Let's turn back to John chapter
1. My first thoughts in relation
to the scripture which I read to you a moment ago, the very
first thing in preparing this message that came to my mind,
was this. What a day of glory! and gladness
and goodness this would be if every preacher and every evangelist
and every missionary and every pastor was a true messenger of
Christ in the mold of John the Baptist. Wouldn't this be some
day? Now the woods are full of preachers. Sometimes I pick up the evening
paper and I read the obituaries. And I've been around here for
30 years. But I see a new preacher in there
every time I read the obituary. There'll be half a dozen reverends
holding funerals and some of them I never heard of. They tell
me at Armco Steel Mill there are about 200 or 300 preachers.
At CNO Railroad there are 150 or 200 preachers. There are churches
all over this area. There are preachers, preachers,
preachers everywhere. But what if every preacher, every
one of these men opening his mouth in the name of God, was
a preacher in the mold of this man right here? What a day of
glory! Now, here's what I feel. I fear
that they're a whole lot fewer in the mold of John than we really
imagine. I believe they're a whole lot
fewer in the mold of John the Baptist than we imagine. Now,
what was the mold of John? What kind of man was he? Well,
the first thing I know is this. He was a man sent from God. In John chapter 1, it talks about
Christ. In the first verse, it says,
"...in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God." Now, that's the Word of God. That's what
it says. That's concerning Christ. He
is very God, a very God. Now, in this same chapter, down
five verses, in verse 6, it tells us another fact. There was a
man sent from God whose name was John. So without the shadow
of a doubt, without a question, John was sent from God. He was
a man God sent. God sent him as a forerunner.
God sent him to prepare a people for the Lord. That's what it
said, to prepare a people for the Lord. John came announcing
Christ. John came declaring the mission
of Christ, the message of Christ, behold the Lamb of prepare you
the way of the Lord. John, I know beyond a shadow
of a doubt, there's not a question in my mind, this man about whom
I'm reading, this man whose words I'm studying tonight, God sent
him. God sent him. Now, let me let
you think a moment. I'm your pastor and preacher. This has got to be at least thought
in your mind. that God sent me. Otherwise,
you're listening to a man who's a false prophet, or he's claiming
something that is not his. He's not speaking for God. The
only person who can speak for God is a man God sends to speak
for him. Now, that's correct. It says
here about John. I know John spoke for God, because
it says here God sent him, and the only one who speaks for God
is the one whom God sends. It's not all right just to listen
to any preacher. We're going to have to somehow,
and it's not all right for every man to go out and claim to be
a preacher. We're going to have to somehow find out if God sent
us. Is God sending me? Has God sent
me? Have I got his message? Am I
representing him? Because if I'm not, I need to
get into something else, and quickly too, because I'm not
only I'm endangering my own soul, I'm endangering the souls of
people who sit and listen to me. And it troubles me. I see churches springing up all
the time. There's another one starting
in Huntington now. Somebody announces in the paper, we're going to
start a church, start a church, start a church. Christ said,
I'll build my church. I'll send my messenger and I'll
build my church. I'll give my messenger my message
and I'll send him. And as a result of his ministry,
I'll build my church. You don't just decide. A young
man walked up to me down in Arkansas in a Bible conference. He lives
in Tennessee. And he said, if you've got a
young preacher up there, he'll come down here in a certain town
and help me start a church. Help me start a church. Well, there's a couple of churches
I sit down there already preaching sovereign grace, and I want you
to go to one of them. Well, I don't agree with him
on certain things. I'm going to start another one.
Brethren, let me tell you, Barnard used to say, we're not playing
tiddlywinks, we're not playing games. It's my responsibility
to find out if God sent me, it's my responsibility to find out
if God gave me a message. It's my responsibility to preach
that message. It's your responsibility, if
I am sent of God, to hear it, and not to hear anybody else,
unless you know they're sent of God. That's serious business. But I know this man John was
sent of God, and there are four things about him that I know.
