[0:00] Let's turn in our Bibles to the passage of Scripture we read in the Gospel of John chapter 1 and as God would help me I'd like to concentrate on verse 29. John chapter 1 brought Jesus coming towards him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
[0:34] Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
[0:46] Human beings have always sought a supreme being and history, the history of the human race teaches us that the human race is much more prone to polytheism rather than to atheism.
[1:10] History shows our sin is to lean towards having many gods rather than having no God.
[1:21] Apparently atheism is a new ideology and is only a few hundred years old.
[1:32] Traditionally the western world has sought the supreme being through rationalism but the eastern world has traditionally sought the supreme being through mysticism.
[1:54] John there's only one way to seek God through Jesus Christ.
[2:05] Jesus Christ is the only way to the supreme being, God Almighty who created everything.
[2:17] We could put it another way maybe, Jesus is the understandable version of God.
[2:28] God is so different from us, he is the supreme being, he is so full of majesty, so great, so different from us that we need something in between to identify him with.
[2:50] That is one reason why God the Father sent God the Son into the world. That we could have someone we could identify with because Jesus is God.
[3:07] He is the second person of the Godhead. Now why is there such a thing as religion in the world?
[3:23] Why is there such a thing as religion? Is it not because the world needs an explanation of why they're suffering?
[3:35] Is it not that we need it, the world needs an explanation of why is there so much violence? Why are there viruses?
[3:47] We need an explanation for that so the world has invented religions. But why do these things exist?
[4:00] Why is there death? Why is there suffering? Why is there disease? The Bible tells us. The message, the revelation from heaven teaches us the answer is because there is sin.
[4:19] And what the world needs is not a religion and ideology. What the world needs is forgiveness of sin.
[4:35] What the world needs is deliverance of sin. The conquering of sin, the overcoming of sin.
[4:45] That's what we need. And here John gives us this message. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
[5:02] So as God would help me today, I'd like to look at this verse under three headings or three questions. Number one, what is Jesus called the Lamb of God?
[5:16] Why a lamb? Third question, what does it mean to behold the Lamb of God?
[5:30] First question then, what is the sin of the world? Here's my definition this morning, the exclusion of God from our lives.
[5:51] That's this morning's definition, the ex-keeping God out of our lives. We all do it. We do it by nature.
[6:05] We live without God. Am I right? We don't like being under authority. Oh, we acknowledge there's got to be authority, but we don't like it.
[6:19] We don't like being told how to live, how to order our lives. We don't like that. We want to be in charge of our own lives.
[6:30] Am I right? So we disown God. And that's how it all started in the Garden of Eden. Adam, the first man, said, well, God alone will become our own gods, as Satan deceived him by saying, you'll be a...
[6:53] That's as it were, the definition I'm looking at, the definition of sin we're looking at this morning. So here's our Bible and it's saying Jesus can take away the sin of the world.
[7:09] Note, not the sin of devils. Even Christ can't take away the sin of devils because there's no atonement for the sin of devils.
[7:26] But there's a atonement for the sin of human beings. Do you know the sin of the world, the sin of human beings is greater than the sin of devils?
[7:44] Do you know why?
[7:56] Because you and I have sinned against the grace of God and devils never got the opportunity. There's no grace for devils.
[8:07] There's no atonement for devils. There's no forgiveness for devils. That there is for human beings. And by nature we all say, not interested, not my thing.
[8:25] How grievous to God sent to the horrors of crucifixion that we could be forgiven and Christ agonized on the cross and we say, not interested, not my thing.
[8:47] Serious. Devils never got the opportunity to spurn such a gracious offer.
[8:58] But Christ died, went to Calvary, suffered a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief so that we could be forgiven so that our sin could be taken away.
[9:23] There are only four things beginning with the letter P about the sin of the world. The world is plagued with sin.
[9:37] Over read you mentioned it. Disease, death. We're plagued with it. We've never solved that problem. We can give a temporary, temporary, partial healing.
[9:54] But there's disease, there's suffering, there's death, there's violence. There's deterioration.
[10:07] It's about raging. How come? Aging. I spoke to a man last week in a Mercedes, proud of it, great car.
[10:24] And I didn't know but he said to me, he said, 30 year guarantee with every Mercedes. 30 year guarantee. Ah, but last year there was rust, rust on his Mercedes.
