield as the Lord and conqueror of the world 189 00:18:19.430 --> 00:18:25.470 takes away sin, deals with the sin problem that is in the world. 190 00:18:26.220 --> 00:18:30.460 Jesus does take away the sin of the world, but he does it by 191 00:18:30.859 --> 00:18:38.059 removing it from US rather than simply removing us as he will on the last 192 00:18:38.099 --> 00:18:47.009 day of his great judgment. It is a blessed and wonderful thing that Jesus 193 00:18:47.130 --> 00:18:55.569 comes as a lamb to take away the sins of the world. What are 194 00:18:55.609 --> 00:19:00.519 you supposed to do with this news? Imagine yourself as one of the people 195 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.440 who had heard about John had gone out to the Jordan to see with all 196 00:19:03.480 --> 00:19:07.920 the fuss was about, or maybe even to repent of your sins. And 197 00:19:08.480 --> 00:19:14.069 here is this great prophet, it's Great Old Testament, profit in a way 198 00:19:14.269 --> 00:19:18.430 belonging to that old covenant period, standing and pointing at Jesus and he says 199 00:19:18.789 --> 00:19:22.509 there is the one of whom I said, he who comes before me, 200 00:19:22.869 --> 00:19:26.779 or he who comes after me, who was before me. This is the 201 00:19:26.779 --> 00:19:32.380 lamb of God. What do you say to that? What do you do 202 00:19:32.740 --> 00:19:41.809 with that message? You go that's interesting, or that John, what a 203 00:19:41.849 --> 00:19:48.130 funny guy, and walk away. I'd like to say that the answer is 204 00:19:48.329 --> 00:19:55.160 plain and obvious, but of course it's not always plain and obvious. The 205 00:19:55.279 --> 00:20:00.400 reason for this is that pride and self righteousness and confidence in our goodness is 206 00:20:02.119 --> 00:20:06.880 like mud in our eyes. It makes us totally unable to see the truth. 207 00:20:07.000 --> 00:20:11.150 Or, we're to use another analogy, we might say that our pride 208 00:20:11.150 --> 00:20:17.630 is like putting on virtual reality goggles or something like that. Our pride enables 209 00:20:17.670 --> 00:20:22.460 us to see something that isn't real, something it isn't true. It distorts, 210 00:20:22.500 --> 00:20:27.140 it changes the truth, but of course not really, not. Ultimately, 211 00:20:29.380 --> 00:20:33.019 there is a real truth, a true with a capital t, just 212 00:20:33.220 --> 00:20:38.930 not the one we're perceiving. If you think that you are healthy and strong 213 00:20:40.170 --> 00:20:45.609 and capable and full of goodness and spirituality, then the fact that Jesus comes 214 00:20:45.650 --> 00:20:52.160 to save the world will sound like good news. Right, but distant, 215 00:20:52.359 --> 00:21:00.480 not relevant to you. Important perhaps in some way, but really unimportant ultimately 216 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:03.559 to you, into the things that you're doing and the goals that you have 217 00:21:03.000 --> 00:21:07.789 and the life that you're living in this world under the Sun. Important, 218 00:21:08.029 --> 00:21:15.829 interesting, fascinating maybe even, but kind of a non priority. Let me 219 00:21:15.869 --> 00:21:18.500 use another example. Let me say, let me let me put it this 220 00:21:18.539 --> 00:21:25.019 way. Let's say I introduce you to a heart doctor. You're we're at 221 00:21:25.059 --> 00:21:27.059 a party or something like that, and I introduce you to this heart doctor 222 00:21:27.099 --> 00:21:29.980 and you say, Oh, nice to meet you, and I try to 223 00:21:30.019 --> 00:21:33.089 impress on you and say no, this is this is the greatest doctor in 224 00:21:33.130 --> 00:21:37.450 the world. He has a hundred percent success rate at curing all problems related 225 00:21:37.490 --> 00:21:41.170 to the heart. You might shake his hand to say wow, that's really 226 00:21:41.210 --> 00:21:45.970 amazing, that's very impressive. If there's any way I can support what you 227 00:21:47.009 --> 00:21:52.519 do, let me know. You might support him, you might compliment him, 228 00:21:52.519 --> 00:21:56.079 you might be amazed, you might tell someone else I met this heart 229 00:21:56.160 --> 00:22:00.079 doctor at a party, was just fascinating. Hundred percent success rate. And 230 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:06.869 this is how some people treat Jesus. This is how non Christians eat Jesus, 231 00:22:07.750 --> 00:22:11.950 at least at their