Series: John
Title: The Lamb of God
Text: John 1: 29-37
Date: Oct 25, 2020
Place: SGBC, NJ
The first message I ever preached in 2000 was
from this text. The day after the
priests and Levites came to question John as to who he was our text begins.
John 1: 29: The next day John seeth Jesus
coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin
of the world. 30: This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is
preferred before me: for he was before me. 31: And I knew him not: but that he
should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. 32:
And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a
dove, and it abode upon him. 33: And I knew him not: but he that sent me to
baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit
descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy
Ghost. 34: And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God. 35: Again
the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; 36: And looking upon
Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! 37: And the two
disciples heard him speak,[Andrew and Peter] and they followed Jesus.
This was after John baptized the Lord Jesus. He speaks of seeing the Spirit descend upon
him which occurred after his baptism. This
would be after the 40 days of temptation in the wilderness. The Lord Jesus came
back to where John was. The day after
being questioned by the men from Jerusalem, “John seeth Jesus coming unto
him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
From the beginning of our Lord’s ministry, John
the Baptist declared who Christ was and why Christ came—"Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John’s message was Christ the Substitute—the
sacrificial Lamb—the Lamb by whose death the sin of his people all over the
world would be removed. So from the
beginning of our Lord’s ministry this was the message concerning who he is and
what he came to do.
John declared who
Christ is—“Behold the Lamb of God.” God has so loved rebellious,
ungrateful sinners, as to appoint us a Savior in the person of His only Son.
John declared what
Christ accomplished—“Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin…”—Christ
took away sin by his one offering.
John declared for
whom Christ accomplished it—“Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the
sin of the world.”—each one for whom Christ died have had their sin purged
by the blood of the Lamb in whatever age of the world they lived, wherever they
lived throughout the world. They are a people whose sin Christ took away.
Proposition: Salvation is in beholding by faith, the Lord Jesus who
is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of his people throughout the
world.
THE GOSPEL IS A COMMAND—"BEHOLD”
The gospel is not an offer; the gospel is a
command—“Behold!” An offer
puts the final say in the sinner’s hands.
That is to take the offense out of the cross. John preached for a
verdict. Not a verdict to merely accept
Christ. A verdict to bow down and
confess yourself a sinner in need of another to do all the saving. As John saw the Lord Jesus coming toward him
he told all his listeners to look upon Christ, “Behold.” Salvation is in a look, beholding by faith
the Lord Jesus Christ. Salvation is by a
look. Like the serpent in the
wilderness, God said, “look and live!”
Salvation is not in our doing.
Salvation is not by our keeping the law or doing good works. It is the very opposite of doing. Salvation comes by believing—"with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness.”
THE GOSPEL IS THE LAMB OF GOD—“Behold, the Lamb of God”
John declared who Christ is—“Behold the Lamb of God.” John did not point at our Lord Jesus and
say, “Behold our example.” There is no
better example. But that is not the
command. He did not say, “Behold, a
greater teacher come to teach us.”. There
is no better teacher than the Lord Jesus Christ. But that is not the gospel.
He declared, “Behold, the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the
world.” The Lord Jesus is the Gospel! The Gospel is the Lamb of God. He is the Substitute. Christ is the Sacrifice. It is his Blood that put away the sin of his people—"without
shedding of blood is no remission of sin.”
In eternity, God the Father set him forth as the Lamb of God—"the
lamb slain before the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8). In eternity, Christ entered covenant with the
Father to save his people by his own blood.
Therefore, in eternity Christ was the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. The works were finished from
the foundation of the world. Peter said,
we are redeemed
1 Peter 1:19…with the
precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 20: Who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in
these last times for you,…
So from the beginning of history when time began, God began declaring
that salvation is by the Lamb slain in place of God’s people. Christ is the Lamb that every slain lamb
pointed to and foreshadowed. God was
declaring that in order for the mercy of God to be dispensed to such offenders
as his elect are, His justice, His law, and His honor must be upheld. The blood of animals could not take away sin,
nor display the righteousness of God in pardoning it. This was the appointed,
covenanted work of MESSIAH, and He alone could perform it. So all those slain lambs pointed to Christ the
Lamb of God.
When Adam sinned in
the garden—Genesis 3: 21: Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make
coats of skins, and clothed them. God slew
a lamb. God made a covering for their
nakedness. God stripped them of their
fig leaves. God clothed them with the skins.
The Spirit of God strips us of our self-righteous refuge and clothes us in
Christ’s righteousness through God-given faith in him.
The night God brought
the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage he commanded they slay a Lamb—Christ
is our Passover lamb. The head of the
house put the blood on the doorpost picturing Christ our Head through the
Spirit purging our conscience with his blood and washing us in his blood. God said, “when I see the blood, I will pass
over you.” Every firstborn child died in
Egypt that night. But those in Israel
died in the lamb. Every sinner must die
under God’s justice. But God spared the
lives of his elect whom he slew in Christ the Lamb. That is our gospel.
