I want to talk to you a little
bit this morning about John the Baptist being the messenger of
God as he was. The Bible says over in the 6th
verse of John chapter 1 here that John was a man that was
sent from God. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. So I'll talk about John the Baptist,
the messenger of God, and then talk some about his message,
the message which he preached to men. And we find that here
in verse 29. The next day, John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh
away the sin of the world. The messenger and his message.
Now John the Baptist was but a man, he was a fallen man, he
was a lost man. I believe that John the Baptist,
even though he came forth out of his mother's womb a depraved
sinner, a lost sinner, I believe he was converted very soon after
his coming out of his mother's womb. The Bible says that he
was filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother's womb. But he
was a man like we are. Now with God's message, he came
as we understand the word came to John the Baptist. We can read
over in the book of Luke. how it tells us that the Word
came to him. There was a time when the Word
of God came to him and he began the ministry that God had called
him to serve when he was in the world, when he was as the forerunner
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so John the Baptist had a
message to preach to his generation. Now there's about four things
that this Baptist preacher had to say, there's about four things
which characterized this preacher that I'd like to mention to you
this morning, because I believe these four things will characterize
every true preacher that is sent of God, every true preacher that
God calls into the ministry. Now, if you listen closely to
these things, I'm sure that'll be of some help to you. There
are so many false prophets in the world that have gone out
into the world. There are so many that have messages they
say is from God. They say it's of the Lord. They
say they're ministry. They say that God sent them and
that they've run at God's bidding. But I wonder, are they like John
the Baptist? Or do they bear the characteristic
of this Baptist preacher, this first Baptist preacher, John
the Baptist? Number one, John the Baptist
saw the Lord Jesus Christ for himself. I believe that there's
a lot of lost preachers in the pulpit. I believe that we've,
in our day and time, met some of those preachers that, even
though they professed that they were children of God and that
they were saved men, yet they were lost. They were not converted
because they had never beheld the Lamb of God for themselves.
They'd never actually had the Lord Jesus Christ revealed unto
them. Now, there was a time when John
the Baptist did not know Christ and then he'd come to know him
because the Spirit of God come and revealed the Lord of Glory
to him as the Lamb of God. Now, you could read here in In
the 30th verse this is he of whom I said after me cometh a
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 There
was a time when John the Baptist did not know the Lord Jesus,
but he said that he's going to be made manifest 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 on him
and I knew him not and But he that sent me to baptize with
water, the same sent 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." Now, beloved, a preacher that has
been enabled by the Spirit of God to see Christ John the Baptist
did he said and I saw and bear record that this is the Son of
God no one sees Christ physically we see him by the revelation
of God's Spirit through the word and if a preacher is going to
preach to dead sinners lost sinners and He himself, if he's going
to have a live message, he must be alive in the Lord himself,
and he must see the Lord Jesus Christ by faith. God's messengers
do not debate with men about facts and theories and doctrines.
They proclaim a person. Now, this is, I believe, what
John the Baptist did. He said, Behold the Lamb of God. Christ is a living person, and
a preacher is to preach Him, and he's to know Him for himself,
and then he's to proclaim Him unto the people. Paul said in
2 Corinthians 2 and 2 that we preach Christ and Him crucified. He said, I determine not to know
anything among you but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now we insist upon all the truths
concerning our dear Savior. We do not back up one inch about
any article of divine truth. But we are sent of God to proclaim
Christ Himself. Our message is a person. The
message of John the Baptist was, behold the Lamb of God. He pointed men to the Lord Jesus
Christ. We preach Christ crucified. the
everlasting surety, the successful Redeemer, the sovereign Lord,
the coming Savior. This, beloved, is the message
of a true preacher of God, and this was the message of John
the Baptist. Now John called, secondly, he
called upon all who heard him to look to Christ and to live
eternally. He cried, Behold the Lamb of
God. Now he preached his message very
plainly, very boldly, very constantly, and universally. He proclaimed
this message, Behold the Lamb of God. It mattered not whether
his audience was saved, or whether they were lost, whether they
were Pharisees, or whether they were publicans, whether they
were learned scribes, or whether they were illiterate beggars,
his message was, behold the Lamb of God. You must see Christ,
you must behold Him, because He's God's Lamb, He's God's answer
to the sin question, He's God's salvation, and you must behold
