Behold! Jesus Christ The Lam..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Well, good evening. It's good to see you all.

I welcome you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. And we trust that our Lord will bless us this evening as we open up his word and look into his word. We ask that he would press those truths upon our hearts. So if you have your Bibles with you this evening, would you please open them up? We're continuing our study in the Gospel according to John.

So the Gospel according to John, we're still in chapter one and this morning or this evening, Our reading will be from verses 19-34, but we'll be concentrating our efforts on verse 29. For context, we'll read from 19-34. I'm reading from the ESV translation. And this is the testimony of John. When the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who are you?

He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I'm not the Christ. And they asked him, what then are you? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am not. Are you the prophet?

And he answered, no. So they said to him, who are you? We need to give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself? And he said, I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness.

Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. They asked him then, why are you baptizing if you are neither the Christ nor Elijah nor the prophet? John answered them, I baptize with water. But among you stands one you do not know.

even he who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie." These things took place in Bethany across the Jordan where John was baptizing. The next day he saw Jesus coming towards him and he said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins or the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me I myself did not know him but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel and John bore witness and saw bore witness I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove and remained on him I myself did not know him but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.

Amen. This is the word of the Lord. Well, we've been working our way through the fourth gospel according to John now, and we know that from verse 19, through the verses that we read here this evening, that the focus is John the Baptist, or at least the testimony of John the Baptist. Last week I gave a concise introduction to this peculiar character, and if we're honest, we don't know a great deal about John the Baptist. But what we do know comes from the four Gospels, because every one of the four Gospels has something to say, some more than others.

but everyone has something to say. But one thing we can be 100% sure about is this, that this rough-looking locust-eating prophet who spent most of his time in the Judean wilderness played an integral part in the advent of Messiah. So much so that he was prophesied about some 700 years earlier by the prophet Isaiah. the words of which I mentioned only a few verses earlier. A voice cries in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

So John withdrew to a desolate, futile place to launch his ministry. The wasteland surrounding him was most likely a picture of the spiritual fruitlessness of that day, of Israel of that day. There he preached with boldness, proclaiming spiritual truths pertaining to sin and repentance, warning the multitudes to be ready, because Messiah is coming. Make straight the way, he said, and prepare your hearts for the arrival of the Anointed One of God. Repent of your sins.

Turn from your wickedness, bear fruit in keeping with repentance, because the wrath of God is coming and the axe of His fury is ready to cut down and destroy in fire any tree that does not bear good fruit. This is the message of John. Swarms and swarms were flocking into the wilderness, as I said last week, not to see a spectacle of supernatural signs and wonders, because we're told this prophet did none. Rather, they came in their masses to hear a simple, unassuming man of God endowed by the Holy Spirit to preach with conviction and power like these people had never seen before. The context of his ministry was in a time where the messianic expectation for the people of Israel seemed to be at an all-time high.

Under Roman rule, the Jews had become desperate for the anointed Messiah to come and rescue them from what they deemed to be the oppression of this unwelcome foreign visitor. the Roman Empire. Hence, for the most part, in the minds of the first century Jew in Palestine, the long-awaited Messiah was equal to a powerful army general sent by God with the purpose of liberating them by force from the dominating rule of the day. In their mind, the Christ would evict the Romans and reclaim once again the land promised to their father, Abraham. This is what they were expecting, but this is not the message of John the Baptist.

This is not what he was preaching. As we'll see this morning, John's message of the long-awaited Messiah was a spiritual message. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In this statement, he proclaims Messianic truths that go well beyond the land. It is a message that transcends the physical.

A message that pieces the heart with what is of supreme importance. Beloved, the Christ that John proclaims in the Judean wilderness was not sent to save his people from the Roman Empire. This is what the people wanted because they knew no better. Contrary to their experience and their deepest understanding, the Roman Empire may have been a formidable enemy, but they weren't their highest concern. No, the Messiah John announces was the one sent by God to save a people from their greatest enemy, God himself.

You heard me right. The greatest enemy for unsaved sinners is God. himself. He's 100% against sin and unrighteousness. God hates sin.

It's an abomination to Him. It's detestable in His sight. Beloved, this is bad news because we're all sinners. And the Bible teaches clearly that in the natural state, people are not sinners because they sin But they sin because they're sinners. It's what we do because it's who we are.

In and of ourselves, we can't escape that reality without God intervening with saving grace. Anyone who has sinned and that's everyone is an enemy of God. It's not Rome that these Jews should be concerned with. It's their own sin. The physical rulers, even the most wicked, are not the ultimate enemy.

