The Lamb of God Revealed Pt 2

Full of John, we find ourselves
once again in Chapter 1. John Chapter 1. And in this. Section where John the Baptist
ministry is drawing to a close. We began last Lord’s Day by you
allowed me to let John the Baptist speak first. We’ll delve in more
this morning to see what the rest of the scriptures have to
say about the Lamb of God, but first we looked at what John
had to say. If you would, I want to just
review briefly, beginning in verse 29 of chapter 34. The next day he, that is John
the Baptist, saw Jesus coming to him and said, behold the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he on behalf
of whom I said, after me comes a man who has a higher rank than
I for he existed before me. I did not recognize him. But
so that he might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing in
water. John testified, saying, I have
seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and he
remained upon him. I did not recognize him, but
he who sent me to baptize in water said to me, He upon whom
you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon him, this
is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. I myself have seen
and have testified that this is the Son of God. I shared with
you last Lord’s Day that the tendency is for most who have
preached this passage to be drawn to that incredible verse, verse
29. That’s where we’ll spend this
Lord’s Day. But last Lord’s Day, we looked
and we saw the tendency of most who would jump into that incredible
verse, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world, and immediately go throughout the scriptures looking to see
what they have to say about this Lamb. We’ll do that this morning,
but last Lord’s Day, we wanted to hear, and it’s a very rare
thing to consider when you look at the number of messages that
have been preached on these verses. It’s very rare to consider, for
people to consider, what John the Baptist himself said about
the Lamb. We learned in verse 30 that the
Lamb was eternally present with God. This is he on behalf of
whom I said, after me comes a man who has a higher rank than I,
for he existed before me. This is the pre-existing Christ
who has been with God the Father throughout all eternity. Secondly,
we learn that this one is the one who imparts the Spirit of
God. That’s John’s testimony of him, verses 32 and 33. He
upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining upon
Him. This is the one who baptizes in the Holy Spirit. This is the
one who places us as we come to Him in repentance and faith.
This is the one who grants to us the Holy Spirit, places us
into the Holy Spirit. The third thing that we saw last
week that John the Baptist himself wanted us to know is that the
Lamb of God is Himself the Son of God. He is God. Of course,
that was John the Apostle’s first point in verses 1 through 5. John was quick to point out that
Jesus is God. But John the Baptist likewise declared to all who would hear
him, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. I myself have seen
and have testified that this is the Son of God. But having introduced John the
Baptist’s perspective of the Lamb of God, I want to go back
to verse 29. It is indeed a profound verse.
One commentator said, every word here is emphatic. and precious
beyond all expression. And so it’s understandable, perhaps
even in your own heart and mind, as you looked at this verse,
you too may have stopped there. And it is appropriate that we
pause and give an entire Lord’s Day to the consideration of this
one sentence. Behold the Lamb of God who takes
away the sin of the world. Beholding Christ. Beholding Jesus
Christ the Savior. That’s what John begins to articulate. He says, Jesus Christ, first
and foremost, is the one who we must consider. When John paused
and says, behold, he didn’t just say, cast a casual glance in
Christ’s direction. Look briefly at Jesus. What He
tells us is to take Him in in His fullness. To take Him in
as He is. To look at Him, and consider
Him, and ponder Him, and to receive Him as He is. That’s why it was
so important that we consider what John the Baptist’s perspective
of Christ was. It was important to John the
Baptist that we look and that we understand that Jesus Christ
has been present with God throughout eternity, but now has stepped
into time. Behold Him. It was important
to John the Baptist that we know that Jesus Christ is the one
that imparts the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ is the one that
allows us to be placed into God himself by means of the Holy
Spirit. We become partakers with the
divine himself. John the Baptist wanted us to
know demanded that we pause and behold and we look on the fullness
of Christ and that we see Him as the Son of God. One of the sad features of our
day is we have become so familiar with Jesus that we treat Him
on a first name basis not only, but we treat Him with the same
casualness that comes with it. We haven’t beheld Him as Lord.
We haven’t beheld Him as the Savior of the world. We haven’t
beheld Him as the Creator of the universe. We haven’t beheld
Him as God. John the Baptist says before
anything, that if we are going to behold Jesus Christ the Savior,
that the first thing we must do is pause and consider Him. Everything that we do. the hearing
of the word, the reading of the word, everything ought to be
about Christ. And I shared with one friend
years ago, it was an interesting phenomena. I began to notice
in his life that this Christian music was on all the time. Every time he got in the car,
every time he got out of the car, in the office, anywhere
he was going, he had this Christian music playing. There’s nothing wrong with that.
except that the very name of Christ, the very thought of Christ,
the very perspective of Christ ought to be one that promotes
worship. It ought to be one that drives
us and impels us and propels us towards the worship of Almighty
God. The more we play that background
music, the more it becomes background music, the more our ears and
our hearts are led to casualness. That’s the danger. That’s the
potential. John says, first and foremost.
