The Apostle Paul said, I'm determined
not to know anything among you save, except Jesus Christ and
Him crucified. Now that word determined means
to firmly decide in a decisive manner. His mind was made up. Not going to tell people how
to live. He knew something about that as far as law was concerned.
Oh, he was strict in religion. Blameless, he said, as far as
the law was concerned. He said, I'm determined that
I'm not going to preach anything but Christ and what he did. He
was determined not to know anything, not to tell his hearers anything
other than that one thing that was needful for them, and that
was Christ. He was determined to show them
the one thing they needed more than anything else in life. It's
my determination this morning to do the same thing. I know this much. I'm a fool
to think that I can impress you with my knowledge on anything. The only thing that I'm really
good at is sinning, and you don't need to hear about that. You're
pretty good at it yourself. His endeavor was not to impress
them with all his knowledge of the law and the ceremonies, and
believe me, he had plenty. He wasn't going to try to impress
them with his insight on literature and his knowledge of the arts.
Trust me, he was a refined man. He knew a lot about those things,
but that was not his determination to tell them of those things.
And he sure didn't come to impress them with any fancy or eloquent
speech. And I can assure you, I can't
do that. His only desire, dear friend,
was to plainly preach the message of substitution. Christ doing
for me and you what we could not do for ourselves. Is that
plain and simple enough? You cannot appease God by works
of your own righteousness. You just can't. It's going to
take far more perfect righteousness than that. Our righteousness
is filthy rags. God in the place of worthless
sinners. What a message. What a gospel. Christ came into the world to
save sinners. What a wonder. What a wonder. Do you know Christ? Has He revealed
to you what He's done? Do you know what He does for all
those who believe in and on Him? Well, that's all I desire to
tell you. And that is what I most desire
for you to know. And yet, only God can show it
to you. So, back in John 1, verse 29,
I want us to consider our text here. And I believe I'm correct
in saying that this was, if not the first, one of the first recorded
gospel messages ever preached by one dying man to another dying
man. Now the angel of God had pronounced
the good news to Mary and Elizabeth, said they were going to each
have a son. Elizabeth being John the Baptist
and Mary's being Jesus Christ. And I know that he had revealed
to their husbands, Joseph and Zacharias, but here John the
Baptist clearly proclaims that one thing needful. It's not a
difficult message. It doesn't include words that
are hard to understand or that you need your dictionary to look
up to see what they mean. Verse 29, the next day John seeth
Jesus coming unto him. And he said, this was his message. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. Now let me just for a few minutes
tell you that by way of introduction that in olden times and days
of our Lord when kings traveled from one place to the next they
sent what was called heralds. A herald is a messenger who went
before the king to make an announcement of his coming. They were official
messengers and they were employed by the king to go and to prepare
the way for him, for the king. And being the representatives
of the king, these heralds, these messengers, they wore this gorgeous
apparel. They wore clothes that were adorned
with gold and lace and, oh my, I mean, we're talking fancy.
And they were so noble looking that many times the people mistook
them to be the king. They said, oh no, I'm just a
messenger. I'm coming to sound the trumpet and to prepare the
way for the true King. And people often thought to themselves,
my, what must this King that's coming be like if his messenger
is so impressive? However, most kings in their
day-to-day travel, and the dust and filth and grime that the
road and traveling have brought, wore common clothes. They didn't
wear their stately apparel. And oftentimes, their servant
looked more noble and greater and richer looking in his appearance
than they did. And oftentimes, people rejected
them because they expected much, much more. While they had seen
the messenger in his great apparel, and they thought to themselves,
I wonder what this king is going to be like. But that surely was
not the case with Christ's messenger, John the Baptist. We're told
he wasn't arrayed in soft raiment or rich apparel. He came forth
from the wilderness clothed in camel's hair. And I dare to say
that you wouldn't have received him. You'd probably have been
scared of him. There was not anything about
John the Baptist's speech, manner, or anything else that would bring
attention to himself and cause men to think less of his master
when he came. And oh, how I pray that God teach
us this morning not to bring attention to ourselves, but plainly
and clearly declare and cry John's message, which was, Behold the
Lamb of God. Behold Him. Can you see? This is a true preacher, true
messenger's only message. When Christ is revealed by God
in all His wondrous simplicity, men and women will not be sidetracked
because the messenger simply preaches and points to the King
of Kings. Don't put your eyes on me. Put
your eyes on the King of Kings. Behold Him, the Lamb of God,
that taketh away the sin of the world. And I tell you, when this
is accomplished, there will be more men and women who leave
the back of this building saying, oh, instead of saying, oh, what
a message, oh, what a sermon, they'll say, oh, what a Savior.
Oh, what a God. Oh, what a Gospel. That's right. My desire, dear friends, is not
that you hear me, but to hear the God the Lamb, the One who
gave Himself for you. Behold Him. See Him. Look to Him. and His message
of salvation. We just won't do things, true
messengers just won't do things to draw attention to themselves.
