John chapter 1. Let's read verse
29. John chapter 1. This is God's
prophet. This is God's prophet identifying
God's sacrifice. God's Messiah. The next day,
John sees the Lord Jesus coming, and He's coming right toward
him. The Lord Jesus is seeking out this prophet of God. coming
unto him. And John says, now you behold,
you take a good look at this. Take a good look at him. Behold
him, the Lamb of God, who takes away sin of a whole lot of folks
in this world. He takes away sin. Now John the Baptist, his one
business of which he was totally consumed with, was to bear witness
to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he's all about. Notice verse 6 in John chapter
1. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This same one came for a witness,
to bear witness of the light that all might believe through
him. That all might believe him. all
through him might believe. Verse 15, John, bear witness
of him, cried, saying, This was he of whom I spake, he that cometh
after me is preferred before me, for he is the eternal God
of his fullness. Have we all received grace for
grace? Law was given by Moses, but grace
and truth comes by the Lord Jesus Christ. The only reason for John
And the only purpose of John was to identify this Lamb of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And may this be said of every
true believer. The only reason for our purpose
here is to worship Christ, worship the Lord Jesus Christ, and to
preach Him. He seeketh such to worship Him
in spirit and in truth, and to preach Him. We preach Him crucified,
Christ in Him crucified, and to point others to point others
to this Lamb of God. I want you to behold Him who
is altogether lovely, who is the only sacrifice for sin. Now,
John doesn't ask us to behold a great teacher, though he is
a great teacher. Nor does he ask us to behold
a moral leader. He is moral and he is a leader.
He is a leader and a commander to the people. He declares that
Jesus Christ is God's designated sacrifice for sin. Here in His
love, not that we love God, but that He loved us and He sent
His Son. You get a hold of that now. He
sent His Son for us to be a sacrifice for sin. John knows no unatonement,
but substitution and no other substitute but Jesus Christ,
the Lamb of God. In the Revelation, we read of
Him, of the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
And all through the Revelation, if you ever notice through the
Revelation, turn over there, hold your place in John 1, but
turn to Revelation 5. What's the book of Revelation
about? The Lamb. All through the Revelation, at
least 20 times, and maybe more, But to be on the safe side, at
least 20 times we read about the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, all through the revelation, and the revelation of Christ,
but he's seen in his sacrificial character as the Lamb of God. Revelation 5, look at verse 5.
Revelation 5, 5, 1, the elder says, and I mean weep not. Behold,
the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed
to open the book, to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld
him low in the midst of the throne, and in the midst of the four
beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having
seven horns, all power, seven eyes, all seeing. which are the
seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. He's worshipped
as the Lamb of God and is glorified in His sacrificial character.
And may God give us grace and boldness to know and to believe
and to preach no other than this Lamb of God, to know no other
substitute but Christ, no other atonement for sin but the Lord
Jesus Christ. Now back to John chapter 1, verse
29. John seeth this Saviour, and
that's what his name means, Jesus. Call his name Jesus. He shall
save his people from their sin. And he is exactly what he's called. He does exactly what he came
to do. He saves from sin. Doesn't try
to. He shall take away sin. He shall
finish all things that the Father gave him to do. He sees the Savior
coming and He says, Behold, gaze on Him. Behold Him. Definite article here, THE Lamb. THE Lamb. He's not a lamb. He's
THE Lamb. He's the fulfillment of all those
typical lambs. He sets Him forth as the only
sacrifice for sin. THE Lamb. All through the Scripture
we see the Lord Jesus Christ pictured as the sacrificial lamb. He died for our sins according
to the Scriptures. I believe I brought a message
here one time from Genesis chapter 4. Do you remember on the sacrifice
of Abel? Abel brought that lamb that was
slain, but that Lamb typified and shows us substitution, salvation
by blood sacrifice in Christ. There's a Lamb typified, slain
by Abel. In Genesis 22, we read that a
while ago, the Lamb prophesied God will provide Himself, the
Lamb, and He provided for Himself a Lamb, the Lamb of God, the
Lord Jesus. In Exodus chapter 12, we see
the Lamb slain and the blood applied on the door. God said,
when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. In Isaiah 53, we see
the Lamb of God personified. He's the man of sorrow, acquainted
with grief. We hear, as it were, our faces
from Him. He was wounded for our transgressions,
bruised for our iniquity, and the chastisement of our peace
is upon Him. And with His stripes, we are
healed. He's a lamb personified. And
in John 1 29 we see the Lamb of God identified. Old John grew
up around the temple. His daddy was a priest. He saw
lamb after lamb after lamb. He passes by all those lambs
and said, this is God's lamb right here. God's sacrifice. In John 19, we see the Lamb of
God crucified, and the Lord Jesus Christ declares to all who will
hear, salvation done, finished, not attempted, mission accomplished,
not mission failed, mission accomplished. He bought us with His own blood.