Christ was typified
in the lamb that God provided for the sin-offering in all the Levitical
sacrifices. They were all insufficient
to put away sin. But they all pointed to
Christ the Lamb who did!
Notice our text, Christ is the Lamb of God. The Lord Jesus is the Lamb provided by
God. God called Abraham to offer up
his only son, Isaac. Abraham obeyed. As
they headed up the mountain to make a burnt offering, Isaac noticed they did
not have a lamb.
Genesis 22: 7: And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father, and said, My
father: and he said, Here am I, my son. And he said, Behold the fire and the
wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? 8: And Abraham said, My son, God
will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them
together.
John said, “Behold, God
providing himself a Lamb.” God provided
his only begotten Son for vile sinners like us.
In his Son, God provided himself—Christ is the Lamb who is God himself. We are “the church of God which he purchased with
his own blood.” (Acts 20:28)
CHRIST ACCOMPLISHED THE WORK—"Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world.”
Being eternal God and Man, Christ bore our sin and died, accomplishing eternal
redemption by his blood. Christ took
away sin by his one offering.
The gospel means good news. The
gospel would not be good news if Christ did not accomplish what the Father sent
him to do. It would not be good news if
Christ only made it possible for our sins to be taken away. We know that when we know our ruin in sin.
Christ is the Lamb “who taketh away the sin.” It means to bear and to take away. The Lord Jesus bore the sin of his people
upon Himself. And the Lord Jesus took away
the sin. John does not say “the sins” but
“the sin.” The whole mass of sin was taken off his people and laid on Christ
our Lamb. The Lord Jesus our Substitute
bore the sin, the transgression of his people.
The government was on his shoulder when on him the whole load of our transgression
was borne in one heavy load.
Christ took the sin
away into a land not inhabited so that God remembers our sin no more. The sin of God’s elect does not exist on the
record books of God. The justice of God
is satisfied. His law is honored and
magnified. God’s government is upheld in
honor. Holy God is a just God and a
Savior in Christ the Lamb.
A SINLESS PEOPLE—"Behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world.”
There are a people in this world who are sinless because Christ took
away their sin. Who are they? We discern who the “world” is by what brings
the most glory to Christ. The angel said, "His name shall be
called Jesus for he shall save HIS PEOPLE from our sins.” Christ finished the work. So the world is his people. They are those whose sin Christ took away forever. Justice has been poured out on the Lamb instead
of on them. Therefore justice must not,
it shall not, be poured out on them a second time. They must be called. “The world” means not only God’s elect among
the Jews but also God’s elect amongst the Gentiles. The Lord Jesus prayed to the Father,
John 17: 1: These
words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour
is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that
he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given…9: I pray for them: I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are
thine...20: Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall
believe on me through their word. 21: That they all may be one; as thou,
Father, are in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me.
Our Lord Jesus did not pray for everyone in the world. He prayed for those God gave him out of the
world—those he called in his day as well as those he has called in every
generation—Christ always gets what he asks for.
He gave eternal life to the world of his elect. Therefore the world of his elect shall be
brought by God’s grace to believe on him.
So it ran through the ages until Christ brought the gospel to me and
you.
Oh, what good news! There is
salvation for Gentiles and Jews, male and female, rich and poor, educated and
uneducated. Each one for whom Christ
died have had their sin purged by the blood of the Lamb in whatever age of the world
they live in, wherever in the world they live.
Christ took away the sin of his people throughout the world!
The Lamb of God accomplished salvation for some here today. God has brought you to ‘Behold the Lamb of
God and he is all your hope. But there
are more who have not yet been called effectually. Oh! that God would speak effectually into someone’s
heart today and command you in power, “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh
away the sin of the world.” If he
calls you irresistibly then God shall reveal to you that you are one whose sin
has been taken away by the Lamb. Then you
will do as Andrew and Peter—"And the two disciples heard him speak, and
they followed Jesus.”
Brethren, one day soon we are going to behold the Lamb and sing a new
song:
Revelation 5:6: And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of
the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been
slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God
sent forth into all the earth. 7: And he came and took the book out of the
right hand of him that sat upon the throne. 8: And when he had taken the book,
the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having
every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers
of saints. 9: And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the
book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us
to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and
priests: and we shall reign on the earth. 11: And I beheld, and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and
the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of
thousands; 12 Saying with a loud voice,
Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and
strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. 13 And every creature which is in heaven, and on
the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him
that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. 14 And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and
twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever.
One day we will be right there, believer, worshipping the Lamb! We do now, and we will then, give the Lamb of
God the glory for saving us from our sins!
Amen!