And I want to read this to us
this morning. Verse 34. They gave him vinegar
to drink mingled with gall. And when he had tasted thereof,
he would not drink. And they crucified him, imparted
his garments, casting lots that it might be fulfilled which was
spoken by the prophet. They parted my garments among
them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. And sitting down,
they watched him there, and set up over his head his accusation
written, this is Jesus, the King of the Jews. Then were there
two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand and another
on the left. And they that passed by reviled
Him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that destroyest
the temple and buildest it in three days, save Thyself. If
Thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise
also the chief priests mocking Him with the scribes and elders
said, He saved others. Himself He cannot save. If He
be the King of Israel, Let him now come down from the cross
and we will believe him. No, you won't either. Seeing
signs and miracles never created faith in anybody. Faith is a
gift of God. He trusted in God. Wouldn't you
like to have that as your epithet? He trusted in God. That would
be the best thing that anyone could say of you when life's
over. He or she trusted in God. If
he will have him, he trusted in God, let him deliver him now.
If he will have him, he said, I am the son of God. They knew
exactly what he was saying. The thieves, now notice this,
the thieves, both of them, both of these guys, also which were
crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. They both
said this at first, and then something happened. One found
grace in the eyes of the Lord. Now, from the sixth hour, there
was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about
the ninth hour, Jesus cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani. That's to say, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Some of them that stood there
when they heard that saying, When they heard that, said, this
man calleth for Elijah. And straightway one of them ran
and took a sponge and filled it with vinegar and put it on
a reed and gave him to drink. And the rest said, let be. Let
us see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus, when
he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. Take our chorus books this morning. Notice there's only one song
there and you know the song is Hail Sovereign Love. Please stand. Hail, sovereign love that hurts
me again! Thou'st came to rescue all that
I've been. Him matchless, free, eternal
grace That made my soul a hiding place Against the God who rules
the sky I walk with head up, lifted high,
despise the vision of this place. In rapid, thick Egyptian night,
Then found the darkness more than light, Madly I read the
sinful race, Shake you without a hiding place. But thus eternal counsel read, Almighty love arrests that man. I felt the arrows of distress
and found I had Indignant justice stood in view,
To silence her remount I flew. But justice cried with frowning
glaze, This mountain is no hiding place, Ere long a heavenly voice
I heard, And mercy's angel born appeared. Who led me on with
gentle pace? To Jesus Christ my eye bringing
glace, On Him all my divisions fail, Let us have some good will
to help, He bore it for the chosen race, And thus became their hiding
place. Should storms of sinful thunder
? And shake this earth from foe
to foe ? ? No flaming boar do not my face ? ? For Jesus is
my hiding place of view ? In sons and foes, we'll then be
safe on heaven's coast. There I shall sing the song of
praise to Jesus Christ, my hiding place. Turn to the Gospel of John. Yeah,
the Gospel of John. Studying, I get my books mixed
up. I'll tell you the verse when
I get there. Let me get my notes out. John chapter 1, we go from 19
through 36. And this is the record of John.
when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask
him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied not,
but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then
art thou, Elias or Elijah? And he says, I am not. Art thou
that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said
they unto him, who art thou? that we may give an answer to
them that sin us. What sayest thou of thyself?
He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make
straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. And
they which were sent were of the Pharisees. They asked him
and said unto him, why baptizes thou then if thou be not that
Christ, nor Elijah, neither that prophet? John answered them,
saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among
you whom you know not. He it is whose coming after me
is preferred before me, whose shoes latching I am not worthy
to unloose. These things were done in Bethabara,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day, John
seeth Jesus coming unto him. and saith, behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Our message will
come from verse 29 this morning, Lord willing. Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Our Father,
thank you for your word that we've just read. Thank You for
the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, for taking away our sins. Thank You, Father, for giving
to us everything we need to stand in Your presence, accepted, spotless. Thank You, Father. Help us this
morning to worship You in spirit and in truth. Arrest our attention. Teach us by Thy Spirit. Enable
us to grow in grace and in knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
for those who are sick in this congregation, who are under affliction,
under trials, Father, we pray for them. Pray you'd bless, pray
your grace would prove sufficient to them, enable them to look
to you at this hour. And Father, we pray for this
community. Lord, the lost sheep that are out there, we pray,
that you would open the door for us to preach the gospel,
that they may come in. Thank you for all your mercies,
Father. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, and amen. We're back to the gospel of John. Chapter 1. Title of the message. Behold. Look at. Give great attention. Study. The Lamb of God. This is God's
Lamb. God's Lamb. Our Lord said in
one place, take my yoke upon you and learn of me. When I opened this book, the
Bible, the Word of God, the very purpose of opening this is to
learn more of the Lord Jesus Christ, to study Him, to know
Him, because to study Him, to know Him is to know Almighty
God. He is the living God. And if I'm going to know God,
I'm going to know God in Christ. Or I'm not going to know Him
at all. No other way. Now, John the Baptist, as he
said, he had one purpose in life. And I pray that I'll learn this.