And in the revelation we just read, we see the Lamb of God
magnified and glorified and worshiped And we sing unto him who loved
us and washed us from our sin in his own blood. Worthy is the
Lamb that was slain to receive all honor, glory, blessing both
now and forever. This is the only sacrifice for
sin. Who else could have provided
such a sacrifice? None but God Himself. God bought
us with His own blood. None but God Himself. Who else
could have honored the very law of God that we broke? He honored
the law Himself in the fullness of time. God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were
under the law. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law being made a curse for us. Who else could have put
away sin? But the Lord Jesus Christ, and
He did so, He appeared once in the end of the age to put away
sin. How? By the sacrifice of Himself. Himself, the Lamb of
God. He provided the sacrifice. And God Himself is the Lamb.
Now you think about this. God Himself is the Lamb that
was offered unto God, and He provides Himself as the Lamb.
And we're accepted in the Beloved. Who was it that sacrificed this
lamb? Him being delivered by the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. They did, these wicked men
did what they wanted to do, but in doing that, they accomplished
God's eternal purpose by the sacrifice of Himself. Who was
the officiating high priest on that day? Huh? Pilate thought
he was in charge, didn't he? Don't you know, he said to the
Lord Jesus, I have power to crucify you and I have the power to release
you. You don't have any power over
me except that which is given of God. God was officiating on
that day. God planned the cross. God presided
over the cross. Who was it that bruised the Lamb
that day? Well, those men did, but it wasn't
what men did that day. Our hope is what God was doing.
It pleased God to bruise Him in our room and in our stead.
Who was it that imputed and laid the sin of God's people upon
the Lord Jesus Christ? Man couldn't do that. God laid
on Him the iniquity of us all. You see, this is God's Lamb.
Behold the Lamb of God. God's Lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ is not
only the lamb provided, but he's also the lamb that's accepted.
He's the lamb of God that God must accept, glories to accept,
and always accepts. And we're accepted in the beloved.
We're accepted in Christ, in that sacrifice. Now my friend,
do not, do not try to bring another sacrifice. There remaineth no
more sacrifice for sin. Don't mock God by trying to provide
your own remedy, your own thing, doing it your own way. God prescribed a certain order
of worship. We talk about that on the way
up. In the book of Leviticus, Aaron had four sons. Two of them,
Nadab and Abihu, they thought they had a better idea how to
approach God. And they brought a strange fire
that God didn't say, God said, don't come that way. And they
thought, well, you know, we're going to improve it. You know
what God did to both those boys? Killed both of them. Nadab and
Abihu. Don't mock God by trying to come
some other way. There is no other sacrifice for
sin but this Lamb of God. And to come some other way is
to mock God and to deny the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Okay. That's the first point. He is
the Lamb. The Lamb of God. The Sacrifice. The Atonement. The Redeemer. The Savior. The
Only One. Salvation in no other but Christ. The second point is this, John
sets forth this Lamb as bearing away our sin. Notice it says, Behold the Lamb
of God. Who does this? He does something. He not only comes, but he comes
to do a work. He comes to accomplish God's
purpose. Who taketh away or beareth away
sin. He sets him forth as the Lamb
of God bearing our sin. Now our blessed Lord had no sin
of his own. He's the spotless Lamb of God.
