About the show

 Transcript

The following program is provided by Renew Your Mind Ministries. Welcome to Renewing Your Mind with the Word of God radio program an in depth study of the Word of God. The program name is from Romans 12:2 which says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Welcome back to the program of renewing your mind with the Word of God. We’re going to pick up in the book of John chapter one. And if the Lord says the same, we are going to get through verses 29 through 51, which will complete the first chapter of the book of John. But before we get into those recap what we covered in the last program, and that was in John chapter one, verses 16, through 28. And if you miss that program, or the program before that, where we actually got in or started the book of John, please do not hesitate to contact me via email, that is renewyourmind, the letter M as in mary@gmail.com, that’s r.e.n.e.w. y. o u. r.m.i.n.d. as in David, m, as in mary@gmail.com, you can email me at that address. And I will send you the link where you can download the programs to previous programs, and you can listen to it at your leisure. And I would also encourage you to share the link or the downloads with others. If the Lord says the same, the ultimate goal is to have a website or an app that I could point you to or you can download, and that way, you won’t have to email me to get the previous recordings, but we’re not there at this point. And if you have a background or expertise in developing websites or apps, please contact me regarding assisting me in that matter. And again, that’s renew your mind, the letter M as in Mary@gmail.com. But recapping from the last program from John chapter one, verses 16 through 28. We talked about John, telling us that Jesus came to give us grace, and he gives us grace. And Grace, as we talked about grace is being given what you do not deserve. And that is ultimately God and Jesus’s love and His salvation, given our disobedience to God given our fallen human nature due to Adam’s sin, original disobedience to God, we do not deserve his love and His salvation and His mercy and His grace that he offers those who believe in him, but he ought he gives it to us everyday. Everyday. We also talked about or John talked about in this in the in the previous program in verses 16 to 28. How Moses brought the ministry of the Law, as you may recall from Leviticus, and Exodus where God gives to Moses for his, the people of Israel, the Jewish, the people of Jew of the Jewish people. His various laws, most common ones that we talked about or read about are the 10 commandments, but there are other laws that ultimately God gave Moses to give to his people. And those laws showed us as human beings, our transgression against God, how sinful we are. However, on the other hand, John tells us that Jesus is foreshadowing that Jesus ministry is going to be a ministry of forgiveness, that by His sacrifice, by offering his perfect and righteous and godly blood for our sins, that he’s going to God through Jesus is going to open opportunity to have forgiveness for our sins. And also we were introduced to a group of people, the Sadducees and the Pharisees is important to know who these people or groups of people are because we’re going to see them in this chapter. Again and again as they are coming still opposing the ministry of Jesus and Jesus Himself. And so let’s recap who these individuals are. The Sadducees was a group of, actually a political group of blue blood, non spiritual people. They rejected or did not believe in the idea of the resurrection. In other words, at the end of time, the Jews had believed at the end of time, or what they call the last days that ultimately the believers would be resurrected to live forever with God. Well, the Sadducees those group of people’s people did not believe in the resurrection. And they viewed the laws of Moses to be taken for figuratively instead of literally, so it was more of a political group than a religious group. Now the religious group were the Pharisees. They were known because they studied and knew the law of Moses fanatically. And on top of that, they would ultimately introduce hundreds of additional rules and laws beyond what God gave Moses to give to the people, for the people to live by. And they prided themselves on following the law, which we will see later on they did, they did not, but that what they prided themselves on and talk to the other, people taught the other Jews and chastise them for not following the law, which they were not doing. But that’s the persona that he gave to the people. They were very scholarly, extremely moral and legalistic. These were the educated religious class of that day. And we see them early in the chapter in the book of John, where they approach John the Baptist, this is not the same John that wrote this book that John, the disciple is telling the story of John the Baptist, in this book and others how, when John, when God when God called John out of the wilderness, to start to prepare the people for the coming of Jesus, or to start off his ministry by instructing them to repent of their sins and be baptized, particularly Jews, the Jewish people, the people of Israel, and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, as we talked about wanting to know, under what authority and and why was he doing this? Because he was not a part of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And why was he instructing Jews to be to repent and be baptized, that was usually something reserved for non Jews who converted to Judaism, because they considered them as unclean. And so the baptism ritual was considered part of the conversion process to make them clean. Because they thought of that time was because due to their lineage to Abraham, that they were, they were all right by God, because God had chosen them as His people. And the mere fact that they had, they were related to Abraham, that they were all right with God. And, and there was, so there was no need to do this cleansing ritual of baptism. So we’ve talked about that last week. And so let’s pick up where we left off from last week, which is, again, we are in the book of John, and we’re going to first read through verses 29 through 51, and then come back and break them down. And I am going to be reading today from the contemporary English version. As I said, in one of the programs, if you’re reading a Bible, that you do not understand the wording, particularly the New Testament, where they still using words like thou and thee and in other words that you don’t understand, because when that particular version of the New King James was printed, that’s how the English speaking world spoke. But as you know, we don’t speak that way today. And so there have been updated translations from the original Greek, Hebrew and Aramic languages to in the format in which we speak today. And I encourage you to get a Bible or version of the Bible that you can actually read and understand what happened without trying to figure out in your mind, what do they mean by this thou and thee and, English that we don’t use any more. I remember, as a young Christian, and probably my early teens, somewhere around that age, I struggled to read the New Testament, excuse