I'd like to pick up where I stopped last week. John 1, and I'll pick up again in verse
29. Scripture says, the next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto
him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world. behold God's Lamb. This is where a believer beholds
him. God's Lamb, God's sacrifice,
God's sacrifice, the Lord's to know Him wounded for our transgression,
bruised for our iniquity. Look upon Him in faith. What happens to a believer is
that the Spirit of God gives him a heart to look. reminds me of that passage, as
the Lord said, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness. So, even so, must the Son of
Man be lifted up. Now, here was the command in
the wilderness. That was it. Look and live. Someone says, that sure sounds
simple, except man by nature is blind, can't see. But to be given a heart, an eye,
a spiritual eye, to see Him, to look upon Him and believe
Him. Believe Him. He that believeth,
he that looks." What John said, Behold the Lamb of God, God's sacrifice for sin. Behold the Lamb of God, He who
would make atonement for the transgression of His people.
These are words of life, life. Behold the great propitiation, the satisfaction
for sin. Almighty God promised sin. Think reverently of Him. Behold, even now, may the Lord
just settle our minds down, just settle me down. I've got a few minutes to be
here. Time just passing so quickly. Oh, Holy Spirit, would you teach
me something? Don't let me just hear this.
Don't let me just hear it with this ear and then just pass it
over. I know the carnal mind would say, I know what you say.
Let me hear this. And Lord, cause me to muse upon
it. Hide that word in my heart. Behold
Him. That's what the Scripture would
say to all of us now. Behold the Lamb of God, afresh. This is not a piece of history
that just happened hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years
ago, and we're just kind of going over it. This is life. These words are life. They're
now. Behold the Lamb of God. Look upon Him, rest upon Him.
Here is the source of all blessings, God's Lamb, in that God Almighty
would not impute iniquity to us. Though the presence of sin
is there, I know and you know, you that
know Him, you know, you know the presence of sin is there.
but that the Lord would not charge me with the guilt of it. Blessed
man. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Behold, the Lamb of God is the
heart of the gospel. This is the heartbeat. Christ,
Paul says, Him crucified. Oh, the carnal mind, the natural
mind, concerned with Christ, the reformer, the teacher of
ethics. Do you know what the carnal mind... Do you know what... And I'm telling
you, all you've got to do is listen to what somebody says.
You know what somebody's looking for. And I mean this, and I don't
mean it to be funny. I want to make a point with this. You know in the little story,
the movie, Annie, Daddy wore books. That's what the carnal
heart is looking for. I want somebody that I can have
a, you know, just what I want, when I want it, and how I want
it. That's what I'm looking for. Behold the Lamb of God. God's satisfaction. The Christ. Look upon Him. Here's the one, John said, that
all the Scriptures has pointed to. In Genesis chapter 4, when
that lamb was taken, the firstlings of the flock, and Abel took that
firstling, that was the picture of him. And Abraham told in Genesis
22, God will provide Himself, Himself. God will provide Himself. He will do it Himself and will
provide Himself. A lamb. In Exodus 12, when that lamb
was taken, slain, the blood of that lamb was put on the doorpost.
And the people were told, get inside, get behind, get behind
the door. Get inside, get behind, get under
that blood, get behind it. The Lord is going to pass through
tonight, and wherever the blood is not seen, I'm going to take
the firstborn. The firstborn is going to take
them. The firstborn died, some themselves,
some in a substitute, the blood. Isaiah 53, the Lamb was announced. There is going to be a man, a
Lamb, brought to the slaughter, innocent in Himself. The Lamb was magnified by the
host of heaven in Revelation 5 and glorified in Revelation
22, seated on the throne of God. And right here in John 29, John
says, All the scriptures spoke of him, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, on and on and on. John said, there he
is, that's him. Behold, the Lamb of God. Oh, his title, the Lamb of God,
sinless, Lamb without spot, without blemish, voluntary, not driven
to the slaughter. He said, I lay down my life.
No man takes my life for me. Roman soldiers didn't take my
life for me. The Jews didn't take my life
for me. I give my life. I lay it down. I lay it down. I give my life for the sheep,
my people. I die for them, said his faith,
as a flint to Calvary. The sacrificial lamb, one that
would take away the sin of the world, taketh away the sin of
the world, all-encompassing sin of his people, the world of his
people. John says, This is he of whom
I said, After me comes the man which is preferred before me.
