As we pick up in John 1:35 John has been giving to us a running account of CERTAIN days in the ministry of John the Baptizer.

On the first of these specific days there was the exchange between John the Baptizer and the fact-finding team sent by the Pharisees. On that day, John denied that he was the Messiah, Elijah, but was the prophet promised by Moses. He has nothing to say about himself except that he was just a VOICE. He was the one sent to PREPARE the way for God Incarnate to come into the lives of men and women.

On the second day, John has his first opportunity to point out the One of whom he spoke. John did NOT say, “Behold the great teacher,” or “Behold the perfect example.” He said, “BEHOLD, here is the REMEDY for your sins.” He said, “BEHOLD, here is THE LAMB of God who will be slaughtered for the sin of the World.” He said, “You want to get clean? You need that guy to die for you. You need his blood to be shed for you.”

This morning we come the THIRD of these specific days. As we look at the record of this day we want to bear in mind that there was a time in the life of Jesus when Jesus had ZERO followers! When Jesus arrived at this scene at the Jordan River He had just come from 40 days in the Wilderness where He was tempted by Satan. When Jesus shows up He does not have thousands with Him, He does not leave with thousands following Him.

THIS IS HUGE – Here we see the BEGINNING of Christianity. Christianity had it’s beginnings in the most insignificant of places, the Judean Wilderness, with just ONE very strange man pointing others to Jesus, and TWO men making a decision to follow Jesus!

This morning we are going to zoom in on the first followers of Jesus. We will see John the Baptizer PERSISTING in pointing men to Jesus. We will see these first followers COMING to Jesus. Next week we will zoom in on these first followers of Jesus who are INVITING others to meet Jesus.

JOHN THE BAPTIZER: PERSISTING IN POINTING MEN TO CHRIST

35The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, 36and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” 37The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

NOTICE the phrase, “The next day,” again. The first thing we want to note is that these FIRST FOLLOWERS of Jesus were the result of John PERSISTING in POINTING to Jesus and PROCLAIMING Jesus to be the Lamb of God. Just 24 hours ago John had POINTED men to Jesus and PROCLAIMED that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The FIRST time John POINTED and PROCLAIMED there was no apparent results. The Holy Spirit records no one hearing and inquiring; no one believing and following Jesus! But John got up the next day and made the SAME proclamation, “Behold the Lamb of God.” And the Holy Spirit records that in verse 37 that two (of John’s) disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus.

HUGE LESSONS FOR US HERE:

1. Be persistent in PROCLAIMING Jesus and POINTING others to Jesus. Just because they don’t hear and respond the first time does not mean that they will never hear the second or the third or the thirtieth time.

2. Such persistence is really a reflection of the heart of God. (Romans 10:21 NLT 21) But regarding Israel, God said, “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”

3. It is by EXALTING CHRIST, not the church, not the ministry that hearts are moved, and sinners are turned to God. Proclaiming Jesus as God who became man in order that He might be slaughtered as the sacrifice for our sins seems like utter foolishness to the natural man. But it is the simple proclamation of the crucified Lamb of God that has in every age been the power of God unto salvation. If souls are to be saved, then Christ must be exalted as and pointed to as the Lamb of God. We can not be saying, “Behold me,” “Behold the church.” We must be saying, “Behold the Lamb.”

4. John was not only PERSISTENT in POINTING others to Jesus, we are told that John himself was LOOKING at Jesus, 36and he looked at Jesus. Literally, John the Baptizer was looking steadfastly at Jesus, staring at Jesus. HUGE: He pointed others to Jesus by the very direction he was facing! Have you ever turned to look at something because someone else was staring in that direction and you just had to see what it was that so captivated his or her attention? We are more apt to point others to Jesus when our lives our clearly focused upon Him. And the things of His Kingdom! QUESTION: When people look at YOU — do they see you focused upon Jesus? Not just on Sundays. Not just in relationship to involvement at a church. But do they see you focused on Jesus at work, at school, in your recreation.

EXAMPLE: Valerie and I were newly-weds in our apt complex. One day one of the crazy party people in the apartments came knocking at our door. He was really troubled because the girl he was living with had left him for another guy in the complex. We were quite shocked as to WHY he came knocking on OUR door. Then he told us that he came to us because he saw something radically different about us. We had never met this guy! He could have only seen us coming and going, seen us maybe around the pool. Unbeknownst to us he saw, by the way we lived, that we were staring in a direction that was radically different than direction everyone else’s life was facing. When his life was falling apart he wanted to know what we were staring at, so-to-speak.

5. John spoke of the MISSION of Jesus and the PERSON of Jesus. The day before, John proclaimed, “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” As we noted last week, THAT speaks of the MISSION of Jesus. We need to share with others the MISSION of Jesus. What Jesus has done for them on the Cross. On this day John only said, “Behold the Lamb of God.” In essence John was saying, “There is Jesus! Just look at Him! The eternal Word, God the creator who became man! Behold the Lamb!” HOW beautiful is Jesus? (Rev. 21:23) 23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. We need to point people to the PERSON of Jesus. We need to tell them of how wonderful Jesus is in His love and His grace. We need to tell them of His tender mercies. One of the things that moved me to give my heart to Christ was the fact that the guy who told me about Jesus was absolutely in love with Jesus. The way that he spoke of Jesus was so personal, so loving!

6. John the Baptizer had his own disciples, they followed him, respected him, hung on every one of John’s words. John knew full well that to speak to his disciples about Jesus like that was an open invitation for them to LEAVE him and transfer their loyalty to Jesus. Yet that is exactly what John did. He WANTED men to become attached to Jesus. He LIVED for that to happen.

QUOTE: William Barclay — The Daily Bible Study Series; Gospel of John; volume 1

There is no harder task than to take the second place when once the first place was enjoyed. But as soon as Jesus emerged on the scene John never had any other thought than to send men to him.

So we have John the Baptizer POINTING men to Jesus. He was PERSISTENT in POINTING people to Jesus. He POINTED people’s hearts in the same direction of his own heart. He POINTED out the MISSION of Jesus and the PERSON of Jesus. He POINTED people AWAY from himself and TO Jesus.