The Israelites had their fair share of foreign foes in biblical history. We have to give them that much. The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and the Romans, they were intimidating. They were violent. They were ruthless enemies.

But their power was limited. Sure, they can conquer land and pillage possessions, torture the body, and even put them to death. But death is where it ends. You see, they can go no further. But beloved, there is one who can go further.

Jesus speaks of him in Matthew 10 verse 28, where he says, And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. Fear God. Because He alone has the power to destroy both body and soul in the eternal fires of hell. A few weeks ago now, we examined verse 18 of chapter 1 in John.

No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father's side. He has made Him known. And if you remember, I said back then that the greatest privilege for mankind is to intimately know God. And it is. But the passage we're about to study this evening enlightens us to understand that before we can enjoy the greatest privilege, we need to understand our greatest need.

This means that before we can experience the profound honor of knowing God, our hearts must be informed to recognize our deepest need and how that need can be met. And beloved, in verse 29 of our passage this evening, John spells it out. Our greatest need is a Savior who is able to take away our sins and forever remove their consequences, their guilt, all of it. Because if we remain in our sins, we remain enemies of God. I love the way this chapter flows.

It's remarkably centered upon Jesus Christ. The first 18 verses paint for us the divine truths of the Eternal Word, the Son of God. His beauty is shown both in His deity and His humanity. We spent several months in the prologue and I'm happy to say we've only barely scratched the surface of this incredible, glorious truth about Messiah Jesus Christ. But now we've moved on from there and starting last week from verse 19, we focused on the testimony of John the Baptist.

And you don't have to go very far to realize that John's testimony also is completely centered and concentrated on Jesus Christ. He was the way preparer for Jesus. And now that Jesus has come, his sole intention is to make the Messiah known. John's gaze is like flint at what needs to be done and it will not be broken. The priests and the Levites we saw last week at the request of the Pharisees try to turn the attention towards John.

In their view, this man was a disruption to the religious system. So they questioned him to determine if he's a somebody. You see, if he is a somebody, they need to take notice of him and give him honor. But this great man of God has zero interest in elevating himself to receive the praise of man. It's the big picture that he's concerned with.

The things of eternal significance are what consume this prophet's heart. Because John knew full well that he was not the one who would rescue mankind from their sins. But he also knew that he was sent by God to declare the one who will. Now by removing the focus off himself, John returns the attention to where it should be. He returns the attention to Christ.

And in this verse, the focus is not only on Christ, but more specifically on why Jesus Christ came. Verse 29, The next day he, that's John, saw Jesus coming towards him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Finally, finally, John has an opportunity to usher in the Messiah. It's the second stage of his mission. The first was to preach repentance for sin, to prepare the hearts of the people who had lived in their sin for too long, encouraging all his listeners towards holy living.

because the internal reality must be met with the outworking of true fruit. But the second stage of his mission was to announce the Messiah has come. As the Apostle John tells us, he was not the light, but he came to bear witness about the light. His message was to resonate in the hearts of the people that the Anointed One of God has come. The Savior that God has promised is now here.

This is the moment the whole of Israel had been anticipating. But also the moment that John had been waiting expectantly for. The purpose of his very existence climaxes in this moment. His heart would have been pounding out of his chest and his whole ministry finds this whole consummation as he looks up and sees Jesus walking towards him. And in that moment, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, John utters the most beautiful words you and I, beloved, will ever hear.

Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. There must have been mixed reaction in the crowd. This statement probably wasn't what most Jews were expecting. You see, John spoke nothing about a messiah who will start a revolt or a rebellion against the Romans. He spoke nothing about a mighty warrior general who will appeal to his people to take up arms and go into battle to reclaim the land from the unwelcome occupiers.

No. What John says here is far weightier and far deeper than anything his followers could have ever expected. if they have ears to hear. Because these words pierce the very essence of the human problem. John was introducing a remedy for the greatest need of mankind.

God's solution to the sin problem. The lamb sent by God that would be slaughtered on behalf of God's people. The lamb that will bear the infinite wrath of God unrighteousness the lamb who will take away the sin of the world the big surprise may have been the last word the world you mean it's not only believing Jews but all nations yes that's what John is saying all people with true faith from every ethnicity from every tribe from every nation from every language The previous boundaries and borders are broken and God is gathering a people from all corners of the globe. This is why we are here this evening, isn't it? It doesn't matter where you're from or what color you are or what culture or anything else.

