Open your Bibles, if you would,
to the book of John, chapter 1. We'll look at verses 29 to
34. Verse 29 will be our verse. The name of the message is, Behold
the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Now,
Christ was foreshadowed all through the Old Testament, all those
lambs that were slaughtered and the sacrifices that were offered.
all pointed to Christ. And Christ is the Lamb of God. He's the sent one. He's the sent
one. He's the Lamb of God sent to
take away the sins of His people, God's people, chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. And we as God's people
When the Lord saves us, when we're born again by the power
of God, the Holy Spirit, and he gives us faith to believe,
our faith has one object, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.
And this is who we are to center on. Now, we look to Christ for
salvation, and then we live a life, beloved, of continually looking
to Christ by faith. Oh my, it's wonderful. So let's
look at this portion. We'll see the wonderful proclamation
of John the Baptist about the Lord Jesus Christ. Starting at
verse 29, we're going to read to verse 34 to see the context
of these verses. Verse 29 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. Oh my, what a verse. What a wonderful verse, beloved.
This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred
before me, for he was before me. Remember, he's the Son of
God. He's God in the flesh. He came down from heaven. He's
the second person of the Trinity. And I knew him not, but that
he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing
with water. And John bear record saying,
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 said unto me, upon whom
thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on him, the same
is he which baptizes with the Holy Ghost. And I saw on bare
record that this is the Son of God." My, what a statement. My. He makes two proclamations
In this section here, the first one is in verse 29, where he
says, Behold the Lamb of God. And then he identifies him, another
proclamation, in verse 34, where he says, This is the Son of God. Now I have to make a confession,
I've read this portion many times since the Lord saved me. But
you know that yesterday was the first time I actually saw what
verse 34 says? This is the Son of God. Is that not what we say, beloved?
Is that not what we say? Oh my, isn't it wonderful when
the Lord lights up a scripture that you've read before but never
seen? Oh, it's wonderful, beloved.
It's wonderful. And look at these wonderful words
of exhortation by John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God. Nothing,
beloved, nothing can make a sinner who's been born again by the
Holy Spirit of God truly happy, truly happy. But by looking to
the one who's taken away all our sin, the misery of our sin,
the penalty of our sin, he's taken it all away. The guilt
of our sin, Christ took it all, beloved. Now, that doesn't mean
we don't get guilty over the sin we do. No, that doesn't mean
that. We feel that's why we repent.
We keep repenting. But isn't that wonderful? Doesn't
it make you happy, beloved, to know that God in Christ, the
Lamb of God, has taken away all our sin? He's gone. As far as God's concerned, it's
gone. And how, how, how God's people's
hearts rejoice in these wonderful words that the Lamb of God, who
is the Lord Jesus Christ, has taken away all our sins. How?
By the sacrifice of himself. By going to Calvary's cross to
save his people from their sins. The sinless one going to die
for sinners such as me. And if you're a believer, such
as you, isn't that amazing? I'll tell you, that makes me
happy. I'm so thankful God saved my soul. My goodness, I can't
even express the thankfulness I have to my king for saving
me. But I'll tell you what, I'm going
to tell as many people as I can about him as God opens doors
and he gives me an opportunity to preach the gospel. I'm going
to say, this is the only one who can save sinners. I say,
behold the Lamb of God. There he is, the Lord Jesus Christ,
sent to save his people from their sins. Look to him. The
only Savior are sinners. I pray God will show you you're
a sinner. If you don't think you're a sinner, I'll tell you
what, I'm a sinner saved by grace. Matter of fact, I'm a sinner
saint. And that's not exalting myself up. I'm a sinner first,
but I've been made a saint of God by Christ and what he's done
on Calvary's cross. It wasn't nothing I did. It's
all by what the Lord Jesus Christ did. And he says, come unto me.
Right? Do you know he's able to save
to the uttermost? all who come to Him, all who come to the Father
through Him. You know, Christ has never turned
a sinner away that come to Him. Never. He never said, oh, you're
too vile, I can't save you. No, no, no, no. I'm living proof of that. And
every believer will tell you, we're living proof of that. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? So that's why we rejoice over
Christ. That's why we who are the born-again,
blood-washed people of God rejoice. That's why we're filled with
joy when the Holy Spirit works that in us. That's why when we
look to Christ or we hear the gospel preached, our hearts lift
up, beloved, because there's our Savior. There's our hope.
