Our text this evening will come
from John chapter 1, verse 29. John 1, 29. In Jeremiah 6, verse 16, we read
this. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye
in the way and see. and ask for the old paths, that path that is well trodden. Out by our house, there's a pasture
field, and there's a place on the side of the hill you can
see. It's the way the cattle always go. It's a well-trodden
path. It's a safe way. Doesn't look
that way from a distance, but it's the way they travel, and
it's beat down because that's the only path they take. It's a familiar trail, a well-trodden
path. That's what Jeremiah is saying
here. He said, ask for the old paths. We don't need a new way. There is no new way. The old
path, where's the good way? and walk therein, and ye shall
find rest for your souls." That old path doesn't change. And that's true of this gospel.
This gospel, God's gospel, does not change. It's the same message. Here in just a few hours, That
ball will drop and we'll go from 2024 to 2025. 2024 will be gone
and we'll celebrate the new year. The year will change. It'll take
us a few weeks to get used to writing those dates on checks
and everything else, but the year will change. This gospel. does not change. Aren't we thankful? Aren't we thankful that it does
not change the message of God's free and sovereign grace to sinners? It's the same gospel. And this
evening, I pray the Lord would enable me to preach his gospel. I believe what I have, even though
it's a new year, It's the same old message. An old message for
a new year. It's the message that has been
proclaimed since Adam's time. It's a message concerning the
Lamb. Turn with me, if you haven't
already, to John 1, verse 29. John 1, 29. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and he saith, Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb. It's the same
Lamb that has been seen throughout God's Word, throughout the Scripture. Behold the Lamb of God. That word behold, it means to
look earnestly. If you look at verse 36 of John
1, you'll see the same command. He says the same thing again.
John again says, Behold the Lamb. I don't know what all was going
on what events were taking place during this, but John said, behold
the Lamb. That's what we need to be taken
up with. Any question about the importance of this statement,
of this command, the significance of it, the urgency of it? Behold
the Lamb of God, a careful and deliberate observation. I pray the Lord would enable
us to do that, not just this evening, but every time we gather
together to behold the lamb. First, to behold the lamb prophesied. This lamb was prophesied. We
read of a lamb to the slaughter. A lamb led to the slaughter.
Turn to Isaiah 53. Look at verse 7, Isaiah 53, verse
7. It says, he was oppressed and
he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought
as a what? As a lamb. As a lamb to the slaughter
and as a sheep before her shears his dung, so opened he not his
mouth. He was oppressed and afflicted. You know, He was oppressed His
entire life from His birth. Consider that. Christ began His
life, a life of suffering. He was born into this world,
the King of kings, the Lord of lords. He was brought into this
world and laid in a manger, that which is used to feed animals,
in a barn. There was no room for Him. Scripture
said there was no room for Him in the end. Men still have no
room. That's not changed, has it? Men
still have no room for Christ. He lies in that manger. He was
born of a poor mother. He's going to know the ills of
poverty. King Herod sought to kill Him. And shortly after his baptism,
he spends 40 days, 40 days fasting in the wilderness where he suffered. He suffered being tempted. He
was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. At Gethsemane, consider
this, he suffered. He sweat great drops of blood. I can't even imagine what that
even looks like. He suffered. He was betrayed
by Judas. He was falsely accused. He was
despitefully treated. He was bruised and scourged. He was nailed to a cross, mocked
to scorn, deserted by the Father, and then he yielded up the ghost.
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief from the cradle to
the grave. He said this, behold and see
if there be any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought upon
me, wherewith Jehovah God hath afflicted me in the day of his
fierce anger. Behold the Lamb. We read this
in Isaiah 53, Despite this, yet he opened not his mouth. He didn't complain about that
affliction that was laid upon him. He opened not his mouth. He didn't complain against the
justice of Almighty God, the demand that was made upon him
as he hung there on the cross. as he became surety for his people. He took that punishment as if
it was his own. He made it. He made it his own. He paid the debt. He bore the
punishment without any dispute, without any hesitation. Behold, The Lamb. Read on in
Isaiah 53. It said, He's brought as a lamb
to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shears is done. A
lamb. A lamb. Behold the Lamb. The innocence of Christ as of
a lamb. The patience of Christ in His
suffering. His willingness to be sacrificed,
not for sins of His own, but for the sins of his people. He suffered and died in the room
instead of his people. He went to the cross without
any hesitation. Scripture said he set his face
like a flint. He opened not his mouth. Peter
wrote this. He said when he was reviled,
he reviled not again. When he suffered, He threatened
not, but he committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Behold the Lamb. The Lamb prophesied. Behold the
Lamb in picture. That's the second point. Behold
the Lamb in picture. Back in the book of Genesis,
in Genesis 3, we read God made Adam and Eve. Remember that?
