Given at the Lynnville (IL) UMC on January 16, 2005, the verses are from Isaiah 49: 1-7 and John 1: 29-42…

       The year was 1975. I was four years out of high-school and still knew all of the answers to the world’s problems! And the number one problem the world had to deal with right then was how to supply me with all of my millions that I intended to make. To that end, I went to the local Case dealer in town and bought my very first tractor… a Case 644.

       This was a 14hp garden tractor built from the ground-up as an industrial loader, and along with it I bought the four-foot mower deck, the three-point hitch, and the 46” hydraulic-driven tiller that went on the back, along with various other sundries all intended to increase its versatility and usefulness. And, man, was I excited about it!

       Through experimenting with different configurations, I found that if I raised the bucket up over the cab, put the front wheels hard against the front of the bed, and flipped-up the flexible drag on the rear of the tiller, I could just close the tailgate on my ’64 Ford F250, and could then set the mower deck in along the side of it. It wasn’t long before I headed south to see my friends down in Edwardsville and show-off a little bit. After picking up Henry and listening to him ‘ooh’ and ‘aah’ over it, we headed to another friend’s house. He came out, looked it over and said, “What’d you do… shop around till you found one that just fit the truck?”

I’m sure that everybody sitting here this morning has had occasion over the years to be so excited about something that you just couldn’t wait to rush-off and tell it to your best friend… or sister or brother… or your mother or father… or everybody! And that’s just the way Andrew felt when he learned that this Jesus was truly the promised Messiah! He couldn’t wait to find his brother and tell him all that he had learned, and bring him to meet Him and learn from Him himself!

Our verses in John start out with John the Baptist seeing Jesus coming towards him and crying out, “Look! The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” The Life Application Commentary tells us that, “The title “Lamb of God” would be associated in the minds of the Jews with the Passover lamb and the lambs used in the daily sacrifices for the sin offerings.

Every morning and evening, a lamb was sacrificed in the temple for the sins of the people. Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah, God’s servant, would be led to the slaughter like a lamb. To pay the penalty for sin, a life had to be given – and God chose to provide the sacrifice himself. When Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice, he removed the sin of the world and destroyed the power of sin itself. In calling Jesus the Lamb of God, John pointed to Jesus as the substitutionary sacrifice provided by God.”

John then gave this testimony… “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.” Let me read that again… “I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God.”  

Now, Andrew was a follower of John’s! But he knew John as the precursor of the Messiah… that is, he knew that John was not the Messiah, himself, but the one foretold to prepare the way for Him! So when John gave this testimony in front of him, Andrew probably jumped for joy, and began to follow Jesus. And when that day had ended, Andrew just had to run and find his brother and tell him that he had seen the Messiah!

You see, they knew the prophecies… when they heard the verses that we read from Isaiah this morning, they knew that it was the Commissioning of the Servant of God… the Messiah! Listen to them again, and hear them as the words of Jesus! “Listen to me, all of you in far-off lands! The LORD called me before my birth; from within the womb he called me by name. He made my words of judgment as sharp as a sword. He has hidden me in the shadow of his hand. I am like a sharp arrow in his quiver.

He said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, and you will bring me glory.”

I replied, “But my work all seems so useless! I have spent my strength for nothing and to no purpose at all. Yet I leave it all in the LORD’s hand; I will trust God for my reward.”

And now the LORD speaks — he who formed me in my mother’s womb to be his servant, who commissioned me to bring his people of Israel back to him. The LORD has honored me, and my God has given me strength. He says, “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

This was the Christ! The Promised one! And they were excited! They wanted to learn all that they could learn, and tell everybody that they knew about Him! And you know what? WE should be just as excited! WE should be trying to learn just as much! WE should be telling the world the Gospel story of our Lord! Why?

Because of that last line I just read from Isaiah! “You will do more than restore the people of Israel to me. I will make you a light to the Gentiles, and you will bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.” Jesus was not to be the savior of just the Jews… He is the Savior of us all!!

John said, “I have seen… and I testify… that this is the Son of God.”  The Life Application Commentary says that… “John was declaring Jesus’ special position with God. God had told John that he would reveal his sent one to him — the Spirit would descend upon the Messiah and remain upon him. John saw this and declared his belief in Jesus as God’s identified Son. Those who receive the Spirit can also declare that Jesus is the Son of God, for the Spirit enables us to believe and confess.

Today… people are looking for someone to give them security in an insecure world. We must point them to Christ and show them how Christ satisfies their need. They must hear it first from us. And we cannot pass on to others what we do not possess! If we know Jesus, we will want to introduce others to him!”

So I ask you this morning… do you know Jesus? If not, His story is a fabulous one… and it’s all written in here, for all to read and learn! And if you do know Him… if you have seen, and believe, and testify that He is the Son of God… how will you answer when He asks what you have done to spread His message throughout the world? It’s time that we all ‘show and tell’ the world about Christ!