John's Gospel chapter 1, and
I want us to look at just one verse. In verse 29. A very familiar passage I want
us to look at this morning. John's Gospel chapter 1 in verse
29. Look in verse 29 in John chapter
1. The next day, John, John the Baptist, I made mention of him this morning.
He sees Jesus. He seeth Jesus, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of Mary. He sees Him coming unto him,
and he saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world. A wonderful, wonderful statement. Behold the Lamb of God. which taketh away the sin of
the world. Brother Spurgeon told a wonderful
story concerning this passage. They had outgrown their church
at Park Street, and they were going to build a tabernacle,
the Metropolitan Tabernacle. And they were renting the Sherry
Gardens, a huge auditorium. And they asked Mr. Spurgeon to
come down and check the acoustics in the Sherry Garden. And he
got up and he didn't know what to say, so he said, Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And unknown
to him or anyone else, there was a janitor underneath the
bleachers cleaning. And he said, this Word fell out
of heaven into my heart. And later he went and told Mr. Spurgeon, he said, the Lord used
that Word to convert my soul. But he said it was a Word that
fell out of heaven to me. Well, it is a Word from heaven.
Because John never knew who Jesus of Nazareth was. That's amazing,
ain't it? But he tells us that here in
verse 31, I knew him not, but that he should be made manifest
to Israel. In verse 33, I knew him not. Ain't that amazing that these
men were cousins and they never knew each other? But we're told
that John was the prophet that was hid in the desert, in the
wilderness, until he's shown unto Israel. The Lord lived mainly
up in Nazareth. He never got out around Jerusalem
until He began His ministry. They never knew each other. How
did John know Him when he saw Him? It came by revelation, didn't
it? This Word fell out of Heaven
into his heart. We're told here in verse 6, there
was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came
for a witness. To bear witness. But how is he
going to bear witness of someone whom he doesn't know? He had
to be revealed. And I knew him not. But when John saw him, the Spirit
made him real to him. And he said, Behold the Lamb
of God. Now, he could have said many
things about him. God sent John to preach and to
bear witness of Jesus of Nazareth. And I tell you, the Spirit of
God revealed a lot of things concerning this man Jesus to
John's heart. He could have said, Behold the
light, because we are told here in verse 8, He was not the light,
but was sent to bear witness of the light. He could have said,
Behold the light. We all need light, don't we?
Larry talked about what a dark time this was. It was a dark
time. But they that sat in darkness
saw a great light. John could have said, Behold
the light. He could have said this, Behold
your Creator. Because we are told there in
the other verse, in verse 10, He was in the world and the world
was made by Him. Here was the man, the Son of
Mary, and the world was hung in its place by His very breath. and His voice. He could have
said, Behold the Son of God. Look in verse 18. No man has
seen God at any time, John said. The only begotten Son, which
is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. He could
have said, Behold the only begotten of the Father. Or He could have said in verse
15, look at this. This is amazing. John bore witness
of him, and cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake. He that
cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before
me." Now if you know the age of these two men, you realize
that John the Baptist was six months older than the son of
Mary. But John said, He was before
me. As the man, he was after John. But Jesus was more than
a man, wasn't He? He was the incarnate Son of God,
who not only was before John, but was from everlasting. He
was with the Father before all time. And He could have said
this about Him. He said in verse 20, and He confessed,
and did not but confess, I am not the Christ. And then in verse
21, He confessed, I am not that prophet. But He knew who the
Christ was. He knew who the prophet was.
So there's many ways that John the Baptist could have said,
Behold Jesus Christ. Why does he choose this way?
Why does he identify as the Lamb of God? And why was he so excited
about it? He said it twice, didn't he?