And I pray you learn this. Our one purpose in life is to
bear witness of the light. John's one business was to say
to Israel, as mine is this mortal, behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. This is the promised seed of
Abraham. This is the seed of the woman.
This is the one that all the types and shadows picture. This is the one, John said. This
is the one. There's no other. We look not
for another. We are not looking for another
Messiah. He said, this is it. He's the
one. This is the one we've been waiting for. That's what he's
saying to Israel. This is the one that we've been
waiting for. And the message hasn't changed. We have nothing
else to preach apart from Christ and Him crucified. Everything
that I have to preach, standing here, has its root, its foundation
in Jesus Christ and Him crucified. His person and His work. Who
He is, what He did, who He did it for, where He is now. That's
it. Substitution is the heart of
our message. If we ever lose that, we lose
the gospel. We lose the gospel. Paul said to the Corinthians,
I am determined not to know anything among you. He's not saying he's
not interested in them, but he is saying that I'm not interested
in establishing anything until we get this established, Jesus
Christ and Him crucified. I am determined not to know anything
among you, say Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now someone's gonna say, I thought
John the Baptist was a preacher of repentance. That's what it
says, he came preaching repentance. He was. But when we preach repentance,
Jesus Christ must be the sum and substance of our message.
But why you gonna repent for? You don't even know why you're
repenting if you miss him. If you miss him, you completely
don't even understand repentance. You don't understand it. You
see, God not only requires repentance, but God requires atonement. God
requires satisfaction. His law has to be honored. I
can't do it. I can't even honor our laws that
we make. I can't even honor the laws for
the highway driving. How am I going to honor God's
laws? God's law was strict. You know, by one disobedience,
the whole world came under condemnation. This is how strict God's law
is. Adam didn't say in umpteen times,
all right, that's enough. One time, just one act of disobedience. But in that one act of disobedience
is everything you and I see going on today. Everything that's in
us. Every sin, every rebellion, every
evil work came out of that one act of disobedience. That's what sin is. It's how
far reaching it is. True repentance is the effect
of a true work of grace in the heart. True repentance, the scripture
says, is the gift of God. God has to give it to you. You're
not gonna repent if he don't give it to you. Or you may be
sorry of something because you got caught, You may be sorry
for things because it ended up hurting you, but that's not godly
sorrow. That's nothing more than what
Paul calls sorrow of the world. But a real work of grace in the
heart will bring repentance. It's God at work in the heart.
What good would it do if I stood here and was always telling you
that there's none good, no, not one, and never tell you of the
one who is our righteousness? That would just lead to despair,
wouldn't it? That would just lead to despair. I never heard,
until I heard Henry preaching, I never heard of the righteousness
of Jesus Christ being my righteousness, being imputed to me, being imparted
to me. I never heard that. I never heard. And God demands righteousness.