Him. Thirdly, I believe that John
persuaded his disciples to become followers of Christ. Look in
verse 37. it says in verse 36 and looking
upon Jesus as he walked he says behold the Lamb of God and then
it says and the two disciples heard him speak and they Followed
Jesus now he had I believe John the Baptist had enough force
to Induce men to be his followers. He could have had a huge following
of people if he would have desired to have had them and But he had
enough humility about him to induce his followers to leave
him for the Lord Jesus Christ. He had enough grace to make him
rejoice that it was so. That men would not follow him,
but they would follow the Christ that he preached. And that's
one characteristic I believe that's very important. The goal
of every genuine gospel preacher is that they do not want men
and women to follow them. They want men and women to follow
the Christ that they preach. They're not interested in having
a huge following after themselves, but they're interested in men
and women becoming lovers of Christ and followers of the Lord
Jesus Christ. We're but voices in this world. Christ is the Savior. John the
Baptist was but a voice crying in the wilderness, and we preach
not ourself, but Christ Jesus the Lord. And Paul said in 2
Corinthians 4 and 5, we're your servants for Christ's sake. And
we're not after a following, we're after the ears and hearts
of men that we might point them to Christ and that they might
become imitators or followers of Him, the dear Lamb of God. And I believe that John the Baptist
actually lost himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. He lost himself
in Christ. He was only the bridegroom's
friend. I want you to turn over to the third chapter of John,
and let me read here, beginning with verse 25. There's some very
interesting verses here. John the Baptist just literally
lost himself in the person of the Lord Jesus. Then there arose
a question between some of John's disciples and the Jews about
purifying. And they came unto John and said
unto him, Rabbi, he that was with thee beyond Jordan, to whom
thou bearest witness, behold, the same baptizeth, and all men
come to him. And John answered and said, A
man can receive nothing, except it be given to him from heaven.
You yourselves bear me witness that I said I'm not the Christ,
but that I'm set before him. Just listen to the language.
He that hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of
the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him rejoiceth greatly
because of the bridegroom's voice. John the Baptist was the bride,
he was the bridegroom, he was the friend of the bridegroom.
And he rejoiced greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. And
this, he says, my joy, therefore, is fulfilled. And listen to verse
30. He must increase, but I must
decrease. He that cometh from above is
what? Is above all. And he that is
of the earth is earthly. John the Baptist recognized that
the Lord Jesus was from above and that he himself was earthly,
and he said, and speaketh of the earth, and he that cometh
from heaven is above all. The Lord Jesus Christ deserves
the preeminence, and he's to have the preeminence. He's the
one exalted of God, given a name which is above every name, that
every knee might bow to him. and what he has seen and heard
that he testifieth, and no man receives his testimony. He that
hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh
the words of God, for God giveth not the spirit by measure unto
him. The father loveth his son, and
hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the
Son hath everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son
shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. So then John the Baptist was
the bridegroom's friend, not the bridegroom, and his job was
to turn everybody's eyes to the bridegroom, to get everybody
to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. God's messengers like John, they
abase themselves and they exalt the Lord Jesus Christ at all
cost. Now, beloved, listen to me. Men
and Christ both cannot be exalted. If a man, his name becomes too
much talked about, if a man becomes too elevated, if people become,
what we might say, too enarmored by an individual, a minister
of the gospel, Ere long the Lord will see fit to somewhere or
another bring that individual down in the eyes of men in order
that men might see that it's Christ that deserves the preeminence
and that both man and Christ cannot be exalted. And the preacher
must be abased in order that the Christ he preaches might
be exalted, that he might be lifted up. Now then I want, I
think then we've been able to show you four characteristics
here of John the Baptist. What kind of a preacher he was.
And all that we might, myself and others that are in the ministry,
that they might be that kind of a preacher. That they might
be, that they might imitate John the Baptist. Now I want to come
to the message of John the Baptist. And here in verse 29, The first
chapter of John's gospel we have that message behold the Lamb
of God Which taketh away the sin of the world and in verse
36 and looking upon Jesus as he walked He saith behold the
Lamb of God now this message of John the Baptist was very
brief was it not but it was emphatic and There was no vehement appeal
made, no angry rebuke was given, no logical argument was presented. John simply pointed to the Savior
and cried, Behold the Lamb of God. Nothing else was needed.