me, the Bible and the King James version because it didn’t use Old English language that I was not accustomed to speaking or reading, but I read it and one day out discovered the NIV, the New International Version of the Bible, and it was like breathtaking refresh a breath of air because I could actually I could read the Bible writtenin the language or in the style in which we talked today, and I wouldn’tg have to struggle with words that I’m not used to seeing and have to slow down my reading to try to figure out what exactly what they were understanding. And it was during that time, there was no such thing as the internet, you had available to you what was in your household, and in most households during that time, the version that I was aware of anyway, was the King James Version, I didn’t even know there were other versions out there. And I can’t remember exactly how I ran across the New International Version, or the NIV version. But I tell you, it was a blessing to me. And so I would advise anyone don’t don’t struggle through a version of the Bible that you can’t understand. Get you a version in which you can read us enough. That’s in the style of way we talk and read at our printed today. And when you look at a version, get a version that is a a word to word translation, not one of these paraphrase Bibles, because when their paraphrasing that they believe the scriptures mean, then you’re subject to what they think they may mean, and it may not be the case. So you want to do first pray about to God to which version you should use. Because of different versions out there. There’s the NIV version as the Amplify version, the New American Standard Version, and for the day’s purposes, I’m going to be reading from the Contemporary English version. But no, put your hands on a, a version yet you can read and do read it. God has given us His word in the Bible, and is not there to sit on a table and collect dust or you can download it now in his date, day and age of technology, you can download apps and usually in those apps, you can select the version that you would like to read a particular scripture. And even with the King James now they offered the New King James version where they have updated the the style of writing without changing the interpretation or changing the literal interpretation from the Hebrew, Greek in Aramic languages that you can now read. So I encourage you to do that to read the Bible. As again, the name of this program is called Renewing Your Mind with the Word of God and how do we renew our mind as the title says with the Word of God. So we have to read the Word of God, we have to study the Word of God because if we want to have a relationship with Him, and we want to know who he is who he has shown himself to be. It’s all in His Word. And so so we want to study the Word of God. Alright, so let’s read verses, we’re going to be in the book of chapter, John chapter one, verses 29 through 51. We’re going to read those and then come back, starting with verse 29. The next day, John saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the one I told you about when I said, someone else will come, he is greater than I am, because he was alive before I was born. I didn’t know who he was. But I came to baptize you with water, so that everyone in Israel would see him. I was there and saw the Spirit come down on him like a dove from heaven. And the Spirit stayed on him. Before this, I didn’t know who he was. But the one who sent me to baptize with water had told me, you will see the Spirit come down and stay on someone, then you will know that he is the one who will baptized with the Holy Spirit. I saw this happen. And I tell you that he is the Son of God. Picking up in verse 35. The next day, John was there again, and two of his followers were with him. When he saw Jesus walking by he said, Here is the Lamb of God. John’s two followers heard him and they went with Jesus. Verse 38. When Jesus turned and saw them, he asked, What do you want? They answered, Rabbi, where do you live? The Hebrew word Rabbi means teacher. Verse 39, Jesus replied, Come and see. It was already about four o’clock in the afternoon when they went with him and saw where he lived. So they stayed on for the rest of the day. One of the two men who had heard John and had gone with Jesus was Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother and tell him, We have found the Messiah. The Hebrew word Messiah, means the same as the Greek Greek word, Christ. Verse 42, and you brought his brother to Jesus. And when Jesus saw him, he said, Simon, son of John, you will be called Cephas. This name can be translated as Peter. The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. There he met Philip, who was from Bethsaida, the town of Andrew and Peter. Jesus said to Philip, come with me. Philip then found Nathanael you and said, We have found the one that Moses and the prophets wrote about. He’s Jesus, the son of Joseph, from Nazareth. Nathanael, you ask, Can anything good come from Nazareth? Philip answered, come with me. Verse 47, when Jesus saw Nathanael you coming toward him, he said, Here is a True Descendant of our ancestor, Israel, and he isn’t deceitful. Verse 48. How do you know me? John answered before excuse me, Jesus, Jesus answered, Before Philip called you. I saw you under the fig tree, verse 49. Then Nathanael said, Rabbi, You are the Son of God, and the king of Israel. Verse 50, Jesus answered, did you believe me just because I said that I saw you under the fig tree, you will see something even greater. I tell you for certain that you will see heaven open, and God’s angels coming up and down on the Son of Man. That’s verse 51. Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, in the mighty name of Jesus, we thank you today for this opportunity to acknowledge you as God, to worship you and to praise you in which we do. Father God, we thank you for this time to better study Your Word. Lord, Your word, as you know, can be difficult for us to understand. So we ask in the mighty name of Jesus, only begotten Son, that you open our ears, open our hearts, open our eyes to see, read and understand your word. Father, God, in the mighty name of Jesus asked, Could you use me as a vessel to teach your word, Lord, if I say anything that is not of you let it be cast in the sea of forgetfulness that your people may not be harmed. Lord is by the power of the Holy Spirit that you use me to say the things that you would have to be said today. And we thank you for it. We thank you. For all listeners, oh, Lord, we thank you that we have an opportunity to even study your word of Lord. And we ask that this word be used for those who have not received your son, as their Lord and Savior, that it may come by that made it be used by your faith, they ultimately come to salvation by accepting that they are sinners and in need of a Savior, and that savior, his only begotten Son Jesus, and that He died for their sins and that you raised Him by the power of the Holy Spirit from death, because death could not hold him because he was perfect, oh Lord, and that they may be saved and come to salvation. Well, we thank you for this time we ask you to bless it in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen, and Amen.

