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We could start at verse 19.
And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him who art thou? And he confessed, and denied not, but confessed I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then art thou, Elias?
And he said, I am not, Art thou that prophet? And he answered no. Then said they unto him, Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What saith thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. And they which were sent were of the priorities. And they asked him, and said unto him.
Why baptise us thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor alias? Neither that Prophet John answered them, saying, I baptized with water, but they're standeth one among you, whom you know not here it is who coming after me.
Is preferred before me whose shoes Watch it. I am not worthy to unloose.
These things were done in Basavara beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John's seeth Jesus coming under him and says behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world.
This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me. For he was before me, and I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come baptizing with water, And John Bear records saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him, and I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize with water.
The same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him the same as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear record that this is the Son of God again. The next day after John stood until his disciples. And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus.
Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, a rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, Where dwelleth thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came, and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day. For he was about the for it was about the 10th hour.
One of the two which heard John speak and followed him was Andrew Simon Peters, brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and Seth unto him We have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted the Christ, and he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation a stone.
The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and find us Philip, and set unto him. Follow me. Now Phillip was a messeda, the city of Andrew and Peter. Philip pine is Nathaniel, and set unto him We have found him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did right Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?
Philip saith unto him, Come and see. Jesus saw Nathaniel coming to him, and saith of him, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile. Nathaniel saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before the Pope called me. When I was under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathaniel answered, and says unto him.
Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, Thou art the king of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw the under the fig tree believe a style, Thou shalt see greater things than these. And he said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
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I wonder if a little more couldn't be said about the 16th through the 18th verses before we go on to the 19th.
One thing about the 18th verse that connects with.
We're dwelleth now we get over in the 38th verse.
Brings in.
The absolute truth that.
Jesus is God and that he is man.
They came and saw where he dwelt a place on earth, but this 18th verse tells where he dwells in heaven. Marvelous truth to see that this corroborates what we have established well, that Jesus is God and that he is man.
What is your fault? Well, I just thought perhaps we hadn't talked much about these three verses yesterday, and they're rather fundamental in the understanding of the person of the Lord Jesus. And I was particularly thinking of the hem that's so very precious that we enjoy dwells in his bosom, knoweth all that in that bosom lies and came to earth to make it known that we might share His joy.
That's a very precious expression of the truth that is in these verses. And I I just would like to make this remark about our hymn book. You know, it's one of the best treasures that you and I have in the jewel chest that the Lord has given us a ministry is the little hymn book that we enjoy in our assembly meetings and those little thoughts that.
The Spirit of God has given us in the hymn book often teach us the truth. Now it's the word that has authority. It's not the hymn book, is it? But we thank the Lord that in putting together that hymn book thoughts have been gathered up which are a.
Precious for our souls dwells in his bosom, knoweth all that in that bosom lies and came to earth to make it known.
Revealed God and it says there in that 18th verse no man hath seen God at any time. No man can see God and live.
But God has manifested Himself, and in the person of the Son he's come down and revealed God.
And open up heaven too, so that the whole character of John's gospel is of the family. God had one son, his only begotten, and he wanted more. And he gets son every as we have enjoyed so much as many as received him to them gave the right to become the children of God. So God gets sons and He's bringing us to heaven.
Meanwhile, he wants us to enjoy heaven.
This witness, John the Baptist, says in the third chapter a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. We've got something from heaven here and it reveals God. And so the book here is of the family and heavenly in character, and for that reason it doesn't mention the ordinances. Neither baptism nor the Lord's Supper did we get in, John. They're not necessary in heaven.
That's what makes this gospel so sweet, to enjoy the family relationship.
And to enjoy heaven ahead of time, as revealed in that Son who came down and declared him.
And in John's Gospel, especially revealing God and his character, his Father's, 118 times, it is in this football. 118. Yeah. And so that was where the sun ever dwelt. This is written after it speaks of the Lord's incarnation. So even though the Lord Jesus was walking through this world.
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And meeting all the very circumstances and needs down here still at the same time He was dwelling in the bosom of the Father, that was his dwelling place. And I love that that he referred to later on in the chapter those two disciples.
I suppose we'll get to it a little later.
Jesus and then follow Jesus after John the Baptist spoke, Behold the Lamb of God, and they say, where dwelleth thou? I like to connect that with this verse, very specially that like Brother Clem has mentioned, he dwells in the bosom of the Father, and his purpose in that whole scope of John's gospel is with this purpose in view to.