You go back and look at all those sacrifices under the law, they
couldn't have a blemish. They couldn't have scurvy. They
couldn't have a scab. They had to be perfect. without
spot, without blame. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
our spotless Lamb of God. He had no sin, knew no sin, and
did no sin. And as such, He's bearing our
sin in His own body on the tree. That's what happened. He's our
scapegoat. He's our sin bearer. Taking our
sin, He not only took our sin, but He took it to Himself. And
taking it to Himself, He took it away. He took our sin to Himself. Let's look at those three things.
Now this is the beauty of the Gospel. He took our sin to Himself. This is the beauty and strength
and the center of the Gospel of substitution. Imputation. He suffered once for our sin,
the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God through
His sacrifice. The just one. Suffering for the
unjust. God made Him sin for us. who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him." There we see substitution
and satisfaction. All the sins of God's elect were
laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ. What a load that must have been.
What a load that must have been. All my sin, and the sin of all
of God's elect, laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and He makes
full atonement for the sin of His covenant people. He said,
I lay down my life for the sheep. No angel could have carried that
load. No man could have carried that
load. But it was laid on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and He carried it in His own body, being made sin
for us. Secondly, He not only took sin
to Himself, was made sin for us. But secondly, He carried
it away. It says there that He taketh away. He took our sin. And then he took it away. He
took it voluntarily to himself. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down to myself. He became responsible for his
covenant people, the divine justice, and he carried it away as a scapegoat
did on that day of atonement under the law. He was manifested
to take away our sin on that day of atonement. They took those
They cast lots on those two goats. One was sacrificed for a burnt
offering, and the other was taken away. The priest would lay his
hands on that scapegoat, confessing the sin of Israel, and then they'd
take that scapegoat by the hand of a fit man and lead it away
into the wilderness. And he'd leave that scapegoat
there, and he would come back without it. Signifying that sin
is gone. Sin is put away. And the Lord
Jesus Christ is our scapegoat. Christ has removed our sin. It says in Psalm 103, as far
as the east is from the west. Oh, that's good news. Infinite
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's gone. Now listen to this
scripture. In Isaiah 38, 17, he says, all their sin, God says,
is cast behind my back. Now, where's the backside of
God? I don't know. I've never seen it. No man else
can. That's where my sin is, behind his back. He sees it no
more. God who sees all things knows
my sin no more. Micah 17, 9, he says, they're
all cast into the depths of the sea. You see, the idea is that
they're gone. They're put away by the blood
sacrifice of Christ. In Hebrews 10, 17, it says, "...their
sin, by that one offering it perfected forever them that are
sanctified, and by that one offering," he said, "...their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more." The sin of God's people do not
exist. They're gone. As John Owen said,
sin committed suicide when it fell on the scapegoat, the Lord
Jesus Christ. It's gone. It's dead. It's over. And then it says this, thirdly,
He taketh away. Taketh, taketh, taketh. It's
a perpetual sacrifice. It's an eternal sacrifice. Taketh,
taketh, taketh away our sin. It's perpetual. The blood of
Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. He ever lives to make
intercession for us. His blood, as I continually sin,
I have a continual sacrifice to cleanse me from all sin. When
you sin, we have the Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the Righteous. He is our propitiation. He is our atonement. There is
a continual effect of His blood. to daily cleanse us from all
sin, to daily apply to our conscience, to purge our conscience from
dead works to serve the living God. He ever lives to make intercession
for us by this all-sufficient sacrifice. For who? Brother Mahan mentioned on that
broadcast, the battleground among religion through the years is
who, for whom did the Lord Jesus Christ die? There's no argument
with me. He died for his people. He died
for his sheep. He died for his elect. We call
that particular redemption. We call that definite atonement.
