This book is a treasure chest. Its riches are beyond compare. A treasure chest with treasures locked away and hidden. from all men. You can learn all about the treasure
chest. You can memorize all the words
in the treasure chest. You can organize all the events
in the treasure chest and never find any treasure in the chest
if you don't have the key It opens the chest. Would you like to have the key?
Here it is. Behold the Lamb of God. It's that profound and it's that
simple. Turn with me to John chapter
1, verse 29. Christ crucified is the key that
opens this chest. When you open the book of God, ask God the Holy Spirit to give
you grace and wisdom to see the Lamb of God in the book. If you do not see the lamb in
the book, the book will be utterly meaningless and useless to you. Nothing but processed wood and
leather bindings with gold edges, just that and no more. If you see the lamb of God, Jesus
Christ crucified upon the pages of this book, oh, how the book
lives before you John 1 verse 29 the next day John this is
John the Baptist seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world this
is he of whom I said after me cometh the man which is preferred
before me, for he was before me. And I knew him not, but that
he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing
with water. And John bare record saying,
I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove and did 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. I want once more to try to show
you that Jesus Christ crucified, the Lamb of God as he is here
described, and as he is thus described throughout the scriptures,
is the message of this book. I want so much for you to see
this. I want you to see clearly that
the teaching of the scripture in all its details is Jesus Christ,
our Redeemer, our Savior, and our Lord. I want to do what I
can. To make everyone who hears my
voice, reads what I write, or is in any way influenced by me,
to see that Jesus Christ the Lamb is the message of Holy Scripture. This is a hymn book. H-I-M. I remember years ago, when the
Mahan and I were preaching down in Nashville, Tennessee, And
in the course of the conversation one day, he said, this book always
talks about him. In the Old Testament, it says
somebody's coming. In the four gospels, it says
he's coming. And in the rest of the book,
it says he's coming again. It's all about him. All about
him. The only message any preacher
sent of God has to declare is Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
by whom alone sin is removed. Paul said, I determined not to
know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He said, necessity is laid upon
me. Yea, woe is unto me if I preach
not. That's not what he said. The
woods are full of preachers. Would to God they go be janitors
or something. Something useful. That's not
what he said. He said, woe is unto me if I
preach not the gospel. That's the issue. This is the
message God's servants are sent to proclaim. Behold the Lamb
of God. The only revelation of the gospel
is Christ the Lamb. That's it. That's it, folks.
Talk about this thing or that being revealed to them. That's
the only revelation of the gospel. Back in this passage we read,
John said twice, I knew him not. I knew him not. Well, he did
too. I know he knew him. He was his
first cousin. He knew it. I'm certain that his mother Elizabeth
often spoke to him about the marvelous birth of his cousin
the Lord Jesus because when Mary came to visit Elizabeth, John
the Baptist was in her womb and he leapt in her womb for joy
because of the Messiah in his aunt's womb And she spoke to
him often about him. I don't have any question at
all that they often visited together growing up. I have no question
at all that John the Baptist knew exactly who Jesus of Nazareth
was. There's no doubt in anybody's
mind that he did. What does it mean I knew him not? He knew
him after the flesh. He knew him after the flesh.
That's all. But the one who sent him, baptizing with water, said,
Now when you see him, upon whom the Spirit of God descends, this
is he of whom Joel spake, who baptizes with the Holy Ghost.
And suddenly one day, as he's baptizing the Lord Jesus in picture
fulfilling all righteousness by his death, burial and resurrection
the Spirit of God descend and abode on him and John said this
is the one the Father revealed to me now I know him now I know
him you see the knowledge of Christ comes by revelation it
comes by revelation not by a preacher talking you into a decision I
told the folks down in Kingsport yesterday morning, uh, I've got
a letter I've got to answer sometime this week. I get these frequently
young man. I preached to a good bit. He
said, how can I know if I believe, and I'll tell you what I won't
do, what I won't do. Most of you know it because you've
experienced it. I won't try to convince you that you believe.
I'm not about to try to convince you that you believe. If you
need me to convince you that you believe, you don't believe. It's just that simple. Now, I
hear folks say all the time, well, if a man wants to, he can
believe. Man wants to, he can believe. If he's willing to believe on
Christ, he can believe on Him. Let me tell you something. I tried hard to believe on Him and I couldn't believe Him I
read and I prayed and I reformed and I reformed and I prayed and
I read I spent my nights weeping and terrified and I could not
believe With men, it is impossible. You cannot believe on God's Son. It won't happen. And I don't
care what religious exercise any preacher or church puts you
through, you'll still wind up not believing on God's Son. And
it's the easiest thing in the world. The easiest thing in the world,
if God gives you faith. I'll tell you what you'll discover.