All right, so let’s go back to the book of John, the first chapter, verse 29, which says, The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And this is John the John, the, the disciple, saying what John the Baptist said, when he saw Jesus coming towards him, this occasion of John the Baptist, seeing Jesus would have occurred after Jesus had been baptized by John the Baptist. And after Jesus had what had gone into the wilderness and was tempted by the devil, and how we know this, remember, in the first program, I said that the book of John is a part of the gospel which consists of the book of Matthew, three other books, the book of Matthew, Luke and Mark and we see in lets go there in Matt, where John the Baptist talks about seeing baptizing Jesus in seeing a dove come on him. And the reason why I say that John the Baptist most likely when he said he saw Jesus coming towards him, this was after Jesus had been baptized and had been tempted in a wilderness wilderness, because we’re going to see in verse 32, that John talks about that he saw a dove the land on Jesus, and that’s how he knew he was the Messiah. Now, the book of John does not give us an account of that particular incident of the Holy Spirit coming down and resting on Jesus. But we do see it in the other books of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So let’s look at that quickly. Let’s go to Matthew, chapter three, verse 13. And what we’re looking at, is putting the, the time frame together of when John the Baptist is set, in John, chapter one, verse 29, when John the Baptist said he saw Jesus coming towards him, I’ve made or said that this when he saw him coming toward him, this happened after this would have been after sometime after John the Baptist had baptize Jesus. And we see this in Matthew verses, or excuse me, chapter three verses 13. It says, Jesus left Galilee and went to the Jordan River to be baptized by John, talking about John the Baptist. But John kept objecting, saying, I ought to be baptized by you. Why have you come to me? Verse 15, Jesus answered, for now, this is how it should be. Because we must do all that God wants us to do. Then John agreed, chapter, verse 16. So Jesus was baptized. And as soon as he came out of the water, the sky open, and he saw the Spirit of God coming down on him, like a dove. For 17, then a voice from heaven said, This is my own dear son, and I am pleased with him. And you can also see the same account of this, of John the Baptist, seeing the Spirit of God coming down and resting on Jesus like a dove, and the book of Mark chapter one, verses nine through 11. And in the book of Luke, chapter three, verses 21 through 22. So going back to John, verse 29. So that’s where that’s how we can see when this happen. We also see in verse 29, that in the, what is called the introduction or prologue, John, the author of this book, we give or gives us a few names of Jesus. He says, he start off by saying, Jesus is the word, that Jesus is the light, that Jesus is the Son of God, that Jesus is the Christ. Here in verse 29, we see another name for Jesus, the Lamb of God, which proclaims that Jesus is God’s perfect sacrifice for all a sin offering for the world when he says the Lamb of God in the Jews at that time would have been familiar with the practice of offering a lamb as a sacrifice. Because the Jewish families, Jewish families were required by God, to usually sacrifice a lamb to celebrate the Passover. And with the Passover is a word we can find the Passover is in the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, particularly in chapter 12, verses 22 through 23 where to give you some background on what was happening, the the Jewish people were in bondage in Egypt, and God called Moses out of the wilderness who had actually lived in Pharaoh’s house. But after he, in anger, killed an Egyptian, I was exiled out into the wilderness. And while he was in that wilderness, God spoke to him and said, I have heard the cries of my people, the Jewish people in in Egypt, and I want you to go and tell Pharaoh to set them free because at this time, Pharaoh which was the king of Egypt, had placed the Jewish people in bondage, he was oppressing them. And the Jewish people had cried out to God, save us, rescue us from these terrible taskmaster masters. And so God sent Moses to Egypt to to Pharaoh to let his people go, where naturally Pharaoh refused because they were slaves. He had this free labor, and he was just not going to let them go because Moses came out in the wilderness and let him go. And so God showed His power to Pharaoh by bringing these various plagues on Egypt and said, These things are going to happen unto you obey my commands, Let my people go. And the final one, which got Pharaoh’s attention, in the book of Exodus, I encourage you to read it what God said, I’m going to kill the first son of every human and every animal except my people. And you would avoid this judgment by killing a lamb, and placing the blood of the lamb on the outside post of your door, and my judgment in the form of death