But as we come to Christ, we must consider him, behold him,
take him and view him as he is. But secondly, as we begin to
behold Jesus Christ, the Savior, Jesus Christ, we see, is not
only the one we must consider, we see that He is the one who
is our substitute. Look at the passage. Behold the
Lamb. Behold the Lamb. There are a
number of different Greek words, and it really matters very little
which one is used, because when they’re used of Christ, they’re
all used in the same way. 1 Peter 1.19, that we were redeemed
with precious blood as of a lamb, unblemished and spotless. The lamb, the blood of Christ,
the lamb of God. Please pause for a moment to
consider the significance of this moment. You know what John
the Baptist has just come from? He’s come from an inquisition.
The religious elite had come to him. John the Baptist has
been ministering for some time, calling people to repentance
from sin, baptizing them in that. He’s already made it onto the
radar of the religious elite. They’re aware of him. They’re
curious about him and more than curious. In fact, I would even
say that they are concerned about him. He’s not merely an enigma,
he’s a problem. He’s a problem that they hope
can be checked and controlled. And so they come to him and they
begin this series of questions. Why are you baptizing? If you’re
not the Christ, if you’re not the prophet, if you’re not Elijah,
who are you? and you need to get in line,
essentially is what they urge. He’s a problem. And he’s a problem
because he now has a following. And that’s what prompted the
Jewish leaders to come and to investigate him. And John made
no pretenses, remember? He didn’t claim to be anything
other than who he was, a herald. a forerunner, a mouthpiece, a
voice. He was one who came to testify
of another. In Himself, He was nothing. And
He was willing to be nothing. And now at this moment, the moment
for which He and His followers and indeed all of Israel has
been waiting, it’s the announcement of the Messiah Himself. It’s
the announcement of the Lord Jesus Christ. But if you consider
for a moment, John could have introduced Christ by almost any
title that would have been more expected and therefore more acceptable
than the one that he used. See, Israel wanted a king. They’d
always clamored for a king. They wanted, that’s what they
were expecting the Messiah to be, was a new political liberator,
one who would come as a king, and function as a king, and be
the best king that they’d ever had. A king like David. John the Baptist could have introduced
Jesus as king, king of Israel, and he didn’t. He could have
introduced Jesus as the Christ, He could have introduced Jesus
as the Messiah. They had longed for the Messiah.
They held to the Messiah on their own terms. They wanted their
own kind of Messiah, but they still longed for this Messiah. And again, one who was largely
going to be some kind of a political liberator. One who’s going to
relieve their earthly problems. John the Baptist could have introduced
him as the king. He could have introduced him
as the Messiah. He could have introduced him as a prophet.
They were longing for a prophet and any old prophet would do.
They haven’t had one for nearly 700 years. And to introduce Jesus
as the prophet certainly would have gotten their attention.
They might have even preferred that Jesus be introduced as the
prophet. That could have been much more easily managed than
Messiah. Could have introduced him, he’d
already told them. He could have introduced him as the Son of
God. The Apostle John had already articulated him as such. John
the Baptist would end up telling them that he is the Son of God.
But he could have started right off the bat, listen, the one
that I’m presenting to you today is the Son of God. That would
have gotten their attention, wouldn’t it? The King, the Messiah,
the Prophet, the Son of God. The man, this is the man. I dare to say that if he were
born today, if he came onto the scene today, if his ministry
were to be introduced today, that’s how he would be introduced.
So casually, so flippantly as this is the man. John could have used any number
of things, the king, the Messiah, the man, the servant. Had John
the Baptist used that word, they would have known immediately
who he was talking about. God’s servant, the suffering
servant, the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, they would have
known immediately who he was referring to. God’s servant in
the scriptures was a hybrid of sorts in the Jewish mind. He
was to be a man, but he was ultimately God’s servant, not unlike a prophet. To put him in that category would
have been very convenient for the Jewish mind. They would have
accepted readily that introduction. But he wasn’t a king. He wasn’t
to be introduced as a king. He wasn’t to be introduced as
the Messiah. He wasn’t to be introduced as the Son of God.
