Behold the Lamb of God: Part 1

I speak to you today about the text that we have come across in this study as we move forward in the

Gospel according to John, this wonderful fourth Gospel. This will be a part one because there's no way

I can go through all this, but we're going to stop and pause and do a sila right at this text.

Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Look, look the

Lamb of God. So please turn with me in your Bibles to this wonderful fourth

Gospel, the Gospel of John, chapter one. I'm going to read the text.

I'd like to have a word of prayer and then we'd like to go back and look at the context.

And then we want to focus on what the Scriptures have to say about the Lamb of God, because I tell you,

I've got nothing to say. It's really the Lord and everything that is meaningful to be said, it's, thus saith the

Lord, because that's the real authority of the church. Chapter one, one verse, and the word of the living

God says this. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said,

Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Please bow with me in prayer for a few moments as we seek our

Lord's blessing within this hour of worship. Our Father and our gracious Lord, Savior Jesus Christ.

Our prayer today is really simple and our desire is pointed and every day it should be.

But it comes from the saying of old from your word, We wish to see

Jesus. We wish to see Jesus. Oh to look upon Him, because one look at His face,

His glorious face. All the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace.

Lord help us, I pray, by your blessed Holy Spirit, as we look into your word.

Give us ears to hear what the Spirit is saying to the church. We ask this in Jesus' name.

Amen. To truly understand the full meaning of our text before us, we first need to see the context.

This is truly important because, as you will have heard the saying, context is king.

And to understand what is being said and what is going on here with the audience, the speaker,

John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus Christ, and the verses of Scripture that we have before us, as we have been looking at in the past two weeks of the past two

Lord's Day, and that is found in verse 19 through 28.

Let me backtrack for you and let's look at this, verse 19 to 28, coming up to verse 29.

And it helps us understand what is being said.

This portion of Scripture gives to us John the Baptist's testimony, as we have been seeing, concerning Jesus Christ.

The testimony really is by no means about Himself. It all concerns who

Jesus is. So, let me read this for you, verse 19.

Now, this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests, Levites from Jerusalem, to ask him, who are you?

He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then?

Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet?

And he answered, no. And then they said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us?

What do you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness.

Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now, those who were sent were from the

Pharisees. And they asked him, saying, why then do you baptize if you are not the

Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water.

But there stands one among you whom you do not know. It is he who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandals strap

I am not worthy to lose. These things were done in Beth Barber, beyond the

Jordan, where John was baptizing. And then, the next day, the next day.

You see, now this section covers, as we've seen in verse 19 -28, covers the first part of John's witness concerning the

Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's day one. Day one. Now, beginning with verse 29 -34, as it says, the next day.

This section of Scripture deals with John's witness, actually to a second group of people, of Jews, on the second day.

From verse 19 all the way through verse 28. So, the first group, you have the first day, regarding the testimony of John the

Baptist concerning Jesus Christ. And then, which forms something of a bridge.

Now, verse 29, as we look at verse 29, that's as far as we're going to go today, because this is really loaded up for us.

It goes to verse 34. The second day continues. The second day continues.

John the Baptist was basically saying, Jesus is here. Jesus is here.

He's in our midst. Not literally there at that time, but he is here. He's in the land.

And then, this second day, he points and he said, behold the Lamb of God.

He says, look at the Lamb of God. And then, as we will see later on, on the third day, he says to his disciples, follow him.

That summarizes what each and every minister of God should basically preach.

He's here, look to Jesus, look at him, and follow him.

That, if a preacher, I don't care who he is, if he is not pointing people to Jesus Christ, he is not worthy to preach.

Spurgeon actually said he should go home and never preach again until he preaches

Christ. So, he has no right to preach whatsoever if he's not preaching Christ. And we, unfortunately, we have many in the land that's doing that because there's people that has itching ears.

But like Ravenhill says, I am not commissioned to scratch those ears. John the

Baptist's witness is incredible. And he's got credibility because he's the forerunner of Jesus Christ.

It's introducing also a lengthy section that's very important. There's many titles that we will see that is applied to our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. But the first title that's given by revelation of the

Holy Spirit is written in the Word of God, is right here in our text today. It's an incredible title.

As a matter of fact, it runs like a red cord all the way through Scripture. It's called the

Lamb, he is called the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. God's Lamb.

It isn't an interesting that when Jesus comes toward him, he doesn't say, look, behold the

King. Nor does he say, behold the ruler. He says, behold the Lamb of God.

The Lamb of God. He is God's Lamb, which will take away the sin of the world. Meaning by a sacrificial substitutionary death that Jesus will die on a cruel

Roman cross. Now as you well know, in the

Old Testament, the question was always this. Where is the Lamb? Where is the

Lamb? Then in the New Testament we come to see, behold the Lamb. Behold the

Lamb. And then, as we travel on through the pages of Revelation of Scripture, in the book of the

Revelation of Jesus Christ, it speaks of eternity. Worthy is the Lamb.

