We're going to look at verse
35-42. John 1-42 and we're going to
look at one verse. And again, the next day, after
John, this is John the Baptist, stood, and two of his disciples,
and John looking upon Jesus as he walked, said, Behold, the
Lamb of God. And the two disciples heard him
speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them
following, and said unto them, What seek ye? They said unto
him, Rabbi, which is to say, being interpreted, Master, where
dwellest thou? He said unto them, Come and see.
They came and saw where he dwelt and abode with him that day,
for it was about the tenth hour. And one of the two which heard
John speak and followed him was Andrew, Simon Peter's brother.
He first findeth his own brother, Simon, and said unto him, We
have found the Messiah, which is being interpreted, the Christ.
And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he
said, Thou art Simon, the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called
Cephas, which is by interpretation, a stone. Now this is the second
time that John the Baptist had this phrase that he spoke. He
spoke it first in verse 29 and again in verse 36. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold, the Lamb of God." That
word means in the Greek, lo, or look, or see. It's a surprise. It's behold,
look, see, the Lamb of God. An early writer exclaimed it
this way, Oh, the blessedness of looking by faith to Jesus from the wrath and condemnation
justly due to our transgressions, to see all that wrath and condemnation
borne by Him who wept and bled in the garden, who languished
and died upon the tree, to see Jesus with the keys of all authority
and power suspended from His girdle closing up our hell and
opening wide our heaven. Opening wide our heaven. Behold the Lamb of God. Just a look. Just taking heed
to this proclamation. Everyone here. Behold the Lamb
of God. Don't look anywhere else. Look,
behold, the very sacrifice of God's own choosing. He and He
alone has completely, as they say, filled to the brim, fulfilled
all things against us. Why wouldn't we look? Why wouldn't
we look? Whether we've looked before or
we've never looked, why would we not look? Because Colossians
says that in Christ all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily
in Him. It's like what we saw, heard this morning in the back
room, to draw from that well of salvation. You can't overdraw
it. You can't run it dry. There's death all around us indeed. We ourselves are all death and
dying as we died in Adam's sin. And sin adheres to us like our
skin. It's just tight. It's just tight. But behold the Lamb of God. I
want us to behold Him in three areas. Behold the Lamb of God
in seasons of solitude or sorrow. Behold, look, view Christ. Behold Him meeting all of God's
commands and ordinances for all of His elect. alone with our
thoughts of sin and loneliness. You may not be a people person,
but you're a people, you're a person. Look to Him in seasons of solitude
and sorrow. Matt, perhaps you're like the
prodigal. You've abandoned your God, could care less about Him,
don't even think about Him, You think about studies and sports
and this's and that's and all these different things. Perhaps
like the prodigal. Or maybe you're that lost sheep.
You're just wandering. Looking for truth. Looking for
something. Brethren, he who feels eternity
knows our frame and remembers that we are just but dust. He
sent His Son to bind up our wounds, and we declare there is Balm
in Gilead. We declare it. Every Sunday,
every Wednesday, Bible class, whoever is up, we declare there
is Balm in Gilead to bind up the wounds. Fear not, little
flock, He says, it is the Father's good pleasure to give grace,
there's that phrase again, to give you the kingdom. Repair at once to Him who is
too wise to err and too compassionate to not succor us." To succor
us, meet our needs. So in seasons of solitude or
sorrow, and if you're in this world, he was a man of sorrows
acquainted with the Greek, we will be too. Secondly, behold
the Lamb of God in every position of life, every position of life. God is sovereign and He is in
total control of every single event in our puny lives. Whether we catch a virus or we
don't catch a virus, whether this economy collapses or it
doesn't collapse, whether this government, this wonderful experiment
as they call it, whether it's no more, He is sovereign over
all that. It is appointed Look that word
up. It's appointed for man that wants
to die. And then the judgment. It's appointed.
It's ordained. We are all shuffling, you know,
like that song says, you know, we're shuffling off the coil
as they say today. Or as the old writers in the
Old Testament says, you know, I go the way of all the earth.
It's inevitable. It's inevitable. Look to behold the Lamb of God
in every position of life. Look not at the waves, remember
Peter, he looked at the waves and then he started to sink.
That's what we'll do. He started to sink. Look not
at the circumstances surrounding our plight. but gaze singularly,
solitarily, and often upon the only one who can enable faith
and patience and long-suffering to help in our time of need.
Whether we are exalted or whether we are abased, Paul says, I know
how to do both. How? By looking to Christ. By
looking to Christ. Or looking to our Boaz, He will
be sure to leave handfuls of purpose along our journey here.
