I want us to look at three texts
of Scripture tonight. We'll begin in John chapter 1,
John chapter 1. When Shelby and I left the office
last night, just a few minutes before 11, I had finished my
preparations for the message from Isaiah 9, 6 on Christ the
Prince of Peace. And a couple hours later, we
went to bed, and immediately some things got rolling around
in my mind, and I knew I had to work on this message for you
tonight. Would to God every time I stand
to preach to you. He might so graciously fill our
hearts with wonder. Just wonder, just wonder at all
His great work, His infinite love, and His matchless grace
to us in Christ the Lord. Just so that you leave this place
utterly overwhelmed at the wonder of God's grace and goodness to
us in Christ the Redeemer. To that end, I want to talk to
you about three great wonders revealed in this book. We'll
begin here in John chapter one. There are specific things in
scripture we're called upon to behold. When you read that word
behold, it's a word that's intended to get attention. In some of
the very rare old books I've seen, they used to use little
icons of a finger like that. We use bullets now in the computer
age, but they use little icons just of a finger pointing to
a passage to get your attention. The word behold is just like
that as you come across it in the scriptures. It calls your
attention to something. You ought to pause and roll over
in your mind. and roll over in your heart and
just stand and ask God to show you what he is saying, what he's
revealing. Let's look at these three texts
of scripture, beginning here in John chapter one and verse
29. The first wonder of this book
is the wonder of the Lamb of God, the great wonder of Jesus
Christ, the Lamb. the sacrifice of God's Son as
our Lamb. That wonder of redemption begins
to be revealed way back in the book of Genesis. You'll remember
when the Lord God was about to drive Adam and Eve out of the
Garden of Eden. He first slew an innocent victim,
a lamb, and made from the skin of that lamb garments for Adam
and Eve with which he clothed our first parents, teaching them
what he promised in Genesis 3.15, that he would send one the seed
of the woman, the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, who
would crush the serpent's head and undo all that Satan did in
the fall and all that man lost in the fall. And then when Abel
and Cain came to worship God, being taught obviously by their
father to worship God, Cain rejected the message that Adam had taught
him. And Cain brought the fruit of the ground. He brought the
works of his hands. I don't have any doubt that he brought the
very best that he had. the very best that he had produced.
But God refused to accept it. And Abel came and brought a lamb. He brought an innocent victim,
just as his father Adam told him, this is the picture of how
God saves sinners. And he offered an innocent sacrifice
unto the Lord God, having fixed in his heart The Lord Jesus Christ
who would come to redeem and save his people from their sins. The Lord Jesus was spoken of
all the way through the Old Testament in types and pictures of a lamb. And here in John chapter 1 verse
29, for the first time he is called by name the Lamb of God. This is the first message of
the first Baptist preacher to his congregation. The next day,
John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Now watch this. John specifically identified
the Messiah, the Christ, as the Lamb of God, and he directs his
disciples Those men who had been walking along with Him as He
taught them. He specifically directs those
who were following Him to follow the Lamb. Look at verse 30. This
is He, of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred
before me, because he was before me. This man is the eternal God,
God the Son, our Redeemer. He was before me. And I knew
him not, but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore
I am come baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying,
I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode
on 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 baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw and bear
record that this is the Son of God. Again, the next day, after
John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he saith, behold, the Lamb of God. and the two disciples
heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Behold the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sin of the world. I'm calling on you,
and I call on myself, to behold our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God, the sin-atoning sacrifice, whom God himself has accepted. That sacrifice of God for sin. That one who bore our sins in
his own body on the tree. Christ Jesus is presented to
us as a lamb. An innocent, clean victim. One that's inoffensive. A lamb. This lamb is the lamb
of God. The one who is given by God,
who comes from God, and is accepted by God. And this lamb is himself
God. God in our flesh. And he has
taken away the sins of God's elect, wherever they're found,
throughout all the history of the world. When John says he
taketh away the sin of the world, he was not in any way suggesting
the notion that everybody's sins in the world were taken away.