So that's pretty much my outline in a nutshell. I'm going to go between Scriptures and have your

Bible ready, because we're going to travel and journey through a lot of verses of Scripture here, by God's grace.

But there's much that's said here. I'm going to break it up the best I can and pick it up Lord willing next

Lord's Day. In all honesty, I say this from my heart this morning, there is no way possible to cover all the depth, the height, and the width of the

Lamb of God. It's great and glorious treasure that's given to us.

The pearl of great price, Jesus Christ, that is set before us.

So, I'm going to do my best by God's grace to just give you what the Word of God says. And this gives us plenty cause, folks, to worship our

Lord. The One who is worthy of all power, riches, wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

He is worthy. He is worthy because our Lord is so wonderful and great and gracious.

With that being said, let's look at our text. Look at verse 29. The next day, it begins.

The next day. And again, the phrase probably refers to the day after John's response to the

Jerusalem delegation. As we looked at, that delegation came out of the headquarters of Jerusalem, the

Sanhedrin, Sadducees, a liberal group that came to question

Jesus. The Pharisees were your more so -called conservative, very dogmatic theologians of that day to look into the law of God.

And after the visit of the Pharisees from Jerusalem, the headquarters there, the next day, the second day,

John saw Jesus coming toward him. Now, that's significant, isn't it? Aren't you glad that He comes to us?

There's no way that we can get to Him. We can't get to Him by our good works. We can't get to Him no matter how holy we try to be.

It's all of grace, folks, that He comes to us. We can't get to Him, but He comes to us.

That's much reason to worship Him as well. Here, John the

Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, saw Jesus coming toward him. And what he says, what

John says here, actually introduces Jesus as the

Messiah. It makes me think about what happened in WWII that helped us win that Great World War when we dropped the first atom bomb on Japan.

I believe it was called the Big Boy. And it's like an incredible explosion that was heard across the world.

And, of course, there was another one that was dropped. But it makes me think, it's like John the Baptist is dropping an atom bomb.

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

What an explosion. What an impact. And it's even being echoed now throughout eternity.

The Lamb of God. Folks, we're very familiar with this. But, you know, from Genesis to Revelation, again,

I say, there's a scarlet red cord that runs all the way through the pages of written

Revelation, of Scripture concerning God's remedy of how

He will deal with sin and how He dealt with it in the Old Testament to satisfy

God's justice. But keep this in mind, that all the bloodshed and the animals and the bloods of bulls and goats and lambs was not sufficient to take away sin.

It was just a shadow. And here, when Jesus comes on the scene, and when

John the Baptist says, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, He's basically saying,

He's the one that will deal with sin. No one else could do this. Now, the first time we see this is in Genesis.

If you'd like to turn with me there. We see in type and shadow, but this is a realistic, this is a very real thing that took place in Genesis chapter 3 after the fall.

This is the first time we get a hint of what God is doing in grace.

It says in verse 21, just one verse there I'd like to just look at. Also for Adam and his wife, the

Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. God Himself looks at that.

God Himself made tunics of skin and clothed their nakedness.

Beloved, here we see the very first physical death should have been the man

Adam and his wife Eve who sinned willfully against the goodness and grace of God. And yet God killed and slain an animal

Himself. Now, interesting,

I'm going to bring this up. Our dear brother Baruch, as myself and Ben, we don't want to assume too much in Scripture.

And he looked at us and we asked him a few questions. I believe brother Ben asked him about Sodom and Gomorrah. And our dear brother looked at Ben in a gracious way, but a very straightforward way.

Amen, Ben? He said, that doesn't matter. If the Scriptures are solid, it's solid.

And then I actually asked something that brother Keith mentioned to me. And we were just trying to strike up a friendly conversation.

And I asked him, what about John the Baptist and all those years before he came on the scene?

And what do you think John the Baptist might have been doing as a vocation? And he looked at me again and he said, it really doesn't matter.

And I thought, okay. I got the answer. I'm not going to assume.

And he says, if the Scriptures are solid, then let it remain solid. And I really appreciate his straightforward answer.

But we did kind of get the hint why no one else wanted to come and have fellowship with him.

Because he was such a character. But he was a straight shooter with the truth.

But he was gracious about it. But anyway. And the reason I say that is, we do not want to read something in Scripture here.

And to assume. But there was a slain animal here. I would be safe to say it was a lamb.

But the Scripture doesn't say that, folks. So, God did slay an animal.

And this is a shadow of the reality that God would someday kill a substitute to redeem sinners.

And so God, after He killed this animal, in His grace, He made tunics of skin, we know that.

And clothed them to cover their nakedness. We know that for sure, don't we?

And then in the next chapter, we read this. If you look at chapter 4, we see the first one that was born.

And then Abel, Cain and Abel. And again, I was reading some commentary on this.