Reveal to us the bosom of the Father those divine affections they are there for us to enjoy because we now belong to the very family of God. I'd like to take this invitation. Come and see. And everyone was supplied personally this day. What did they do? He said. Come and see. They came, they saw and they dealt with him that day. That's all we have to do, just dwell with the Lord.
Every day.
It's something that is applicable to today just as much as it was then. He didn't give them an address.
A certain St. and a certain number come and see, brethren, applies to you and me today, just as much it is applied.
Those disciples, how can you come? How can I come and see? By following Jesus, reading His word and seeing Him contemplating His glory and following him in the daily circumstances of life, we are going to get to know the Father and those divine affections that the Lord Jesus ever lived in.
Different affairs, a place unknown to the world.
As to the fatherhood of God.
The wonderful truth is that only in Christianity can we address God as Father.
This was not known to any St. in any previous dispensation.
Now there are different aspects to the fatherhood of God when we for instance think of Isaiah the everlasting Father or the Father of eternity.
That is not exactly what we're having in the New Testament or when we think of Ephesians.
Where one God and Father of all.
There we have the father as the originator of everything.
But when it comes of family relationship into which we have been brought through the redemptive work of Christ.
That is only known in Christianity and the Lord Jesus.
Right after he triumphantly arose the very first person that he met.
He conveyed that message through her and a woman of all people.
The one that loved him dearly.
He says, Go on to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my God, your God, my Father, your Father. That's the new relationship.
And people speak of the universal Fatherhood of God and try to, in Christianity, say that that applies to every human being.
What we're talking about in this blessed book in John and in the New Testament elsewhere, is only the portion of those who have been redeemed by the precious Blood of Christ who can buy the Spirit, Cry ABBA, Father.
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'S a tremendous privilege, beloved. To know God in that way is the true knowledge of God.
And anybody who wants to know him in the way that he had revealed himself previously is really not in the good of Christianity, of the truth of Christianity. So what a privilege that is. I'm in the family of God. You know, the writings of John are the most profound in the New Testament.
But what is the beauty about the book is that the language is very simple.
You know you don't have many words.
Spelling out the most profound.
Truth in the word of God.
It's wonderful and that we have this as our treasure. We should enjoy that what we have in this book. And I think Mr. Darby stressed at the end of his life that we should not neglect John's writers, that which speaks of the family as brethren we have.
An understandably been occupied very much with the truth of the Church.
But family truth is such a wonderful blessed truth.
In the Word of God.
The 16 verse two is such a beautiful and precious verse to meditate on Brethren of his fullness. Have all we received and grace for grace of his fullness like to connect it with that verse we get in Colossians chapter 2 and Speaking of the person of Christ.
In verse nine it says.
Or in him that is in Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and then verse 10 And ye are complete. In him is the head of all principality and power.
Dear Brethren, we will never get into a situation, into a set of circumstances where we cannot count on his fullness while we're down here in this world. Never. And we need to have that reaffirmed to our hearts. So often we get into troubles into our lives individually, we get into troubles in our lives, in our collective testimony.
And we try to turn to one and another. And God has given gifts in His church. We do not despise that. But may we first of all know what it means to turn to Him Who in whom dwells all fullness. Never will there be a lack, There's a lack in us in appropriating that fullness for our need. But I often.
Feel in my own soul, brethren, that problems that God allows in my life become bigger and bigger and bigger because I try to use my own human wisdom. And God has declared that in Christ Christ must have the preeminent place, and that is what he is working in his people today. Whether it is in an individual way or whether it is in the collective way, Christ must have the preeminent place.
He will have in that future day, and God is working that in us now. May the Lord give us when there are troubles and there are troubles, we cannot deny it, brethren. We cannot hide our heads in the sand. But when these troubles come, not to be going to sources of human wisdom, but to be going to Him, to get into His presence, to know what it means to humble ourselves before Him, to search His Word, to be exercised in His presence.
Because in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and we are complete in Him. No human wisdom necessary there, brethren. No, He is sufficient for every circumstance. And as some brothers said, we're the pathway of faith 10,000 times more difficult than it is now.
We have sufficiency in that one in whom all fullness dwells.
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And that's efficiency. Beloved is in His grace.
Or grace you have received, and the law was given by Moses. But grace and truth came or subsist in the Lord Jesus Christ. It had its beginning here. And he is the embodiment of the grace of God, working in the midst of evil for the good of his objects of his love. So the fullness that we receive is the grace that the Lord Jesus Christ brought from the Father's bosom.