Now I tell you, I'm not going to lie to you, there was a time
when I thought myself to be something. There was a time I actually thought
that God's kingdom profited in some way by me being in the mix
of things. distractions. Don't get your
eyes on man. One day I saw Christ high and
lifted up. When I saw Him in all His glory
and majesty and God revealed Him to me, I saw who and what
I was. And you know what I realized?
I realized that when I did all, all that I was required to do,
In His eyes, I was still just an unprofitable servant. God
doesn't need me, and He doesn't need you. But He's pleased to
use us as means. Christ is the cause. I'm just
an unprofitable servant. And this is the place where all
God's true servants come. They say along with John the
Baptist, the same man that said, behold, the Lamb of God, that
same man said, He must increase, I must decrease. Now I'll tell
you something of infinite value. May God make it clear to your
heart. You can only learn it by God's
grace. True messengers always come with a true message. The message is, behold the Lamb
of God. He takes away the sin. He takes
away your sin. He paid your debt of sin. Now notice our text says the
next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him. In the epistle that
this same John, not John the Baptist, but the writer of this
gospel, and we looked at it this past Wednesday night in chapter
4, verse 14, he says, and we have seen and do testify that
the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Now,
no man can truly testify to something that he's not seen himself. If
he does not see it, then he's not a true witness, as we discussed
Wednesday night. You can't give the police a report
on an accident if you didn't see it. That makes perfect sense, doesn't
it? But I want to be a witness to this car accident. Did you
see the accident? No, sir. Well, how can you be
a witness? And my point here is that all
men and women cannot testify, no man and woman can testify
to something they've not seen. And we're told here in this verse
that John the Baptist saw Jesus coming unto him. We must see
Christ and we must see Him coming unto us. He was not the lost
one. A lot of people say, I found
Jesus. He was never lost. We were. And may we never forget
that Christ always comes to where we were. He came here to where
John was. That one day that little man
Zacchaeus, he climbed up in a tree. He climbed up in that tree and
Christ came to the base of that tree and he looked up and he
said, you come down. For today I must abide at thy
house. Now who came to who there? That
woman of Samaria. Every day of the week. She came
to Jacob's well to draw water, but she always came at the same
time because she didn't want anybody else to see her. You
see, this woman had five husbands. I'm sure a woman who was talked
about by most of the other women in town. Embarrassed to come
in the time of day when everyone else did. But one day she walked
to that well to draw water and there sit God in the flesh. Now, some say, well, she came
to the well. She wasn't expecting who was
there waiting on her. Christ came to her, dear friends.
What about that old possessed maniac of Gadara? He never left
the tombs in which he inhabited. But Christ is said to have crossed
the sea and came to where he was. And that man met him as
soon as he got off the boat. Who came to who? Do you see Christ
coming to you? Do you? He must come to you before
you can ever come to Him. And there are men that desire
to preach who have never yet seen Christ. John said, we do
see and do testify. He must come to you before you
can ever come to Him. And as I said, we cannot testify
or witness to something we've not seen. Christ told Nicodemus,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. John 3.3. We must be quickened,
made alive, for dead men cannot see, hear, or understand, can
they? And you had thee quickened, Paul
wrote. You were dead in trespasses and
sin. When was the last time you had
a conversation with a dead man? It's impossible. But friends,
when we see him as John saw him, you know what will cry? Every
time. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Now what
can a blind man bid someone to look at? He himself cannot see. John saw Him coming. He saw Him
coming unto him. And the only thing that could
come out of his mouth was, Behold. Look upon the Lamb of God. Can we truly say, Behold Christ,
when our eyes are turned to ourselves? Those that truly preach Christ,
they preach Christ's coming. The Old Testament prophets, they
preached that Christ was coming. And true messengers today preach
that He came and that He's coming again. And those old prophets,
you know how they saw that Christ was coming? By faith. Same way we see that He came
and that He's coming again. If anyone sees Christ, it's going
to be by sovereign grace, I'll tell you that. True messengers
of Christ call upon others to see Him. John didn't sit there
and go, that's Him, that's Him. No, he said, behold! Can you
hear me? To all those around him that
day, behold! Look, here's the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world. That's my cry to you this
morning. Behold the Lamb of God. If you
don't see Him, then your sin will never be put away, I can
tell you that, because He is the only way and the only one
who can put it away. And notice, friends, this is
not just any lamb. This is THE Lamb. We talked about
that little word in Sunday school. Distinctive. This is THE Lamb. This is God's Lamb that was slain
before the foundation of the world. This is not that Lamb
that's like the Old Testament sacrifices, which only covered
sin for a season. No. This Lamb of God, John says,
takes away your sin. He takes it away. Now that's
of some interest to me. My sins ever before me. He takes
it away. He takes it away. Oh, Hebrews
10 tells us, For the law, having a shadow of good things to come,
and not the very image of the things, can never with those
sacrifices, which they offered year by year continually, make
the comers thereunto perfect. This lamb can. This lamb can. Behold! the Lamb of God that
taketh away the sin of the world. The writer of Hebrews says, For
then would they not have ceased to be offered, because that the
worshipers once purged should have no more conscience of sins.