They could possibly be twins. But I'm going to say with my dear brother Baruch. That really doesn't concern us or matter, does it?

If they were twins or not. But we do know that Cain and Abel came into the world.

And Cain was the firstborn. And the reason why some people believe that in their commentaries, since there's no time element that intervenes between verse 1 and 2.

Some have supposed that they are twins. But verse 2 says this.

Then she bore again, speaking of Eve, the mother of all living, this time his brother

Abel. And after conceiving Cain in verse 1, verse 2, there was

Abel. Now, look at this. It goes on to say, now Abel was a keeper of the sheep.

But Cain was a tiller of the ground. In verse 3, in the process of time, as I would say that they grew, time went by, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the

Lord. And in verse 4, Abel also brought the firstborn of his flock and of their fat.

And notice what the scripture says. And the Lord respected Abel.

That means God was pleased. God was pleased with Abel and his offering.

In verse 5, but he did not respect, he was not pleased with Cain and his offering.

Two worshippers here. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. And you know the rest of the story.

He slew Abel. And Abel, you can actually say, was one of the very first martyrs of the faith in the

Old Testament. Here we see two worshippers, and both very religious, you could say.

One who pleased God, which was Abel, and one who did not please God, which was Cain. One pleased

God by faith, that was Abel. Actually, the writer of Hebrews gives commentary on the

Hall of Fame of Faith, considering Abel. He was one of the very first ones he speaks of in Hebrews 11 .4.

It says this, By faith, Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, through which he obtained witness that he was righteous,

God testifying of his gifts. And through it, he being dead, still speaks.

He still speaks. Notice what the Scripture says, A more excellent sacrifice.

A more excellent sacrifice. I believe the word sacrifice is very, very important here, from Genesis to Revelation.

Because this is exactly what John the Baptist is focusing on, that Jesus Christ is

God's sacrifice. He is the Lamb. The very reason for a more excellent sacrifice is not specifically revealed in Scripture to us.

But the writer of Hebrews, let me say this, it is implied there. If you read

Hebrews chapter 12, verse 24, notice what it says. It says this,

To Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant and the blood of the sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

You hear that? Better things than that of Abel. Even though Abel's sacrifice was pleasing to God, because it was offered in faith and obedience to the

Lord, but it had no atoning power to it. It could not atone for the sin, even though it pleased the

Lord. Only the blood sacrifice, the precious blood sacrifice of the precious

Lamb of God can remove and take away our sin forever and take it to the sea of forgetfulness forever and ever.

It was only the Lamb of God's sacrifice was sufficient to cleanse from sin. Now, there is a context of reference to this, and I looked it up and I thought it was great.

This refers to those who are believers in Jesus Christ, and actually the Apostle John encourages

God's people on this end. 1 John 1 .7 says this, but if we, speaking of believers, walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another.

And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin.

Isn't that wonderful? All sin can be taken care of as we are in fellowship with Him, we as believers.

That's a sanctified walk, folks. That's our sanctification after salvation, but it's part of our repentant conduct that we have throughout our life as believers.

We've worked that out. Worked that out with fear and trembling, as Paul says, because it's

God that works in us. Now, if you see the we here speaks again of true believers, actually he's talking about the walk in the light characterized by a holy life.

We have fellowship with one another. And then you look at verse 8 of 1 John chapter 1.

It says this, if we, the true believers, say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.

And the truth is not in us. Verse 9, if we confess our sins,

He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and to cleanse us.

Don't you love that word, cleanse? Cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What does that mean?

That's a continual confession of sin and a repenting thereof. To continue to repent.

I believe Calvin said this, the believer's salvation is just not a one time of repentance.

The whole life is a life of repentance. The whole life. It's a very good indication that one is truly saved.

That's a very sure mark. I love what the Puritan Thomas Watson, some of you will be very familiar with the

Puritan here and the Puritans, but I love Thomas Watson. And I love what he said concerning repentance.

He says, quote, it is not falling into water that drowns, but lying in it.

It is not falling into sin that drowns damns, but lying in it without repentance.

End quote. And he is so right, isn't he? It is not, like MacArthur says, perfection that gives us the marks of salvation, but it's our direction that gives us evidence that we are true born again believers.

Isn't that encouraging, beloved? We continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. Now, Hebrews 10, 38 through 39,

Brother Ben and I, we listened to the whole book of Hebrews all the way to Mississippi, and we listened to a great deal of messages, and we even heard the late wonderful R .C.

Sproul debate, Pastor John MacArthur on baptism, but that's another subject of itself.

But we got fed, and plus we got all the messages there, so we were very full. But anyway,

Hebrews 10, 38 through 39 says this, Now the just shall live by faith, but, listen to that but, that's the door hinge of Revelation, if anyone draws back, anyone draws back, my soul has no pleasure in him, but we are not those who draw back.

Listen to the exhortation, he gives the warning, and he gives the exhortation, but we are not those who draw back to perdition, but of those who believe to the saving of the soul.