Were that the case, everybody in the world would be saved,
redeemed, justified, sanctified, and with him in glory. But he
takes away the sins of his people, scattered throughout the ages
of time, throughout the four corners of the earth, wherever
they're found in this world. And I call on you to behold him. You who are yet under the wrath
of God, oh God give you grace now to behold the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God who alone has
taken away sin. The Lamb of God who alone can
take away your sin from your own guilty conscience and give
you peace with God. Sinners laboring under the load
of sin. labor under the terror of God's
wrath, and you can never escape it. It's a crushing load that
just nearly drives you mad. I call on you to look away from
yourself. Look away from yourself and behold
the Lamb of God. The children of Israel, when
they were bitten of fiery serpents in the wilderness, were commanded
by Moses to look upon that serpent of brass that the Lord God told
him to make and raise up on a pole. That serpent of brass being a
picture of our Redeemer, our blessed Savior, who himself had
come to undo all that the serpent had done. And all who were bitten
of fiery serpents were commanded to look, just look, just look. looking. Everyone who looked
lived. What a picture of faith. Faith
is looking out of yourself, out of your feelings, out of your
works, out of your experiences, out of yourself altogether, looking
away to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Our Savior used that
very picture in John 3 to portray faith. And he said, he that believes
on the Son of God has everlasting life. Our Lord Jesus said, Lindsay
quoted it this morning in Isaiah 45, 22, look unto me and be you
saved all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none
else. Looking away to Christ, as soon
as you look to him, The burden of guilt rolls away. The burden of sin is taken away. Look away to Jesus Christ, the
Lamb, and live. My message to you who are gods,
and some of you have been walking with God by faith in Christ for
a long time, is exactly the same as to you who know him not. Look
to the Lamb of God. Whatever your soul's trouble
is, whatever your need is, whatever your present condition is, this
is what you need to do this hour. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. Isn't it amazing, Rex, when you
got something that really, I mean, weighs heavy on you and troubles
you and you just, You just think, I can't function like this anymore. And God gives you grace to look
away to Christ crucified again. Suddenly, all the weight of care
seems to be lifted. Behold the Lamb of God and worship. Behold the Lamb of God and wonder. Behold the Lamb of God and be
astonished with His mercy, love, and grace. Behold the Lamb of
God and there you'll find inspiration for your soul's devotion. Behold
the Lamb of God and be broken over your sin and indifference.
Behold the Lamb of God and be revived, renewed, and refreshed
in Him. Behold the Lamb of God and follow
Him. Folks who look to Him, follow
Him. This is how God's people are
described in Revelation 7 or Revelation 14. They are those
which follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth. These are the redeemed
of the earth. They follow the Lamb. Behold
the Lamb of God in all the scriptures. All the scriptures are talking
about him. He is prophesied throughout the Old Testament, typified in
all the sacrifices and ceremonies God gave to Israel, beginning
especially in Exodus 12, where the Paschal Lamb was sacrificed.
Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. This Lamb of God is crucified
in our stead and now glorified in heaven. The first great wonder
then, revealed in the book, is the wonder of the Lamb. how I
thank God for the Lamb of God slain at Calvary, for the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, and for that book
of life of the Lamb, in which our names were written by the
finger of God before the world began. Behold the Lamb of God. Now turn back to Lamentations
chapter three. Lamentations chapter three. The second wonder in this book
to which I call your attention is the sufferings, sorrow, and
death of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God. Look how he calls for us to behold
his sufferings, his sorrow, and death. Lamentations chapter three
and verse 12. He says, Is it nothing to you,
all ye that pass by? Behold and see, if there be any
sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Behold the Lamb of God suffering
as our substitute, hanging upon the cursed tree, suffering all
the shame, ignominy, and terror of God's unmitigated wrath. Oh, my God. Christ crucified
immediately before my eyes immediately in the thoughts of my mind and
the affections of my heart in his body in his heart in his
very soul the Son of God when he was made sin for us was filled
with all the sorrow and all the suffering of the hell of God's
wrath for us. Yonder amazing sight I see. the incarnate son of God, expiring
on the accursed tree and weltering in his blood. Behold the purple
torrent run down from his hands and head. The crimson tide puts
out the sun, his groans awake the dead. The trembling earth,
the darkened sky, proclaim this truth aloud, and with the amazed
and tearing cry, this is the son of God. So great, so vast
a sacrifice, may well my hope revive. If God's own son thus
bleeds and dies, the sinner sure may live. Oh, that these chords
of love divine might draw me, Lord, to Thee. Thou hast my heart,
it shall be thine, thine it shall ever be. Oh, behold the suffering
of the Lord Jesus. Behold and see, he says, if there
be any sorrow like unto my sorrow. And the source of his sorrow,
he says, it is the sorrow wherewith The Lord God hath afflicted me
in the day of his fierce anger. What a picture. The sorrow wherewith
the Lord God hath afflicted me, the God-man, in the day of his
fierce anger. so that the Lord God Almighty
heaped upon him all the fury and anger and wrath of his infinite
justice and his infinite hatred of sin when he made him sin for
us. In Isaiah 53, if you want to
look at it again, a very familiar text of scripture, verse nine, He made his grave with the wicked
and with the rich in his death. Because he did no violence, or
he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
This one did no sin, he knew no sin, he had no sin, he could
not sin. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise
him. It satisfied God, and this is
the only thing that could, to bruise his son. He hath put him
to grief. when thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin. I repeat to you something that
needs to be clearly understood. Throughout the Old Testament
scriptures, there are offerings for sin, and they're called sin
offering. But nowhere in the Old Testament
scripture do you find any corollary Hebrew word correctly translated
sin offering. They're called sin offerings
because, as our translators wrote out the translation, give us
the translation that we have before us, the sacrifice was
an offering made for sin. But the word sin offering is
nowhere used in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament Scripture.
When God the Holy Ghost inspired the Apostle Paul to give us what
this passage is talking about, in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, he said,
he hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin. God Almighty
found a way, as only infinite wisdom could find, By which he
could be just and justify the ungodly. By which he could, in
strict accordance with his own holiness, his own law, and his
own justice, freely justify the ungodly. And that way is in the
sacrifice of his son. The Lord declares his name to
Moses as he shows him his glory. He says, I will by no means clear
the guilty. And then he says just exactly
the opposite. He says forgiving iniquity, transgression,
and sin unto the children and the children's children unto
the third and fourth generation. How can he both forgive sin and
never forgive sin? both forgive sin and never justify
the wicked. How can that be? Only by a sacrifice
which at one time puts away sin and fully satisfies the justice
of God. And that sacrifice is Christ
the Lamb who was made sin for us. when he bear our sin in his
own body on the tree. When thou shalt make his soul
an offering for sin, he shall see his seed. He shall prolong
his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his
hand. What is the cause of his great
sorrow? The holy, immaculate, spotless,
sinless Lamb of God was made sin for us. Well, why did he
endure such wrath, such sorrow, such pain, such shame, such horrid,
horrid grief? Why? Why would he willingly set
his face to go up to Jerusalem and suffer and die in the room
instead of sinners as if he were a thirsty man going to drink
water? For one purpose, for the joy that was set before him. Imagine that. the joy that was
set before Him, for which He endured the cross, despising
the shame. Oh, wondrous Son of God, my Redeemer sets today in glory
in joy, in The joy set before him is that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. That we might be with him in
his glory forever. That's the satisfaction of his
soul. He endured the hell of God's
wrath to save his people from their sins. But what's the result
of this? What's the result of Christ dying
as our substitute? Suffering the wrath of God as
our substitute. We have in him redemption through
his blood. And it's described like this,
the forgiveness of sins. The result of blood atonement.
The result of the sacrifice of Christ is the free forgiveness
of every sinner for whom he died. This forgiveness is twofold. It is forgiveness accomplished
by his sacrifice. But forgiveness accomplished
is utterly meaningless to the man who's unaware of it. Utterly
meaningless to that man who's unaware of it, as long as he
walks about with the sentence of death, as long as he goes
about with guilt upon him, as long as he goes about fearing
the terror of God's law and justice, knowing he's guilty of the crime.