There's our hope. And what a great hope we have.
God himself has saved us. He did it all. Oh, my. And with the eye of faith, God-given
faith, but with the eye of faith, we behold the Lamb of God. Oh,
there was a time when we wanted nothing to do with Him. And then
God, the Holy Spirit, moved on us. We were born again, and He
gave us faith to believe. And do we exercise that faith?
Of course we do. We behold the Lamb of God, don't
we? We flee to Him. We run to Him. Oh yeah? And He's the object in the center
of God-given faith, Christ in Him alone, the only Savior of
sinners. Behold the Lamb of God! Behold
the Lamb of God, who has taken away the sin of the world. Oh
my. My, no one's sin is too black
for him to save. My, because he saved us. He saved,
we're, God's people are a bunch of sinners saved by grace. Oh,
and you know what else he can do? Oh, he can calm our guilty
conscience, can't he? Oh, he can. You know how he calms
us? With the fact that he saved us
from our sins by his redeeming precious blood. Oh, God saved
me from all my sins. Praise his mighty name. That's
what the believer says. That's what the one says who,
can you say that? Can you listen and say that?
If you can, give God all the glory and all the honor and praise. And if you can't, I pray God
will show you you're a sinner and draw you to Christ. Oh my. Oh, my. Sin has condemned us
before God. God's holy law accuses us daily,
doesn't it? Oh, but we marvel at the fact
that the Lord Jesus Christ has delivered us from the law of
God. And He didn't come to abolish
the law, beloved. He came to fulfill it in our
room and place. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, my. We've been delivered. We've been
delivered from all our sin. In Christ, the Scripture says,
is the end of the law for righteousness. He's my everything before God. The Scripture says there's none
righteous, no, not one. There's none good. Well, we think
we're pretty good in our natural state. You talk to men and women
out in the world, and you tell them they're sinners, and they
say, well, you call me a sinner? Yeah. And I'm just a sinner saved
by grace. I had a fellow I was talking
to last week, and he says, well, I'm an ordained minister. And
I said, oh, you are? And I didn't get to talk to him
very long, but the next day I ran into him again. And I said, are
you born again? And he said, well, I was born,
and I had this bad disease happen to me, and then I was saved. So yeah, I was born again then.
I said, no, that's not what that means. To be born again is to be spiritually
reborn. To be regenerated by the Holy
Spirit of God. To be given faith to believe.
See, people don't think they're sinners. But we all are. People go get some black stuff
this time of year, put it on their head, and, oh, look how
holy I am! You're still just a dirty dog
sinner. You're just identifying yourself
as a religious superstitious person, that's all. Without Christ. I know, I was one of them. I
used to have that black stuff on my head. It don't do nothing. Oh, my. People thinking they're
religious foolishness. If I do something, then surely
I'll gain merit and favor with God. The only way we can be saved,
the only way we can gain merit and favor with God is behold
the Lamb of God who died for the sins of His people. It's
all in Christ. My righteousness is all in Christ.
My faith is in Christ. My salvation is in Christ. My
redemption is in Christ. My regeneration is in God the
Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ. Oh my. Oh my. What a Savior. He's the end of
the law for righteous. So we cry out every day, oh,
wretched man that I am. Who can deliver me from this
body of death? But don't we thank God for the
precious Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom there's no condemnation,
for those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh
but after the spirit. Praise His mighty name. Oh my,
thanks be to God for a precious Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the Lamb of God, takes away the sins of His people.
And you know, this Lamb is provided by God Himself. God the Father
sent this Lamb, sent this Redeemer, right? And His name is the Lord
Jesus Christ, and He's God the Son. Oh my. And salvation is in him and him
alone. And it is he who has saved his
people from our sins by the shedding of his precious, precious blood. So marvel, beloved of God, is
all our iniquities, all our sin were laid upon him. And he bore
it in his own body on the tree, the sinless one, dying for sinners. The sin, the whole sin of all
the elect of God, every sin of all that shall believe on Him
to the end of the world was laid upon Him. And by the sacrifice of himself,
he put it all away. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. Oh my. And you know, he bore
it into the land of forgetfulness, beloved. He carried it away so
much that God the Father is so satisfied with the sacrifice
of Christ, so satisfied that in Jeremiah, Jeremiah, he says,
your sins and iniquities will I remember no more, Jeremiah
31, 34. That's all because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ,
shed to redeem our eternal souls, beloved. And daily, we're reminded
we're sinners, aren't we? We're daily reminded we're sinners.