He said it there in verse 29, and he says it again in verse
36. Behold the Lamb. Well, when John said, Behold
the Lamb, he knew very well why he was identifying Jesus Christ
as the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. You
see, John was the son of a priest. His dad and his mom both were
of the tribe of Aaron. His father was a priest. He was
very familiar with the offerings, with the sacrifices under the
Mosaic Law. He would have been very familiar
with the sacrifice of the lamb. And you know the lamb was the
most common, it was the most important sacrifice of all the
sacrifices. They had a lamb that they had
for a burnt offering. Every morning they offered a
lamb for a burnt offering. Can you imagine through the thousands
of years how many lambs were offered on the Jewish altar? Because every morning, the Lord
said, you offer the morning sacrifice, a lamb upon the burn altar, and
I'll dwell with you all day. And the evening they brought
another lamb, and it was the evening sacrifice. And they offered
that lamb, and God dwelled with them all the night. This was
His promise. Here is this perpetual lamb. And as long as you're offering
this lamb, I will dwell among you." And here John sees the
Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, Behold the perpetual
Lamb. Surely God will dwell with us. And we are God and will be His
people. Behold, here is the Lamb. The Lamb of God. You know the Son of God has always
been the only and perpetual Sacrifice. There has never been another
sacrifice that could take away sin. Even before he was slain
2,000 years ago, in the mind and in the purpose of God, his
son has always been a lamb slain. God has always looked upon him
as a lamb slain. I want you to look with me in
A couple of passages of Scripture. Look in Revelations chapter 13
and verse 8. Revelations chapter 13 and verse
8. Peter tells us in the first chapter
of his book that Jesus Christ was a Lamb that was foreordained
before the very foundation of the world. but was manifested
in these last times for you." That is, he was set aside of
God. In the purpose of God, God set
him aside and looked to the day when he would actually come and
be slain, a lamb. But look here how John says it
in Revelation chapter 13, and look in verse 8, And all that dwell upon the earth
shall worship him that worshiped the beast, that deceitful, wretched
beast, all except these, whose names are not written in the
book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world."
Now, we know that Jesus Christ was not actually slain before
the world was. But He was in the purpose of
God, in the mind of God. God always looked upon him as
a lamb slain. Look back in Revelation chapter
5 while we are here in the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter
5 and look in verse 5. Look at this. Here John saw this
vision in heaven. He saw a great number there.
And look what he said in verse 5. And one of the elders said
unto me, weep not, John. Behold, the line of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seals thereof, and behold, and I beheld, and
lo, in the midst of the throne." Now I wonder who that is. Who
is it that sits in the midst of the throne? That's God, isn't
it? That's God. Nobody occupies that
throne but God. and in the midst of the four
beasts, and in the midst of the elders." Now, who are the elders?
Those are men. So here we have one in the midst
of the throne. It's God. In the midst of the
elders, that's man. The God-man, look at this, stood
a lamb as it had been slain. Even in heaven. This very day. He is still lamb as it just has
been slain. Now what does that tell us? That
tells us the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is always fresh. It is always new. Just as though
it was that morning lamb that was offered or that evening lamb
that was offered. Now we know that Christ suffered
only one time. But I'm telling you, brothers
and sisters, it's even though He just did it. He just did it. When the eternal ages are rolling
on, out in eternity somewhere, and all the saints of God are
gathered around the throne, you know who they'll be singing to.
They'll be singing to Him that loved us and washed us from our
sins in His own blood. And you know something? The scars
will still be there in His hands and in His feet. And the hole
will still be in His side. And it will be as though He just
offered Himself a sweet Savior to the Father. I told you a while
back about reading this one commentary, and he said, no doubt, when all
is consummated, And the saints are glorified. No doubt, he said,
these wounds will be healed and there will be no hole in His
side. But why in the world would that happen? These wounds are
His cheap glory, are they not? It's the evidence of what He's
done for us. Behold my hands, behold my side. Why do away with those glorious
evidences of what He's done for us? It's nothing that needs to
be healed. Oh, the songwriters said in beauty,
they're glorified. And there's coming a day out
in eternity somewhere when we'll be looking upon Him, the wounds
in His hands and His feet and the hole in His side, and we'll
say the same thing that they said here when John first saw
it. Oh, He loved us. And He gave
Himself for us. Catholicism come up a few hundred
years ago with this doctrine of transubstantiation. They felt
like they needed a fresh sacrifice, I guess. Something that was new.
So they came up with this idea that when they come to the Lord's
table to eat the bread and the wine, that when the priests bless
it, that it transfers into the literal body and blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. And there was as real a sacrifice
offered in that eating of that bread and wine as there was upon
the cross. Now you say, Bruce, that's silly.
