John Chapter 1 Verse 29

 John makes an awesome statement. First, he says, “behold.” A word in

the Greek used 27 times in the scripture which 27 is a prime and perfect

number… And it means, “Look, and see!” Look hard enough at Jesus,

the red letters, the witness of John, the math of it all, how the story of

the Biblical gospel not only makes sense but in the company of all other

“why” and “what’s next” offerings, it’s the ONLY one that makes

sense…! So, look hard enough, behold, and you’ll have to conclude,

there’s something about this Jesus! Big old billboard in the middle of

Las Vegas… 2,000 years later and all it says is “Jesus, Returning

Soon!” What if you showed that to Peter or John 2,000 years ago…?

That was my thought at that moment that I saw that…

 How is it that thousands of years later, the world is still talking about

Him, divided over Him, terribly and incredibly affected by Him…,

there’s something about Him! And then look at what He said, what He

did…, sheesh, look in the mirror… We need HIM! Look long enough,

and it doesn’t take long at all, and you will see…

 The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! The Jews

would be well familiar with this idea. It was the Passover that

commemorated a miracle while the Jews were slaves in Egypt, that all

families and households that were under the protection of the lamb slain

would survive the angel of death… And even more than that, would find

freedom in this life!

 Plus, this is a moment of fulfilled prophecy in the highest form! One of

the most powerful and important prophecies of the Bible. All the way

back to Abraham… Abraham loved the Lord but he clung to his son.

The miracle son of promise. Son of his beloved Sarah. Abraham loved

Isaac like only Isaac was in the world and nothing else….

 So, God asked Abraham to give up all that he loved for the sake of

loving God. And Abraham wept. Struggled with it. Was destroyed by

it… Destroyed himself really in the entire ordeal… But he found the

hidden truth within him that he loved God first.

 And so, he takes Isaac out of the home, out of the city and up onto

Mount Moriah. Genesis 22:1-8, “Now it came to pass after these things

that God tested Abraham, and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said,

“Here I am.” Then, He said, “Take now your son, your only son Isaac,

whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a

burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So

Abraham rose early in the morning and saddled his donkey, and took

two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son; and he split the wood

for the burnt offering, and arose and went to the place of which God had

told him. Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the

place afar off. And Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the

donkey; the lad and I will go yonder and worship, and we will come

back to you.”

 “ So, Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his

son; and he took the fire in his hand, and a knife, and the two of them

went together. But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, “My

father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” Then he said, “Look, the fire

and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And

Abraham said, “My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a

burnt offering.” So, the two of them went together.”

 Here, all the way in John chapter 1, 4,000 years ago and 2,000 years

before Jesus, the prophetic word of father Abraham is fulfilled in John’s

sight and statement. Behold, the sacrificial Lamb of God, God Himself,

His only begotten Son, His everything, that takes away the sin of the

world!

John Chapter 1 Verse 30

 Knowing that Jesus was physically younger than John, the statement

that John is making is profound. That Jesus is more than the Man that

was his cousin or that was born to Mary. He is speaking about the

eternal pre-existence of Jesus. That in the beginning…, there was Jesus.

 And John uses a specific word when he calls Jesus the Man… He

doesn’t use the typical Greek word “Anthropos,” he uses the Greek

word, “Aner,” which is actually best translated, “husband,” or how a

lady would speak of her betrothed husband. We use the term fiancé

today, which is essentially the term John uses here for Jesus…, certainly

knowing and hinting that Jesus has come to prepare a bride for Himself,

being the church. Cleansed from all of her sin and prepared fully to go

with Him to His house…

 And this Jesus is preferred before John… To whom? To John! Not to

God! Actually, to God, to Jesus Himself, this is the other way around!

For God so LOVED the world, that He gave His only begotten Son! You

and I were put and preferred above God Himself, as He gave Himself

for you and for me. John is talking about John! And this is entirely

Christian!

 We think Christian is a set of beliefs. What we believe and what we

accept as fact… Not entirely. Because if what we say we believe

doesn’t show up in how we behave, then do we really believe it!? It is

entirely Christian to put Jesus before yourself in all things. In your

thinking, in your private life, in your reactions, decisions,

relationships… If you don’t, or if you don’t even have a wanting

consideration for that, how are you qualifying yourself as Christian?

John Chapter 1 Verses 31 – 32

 John doesn’t give us the scene of Jesus being baptized by John the

Baptist but he does describe some of what happened directly following.

At the baptism scene we have a physical revelation of the Trinity. God

the Father, (and this happened at both the Baptism of Jesus and the

Transfiguration), God the Father speaks from Heaven and says, “This is

My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.” So, we have a

physical revelation of God the Father. We have God the Son there in the

center of the scene, and we have God the Holy Spirit descending from

heaven like a dove, and remaining upon Jesus.

 So, we have God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit all in

one scene, physically. The Holy Triune God who is One yet eternally

and mysteriously existing in three distinct Persons. And, interestingly

enough, this is where Calvary Chapel derived our original downward

dove logo. Which is a Calvary Chapel distinctive and trademark of the

fellowship of churches.

John Chapter 1 Verses 33 – 34

 Ok, so now we get a glimpse of the one on one between John the

Baptist and God prior to John the Baptist’s ministry. Remember, we

talked about this last week, before anyone has any heaven-crowding

God-centered and Christ-serving ministry in public, there is an intense

one on one with the Lord in private. Without that, it’s just a show…

 John makes a statement here that is entirely important. He says that it

will be Jesus who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. The word baptize in the

Greek is to be overwhelmed, to be fully immersed, and I love this one

because it gives a great mind-illustration, it is also the word use for

pickling! HA! Now, I love that, why? Because once you pickle

something, it’s different, right? In fact, it’s pickly! It can never be

unpickly! Whether it’s a cucumber, an onion or pigs’ feet! It’s going to

have that distinct pickle taste… HA!