One day, You'll find yourself believing Him. You'll find yourself believing
Him. I trust Him. Like Pilgrim standing
before Mount Calvary, suddenly the burden falls off your back. What happened? God revealed His
Son in you. And if God reveals his son in
you, you find yourself believing him. We go through trials and
difficulties. Oh, how hard it is to believe
him. Is that so? Take your baby to the hospital. Doctor rolls that child away
in the surgery. And you want to believe him,
and you just can't. You just can't. As a believer, you just
can't. You just can't. Until God gives
you grace to trust him. Suddenly there's an ease in your
soul. A peace that passes understanding.
Because God gives you grace to believe him. Behold the Lamb
of God. That's our message. That's the
revelation of the gospel That's the only hope any sinner has
before given life in faith While he lives in life in faith, and
when it comes to the end of the life of faith Christ is our hope
we have no other Behold the Lamb of God This is the way to live
Set your eyes on him Just set your eyes on Him. Our
Savior said, now I've washed your feet. I've
showed you how to live. You go and do as I have done
to you. This whole religious world wrapped
up in works. Everybody loves law. Everybody
loves it. It's just our nature. We love
law. We don't often do what we're
told to do, but we like to be told anyhow. We just love it.
Our Savior said, I'll tell you what to do. You want a commandment
to live by? You go live like I've lived with
you. Walk in His steps. Follow Him. Now, I want you to notice that
John, we're told in this text, preached this message on two
consecutive days. On the first day, he's baptizing
Young believers. He's in Bethabara beyond Jordan
and there's a mixed multitude there. There's some young converts
at best. He's baptizing them. And then
there are those scribes and Pharisees who came out to question him.
And they're just observing what's going on. They're looking for
an excuse not to believe him, but at the same time trying to
figure out some way to get him in their group so he won't stand
out and they won't be exposed for what they are. And then there
were some curious onlookers. They didn't have any interest
in what was going on. They weren't the least bit concerned about
their souls, the glory of God, and things of God. They had just
heard about this strange preacher. This fellow who, he came preaching
what nobody else around was preaching. And he didn't look like a stereotypical
preacher. He didn't wear the right garb. He hadn't been to the right seminaries.
He kind of had the reputation of being a wild man. Nobody would
get along with him. Nobody would tell him what to
do. He wouldn't fit any mold. He wouldn't fit in any group.
And so they just came out and wanted to see what was going
on. And John said, behold, the Lamb of God that takes away the
sin of the world. And then the next day, he's walking
along with two of his disciples, instructing them in the way of
the Lord. Two of his disciples. Disciples,
those who were being taught by him. As I'm endeavoring to teach
you today. And as he endeavors to teach
them the things of God, to open to them the ways of the Lord,
to explain to them the prophets, explain to them the meaning of
the scriptures. He's walking along and talking
to them. Hey, that's what I'm talking about. See him? Behold, the Lamb of
God. I'm talking to you about Him
Whom all the prophets looked into now when the scripture says
we read earlier in first Peter 1 that the prophets looked into
this they were looking into the time of his coming the Old Testament
prophets knew him He walked before them. He spoke to them. He introduced
himself to them. He revealed himself to them.
Manoah and his wife saw him doing wondrously in that sacrifice
in the pillar of the cloud and the fire growing up from that
sacrifice. Moses saw him and heard his voice
in the bush and spoke of the goodwill of him that dwelt in
the bush. Moses understood he is Jehovah, the great God who
redeems and saves his people, the covenant God of Israel. Those
Old Testament prophets were not ignorant of these things. They
understood that God saves sinners by the sacrifice of the Lamb.
They looked into the time when he would appear and make the
sacrifice of himself. This is He of whom all the prophets
spoke. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
Him in all the scriptures. Behold Him everywhere in the
book of God. Now I want you to see clearly
that our Lord Jesus Christ is set before us as the Lamb slain
from the foundation of the world. Rejoice in that. That's mysterious. That's beyond comprehension.