Well, it is silly, isn't it? Jesus Christ suffered once, and
there's never any need for Him to ever suffer again. But here's
what Catholicism said they needed. They needed something that was
fresh. He is fresh. The aroma of that precious offering,
the precious blood, will always be fresh into the nostrils of
the Father. I remember when they first come
out. This shows how old I'm getting. I remember when they first come
out with these little car refreshers. You know, you
could buy them for 20 or 30 cents and hang them on the heater in
your car and turn your heater on. Smell the car up real good,
but this lasted about a day. He had to get a whole box of
it. That's the way our aroma is. We get something that's fresh,
something that smells good, but it doesn't last any time. But
it's not so with this sacrifice. He is the perpetual sacrifice. When John said, Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sins of the world. He was looking
upon him as that daily sacrifice. He was so fresh. He was so fresh. And I think this morning, brothers
and sisters, John the Baptist is still beholding him in heaven.
And I think he's still addressing him that way. Behold the Lamb
of God that taketh away the sins of the world. There's something
else the Lamb is identified with. And I'm sure John As he knew
the Scriptures very well of the Old Testament, he thought of
this. He read them. And he read Exodus 12, I imagine. For this was required of the
lamb that they were to take, and that was he was to be sinless. He was to be spotless. They took
their lamb and they kept him up for four days. There shouldn't
be a wrinkle on him. There shouldn't be a blister
on him. No hair missing, no injury, no broken bones. He had to be
without spot. No wounds on him. Don't you imagine
John thought of this when he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
The spotless, sinless Lamb of God. Peter said he was a lamb
without blemish, didn't he? You know John had never knew
anybody like this. No wonder he identified him as
the Lamb of God. He never knew anybody like this,
because there was never anybody like this. John wasn't like this. John was a poor sinner himself.
His mom and dad was a sinner. Everybody's a sinner, aren't
they? There's only been this one man, and for the first time
in John's life he met him, a man with a sinless character, born
holy, lived and all his motives were holy. He never had an evil,
foolish thought. John says he's without spot.
Behold Him, the pure, spotless Lamb of God. Never seen anybody
like Him. You and I talk about our Lord
taking our sins to Himself upon the cross. We talk about Him
being made sin, the mystery of all that. But brothers and sisters,
don't forget this. He never ceased to be what He
was. And that was sinless, spotless,
harmless. He took our sins, yes. He was
made sins, yes. But when he offered himself to
God, we're told this in Hebrews 9, 14, he offered himself without
spot to God. The just for the unjust, Peter
said. He was just as just when he hung
there as he was when he was born and in his public ministry. What
a mystery the cross is. Here, listen to this, here is
where the evil of earth sinned. The evil of earth's sin, your
sin and my sin, a number of sin that no man can number, meets
the very holiness of God in one human body. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine the struggle
that went on in his bosom? He wasn't like you and me. You have all your sins at one
moment put upon your conscience. What if you had my sins put upon
your conscience combined with your sins? What if you had all
the sins of every elect soul at one moment put upon your conscience? Why, it would wait you down to
hell, wouldn't it? Even though we're sinful, we're
used to sin, he wasn't. No wonder he cried, if there's
any other way, let this cup pass from me. No wonder he groaned
on the cross. No wonder the sun refused to
shine. All the sin, the tremendous evil that every elect soul had
committed, met in his holy, pure, innocent body, in his soul. They met together there. He that
says, no iniquity can dwell with me, Now He was dwelling with
him. He that was to pure eyes to behold
sin was looking upon it and called it his own. This is my sin. It's my iniquity. Oh, no wonder. No wonder he cried
out, My God, my God. But if He had been like us, it
wouldn't have been near as bad on Him. But He wasn't like us. He was the Lamb of God without
spot and without blemish. And He takes our sins and He
makes them His own. And He claims them. And He suffers
and He groans until He puts them away by His own sacrifice. Look here, since you're in the
book of Hebrews chapter 9. Look here how the Apostle said
it. Look back over in the book of
Hebrews. Look in Hebrews chapter 9. And look in verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy place made with hands, which are the figures of the
true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often, as the high priest entered into the holy place every
year with blood of others, For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now once in the end of the
world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of
himself." And how did he do that? Look in verse 28. So Christ was
once offered to bear the sins of many. The Lamb of God bearing
our sins. The holy, spotless Lamb of God
buried our sins. But brothers and sisters, who
else is fit to do it? Aren't you glad He's spotless?