To have said less would have been treason. To have said more
would have been redundance or in excess. The Lord Jesus Christ,
and let me establish this this morning, John the Baptist told
the truth, he is the Lamb of God. He is not one lamb among
many, but he is the Lamb of God. There is no other Lamb of God. Jesus is God's Lamb. Throughout the Mosaic Age, there
were hundreds of thousands of lambs that were slain by the
priests of Israel and offered to God in symbolic ceremonies. But those lambs could never,
we're told in Hebrews 10 and 1, could never take away sin. They could never make the comers
thereunto perfect. They could never sanctify those
who trusted in them or believed in them perfectly. They were
typical lambs. Christ is the true Lamb. They were many, but Christ is
the one Lamb of God. They were lambs for God, and
Christ is the Lamb of God. And He's also the Lamb who is
God, the Lord Jesus. He is God. Now they were all
insufficient, as we said, to take away even one sin, but Christ
is the Lamb of God, all-sufficient, who has effectually taken away
all the sins of His people which were laid upon Him by divine
imputation. All the sins that were laid upon
the Lord Jesus, he affectionately took them all away. But all of
those lambs that were slain in Old Testament time, all of those
sacrifices upon the altar, never took away one sin. that Christ
has taken away all the sins of His people that were laid upon
Him because He was made to be sin, you see, for us. Our sin
was laid upon Him and He, the just one for the unjust, suffered
the divine wrath upon Calvary's cross in order that we might
be spared, that we might be delivered from everlasting burnings. Now
Jesus Christ, our Lord, is the Lamb of God, slain from the foundation
of the world, promised to our fallen parents, portrayed in
the Levitical sacrifices and prophesied in the Old Testament
scriptures, and he was sacrificed upon the cross and accepted in
heaven and is exalted forever at the right hand of eternal
majesty. I'm talking about God's Lamb. I'm talking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now this title, the Lamb of God,
refers to our Savior's voluntary, substitutionary sacrifice of
himself for sinners. That's what this title refers
to. Christ is the Lamb appointed.
He's the Lamb given. He's the Lamb slain. He's the
Lamb that has been accepted by God the Father. Now God the Father
will not accept any sacrifice for sin, but the one which he
has appointed, and that is his own Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ. If your sin is ever to be forgiven,
it must be forgiven as Christ takes it away. And John the Baptist
said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the
world. Takes it away. And so if your
sin is to be put away, if it's not going to face you at the
judgment, then it must be laid on Christ and he must suffer
under the divine wrath in your room instead in place and he
must be made the sinner. You are before God and bear your
wrath in his body on the tree. The wrath do you that he might
take his righteousness and give it to you. and give you acceptance
before God, put upon you the robe of salvation, the garment
of salvation, that white linen that is the righteousness of
the saints, put it upon you and bedeck you with it in order that
you might be accepted clean before God. So then, let it never be
overlooked, though, that the Son of God became the Lamb of
God by His own voluntary will. so that by his suffering and
death, we who deserve to die under the wrath of God might
obtain eternal life. We were justly condemned as sinners
to suffer the wrath of God forever because of our sin, and God Almighty
was honor-bound to punish our sin. We were justly condemned,
we were born into this world, and we come forth out of our
mother's womb speaking lies. We come forth into this world,
sinners, condemned under sin, having a nature contrary to God,
a nature that was not subject to the law of God, a sinful nature,
a corrupt nature, and we justly deserve the wrath of God, but
the Lord Jesus Christ He stepped between us and a vengeful God,
a God whose law we had broken, and he was willing to suffer
our judgment, our hell, in our place. God was honor-bound to
punish us or punish the substitute in our place, and the substitute
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, Christ stepped in to
dine the place of sinners, and to endure the wrath we deserve,
to satisfy the divine justice by his own blood, so that God
might be both just and the justifier of all who believe in him. Now
mercy designed this forgiveness for an innumerable multitude
of sinners. each of whom were guilty of innumerable
sins and deserving, as we said, of the infinite wrath of God. Wisdom found a way. It found
a way to obtain forgiveness by substitutionary redemption. And love gave Christ to be our
Redeemer. Behold, beloved, behold the Lamb
of God. Behold God's Lamb. Now then,
we're told that He takes away the sins of the world, is what
it says here. Now, I want you to understand
this morning that this scripture, when it says, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sin of the world, that what this
is talking about, it's talking about Christ by His atonement
taking away the sins to the gospel. It's very vital that we understand
that the atonement of Christ, that it was an effectual atonement. Now, without it, there is no
gospel. If the Lord Jesus Christ did
not die for his people, then we will never be saved, we cannot
be saved, but if he did die for men, for sinners, then all those
sinners for whom he died most surely will and are redeemed. They are the redeemed of the
Lord. Now the gospel does not set forth
a Christ who makes it possible for sin to be taken away. The
gospel declares that Christ, the Lamb of God, taketh away
the sin of the world. I'm talking about an effectual
redemption, an effectual atonement. I'm talking about an atonement
that redeems. I'm not talking about Christ
trying to save somebody. I'm talking about Him saving
His people when He died on the cross. Everyone for whom He died
on the cross, He affectionately redeemed. They are redeemed.