There are four things about him. I notice this, secondly. These
four things. First of all, first of all, the
true messenger of God, the one whom God has sent with his message
for that hour, for that generation of people, that messenger, first
of all, has seen Christ for himself. Now watch this in verse 34 of
John 1. Listen to John's own testimony.
He said, And I saw, and I saw, and I saw, and bear record, this
is the Son of God. I know he's the Son of God. You
see, this is what you read last night, Bill, about Isaiah in
John 12. You want to turn over there a
minute in John chapter 12. In John 12, verse 41, Isaiah,
it's written about him here, it says, These things said Isaiah
when he saw his glory. These things, John 12, verse
41, These things said Isaiah when he saw his glory and spake
of him. You can't truly speak of him
if you haven't truly seen him. You see, salvation, now listen
to me, think about it a minute. Salvation is really by sight. It's by sight. The Bible says
we walk not by sight, we walk by faith. But our faith is sight. Faith is sight. It's spiritual
sight. Listen to this verse, "...he
that seeth the Son, and believeth on him, hath everlasting life."
Isn't that what it says? Everyone that seeth the Son,
and believeth on him, hath everlasting life. And our Lord said this,
except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
So really, salvation is by sight. It's by a sight of Christ, His
redemptive character, His redemptive glory, His redemptive work. I
see who He is. I see. I see it in the Word. I see it as just revealed in
the gospel. I see Christ fulfilled with the Old Testament scriptures.
I see. And John says here in verse 34, John 1, I saw. I saw. Now John didn't just see
a man in the flesh walking by a river who maybe had a little
more height than another man or strength or beauty or so forth.
Really there's no beauty about him that we should desire him.
He hath no form, no comeliness. But John saw through this skin. He saw this person, who he is. He saw Christ. I saw him, and
I bear record he's the Son of God. So this is the first thing,
the first, the true messenger, first of all, must seek Christ
for himself. Let me show you that again in 1 John, over in
1 John. Now this is not John the Baptist
speaking here, this is the Apostle John. And three times in 1 John
1, verse 1 through 3, he talks about having seen and heard,
seen and heard, seen and heard. He says in chapter 1 of 1 John
1, verse 1, that which was from the beginning, which we have
heard, which we have seen, which our eyes have looked upon, our
hands have handled, the word of life, we've seen it. Verse
3, "...that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you."
When I stand up here and preach tonight, Behold the Lamb of God,
there's no way I can preach it with any authority, there's no
way I can preach it with any truth, or convince you, or be
used of God, or honoring to Christ, if I haven't actually, in my
heart, by faith, spiritually seen Christ. and be able to say,
I know whom I have believed. Now, second thing about a true
messenger is this. A true messenger is one who has
for himself seen the Lord. I'm not talking about got it
handed down from mama and daddy, or even from his pastor, but
he's seen the Lord. And secondly, he sees Christ's
glory. He not only sees who he is, But
he sees his glory, and he sees his own unworthiness. His own unworthiness. Look at
verse 27. These people keep asking him who he is, and he tries to
tell them. He says this about Christ. He it is. In verse 27,
John 1, "...whose coming after me is preferred before me, whose
shoes latch it I am not worthy to unloose." John the Baptist
saw the glory of Christ and he saw his own unworthiness. Listen
to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15. You know, this is the thing that
disturbs me about so many preachers. They seem to be such proud creatures. They seem to be such arrogant
creatures. The preachers I meet And the
preachers that I hear on television, they come across to me, and I
don't believe a man should put on a phony humility and a phony
meekness and so forth, but they come across to me as men who
expect to be honored. They expect to be honored. They
expect to be recognized. They call themselves by high-sounding
titles, doctor and reverend and bishop and archbishop. I see
this Pope as he's going to the Philippines, and I'll see him
dressed in that with the hat and the gold and the white and
the silver and the scarlet and carried on a chair on men's shoulders
like the Ark of the Covenant, and people bowing to him and
him blessing folk. And I know that's not of God.