He wasn’t to be introduced as the servant or even the savior. Wouldn’t that have done it? To
say, behold the Savior, behold the one that has come to liberate
you. John could have used any of those titles, any of the titles
except the one that he used. The very one that he used, the
Lamb. The Lamb. They wanted a conquering
king. They wanted a prophet, the prophet
of God. They fully expected the Messiah,
but they wanted him on their terms. A lamb? But if you notice,
John doesn’t declare just any lamb. He points to the lamb,
making it absolutely clear that there is only one particular
lamb that not only John but they would consider, the lamb. And
the fact that John uses that definite article here, the, indicates
that his hearers would have been able to make an immediate connection.
You mean the lamb? They knew. They knew that what he was referring
to was the lamb, the lamb, that lamb. and that flood, there was a flood
that was produced by that connection, it would have been absolutely
overwhelming. Because if John has come as the forerunner of
the Messiah, as he had already indicated he had, that he had
come to proclaim this Messiah, and now he tells us that that
one is the Lamb, then they knew immediately that the primary
mission of the Lamb is that of Savior. The primary mission of
this Messiah is that of not a political liberator, but a spiritual Savior,
a spiritual liberator. And that was a very different
idea of Messiah than what they had expected. They knew immediately
that this was no mere title. It declared Christ’s purpose.
that he would not be as a lamb, gentle and the like, that he
was going to be the sacrifice for sinners. He was going to
be the lamb, the sacrifice for sin. This wasn’t just an image. This wasn’t just a likeness.
This was the Savior’s mission. So John introduces. He introduces
us to Christ in this likeness of a lamb, an image so familiar
to the Jewish people. And as we noticed, as I said,
he uses the definite article, not just any lamb, but the lamb.
But to which lamb could John the Baptist be referring? Is
it the Passover lamb of Exodus? Is it some other lamb? You see,
there were so many. that were used in the Jewish
religion that the image would have been immediately familiar
but it also would have begged the question to which lamb and
for what purpose are you using this title? As one just excellent commentator
noted, very unnecessary difficulty has
been made respecting the interpretation of the Baptist’s simple metaphor
here. The lamb was throughout the Old
Testament times commonly used for sacrifice. And then what
he does is detail, from beginning to end, all the different ways
that the lamb, a real lamb, a precious, white, little, fuzzy sheep, In
its infant stages, it was used as a sin offering,
Leviticus 4.32. It was used in cleansing the
leper, Leviticus 14.10. Every morning and every evening
it was used as a sacrifice, one in the morning and one in the
evening. The very offering of a lamb every
morning and every evening, two on every Sunday morning, every
Sabbath day rather. Throughout all the history of
the Jewish nation, these lambs would be sacrificed. So that
all that John the Baptist has to do is use the word and immediately
the image of sacrifice comes into mind. All the great feasts, Not the
least of which was the Passover, where again, the little lamb
was used. He concludes by saying the Baptist,
speaking to a people whose national education had led them to regard
the lamb as a type of sacrifice, through the shedding of whose
blood there was a redemption, a carrying away of sins, points
to Jesus Christ with that. declaration. In other words,
all he had to do is point to Christ and say, the lamb, behold,
the lamb. And they knew immediately what
that meant. They meant that Jesus Christ was going to be the sacrifice
for sin. There were all kinds of animals
that were offered. Bulls, goats, doves, But the lamb, the lamb
was one of such, in its character, one of meekness and mildness
and gentleness, oftentimes raised in the family as pets. And that
was part of the image. That was part of the image that
God wanted the Israelites to see, is the horrendous nature
of sin, to take this innocent little creature and slay it. It’s exactly what Jeremiah was
referring to. When he said, I was gentle like
a lamb led to slaughter, I did not know that they had devised
plots against me. That’s what Jeremiah points to
in that same image. All John the Baptist had to do
is look up and say, behold, the lamb. And every Jew would know. Every Jew would know what that
referred to. Turn, however, if you would, to Isaiah 53. Because when John said, behold
the lamb, there was one passage of scripture that every Jew knew
and knew well, and knew well that it pointed to a particular
kind of lamb. It was the suffering servant.