All the more reason to rejoice in it. I have no idea how these
things can be accomplished in the purpose of God. Not just
as if already done. Already done. Already done. Not just a sure thing already
done. He's the lamb slain from the
foundation of the world. That's how he's described in
Revelation 13, 8. And yet, he is vicariously sacrificed as
our substitute in time at Mount Calvary. The Lord Jesus Christ
died upon Calvary and by his death, God commends his love
toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Jesus Christ actually assumed
our nature. God became one of us. The Word was made flesh and brought
among us. And in due time, He died in the
room instead of His people because there's no other way for justice
to be satisfied and redemption accomplished. And this one who
died in our room instead is now enthroned in glory. Turn to Revelation,
or John chapter 17. I want you to see this. John
chapter 17. These words spake Jesus, and
lifted up his eyes to heaven and said, Father, the hour is
come. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. as thou hast given him power
over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given him. Brother Darwin, I walked out
of the office one night and he pointed to that passage, somebody
read it. He said, that word power, is that talking about might or
authority? I said, yeah. That's what it's
talking about. Might and authority. He's given him the power as king
to rule over all flesh, not as God, as the lamb. Nothing is given to him as God. He possesses all things as God
eternal. But as our covenant surety and
our mediator as the Lamb of God, he's given him the right and
the power to rule everything and everybody for the saving
of his people. Look at this next line. And this
is life eternal. That they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. Yonder he
sits, the Lamb of God, John saw him rising up out of the midst
of the throne as a lamb that had been slain. There he sits
on the throne of universal monarchy in absolute control of everybody,
everywhere, all the time. Now listen to me, listen to me.
No point in arguing about these things. But if he's God, he's in control. And if he ain't in control, he
ain't God. Just that simple. It's just that
simple. If he's not in control, go ahead
and worship your rabbit's foot. Be all right. Be just as good
as worshiping him. If he's not in control of your
thoughts, the batting of your eye, the beating of your heart,
and that of hell itself. He's not God. He's as useless
as spit. That's exactly right. If he's
God, he's in control. He's in control. And he is God
in our nature as the lamb in control. But what's he doing
for us? He's working salvation in the
midst of the earth. Psalm 74 declares. That's what's
going on in this world. Oh, rest my heart. The lamb who
died for me rules all things for me, working salvation in
the midst of the earth. And he who is the lamb at the
throne of God makes intercession for you, my brother, my sister. We have an advocate with the
father. Jesus Christ, the righteous,
and he's the propitiation for our sins. And soon this lamb
is coming again. He's coming in judgment. And
when you meet God in judgment, are you listening to me? You're
going to meet the lamb in wrath. Turn to revelation six. I'll
show you. Charge you before God and the
Lord Jesus Christ who shall judge the quick and the dead at his
appearing You're going to give account
to him who is ready to judge and here he's described Revelation
6 verse 12 I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo,
there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth
of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven
fell into the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely
figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed
as a scroll when it is rolled together, and every mountain
and island were moved out of their places. And the kings of
the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief
captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every
freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains. And they said to the mountains and rocks, fall on
us, fall on us, hide us from the face of him that sitteth
on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. from the wrath of the Lamb. But there will be no hiding from
the wrath of the Lamb. Now I want us to behold the Lord
Jesus Christ once more today by making some very practical
observations about this message God has given us to declare.
For some reason, God Almighty in his infinite
goodness has given to this congregation a voice in this generation. And the Lord God has opened and
continues to open countless doors before us. This is the message
we declare. You come here this morning, you
will hear me preach Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, crucified, risen,
exalted, ruling. You come back Tuesday night,
you will hear Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Brother Don Hughes
said you're going to preach to us Tuesday night on the Old Testament
doctrine of baptism. Let's, you come Tuesday night
and find out if I don't preach Jesus Christ crucified in the
Old Testament doctrine of believers baptism. Because the baptism
is meaningless without him. It's meaningless without him.
Why do you always insist on preaching Christ crucified? Folks say,
well, you know, we learned that early on. We've gone on to bigger
things. Now we talk about the Israeli-Arab
conflicts. Now we're figuring out what the
latest price of oil has to do with prophecy in the second coming.
Now we're learning about the, a few years ago, was it the Y2K
thing? And preachers everywhere writing
books and having seminars, making dollars after dollars after dollars.
And it came and went. And nobody burned the books and
put them on the shelf. And they said, come back, we'll give you
some more money. Tell us what's going on now. All the tomfoolery, the message
of the book. Behold, the Lamb of God. Let
me show you the sensible reasonableness of this message. I want to make
five plain statements to show you the reason why we preach
this message. Number one. Number one, I am told all the time, I've
been told this since I was 17 years old, and it gets worse
all the time. You need a more balanced message.