He was before me. He came after me in time, six
months. He's preferred before me. He's
the eternal God. And I knew Him not, John said. I knew Him not, verse 31. This
testimony was not from my personal friendship with Him, my acquaintance
with But it was divinely revealed. It was taught. I knew him not. But that he should
be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. Turn with me to Luke 1. Luke
chapter 1. Why is John, he says, now he
said, it's what he said. This is he of whom I said," while
you're turning to Luke 1, "'After me cometh a man in time which
is preferred before me, the eternal God, for he was before me.' I knew him not, but that he should
be made manifest to Israel. Therefore," that's the reason,
"'that I am come baptizing with water. In Luke 1, look in verse
63. Now, this was John the Baptist
was born six months before the Lord Jesus Christ. This boy's daddy's name was Zacharias. It had been told by divine revelation
that John's His name is going to be John. Verse 59 of Luke 1, He came to
pass that on the eighth day they came to circumcise a child, and
they called him Zacharias, after the name of his father. And his
mother answered and said, Not so! He shall be called John. And they said unto her, There
is none of thy kindred that is called by this name. And they
made signs to his father how he would have him called. He
asked for a writing-table, and he wrote, saying, His name is
John. And they marveled all. Then down
in chapter sixty-eight, the scripture says, Blessed be the Lord God
of Israel, for he hath visited and redeemed his people. raised
up and horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant
David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have
been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies
and from the hand of all that hateth to perform the mercy promised
to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which
he sware to our father Abraham, that he would grant unto us that
we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve
him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him
all the days of our life. And thou, child, shall be called
the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the
face of the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation
unto his people by the remission of their sins." Do you see what
John's calling was? He's going to go before the face
of the people before the Lord Jesus Christ, to give knowledge
of salvation unto his people by the remission of sins, through
the tender mercy of our God, whereby the day spring from on
high hath bested us, to give light to them that sit in darkness
in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the child grew and waxed
strong in spirit and was in the desert till the day of his unto
Israel." John said, This is my calling. This is what I'm doing. Here I am, the one who's declaring
the Lord Jesus Christ. There He is. I've come baptizing,
declaring remission of sins before His very face. John declared
that he'd been taught by God himself, that the one you see
the dove descend on and abides, that's the Lamb of God. That's
in Matthew 3. Turn there. Matthew 3, verse 13. Then cometh Jesus from
Galilee to Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. John forbade
him say, I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?
And Jesus answering and said unto him, Suffer it to be so
now, for thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness.
And he suffered him. And Jesus, when he was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water. And, lo, the heavens were
opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like
a dove, and lighting upon him, lo, a voice from heaven saying,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. John said,
It was revealed unto me. He taught me. He showed me. This
is Him. I knew Him not. Back in verse
32 of John 1, John said, I bear record. He said, I saw the Spirit
descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I
knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water. The same sent unto me upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending. and remaining on him, the same
as he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and I
bear record, that this is the Son of God." Now, who is this?
Who is this one of whom John sets forth? Turn with me to one
other passage, Malachi chapter 3. Malachi chapter 3, verse 1. Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord, whom
ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of
his coming? And who shall stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner's fire, and like a fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner
and purifier of silver, and he shall purify the sons of Levi,
and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness." John said, this is the one. This is he. I come baptizing
in water. with water, in water. But there's
one coming that will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with
fire. Malachi, speaking of this very
passage we're dealing with, I'm going to send a messenger. He's
going to come and he's going to proclaim the Lord Jesus Christ. Who's going to be able to stand?
when he appears. He's like a refiner's fire and
a fuller's soap. Now, I tell you, I'll be honest
with you, I didn't know a whole lot about that. I didn't know
what a fuller was. I had to look that up. What is a fuller? Somebody that
cleans cloth. That's what it is, a fuller. He's going to be like fuller's
soap. Fuller's soap was that which
could purify, wash clean cloth, get the spots out, get the stains
out, cleanse it. Who are these, the angel said
in Revelation? Who are these? Those whose robes
have been washed white in the blood. What robes are those? That's the righteousness of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Who is this? John says, Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. The Scripture
says He'll be as the fuller's soap that cleanses, that washes
white, purifies. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they'll be white as snow. And he's like, the Scripture
says, he's going to sit back in Malachi 3, he'll sit as a
refiner and a purifier of silver, a refiner. When a refiner, I
had to look this up too, I didn't know this either, but the refiner
of the silver, he would put the silver and the drosses all together
and he'd put it in that and start the refining process. And while
the process was going on, the refiner would sit there and watch
it. And I read of an account where
a woman came to a refiner and asked him, said, ìWhat is this
refining process?î He said, ìWell, you sit and you watch, and while
the silver is being refined, the way you know that the process
is complete is when you see your own reflection in the silver. You take it out. Oh, my! When you see Him, when the Father
sees Him, the process. Who is this? He is the Lamb of
God. He is like a refiner's fire.
and fuller soap, he'll sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver,
and he'll purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold
and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in
righteousness, in the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who
is this? He's the Lamb. The Lamb of God,
John says, that taketh away the sin of the world. John, I'll
just read these last three verses, verse 32, 33, and 34. John, bear
record. He said, I saw the Spirit descending
from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew
him not, but he that sent me to baptize with or in water. The same said unto me, upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God, the Lamb." Here is John's
record. He was before me. Eternal God. He is the Lord. That was back
in verse 23 of John 1. He said, I'm the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord,
as said the prophet Isaiah. His superiority, immeasurable. In verse 27 of John 1, the chapter
we're in, He it is who coming after me is preferred before
me, whose I'm not worthy to unloose. Who is this? John testified of
his sacrificial work. Behold. Testified of his moral
perfection. The Spirit of God upon whom you
see the dove descend. That's him. Testified of his
divine sonship. That's the last verse we look
at. the Son of God. This is John's record. This is
him. Behold, may this record that
is declared in this pulpit be consistent with that which honors
the Lamb of God. Our Father, how thankful we are
that we can behold by faith him God's Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ,
how we thank you for your goodness to us, that you would allow us
to be here, that you would allow us to hear, allow us by faith
to see him. Lord, how we ask you tonight,
forgive us. Thank you for keeping us. Hide
this word within our heart, for Christ's sake. Amen.