Come with me to 1 John 3. 1 John 3. Look at verse 1. 1 John 3 verse 1. Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Behold. That's a careful and deliberate observation of something. It's to take notice of something with wonder and astonishment. When we read that word, behold, in scripture, it's typically used to draw our attention to something, something in particular. And nearly 1,300 times, that word appears in scripture, behold. And don't be alarmed, I don't plan to look on all 1,300 of those tonight, okay? Just four, okay? Just four of them. Four things we're told to behold in the word of God. Turn to John chapter one. John chapter 1, verse 29. Here we're told to behold the Lamb of God. Verse 29, the next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and he saith, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God. Take notice. Draw attention to it, to the Lamb of God. Many characteristics of that Lamb to behold, the perfection of that Lamb. Turn to Exodus 12. Exodus 12, beginning with verse 3. Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household be too little for the lamb, Let him and his neighbor next under his house take it according to the number of the souls. Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. Listen to the description of this lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You take it out from the sheep or from the goats. this lamb's to be perfect, sinless. In 1 Peter 1 18, we read this, for as much as you know, you were not redeemed with corruptible things, such as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ. as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Purchased. Purchased with the precious blood of Christ. That perfect lamb, just like that lamb we read about in the Old Testament that was out without spot and without blemish. Christ's blood. is human blood. He's a man. But his blood isn't tainted like ours is. Ours is full of sin. Christ's blood is perfect. Perfect blood from a spotless lamb that was freely shed in the stead of his people. Christ's blood is the sufficient price paid for redemption because of who he is. His blood is precious blood, precious to us, isn't it? It's also precious to the Father without sin. The blood of that lamb, behold that lamb that shed, its blood was shed. The children of Israel, they were instructed to slay that lamb, to kill that lamb. And then they caught that blood and they took it and they put it on the doorpost of the house, outside the house. That's what they were commanded. Take the blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper doorpost of the house. There had to be a blood sacrifice. Hebrews 9.22 says, almost all things are by the law purged with blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. If you look back in the Old Testament, you'll read that some things were cleansed by water, and some things were cleansed by fire, but without the shedding of blood there was no forgiveness of sin. We sing that hymn, what can wash away my sin? What is it? Nothing, nothing but the blood of Jesus. God's word says the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanses us from all sin. All of it. That bloodshed points to the sacrifice. Isaiah 53 verse 11, he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many for he shall bear their iniquities. We have an acceptable sacrifice. We have a perfect atonement and Almighty God is satisfied. We don't need anything else, do we? There is nothing else. Listen, the blood of that lamb was applied. Behold, the blood applied, the blood of the lamb applied. We just read that, that blood was applied to the upper post and the side post of that house. And what was the result? I know you know this, but turn here. Turn to Exodus 12, look at verse 13. Exodus 12, verse 13. The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt." Where were the children of Israel when all this was going on? He said, the blood shall be a token to you upon the houses where you are. They were to put that blood on the door and then they were to go in the house, hiding. That might be a good word, hiding, but where? Behind the blood. Behind the blood. Christ's blood, it's applied. It's applied to every believer. That's true of every believer. Protected from the wrath and judgment of God. Men hide in a lot of places. They try to hide behind religion. That's not a good hiding place. They try to hide behind their good works. Those are all false refuges. What did He say? When I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Behold the Lamb. Listen, that's what we'll do in eternity. Behold the Lamb. Turn to Revelation 5. Revelation chapter five. Look at verse 11, Revelation five, verse 11. And I beheld, there's that word again, beheld, behold. I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders and the numbers of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb. Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth And under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I say, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that setteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. Behold, behold the Lamb. Second, behold the love of God. Behold the love of God. In 1 John 3, we read that to start the service here. And he said this, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. Behold, that's something to take notice of, isn't it? The love. The love that He has bestowed upon His people. How? How could He love me? I tell you this, the reason, it's not found in us. How could God love me? It's not the result of anything I've done. Paul said this, he said, oh wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? Can you say that? Can you say, oh wretched man that I am? You know, men say things like this. They say, well, a man just needs to kind of get his life together. Get himself on the straight and narrow. Pull himself up by his bootstraps, right? Is that what it takes to get God to love me? Just listen to a few of these scriptures. Romans 5 verse 8 says, but God commended His love toward us. in that while we were yet sinners." When? While we were yet sinners. Christ died for us. Behold the love of God. Listen, he gave clear proof of it, didn't he? He gave overwhelming evidence of his love. There's no room to doubt it. We do. There's no room to doubt it, though. His love was on full display, wasn't it, at Calvary? And listen, while we were yet sinners, while we were yet in our sin, Christ died for us. That's true of Abel. Go all the way back to the Old Testament. That's true of Abel. That's true of Paul. That's true of me. That's true of you. All we like sheep have gone astray. We turned everyone to our own way. Yet the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. while we were yet sinners. I wonder