best. Christians, however, see Jesus as people 232 00:22:11.950 --> 00:22:19.259 who are lying on a table with a heart problem, who then is introduced 233 00:22:19.299 --> 00:22:23.140 to somebody who walks into the room and says I have a hundred percent success 234 00:22:23.180 --> 00:22:27.539 rate working on hearts. It's not a Oh, it's nice to meet you, 235 00:22:27.619 --> 00:22:30.690 or a Oh, I'd really like to support what you do, but 236 00:22:30.809 --> 00:22:40.930 it's Oh, thank God. Literally we don't. This is why we don't 237 00:22:41.329 --> 00:22:48.880 simply praise Jesus, compliment Jesus, support Jesus and his fine work. We 238 00:22:49.279 --> 00:22:56.559 worship Jesus because he doesn't just say of our physical hearts and our physical bodies. 239 00:22:56.640 --> 00:23:02.029 He does that, but he saves all of us and completely. He 240 00:23:02.190 --> 00:23:07.309 promises that on the last day we will be resurrected with new bodies, just 241 00:23:07.549 --> 00:23:15.220 like him. We will have eternal life, just like him. Christians worship 242 00:23:15.299 --> 00:23:19.539 Jesus because when they were introduced to Jesus, they were clutching their hearts having 243 00:23:19.579 --> 00:23:26.779 a heart attack, or rather they were already dead lying on the table, 244 00:23:26.900 --> 00:23:30.650 and then they wake up and he says I just saved you. Isn't that 245 00:23:30.650 --> 00:23:40.730 amazing? This is why Christians are willing to die for Jesus, why Christians 246 00:23:40.730 --> 00:23:45.880 are willing to give up their lives, because they already belong to him, 247 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:51.920 they already have he already has them. It's why we can look at the 248 00:23:52.039 --> 00:23:56.630 governments of this world, or the economic systems of this world, or our 249 00:23:56.710 --> 00:24:03.109 personal difficulties and troubles, are sins Satan himself, and Shrug and say not 250 00:24:03.269 --> 00:24:11.140 my problem, I belong to Jesus, the savior of the world, who 251 00:24:11.220 --> 00:24:18.460 takes away the sins of the world. Do you see Jesus in that way? 252 00:24:19.900 --> 00:24:27.369 If you don't, then you have a pride problem and God is opening 253 00:24:27.410 --> 00:24:33.329 your eyes to see that. Ask him to open them all the way to 254 00:24:33.450 --> 00:24:37.930 see your blindness, to see your sin, to do whatever it takes to 255 00:24:37.049 --> 00:24:42.519 reach out and accept the life that he is giving to you. If you 256 00:24:42.640 --> 00:24:48.319 think of sin is a minor thing, a simple problem, something that you 257 00:24:48.440 --> 00:24:52.000 have to deal with from time to time, then the announcement that the lamb 258 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:55.230 of God, who takes away the sins of the world, is now here 259 00:24:56.309 --> 00:25:02.349 will be rather unimportant. But if you're like me, like those who profess 260 00:25:02.430 --> 00:25:06.109 their faith is this morning, and the others who are sitting around you who 261 00:25:06.430 --> 00:25:11.500 have been brought from death to life by the savior of the world who took 262 00:25:11.500 --> 00:25:18.019 away their sins, then you will give him praise, you'll live with him, 263 00:25:18.019 --> 00:25:22.609 with all that is in you. You will have hope and certainty in 264 00:25:22.730 --> 00:25:30.210 the goodness of his promises. Sin Is not a minor thing, nor is 265 00:25:30.289 --> 00:25:34.089 our savior. Let me finish by reading from First Peter to Twenty one through 266 00:25:34.170 --> 00:25:41.240 twenty five. That describes John's words in another way. Peter says, Christ 267 00:25:41.319 --> 00:25:45.279 also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in 268 00:25:45.400 --> 00:25:51.789 his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. 269 00:25:52.670 --> 00:25:56.390 When he was wrought reviled, he did not revile and return. When 270 00:25:56.430 --> 00:26:00.589 he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued in trusting himself to him 271 00:26:00.630 --> 00:26:07.619 who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree 272 00:26:08.740 --> 00:26:18.140 that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds, 273 00:26:18.369 --> 00:26:23.170 you have been healed, for you were straying like sheep, but now I've 274 00:26:23.210 --> 00:26:30.009 returned to the shepherd and the overseer of your souls. Let's pray