It was the suffering servant of Isaiah 53. And it’s absolutely unmistakable
here that this is what’s in John the Baptist’s mind. Who has believed our message,
verse 1, and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a tender shoot, like a root out
of parched ground. He had no stately form or majesty
that we should look upon him, nor appearance that We should
be attracted to him. He was despised and forsaken
of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And like
one from whom men hide their face, he was despised and we
did not esteem him. Consider his description of the
lamb. Surely our griefs he himself
bore, our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him
stricken, smitten of God and afflicted. But He was pierced
through for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. The chastening for our well-being
fell upon Him. And by His scourging, we are
healed. He points to this incredible
suffering that was to befall this suffering servant. Some
servant sent on behalf of God, sent, provided by God, to pay
for the penalty of sinners. And he puts us all in that category
in verse 6. All of us like sheep have gone
astray. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord
has caused the iniquity of us all to fall upon him, this sacrificial
lamb. He was oppressed He was afflicted,
he did not open his mouth like a lamb that is led to slaughter
and like a sheep that is silent before his shearers, so he did
not open his mouth. John the Baptist points immediately
to that image of the suffering Savior, the one that was to come.
They didn’t know who, they didn’t even know why. But this was to
be God’s provision. This lamb was to be God’s means
of salvation for sinners. This was so powerful an image. The Jewish scholars, after the
coming of Christ, began this lengthy and detailed process
of weaving out and explaining away Isaiah 53. It was so powerful
an image that it could not be allowed to stand as referring
to the Messiah. It was prevalent until then,
that after the coming of Christ they had to do away with this
idea. Do away with this so-called interpretation. Until Christ came it was prominent. It was the way that they looked
at Isaiah 53. And after Christ was on the scene,
It had to be destroyed. But they couldn’t. Turn over,
if you would, to Acts chapter 8. They knew full well what Isaiah
53 referred to. In Acts chapter eight, pick up
in verse 25. So when they had solemnly testified
and spoken the word of the Lord, they started back to Jerusalem
and were preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. But an angel of the Lord spoke
to Philip saying, get up and go to the road that descends
from Jerusalem to Gaza. This is a desert road. So he
got up and went. There was an Ethiopian eunuch,
a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who
was in charge of all her treasure. And he came up to Jerusalem to
worship And he was returning and sitting in his chariot, reading
the prophet Isaiah. Don’t panic, I’m not in the wrong
spot. I know exactly where I am, Isaiah chapter, pardon me, Acts
chapter eight. Then the spirit said to Philip,
go up and join this chariot. Philip ran up and heard him reading
Isaiah the prophet and said, do you understand what you are
reading? And he said, well how could I unless someone guides
me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now
the passage of scripture he was reading was this. He was led
as a sheep to slaughter and as a lamb before its shearer is
silenced so he does not open his mouth. It’s the same exact
passage. It was Isaiah 53. It was a well-known
passage that pointed to the Messiah as the suffering Messiah. And
many rabbis had tried to do it away. But as soon as Christ came, it
was established and established forever. Substitutionary atonement, the
payment for sin by an innocent sacrificial victim, that had
been established as part of the Jewish ritual. And it began with
the Lamb, but the mere mention of the Lamb of God, every Jew
would have known. Every Jew would have known that
Jesus Christ had come to pay for sin. Spurgeon said of this topic,
in one word, the great fact on which the Christian hope rests
is substitution. the vicarious sacrifice of Christ
for the sinner, Christ’s suffering for the sinner, Christ’s being
made sin for us that we might be made righteousness, Christ
offering up a true and proper sacrifice in the place of many,
as many as the Father gave Him, who recognize by their trust
in Him, this is the cardinal fact of the gospel. In other
words, John begins the preaching of the gospel by introducing
the very sacrifice who would pay for the sin of sinners. But
it’s not just any lamb. As we are beholding Jesus Christ,
the Savior, we see that Jesus Christ is the one who we must
consider. John is beckoning us, pleading
with us to focus our attention on Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ
is the one who is our substitute. And the sad truth is that even
if thousands and millions of people choose to pay their own
price, their own death wouldn’t secure
the salvation of one sinner. Jesus Christ is not only the
one we must consider. He’s not only the one who is
our substitute. He is the one who is provided
by the Father. Look at the passage. Behold the
Lamb of God. God sent Him. God provided Him. This is the Lamb that God gave
for this set and specific purpose to pay for the sin of sinners.
