Let's read together John chapter
1 verses 29 through 36. John chapter 1 verses 29 through
36. The next day John 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 a man, a man which is preferred before me, for he
is 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 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 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. Now I want this
evening to pick up right where I left off this morning. I gave
you the message this morning, tonight I'll try to give you
some practical observations from the message. I want so very,
very much for everyone who hears my voice, for you who are the
object of my labors as your pastor, for those who read what I write
or those who are in any way influenced by me, I want so very, very much
for you to understand I want you to see clearly that the Lord
Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God is the subject of this book.
He is the theme of Holy Scripture. The only theme of Scripture. If you're taking notes just in
your mind, underscore it a thousand times. If you're taking notes
on paper, underscore it. He is the only theme of Scripture. The only theme of Scripture.
This book describes one person. It speaks of one person. It is
a garment tailored to fit one person. And that person is Jesus
Christ the Lord, the Lamb of God. Now because Christ is the
only solitary, single, universal theme of Holy Scripture, Jesus
Christ is and must be the constant subject of every gospel preacher. He is the one whom we are sent
to preach. Now, you know me well. I am not
bashful in declaring doctrine. I'm not bashful at all in declaring
those doctrines that are crucial to the gospel of God's free grace
and the glory of God. I'm not at all bashful in declaring
that which I know to be the truth of God and setting it before
you who rejoice in it, and I don't mind setting it before folks
who don't. I'm not bashful in declaring God's gospel. But I
am not sent here merely to instruct men and women in doctrine. You
can get all your doctrine right and go to hell. You've got to
know the Son of God. You've got to know the Son of
God. You must look to Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, for yourself. And so I keep preaching Him to
you. I want you to know Him. If you know Him, your doctrine
will be right. If you don't know Him, all the right doctrine in
the world is not going to do you any good. You've got to know
Him. And I want you to understand that Jesus Christ, the Lamb of
God, is the glorious revelation of the Gospel. That is, He is
that one revealed in the Gospel as a sacrifice able to make God
Almighty just and the justifier of all who believe. Because Christ
has put away sin, because he has satisfied the justice of
God, because he has fulfilled all the requirements of God's
law, God's righteousness, God's justice, God's truth on behalf
of chosen sinners. Jesus Christ having put away
our sins by the sacrifice of himself, now God Almighty in
complete consistency with justice, without violating his holy law,
without violating his holy character, without violating his own word
and truth, God Almighty can justify yourself. He can do it. He can do it. And the only way
He could is by this Lamb. There's no other way. There's
no other way. Had it been possible, had there
been any other way for God to be just and yet justify your
soul, do you think He would have killed His Son? God Almighty
is just and the justifier because Christ is the Lamb slain for
our sins. And I want you to understand
He's your only hope. Jesus Christ alone is my hope
before God. I keep trying to knock every
pop-up from under myself and hopefully from under you as well.
Because if you can, if you can, Larry Chris, you're going to
find something to lean on other than Christ. If you can. If God
leads you to yourself, if he leads me to myself, we'll find
something to lean on other than Christ. We'll build some kind
of refuge of lies and convince ourselves that everything's alright.
I want you to understand, Christ is our only hope before God. You have no wisdom, no righteousness,
no sanctification, no holiness, no rediction, no acceptance with
God on any grounds whatsoever except Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God. The Lamb of God slain for our
sins. And the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Lamb of God, that one who was crucified and slain for us, is
the believer's only rule of life. Our lives are ruled, governed,
motivated, inspired, directed by Christ crucified, all together. He is our example and by his
obedience to God left us an example as to how we are to walk in this
world. He motivates us, he inspires us, he directs us. This is the
reason that I do not try in any way to put you under obligation,
to put you in any form of bondage, to threaten you with law, to
promise you rewards, because I recognize that those things
that men use to motivate folks in religion are only deceiving
to their souls. If the love of Christ If the
recognition of who Christ is and what he's done for you and
me will not compel us to devote ourselves to him, all the rules
and regulations and laws and terrors and promises given by
religion will only deceive yourself. Christ is our motive. Christ
is our example. Christ is our rule. Now you will
notice that in this passage that we read, here in John 1, this
man John the Baptist, Preach this message, behold the Lamb
of God, on one occasion, when there was a mixed multitude before
him. There were Pharisees who had
come out to attract him. They wouldn't submit to his baptism,
but they didn't want him baptizing. And there were those who were
true disciples of John, those who were at best just young converts
recently baptized, because John was in Bethadra, beyond Jordan,
baptizing there, because there was much water there. And then
there were those out in the crowd who simply were sort of passes
by. Lost folks on their way to hell,
no real interest in the gospel, no real interest in Christ, not
even real interest in John, but they were curious. They looked
at that fellow and they thought, well he has an oddball picture,
sure enough. That fellow, somebody gets a picture of John the Baptist
because he was wearing that garment made of camel's hair and ate
locust and wild honey and had his long beard that had never
been trimmed, much less cut. And they'd look at that fella
and say, these days this is what fellas dressed back then. Oh
no they didn't. It was just as strange then as it is in our
day. John looked like some kind of a wild man who came out of
the mountains. John was so far out of sync with society that
folks looked at him and said, if there's a prophet anywhere,
it ain't him. If there's a preacher anywhere, it's not him. This
fella, he doesn't fit the mold. He doesn't fit the stereotype.