It can't be of God. It can't be. When John stands
and says, I'm nothing, I'm not a Pope, I'm not a priest. In
that sense of the word, I'm not a bishop, I'm not in the high seat, I'm nothing,
I'm a voice. This man was sent of God. I know
it was. And they asked him, who are you?
He said, I'm a voice. He wouldn't even give him his
name. He didn't say, I'm Dr. so-and-so who graduated in a
certain place where I was supernaturally born from a mother and a father
in their old age, and I leaped in my mother's womb when the
presence of Mary walked into her presence. Nothing! This is what Paul says here in
1 Corinthians 15. Paul, listen to Paul. Now you
think who this man is. This is the chosen vessel to
bear the gospel of the Gentiles. This is a man who said he was
above many his equals, and a Pharisee of Pharisee, and a Hebrew of
Hebrew, etc., etc., etc. Wrote more books in the New Testament
than all the rest of them put together. And he says in verse 9 of 1 Corinthians
15, I'm least, I'm the least of the apostles. I'm not fit
to be called an apostle. That's why that word meet, I'm
not meet, I'm not fit. to be called, because I persecuted
the church of God. He says in another place, I'm
nothing. It's like Bill said last night in his message, you
know, you don't hear anybody stand up like Isaiah and say,
woe is me, I'm a man of unclean lips, dwelling in the midst of
a people of unclean lips. We've got to put on a front.
We've got to put on a show. We've got to appear to be what
we're not. We've got to seek the higher seats. We've got to
have the offices and officers and titles and all of these things.
But I do know this. I know the true messenger of
God is a man who's seen God's glory and his own unfitness and
unworthiness and insufficiency. I know that. And I know Paul
keeps talking about who is sufficient, who is sufficient, who is sufficient
for these things. Look over here in 2 Corinthians.
In 2 Corinthians, he talks about this thing of preaching. In 2
Corinthians 14, I want you to look at this. He talks about
this ministry, this thing of the ministry. That's what I'm
trying to do right now. And he talks about verse 14 now.
Thanks be unto God, 2 Corinthians 2.14, which always causes us
to triumph in Christ and make it manifest the savor, 2 Corinthians
2.14, of his knowledge by us in every place. We are unto God
a sweet savor of Christ, in them that save and in them that have
perished, to one with a savor of death unto death. If you bring
in God's message and a man rejects it and refuses it, it adds darkness
to his darkness and death to his death. You an executioner
is what you are. You come wielding the wrath of
God and the sword of God. You come delivering a message
which he refuses and adds to his condemnation. And to one
and to the other we have savor of life unto life. You bring
life where God's given life. You bring joy where God's given
joy, and peace where God's given peace, and comfort where God
has spoken comfort. And Paul said, under heaven is sufficient for
these things. Who under heaven is sufficient?
Who in the world is sufficient to be such a messenger, such
an instrument, such an ambassador, to be an executioner with a sword
of God? God's preacher leaves a trail
of death. Did you know that? If he, God's
preacher, If he's God's preacher, if he's coming, if this is so,
if he's coming bringing God's message, and men won't receive
it and believe it and live it, then God, he says, you warn them
for me, Ezekiel, you warn them. And if they turn not from their
ways, they'll perish. And if you warn
them in the due turn, they'll live. Our Lord said to his disciples,
you go preach the gospel to every creature. If they believe, they'll
be saved. If they don't believe, they'll be damned. Well, that's
something. So the true messenger, he's seen
God in his glory. And he's seen himself in his
total, complete insufficiency, unworthiness, and sinfulness. Woe is me. I'm a man of unclean
lips. Let me ask you a question. What
kind of preacher would the Apostle Peter have been at Pentecost
if he had not, first of all, denied his Lord? Now, I want
you to think back just a little bit. Before our Lord went to
the cross, he was speaking to his disciples privately, and
he said, All of you, all of you, all of you are going to be offended
because of me this night. And everybody kept quiet except
one. And he straightened up with,
he was shocked why he says, not me. Peter says, not me. Why he said, Lord, these other
fellows may deny you, but not me. Now you just suppose that
he had been turned loose at Pentecost with that spirit, with that attitude. Suppose God had never whittled
him down and broken him and stripped him and put him in the dust.