The better rendering of verse 16 at the end is grace upon grace.
We have not received grace because we have shown grace, or grace, poor grace, but grace upon grace. Mountains of grace are available for the believer in him in whom all fullness dwells.
Just like to amplify a little bit what has been said about the.
Come and see aspect of this.
It is not something that we learn academically.
And sometimes young people say, well, what's wrong with seminaries and Bible schools?
Well, let's put it in perspective. We thank God for all faithfulness in communicating the truth of God, but the that isn't the way that God has.
Has ordained that we learn truth. Truth is to be learned.
And experimented on the basis of come and see.
And there's a great danger to our souls in getting our heads ahead of our affections and our feet.
And I believe that we need to remember that because there are people who intellectually take hold of things and they don't know what it means to come and see.
And so God's invitation to us in connection with these things is to come and see. And the other side of it is so important, is that no truth in Scripture is ever separated from the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why it says the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father He has declared him. We want to know the Father. We must.
Be in touch with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one who has declared it and it isn't going to be in piling up books. And and I have lots of books and I enjoy my books and I just had the pleasure of moving them from one place in the house to the other and lovingly dusting them off and and renewing my interest in one and another of them and and thinking I ought to reread that one, you know and they're all precious. I thank the Lord for them. But.
It isn't an academic pursuit that God calls us to, but to the enjoyment of the truth.
And to the actual coming into contact with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Come and see, was what the Lord Jesus said. And Philip says the same thing to Nathaniel. And come and see where the Lord Jesus is, is really what it means. And beloved, the truth of God according to God's thoughts is learned in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
And we know that that is in the assembly.
The tendency is to start seminars.
On shepherding, on teaching and evangelization.
Beware. Before long, we're going to have a Bible school.
The truth of God is to be learned in the assembly, in the presence of the Lord Jesus. When Christians started meeting simply in the name of the Lord Jesus giving him his place in the midst, that's when this book was opened up, and that's when the truth of God was brought out. That we still enjoy. And I'm not at all embarrassed to tell you that what I.
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Am presenting to God's people today, I have learned from others.
And I'm not embarrassed because I'm really in the same position as Timothy. And I'm not saying that I don't still have to learn, but we learn in the presence of the Lord Jesus. I enjoy it very much. What Mr. Barry pointed out some time ago, I heard him pointed out more than once.
In the 21St chapter of Luke.
The first thing that was opened was the eyes of those two underweight to Emmaus?
And the scriptures were opened.
And then when he was in the midst, the understanding was over. And I think that's the way we learn, beloved, and that it all is in connection with the Lord Jesus being in the way with them. First their eyes were opened, the Scriptures were opened, their eyes were opened, and then their understanding. So beloved, let us beware. We might mean very well.
In separating the teaching of the truth from the assembly.
But we must insist that this is God's order for communicating the truth.
With Christ in the midst as the head, to be able to instruct by the Spirit through whomsoever he will.
The.
Lord Jesus Christ dwelling in the bosom of the Father.
The very instrument that God has used to give us this precious truth experience the dwelling where Jesus wants. In the 13th of John. The very identical expression is used of the one who wrote this book under the power of the Spirit of God. And if you'll check Mr. Darby's translation, you'll see.
In reference to John, who is in the bosom of Jesus now very much enjoy thinking that the same intimate relationship that God the Father enjoyed with the Son as the sun dwelling in the Father's bosom, you and I.
And intimate associates of the Lord Jesus Christ can be in his bosom. And in that case, John simply says the one who Jesus loved. And that beloved is not just an example of humility for us, although it's certainly a good example, but it's the word of God being couched in terms so that you and I, by the Spirit of God, can apply it to ourselves.
We are they who Jesus loves, and we can enjoy the intimacy of communion in the bosom of Jesus.
This morning our brother Tony Nenekovan was pointing out to me a verse. I'd like to suggest we read it now in Habakkuk.
I think it bears on the subject. Come and see.
In the second chapter of Habakkuk.
And the first verse.
I will stand upon my watch and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto me. Now this is the prophet, I suppose. But it should be you and I. We're in heavenly truth. We're helping the Tower. What is he saying to us? Come and see. Pay attention to the word of God. Oh, it's heavenly truth we're getting.