And yet everybody who hears him said, fellas, this man's God's
voice. This man is God's prophet. And
so these folks came just in curiosity to hear what was being said.
And when John saw the Lord Jesus coming to him, he said to the
whole crowd, Behold the Lamb of God. And the next day, the
very next day, John is with just two of his disciples, as I pointed
out this morning, instructing these two disciples in the way
of faith. And he says the same thing to
them, so that his message continues in exactly the same vein at all
times. I want you to behold Christ as
the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world. Jesus
Christ, the Lamb of God, was set up, established, set forth,
and slain in the purpose and decree of God from eternity so
that we were looked upon by God in Christ from everlasting. as those who were called, chosen,
justified, redeemed, and glorified because Christ was the Lamb slain.
That's exactly what Paul says in Romans chapter 8 verses 29
and 30. He does not tell us that God
looked on us and said we were going to be chosen and called
and foreknown if we're destinated, redeemed, glorified, justified.
He said you already are. You already are. Because God
looked upon Christ who volunteered himself to be our sacrifice as
one who was so trustworthy that it was already done when the
Lord God Almighty set him up in his everlasting covenant.
Behold Him as the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world
according to Revelation 13.8. And behold Him as the Lamb of
God slain in time at Calvary. Sacrificed in the court of divine
justice by the hand of God in the fullness of time. In the
fullness of time God sent forth His Son. Man of a woman, made
under the law to redeem them that were under the law. Jesus
Christ came in time to fulfill that which God purposed in eternity,
satisfying God's justice. I stress these two things because
many people When you talk to them about the purpose of God
and predestination, you talk to them about God having chosen
us, having foreknown us, having loved us, having justified us,
having accepted us in Christ from eternity. They say, well,
then there's no point in doing anything now. Oh, no, no, no,
no, no, no. A thousand times, no. Just because
Christ is the land slain from the foundation of the world,
that does not in any way negate the necessity of him coming in
time and suffering in reality as our substitute. The Lord Jesus
Christ came here in time and was slain vicariously in our
place to satisfy the justice of God, because God from eternity
ordained him to come. Because he was in the purpose
of God, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. And
I want you to behold him enthroned in glory. We often talk about
looking to Christ on the cross, and that's proper. There's nothing
wrong with that. We look to the crucified Christ.
But don't ever get the idea that he's dead and buried. Don't ever
get the idea that he's still hanging on the cross. Don't ever
let your mind be suddenly deceived by seeking to look at him as
one who no longer has any interest in what's going on. Lord, no.
Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, is seated in heaven. upon the
throne of God. He rises up out of the throne
of God, John says, as a lamb slain. as a lamb slain so that
he ruins the universe because he was the lamb slain and he
ruins the universe for the salvation of those for whom he was slain
and he makes intercession to God Almighty as our representative
pleading the merits of his sacrifice as the lamb slain. Now I've labored
this point that this is the universal message of Holy Scripture, the
singular message of true gospel preachers, because it needs to
be labored in our day. Tonight, though, I want to simply
make some practical observations from these things. The Lord Jesus
Christ as the Lamb of God, sacrificed, slain, and risen from the dead,
exalted now in all His saving efficacy and fullness, is the
message that God has given us to proclaim, and I'll give you
five reasons for it. Five reasons why we constantly
preach Christ crucified. You might say, well, to preach
like you do is just monotony. Blessed monotony. Blessed monotony. I'm telling you that this message
is what we must preach. Number one. Because Christ as
the Lamb of God is the perfectly balanced message of the gospel. And I know you fellas don't,
you men and women, You don't hear everything that folks say
and all the yik-yak, particularly from preachers, but if one more
man comes up to me, And says after I finish preaching the
gospel of God's grace, try to seek a message from God and try
to deliver it. One more man comes up to me and
says you need a balanced message. I'm going to be tempted to balance
him on his back. I'm weary of it. I've been hearing
it for 29 years. I'm telling you this is the balanced
message of the gospel. The perfectly balanced message
of the gospel. As a general rule, that criticism,
your message is not balanced, comes from folks who want to
excuse themselves for not preaching the gospel. And as a general
rule, those critics who say your message is not balanced, will
not themselves declare the gospel of God's free grace, and they
seem always to be lopsided on the side of human works. If I'm
going to be unbalanced, I'll get you, it's going to be on
the side of free grace. It's not going to be on the side
of free will and works. But this is the perfectly balanced
message of the gospel. I want to make the point. The
Lord Jesus Christ crucified, when he is a man's message. When
Christ is all in all in preaching, you have everything in the message. Christ crucified is a message
of doctrinal instruction, a message of experimental grace, and a
message of practical godliness. Let me show you. All vital doctrinal
instruction. All vital doctrinal instruction. That is everything you got to
know. That's what's vital. That's what
you got to have. All vital doctrinal instruction
is set forth in the preaching of Christ crucified, the Lamb
of God. All of it. We see in this message,
that message that Jesus Christ crucified as the Lamb of God,
as our Savior and our Redeemer. We understand that Jesus Christ
is Himself God, the Eternal Son. This is what John says right
here in our text. Then John chapter 1 and verse
34. I saw and bear record this, this
man. This man is the son of God. Not only is he the son of God,
he's the eternal son of God. This man, I didn't know him,
he's preferred before me because he was before me, John said. He was before me, that is, He
preceded me from everlasting. This man is God Almighty. So to preach Christ crucified,
that is to declare that Jesus Christ has redeemed us from our
sins, we must declare plainly that Jesus Christ is God Almighty.
He is the Son of God. More than that, this message
of redemption by Christ the Lamb of God is a declaration of the
Incarnation. John said this man, this man,
he's a man, just like Laird Chris, just like him. Except no sin,
no propensity to sin, no ability to sin. A holy man, but a man. God Almighty came into this world
in human flesh. That was necessary Bob, he couldn't
redeem you otherwise. He couldn't save you otherwise.
There was no way for God to do what Jesus Christ has done apart
from the incarnation. God could not, He could not,
in His sovereign holiness, He could not just say, I'll forget
about your sin. Couldn't be done. He said your
sin must be punished. And so Jesus Christ comes, the
Lamb of God, a man. who is himself God of infinite
worth. I've already hinted at it, but
this message certainly is a declaration of the strict justice of God.
I was talking to a, well I guess she was a middle-aged lady who
sat down beside me at the airport in Dallas last time I was down
there. She'd been to some kind of a religious shindig and she
had her notes with her. And they had been studying Romans
chapters 3, 4, and 5. I don't have any idea what it
was. She told me, but I'd forgotten
because they weren't important and the message wasn't important.
But they'd been studying Romans 3, 4, and 5. And I thought, well,
she's talking about this, wanting some information on this. I said,
why do you reckon the Lord Jesus Christ had to die? And she looked
at me like a cat looking at a new day. She didn't have any idea
what on earth I was getting at. But she'd been studying Romans
chapter 3, 4, and 5. That's what she'd been all week
down in Dallas, D.C. She said, well I don't know. I don't know. And I said, cause God's just. God's just. God's just. The preaching of the gospel is
not merely a declaration that God is love. It is not merely
a declaration of grace. It is not merely a declaration
of mercy. First and foremost, it is a declaration
of righteousness. You understand that? God sent
his son here to die because God must in justice punish our sins. And certainly, this message declares
something. something of the gigantic evil,
the gigantic hideousness, the gigantic horridness of human
sin. In order for God to save his
people, he sent his son into this world to fulfill the type
of a sacrificial life made to be sin and when God Almighty made his
son to be sin he killed him in the holy violence
of his unmitigated wrath without mercy and that's what he'll do
to you if he finds sin on you That's what he'd do to me. He'd
find sin on me. Sin is such a horrible thing,
that when God found sin on his son, he slew his son. He cried, Awake, O soul, against
one that is my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd, because
his son was made to be sin. These days, Many, as days gone
by, liberals did so, but these days many who call themselves
conservatives, many who even claim to preach the gospel of
God's free grace, have begun to tinker with the doctrine of
everlasting destruction, the doctrine of everlasting damnation,
of everlasting punishment. And a good many have just denied
it altogether. No, there's no such thing as
hell, there's no such thing as judgment. Let me tell you something.