Now, we've seen the sacrifice of a lamb, through Abel, by Abel's sacrifice in Genesis, no doubt

I believe it says in Scripture, it's a lamb, and of course, he pleased the

Lord by faith and obedience, and Cain displeased the Lord, and these are shadows, these are types of the coming lamb of God, actually what we see in John 1 .29

is the reality, it says, here's Jesus, look at Him, He's the

Lamb, He's going to deal with the sin of the world, He's going to take it away. Now, where else in Genesis do we see the shadow of coming of the

Lamb of God? Well, I would think, if you keep going in Genesis a little bit, chapter 22, we see

Abraham, his faith is confirmed, and this is a great type and shadow here, when we see

Father Abraham, when he was ready by faith, and it was a tremendous amount of faith, he didn't get to that point by night, beloved, as you will see, there was times

Abraham failed along the way, you know, even the Apostle Paul failed, you know, isn't this encouraging?

These are mere men, but the one that never failed was the Lord Jesus Christ, He never fails, and He never will fail, for He's our perfect righteous one.

So, we see Father Abraham, when he was ready by faith to offer up His only Son, now we know that, in a sense, what he's talking about, he's talking about the only seed of promise.

You had Hagar, right? And Ishmael. There was another son there. But Isaac was the promised one, in obedience, and Father Abraham offers him up in obedience to the divine command given to him by Almighty God.

And actually, I like to read a little bit of this, because this is a great, wonderful story, isn't it?

Now, it came to pass in verse 1, these things that God tested Abraham and said to him,

Abraham, He said, Here am I, in obedience to His voice. And then

He said, Take now your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah and offer him, offer him, there is a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which

I shall tell you. So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, took two of his young men with him and Isaac his son, and he split the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place which

God had told him. Listen to this. And on the third day, Abraham lifted his eyes.

You can see this old patriarch do this. He lifted his eyes and he saw the place far off where he was going to go.

And it says, Abraham said to his young men, Stay here with the donkey. The lad and I will go yonder and worship.

We're going to worship and we will come back to you. There's faith, beloved. We will come back.

Not me. We. We are going to come back. This man had faith in God, folks.

That's why he's the father of our faith, right? So Abraham took the wood and the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son.

And he took the fire in his hand and a knife and the two of them went together. You know, what a story.

Warm. His son of promise. This wasn't just another son. This was the son of promise, folks.

In which God made a covenant to him that his seed would be blessed like the stars of the skies and the sands of the seashore.

But Isaac, in verse 7, spoke to Abraham. A lot of times we get Abraham's perspective. But what about Isaac's perspective?

Could you imagine being Isaac? Going there to be sacrificed? And he spoke to Abraham, his father, and said,

My father, he said, Abraham says, Here am I, my son.

And then he said, Look, the fire and the wood, but where's the lamb for a burnt offering?

And it's interesting. He mentions a lamb here. And then

Abraham said, My son, God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering.

So the two of them went together. And then in verse 9, they came to the place which God had told them.

And Abraham built an altar there and placed the wood in order. And he bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood.

And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the

Lord called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham! Twice.

So he said, Here I am. And he said, Do not lay your hand on the lamb or do anything to him, for now

I know that you fear God. I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.

Then Abraham lifted his eyes and looked, and this is significant now, that behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns.

So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering instead of his son. And Abraham called the name of the place the

Lord will provide, as it is said to this day, in the mount of the

Lord it shall be provided. Now let me stop there. God intentionally provided faithfully, but he intentionally put a ram in the thicket, not a lamb.

And there's a reason. You see, this is tides and shadows, but God's lamb is now in the

New Testament coming toward John the Baptist. And John says, Look, the

Lamb of God. You see that? God never makes any mistakes whatsoever.

Everything is providential. Everything is right exactly the way it should be.

Where else do we see this wonderful shadow of coming of the Lamb of God to atone for the sin of the world?

Well, you could go over to Exodus. There's much here. Because of time,

I'm not going to read through this whole chapter, but you know the Passover is instituted. And you know the story.

The last plague comes, the death of the firstborn. This is very significant to the

Jews. When John the Baptist said the Lamb of God, it got their attention.

They understood what he was talking about when it spoke of a lamb, a sacrificial lamb.

Because here, not only the story of Father Abraham, which the Jews people was very familiar with, but they were very, very familiar with the

Passover. The Passover. And you see this. You see this throughout this chapter.

The death of the firstborn, the tenth plague, and then the Exodus, how God delivers them. A lamb was

God's required sacrifice. If you look at verse 5, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, the first year.

A lamb was led to the slaughter to provide the blood, to sprinkle on the doorpost, and when the death angel would come, and when the judgment would come, and God would pass, and if He saw the blood,

He would pass over it. Death would not touch you. Death will not touch you.