To learn of that person who has so many titles in this very chapter, and going on in the 19th verse, we turn now to the record that John bear when the Jews sat priests and Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him Who art thou?
Now, before we go on, let's turn to the 8th chapter. We find that the Lord was asked that question. Who art thou? We need to know who the Lord is. He's revealed all through this book.
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And it bears on the first part of our chapter, the answer the Lord gives in John 8.
Verse 25.
Then said they unto him, They're asking Jesus, who art thou?
He gives an answer. Magnificent.
Goes right along with what we had on Saturday, Jesus said unto him, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning, that is, he and what he said were synonymous. The living word and the written word are the same.
The thing no one else could say that so that in the.
14th chapter He says I am the Way, the truth, and the life. The truth is that declaration. And we just had the 18th verse, the only begotten son which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him so. This is where this is how we learned the truth and we'll never learn it except where the truth is unlike what the Irishman said.
You'll never find anything but where it is.
Simple axiom. And that's so with the truth.
Is Christ divided as one of the strongest questions in all the Bible?
This is what's been said Now John takes up and he says he confessed and denied not, but confessed. I am not the Christ. He had a mission to announce the Messiah, the king that had been promised to Israel.
He came, and John faithfully carried out his mission so beautifully. He just said I'm a voice, This book is so wonderful of John.
There was a forerunner, and there was a follower.
It ends up with the follower John that begins with the forerunner John. Both of them magnificently hid themselves.
John the trap to said I'm just a voice. He says in the third chapter he must increase, I must decrease John the follower. John the Apostle never mentioned himself. He just said the disciple whom Jesus loved. What examples we have in these two jobs, the forerunner and the follower.
I have a question about what you said, Heinz.
You might want to clarify that a little bit, because I have to tell you the truth, that most of what I learned about the truth I learned in the bathroom and behind a set of tires, the place that I worked and in my car and in 3:00 in the morning at night from the word of God and the books that I read, not from the assembly. And it sounds as if you're saying that if you don't get it there, you won't get it. And I have to say as well that many of the people that I know that have been gathered learned the truth in a Bible study or someplace, one-on-one in their home in the middle of the night.
And then they wanted to come and see where this was carried out. But it sounds as if you're saying that you can't learn it and you don't learn it right, unless you're there. And maybe you're not saying that, but I would like to. Well, I think it's a good thing you mentioned that because certainly.
The Lord has raised up here and there's fear of service is not just in the assembly.
You know, and those who are gifted to kids.
Have been able to be a help to those in college meetings and so on.
And but what we have to recognize is that.
The truth has been recovered.
When the Lord Jesus was given his place.
As headed and the tendency seems to be when weakness increases in the assembly. And you know, unfortunately many times there is little food in the assembly.
And we have to admit that. And the tendency is that we despise the assembly even instead of getting before the Lord, and humble ourselves. Why is there so little food in the assembly? But remember, there was a famine in the land and.
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Naomi and her family went to Moab, but they left the place where the Lord had said his name and.
What I'm contending for is let us not, when we recognize weakness in the Assembly, substitute man's ways, and neglect, or perhaps even despise the Assembly. There is a safeguard in connection with the truth being brought out in the Assembly.
If I, as an individual, take it upon myself to teach others, there's always the danger that.
If I'm wrong and something there's no correction, but you know, in the assembly the reading readings are so valuable. If I express something that is not wrong or right, there are others there to correct, or if I say something that isn't complete, like you bring out another side, you know that's the value of a reading meeting, that somebody might express a thought, but it isn't complete.
Then others bring out other things, but I think the tendency is and you see that.
With even among brethren, there are there's a Bible school now, or several. I might not be right there.
Where they have taken away the center and try to teach outside of the assembly. That's my fear and I like to encourage us to work within the God-given institution and it does not.
Hinder an individual who is qualified to reach out to others outside of the assembly to do that, but it is always with the aim to bring them to the Assembly. And isn't it true that those of us who have been gathered?
From other circles and so on, much we have learned after we were in that place.
You know the Lord can use efforts of faithful men laboring outside of the assembly, but the assembly is.
According to God's thoughts, the place where the truth should be upheld.
And the pillar and ground of the truth is the assembly, not individuals.
That's the version height, but very important on this subject. The Church does not teach, she is taught. But the Church is there to support the truth, and there has to be this safeguard or you won't end up with the truth.
It's it's the divine way where the Spirit of God and the person of Christ in the midst is there to guard and to support the truth in that verse. It's the truth. There is a difference between truth and the truth. The truth has been given to us.