The very thing God demands is righteousness. I heard repent,
accept Him as your personal Savior. God will save you. You're okay
now. You're not going to go to hell. That was basically the
message. But I never heard of the righteousness. I never heard of my need of righteousness. And I never heard of His righteousness
being my righteousness. I never heard that. Not until
I heard the gospel. We preach repentance. Any man
who does not repent is lost. But here's how we preach it in
Acts 20, 21. Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus
Christ. I do repent. You repent. And I tell you something, repentance
is not something I did nearly 40 years ago. Repentance is a continual attitude
that you live with. You live with it. It's a continual
repentance. It's a continual asking God for
forgiveness. It's a continual, and it's continuing
to look to Jesus Christ at the same time. Knowing that the only
way God can forgive me is through the blood and righteousness of
Christ. The only way God can cleanse
me is through the blood and righteousness of Christ. No amount of tears. No amount of tears will put away
any sin. I can weep all day long. I can cry a river. It will not
put away one sin. It's the blood of Christ that
puts it away. But my mourning over it is evidence something's
going on. God is at work. God is at work. I wouldn't worry about it. I well remember a time it didn't
bother me at all. Not at all. We must have a sin bearer. We must have, the Scripture teaches
us, a scapegoat. We must have. Gotta have one.
Repentance alone can't put it away. It's the blood of the Lamb.
It says in Hebrews 9.22, And almost all things are by the
law purged with blood. And without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission. There is no forgiveness. There
is no. Our sorrow over sin will come from looking on Him
whom we've pierced. Now God may use, and generally
does, something I've done that starts to trouble me, bother
me, and that'll lead to seeing what I am. That will lead to
seeing what I am by nature. This is not, it's not just what
I've done. That's bad enough. But what I
am, I am sin. I was born in sin, David said,
and it's shaping it in me. That's the truth. That's the
truth. That's why truth is so hard on
human nature. Truth is so hard on this flesh.
We don't like that. We don't like to be told that.
We like to be told we're intelligent, we're good looking. We can listen
to that all day long. But when God reveals the truth
about us, it's offensive, it's hurtful, and it's right. It's
just right. Why would God, why would God
Almighty take His Son, hang Him on a cross, put Him through hell,
if I'm not that bad? If I'm just not that bad. If
I've just made some mistakes, and I know I'm not perfect, We
are a whole lot worse than any of us think we are. I'm telling
you the truth. God's telling us the truth. Now
he says here, behold the Lamb of God. Who provided this Lamb
that we are to look to? We are to be obsessed with. Who
provided this Lamb? Well it says God did. Behold
the Lamb of God. In the Old Testament, the Israelites
brought their own lambs from their flock. We saw this two
or three Thursdays ago in Exodus chapter 12 in the Passover. He
told them to get a lamb out of their flock without blemish.
It'd be a yearling, it'd be young, not something that was ready
to die of old age or a disease, but it'd be young as Christ was
in his youth, 33 years old. They were to bring a lamb, this
lamb. Now this lamb that John's speaking
of, God brought. God brought this lamb. This is
God's lamb. And if it's God's lamb, it's
perfect. If it's God's lamb, it has no
blemish. If it's God's lamb, I tell you
this, if God provided the lamb, whatever God provides, God accepts.
Don't ever forget that. God has provided for us in Christ
a righteousness. And guess what? He accepts it.
Whatever God provides, God accepts. Let's never forget that. This
is what makes Him worth beholding. This is what makes Him worth
believing. This is what makes Him worth looking to. This is
what makes Him worth trusting. He's God's land. This is God's
land. Abraham said to his son Isaac,
Isaac said when he was going up on the hill, he was going
up to offer Isaac. He said, Father, here's the wood
and here's the fire, but where is the lamb? Boy, you could say
that so much in the preaching that's going on out here today.