will pass over your house. And Moses, he told that the Moses Moses relayed it to the people of Israel, and they did that. And on the night, the spirit of death came to pass judgment on Egypt for their disobedience to God for not allowing his people to be to be freed, the first son of every Egyptians was killed, including Pharaoh’s son. And that’s when he recognized the power of God and submitted to His command. And he let the Jewish people go, and Mo and God gave to Moses the command to forever remember, this act of him passing his judgment over by sacrificing the lamb as the Passover. And from that day forward, even to this day, the Jewish people celebrate the Passover. And so when John the Baptist said that he was the Lamb of God, the Jewish people would have related or better understood the sacrifice or the book, what it meant by saying that he was the Lamb. There was a sacrifice associated with the lamb as far as the Passover. This is the primary reason that the Passover is connected to the symbolism of the death of Christ. Just like that lamb had to die to avoid the judgment of God during the time of God’s judgment on the Egyptian for disobeying Him from when he commanded them to let his people go. That same sacrifice of blood of Jesus is perfect, righteous and holy blood on that cross for our sin. That’s how the two are connected, because Jesus is our perfect sacrifice to avoid the judgment of God. You often hear people talk about, “are you saved?” The question becomes “saved from what?” saved from God’s judgment and his wrath that’s going to come at a time that God is going to judge the world. And he’s going to pour out his wrath. After that judgment, for our disobedience, and our sin nature. However, the good news, and this is what we’re going to see in the book of John and throughout the New Testament, and was predicted in the Old Testament, that for those of us who recognize that we are worthy of God’s judgment in his wrath, because of our disobedience and sin nature, that through faith by accepting Jesus and what he did, on the cross, His sacrifice is spilling of his blood which is demanded by God for disobedience, him taking our place by accepting that, we will avoid God’s judgment and wrath, because, as we will see later on in this chapter in other books, Jesus took our place. He took on God’s judgment and wrath, although he was perfect and sinless. He, that’s what made the sacrifice even better, because he was perfect. He was God’s son, he took on something that he was not deserving because He was sinless, that we may have an opportunity, which is what God demanded, that we may have an opportunity by accepting what he did and accepting Him as our Lord and Savior. That we will not have to go through God’s judgment and his wrath, because when he sees us and our life, he will not see our sins, He will see the blood of His Son. That was our substitute. And as in Psalms 103, and 20. Oh says he, as far as the east from the west, so far as he removed our transgression. So So, what we see Jesus doing, or ultimately gonna see him doing is taking away our sins, while the blood from Passover moving forward, and really before they’re going back to Abraham, the blood of animals while they covered sins, they could not take away our sins. But Jesus’s perfect sacrifice took away our sins. I heard someone explained like that the difference between covering and taken away, let’s say you have a spot in the room, you clean the spot and then eventually there’s still something left and then you cover the spot with a couch or something you can’t see it but you know is there. That’s what the animal sacrifices pretty much represent. And that’s why had to be doing had to be done over and over and over again. But when Jesus gave His holy perfect life, it cleansed it, it wiped it out, it was wiped ….snow. Therefore, there had to be no more sacrifice, because it could not get any better than God’s only begotten Son, sacrificing his life for ours and therefore cleansed it not just covered it up his sacrifice, cleansed it and therefore when we’re going to see when you say the Lamb of God, that what is John the Baptist is alluding to that here comes the person that God has set to sacrifice for our sin, the ultimate sacrifice, the perfect sacrifice. Amen, and Amen. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to cover the rest of chapter one and the book of John in the New Testament, but we will pick up that on next week. But it was important to really go over and spend time on how Jesus is the Lamb of God, that He died for our sins. And if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, now is the perfect time to do so. If you feel in your heart that God has changed your heart to accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior, say this with me, Father God, in your son’s mighty name, I confess that I am a sinner. I confess with my mouth and believe in my heart that you sent your only begotten son as a perfect sacrifice to die for my sins, and that you raised Him from the dead with the power of the Holy Spirit.