A denial of everlasting punishment at its heart, Rex, is a denial
of Christ atonement. At its heart. At its heart. For if God did not punish sin,
if God does not punish sin in the days to come in eternity,
why on earth would you imagine that God punished sin in his
son at Calvary? So to deny the message of everlasting
damnation, the message of everlasting punishment is to say in reality
Christ's death was nothing but a moral example and there was
no atonement in it. This message, behold the Lamb
of God, sets forth the utter inability of man. If man could
save himself, if righteousness could come by the law, Paul argues,
then Christ died in vain. And that's utter nonsense. Jesus
Christ did not come as the Lamb of God to save folks who could
save themselves. He came to save sinners who could
do nothing to save themselves. And certainly, it is a message
declaring the glorious efficacy of Christ's atonement. John said,
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. He didn't say behold the Lamb
of God who is coming to try to take it away, who has made it
possible to take it away. He said behold the Lamb of God
who has taken away sin. All of the sins of all his people
laid upon him throughout the world, throughout the ages of
time, throughout history. All of the sins of his people
in all the world He's taken them away. Most people have the idea that
somehow, if they were pretty pleased, believe on Jesus, then
He will take their sins away. Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Thousand times no, no. Your faith has nothing to do
with the putting away of sin. Nothing whatsoever. Our sins
were put away when Christ died, and his having put away our sin
is the cause of our believing. Now if you believe him, I'm telling
you, he put away your sins. You say, well how can I know
he did that for me? Believe him. Believe him. Folks
want to get the cart before the horse, and they say, well, I
want to know if I'm elect, I want to know if I've been redeemed,
I want to know if the Spirit's called me. If you were thirsty, if somebody's
sitting out there, I'm talking about really thirsty, really
thirsty, and you saw that glass of water sitting there, you know
what you'd do? You'd pick it up. You did mean
that for me, didn't you? That was intended for me, wasn't
it? I thought so. That's for you. And I'm telling
you, If you believe on the Son of God, if you want Him, if you
want, if you need Him, if you believe on Jesus Christ, He has
put away your sin. It's done. It's done. We're not
talking about possibility salvation or possibility redemption. We're
talking about an accomplished salvation, an accomplished redemption. Certainly, this message, Behold
the Lamb of God. sets forth the great infinite
super abundance of God's grace the infinite everlasting love
of God the infinite saving mercy of our God and the infallible
security of God's elect and I say to you behold the Lamb of God
which has taken away the sins of his people you understand
by that don't you that there's no possibility sin will be charged
to you No possibility. If Jesus Christ died as a vicarious,
sin atoning, sacrificial lamb for Bobby Estes, there is no
possibility that that man shall miss God's glory. No possibility. No possibility. Well, but you
know that men are responsible. I know that. You know that a
man's got to persevere. I know that. You know a man's
got to continue in the way. I know that. I'm familiar with
what I just said, but I'm telling you. God's people will fulfill. God's people will persevere.
God's people will continue. God's people will continue unto
the end. They will persevere because Christ
the Lamb of God put away their sin. And God will not allow him
to suffer and not see the travail of his soul with satisfaction.
Let me move on. Certainly this message then has
doctrinal instruction, full of doctrinal instruction, I'm just
scratching the surface. But if you want a personally
experimental religion, as I do, And I do. I wouldn't give you
a nickel for religion you didn't feel. I wouldn't give you a nickel
for it. I recognize feeling is nothing
as far as our assurance is concerned. Feeling is nothing as far as
our acceptance with God is concerned. But forgiveness is something
a man feels in his soul. Pardon is something a man feels
in his soul. Love is something a man feels in his soul. If you
desire experimental religion as I do. If you need experimental
grace as I do. Grace that's felt in the depths
of your soul. Grace that's felt in your heart.