The Lamb of God is the sin offering for anyone who believes, Jew or Gentile alike. And those who do believe Those who believe become the recipients of that forgiveness that is offered only in Him. So whether John's hearers knew it or not, the Lamb of God being introduced is the greatest gift who was able to meet our greatest need. Because as it stands without Him all people from all times remain as enemies of God, awaiting to receive of His righteous judgment. Beloved, for some, this is the greatest news and the sweetest words they could ever hear.

I can be forgiven for my sins. Praise God. That's great news. But to others, this was a joke because they were expecting something different. Either way, one thing can be sure, one thing we can be sure of, is that John's audience had a very good idea of what John was talking about when he talks about the lamb.

You see, the sacrificial lamb concept may be foreign to the 21st century Western civilization, but when you think about the first century Jew, well, they knew exactly what he was talking about. They were familiar with the lamb sacrifices and they were familiar with the different types of offerings. There was the Paschal lamb known as the Passover lamb. This lamb is described for us in Exodus chapter 12 when the Israelites were still in bondage to the Egyptians. You know the story.

God promised to rescue his people from the slavery and he did so through sending several plagues upon the Egyptians in order to let his people go. The final of these plagues was the death of all the firstborn in the land. So God had commanded Moses to have each Israelite family to slaughter a lamb, gather some of its blood, and as an act of faith, they were to paint the blood on the lintels and on the doorposts of their houses. And when the Lord would pass by to destroy the lives of the firstborn in the land, He would see the blood and He would pass over that home. without causing any harm to the occupants.

Beloved, this is why the Jews call it the Passover. And this is a beautiful picture of what Christ would do in shedding His own blood. By faith, those who trust in Christ alone and in His sacrifice and believe that His death was for their sake are people who are covered in His blood. The consequences and the guilt of their sins are placed on Him. And as a people covered by His blood, God's judgment passes over them.

Why? Because it was placed on Jesus Christ. This is why the Apostle Paul is able to say in Romans chapter 8 verse 1, there is what? No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. On the other hand, John may have been referring to the daily sacrifices in the Jerusalem Temple.

His listeners were most certainly aware of these sacrifices. The sight of smoke and the smell of blood and burnt animals was perpetual, continual among them. Two lambs without spot or blemish were to be sacrificed every day, one in the morning and one in the evening, and they were called the morning and evening sacrifice. But there was also thousands upon thousands of personal sacrifices every year. Priests were very much like butchers, slaughtering animals day after day as sacrifices to God in the temple grounds.

These sacrifices were designed by God to paint a picture of the seriousness of sin. God has instituted the death of an animal as a symbol of substitution for what he's deserving of the person offering that animal. You see, it's the picture for us to, or for people to recognize the seriousness of sin and the seriousness of the offense of sin before a righteous and holy God. Our transgressions deserve nothing short of death. This is the picture.

The once healthy, vibrant, happy animal is witnessed to have its life ended abruptly and suddenly to illustrate this reality. And John's audience were fully aware that without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sins. Of course, the sacrifices, as I said before, were but symbols and pictures. They themselves had no substance to remove sin. They had no reality to them.

We spoke about this a few weeks ago and they were devoid of power to cleanse one's heart and make him right with God. All the animal sacrifices were only a type and shadow pointing to a fulfillment, the substance to come in Jesus Christ. They were to tell a story, portray a message until the fullness of time when Messiah would come. We all know what Hebrews 10, 4 says, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Then only a few verses later in the very same chapter, we're told that when Christ, and you love that, but when Christ, has offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.

Work is done. Waiting for that time until his enemies should become or made a footstool for his feet, for by a single offering, one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. John may have had the daily sacrifices in mind when he beheld Christ. and declared him to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And rightfully so, because as we just read in Hebrews 10, Jesus is the fulfillment of the whole, the whole sacrificial system.

And therefore his once and for all sacrifice brought that system to an end. But it's also possible that John had another lamb in mind. He may have had in mind the Lamb spoken of in Isaiah of the suffering servant. You see, only a day earlier, John declares to his interrogators, the Levites and the priests, that he is the voice crying out in the wilderness. That was a direct reference to Isaiah chapter 40.

So it's likely John had Isaiah in mind again, but this time chapters 52 and 53. These two chapters are often called the fifth gospel because, in my mind at least, they are the clearest demonstration of the gospel in the Old Testament. They speak of the servant sent by God who would suffer and be brutally killed as a lamb led to the slaughter. He does this as a substitute for his people to bear their sins upon himself. Let's turn there.