I'm concerned about a few things in our future. Shouldn't be. Shouldn't be. But as a husband, you do. You get concerned about things. Our heavenly Boaz will leave
just handfuls of purpose. He will feed us either in the
mind or in the body and therefore fitting us for the task, trial,
or situation at hand. If we're laid low or if we're
brought high, we always have need to look and behold our Kinsman
Redeemer and trust that He never does anything wrong but has our
good at heart. We have not suffered. like they
have in the New Testament. We have not suffered like the
martyrs have. We have not suffered like those
of the Reformation. We're not suffering like the
people in Afghanistan. We're not suffering like people...
We don't suffer. Why? God's ordained it. It may come to where such things
will happen, but let us behold the Lamb. Let us behold The Lamb
of God, the Lamb of God, indicating He is a Lamb, led to the slaughter. Suffering, bleeding and dying
for His people. Not that they would escape, because
He says, I had tribulation and the world hates you, it's going
to hate, it hated me, it's going to hate you. That's just part
of it. Not to relieve it for the suffering,
but in these sufferings, in these times of sorrow, in life's journey,
its ups and downs, greetings and partings. He has our best
interest. Thirdly, behold the Lamb of God
in seasons of affliction. Again, who better to see and
to know and to look upon than a man of sorrows who was acquainted
with grief? If we run to the creature for
help, Sometimes we may help one another if we have suffered in
like manner. But if we haven't suffered in
like manner, why do we go first to the inferior? Rather, let
us go hurriedly and quickly to Him who made all things for His
honor and His glory and our benefit. Turn from all creature comforts
to a more tender and wider arms of everlasting love. Turn to a deeper pit of mercy,
a fuller covering from all affliction, a more powerful shoulder to lean
upon, cry upon, a more sympathizing friend who, Proverbs 18 tells
us, who sticks closer than a brother. I'm not saying don't, we heard
this wonderful Bible class helping one another and calling and seeing,
I'm not saying that, I'm saying let us run, let us behold the
Lamb of God pre-eminently. Pre-eminently. So complete are
we with Christ and He with us that He says anybody that touches
us touches the apple of His eye. That's Zechariah 2 verse 8. In John 15, 18, I told you the
world, if we are hated, the world hated Him before it hated us.
So go to Him who sympathizes. Turn with me to 2 Thessalonians
1. 2 Thessalonians 1. Verses 3 through 6, Paul says,
We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet
because your faith grows exceedingly, and the charity of every one
of you all towards each other abounds, so that we ourselves
glory in you and the churches of God for your patience and
faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure.
which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God
that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which
you suffer." It may come to that. I don't know if it'll come to
that in this country in my lifetime, but it sure seems like it's heading
that way. One writer says, in all our happinesses,
our reputation, labors, necessities, in our discouragements and despondencies,
all these things pass beneath His unslumbering notice. God never sleeps nor never slumbers. And so, says this book, which
we put our confidence in because it's about Christ, cast your
care upon Him for He cares for you." Now that's in 1 Peter 5
verse 7. Now that first care, C-A-R-E,
it's different, there's two different words. Cast your care upon Him
for He cares for you. Our care is anxiety, distraction. That's our care. His care is
simply to be concerned. There's two different words.
cast our anxiety, our distractions upon Him. For He is concerned. And we're talking about He, we're
talking about the Sovereign of the Universe. We're talking about
the Lord who spoke and the worlds were. We're talking about the
ones who walk through an angry mob who wanted to kill him and
he could just walk right through him and nobody touched him. We're
talking about a lady who had years of issues of blood, which
shows forth our sin and despondency, and went everywhere else. She
didn't do what John said, behold the Lamb of God. She beheld physicians,
and she beheld politicians, and she beheld this. I hope they
pass this so I can have more money at the end of the month.
I hope they don't pass this, this or that. She did all these
things first, which we do. And then she went to him and
touched the hem of his garment and was made whole." Now you
may be whole already. You may not be whole from anxiety. You may be concerned about stuff,
like I'm concerned about future events. I may not even live that
long. Cast my care, cast your care,
anxiety, distractions, that's what they are, reading the newspaper,
watching the news, all these different things, it's just constant
distractions, constant distractions, constant distractions, all the
time. You can't believe half, you can't
believe anything. Cast that distraction upon Him
because He cares for you. So I close with these two thoughts.
If you've never looked to Him, if you've never beheld Christ
in all His glory, in His substitutionary work, that means Him taking your
sins taking Him upon Himself and giving you His righteousness.
If you've never looked to Him, if you've never seen yourself
as exceedingly sinful and seen the Savior as exceedingly glorious,
if you've never looked to Him, look now, look solely, look singularly
at Christ. Not the preacher, not the doctrine,
look to Christ. Or if you have looked before,
keep looking. Keep looking. And so find rest
and peace of soul. Because I come to the conclusion,
I was talking to a pastor yesterday, we both came to the conclusion
that there is a multitude of problems and issues living in
this world. But there is only one resolve,
one answer. And that's my responsibility
as your pastor, one of them, is to keep pointing you to behold
the Lamb of God. Bruce, would you close us?