And the lamb was led to the slaughter. We see this in the prophecies of Isaiah 53 now.

There's another chapter that is wonderful in its meaning, saying

He was oppressed, in verse 7, speaking of Jesus. He was oppressed. He was afflicted.

Yet He opened not His mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter. A lamb to the slaughter.

And as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. The suffering servant, the

Lord Jesus Christ, will utter no protest. He will submit

Himself perfectly to the will of God. A perfect sacrifice to the

Father's will and to those who oppress Him and to those who nailed Him to the cross. But yet, providentially in God's eyes and mind,

He was the Lamb of God that was slain before the foundation of the world.

A lamb led to slaughter. The suffering servant was to assume the role in God the

Father's providence as a sacrificial lamb. Jesus literally fulfilled this.

You read on in Isaiah, that whole chapter is so wonderful, isn't it? Isaiah 53 .10

Yet it pleased the Lord. Listen to that. It pleased the Lord to bruise

Him. Crush Him. He has put Him to grief.

When you make His soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, beloved.

Listen to this. And He shall prolong His days. In other words, there will be a resurrection. He will live forever in His hand.

He will prosper and the Lord shall prosper in His hand. The pleasure of the

Lord shall prosper in His hand. All this was fulfilled by our suffering servant, the Lord Jesus Christ, the

Lamb of God. Christ is the believer's Passover. You jump to the

New Testament, to 1 Corinthians 5, verse 7. The Apostle Paul speaks to the church of Corinth.

There's sin issues. There's worldliness. There's self -centeredness. And yet he says this,

Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since truly you are unleavened.

For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.

I want you to think about that. What does that mean? Just as unleavened bread symbolized being freed from Egypt by the

Passover in Exodus 12, so the church is to be unleavened.

The church is to be unleavened, since it has been separated from the dominion of sin and the death by the perfect sacrifice, the perfect Passover, the

Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. So what's Paul's point there in that verse?

It is this, beloved. The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is therefore to remove anything and everything sinful in order to separate from the old life including the influence of any sinful church member.

I was so encouraged at the church reports there and the requests that came up and I actually came behind one pastor of Providence Church in Texas and they had to remove a...

Man, was that the one brother Ben that had the street preacher that come along? And he came within the church like a wolf and damaged many children through sexual molestation and etc.

etc. I spared the details. He didn't go into the details. But he said, beware of this person.

Beware. But they put him out and they exercise restorative church discipline and I commended them for it because each and every pastor there knows this.

But why? Why does someone have to be put out like that? You go through the steps. It's found in chapter 16 of Matthew.

It's because of the purity of the church because Jesus will have a pure bride. It will not be contaminated and polluted.

But the Lord Jesus Christ, the head of the church, has a passion for this and I want you to look at this in Matthew chapter 16.

I'd like you to see this. And there's something here that's very significant before the great confession.

And right before the confession that Peter makes through the revelation of God the

Father, I want you to see something here. Notice in verse 5 through 12.

What is Jesus speaking about? The leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees? The leaven.

And he says, Now when his disciples had come to the other side, they'd forgotten to take bread. Jesus said to them,

Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. It's a leaven.

And they reasoned among themselves saying, It is because we have taken no bread.

But Jesus, being aware of it, said to them, O you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?

Do you not understand or remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up?

Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?

But to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees. And then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of the bread, but of the doctrine of the

Pharisees and Sadducees. Do you see that? And then, when

Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples saying,

Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? And you know what goes on. And he brings them in by asking these questions.

And they said, Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, others Jeremiah, and one of the prophets. And he said to them,

But who do you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, You are the

Christ, the Son of the living God. Jesus answered and said to him, Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood has not revealed to you, you didn't come up with this, but my

Father who is in heaven. And then he says, And here's what I'm getting to, folks. And I also say to you that you are

Peter, and on this rock, speaking of himself, Christ speaking of himself, I will build my church. We know the

Catholics translate that another way, but it's not right context, right? It's not right content.

Jesus. My church. The first time Jesus mentions the church here. My church.

This is my church. And he said, I will have a pure bride.

This is what he's saying. She will be holy. And the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

What's going to keep her pure? What's going to keep her pure? Verse 19,

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. He's speaking to the apostles. And whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven.

And whatsoever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. He's not talking about binding demons and devils and that garbage.

He's talking about the authority to bind and loose in heaven and earth and the authority of forgiveness, church, discipline.

That's what he's referring to. And then he commanded his disciples that they should tell one that he was Jesus the

Christ because he had to be put to death first and then be buried and three days later rise again and then to tell the world.

You see, there's something very significant to that and that's because Christ is concerned for a pure church.

You see this in Ephesians chapter 5. The apostle Paul speaks about that wives are to submit to their own husbands and their own husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the church.

That she would be pure and sanctified without spot, without wrinkle.

And he's speaking concerning Christ and the church. And it's within marriage.