We call it complete and finished. It says there that He'd taken
away the sin of the world. Now, most people would look at
that word and say, well, that just means all the sins of all
men that ever was. That just means everybody. OK?
If you take that, then let's turn to John chapter 12. Let's
see what this says. Does that mean that He died for
all of the sins of all men without exception? Is that what that
word world means? Well, look what it says right
here. John 12. Verse 19, The Pharisees therefore
said among themselves, Perceive how we prevail nothing. Behold,
the world is gone after him. Does that mean that all the people
in all the world went after him then? No. It just means a whole
lot of folks did. All kind of folks. And that's
what it means over here. He died for a whole lot of folks,
his covenant people, the world. Don't get confused here. The
world cannot mean all the sins of all men. John Owen gave this. Now, here's a test for you. This
is multiple choice. Now, and you answer this in your
mind. I won't put you on the spot,
but you answer this in your mind. Here's choice number A, talking
about the atonement of Christ. Did He die for all the sins of
all men? Well, if that's true, then all
men are saved without exception. B, choice number two, did he
die for some of the sin of all men? Well, if that's true, none
are saved. But now, number three, get a
hold of this. If he died for all the sin of
some men, that's the gospel, then no some men are saved. You
see what I'm saying now? And that's been the battleground
in religion for years. It's no battle for me. I believe
in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ is not an attempt
to put away sin. It's an atonement for sin. It's
a covering. It's a propitiation. It's a mercy
seat. It's a satisfaction. Spurgeon
said all manner of sin that was ever done in the world by all
sorts of men in all races and all places. His elect are made
up from All nations, kindred, tongue, and people are redeemed
of the Lord. All over this world God has a
people. And forever for whom He stood as charity, mediator,
representative, He put away their sin. That's the good news of
the gospel. John Gill said, Sin that is common
to all men in the world. That's who he's talking about.
He's talking about His covenant people. He died as a charity
and sacrificed for His people. And He put away their sin. Now,
here's the last point. Behold the Lamb of God. Look
back at John 1.29. Behold the Lamb of God taketh
away the sin of God's elect in this world. Behold the Lamb. There He is. What a wonder of
love and grace we see in the Lord Jesus Christ. Herein is
that love. In 2 Corinthians 8-9, he talks
about, you know, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though
He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through
His poverty might be made rich. Look to Him by faith. It says
there, to behold Him. Do you see the Lord Jesus Christ
as your only Savior from your sin? all of your salvation, the
Lord will behold Him. Isaiah 45, 21 says, look to Him. He says, look unto Me and be
ye saved. Look to Him by faith. True faith
looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the author and finisher
of faith. Love Him supremely. We love Him because He first
loved us. Glorify Him only. How do you glorify the Lord?
by believing Him, by believing His record. There is no other
name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved.
Christ is the only sacrifice for sin. This book knows nothing
but Christ and Him crucified for salvation, for redemption,
for righteousness before God. I thank God what I believe I
shall believe Even if I believe it alone, if no one else will
say, well, nobody else believes that great stuff. Doesn't matter
to me. I believe it because it's God's
word. God says, I believe it if I'm
the only one that does believe it. I know folks usually follow
the crowd. You know, truth is always in
the minority. Right. I'll find a small group
somewhere in a small gathering in a small building, and they
might be preaching something. This big crowd, these megachurches,
they're nothing. They're soap bubbles. They're
empty. Their message is dead and damning to those who follow
them. Substitution. What do you think of it? It's
a way of grace. It's the way of salvation by
the grace of God. Satisfaction. I can't satisfy
God. Thank God he did. He did. Salvation in the Lord Jesus.
In him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and in
Christ, and in Christ we are complete. Complete. Full atonement,
can it be? Hallelujah. Hallelujah. What a Savior we
have in Christ.