Aren't you glad that He's holy? Aren't you glad that John identified
Him as the spotless Lamb of God? Because nobody else could bury
our sins. Nobody else could atone for it
but Him. He was once offered To bear the
sins of many. And what did he do with them?
He put them away. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away. He put them away by the sacrifice
of himself. Now somebody's going to say,
you've always got people and you read where people say this
and they seem so holy and they seem to love the Lord Jesus Christ. And they make a silly statement
like this. Bruce! Don't tell me that my sins touched
Jesus. Don't tell me that He took my
sin and made them His own. Don't tell me that He bore my
sins. Actually, I'll never believe that. Well, dear soul, if you
don't believe that, your sins are still on you. He must either take your sins
from you and bear them Himself, or He must leave them on you.
If He takes them from you, they become His. And He's responsible
for them. Then He suffers the consequences.
But if He leaves them on you, then they're yours. And you'll
have to deal with them before God. And if they did Him like
they did Him on the cross, how will they treat you? And how
will they treat me? Oh, it's a blessed thing, isn't
it? This business of substitution. Someone who is holy taking our
sins and burying them. and being punished for them in
our place. When they brought a sacrifice
under the Mosaic law, they brought an animal, they brought a goat
or they brought a lamb. And remember one thing they always
did? They always laid a hand on it. Remember that? Do you
know what that was? The transfer of sins. Lay your
hands upon the head of the sacrifice and transfer your sins to Him. And that's what John saw. Boy,
he saw it. These old prophets, we look upon
them as holy men, and they were, bless God, they were holy men.
Holy men of God's faith. A man that's born of a woman
that's never greater than John the Baptist. But I tell you,
you study the life of these men, and all of them were conscious
of their sinfulness. John said, I'm so unworthy, I
am not worthy to bow down and unloose the latches of his sandals. He must increase. I must decrease. He's from heaven. I'm of this
earth. The Lord came to John to be baptized,
and John said, you coming to me? I have need of you, and you coming
to me? Oh, he felt his sin, didn't he?
He felt the need of having it put away. And when he saw Jesus,
his soul was thrilled. And he cries out, and I don't
think he can have it. He cries out, behold, here's
my sin bearer. Here's my Lamb to bear my sin
and take it away from me and take it away from before the
face of God. Behold the Lamb. Oh, can you
see Him this morning? John seeth Jesus coming unto
him. Can you see Him? Have you got a sight of Him?
The Lamb of God bearing your sins away? Oh, may God give you
eyes this morning to see Jesus, the Lamb of God, taking your
sins away. And you knew that John. You'll
just keep on. Behold the Lamb of God. You'll
rejoice in Him yourself. And you'll want others to know
Him. And you'll rejoice when others
follow Him, like John's disciples followed Him. Right along with that, let me
say this just for a minute. John, I imagine, thought of Him
in another way. You'll find this in Exodus chapter
12. This was the beginning of the year to the Jewish nation. They started a new life during
Exodus chapter 12. They were down in Egypt. They
were ready to come out. This is the first time the Lord
commanded them to offer a lamb. They were to take the lamb without
spot, without blemish. They were to cut its jugular
vein, empty its blood in a basin, They were to take that blood
and get some hyssop and put it over the lintels of the door.
Remember that? And they would put it on the side post of the
door. They were to cook the lamb and eat the lamb that night. Now what was it about putting
that blood over the door post and on the side post that was
so critical to these people? Well, listen to what he said.
Here's what the Lord said. I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night. I will smite all the firstborn
in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the
gods of Egypt will I execute judgment. I am the Lord. And
the blood shall be to you for a token, a sign, upon the houses
where you are. When I see the blood, you just
sung about it, when I see the blood, I will pass over you and
listen. And the plague shall not be upon
you to destroy you." And he said it again. He turned right back
around and said almost the identical same again. Take a bunch of hyssop,
dip it in blood that's in the basement, strike the lentils
in the two side posts of the door, and none of you go outside
the house until the morning, for the Lord will pass through
to smite the Egyptians, And when he sees the blood upon the lantern
and the sidepost, the Lord will pass over the door and will not
suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you."