Now, can we hold it? I think what's been said is very helpful on that point. We ought to go on with John the Baptist still. And he says I'm not the Christ. He wasn't that.
He wasn't Elias. He wasn't that prophet.
Now these who he was talking to knew the Old Testament.
They knew that Christ was coming. They knew the Messiah was coming. Is that you, John? Are you that? No.
Elijah, But he was going to come back. That was prophesied.
And then Moses in the 18th of Deuteronomy, said, a prophet like unto me, shall the Lord your God raised up. These weren't ignorant people he was talking to. They had known the Old Testament. John said, no, I'm not any one of those. He was just the voice. And to get ready for the king. He's coming now. He came. John announced him, He came and he wasn't received. We've already had that.
He was refused.
But God has never defeated any purposes and plans and counsel.
The king is coming again.
I suggest that it's time to pronounce.
To preach the gospel of the Kingdom. We do preach it when we warn of judgment. Coming get ready for the King. But we preach the gospel of the grace of God. At least we preach the Kingdom, the kingdoms coming. We preach the gospel of the grace of God. But we do preach the Kingdom.
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We're getting near a time when John's preaching must come forth after we're gone After we're gone.
Verse 29.
They have gone saying, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. He publicly announces who that one is, then going down to verse 36.
And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. He wasn't publicly announcing him. I believe he is meditating on who that blessed one was, the Lamb of God. And the effect was his disciples Leave John and follow that one who is the Lamb of God.
Brother Lloyd, would you allow a slate correction to that statement? And that is, it's always touched my heart that it doesn't say they left John. And I think it's important to call attention to that because when when we follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't leave the company of John because that's what he was doing. And a brother called that to my attention many years ago.
And I've treasured it ever since that it just says that they followed Jesus. And I believe that's in keeping with the thought and the ministry of John is that he's so magnified the person of Christ that people follow Jesus. But in doing that, did they leave John's company? I don't believe so. As a practical thing, they were no longer disciples of John formally.
They of course became attached to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. But we're not looking to build up a company of followers anyway, are we? If we're true hearted ministers of Christ, our desire will be to so set Christ before souls that they will follow Jesus. But in so doing, do we lose their company? No, it increases and enhances the fellowship that we have with them. I don't mean to be technical about it, Brother Lloyd, but I've just always enjoyed that point that if we.
Follow if we announce Christ in such a way that souls are attracted to him.
And follow him. We don't lose their company.
It seems to me that this wonderful statement in verse 29, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, is all comprehensive and carries us clear over to the 21St of Revelation, another book that John wrote.
When righteousness dwells, we've had.
The sun dwelling in the bosom of the Father, and He had a place on earth.
And.
Now this wonderful statement. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. There in Revelation 21 it says, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them. They shall be his people, and God shall be his with them and their God tears are wiped away and they never come back. That's because sin is fully removed. Finally. Now we get our sins removed.
When we believe a gospel like we heard the last two nights and sins are gone, but the roots still there, we lose that one. He calls us out of this thing, the atom. Nature. And God's going to go ahead and test this out of nature for another thousand years. The millennium's coming. The next chapter brings us into it, typically and wonderful how God, impatience, wakes and works and seeks.
And saves and brings into blessing one after another. He gets followers and he's not done with man. When he takes us up to heaven, he's still going to work for another 1000 years.
And righteousness is going to reign, but sin is not fully removed from the earth until you get to the eternal state. So I suggest that this verse comprehend clear going over to the eternal state.
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I'd like to connect that with the hymn that says all faint of sin shall be removed, all evil done away, and we shall dwell with God's beloved through God's eternal day. That's really when that will be brought fully to pass, isn't it?
The face of this the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross, but when you see him taking the book of the hand of him that sits upon the throne.
At the title deed to the earth the.
It's the Lamb that takes the book. And what is that book all about? Judgments which will purge the earth and prepare the earth for the glorious rain and.
In John's gospel, we do not have the Lord Jesus presented as the sin offering, and that is good to keep in mind even when we read this verse like the 29th verse.
It has really more than anything else, reference to that which he is doing because of the work of redemption. And we'll be doing as it has been pointed out. And but then in verse 35 we just have the simple beautiful statement. Behold the Lamb of God, God's Son, beloved, the one that has been presented in this chapter as.
Eternally being the Son from all eternity.