And let him see his weakness and frailty and insufficiency
while he has condemned everybody from the throne down to the last
one. But he was able to deliver God's
message in God's power because God showed him his unworthiness. What's the third thing now? The
third thing. The true messenger of God, now
this is important, the true messenger of God calls upon men to follow
Christ. Look, if you will, at verse 35
of John 1. Again, the next day, after John
stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he
walked, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God. Now, these are men
whom he has taught, men who have followed him, men who are friends
of his. And he said, Behold, the Lamb
of God. And these two disciples heard him speak, and they followed
Jesus, and they followed Jesus. The true apostle of Christ points
men to Christ. He doesn't want them to look
to him. He wants them to look to Christ.
He doesn't want them to rest upon him and to depend upon him
because he can't comfort them and he can't feed them and he
can't nurture them. Christ has to, they've got to
draw their strength from him. Turn to Acts chapter 20. Now
listen, I want you to look at this with me. Acts the 20th chapter.
Here the Apostle Paul is leaving his beloved friends. He's talking
to the elders of the church. And he's going to Jerusalem.
He's going to die. He's going to leave them. This is the last
time he's going to speak to them. And he says in this message,
he said, I've kept back nothing profitable to you. I've ceased
not to warn you from house to house with tears. And he says,
I've not shunned and claimed you the whole gospel. He says,
I'm not going to see you anymore. Now look at verse 32. And now
brethren, I commend you to God. Acts chapter 20 verse 32. Now
brethren, I commend you to God. And to the word of his grace. He didn't say I'm going to bring
in somebody here to take my place. He didn't say, I want you to
study my literature now. I'm going to leave you some literature
to study. I'm going to leave you something to refresh your
memory and refresh your mind, and you study the things that
I've taught you. No, he's leaving them, and he
says, I commend you to God and to the word of his grace. This
is the heartbeat of every true prophet of God, every true minister.
He's seen the Lord, knows who he is and what he did and why
he did it and where he is. He knows his glory and his own
insufficiency, and this is the very beat of his heart, that
he might get men to look away from him, and away from religion,
and away from the traditions, and away from the ceremony, and
away from everything else, and look to Christ. That's what he
desired. One of the young men in our preacher's
class yesterday, I think he paid this church and pastor as high
a compliment as has ever been paid them Thirty years we've
been together. He said, I note this about your
ministry and about this church. You're not nearly so much interested,
see if I can word it like he did, in how men begin, but in
how they finish. Is that about what he said, Bill?
Not so much in how they begin. In other words, There's so many
churches that are interested in how many folks walk down this
aisle. And you see, every time somebody walks down and shakes
a hand, you put in a bulletin next Sunday, we had so many additions
by letter, and so many additions by statement, and so many additions
by baptism, that makes a grand total this month of 55, and a
grand total this year of 85. A grand total since the pastor's
been preaching here of 175, an increase over the last pastor
of 37 and a half people average, you know, and so forth. You're not interested in the
beginning nearly so much as the end. You know what I'm interested
in? And he summed it up. I really
mean that. I really, if God being my witness, I think God has delivered
us from this numbers thing. How many is here this morning,
or tonight, or Wednesday night? But I want to know, Richard,
how many are going to stand before God clothed in his righteousness?
If I could just know that John Howsam, two or three years ago
he heard me on television up there in Ohio, and started writing
and getting a tape, and then he pulled up lock, stock, and
barrel and moved down here. I tell you, if I could see that
man walking the streets of glory, I tell you, he would make every
sermon I ever preached worthwhile, every mile I ever drove. And
what if twenty-five people walked down here and shook my hand and
said, We're trusting Jesus? And I'd go up there and start
looking for them, and there ain't a one of them there. None of
one of them. Wood, hay, and stubble is what
that is, Charlie. I'm interested, brother, not in how you start
the race, because some folks may start it mighty slow, but
I'm interested in standing by the finish line and watching
them come by with a crown of glory, with a crown of glory. See what he was saying about
you're not so much interested in people starting, because I'll
tell you why not. I've seen too many of them start.