What was it about the blood of that lantern? It was the only
thing that turned the wrath of God away. Is that important to you this
morning? Have you ever feared about facing
the judgment of God? The wrath of God? Well, you think it's happened
before, ain't it? Those people that don't think
the wrath of God is coming, it's come before, hasn't it? It came
upon the old world and destroyed everybody but Noah and his family. He fell upon Solomon and Gomorrah
and destroyed everybody but Lot and his two daughters. And dear bun, you used to call
this world the city of destruction because it's appointed to wrath. God is coming out of His holy
place and He's going to punish the inhabitants of this world
because of its iniquity. The wrath is coming. The wrath
of God is coming. The Lord asked the Pharisees,
who has warned you to flee from the wrath to come? How can you
escape the wrath to come? One way. Just one way. The blood of God's Lamb. That's the only thing that will
turn God's wrath away. Paul said, God has raised Him
from the dead, and He has delivered you from the wrath to come. I tell you the best news that
anybody ever gave you, dear soul, is to tell you how to escape
the wrath to come. It don't matter what position
that we may have. He was a great prophet, the greatest
prophet that ever lived. And what was he concerned about?
Escaping the wrath to come. It don't matter who you are.
I'm a preacher. What does that count in the whole
scheme of things? You know what I'm concerned about
more than anything else? Escaping the wrath to come. I've
got a few more days to preach in this world, and then I'm facing
death and I'm facing eternity. I don't want to face the wrath
of God. But one thing will turn it away,
and that's the blood of Jesus Christ. When I see the blood,
when I see the blood, it hasn't changed, has it? And I tell you,
the wrath of God will never touch the blood. It's already done
it on Calvary's tree. If you're under the blood this
morning, if the blood has cleansed you, if your faith is in His
blood, you're delivered from the wrath to come. You can lay
your head down on your pillow. You can rest your eyes. The wrath
of God will never touch you, dear soul, if it's touched Jesus
in your place. Behold the Lamb of God. If you've never saw Him before,
If you've never saw Him as John saw Him, you've never seen Him
through the eye of faith, the Lamb of God taking your sins
away. If you've never seen Him in the Word, if you've never
seen Him in your understanding, then seek Him for mercy. Ask
Him to give you eyes to see Him with. Taking your sin away. Delivering
you from the wrath to come. This is a wonderful statement
John made here, and it's so encouraging. What did he take away? The sin.
Of who? The world. Isn't that such an
encouraging statement? I think some, if they could,
especially some of our Calvinistic brethren that don't have any
sense yet, they'd cut this out or mark it out because they don't
know how to interpret it. Isn't this an encouraging statement,
though? What if he said, Behold the Lamb of God that takes away
the sins of the elect Jews. What would that have left us?
We're poor dead dog Gentiles, aren't we? He's not saying here that Jesus
Christ took the sins of everybody in the world away without any
exception, but he is saying this, that he took it away without
any distinction. He didn't just die for the sins
of His elect among the Jews. He went all over the world and
gathered up the sins of all His elect people and He put them
in His bosom and He took them away. I don't care what nationality
a man is. I don't care what color his skin
is. I don't care what sex we are, how old we are. It doesn't matter, does it? If
you can look and say with John, Behold the Lamb of God, then
He's taken your sins away, no matter who you are. It doesn't
matter, does it? May God give you eyes this morning
to see as He gave John. And I don't think the Lord would
give such a command as He does in His Bible and not give us
grace and eyes to see. Well, you know what the Lord
Himself says in Isaiah 65-1? Listen to this. This is a wonderful verse. I
am sought of them that ask not for me. I am found of them that
sought me not. I said, Behold me! Behold me
unto a nation that was not called by my name. Who is that? That's
the Gentiles. But who is it saying this? It's
the Lord Himself. It's not John, it's the Lord.
Behold Me! Behold Me! If He comes and says,
Behold Me, then you think He wouldn't give you eyes to see?
Then look, and He'll give you eyes to see. I used to listen
to Will R. Shelton years and years ago,
probably 35 years ago. I'd turn on the radio and he'd
be a preacher. And he was preaching to my heart and didn't even know
it. He was saying, look, sinner, look. Look, sinner, look. He'll help you to look. Look,
and He'll help you to look. Well, look! And the Holy Spirit
will help you to see. And then you can leave here and
be joyful as John was. Behold the Lamb of God. He's
taken my sin away. Let's pray.