And this message is the one that will promote it. Behold the Lamb
of God. Are you vexed with sin? I mean vexed with it. With your
sin. So that your sin has become like
an albatross around your neck. It seems to drag you downward
constantly. With all the sin that vexes your
soul, this is my message to you. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold
Him. Here I am. With the constant indescribable load of sin. Now look to Him. The Lamb of God. And the load is there. The load
is there because I still live in this body of flesh. But there's
no load of guilt. There's no terror before God.
Because I know that Christ has put my sin away. Are you troubled? Try it. Test it with affliction. I got a letter this week from
a friend. Going through tough times. All going through tough times. Don't know whether I can take
it or not. I don't know whether I can take it or not. But my message to him, and my
message to you, when you pass through the waters, and when
you pass through the fire, fear not. For the Lamb of God says,
I have redeemed thee. Thou art mine. The waters will
not overflow you. The fire shall not kindle upon
you. You need comfort? Amidst the difficulty, sorrow,
bereavement, emptiness of soul, you need comfort? Behold the
Lamb of God. He can and He will fill your
soul with His presence. Behold Him. Look to Him. But
pastor, I'm so dead. My heart languishes. I think
some of you must feel and experience the same things I do. I don't know how to speak. There's more dimness than brightness,
more heaviness of soul than ease and lightheartedness. And I can stand constantly in
need of His reviving grace, constantly. My constant prayer, and I can
I honestly speak to you, my constant prayer, day after day after day,
for myself and for you. God renew us, refresh us, revive
our souls. Don't leave us to ourselves,
not again today, not another hour. Revive, refresh our souls. And I know the message. Oh, Merle,
if you can just get a glimpse, of the Lamb of God one more time. I'll give you a little bit of
boost on the week. That will help you just a little ways through
the rest of this day and hour. Oh God let us see Him who loved
us and gave Himself for us and our hearts will be drawn and
we will run after Him. If you need instruction and what
men and women call practical godliness. I was preaching in California
the other week and one of the ladies started to
ask questions. Sometimes I think folks ask questions,
but I don't think so. Sometimes folks ask questions
without even thinking about what they're asking. They just ask
them so many times, they just keep asking. Mrs. Gowsey said, I finished
preaching on the sacrifice of Christ. I forgot particularly
what text or what subject I was dealing with at the time. I was
dealing with Christ's atonement and sacrifice and application
of it. And we sat around chatting afterwards.
And this lady said, but don't you think we need some practical
instruction? And just about the time she got it out, she caught
what she had said. And she said, I can't believe
I said that. What could be more practical than what we just heard?
You want practical instruction, practical godliness, practical
Christian living? The way to attain it and the
way to get it is not spend month after month after month with
a preacher talking to you about it. That ain't it. That ain't
it. Turn to Titus chapter 3 for a
moment. Let me show you. Titus chapter 3. Folks say, well,
we need to teach folks how to live. We need to teach them to
live right. And we do. We do. I don't think there's
any possibility, I don't think there's any possibility that
anybody sitting here who's heard me preach a few minutes would
suggest or have any idea that the message I'm preaching gives
you permission to licentiousness, or fornication, or adultery,
or drunkenness, or theft, or murder, or black... Does anybody
get that from that? Anybody got the notion that somehow,
well, that's alright. Everybody does it, that's just
alright. Well, that's utter nonsense.
But what folks need is the preaching of Christ crucified, the Lamb
of God, to direct and inspire their hearts. Look here in Titus
chapter 3. Verse 4, After that the kindness and love of God
our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us by the
washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Ghost which
He shadowed us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior, that
being justified by His grace we should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. Now look at the next line. This
is a faithful saying. That is what I've just written.
Paul says this is a faithful saying. And these things I will,
that thou affirm... What does your Bible say? What
does it say? Constantly? Now you can't harp
on this all the time. I reckon it will be alright.