But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of
sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. Wherefore, when
He cometh, Behold the Lamb of God. He comes. He's here. John said, And when
he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast prepared for me. John
saw him. He said, Behold the Lamb of God.
Now, what's the message of the messenger? Well, we've already
said, haven't we? God's messengers cry, behold. Look. Look to the Lamb of God. Don't look at the priest. Don't
look at the preacher. Don't look at the law. Don't
look at the ceremonies. Definitely don't look at yourself.
Don't look to your works of unrighteousness. Behold the Lamb of God. Is that a hard message? Not hard
to hear, not hard to read, but impossible to do unless God grants
you the grace. Don't come to me, any other man,
to find absolution from your sin. Isn't that ridiculous? And I don't mean to pick on the
Catholic religion, but there's that old fellow that sits over
there and he's going to forgive me of my sin? Who's going to
forgive him of his? Don't come to me. Don't come
to any other man to find absolution Come and behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sin of the world. Now our true difficulty
is to take our eyes off ourselves. That's where our biggest problem
lies. To take our eyes off our works
and off our self-righteousness. We're prone to do that. What
must I do to be saved? Behold. Behold. This Lamb of
God is a man, and John saw Him walking unto Him. He's a God-man,
and He can take away the sin of the people. You know why?
Because God has prepared a body for Him. Becoming what we are,
sin the exception, God made Him to be sin for us and caused Him
to bear our sins in His own body on the tree. And that phrase,
taketh away, means to bear. He bore our sin. He bore our
sin. You see, the only way that God
can be both just and justify the ungodly is to take our sin
off us. and lay it on Himself. Christ takes away our sin because
He takes upon our sin. And oh, can you see the beauty
in that? He takes it upon Himself. Where did He take it, Gary? As
far as the east is from the west. That's how far my sin is removed
from me. Now, I see it every day. But
God doesn't. And that's all that matters.
God help me. Behold. Look. Listen. In this Gospel which is Christ
and Him crucified is found all you need and all that God requires. All the fitness He requires is
that you feel your need of Him. Do you feel your need of Him
this morning? I mean really feel it. Do you really feel your need
of Him? Do you need Him? That's what
I'm asking you. Do you need Him? Well, preacher,
I see that I need Him just not right now. You need Him now. None of us are promised tomorrow. Tonight, our next breath, behold the Lamb of God. He and He only can take away
your sin. Oh, I pray that God enable you
to see it, feel it, Need it? I pray this morning, honestly,
I pray that He won't leave you alone until you see your need
of it. You mean you pray that I'd be
unhappy? I pray you'd be miserable. I'll tell you this much, dear
friends, there's not a sinner in hell, now listen, there's
not one sinner in hell who ever truly looked to Christ with eye
of faith. There's none in hell for whom
Christ died. Can you see and feel your need
of Him? Oh, that hymn writer wrote, Come,
ye sinners, poor and needy. Are you poor and needy? Weak
and wounded, sick and sore. Does that describe you? Jesus
ready, stands to save you, full of pity, love, and power. Now,
He's not begging. He's not sitting there pleading,
softly, tenderly, ringing, saying, oh, won't you just come home?
He says, repent or die. Come to me and I'll give you
rest. What a message of grace, mercy, and love. But no, he's
not a beggarly, pleading, wanting to do something to the Savior.
He's the sovereign God of heaven and earth. But He's plenteous
in mercy. He delights to show mercy. It's
His pleasure to give mercy. Come ye weary, heavy laden, lost
and ruined by the fall. That's what we are. If you tarry
till you're better, you will never come at all. But let me
just Let me just get a few things right. You never will. You can't. You can't. If you tarry till
you're better, you'll never, ever come. Now let me just tell
you this and I'm done. What's the effect of the Gospel?
We've seen that God's message is, Behold the Lamb of God. He
taketh away the sin of the world. If you haven't closed your Bible
yet, if you have, I'll read it to you. You look down at verses
35 and 36. And it says, again, the next
day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking
upon Jesus as He walked, there again, He's a man. He's a real
man. He's a God-man. He said, Behold the Lamb of God.
Here's the effect of the Gospel. The two disciples heard Him speak
and they followed Jesus. If you hear Him, you're going
to follow Him. They beheld the Lamb of God and believing in
Him, they followed Him. And that's what a child of God
does. When they see Him and behold Him, they follow Him. If you
ever really believed in Christ, you'll follow Him. That's right. You'll call Him Master. You'll
call Him Lord. He'll be your leader. He'll be
your commander. He'll be your Master. And you'll
willingly follow wherever He leads. And you'll cheerfully
do what He commands. And you'll consider it a pleasure. You'll consider it a pleasure.
Behold the Lamb of God.