Beautifully said. And it's from the Scriptures. Hebrews 10 5 -7 says,

Therefore when he came into the world, speaking to Jesus, he said, Sacrifice an offering, sacrifice an offering you did not desire, but a body, a body you have prepared for me.

And burn offerings and sacrifices for sin you had no pleasure. Then I said,

Behold, there's that behold. Behold, I have come and the volume of the book it is written of me to do your will,

God. The writer of Hebrews is basically quoting Psalm 40 verse 6 -8.

Christ needed a body, did he not? He needed a fleshly body in order to offer himself up to God the

Father on the cross. He that knew no sin became a sin offering that we might be the righteousness of God before him.

He was that sin offering. He was that final sacrifice. Hebrews 2 -14

Inasmuch as then the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, and that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death, that is the devil.

Notice these two words, have partaken and shared. The Greek word here means have partaken, fellowship, communion, partnership with death.

Jesus went right into the jaws of death to destroy death.

This was the death of death. And that word shared means to take a hold of something that is not related to one's own kind.

Isn't that interesting? So Jesus the Son of God was not by nature flesh and blood, but He took upon Himself the nature for the sake of providing redemption for His people and offer it to the world.

A lot of people get mixed up between them two, but it's very simple. There's the general call, there's the effectual call.

The general call is this sacrifice is for the world, folks. It's to whosoever will.

No one excluded, but only God's elect will come in and believe it.

Because God has appointed His people. General call, effectual call.

He had to have a body, John 1 .14, and the Word, the Logos, became flesh and dwelt among us.

Tabernacle, He pitched His tent among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the

Father, full of grace and truth. What was the ultimate purpose of the

Incarnation? That answer would be Jesus Christ came to earth to die, and by dying,

He was able to conquer death and His glorious resurrection. And by conquering death,

He rendered Satan powerless. Aren't you glad of that? He rendered him powerless against all who are saved by faith alone in Him.

1 Peter 1 .18 -21 says it, Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by the tradition of your fathers, verse 19, but with the precious blood of Christ.

That blood is precious. As of a lamb, He says, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Indeed, He was foreordained before the foundation of the world, He says, but was manifest, it was known in these last days for you.

For you, who through Him believe in God, raised Him from the dead and gave

Him glory so that your faith and hope are in God. Our faith and hope is not in men, in the church in and of itself.

Even though the church is where we come and we have the means of grace, the preached gospel and prayers and communion and the singing of the hymns.

It's wonderful, isn't it? But our reliance and our faith is in Jesus Christ and Him alone.

No one else. Praise His name. Well, we've seen the

Lamb in the Old Testament. We've seen the Lamb in the New Testament. Behold the Lamb. He's here.

Behold the Lamb. Look to Him. Follow Him. Now I'd like for us, just for these few moments here, look at,

He's the Lamb from eternity past. He's the Lamb of God for eternity future.

He's foreordained. Foreordained. Eternity past. I want you to think of that. Before Adam and Eve even sinned,

God planned the redemption of sinners. God already drew up the plan through Jesus Christ.

And folks, that was before the foundation of this world. Think about that.

Before there were stars and darkness, light. Before God said, let there be light, there was light.

Before anything existed, there was God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. And God, the

Father and the Son made a covenant. And this plan was, drew up the perfect plan of redemption.

How do we know this? Well, Scripture is full of this. I picked a few here, but Peter preaching on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 .23.

Listen to what Peter says. He's preaching. Him, speaking of Christ, being delivered by the determined purpose and the foreknowledge of God.

You have taken by lawless hands, have crucified and put to death. In verse 24, whom

God raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it.

Acts 4 .27 and 28, for truly against your holy servant Jesus, whom you have anointed, both

Herod and Pontius Pilate, and the Gentiles and the people of Israel were gathered together, in verse 28, to do whatever your hand and your purpose determined before to be done.

And I love 2 Timothy 1 .9 and 10, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, a holy calling, that call is a factual call, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our

Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and brought life and immortality to life through what?

The gospel. The gospel. Beloved, that's the good news.

Beloved, listen to that glorious good news. Let's tell the world about that good news. Let's preach that gospel to ourselves, that good news, every day.

That's what Luther said. Preach the gospel to yourself. He said the reason why you forget it, you forget it. That's why he talked about justification.

He said every Lord's Day, I preach justification by faith alone because every week they forget justification by faith alone.

We're forgetful creatures, but this is one thing, beloved, we better remind ourselves every single day.

Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This means Jesus through His death on the cross, He crushed the head of the serpent, the devil.

Christ's heel was bruised. He was crucified, but who was crushed?

The serpent. He has abolished death. The Greek here means rendered powerless.

You know, that's why we can face death with hope and glory to come and joy because it's an entrance into eternal bliss.

And it ushers us. The grim reaper only ushers us right into heaven itself to behold the face of Jesus.

That should be a glorious thing. Death is rendered powerless, inoperative.