You need a more balanced message. I recall years ago, I had a I'd
finish my lunch break a little early and walk across the street
to the religious trinket shop. They call them Bible bookstores,
a little idol shop. But once in a while, they have
a book in there and I'd look at it. A fellow came in, I was in school with,
one of the upperclassmen. He said, he said, Don, you need
to get this book and read it. It'll bring your theology up
to date. And as he pulled it, I just pushed it back and I said,
I'm not interested in getting up to date. Thank you. I'm not interested. If one more fella tells me, you
need a more balanced message, I will do all I can to restrain
myself from balancing him on his back. This is the most balanced
message there is. The only balanced message there
is. Jesus Christ, the Lamb crucified,
is the declaration of everything in experimental religion, everything
in doctrinal truth, everything in practical godliness. Let me
see if I can make good on that. We want detailed doctrine. We want detailed doctrine. Try
this. Eternal deity in human flesh. Now, when you
get that explained, let's move on to something else. Eternal
deity in human flesh. All that God incomprehensible
in his being is in a body. Behold the Lamb of God. The incarnation. This is the Son of God. John said he is preferred before
me because he was before me. He was born six months later.
Yeah, but he was before me. He's the eternal one. strict
justice Nothing more important in the whole revelation of God
than the justice and truth of God The gospel is manifest Christ
set forth in the gospel to set forth the righteousness the justice
of God Behold the Lamb of God and see his justice. Oh We need
to make me and know the horrible evil of sin the horrible evil
of sin I got home last night, had a letter from a legalist,
wanted to expose the evil of some other legalist, and I responded
to him like this. I said, surely, surely,
you would not imagine that you murdering this man is less evil
than him doing what he did. And I could hear him say, I didn't
murder that man. If you slaughter his name, you did. It's called
gossip, slander. Surely, surely murder is not
less evil. Or how do you then make men understand
how evil sin is? Behold the price it takes to
put away sin. It takes the Lamb of God, God
in our nature, dying in our room instead. You want to know something
about man's utter inability? With all that was given to Israel,
separating them from all of the people, giving them the prophets,
giving them the oracles of God and the ordinances of divine
worship. Giving them and them alone the tabernacle and the
temple. Giving to them and them alone
the priesthood and the sacrifices. Giving to them and them alone
all those holy days and holy weeks and holy months and holy
years. All those things given to Israel
alone. To Israel alone did God make
known his ways and his word. And when the time came called
the due time, when the Lamb of God should come into the world,
Israel was as absolutely ignorant as the most barbaric pagan tribes
in the heart of Africa or New Guinea. Didn't have any more
idea who God was than they did. What does it take then for lost
sinners anywhere in the world to know God and be reconciled
to Him? Behold the Lamb of God. The Scriptures set before us
the glorious efficacy of our Savior's work. This Lamb of God
is He who takes away. He takes away. He doesn't make an effort. I'm
getting so sick, so sick and tired of listening to folks try
to mingle a little religion with everything. The news commentators,
the politicians, they all want to convince everybody they, oh,
we love God. I hear, what's the Lord trying
to teach us in this? Doesn't that sound good? What's
the Lord trying to teach us? God doesn't try. Did you get that? Larry Brown, God
never tried to do anything. And he's not going to start today.
If he's God, he does. If God teaches you, you will
get the lesson. Christ Jesus did not try to take
away sin. He did not make it possible for
sin to be taken away. If somewhere down the road, you
will pretty please agree with him. He takes away by the sacrifice
of himself, the sins of his people through all the world with no
help from anyone. So a brother that I. I'm not
interested in doctrinal religion. We want more practical, personal,
experimental things. I'm vexed with sin. Then look
away to the lamb. But I've got so much trouble,
affliction, heartache. I found over the years that You
know folks who once in a while get a hang there because they've
been picking at the fingers too much. They whine and sob and
carry on. Oh God, such trouble. Nobody
ever had such trouble as I do. And then some folks have some
trouble. Heartache. And you never hear them say anything.
Never hear them say anything. If you've got trouble and you
need comfort, You don't need more value. And you don't need
to go to a shrink who doesn't have any idea what he's doing,
who himself ought to be in a nuthouse probably. You don't know that. What do you need? Behold, the
Lamb of God on His throne, working salvation in the midst of the
earth and be at ease. So dead and reviving, What do you need? Behold the
Lamb. You don't need somebody to tell
you how dead your soul is. You need to behold Him. You need instruction and practical
things. Folks, we need practical things. I get this all the time. It needs to be more practical. I was in England last year preaching
Two or three places. I guess folks think I don't hear
what's being said. Well, that was good, but sure
we should have been more practical. Sure we should have been more
practical. Sure we should have told us this and told us that.
Talk a little less about the glory of God and the grace of
God and a little more about what we ought to be and ought to do
and ought to think and ought to say. Well, let me talk to you about
some practical things. Whether Lindsay is dealing with
that, whether the two mites giving, Would you teach us how to give?