Paul said affirm this constantly. Constantly. To what end? That
they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain
good works. But what causes men to maintain
good works? Talking about them? No. Talking about Christ. That's
what causes men to maintain good works. I'll give you an illustration. If I were to start a series of
messages here next Tuesday night, and I'm going to be preaching
to you on the home and husbands and wives and children and those
things. And Lindsey's sitting up there
and I preach a couple of messages, three, four, and Lindsey gets
real convicted. He's real convicted. He's, well
I need to straighten this thing up. I need to do better. And
he starts working on it. He starts working on it. He starts
working on being a better husband, a better father, a better neighbor,
a better man in his community. And then I continue with the
series and I keep reaching on him. He's a good husband, good
father, good man in the community. And Lindsey gets to listen, he
says well I've done that, and I've done that. Oh you know Rex,
he needs some help. That's always the result. Always
the result. Because we start looking at ourselves
and setting ourselves within as patterns and examples of what
other men ought to be. Oh, that's not the way to promote
faithfulness and godliness and holiness and obedience. The way
to promote good works is to preach Christ, the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world. And I'm telling you, if you look
to Him, you'll seek to follow Him. You can't look to Him without
following Him. If you look to Him, you've got
to follow Him. You want to learn how to give? Behold the Lamb
of God. He'll show you how to give. He
gave everything. Now sit down and measure what
you gave. Behold the Lamb of God. You want to learn something
about what it is to be a father and a husband? Behold the Lamb
of God. He'll tell you how. He's given
you an example. You want to know something about
what it is to serve God and His children? Then grab you a towel
and a basin of water and go wash some feet. Behold the Lamb of
God. Serve one another. You want to
know how to love each other? Behold Christ and behold how
He loved you. You mean that's the way I'm supposed
to love folks? Well, you can give it a shot. At least you
can follow that example. You want to know how to bear
affliction? Behold Christ who endured such contradiction of
sinners against himself, and yet opened not his mouth. You
want to know how to pray? Listen to him pray. Our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Let your name be
honored. God teach me to pray like that.
Number one primary thing in your name be honored. Your will be
done. Your kingdom come. Forgive us
our sins as we forgive others. Give us our daily bread. Teach
us to pray. Want to know how to live in this
world? I'll tell you how to live. Behold the Lamb of God and hear
Him As he says, not my will, thy will be done. Father, glorify
thy name. You know how to leave this world?
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. Christ must be constantly preached.
because Christ needs always to be kept before your eyes and
before mine. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, set your affections on things
above, not on things on the earth. Set your hearts on Christ. I
know that living in this world we have to think about a lot
of things. We have to give our attention
and our care to a lot of things but primarily the dominant, dominant,
dominant thought of our souls the dominant object of our minds
and our hearts ought to be Christ ever sitting before your eyes
allow me to give a paraphrase of Psalm 1 it reads like this,
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 I know the psalmist
said in the law of the Lord that Christ is the one of whom the
law speaks his delight is in Christ the Lord and his Savior
that he meditate day and night. That man, that woman, that one
whose delight is in Christ, that one who meditates in Christ his
Savior day and night, he shall be like a tree planted, didn't
just spring up, he'd be planted by God's hand by the rivers of
water. a tree that bringeth forth his
fruit in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever
he doeth, it shall prosper." Today, I preach Christ crucified
as the Lamb of God, incessantly, because Jesus Christ crucified
is the greatest, most glorious, most ennobling subject of thought
in all the world. I don't claim to be a scholar,
I don't claim brilliance, I'm neither. But I've done a little
bit of reading, and I've had a little experience in a few
things. And I have found nothing to compare to Jesus Christ. He is the sum of all truth, the
essence of all knowledge, the purpose of all creation, the
explanation of all providence, the soul of all life, the light
of light, the heaven of heavens, and the glory of glory. No subject
in the world is so vast, so sublime, so elevating as this. Behold
the Lamb of God. Nothing compares to Him. Talk
about mysteries. I want to read a mystery. Read
this one. Try God assuming human flesh. You talk about romance? Oh, try
describing the love of God revealed in Christ the Lamb. You talk
about beauty? Try getting a grasp somehow in
your mind's eye of the glory of God revealed in the face of