And again, as physical death still exists, it reminds me of a bee. A bee, a wasp coming to sting.

It still stings, but that's what Jesus did. It's like, could you imagine a bee and a wasp or a hornet trying to sting you without a stinger?

That stinger would have no effect to you. It could not inject venom. But as Jesus went and just jerked the jaws and the fangs out of the serpent,

He can bite, but the venom and the stinger is taken away.

Isn't that glorious? Let Him bite. We could go to the grave and we could turn back to dust as which we came in, but it's glory, isn't it?

It's not the end. It's the beginning. No longer a threat.

No longer an enemy. Because of Jesus. Because of His death. Because of His burial.

Because of His resurrection. Folks, this is the gospel and this is what we need to tell the world.

It's their only hope. It's our only hope. So when this corruption,

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, 54 -55, has put on incorruption this mortal, has put on immortality, then shall it be brought to pass, the saying that is written, he's quoting

Scripture, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, where is your sting?

Oh grave, where is your victory? Oh, is not this the wonderful good news?

God's Lamb to take away the sin of the world. Why don't you think about it? Takes away. Takes it away. A present tense with a future force.

He takes it away. He took it away. And I want you to notice something else here. He doesn't say

S -I -N -S. Sins. It's sin. Singular.

All the package into one. Referring to the totality of the world's sin rather than to a number of individual acts.

The sin of the world. Matthew 1 .21 now actually says sins. And she shall bring forth, speaking of Mary, forth a son, and you shall call his name

Jesus, for he will save, he will save his people from their sins.

Past, present, future. So how does God do this? I'm not going to answer that myself.

I want that Scripture answered. I believe the Apostle Paul answers it in Romans chapter 3, if you'd like to turn there.

Now look at this. Romans chapter 3, starting with verse 21. But now, he says, but now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed.

Apart from the law, right? He's talking about God's grace being witnessed by the law and the prophets.

So the law and the prophets witnessed even though, even the righteousness of God, that's the whole key theme of the book of Romans, as you well know.

Through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe for there is no difference for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

And then he goes on to say this, being justified freely by His grace.

God has declared us righteous, folks, through Jesus Christ. Through the redemption, the redemption that is in Christ Jesus whom

God sent forth as a propitiation, a mercy seat, by His blood, through faith, and Paul loves this word, to demonstrate

His righteousness. Because in His forbearance, God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.

And then he says again, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness that He might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

There it is. That's his point. Beloved, God's justice and His righteousness demands that every single sin and sinner to be punished.

Because God is a perfectly holy God. The standard in which

God will judge will have no curve to it. It's the standard of perfect righteousness and holiness.

The whole world is going to be guilty. Scripture says, the soul that sins shall die.

The wages of sin is death. But get this, in God's justice and righteousness,

He demands that every single sin and sinner be punished. God would have been just in just every way when

Adam and Eve sinned even to destroy them. And with the entire human race,

God would be just in doing that. But God showed compassion. He showed grace through Jesus Christ.

In His infinite goodness, in His forbearance, He withheld the judgment, He withheld

His wrath, and He poured His wrath upon His Son. That's the gospel.

Verse 26, To demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Through the incarnation, through His sinless, spotless life as the Lamb of God, the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ, He is the just and the justifier.

Amazing, isn't it? The infinite wisdom of God. All seen at the cross.

The infinite love of God seen at the cross. Justice and mercy kissed each other. God's wisdom and His plan allowed

Him to punish and to bruise His only begotten Son for our sin, your sin, my sin, and the place of sinners thereby to justify those who are guilty without compromising

His justice. Isn't that incredible? No one would ever would have dreamed this up.

Only God and God alone and His perfect plan. Believing in Jesus, having faith in Jesus gives us the glorious hope of eternal life.

By believing, and coupled with repentance, by the way, we cannot leave out repentance, can we?

Why? Because in Mark 1, in verse 14 -15, now after John was put in prison,

John the Baptist decreased, Jesus increased, Jesus came to Galilee preaching the gospel and the kingdom of God saying, what did

He say? The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. It's urgent! Repent and believe the gospel.

Jesus our Lord said that. Folks, repentance and faith are twin truths of the same coin.

It's like you've got one coin, but it has two sides. Repentance and faith. And if Christ is yours, and He's your only hope and your true love,

Lord and Savior, He's your shepherd and you're the sheep of His pasture. Aren't you glad of that?

Well, my time is about gone, but eternity past. Eternity future. He's the

Lamb of God, is He not? Look quickly to Revelation. Look at chapter 5.

We see that the Lamb comes forward to break the seals, to loose.

This is to come to pass, folks. John had the vision of this when he saw

Him on the Isle of Patmos. Jesus comes with His eyes like a flame of fire voiced like many waters.

He takes them hither up to see this vision. And notice what He says. So in verse 4, chapter 5,

But I went much, because no one was found worthy to open and to read the scroll and to look at it.