Let's turn our Bibles to Isaiah chapter 52, but we'll be reading only six verses from verses 2 through 7. Isaiah 53, verses 2 through 7. Isaiah 53 verses 2-7 For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a shoot out of dry ground, he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely He borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. all we like sheep have gone astray we have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all now hear this verse 7 he was oppressed he was afflicted it he opened not his mouth like a lamb that was led to the slaughter and like a sheep that before its sheep shears is silent he opened not his mouth What a remarkable prophecy.

Some 700 years before the crucifixion of our Savior. You can see Christ all over these two chapters. They are a crystal clear reminder of why the Son of God became flesh. We need a representative because there can be no other way. We need a human representative.

He did this knowing full well that he would be a sacrifice and a substitute for his people and God would crush his own son so that those who would come to believe in him from all over the earth would be forgiven of their sins. Only a perfect sinless lamb without spot or blemish would be accepted by God as a substitute. So God became flesh and Jesus was born. And Jesus became that sinless lamb. No sin did he commit.

In fact, speaking to the crowd in John chapter 8, Jesus asks, which one of you is able to convict me of sin? Imagine asking that question to a group of people that you know. With all due respect, you and I won't get the same response he got. Silence. No one could accuse him of a single sin.

His life, his ministry was all public. He was on center stage and followed by swarms of people. His words, his actions, everything was on show for everyone to see, yet not one person was able to convict him of a single sin. Unlike us, Jesus never harbored resentment or bitterness in his heart against anyone. He forgave his enemies perfectly.

He only spoke truth always. He never lied. He never had a hint of evil intent. He never lusted in his heart. He never had a bad thought.

Every part of Jesus Christ is pure and sinless. And all the while, he loved God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, and all his strength. And he loved his neighbor as himself. Where we fail, Jesus succeeds. He is the sinless and perfect because he is no mere man.

He's the God-man. This was the Apostle's whole point. in the first 18 verses of this first chapter in this gospel. Beloved, me men and women are sinners in need of a Savior. The God-man Jesus Christ is that Savior.

And the mind-blowing thing is this, that this was God's plan all along. It's not a reaction to the fall. This is His plan A. God doesn't have a plan B like some have supposed. as though God would be taken by surprise at the rebellion of humanity.

He's God. He's sovereign. He knows all things. He knows the end from the beginning. And before He created a single molecule, the triune God knew exactly what price He would have to pay to create mankind.

But for His own reasons and ultimately to His own glory, He did it. His eternal Son would become the Lamb of God who would once and for all time deal with the sin problem. Such grace is so amazing and hard to fathom that God in His wisdom planned this before a single sin was committed. And everything done in time and space is centered upon Jesus Christ. And that's why the sacrificial system was established only to be fulfilled by Christ.

This is the gospel. And this is our greatest need, beloved. Our greatest need is being met in Christ. It's being met by our gracious God. If you have eyes to see, you can see that this is true.

Everyone needs the Savior. No one has a hope without Him. This is the reason for John's declaration. Now we're only two days away from Christmas. And irrespective whether you believe Jesus was born on the 25th of December or not, in two days, in two days time, the world will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Most will celebrate in vain. And it breaks my heart to see how little truth is being upheld about Christmas. Little children are asked in shopping centers and in schools about what they believe Christmas is about. And if you hear their answers, beloved, as Christians, it will break your heart. Santa, reindeers, presents, cookies, food and drink all take preeminence.

It's not the child's fault. They haven't been taught by their parents. How will they know any better? Even many adults are oblivious to the Christmas message. They'll take the public holidays, but they remain clueless why they're given.

Even if Christ is mentioned on their lips, it's mostly a superficial understanding of who he is and why he came. He's depicted as a cute little baby that seems to go no further than in a manger. They don't see their desperate need to be forgiven of their sins. It breaks my heart to see our society and how superficial our understanding about their dire situation is. They can't see the significance of offending a holy God in unrighteousness.

Sin has blinded the eyes and deafened the ears. The only hope for them is the only hope for us. that God will be gracious to them as He's been gracious to us and reveal to their hearts the peril that they're in and the grace that can be received by trusting the Lamb of God who was slain for the foundation of the earth. Beloved, please don't think for a moment, don't think for a moment that I'm saying that we shouldn't celebrate Christmas. That's not at all what I'm saying.