Now, Mind you, every Jew who knew
his Bible well, as soon as he heard those words, the Lamb of
God, he would know immediately what that pointed to. And that
pointed to another favorite scripture of the Jewish nation. Genesis
chapter 22, if you would. Genesis chapter 22. And you know
this story well. It’s the story of Abraham and
Isaac. It’s the story of God who provides. It came about after these things
that God tested Abraham and said to him, Abraham, he said, here
I am. He said, take now your son, your
only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah
and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains,
which I shall tell you. One of the most astounding transitions
in all of scripture. So Abraham rose. There was no
argument. There was no discussion. There
was no negotiation. There was no clarification. That’s
what we would call it. So Abraham rose early in the
morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with
him, Isaac his son. He split wood for the burnt offering
and arose and went to the place where God had told him. On the
third day, Abraham raised his eyes, saw the place from a distance.
Abraham said to the young man, stay here with the donkey and
I and the lad will go over there. We will worship and return to
you. Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering. and laid
it on Isaac, his son. He took in his hand the fire
and the knife. And so the two of them walked
on together. Isaac spoke to Abraham, his father,
and said, my father. He said, here I am, my son. And
he said, behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb
for the burnt offering? Abraham said, God will provide
himself a lamb for the burnt offering, my son. So the two
of them walked on together. Then they came to the place of
which God had told him. And Abraham built the altar there
and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and laid him on
the altar on top of the wood. Abraham stretched out his hand
and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord
called him from heaven and said, Abram, Abram. And he said, here
I am. And he said, do not stretch out
your hand against the lad and do nothing to him. For now I
know that you fear God since you have not withheld your son,
your only son from me. Then Abraham raised his eyes
and looked and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket
by his horns. And Abraham went and took the
ram. and offered him up for a burnt offering in that place for his
son. And Abraham called that place,
the Lord will provide. As it is said to this day, in
the mount of the Lord it will be provided. I mean, think about it. God had
watched his own nation of Israel for centuries. languish under
the best counsel and the clearest guidance, miracles after miracles,
signs from God Himself. They could not, would not obey
Him. They had fits and starts of obedience. They showed signs at time of
reform coming around. The centuries had proven That there would be no earning
of salvation by mankind. That nobody would ever be able
to live up to the law in its incredible and lofty and impossible
standard. No one. What humanity needed was a lamb. Too many thousands had tried
to pay that price on their own, and it was an utter failure.
And so God looked down, and just as He did with Abraham, He provided
at just the right time the Lamb. It was God’s Lamb. It was the
Lamb of God. It was the Lord Jesus Christ
Himself. Jesus Christ. is the one that we’re beholding.
Jesus Christ is the one that we must consider. Jesus Christ
is the one who is our substitute. Jesus Christ is the one provided
by the Father. Fourthly, Jesus Christ is the
one who is the atonement for sin. Nothing else works. Nothing
else pays for sin. Nothing else will do. Look again
at the passage. The next day he saw Jesus coming
to him and said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the
sin of the world. Let us perhaps take this in a
little different order. Let’s consider first the what
with which the Lamb has come to deal, and then we can better
consider the how, the means with which He has come to deal. The
next day, He saw Jesus coming to Him and said, Behold the Lamb
of God who takes away the sin. And the first thing to notice
here is that John does not say that Jesus has come to deal with
sins in the plural. All of our individual offenses. This isn’t just splitting hairs
here. John is making a very important point When He speaks of sin in
the singular, He is, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, lumping all
of the sins ever committed into one whole. As one referred to it, it is the
one great burden or plague of mankind. Jesus Christ came not
only to deal with individual particular sins, but with the
one great problem of sin, sin singular. What is identified here is the
great mass of sin, this sin of humanity, not merely a collection
of all the individual misdeeds and transgressions, but as another
referred to it, the common corruption of humanity. That’s what Jesus
Christ came to deal with, this sin. John declares that Jesus
Christ has come to address the fullness of the world’s sin problem. Not just the individual acts. Not just the sin of a particular
nation. As one pastor described it, it’s
the sin of the world. The sin of the world is a deeper
stain than the sins of individual men and women. It’s the lawlessness
and rebellion of all created beings that is the subject of
redemption. And so John says that Jesus Christ
came to collect great sin problem of humanity and to collectively
heap it upon his own shoulders. Look at it. Behold the Lamb of
God who takes away the sin of the world. Now the Jewish rabbis
and scholars had reduced God’s promises down to a promise due
and expected by them alone. They alone were to be saved.