I've seen too many of them start. And too few of them finish. We're
the household of Christ if we finish the race. The only person
that receives the crown, the blue ribbon, is the person who
finishes the race, not the fellow that started and ran fast and
passed everybody up for two-thirds of the race. But then he sat
down and never finished. So that's the true messenger
of God. He calls upon the people with him. He says, look to Christ. Rest in Christ. Believe in Christ.
Lay hold upon Christ. Behold Christ. Love Christ. Be
found in him. And here's another mistake that
people make is trying to carry on a dead man's ministry. They
tried that at the Metropolitan Tabernacle in London, England.
They tried to carry on Spurgeon's ministry after he was dead. See,
when God takes Moses, he raises up Joshua. Moses is dead. Dead men can't leave. When God took Elijah, in that
chariot of fire, he raised up Elisha. When God took Paul, he
left Timothy. They tried to do that at Harts
Harbor Tabernacle in Louisville, Kentucky, and it didn't work.
They're trying to do it now in New Orleans, Louisiana, where
L.R. Shelton tried to pastor, and they're trying to keep him
alive. He's dead. They try to do it all over this
country. It can't be done. It can't be done. And I'll tell
you this, the people to whom that man's preached, if he's
pointed them to Christ, and they're resting in Christ, they can bury
him in faith. and leave him in the ground.
That's right. They'd bury him. Because he's
not their God. He's not their God. He's not
even their president. He's not their head. He's nothing
but one of them. He's a sinner saved by grace.
God just used his mouth, that's all. And that brings me to the
fourth thing about this preacher. Turn to John 3. John 3, the fourth
thing about this true message. He's seen Christ. He's seen Christ. He's not talking about somebody
he doesn't know. I know whom I have believed, Paul said. I
can tell you about him. John said, I've seen him. My hands
have handled him. My heart has experienced his
affection. I've heard him speak. And I'm
nothing. I don't claim to be anything.
I'm everything in Christ. Child of the King. But in the
flesh, I'm nothing. Neither is anybody else. And
the true messenger says there's Christ. You follow him. Now look
at John 3 verse 26. The true messenger expects to
decrease. Decrease. In John chapter 3,
when God's finished with him, when God's done his work, he
expects to decrease. John 3 verse 26. And there came
unto John and said unto him, they came unto John and said
unto him, Rabbi, he that was with you beyond Jordan, to whom
you bear witness, the same baptizeth, and all men come to him." There's
a crowd following him, John, aren't you jealous? Doesn't that
bother you? You know that fellow Jesus you
baptized and you pointed to and said that prophecy, whatever
you said, while he's down there, and you've got no crowd, but
you'll see the crowd he's got. And John said, now you listen,
a man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven.
You yourselves may be witness that I said, I am not the Christ.
I am sent before him, and he that hath the bride is the bridegroom.
But the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him,
he rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. This
my joy therefore is fulfilled. For he must increase, and I must
decrease. Oh, I love that. Can't you just
hear John standing here? He'd been, the king went to hear,
Herod went to hear him preach. There was a day when all, somebody
said that all men have gone out there in the wilderness to hear
that. Have you heard John the Baptist? John the Baptist was on everybody's
tongue. His death was personally decreed
by the king and queen and their daughter. His name was known
in the courthouse. His name was known on the streets.
His name was known in the dungeon. His name was known everywhere.
The Pharisees came out to hear him. Everybody, all men went
to hear him. And here he is standing over
there, and these fellas come to him, and they say, that fella,
he's on his way to prison right here. And they say, that fella
you pointed to said he got the crowds now. And John said, that
makes me so happy. That just fulfills my joy. I
can stand back and see the joy in the face of the bridegroom,
and that makes me happy. I must decrease. I must. Not
I ought to. Not I might. Not by God's grace
I shall. He says, I must. We've got to. When we give, it's got to be
unto the Lord. When we witness, it's got to
be of his name. When we preach, we've got to
preach not ourselves, but Christ and him crucified. When is a
man preaching himself? Like Ralph used to say, let's
buy us a Bible. And let's see what it said. You see these fellas
running up and down the stage carrying on, and I don't see
anything running up and down the stage. That's your style
and all. But it's what they do. They call attention to themselves.