But when someone comes with pardon, with his name on it, and hands
it to him, he has no more reason to be afraid. No more reason
to be terrified. No more reason to fear the judge
coming, locking him up and sentencing him to die because he's been
pardoned. Oh, all the joy of forgiveness
experienced in the soul. Of knowing that God is no longer
angry with me and has no reason to be. God is no longer furious
with me and has no reason to be. And that forgiveness is what
he speaks to the soul who looks to the Lamb of God, who believes
on the Son of God. Being made the righteousness
of God in him, being forgiven all sin, we are accepted in the
beloved and the glory of heaven is ours. Now look with me at
the third text. Turn back to 1 John chapter 3.
1 John chapter 3. And let's meditate for just a
few minutes on the wonder of God's love. The love of God revealed
to us in the Lamb of God who suffered the wrath of God. It
is in consideration of all these things that the Apostle John
calls us now to behold with deep gratitude and joy, exulting in
confidence and praise, the love of God for our souls in Christ. Behold. Stop now and look at
this. Roll this over in your mind.
What manner of love? What kind of love is this? What
strange love is this? What wondrous love is this? The
Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons
of God. John would have us to behold
with wonder the love of God bestowed upon us in Christ Jesus. We rejoice
to know that God is love. Love is his attribute. Without
love, he would not be God. We know God is love because his
love is revealed and made known to us by his deeds. You see,
love is active. It can never be dormant. Like
fire, it must break out. It can't be contained. It is
known only when it's experienced. Not by words, but by deeds. I know the Son of God loved me. because he gave himself for me. Love is known only as it is experienced
by deeds. We know the love of God is that
love which passeth knowledge. and yet it's revealed and made
known to us. We see God's love in his marvelous
free election of us, in love having chosen us in Christ before
the foundation of the world. We know God's love manifest and
revealed by the marvelous redemption of our souls by Jesus Christ,
the Lord. Greater love hath no man than
this, that a man should lay down his life for his friends. But more than that, this man
is God and he laid down his life for his enemies. He laid down his life for many
women who hated him. He laid down his life for many
women who wanted him to have his life taken from him. He laid
down his life for men and women who with every fiber of their
being cried, crucify him, crucify him, we won't have him. For us,
he laid down his life. Bobby, the son of God died for
you. What manner of love is this?
This was compassion like a God. that when our Savior knew the
price of pardon was his blood, his love he ne'er withdrew. God commendeth his love to us
in this. While we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Isn't that wonderful? While we
were yet sinners. Not when we'd made some changes
and amended our ways while we had sinners. Christ died for
us. Christ died for us. I just caught
Shelby's eye. I met her shortly after God saved
me. And we fell in love. But if she
had known me just a few months earlier, she wouldn't have given
me a second look. She would have been out of her
mind if she had. But the Lord Jesus loved me and gave himself for me while
we were yet sinners. We did nothing to procure his
love, but his love did everything to procure our everlasting righteousness
and salvation. Hereby perceive we the love of
God. How does God love? How can you
get some idea of God's love for man? Hereby perceive we the love
of God because he who is God laid down his life for us. In
this was manifested the love of God toward us because that
God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him. Herein is love. Not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. His love for us is manifested
and known and experienced in the effectual saving operations
of his grace. The Lord God said to his prophet,
I have loved thee with everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. And this love Oh, how our God
reveals His persistent, unfailing, unchanging, undying, everlasting
love for us in the preservation of our souls through all our
pilgrimage here. And we read about the children
of Israel wandering in the wilderness. those multitudes who perish in
unbelief, in their murmuring against God, constantly returning
in their hearts to Egypt, constantly going back. In Burl Hart, we murmur against
God all through this pilgrimage. And our hearts constantly return
to Egypt. And we would turn and go back,
but he won't let us go. He will not leave us to ourselves. We're kept by the power of His
grace through the faith He gives us, operates in us and sustains