But one of the elders said to me, Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the

Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and loose its seven seals. Right there, He's a lion. Notice He said,

Behold the Lion of the tribe of Judah. A fierce lion. But notice this.

The Lion is also a Lamb because in verse 6, He looked and I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the midst of the elders stood a

Lamb. As though it had been slain, having seven horns, seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent out into all the earth.

And then He came and took the scroll out of the hand of Him who sat on the throne, which was the Father. And basically what

He's saying, Jesus is the only one worthy in heaven and earth, in the universe, to take the scroll and unleash the fury and the wrath of God.

Now when He had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down. This is a moment of worship and fell down before the

Lamb. Each having a harp and golden bowls and full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

And they sang a new song saying you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals. And you were slain and have redeemed us to God by your blood.

Out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, you have made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth.

Worship continues to the end of the chapter, to the end of the chapter. You jump to Revelation 7, chapter 7, look at verse 9 through 12.

After these things I looked and behold a great multitude which no one could number. And all nations, tribes, peoples, tongues standing before the throne and before who?

The Lamb. Clothed with white robes with palm branches in their hands and crying out with a loud voice saying salvation belongs to our

God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. The Lamb.

All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped

God saying Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might. A perfect, perfect doxology.

Sevenfold. To be our God, to be to our God forever and ever. Amen. Then you go to Revelation 21 all the way to the end of this chapter.

21, look at verse 22 through 27. And I saw no temple in it for the

Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are in its temple. And the city had no need for the sun and the moon to shine in it for the glory of God illuminated it.

The Lamb is its light. The Lamb. The Lamb is its light.

Jump to Revelation 22. Look at verse 1 to 5. And He showed me a pure river of water of life clear and crystal proceeding from the throne of God and of the

Lamb. Of the Lamb. In the middle of its streets and on either side of the river was the tree of life which bore twelve fruits each tree yielding its fruit every month.

And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. But there shall be no more curse but the throne of God and of the

Lamb shall be in it and His servants shall serve Him. And they shall see

His face. Folks, listen to that. They shall see His face.

And His name shall be on their foreheads. You know, just one glimpse of Jesus of all the trials and the horrors and all the things that God has allowed to come in our life to test our faith.

Just to see His face one time is going to make all that go away. There shall be no night there.

No need to the lamp nor the light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever.

He's worthy. Let me close with Spurgeon. Spurgeon said this about the

Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb. Behold the Lamb of God. He said this, quote, Look to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

The text not only mentions a Lamb, it says look, look, the

Lamb of God. It is not merely a sacrifice to which we are to look, but the sacrifice that God has appointed and ordained to be the one and only sacrifice for sin.

This is an all important point. The Lord has punished Him for the iniquity of us all.

If Christ had not been sent by God to be the Savior of sinners, our faith would have no firm foundation to rest on.

But God Himself has set forth Christ to be the perpetuation for human guilt.

Then He cannot reject the sinner who accepts that propitiation. It is the

Lamb of God we must focus on. It is Jesus Christ, the

Son of God, who died on Calvary, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God.

That He might bring us to God. God appointed Him to die as the substitute for sinners.

God appointed Him to die. God accepted the sacrifice when He died.

And now Jehovah Himself, speaking from His throne of glory, says to the sinner, Believe on My Son, whom

I have set forth as a propitiation for human sin. Trust in Him.

And you will be eternally, praise

God, glory to the Lamb of God. Amen. Let's pray.

O God, our Heavenly Father, Lord, we thank You for this wonderful sacrifice that we are so unworthy of.

Lord, forgive us for forgetting You. You never forget us.

Lord, thank You for Your great mercy and Your grace in sending Your one and only Son. You so loved the world that You gave

Your one and only beloved Son, Your one and only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

Thank You, Father, for the cross that our Savior endured, for the joy that was set before Him.

Help us to look unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, the sacrifice, the

Lamb of God, the holy sacrifice for sinners that satisfied

Your justice, that quenched Your wrath, the atonement that reconciles sinners, unworthy sinners, to Yourself, a worthy

Savior, through the precious blood that draws us near, that forgives us of all of our sins and washes us and cleanses us and even purges our conscience by the

Holy Spirit. Thank You, dear Lord, for Your grace. Thank You, dear

Lord, for Your mercy that's higher than the heavens, Your love that is infinite,

Your goodness that has no bounds to it. Lord, now may we be bold as the lion, live sanctified for Your service.

Every day, Lord, help us by Your Spirit, but yet let us sanctify ourselves, for it is a holy calling.

And help us, Lord, by Your Spirit, that we may tell every person this good news that saves to the uttermost.

Time is so short. Eternity is so long. Lord, I pray that this would sober us.

May we preach this gospel to ourselves every single day to love

You, to repent, to believe. And we do this because only

Jesus, Your Son, is worthy. He is worthy. In Jesus' name