The very first thing he did after the fall is he made them coats
of skins and he clothed them. He covered them. Those fig leaves,
the work of their own hands, that's not going to get the job
done. That's never going to cover their nakedness. He made coats
of skins. God slew an animal. He shed its blood and he made
coats of skin to cover them, to cover the skin of guilty sinners. An animal, an animal slain. We don't know. It doesn't say
what that animal was. It wouldn't surprise me if it
was a lamb. He slew an animal, shed its blood,
behold the Lamb, behold it in picture, Christ the Lamb of God. He must shed His blood. He must do that to put away our
sin. And listen, He provides a robe
of righteousness to cover us. He was made sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him." God's holy. See that? God is absolutely holy. We see sin all the time. We drink
iniquity like water. We just let it go. We just watch
it and go on. God can't do that. He's holy.
Sin must be punished. even when it's found on his son. The wages of sin, what is it? Death. It can't be passed over. The debt must be paid and God's
justice must be satisfied. Another picture of the lamb.
Remember Abel's sacrifice, that firstling of the flock? There
in Genesis 4, beginning with verse 1, we read this, Adam knew
his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I've gotten
a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel. What was his occupation? Abel was a keeper of the sheep. Cain was a tiller of the ground,
Abel a keeper of the sheep. And in the process of time, it
came to pass that Cain, he brought the fruits of the ground. Look
what I've done. I've got out there and I've scratched
the ground and I've planted seed and I've pulled the weeds. Look
what I've done. Cain brought the works of his
hands, Abel. What Abel bring? He brought of
the firstlings of the flock. What was that? He's a keeper
of the sheep. He brought a lamb. He brought
a lamb and the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel and his offering. Not to Cain. Unto Cain and his
offering he had no respect. And Cain was wroth and his countenance
fell. Is that any different in our
day? Bring that up at the lunch table at work, right? Saved by
grace. They'll talk all day about religion,
but when it comes to God saving a sinner, men won't have anything
to do with that, will they? Abel brought a lamb. Behold the lamb. He brought an
offering of faith. He brought an offering that pictured
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, a blood sacrifice picturing the Lord Jesus Christ
who suffered and died for our sins. He brought an offering
confessing his sin, owning that he deserved death. Our sin deserves
the wrath of God. In order for us to, listen, in
order for God to justify us, the Lord Jesus Christ must die
in our room instead. He must die before the justice
of Almighty God as our substitute. We love that word, substitution.
Just think about that. The Lord Jesus Christ died in
the place of His people. He made full satisfaction before
the law of God, before the justice of God, enabling God to be just
and justifier of those who believe in His Son. In Exodus 12, we
read of the Passover lamb. We could spend the rest of the
evening, we could spend this next year looking at nothing
but the Passover But listen to just a few of these parallels.
That Passover lamb pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider this,
the choice of the sacrifice. What did he tell Moses to go
get? Take a lamb. Take a lamb. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
what is he? He is the Lamb of God. The characteristics of that lamb.
It wasn't go get that lamb that's probably not going to make it
through the night. It was the choice lamb. A lamb without blemish,
without spot. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's the spotless lamb of God. He did no sin, neither was there
guile even found in his mouth. Consider the death of that lamb. How did it die? Its blood was
shed. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His
own blood, He entered once into the holy place, into the presence
of God, having obtained eternal redemption for us. How about
the eating of the lamb? Feeding on that lamb. They ate
that lamb. That's what they were to do.
They were to eat of the lamb and they were to just rest. The
work's done. Our Lord spoke in John 6, 53.
He said, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His
blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the last
day. You know, that which we eat,
it ends up in our body, isn't it? That's Christ in us. A picture of Christ in us. And consider the result. What
was the result of that Passover lamp? The people were delivered. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you. The people were delivered. And
so it is with God's people. The blood of Christ cleanses
us from all sin. Well, third, behold the Lamb
in person. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1, 1
Peter 1, 18. 1 Peter 1 verse 18, for as much
as you know, you weren't redeemed with corruptible things, silver,
gold, your vain conversation received by tradition of your
fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb. without blemish and without spot. Back in the Old Testament times,
those sacrifices were made over and over and over again, pointing
to the need of a sacrifice to take away sin, and particularly
to that Passover lamb. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he's
the true Passover lamb, sacrificed for us. And that lamb, again,
it had to be without spot, without blemish. All of this, all of
this pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. He had no sin. He had no sin. He had no spot. He had no blemish. but he was made a sacrifice for
sin. He came to redeem his people. Paul writing to the Hebrews,
he wrote of the Lamb of God, he said of the Lord Jesus Christ,
now once in the end of the world he hath appeared to put away
sin. How? By our deeds? No. No, by the sacrifice of himself. The Lamb. Behold the Lamb prophesied. Behold the Lamb in picture. Behold
the Lamb in person. And fourth, behold the Lamb provided. Listen to the words of Abraham.
You can turn back there in Genesis 22. Genesis 22 verse 8. God had
told Abraham, He said, you take your son, take your
only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of
Moriah, and you offer him there as a burnt offering upon the
mountain, which I'll tell thee of. And Abraham, he got up early
the next morning, and he took the wood of that burnt offering,
and he laid it upon his son Isaac, And he took the fire in his hand
and a knife and both of them went together. Isaac was a willing
sacrifice. And as they were walking, Isaac
spoke to his father. He spoke to Abraham and he said,
my father. And Abraham said, I'm right here. And Isaac said, behold the fire
and the wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the
lamb for a burnt offering? There is no acceptance. There is no communion between
God and man apart from a blood sacrifice. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission. There must be a lamb. Look at verse 8. Genesis 22,
verse 8. Abraham said, my son, God will
provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And they went both together. I just think young people sometimes
ask a lot of questions. That was the answer, wasn't it?