in us by His grace. He loves us so much so He says,
I will give them one heart and one way and they shall not depart
from me. God's love for sinners in Christ can't really be compared to the
love that's known anywhere else in the world. There's no love
like this. His love is without cause. It
is without beginning. It is without condition. It is
without change. It is without end. It's free,
discriminating, everlasting. Now hear me, indestructible love. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us that we should be called the sons
of God. And in His constant providential care, the Lord God shows us His
special love for us. I always find it delightful to
think about our Lord Jesus at Lazarus' tomb. In John chapter
11, he went out to the tomb with Mary and Martha. And we're told
Jesus wept. And then the Jews said, behold,
how he loved him. Behold, how he loved him. The Lord Jesus, however, didn't
weep for Lazarus. He was about to raise Lazarus
from the dead. He stood there, I could almost picture him, got
an arm around Martha and an arm around Mary, maybe holding each
of their hands, and those poor girls are just standing there
sobbing and weeping like folks do at funerals, and the Lord
Jesus wept. Well, you shouldn't sorrow like
that. Yeah, that's true. I'll give
you that. I'll give you that. You shouldn't
have such deep emotion. Maybe not, maybe not. But maybe
we ought to learn to be a little more sympathetic. The master
was. He went with two sisters who
had no reason to weep. He went with two sisters just
because they were weeping. He went with two sisters just
because they needed to know He cares. Will you hear me, my brother? Will you hear me, my sister?
Our Savior hasn't changed in His glory. He is still touched
with the feeling of our infirmity. And here, John calls for us to
behold the wonder of God's love in its apex. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons
of God. The Sons of God. The Lord God has come in the
mighty operations of His grace and made us His sons. We were
adopted before the world began, but knew nothing about it until
God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts and taught
us to cry, Abba Father. John said, we were called the
sons of God. Then he says, beloved, now are
we the sons of God, the sons of God. almost always want to always
add sons and daughters, as is sometimes done in scripture.
But commonly, that's not the case. Sometimes we're called
the children of God, that's fairly often. Sometimes sons and daughters
of God, but oh, the sons of God. You see, in God's adoption, he
does something no adoptive parent can do. I think it's marvelous
and commendable that many women adopt children who need parents.
And they give them their love and they give them their wealth,
they give them their influence, they give them their care, they
give them their attention, but something they can't do. They
can't give them their nature. No adopted son is like his daddy. No adopted daughter is like her
mama or her daddy. They may have certain characteristics
that resemble their upbringing, but they don't have their nature. They don't have their nature.
If you could see a picture of my mother's oldest brother, he
was a little shorter than me, and look at me, you'd say, those
two are related. They're related. No mistake in
that. They got the same blood running
in their veins. They're related. If you can see a picture of my
nephew, didn't look like it all the time he was growing up, but
now he's a grown man. And, well, somehow or another, that fellow's
related to Don Fortner. Looks just like him. Looks just
like him. got the same blood in Him, got the same nature.
In God's gracious adoption, He comes in the time of His love
and puts in us the very nature of His Son, puts Christ in us,
forms Christ in us and makes us the sons of God. Really and truly one with Him
who is God's Son. So much so that the book tells
us, our Savior did in John 17, this is the wonder of the love
God has bestowed on us. How do you reckon God loves His
Son? How do you reckon God loves His
Son? He put all things in His hands. He's making all things
His footstool. He's given Him everything because
the Father loveth the Son. He loves the son because of his
perfect obedience. He said, therefore doth my father
love me because I laid down my life for the sheep. Because of
his earned, he earned the love of God for him as a man by his
obedience. Here is a son, here is a son
who's loved not only because he's one with his father, He's
loved of his father because he has, through all the time of
his existence as Jehovah's servant, as God-man, one with us, he has
always done those things that please his father. That's how
God loves you. That's how God loves you. That's
how God loves me, as one who has always pleased him. With all his being, he loves
us. I know, because now we are the
sons of God. Oh, the wonder of it all. Amen.