Jesus Christ. Talk about science? Oh, what
science is there compared with the science of substitution,
satisfaction, and imputation? Philosophy? This is the kind
of philosophy I like. Behold, I am he that blotteth
out thy sins. I like to study and read. And
when I was younger, I used to think that in order to I guess
maybe to impress other people, I don't know. But I thought in
order to do what was right, I had to study those verbose, wordy,
wordy, wordy, wordy, wordy, wordy Puritans. And some of them, my
soul, man, a lot. I know you can, Brother Mahan
used to say any donkey knows how to chew the hay and spit
out the briars, but there's a lot of briars. There's just a lot
of briars. And I'd bring those fellows,
and I'd try to study them, and try to study them, and it'd just
get so laborious. And I'd keep praying, God, I
hope my preaching's not that way. I don't want to be laborious
with words. What we need, what we need is
simply, simply to set forth Christ crucified in the glory of forgiveness. And just dive in. Dive in, head
over heels, and dig it out, absorb it in your soul, and enjoy it. Y'all can't tell by looking at
me, but my wife makes the best mashed potatoes on seven continents. I mean, she knows how to put
the butter in those things, and the cream in those things. Doesn't
she, Pat? Oh, good mashed potatoes. I have never gotten tired of
them yet. But I tell you what, If every time she served up mashed
potatoes, I don't care how hot they were, I don't care how creamy
they were, I don't care how much butter she had floating around
on top of them. If every time she served up mashed potatoes
she got me out a scientific text and sat down and started to read
to me all that went into raising the potatoes and making the butter
and making the cream and putting those things in the oven and
peeling them. I just assumed she'd throw them away. I ain't
interested. All I want to do is dive in and
eat. That's all I want. and somehow mean that their ideas
of their huge intellects think they're going to come and make
the gospel of God's grace sound profound and mysterious. Oh,
this is profound beyond imagination. God Almighty forgives sin through
Christ the Lamb. And it's rich. Just dive in wherever you can
and enjoy the riches of this message. Behold the Lamb of God. We preach Him because He is the
one thing needful. May have chosen that one thing
needful and it shall not be taken away from her. We may forget
many things without damage and we may even forget some important
things and Do no real harm to ourselves or anyone else. But
Christ we must have. He's the bread of life. The water
of life. Without Him we'll wither up and
die. Got to have Him. Christ's blood is the life blood
of true Christianity. Got to have Him. Got to have
Him every day, every meal. Got to have Him all the time.
We got to have Him. And this is the message that
glorifies God. For it declares, as I've already
shown you, how that God may be just and the justifier of all
who believe. And I say to you one more time,
behold the name of God. Salvation begins right here.
Look unto me, be you saved all the ends of the earth, for I
am God. And beside me there is none else.
Look to Him. Look to Him. And He says as you look to Him,
your sins are forgiven you. Well I don't know whether I could
continue or not. You can't. You can't. Don't know whether it lasted
or not. It wouldn't. Not if it depended on you. But salvation
is maintained the same way it began. Beholding the Lamb. looking
unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, looking to Him. I stand this day upon exactly
the same grounds as I stood 29 years ago when first I looked
to Christ. I stand here accepted of God,
confident of God's saving mercy, confident that I'm accepted of
Him, looking to Christ. Just looking to Him. That's all.
And salvation will be consummated, completed in a look. When we see Him, we shall be
like Him. For we shall see Him as He is. Behold the Lamb of God with reverence. Lift up your eyes to heaven.
Trust Him. Worship Him. Love Him. Behold
Him, the Lamb of God, in this blessed ordinance we're about
to participate in together. In our baptism, we professed
and confessed our union to Christ, our Savior, the Lamb of God,
in His death, His burial, and His resurrection. And now, these
men are going to come and distribute to you and me the elements of
the Lord's Supper. And we'll take that piece of
bread. Behold the Lamb of God. Jesus Christ symbolized in that
bread, in his holy humanity, in that body, that holy body
prepared for him in the womb of the Virgin specifically, specifically
lay, that body was prepared by God the Holy Spirit for Jesus
Christ the Son of God in the womb of the Virgin so that he
could be the Lamb of God to take away your sin. That wine, that little cup of
wine, our Savior said this is my blood in the New Testament.
That is it symbolizes and represents my blood shed for many for the remission
of sin. The blood of the Lamb shed for
you, sprinkle yonder in heaven by which Jesus Christ has obtained
eternal redemption for you who believe. Amen. Alright, you lead
us in a hymn and the deacons will serve the Lord's table for
us. Father you assist them please.