God will provide himself a lamb. He didn't need any further explanation.
We don't have any record. He asked any more questions.
That was enough. I ask you, is that enough? God
will provide himself a lamb. The Lord will provide himself
as the lamb. Who is that Lamb? Any question
about who that Lamb is? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God. He is God. The Lord will provide
for Himself a Lamb. God's the one, He's the offended
party. We're not the offended party.
God, we have offended Him. That blood, that blood that was
put on the doorpost, who saw that? Not the folks inside. God did. He said, when I see
the blood, the blood was shed for Him. The Lord will provide. He'll see to it. He'll see to
it that every one of His sheep is redeemed. He'll see to it
that His law is satisfied. He'll see to it that His justice
is satisfied. He'll see to it that His covenant
is fulfilled. He'll see to it that the eternal
glory of His Son is accomplished. Nothing, nothing left undone. Men often say that. They'll say,
God's done this, this, this, this, and this, and He's left
this up to you. Where is that? Where is that
in Scripture? What did the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God, cry on the cross? It is finished. It's complete. Nothing. Nothing left undone. God will provide himself a lamb. And then if we read on in there,
verse 12 of Genesis 22, he says, lay not thy hand upon the land,
neither do thou anything unto him, for I know that thou fearest
God, seeing that you've not withheld thy son, thy only son, from me. And look at this, Abraham lifted
up his eyes and looked. And look at that, and behold. You see that? Behold. Behold
the lamb. Behold behind him a ram caught
in the thicket by its thorns. And Abraham went and he took
that ram and he offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead
of his son. Is there any question? who provided
that ram, huh? What did Abraham tell him? God
will provide himself a lamb for a barren offering. Can you behold
the lamb? Can you behold the lamb that
God provided? Turn again with me to John 1.29.
The lamb provided. Listen to John's words here.
John 129, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world. Behold. Again, a careful and
deliberate observation. John wasn't the one people needed
to behold. John wasn't that light, was he? No, he came to bear witness of
the light. He said, I must decrease and
he must increase. What did he say? Did he say,
look at me? He said, behold the Lamb of God. In Hebrews 10, Paul
wrote, the law having a shadow of good things to come. Not the
very image of those things. Those sacrifices, they were offered
year after year, continually, but they could never make the
comers thereunto perfect. If they could have been, they'd
cease to have been offered. But they didn't, did they? And
those sacrifices, there's a remembrance again made of sin every year.
It's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take
away sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not,
but a body, a body, Christ became a man, a body thou hast prepared
me. And burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin, you had no pleasure in those. Then said I, Lo, I
come, in the volume of the book it's written of me, to do thy
will, O God. Behold the Lamb of God. The Lamb. There is but one Lamb. There is but one Savior. And we read that song, yes, there's
one, only one, the blessed, blessed Lord Jesus, He's the one. This is the one of whom the prophets
spake. That one that was pictured and
prophesied throughout God's word, behold, the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. Spurgeon wrote this, he said,
no other in all the world can take away sin but the Lamb of
God. There is no sin which He cannot
take away. There is no limit to the value
of His great sacrifice. He taketh away the sin of the
world. 1 John 1 verse 7, the blood of
Jesus Christ. Who is He? He's the Son of God.
He cleanses us from all sin. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ, who his
own self bear our sins in his body on the tree that we being
dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes
ye are healed. Behold the Lamb of God. And last, behold the Lamb prophesied. Behold the Lamb in picture. Behold
the Lamb in person. Behold the Lamb provided. Last, behold the Lamb to be praised. to be praised. Turn with me to
one more scripture and I'll close. Turn to Revelation 5. And I tried, I really tried to
find just a few verses of this passage to read, but there was
just no place to start but verse 1 and no place to end but the
last verse. You follow along with me. John
said, I saw in the right hand of him again, Revelation 5, I
saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book
written within, and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy
to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man
in heaven Nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to
open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because
no man was found worthy to open and read the book, neither to
even look thereon. And one of the elders said unto
me, weep not." Fear not, be of good cheer. How many times do
we read that in Scripture? Weep not, behold, the Lion of
the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open
the book and to loose the seven seals thereof, and I beheld. And lo, in the midst of the throne,
and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood
a what? Stood a Lamb, as it had been
slain. having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the
earth. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of
him that sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full
of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung
a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and
to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people,
and nation." Any question to who this refers to? The Lord
Jesus Christ. And it has made us unto our God,
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne.
and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was 10,000
times 10,000 and thousands and thousands saying with a loud
voice, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor
and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in
heaven And on the earth and under the earth and such as are in
the sea and all that are in them, heard I say, blessing and honor
and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne
and unto the Lamb forever and ever. We'll praise him forever
and ever. And the four beasts said, amen,
and the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth
forever and ever. Behold, behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. All right.