The musical, but watch people sing. When they take those microphones
and grin and croon into them and carry on all that, they call
attention to themselves. You know it and I know it. Let's
open our eyes. When a man gets up to preach,
and he's got on, wearing these robes. This guy, I watched this
afternoon, out there in the glass house. You say, don't you worry
about talking about folk. That man's not sin of God. I
got sense enough to know that. He's a fraud, he's a phony. You
listen to him, support him, you're a fool. John the Baptist ain't
ever dressed like that. You couldn't get him to hang
chains around his neck and stand up there different from everybody
else, clothed like some kind of peacock. That's not humility. That's not grace. That's not
pointing men to Christ. I don't care if it is the custom.
Our generation is going to hell. That's where it's going. Because
we're following phony preachers. We're buying their horrible lines.
I know this man was sent of God. And if that's not true, tear
that page out, and while you're at it, just throw the whole thing
away. Sent of God. In the same paragraph where he
talks about Christ, the Word of God, he talks about John,
the messenger of God. And this man, John, saw the Lord.
He saw him by faith, and he saw his glory, and he saw his unworthiness. He says, I'm not fit to tie his
shoes. I'm not fit to tie his shoes."
And he said, I'll tell you what you folks do. You follow him.
Don't you follow me. You follow him. And when they
came to him telling him about the success of Christ, he said,
pray in that wonderful, in that wonderful. That's my joy because
I'm on my way out. I'm on my way out. God just raised
me up like a flower and I'm going to wither and die. God just raised
me up like a vapor, like a mist in the air. That will be blown
away. He just raised me up like a shatter,
and I'm going to flee away. But my Lord is the substance
and the essence and the heart of all things. And I want you
to follow him. I want you to know him. And in
his message, let's look at his message real quick, John 1, 27,
29. Here's his message. His message is a four-part message,
and let's see if I can do this. in three or four minutes. And
this is what I tell our preacher in the preacher's class. Now,
that was a four-point message, fellas, and I'm done, because
my time's gone and I'm done. And that's what the Lord wanted
me to stay on. But I need to say something about his message,
the message of this man. And I need to say it briefly
and to the point. I need to say it summarized so
that the people can get it and understand it and not be wearied
with it. But here's the message. His message,
look at verse 29, his message is about a lamb. Behold, the
lamb. Definite article, not a lamb,
some lamb, any lamb, the lamb. It's about a lamb. Now, when
you think of a lamb, what's the first thing you think of? Sacrifice. That's the first thing. Sacrifice. When you think, there, behold,
the lamb! He points to Christ and he says,
there's the lamb! First thing you think of, sacrifice.
Able, bringing a lamb. The old priest, cutting the lamb's
throat, catching the blood in the basin and putting it on the
mercy seat, has an atonement. And then he says he's the lamb
of God. God's lamb. He's not Abram's
lamb. He's not the sons of Levi, their lamb. He's not the lamb
of the priest. He's God's lamb. This is the
all-important point. He's God's lamb. All other lambs
point to God's lamb. All other lambs are pictures
of God's lamb. All other lambs are types of
God's lamb. This is God's lamb. Behold, God's
lamb. There's not going to be another
one. This is the last one. This is
the one of whom all the prophets spake. This is the one of whom
all the other lambs were pictures. This is God's lamb. This is it. Not going to be another one.
Not another chance or opportunity or messenger or message or anything.