Where's the lamb in the preaching? Where is he? But Abraham said
to his son Isaac, son, God will provide himself a land. God will provide himself a land,
and God will provide himself as the land. God himself, the
God of creation, the only God there is, provided himself as
the land. He's the land. He's the Lamb. Oh, what a Lamb. Oh, what a Lamb. God has become our salvation,
David said. And God has become our salvation
in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. In the person of His Son,
God has done this. And this is the one John says
spoken of from the beginning. This is the one the whole Old
Testament's talking about. This is the one. This is it,
this is the one. And this land was provided before
the creation of the world. Jesus Christ is called, He's
called in the Scriptures, the land slain before the foundation
of the world. He says this over in Proverbs
8, verse 23, I was set up from everlasting. Set up to be the
Redeemer, set up to be the lamb, set up to be the Messiah, set
up to be the high priest, set up to be the mediator, set up
his blood to be the blood of atonement. He was set up, this
was sent. This was sent. From everlasting,
he said. I was set up from everlasting,
from the beginning or ever, the earth was, this man was taken
care of. He's a lamb slain, as I said,
from the foundation of the world. He was set up to be the Redeemer,
to be our propitiation, to be the head of the church. God set
him up. God, as I've said this a few
times from this pulpit, God is a God of order. David said this,
God hath made with me an everlasting covenant ordered in all things
and sure. Sure, complete. This matter's
been taken care of. Before the first sin was ever
committed, there was a Savior. There was a Savior. Why do you
think when Adam fell, when Adam rebelled against God, that lightning
and thunder like that happened at Mount Sinai did not happen
at that time? Why did God not annihilate Adam
when that happened? Because God had already, He had
already made a covenant with Jesus Christ concerning a multitude
of sinners, and it was ordered in all things and sure. God had
already taken care of this matter. He had already taken care of
it. How in the world could Adam rebel against God and then hear
the voice of God walking in the garden? walking, not rushing
in and say, what did you do? The fall did not take God by
surprise. Redemption is not an afterthought. It's not an afterthought. It's
not a reaction to what happened in the garden. Oh, that we would learn and know
God. It says in Micah 5.2, out of
thee shall he come forth unto me. That's God speaking of God. That's what that is. That's God
speaking of his son, Jesus Christ. Out of thee shall he come forth
unto me, that is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth
have been from old, from everlasting. Everlasting. Unto us a child is born. There
was a time that the human nature of Jesus Christ did not exist.
That was created in the womb of Mary by the Holy Spirit. That
man, that man was created by God. But the Son, it says, unto
us a child is born. And unto us a Son is given. He wasn't created, He's eternal.
He's the second person of the Trinity. He's God, He's God,
that's who He is. What grace and love the Father
has bestowed on us in giving us His Son and coming to us in
the person of His Son and suffering and dying in my place. It is God taking His own wrath. That's what it is. It's God,
it's God executing God in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ.
You say, I can't comprehend that. Well, I can't either. I can't
either. Jesus Christ is a man. He's a
man like you and I except for no sin. He knew no sin. And yet
Jesus Christ is the living God. That's who he is. He's the God
man. That's who he is. Godman, he's
Godman. That's who he is. Now, I cannot
separate. I'm not gonna say, well, this
part's part and this part, When he hung on that cross, you know
who hung on that cross? The God-man. That's who hung
on that cross. That's why his redemption, that's
why his sacrifice is so effectual. It's so effectual. You go over
in Acts, I think it's Acts chapter 20, Paul speaks of the church
being redeemed by the blood of God. That's what he calls it. He calls it the blood of God. That's who this Lamb is. That's
who this Lamb is. It says in 2 Timothy 1.9, Who
has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according
to our works, not according to what He has seen in us. You know, before I heard the
gospel, the gospel, I heard how God looked down through time
saw who was gonna believe on him and chose him. A.D. Mew said that'd be God taking
credit for something he didn't do. He didn't look down through
time. No. Not according to our works,
but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to
us when we believed. No. Long before we believed. It was given to us in Christ
Jesus before the world began. That's 2 Timothy 1, verse 9. That's the Word of God. And like
Noah, we have found grace in his sight. Noah was not any better
by nature than the rest of that crowd. Really. When Noah came
into this world, when he was born in this world, he was born
in sin, shame, and iniquity like everybody else. I guarantee you,
he ran with all the crowd of that day. He ran around with
them. And then God called him out. God revealed the gospel
to him. Noah believed God. Why? Why did
he do that? Same reason you and I do, grace. Grace, that's why you believe.
Why are you not out here in some false religion? Grace. Why are you not out here as a
drunkard for anything else you can think of? Grace. Grace makes the difference. That's
it. That's it. Here's the good news of the gospel.
We have a savior for sinners. Christ died for the ungodly.
Well, that just fits me to the T. That absolutely fits me to
the T. Christ died for sinners. That
just fits me like a good suit. It fits me. It's hard to find a sinner. It's
hard to find one. God has to make him a sinner.