sometimes, does man even open the Bible and even read some of the words in it? While we were yet sinners, sinners by birth, sinners by choice, sinners by practice, with absolutely no love for Him. Yet God loved us. Christ died for us. He redeemed us. He redeemed us from the law being made a curse for us. What about our love for him? Is that a product of my nature? Is that anything I came up with on my own? Scriptures declare this, that, listen, we love Him for this one reason, because He first loved us. Our love for Him and our love for the brethren, it's a gift of His grace. It's shed abroad in the heart of believers by the Holy Spirit. And this thing of love, It's an identifying mark of the believer. I've got a dear friend in Millside, and he raises cattle. And right now, it's calving season. So every day, every evening, he's out watching. He's out counting. He's out checking on those cattle. And he knows if one's not made it back to the barn. And he'll go out and he'll look for it. And he'll find it. And he'll find that calf. And he'll help clean it off. And before it's all over and done with, he'll take a tag and he'll stick it in that calf's ear. That tells him everything he needs to know about that calf. But it also tells anybody who sees that calf that it's his, that it belongs to him. It's marked. It's his. Love. That's the identifying mark of the believer. That says, I'm his. Our Lord told his disciples this. He said, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. How is that? If you love one another. God's grace, God's love, shed abroad in our hearts. That's how men, listen, that's how men will know God's done a work of grace in you. A new heart, a new nature, a new attitude, new conduct. Not just our brethren, but those we work with, those around us. Listen, the distinguishing mark of a believer, it's not dressed in a certain way. It's not wearing a giant gold cross around our neck. It's not putting a bumper sticker on the back of my car. It's not how I decorate my home. It's not a peculiar talk that nobody else can understand. It's not a holier-than-thou attitude. What is it? Love one for another. Love for Christ, a genuine love for his people. That's the distinguishing mark of a disciple. 1 John 4, 20, if a man say that he loves God and he hates his brother, he's a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? It's love, true love, that covers a multitude of sins. Covered ours, didn't it? All that he would give us, a love, one for another. He said, by this, by this shall all men know you're my disciples. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us. That word bestowed, it means to to give over to one's care, to entrust, to commit. How great is his love for his people. Behold what manner of love. Greater love, greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. God so loved, He gave. What did he give? He gave his only begotten son. Listen to the words from this hymn. Could we with ink the ocean fill, and were the skies a parchment made, were every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade. To write the love of God above would drain the ocean dry. nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Behold the Lamb of God, behold the love of God. Well, third, behold the severity of God. The severity of God. Turn to Romans Romans 11, verse 22. Here we read, behold, therefore, the goodness and the severity of God. We love to talk about the goodness of God. In Romans 2, Paul wrote, it's the goodness of God that leadeth men to repentance. I like to think about the goodness of God. I'm certain I don't think of it as often as I should. But to think on his goodness, to think on his mercy, to think on his grace, All these things that are found in His Son, all that are found in Christ. But listen, outside of Christ, God is a consuming fire. The severity of God. What is that? He's going to punish sin. God's going to punish sin. And listen, if there are any doubts about that whatsoever, look to the cross. Look at what happened on the cross when the Lord Jesus Christ was made sin. When he bore our sins in his body on the tree. Paul writing to the Hebrews, he wrote, for we know him that has said, vengeance belongeth to me. I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, the Lord shall judge his people. It's a fearful thing. A fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. A fearful thing. Listen, those that would look to themselves or anything or anyone apart from Christ have every reason, every reason to expect the wrath and judgment of God to fall on them. How many times in the Old Testament did we see God dealing in wrath with Israel? Remember that? They turned to idols. Turn to John 3. John chapter 3. Verse 36, John 3, verse 36. 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. the goodness and the severity of God. Well, let me finish here. Last point. If you still have John 3, turn to John 4. Fourth point, behold the need of this world. The need of this world. Look at John 4, 35. He said, say not ye, there are yet four months, and then cometh harvest. Behold, I say unto you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. Paul said, he said, I planted. Apollos watered. But God, God gave the increase. This world needs the gospel. The message of God's mercy and grace to sinners. And it's easy, we're thankful to have it, but it's easy to just grow content with just having it for ourselves, isn't it? Thankful, thankful the Lord's given it to us, that he's been merciful to us. But listen, here we see something of the importance of the work of missionaries, in the work of evangelists. Our Lord gave this command. He said, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. I tell you, we reap the bounty of those that have planted before us. And we continue. I was thinking about that. There's some things that are planted that just, I think like a turnip or something like that, it just pops up out of the ground pretty quick. But there's other things that, it takes a while, right? We've benefited so greatly from the ministry of those before us. and continue to benefit. I pray the Lord would enable us, as he did David, to serve our generation by the will of God, to preach the gospel. Listen, not every man preaches the gospel, but sometimes we have a chance to share a bulletin or maybe an article or a message. You're so faithful to support, you know, The work, sermon audio, that message, it's amazing. It goes out literally around this world. But to preach the gospel, to make known in our generation His word. Well, behold the Lamb of God. Behold the love of God. Behold the severity of God, and behold the needs of this world. And listen, it's one great need, isn't it? One great need, to know Him, to know the Lord Jesus Christ. All right.