[10:43] How come? Where does rust come from? Why is there rust? Why is there deterioration of things? Sin. It wasn't like that before Adam sinned.
[10:58] The world is plagued with sin. Secondly, the world is perverted through sin.
[11:09] As we sin, we do not see spiritual things in their true light. We see through a glass, darkly.
[11:22] We don't see the whole picture. We've got tunnel vision. We've got blurred vision. We've got partial vision. When it comes to spiritual things, the world is perverted through sin.
[11:40] Plagued with sin, perverted through sin, thirdly sin, paralysed, dead to spiritual life.
[11:54] As indicated already, you can spell out facts. We all die.
[12:04] We can spell out the message. It has appointed unto man once to die. And after this, the judgment.
[12:15] Prepare for death. No response. Spiritually dead, not interested, paralysed.
[12:25] When it comes to spiritual activity or dead, no desire to please God.
[12:36] Now let me ask you, do you want to please God? Did you get up this morning and say, well, I'd like to please my maker?
[12:49] What does he want of me today? Well, let me tell you, if you have a desire to please God, that is not natural.
[13:00] You have spiritual life. Not natural. Because by nature, the world is paralysed by sin.
[13:12] We dislike God. We want to keep a distance. That's natural. Horde sinful, but it's natural. We need new life.
[13:23] Or spiritually perverted through sin. Paralysed by sin. Punished for sin.
[13:35] The soul that sins shall die. Why is there death? Because we sin.
[13:46] The wages of sin is death. That's basic elementary truth from heaven.
[14:01] But our message this morning is that Jesus can take sin away. Jesus is God.
[14:11] He's greater than sin. He can remove it. He can take it away. Not just take away the punishment. But you know, Jesus can take your sin away to a place where it can never be found.
[14:34] Even by God Himself. Not because you can't do it, but because you are sworn, He will not do it.
[14:47] You can check it up Jeremiah 50 verse 20. The sin of Israel will be sought for and there'll be none.
[15:00] Christ can do. But the last verse we sang. As far as east is distant from the west, so far, so far hath He from us removed in His love all our iniquity.
[15:25] Okay? Now listen. It does not say as far as north is from the south. But as far as east is from the west.
[15:39] That's why I believe in the every word of scripture in the original. The original is inspired. You see if I was standing at the North Pole and my sins were removed to the South Pole, that would be as far away in the world as you could get.
[16:00] But it could still be found. It could still be traced. But it says as far as east is from the west.
[16:12] There's no east pole. There's no west pole. You're standing somewhere in the world and you move east.
[16:23] So where are you? Where's the east? Oh the east is round there. So you go round there and say now where's the east now? Oh it's round there. The east is always round there.
[16:35] You never arrive. The Bible is inspired by God to illustrate things to a place where it can never be found. And where God has sworn that He Himself will never look for it.
[16:52] That's forgiveness. Well, enough of the sin of the world. Now let's look at who's going to take the sin of the world away.
[17:07] The Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and he's called here the Lamb of God. Why? Well, we've got to get used to Bible culture.
[17:21] What did it mean in the time it was said? Remember Alam in Bible times, in Bible culture, it was a symbol of three things.
[17:40] It was first of all the symbol of innocence. Can you think of anything more innocent than Alam?
[17:50] I always remember reading, hearing somewhere that there's nothing so innocent as Alam.
[18:03] The most angry thing, the most violent thing it can do is what? Stamp its feet. That's pretty innocent.
[18:14] It's the most violent thing a sheep can do of God because he's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.
[18:31] And yet the Bible speaks about the wrath of the Lamb. Often we know nothing about yet, but there is such a thing as the wrath of the Lamb in the next world.
[18:49] So get right with God before you leave this world or you'll know the wrath of the Lamb.
[19:01] You see Christ was a substitute. He was the one that was going to suffer instead of the people who'll be in heaven.
[19:11] But that substitute, he must be sinless, otherwise he can't atone. If he's a human being, supposing his own human life, supposing it was sinless, it could only atone for one human being's life of sin.
[19:36] Christ's death, because he was the Son of God, his atonement, his death was infinite.
[19:49] It can pay for an innumerable number of sins of an innumerable number of people. There's a duty to die. You see it's your duty to die.