Yeah. Behold the Lamb of God. You know
the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ? How that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes he became poor, that you through his poverty
might be made rich. Go give like that, Bill, and
you've learned how to give. Give like that and you've learned
how to give. Well, don't you think I ought to teach folks
to tithe? Absolutely not. Well, don't you think you ought
to tell folks that if they'll do this, do that, God will reward
them, they'll get more? No. As a matter of fact, do this
for me, will you? If you don't want to give to
any cause, please don't. Please don't. Just keep it. Spend
it on liquor or tobacco or marijuana or whatever you want to. I don't
care. I don't care. Oh, you can't say that. Let me
repeat it. Spend it on anything you want
to. Don't give it if you don't want to. If you want to, give
freely as he's given freely himself for you. Give generously as he's given
generously himself for you. Give for the glory of God as
He gave all for the glory of God for you. I want to know what kind of father
I ought to be. Let's focus on the family. No, let's focus on God. Let's
focus on God. Focus on the Lamb and you'll
find out what kind of father you ought to be. Focus on the
Lamb, you'll find out how to treat your children. Focus on
the Lamb, you'll find out how to exercise loving discipline.
Focus on the Lamb, you'll find out how to be gentle and caring
and firm and absolute. Focus on the Lamb, and you'll
learn how to live in this world. Well, I want to know how I can
serve God's kingdom. Devote yourself to the kingdom
of God, just like the Lamb of God devotes himself to the kingdom
of God. Well, we need instruction about loving each other. Let's
talk about loving each other. Let's have a huggy-feely session
and we can talk about loving each other. Behold the Lamb of
God. And if you can behold Him, God
by His grace, will give it to you to fall in love with Him.
You will love His all. You will love His all. I'll just make the statements
and quit. That's enough preaching. These four other statements.
This is the message we preach because this is our constant
need. Set your affection on Christ. Not on things on the earth. Set,
devote your whole being to Christ. Devote yourself to Him. Oh, preacher,
devote yourself to Him. Oh, believer, devote yourself
to Him. I keep preaching to myself, and
I keep trying to tell my preacher brethren everywhere I go, throw
everything away. Throw everything else away. Forget
everything else. Set your affection on Him. Now, children of God, set your
affection on Him. Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is
in Christ the Lord, and in his Savior doth he meditate day and
night. That's a pretty good paraphrase.
Set your affection on him. Number three, have not been moved away from
and will not be, God help him be, preaching this message, Jesus
Christ crucified, because this is the greatest, most glorious,
most ennobling subject of thought in all the world. I found nothing to compare to
him. I spent the last 40 years trying to study this book and
understand it every day. And it gets bigger every day. In the light of this blessed
subject, Christ crucified. This is how God the Holy Spirit
describes him. Christ is all. Christ is all. Surely you can't mean that. Christ
is all. All. What does that include? All. When he was 16 years old,
this is what C.H. Spurgeon wrote in a poem one
day. What the hand is to the lute, what breath is to the flute,
what fragrance is to the smell, what spring is to the whale,
what the flower is to the bee, that is Jesus Christ to me. What the mother is to the child,
what the guide in pathless wild, what is all to the troubled wave,
what is ransom to the slave, what is water to the sea, that
is Jesus Christ to me, all, all. Give you something else. Christ is the one thing needful. The Lamb of God. You've got to
have Him. You've got to have Him. You've
got to have Him. I see Brother Roundtree and his
wife able to get up this morning. Let me tell you, my elder brother,
there's one thing you need, just one, him. That's all. Mary has chosen the one thing
needful, the one thing needful. I've got one daughter. She's
now 37 years old. I'll tell you what I've been
trying to tell her. From the time I first started bouncing
her on my knee and talking to her, you need just one thing. Just one thing. I try to pull my grandchildren
up, set them on my knee, and one way or another, every time
I see them before they leave, honey, you need just one thing. Just one thing. You've got to
have Christ. And nothing else really matters.
Oh, we want this. We don't have fame and fortune
and name and recognition. Oh, did you hear my boy? He's
he's star athlete. I'm so guilty. Did you did you
did you hear about my girl? She's smartest one in class.
Did you hear my son got a promotion? They're moving up. They're moving
up to Snob Row. Oh, look at that. They got a
five car garage and all the toys you can possibly look at that.
Isn't that something? Hear me. Ricky, do you listen
to me? You've got to have Christ. That's
all. That's all. And it is this. the Lamb of God, Christ crucified,
and only Christ crucified, and all who are in Him crucified
with Him, by whom God in His being, in the totality of His
being, is glorified always. God make the Lamb yours. Amen.