You don't have to tell us we're sinners. We already know it.
But we didn't know it before we were saved. But now we do. And we say, God, be merciful
to me, the sinner, don't we? All the time, all the time, because
the remembrance of our sin is ever before us. But marvel, you
who have looked to the Lamb of God for salvation, the Lord Jesus
Christ, God says to his people, the redeemed of the Lord, your
sins and your iniquities, I will remember no more. God says that,
beloved. God says that because of the
great work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold the Lamb of God. Oh, isn't it wonderful? Look
at verse 29 again of John chapter 1. It'll do our souls well to
meditate upon these wonderful words of John's about this declaration
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The next day John see Jesus coming
unto him and say, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away
the sin of the world. All his people are people of
every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, beloved. Oh my, so
marvelous. Marvel, then marvel at verse
34, another declaration about the Lord Jesus Christ. John says,
and I saw in bare record that this is the Son of God. Beloved, we can only do that
by God-given faith. So marvel then, sinner friend.
This is still true today. And we'll never change the fact
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only Savior of sinners. We
cannot save ourselves. No one else and nothing we do
can take away our sins. This is why God's preachers,
we say, sinner friend, behold the Lamb of God. Look to Him.
He taketh away sin now. He takes away sin today. He takes
away sin until He tarries, and He's taken away sin in the past
of all His people. Oh my, and all who are born again
by the Holy Spirit of God and look to Christ by faith, God-given
faith, we marvel, we marvel that all the sins which trouble us,
that we see by faith, we see our sin now, that it was all
laid upon He who is the Lamb of God. How sweet it is to know
that all our iniquities and sins are forgiven, in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who John proclaims here, behold,
the Lamb of God, the Son of God, God in the flesh, who came to
save his people from their sins. And he said, it's finished, and
he did it, beloved. And we are told to look to Christ
and live. He's the only, he's the Messiah.
He's the sent one of God. He's the only savior of sinners.
And the believer now lives a life of faith continually. Beholding
this Lamb, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's life
to our souls and death to our sins. Isn't that wonderful? He's
life to our souls and death to our sins. Sin cannot tarry with
its guilt. Sin cannot prevail in its power
while the heart is looking to the Lamb of God. For he says,
look unto me and be ye saved. What an astonishing mystery,
but this is God's truth. Sinner friend, behold the Lord
Jesus Christ with the eye of faith. Oh my, to look to him
is to be truly happy, as it is God himself who saved his people
from their sins. And beloved God, may we Look
to the Lamb of God daily by faith. May the Holy Spirit shed joy
in our hearts, knowing that the one we are trusting is the Lamb
of God, the one that we are trusting for the salvation of our souls
is the one who John said, behold, the Lamb of God, the sent Lamb
of God, in whom all our sins and iniquities are forgiven,
all because of the perfect redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ
in our room and place. Thank you, Father God, for sending
the Son, your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to save us from our sins.
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for coming into this world. You, who are
the Lamb of God, to save us from all our sins by shedding your
precious blood and giving your life, oh, to ransom our eternal
souls. And thank you, Holy Spirit, for
regenerating us and giving us faith so that we can behold the
Lamb of God. and look to him to be saved.
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ, Galatians 6, 14. Marvel then, beloved of God,
we who are sinner saints, as God the Father beholds us in
his Son, the Lamb of God, the Lamb of God. And we are free
from sin, forever free from sin. Oh my, free from the peddling,
free from the condemnation, and free from the guilt. And one
day, we're gonna be free from the presence of our sin. And
this is truth, truth to live by. Live by the grace of God
and according to his will and purpose. And we, by faith, we
behold the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as we walk through
this world daily. Oh, my. Oh, my. And we who were once captives
to our sin are freed from all our sins. He's redeemed us. The
Lord Jesus Christ has redeemed us from all our sins. Behold
the Lamb of God. Look and live. Praise the name
of Jesus. Amen and amen.