That the Messiah was coming for them. and them alone. Salvation
was for them and them alone. Redemption was for them and them
only. But John the Baptist in one little
declaration clarifies all of that. Redemption was not just
for one nation. Salvation was not exclusively
for the Jewish people. The sacrifice of Christ would
be offered not for one people, rather it was for the sin of
the world. Christ’s efforts, His great work
of redemption would not be limited, rather it would atone for the
great pool, the great mass of sin, for the sin of the world. It’s exactly what John would
later say. John the Apostle in writing his first epistle said
that he himself is the propitiation, the payment for sins, and not
for ours only, but also for those of the whole world. And so, if that is the what with
which the Lamb has come to deal, the sin of the world, the great
sin of humanity, consider in closing the how, the means with
which He has come to deal with sin. John just said it so simply.
Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. The world had this almost dual
significance and meaning. It was used in a variety of different
ways. It could be simply to pick something up. It could be to
carry something away. Sometimes it just refers to simply
one element of that verb. But it doesn’t have to be an
either or proposition here and I don’t believe that it is. As
if either Christ lifted this sin or he took it away. Because what he did in reality
is lift this sin, heft it onto his own shoulders in order for
the purpose of carrying it away. You see, a lamb could only take
away sin by one means, and that was by bearing it, by having
it symbolically placed upon himself before the sacrifice. And Jesus
Christ has taken the sin of the entire world, heaping it up upon
himself, bearing it, the full weight and the nature of it,
as the great sacrifice for sin. He carried it to the cross. John writing again in his first
epistle said, You know that He appeared in order to take away
sins, and yet in Him there is no sin. This was the sinless
Savior. By taking it away, paying for
it, atoning for it, beginning the process of taking it away
from us piecemeal by means of sanctification, It’s exactly what Isaiah referred
to, isn’t it? No wonder the Jews would have immediately focused
on Isaiah 53. Surely our griefs he himself
bore. And I take that to mean the grief
that comes and stems and flows from all of our sin. It brings
nothing but heartache and grief. and ultimately death. Surely
our griefs he himself bore, our sorrows he carried. We ourselves
esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Jesus Christ took it upon himself.
Jesus Christ bore the whole weight of our sin. You know it well. Paul’s testimony
to the Corinthians. That we are ambassadors for Christ.
This is our one great declaration. Is that God has provided a Lamb. God has provided a Savior. We are ambassadors for Christ
as though God were making an appeal through us. We beg you
on behalf of Christ be reconciled to God. He that is God made Him
that is Christ who knew no sin. This is a perfectly sinless Savior. He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin on our behalf. That we might become the righteousness
of God in Him. That is the hope of mankind.
And that is the testimony of this one great passage. That
every single word of it is emphatic. Every single word of it is a
testimony to God’s grace. God’s gracious gift towards sinners. was not silver and gold, it was
not possessions, it was a little lamb, spotless lamb, an unblemished
lamb, a lamb sent from God that would pay for the sin of the
whole world. Would you humble yourself in
His presence? A merciful King We do humble
ourselves in your glorious presence. And Lord, those. Who did not
deserve this. And yet. Who in whom you have
already worked this miracle of salvation. Bringing us to repentance
for our sin. Lord, we cannot even begin to
know how to thank you. Before we even knew that there
was a Lamb, He had gone and paid for our sin. Then you opened
our eyes and we saw Christ for who He was, a perfect Savior,
a sinless Savior who had paid for our sin in full. Oh, Lord God, those of us who
have placed our faith in Christ would do it again a thousand
times over. There is no other hope. We had tried on our own
to earn our salvation. We had tried on our own to be
good and to do good. That earns nothing. Lord God,
we plead with you. For any in this room. Who have
not placed their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who have not
repented of their sin. Jesus Christ came. as God’s own
Lamb, to do the work which no man could do. We pray that You would draw every
sinner to Yourself. Draw them to repentance. Draw
them to faith in Christ. Use any believer in this room
to finish that work. We plead with You, in Jesus’
name, Amen. As we close, if you would take
your bulletins, let’s stand together and sing, There is a Redeemer. There is a Redeemer, Jesus Christ,
Son of God. ♪ Precious Lamb of God, Messiah,
Holy One ♪ ♪ Thank You for my following ♪ ♪ For giving us Your
Son ♪ ♪ And leaving Your Spirit’s help ♪ ♪ Jesus, my Redeemer ♪ ♪ Name above
all names ♪ ♪ Precious Lamb of God, Messiah ♪ ♪ Hope for sinners
slain ♪ ♪ Thank you, Lord, my Father ♪ for giving us your Son, the Lamb,
and leaving your spirit’s hell away. When I stand in lowly I will
see His face And there I’ll serve my King forever In that holy
place for giving us your Son and leaving
your spirit till the work on earth is done.