He is the Lamb of God.
And it took such a person to settle everything.
To the full satisfaction of God. We really have the burden offering aspect in John's gospel without dwelling too much on that, but that's the side brought out in John.
Everything settled for the glory of God by the Lamb of God.
Like to think too that this 29th verse is the answer that we get in Genesis 22 to Isaacs question.
They were going up to Mount Moriah.
Abraham to OfferUp Isaac for a burnt offering. And Isaac, says, my father, behold the fire and the wood. But where is the land for burnt off? That question runs through the whole of the Old Testament. Thousands, hundreds of thousands of animals were sacrifices.
Where is the lamb? Abraham's answer was simply God will provide himself a lamb for burnt offering. Here's the answer, John seeing Jesus says Behold, the Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world.
I sometimes like to think of the contrast between the 29th verse and the 36th verse in how we say it. And sometimes we read, perhaps read it very similarly. But I like to illustrate it this way. I believe in the 29th verse. John said, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world, and I believe on the next day after.
Looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
Behold, the Lamb of God, my father-in-law, many years ago received a letter from Ernie Wakefield that he treasured very much.
In which Ernie said that.
He enjoyed the fact that it was the next day after that. John was still in the enjoyment of that.
My father-in-law shared it with me and I I treasured that thought too over the years that it was the next day after. So often we have a day when we are together, such as yesterday and or even today. But what about the next day after? Are we still in the enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ? And it was looking upon him as he walked, looking upon him as he walked.
That he said that Behold the Lamb of God, there's a similar thing I believe in Heaven opened for Steven to look up and see.
Up there in heaven, just before he went in, in the 7th of Acts, just to get it accurately, it first tells us what he saw.
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55 is about Stephen, but he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly into heaven, saw what the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And then he talks.
He says, Behold, I see the heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Not a thing about the glory. The person is the glory and the person is the glory here and the person and the work can't be separated. And when we preach the gospel, we preach salvation through the person of Christ, and we preach salvation through the work of Christ.
The one that did it's even greater than his work.
John says I knew him not. I believe it's important to see that John did not have an inside track on knowing who this was because he was a a relative of the Lord Jesus.
This has to be communicated by God, doesn't it? So he says I knew him, not.
Except.
John bear witness, and says, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and in a boat upon him. And I knew him not, but he that sent to baptize with water. The same said unto me, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending, and remaining on him the same as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw.
And bear record that this is the Son of God. And I believe that you got a similar thing with Peter in the 16th of Matthew, where the Lord says to him, Blessed art thou Simon Barjona, after his wonderful confession he said, Flesh and blood has not revealed it to me, but my Father, which is in.
In Heaven has rebuilt duty, and that's the same thing we get here that John did not have any kind of a special inside track. It had to be by divine revelation from the Father.
Could we see in this poppy I saw this bear descending from heaven like a dog and a vote upon him?
Something of the spinless humanity of Christ. When the Spirit descended in Acts Two, it was cloven tongues of a fire. There's that enough which needs to be judged. But here it was like a dog, and it abode upon him. And the Lord Jesus received the spirit, and blood did not need to be applied.
That's another fact that shows how holy and perfect that person is. Now he is the one that baptizes with the Holy Ghost. But before he can do that, he has to go to Calvary's cross and we have to come under the sprinkling of the blood. The blood has to be applied. You know, there are two pictures in the Old Testament.
That chose the work of God typically in US, and that is when the priest was dedicated. We find that he was given a bath and that never needed to be repeated, although he had to daily wash his hands and his feet. That his new birth beloved.
We're only once born again.
And then the blood was applied, and then the spirit given, and we also find it with the cleansing of the leper.
And how beautiful these pictures are to illustrate the truth of Scripture. And that's how we are brought into blessing. But I do believe it is good to make clear that the baptism of the Spirit in the New Testament is not a continuous thing.
The baptism of the Spirit is something that takes place and has taken place on the day of Pentecost, and it is wrong to apply that to what takes place in the individual believer.
And this is important to stress, because there's obviously confusion on that issue amongst the Saints of God. And why is that important? Because the Pentecostals.
00:55:09
Much of their doctrine on the misunderstanding of this very point.
And not to go into any left more lengthy, but.
The Baptism of the Spirit has formed the Church on the day of Pentecost, and when the individual receives the Spirit in the Word of God, it is spoken of as being sealed with the Spirit. We are added to that which was formed by the Baptism of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost.