This is it. Boy, I tell you, it's like that
old boy sitting up yonder in the forest of Ontario. And it's 35 below zero. And he
found a cabin. He's freezing to death. And he's
found a cabin. He's found some paper and some
wood. He's going to be able to fire. But he looks that place
over and can't find a match. Not anywhere. Not anywhere. And finally he pulls out a drawer,
rubbing through there, and he finds one match. One of those
old country kitchen matches with the sulfur in. And there he sits
between day and eternity. One match is going to decide
his fate. One match. And brother, I want to tell you,
he'll treasure that match. He'll be careful with that match.
He'll watch how he strikes that match. That match holds his very
life. And that's the way it is with
this The Lamb right here. I am The Door, I am The Water
of Life, I am The Way, The Truth, The Life, there is no other.
Behold the Lamb of God. All right, watch his message
as it goes on. Here's the second point of it. Behold the Lamb
of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is an
effectual Lamb. This is a powerful Lamb. This
is an effectual sacrifice. He takes away sin. He doesn't
try to. He doesn't picture the taking
away sin. He bears it away. Like the scapegoat of old, when
the high priest would stand and put his hand on the head of that
scapegoat and confess the sins of Israel. And then that man
would take that scapegoat and lead him out, way out in the
wilderness. And he disappeared from sight. And then after a
while, a few days, the man would come back without the goat. He
bore it away. The scapegoat bore it away. And that's the Lamb which effectually
bears away our sins. And to them that look for him
shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. He
borrows it away. Thou shalt call his name Jesus.
He shall save his people from their sin. By one offering he
perfected forever them that are sanctified. He hath appeared
to put away sin. God says, I remember their sins
no more. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh
away sin. Takes it away. Takes it away
from me. Takes it away from God's sight.
It takes it away, bears it away. Watch this. His message is about
a lamb, an effectual sacrifice, and a sufficient sacrifice, the
sin of the world. He's not just a Jewish Savior.
That's what some of the disciples thought. That's the reason John
wrote. He's a propitiation not only
for our sins, but for the whole world. He's going to have a people
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue under him.
He's a sufficient Savior. Let me tell you something. I don't know how many people
God's going to save. I don't know. I know there'll be a lot
of them. Heaven's going to be populated.
Going to be plenty of room, no vacancies. But let me tell you
something. When God Almighty created Adam
and put him on this earth, one man, one man, one human being
on this earth, the earth had to be formed in such a way that
it was sufficient and able to take care of more than one man.
If there had been a million men living on this earth, there'd
still have to be a sun in the sky. There'd still have to be
water and trees and food. There'd have to be oxygen in
the air. You see, Almighty God, to prepare this world for one
man, had to prepare it sufficiently for that one man to exist and
to survive. Let me tell you this. If God
had been pleased to save just one man, one man, Christ would
have had to have done the same thing that he did. He would have
had to have been born a woman, made under the law. He would
have had to have walked this earth just like he did, had to
obey the law. He would have had to go to the cross and die and
be buried and rose again, ascend to heaven and sit at the right
hand of God as a mediator to save just one sinner. His death
is sufficient for billions. It's effectual for all who believe,
all who trust him. All right, what's the last thing
about him? Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin
of the world. His message calls for action. You behold him. You behold him. Behold the Lamb of God. Look! Look to the Lamb. Will you be
forgiven? Look to Christ. Would you be
sanctified? Look to Christ. Would you be
assured? Look to Christ. Would you be
raised in his likeness? He said, Beloved, now are we
sons of God. It does not appear what we shall
be, but when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we
shall see him. We shall see him. This whole thing from spiritual
resurrection to physical resurrection is to see Christ, to behold Christ. I behold him by faith and I live. I behold him by faith and I'm
comforted. I behold him by faith and I'm
sanctified. I grow in his image and likeness
from faith to faith. And one day when I come out of
that tomb, I'm going to behold him. And in beholding him, I'm
going to be made like him. Behold the Lamb of God. Our Father,
for the promise of the word, for the truth of the gospel,
For every grace and mercy in Christ Jesus, for the hope that
we have in him, we praise and thank thy blessed name. Use this
message for your glory and our good, for we pray in his name. Amen.