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Sermon #1106

What Are You Seeking?

A Sermon on John 1:35-39

Originally preached June 13, 1965

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Scripture

John 1:35-39 ESV KJV
The next day again John was standing with two of his disciples, and he looked at Jesus as he walked by and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God!” The two disciples heard him say this, and they followed Jesus. Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What …

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Sermon Description

“What seek ye?” This is a pivotal question Jesus asks not only His followers in the New Testament, but of His followers today. Has the Christian church truly sought after and found the fullness of Jesus through the baptism of the Holy Ghost? Preaching from John 1:35–39, listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones answers these questions and explains the simple steps to attaining this same baptism. First, he states the importance of John the Baptist’s message within this passage of beholding the Savior. It is through beholding and seeking after Him that the Christian can truly understand what Jesus has done in becoming the substitute who took sins upon Himself. It is through putting faith and trust in this simple, yet monumental, truth that brings about the baptism of the Holy Spirit, and which opens eyes to the fullness of God. Dr. Lloyd-Jones ends by examining the difference between seeking after Jesus for who He is versus seeking after Him for what He can do. The Christian should truly seek after Christ with the goal of glorifying Him. It will take the form like that of Mary, kneeling down at her savior’s feet. The Christian is asked “what seek Ye?” and can respond with thankful and sincere hearts, “Jesus, my Savior.”

Sermon Breakdown

  1. We must accept the teaching and testimony of John the Baptist.
  2. John the Baptist is the forerunner and pointer to Jesus. His message is summarized by the word "behold".
  3. John's teaching is that Jesus is the Son of God and the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

  4. Apart from accepting John's teaching, there is no hope or knowledge of God.

  5. We must apply to Jesus himself.

  6. We must move from following teachers and guides to following Jesus himself directly.
  7. When we follow Jesus, he will turn and greet us. He knows us and welcomes us.

  8. Jesus will ask us "What seek ye?" to examine our motives. We must seek him for who he is, not what he gives.

  9. We must spend time with Jesus.

  10. When Jesus asks "What seek ye?", the right response is "Rabbi, where dwellest thou?". This means we want to spend time with him, listen to him, and be his disciples.
  11. Like Mary, we must sit at Jesus's feet instead of being distracted like Martha.

  12. When we seek to spend time with Jesus, he will say "Come and see" and lead us to know him.

  13. The result is abiding with Jesus.

  14. After following Jesus and expressing the desire to spend time with him, he will lead us to abide with him.
  15. Abiding with Jesus leads to receiving of his fullness and grace upon grace.

The Book of John

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.