God has to make a man say, guilty, guilty, guilty. Now, seeing this as God's lamb,
I'm confident he's able to get the job done. If this is God's
lamb, he's able to save. He's able
to save it to the uttermost. Someone said it to the gutter
most. Them that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth
to make intercession for them. For them. He is the only one divinely appointed
of God to save. There is no other name given
under heaven whereby we must be saved, except that name, Jesus
Christ. No other name does God recognize. Even the demons don't recognize
any other name. If you'll remember in the gospel,
there was some of us going in to try to do some exorcist, they
said, they was gonna do some exorcist. And these Jews, they
saw what was going on with Paul in the name of Christ. And when
Christ was here, he cast out demons. And so they go in and
they try to do this exorcism. They said, we adjure you by the
name of Jesus Christ, the one Paul preaches. They didn't know
him. This is the one Paul preaches to come out of him. And that
demon, it says, jumped all over him and they ran out of the house
naked. And you know what they said to him? Paul we know, Jesus
we know, but who are you? Who are you? Now at his name, at his name,
devils have to flee. At his name, heaven is moved.
At his name, God listens. Now you go to God any other way
and he's not gonna hear you at all. But Christ said, whatever
you ask in my name, in my name. Believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. That's a promise. That's
not a maybe, that's a promise. Not another Jesus, but on the
one this book reveals. Here's a lesson. God only hears
the name of His Son. God only forgives through the
person of His Son. God only clenches through the
blood of His Son, the Lamb. All others are failures. All
others are failures. There was no other lamb, there's
no other person, there's no other way to meet the strict requirements
except through Christ. No other can succeed. Only Him. He knew no sin. I can't even
imagine that. I can't even go there. You could
be sitting there thinking and it's like... You could be sitting
there listening to me. And a thought just... goes through
your head. I was thinking, I woke up early
in the morning here a few days ago, early in the morning, and
the scripture was going through my head, flowing through my head,
and I mean, it was a blessing to me. And then this stupid country
song came into my head at the same time. I thought, how'd that
get in the house? And I realized, I realized when
that happened, and that happened, I thought of what James said.
Salt water or clean water can't come from the same fountain.
I thought, here I am. That's well of springing water
that Christ said bubbles up in you. When you're born of God,
the Spirit of God, it bubbles up in you. And then all of a
sudden, here comes that salt water. That's not coming from
that clean fountain. That's not coming from that clean
fountain. I'm thinking, how did I think of that salt? Right in
the middle of... And I mean I was, the scriptures
were flowing. And I realized, and I realized
when that happens, God's speaking. God's speaking. Just listen and
let it, just listen and let it flow. But there's two fountains that's
inside of you. It's like there's two natures.
But I tell you this, we can only succeed at what God has divinely
appointed us to. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
divinely appointed of God to save sinners. No one else can
do that. No one else is appointed to do
that. No one. I know this. I know no one can
pastor this church except the man whom God's appointed. Everybody
else would fail him. It's so. And I would fail at
everything else if I try to do something else that God has not
appointed. And sometimes He lets us go down
that road. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, succeeded. He succeeded. Did He redeem? Absolutely. Absolutely. God appointed Him to it. He appointed
Him to it. Then last of all, Is He enough? Is God's Lamb enough? Is God's Lamb sufficient? Is
His sacrifice, is His person, is His righteousness, is His
blood, is His priesthood, is everything about... Is it sufficient?
I don't need anything else. I don't need anything else. I
don't need anyone else. That doesn't mean we don't need
each other. But not in salvation, I don't. Not in salvation. There is no sin. Now, I want
you to listen as I close. There's no sin that this Lamb
cannot take away. I don't care how bad or what
you've done, what I've done, there's no sin that He cannot wash away. Cannot. There's no limit To the
value, to the value of His great sacrifice. There's no limit to
the value of it. He taketh away the sin of the
world. That means not the Jews only,
but also a bunch of Gentiles. Also includes us. All sorts of sins from all sorts
of men and women. Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. That's music to my ears, because
I got a lot that needs to be taken away. That's what John's saying. This
is God's Lamb. This is the one appointed. This
is the Savior. This is the Messiah. Look to
Him. I look to Him now. I look to
Him now. I believe I look to Him now more
than I did when I started. I feel I need Him now more than
I did when I started. I need Thee every hour. I need
Thee. All right.