 Ok, so how is this spiritual? The point is, when you encounter Jesus and

become a Christian, no longer dead in the Spirit but alive in and by the

Spirit, you pickle! Not just something about you changes…, it’s

everything! Your entire flavor! And now you’re suitable to go in a

Chick-Fil-A sandwich! SO HOLY! HA!

 But the point is you’re different. Not from anything that was in you or

from you but what was not of you that now got all up in and throughout

you, and you are just different. Religion can change your behavior.

Information can change your mind. Success can change your situation or

circumstance. But only Jesus can change your heart. And this is the you

inside you!

 Now, baptism of the Holy Spirit is also spoken of in the Bible as a

distinct occurrence of the Holy Spirit…, that happens more than once in

the experience of the Christian. You can get more pickly, once you’re a

pickle. Recall, after Jesus was crucified, the disciples were scattered…

Then, we they get back together, they hide themselves securely behind

locked doors. Not too bold in their faith, right? Then, in John Chapter

20, Jesus comes to them…

 John Chapter 20 Verses 19 – 23, “Then, the same day at evening, being

the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples

were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the

midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this,

He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad

when they saw the Lord. So, Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you!

As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this,

He breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you

forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of

any, they are retained.”

 This was the giving of the Holy Spirit to these select few before the day

of Pentecost. And this bit about forgiving the sins of others is not giving

them god-innate abilities because only God can forgive the sin that

was committed against Him, but rather it is saying that now, having

eyes open, heart enlightened by the indwelling presence of the Holy

Spirit, they will know other pickles by discernment of the Holy Spirit!

So, if someone says their repentant but no fruit, call them out! Call them

to true repentance! He wasn’t commissioning them as God; he was

commissioning them FOR God!

 But this was the moment, the first time in all of time, that the Holy Spirit

enters the broken, sin-darkened heart of men, not to empower for a

moment as in Samson or David or Isaiah or Daniel, but to abide!

Because what was hindering, the darkness of sin, had been defeated by

the cross of Christ… But wait…, there’s more….

 Same group of people, different scene and even different, a furtherance

of, ministry! Acts 1: 4 – 5, “Being assembled together with them, He

commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the

Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; for

John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy

Spirit not many days from now.”

 Then, Acts 1:8, “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come

upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all

Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The first ministry

being the ministry of salvation, discernment, wisdom, knowledge,

understanding and encouragement. But they stayed behind locked doors.

The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit but still more pickling to do!

 Then Acts Chapter 1, the promise of the baptism of the Holy Spirit

given, (fulfilled in Acts Chapter 2 by the way at the day of Pentecost),

and Jesus says when this happens, you will be receive POWER and you

shall be witnesses to Me. The word for witness in the Greek is

“martys,” where we get our word martyr, but the word isn’t only about

losing your life for a cause. It’s actually much more about GIVING your

whole life for a truth…

 The same word is used of one taking the stand in a courtroom as a

witness of another. This is the baptism of the Holy Spirit which John

spoke about and then Jesus spoke about that we all need to live alive, a

living record of Jesus Christ, but it’s both obvious and also

mysterious…, not all experience! I know plenty of Christians that have

zero power in their faith. Barely make it to church once or twice a

month… No drive to serve in the church… Never share their faith…

React like a child to worldly issues… On and on…

 The harshest of y’all just write them up as not saved. And I’d say…,

maybe. I don’t go there because it’s not my place. Man looks at the

outward but God looks at the inward. It’s His place alone to determine

salvation. I know I cannot forgive sin against God in God’s place… I err

on the side of grace. That they were born, but someone stayed a child

through the years. And what they’re missing is this… The baptism of

the Holy Spirit at which time they receive POWER!

 Does it happen at the moment of Salvation? Sometimes… but, guys,

John Chapter 20 and Acts Chapter 2 are different scenes… Different

times… So biblically they are presented as two distinct occurrences

yielding two distinct results. So, how? How do we receive the baptism

of the Holy Spirit…?

 It’s actually ENTIRELY clear Biblically. Jesus said to the disciples,

sometime between the time of John 20 and Acts 1, in Luke 24:49,

“Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city

of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” Which

they did… to their own danger. Having obeyed what Jesus told them to

do…, they then became the recipients of the baptism of the Holy Spirit

and I truly truly truly do think its that simple.

 Walk out the commandment of Jesus to love God first in your life. To do

what He says to do. Walk in humility, giving preference to each other.

Loving God first, others second and JUST LIKE how you love God, and

it is inevitable, the Holy Spirit will blast you with MORE!

 You want to be baptized with the Holy Spirit? Feel and know and even

strengthen through His personal presence with you? Simple! He says

don’t forsake the gathering of the body of believers. Hey, you want to be

baptized with the Holy Spirit? Be here when we are serving the Lord

and each other. We call that “service.” You want want to be baptized

with the Holy Spirit? Love your wife. Respect your husband. Obey your

bosses. Walk in humility towards your leadership. Pray for your

enemies. Do what is right in the eyes of the Lord!

 Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love Me, keep My commandants, and I

will pray the Father, and He will give unto you the Holy Spirit!” It’s just

that simple. You want to break through and experience over and over

again the overwhelming power of God, the greatest blessing any of us

could ever experience, it’s simple. Live unto God and not unto yourself!

John said it best…, He is preferred before ME, TO ME!!!