And is in existence ever since.
When they go see it first, there's three questions presented to John about himself.
And the first one he gives A5 word answer.
I am not the Christ. The second time he's asked, he gives a three word answer. I am not.
And the third time he's asked, he simply says no. I think there's a real lesson in that for the servant of the Lord that it is not attracting to self that has any benefit in presenting the Lord Jesus. And in fact, John seems almost to have been uncomfortable with the continued questions about himself. He had nothing of himself to present or that he had interest in. He turns to another and he presents someone else, the Lord Jesus.
And then when he sees and it says, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world, And he goes on to elaborate on that. And we have no record of its effect upon others. But then when he's simply in the enjoyment of his own soul, contemplating the Lord Jesus, it doesn't tell us When he says, behold the Lamb of God, that he was even speaking to anyone else, he did obviously say it out loud.
And it was the attraction of his own heart, in the view of his own soul, and the enjoyment.
Of the Lord Jesus as he contemplated him, it says about two others. They heard him, they heard him say it and they followed Jesus, and I believe that oftentimes that.
Really. The source that the Lord?
And that is.
The personal enjoyment of our own souls of the Lord Jesus speaks far more loudly than all the understanding we may have, or even all the effort that we can put forward to tell another He did speak. It was necessary, He.
But at the same time.
God is pleased to tell us the point at which others follow the Lord.
That was when they.
Saw in John that enjoyment of the Lord Jesus, and it caused them to follow him himself.
They often want their concerning John that he ever realized until he was sitting in the.
Prison. How very profound his statement was.
Ben He must.
Increase I must decrease.
Sometimes we are.
Our enthusiasm, our joy, we make statements that are.
Right like that.
We don't realize how God tests us sometimes about those things.
And it was a very severe test for him on the Lord sustained him in the death.
But it was the ultimate.
And was the ultimate of what he had said himself.
He must increase.
God and his wisdom allowed John to be taken.
Totally out of the picture.
Are we willing for that?
In order that Christ might be magnified. It's a very searching thing, isn't it?
14 The best brother Don spoken on this.
If we have in our chapter an example what Paul said in verse 19.
Yet in the church I had rather speak 5 words with my understanding that my voice might teach others also. Then 10,000 words in an unknown time. Do you think they have an example what you're saying? Dogs.
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Like to make a comment perhaps for some of the young people here.
It was a real help to my own soul some years ago, right? Perhaps the last summer before the Lord took him home, Brother Armstead Barry was at a conference like this and he made a comment that to me was very helpful.
Brother Armstead Barry.
Had been gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus for oh, I don't remember but 80 some years at that point I think. And he had was well known for his understanding of the truth and the things of God and walking with the Lord. And when he talked about, he made some comments about studying or reading the word of God. And to me it was very remarkable looking at that man thinking well, he's going to say something about enjoying.
He's been through the Gospels many times and he understands them. And now he's gone through the epistles many times in his life, and I suppose he presently studying some aspect of the minor prophets in Havoc or Zephaniah or somewhere. But he made this comment, he said. Brethren, I have found from my own soul the need every day to read in the Gospels, every day to read in the Gospels.
And there is here in our chapter in the example of John in the expression come and see and in the enjoyment that John had, and even the writer John the Apostle who was writing the that what John describes is a record of the life of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what John saw was the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And I believe that what Brother Barry was saying was every day I, my soul, need to sit down and contemplate this person. And the way that we contemplate the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is when we sit down with our Bible in our hands, quietly in the presence of the Lord Jesus, and meditate upon himself through the record that the Spirit of God has been given to us.
And so, as yesterday afternoon, as an example, we had before us the woman that was taken in the act of adultery, and she's brought face to face with her accusers and the Lord Jesus Christ. And what do we see as we read that record and we contemplate it? We see a man full of grace and truth. We see a record of grace and truth in a way that.
Perhaps we're unable to describe it to one another. Perhaps we're not even able to teach it, and as a matter of doctrine. But when we sit in our own enjoyment and fellowship with the Lord Jesus himself, then to our hearts is a revelation of the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that controls our lives. It controls our lives what we enjoy.
And what our affections are taken up with is that which is the control of our lives. And that's what the apostle John so found, that he doesn't even speak about himself and his epistle or in his gospel. And it's what we're looking at here in the person of John the Baptist, one whose own heart was so taken up with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that, as we know, there was none greater than he of all the servants of God.