Their sins have been gloriously taken away. He taketh away the
sin of the world. He put away sin, Hebrews 9, 26
says, by the sacrifice of Himself. Christ's atonement was and is
an Atonement for sin now beloved we must understand that and I
hope this morning that we can that's what I'm talking about
now Christ effectual atonement for sin was made here for a sacrifice
and now That's what it was. It was a sacrifice that he made
in order that somebody else might be spared now though innumerable
multitudes of sinners are saved by his sacrifice, this was a
specific, it was a sacrifice that was made here for a specific,
though innumerable host of people, for an innumerable multitude
of sinners that we save. Now when an Arminian reads that
the Lamb of God taketh away the sin of the world, he says This
is proof of universal redemption. He says this means that Christ
died for everybody the same and that everybody in the world is
converted or everybody in the world will be converted and everybody's
sin has been taken away. Now they say that's the proof
of it. Christ died for the whole world and took away the sins
of everybody in the world, and to those who have knowledge of
the gospel, the true gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ recognizes
the fact that this is not true, even though it sounds good. It
is not true. The Lord Jesus Christ did not
die for every sinner in the world. He died for those that were chosen
to the Father and was given to the Son in the eternal covenant. Those are those for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ died. Now, like I say, that gospel
of universal redemption sounds good. It just isn't so. It makes
mighty good preaching, but it isn't so, don't you see? And
so what we want to do is to find out what the truth is. Now the
Armenian has a big problem because he interprets the Bible to teach
that everybody, that everybody, that Christ has died for all
men, but yet the Bible says in Matthew chapter 7 and verse 23,
it talks there about Jesus speaking to some in the day of judgment
and said, depart from me in Matthew 7 and 23. He said, depart from
me. I never knew you. I never knew
you. And so, listen to me, Christ
did not take away all of the sins of all men because if he
did, then all men would be in heaven. There wouldn't be anybody
in hell. Only those, beloved, whom Christ
died for are going to be in heaven. All sinners for whom Christ died. Now, listen to me, some say Christ
took away all the sins of the world except the sin of unbelief.
Now, if that were the case, then Christ would be no Savior at
all, because man would be his own Savior, because man, by his
free will, not Christ, by his blood, would be the one who takes
away the sin of unbelief. Now, there are many people in
this world today who believe that Christ died for all sins
except the sin of unbelief. And they say that it's up to
the sinner to get rid of that. And if he can get rid of that,
then God will save him. But I want to tell you this,
if a sinner can get rid of the sin of unbelief, that's his major
problem, and if he could get rid of that on his own, he wouldn't
need Christ to save him, he could save himself. There isn't but
one who can give faith and dislodge the rebellious unbelief of the
sinner out of his soul, and that's the sovereign Lord Jesus Christ. That's Christ. That's God Almighty. Only God can save the sinner.
and only God can give faith. The Bible says that by grace
are you saved through faith. That's not of yourselves. It
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. Salvation
is God's gift. It's God's work from the beginning
unto the end. Now listen to me now. If Christ
died, to take away the sins of those who yet suffer the wrath
of God in hell, then we're all without hope. We're all without
hope. What makes you different than
the other sinner down the street? What makes you different than
somebody else? There isn't anything that, as
far as you and I are concerned, we're all the same. All Adam's
race are exactly the same. It's the mercy of God, it's the
grace of God, it's the love of God, the compassion of God that
moves His great heart to save any of Adam's fallen race. And
if you're a child of God this morning, rejoice that God in
His mercy has put a difference between you and other men and
He saved you in spite of yourself. There isn't a good thing about
you. God saved you all together on the basis of grace. Salvation
is by the grace of God alone. Men are not saved because they're
better than other men. They're saved because of God's
divine choice, and because of His mercy, and because of the
atoning work of His precious Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, behold the Lamb of God
that taketh away the sins of the world. Has your sins been
taken away? If they've been laid on Jesus,
and if God exacted from Him full payment of those sins on the
cross, then they're taken away. They're all taken away, the song
says, and they're gone. They're cast behind His back
as far as the East is from the West, never to be remembered
against us anymore. Our sins are put away. Now then, The Bible teaches very
clearly that Jesus Christ, that he did effectually put away sin. Now, faith in Christ is not a
vain delusion. If you have faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ, your sin is put away. It has been put away. And it's not something that you
need to fear any longer, thank God. It is so. Christ is an effectual
Savior. And those sins which God charged
upon His Son, for which Christ suffered and died, are forever,
I say, are forever gone. glorious thought, that our sins
are forever gone. Those that are trusting and believing
on the Lord Jesus, He took them away. And those sinners for whom
Christ died shall never be charged with one sin. If Christ died
