Jesus is... — 4.14.19 Sermon

This Palm Sunday message uses John the Baptist in John 1 as a study in knowing who you are not. Pressed by religious leaders, John refuses every title and calls himself merely a voice, a fading one, preparing the way. The core idea is that the church inherits John's role: temporary voices entrusted with the gospel, whose work is to prepare hearts for an encounter with Jesus. The point is sharpened by John's humility, deflecting attention away from himself and toward the one coming. Then the Passover imagery: behold, the Lamb of God . The lamb had to be perfect and had to die; we are saved not by the Lamb's teaching but his death. The landing is direct, drawn from Romans 6: the Lamb took what we deserved and paid it in full, for everyone.