But what I am saying is this, when we think of the birth of Christ, we ought to think that this baby, this baby was born to die a horrific, violent death in order to fulfill my greatest spiritual need. And that need is to have my sins taken away, never to be remembered no more. What an incredible sacrifice. What an incredible grace. We can't please God on our own.

We can't for a moment think that we're good enough. We must never think this way. We must never think that we're not that bad. I haven't done any really big sins. I haven't murdered anyone or robbed a bank.

I've done a lot of good in my life. Surely God will let me into heaven. I'm not that bad. Beloved, we say these things, we have no idea of how much our sin is an affront to God. Our minds just don't get it.

how grossly offensive our smallest sins are in the pure eyes of the one who lives in unapproachable light. His standards are higher than we could even fathom. Surgical instruments with a 99.99% purity grade are considered bacteria-free to the medical standards and suitable then for human use. But although 99.

99% purity is an easy pass for a surgical knife to be used for open heart surgery according to medical standards, this purity is a devastating fail when it comes to the purity standards expected by God. You see, 99.99% won't cut it. 100% is the past grade. Anything less is deserving of His righteous fury.

See the problem? No one can do it on their own. No one. All of us need this perfect, sinless Lamb of God to have mercy and take away all our sins. The sins of my heart The sins of my hands, the sins of my eyes, the sin that I'm aware of and the sin that I'm not aware of.

My big sins, my small sins, the sins of my past, the present, the sins of my future. All of them need to be dealt with. Every last one needs to be taken away. And the precious child born on Christmas Day was born with that purpose, beloved. to set his gaze towards the brutal, gruesome, vicious death on that Roman cross.

His death was violent, and it was cruel, and it was bloody, but that was the only way. That was the price he was willing to pay to redeem his people from their sins. Brothers and sisters, we must never forget this. We must never allow our hearts and minds to be swept away by shallow, sentimental depictions of Christmas that we see so prevalent in the world today. Cheap imitations for why Christ came to earth must never engage our hearts.

How could we get it so wrong? His purpose is even spelt out in His name. Matthew Matthew makes that clear in his account of the Christmas story, in the words of the angel to Joseph. You remember them. You shall call his name Jesus or he will save his people from their sins.

It's in his name. John the Baptist was commissioned to faithfully announce the Messiah. It is the prerogative and the privilege of God to open eyes, to open ears, and to open hearts to believe that announcement. John was to call all who were within the sound of his voice to behold Christ. And behold, behold is a word used to give the meaning that John is calling his listeners to fix their eyes intensely upon the one walking towards them.

It's to imply that you need to make the Lamb of God your focus. As we continue to read the Gospels, we're told that there were some that did believe John's words and made Christ their focus. They enjoy the forgiveness of their sins, but there were many who denied his testimony. They weren't concerned with their spiritual condition, physical blessings and what occupied their longings or the longings of their hearts. They wanted a Messiah to restore Israel back to its former glory as in the Golden Age in the Davidic Kingdom.

Their eyes were set upon the physical so that the Messiah they wanted, and that was the Messiah they wanted. But the tragedy is, that's not the Messiah they so desperately needed. They had too small a view of the Anointed One of God. But the real problem is this. they had a superficial view of the seriousness of their own sin.

Beloved, 2,000 years later, and not much has changed in the state of the human soul. We look at our culture, at the advertisements, at what they call entertainment, and what's deemed as acceptable nowadays is evidence that the spiritual condition of the soul is of no concern. Sin no longer is recognized as sin. In fact, it's been given a new name. It's now called fun.

Immorality runs rampant and the world is oblivious to the fact that they will one day stand in judgment before a righteous judge. He will demand every last drop of justice to be recompensed. So in closing this evening, I ask this question from the mouth of Jesus Christ. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his own soul?

For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what He has done." These, beloved, are chilling words. But if you beheld the Christ, if you have placed your hope in the Lamb sent by God, then you have recognized your greatest need. And so by faith, your sins have been taken away as far as the East is from the West. God is no longer your enemy and your life is secure in Christ's praise.

be to God. But we're mindful that outside these doors, millions and millions of people are still enemies of God under the wrath to come. Beloved, our lives as Christians ought to be defined as a people who are ambassadors of the Most High and in the ministry of reconciliation. Now our greatest concern must not be ourselves. but to make all people, from those that the Lord has placed in our path to the ones we actively pursue, mindful of their greatest need and aware of the one sent by God to fill that need.

In effect, we, just like John, ought to point to Jesus Christ and declare with grace, with love, and in conviction, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Amen.