for you, then He will not charge you with sin, because God cannot
twice payment demand, once at your bleeding surety's hand,
and then again at yours. And if you're going to have to
pay for one sin when you stand before God, you'll forever go
to hell. If all of your sins are not blotted
out and taken away before you come before the judgment, you
must surely go to hell. There is no way of escape. A
righteous and just God, a God who is inflexible in justice
and righteousness, will not allow you to get by the judgment if
you have one sin that's unpaid for. Your sin must be taken away. And only Christ, by his effectual
atonement, takes away sin. There ain't no other way to get
rid of it. How do you expect to get rid of your sin? You say,
well, I'll just do the best I can until I die. Honey, that won't
get you by the judgment. It won't. You say, well, I'm
tired to keep the golden rule. Go ahead and try to keep it if
you can, but that'll never save your soul. There's only one way
to escape the wrath of God. And that is that your sin be
taken away. And Christ is the appointed taker
away of sin. And those for whom He died, their
sins are forever removed, they're taken away, and not even God
Almighty, by His divine scrutiny, can find one of those sins, because
they've been taken away. And they've been cast behind
God's back, and they'll never be remembered again. Never. Because
they've been taken away. Now then, God's people will never
be condemned. The Bible says, there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Are you in Him? Do you trust
Him? Are you believing on Him? Then
if you're in Him, there is no more judgment awaiting your poor
soul. I realize sometimes these things
come over, maybe they're kind of difficult for some people
to grasp and to receive, but maybe you just need to listen
and listen and listen, and maybe one of these days the message
will be clear to your heart and the Lord will say to you, your
sins have been all taken away. Wouldn't that be a marvelous
and wonderful thing? Wouldn't that give you some rest?
I mean, couldn't you lay your head down on the pillow at night
and couldn't you sleep a little better if all your sins were
taken away and you knew that not one of them would ever again
be charged to you? Wouldn't that be a glorious rest? Well, it would indeed. Now then,
they are forever justified, God's people are, because it's to Him
that worketh not, but to Him that believeth, on Him that justifieth
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness,
and we're forever justified. The blood of the Lamb was not
shed in vain. as the worshipers of free will would have you believe,
telling you that Christ died as much for Judas Iscariot as
he did for Paul the Apostle. Such is foolishness, it's ridiculous.
Those that die and go to hell never had any blood atonement
made for them because their sins were not taken away. But those
who go to heaven, all of their sins were taken away by the blood
atonement. What does the text mean then
when it declares that Christ the Lamb of God taketh away the
sin of the world? It means exactly what the Bible
universally teaches, that Christ died for sinners. He died for
sinners. Believing sinners. If you can
believe the gospel, Then he died for you. In due time Christ died
for the ungodly, the Bible says. Every sinner in the world who
believes on the Lord Jesus Christ has this assurance from God in
the gospel. That is that Christ has took
away your sins. Now God will never charge any
believer with sin. I repeat that. Find me a sinner.
I've got such good news for a sinner. If there's anybody here this
morning and you say, preacher, I'm a sinner and I need that
my sin would be taken away, I say, behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. I say, behold the Lamb of God,
look on Him and trust Him and if you're able to trust Him,
if God enables you to do it, I'll not ask you to do anything.
I don't ask you to take a step. God can save a sinner anyplace.
And He can save you sitting in a pew. He can save you at home.
He can save you out working someplace. He can save you anyplace. But
He'll have to do it. This Baptist preacher can't.
I can't make a gnat live. I'm not able to make anything
live. But God can. And if He speaks the Word to
your heart, you'll live, friend. You'll live. I say, behold the
Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. Now find me
then a sinner, and the Lamb of God will take away the sins of
those that believe on him. Now he did not try to do it.
He did it. Would you agree with that? The
Lord Jesus Christ did not try to take away sin? I'm telling
you that the Christ that we preach here in this place is a Christ
who did not try to do anything. What he did, he did it. He did
it. He took away, he said, his name
shall be called Jesus. For he shall, he shall, the blessed
shalls of the Bible, he shall save his people from their sins. Matthew 1 and 21. He shall save
his people from their sins. It's not a futile effort that
he made. It's not a futile effort. It's not in vain that He died. Beloved, He died to secure forever
the salvation of the living family. Now then, He did it. He does
not make it possible. He did it. If you trust Him,
Christ has taken away your sin forever, and your faith in Him
is the proof that your sin was laid on Him, and it was on Him
when He died as the Lamb of God. Now, beloved, that's the messenger
and the message. The messenger is John the Baptist,
and the message is, behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the believing world, of those that believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, those that trust Him. Don't die in unbelief. Trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
Behold God's Lamb, because He takes away the sin of the world.