[20:01] It's my duty to die because I've sinned. Christ never sinned. So how come he dies?
[20:11] Because he's representing sinners whose duty it was to die. The only way you could say it was Christ's duty to die was that he promised his father he would die for his people.
[20:25] So only in that sense can you say he died for his people. So first of all, a lamb is the symbol of innocence. Secondly a symbol of purity.
[20:36] That is in the sense of cleansing. You see it's one thing to have the punishment of sin removed by a redeemer, by a savior, by a substitute.
[20:50] But we've also to be cleansed from the stain which sin leaves. It has the stain has to be purified.
[21:03] Evil can only be overcome by good. Perfect good. That's why you have the apostle Paul saying overcome evil with good.
[21:17] Don't give tit for tat. Don't give people a taste of their own medicine. That's not biblical. Evil can only be overcome by good.
[21:32] The Bible speaks about light. Christ is the light of the world. Light penetrates darkness.
[21:44] Darkness doesn't penetrate light. Light penetrates darkness. The definition of darkness is the absence of light.
[21:58] Light has power to obliterate. That's Christ. Christ's life is pure, genuine truth.
[22:12] And Christ can purge away our sin. We are so sinful we can contaminate what comes and touches us.
[22:24] We can contaminate what we touch through our sinfulness. Christ just needs to touch us and we're pure.
[22:36] Our sin is cleansed. Christ can cleanse us. So we call the lamb because a lamb in that culture was a symbol of purity, a symbol of innocence, but thirdly also a symbol of sacrifice.
[23:02] I'm told when you're walking up to Jerusalem in the Holy Land, I think you could be miles away.
[23:13] I'm told you could smell your coming near Jerusalem, the smell of blood. On Atonement Day there were thousands.
[23:27] Yes, I'm told. Thousands of lambs sacrificed. That was the culture.
[23:39] A sacrifice, by definition, we use the word glibly not perhaps realising all that's involved. First of all, a sacrifice has to be acceptable.
[23:53] I remember when we visited the Holy Land, we were going around various sites and we went to Ciceri I Philippi where Jesus said to Peter, who do men say that I am?
[24:07] It was a very, very significant place where he asked that because in the area, the whole area was devoted to all the religions of the world.
[24:21] There were shrines everywhere, statutes here and there. There were temples and sepulchres all over the place and there was one place that was a cave.
[24:34] It was where the pagan god Pan, it was meant to be his temple. The guide took us up there and I always remember, we went there, it was a dark cave and in the middle there, there was a hole in the ground full of Pan.
[24:52] I'm sure it's Pan resides. He says they used to come along here with a sacrifice and they weren't sure would the sacrifice be acceptable.
[25:04] They weren't sure of it at all. These pagan gods, they don't communicate like the one living and true god communicates with these subjects.
[25:15] They said they came along with something to sacrifice to the god but they didn't know would it be acceptable or not so they threw it into the water in this hole in the ground and if it floated on the water it was acceptable to the god.
[25:32] Pan accepted it but if it sank he didn't accept it. See what I mean? They didn't know what's acceptable but the point is a sacrifice must be acceptable to the god you're worshiping.
[25:51] God has said visibly with a voice, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.
[26:03] Hear him, he's acceptable. Christ is an acceptable sacrifice. A lamb of god was a stipulated sacrifice for the Israelites acceptable to god.
[26:21] But the lamb also, the sacrifice also must be voluntary. Never ever think not true.
[26:33] He was determined to go to Calvary. You remember he said to Peter who tried to stop him going get behind me Satan.
[26:45] The cup that my father has given me while I not drink it voluntarily. He went steadfastly to Jerusalem determined to pay the price of our sin.
[27:01] The lamb of god. They say these lambs wouldn't even, well doesn't it say and I say it? It opens not his mouth, not a bleat.
[27:14] The lamb of god laid down his life. Actually his life was not taken away from him. He gave his life.
[27:25] He voluntarily laid down his life that you and I could be forgiven.
[27:35] Third question, what does it mean to behold the lamb of god? Well it just means take very serious note of who he is and what he's done.
[27:52] It's much more than physical sight. In Matthew chapter 27 in verse 36 you find people sitting down at the crucifixion and staring at Jesus.
[28:07] Here behold him and he'll take away your sin. They were sitting down just watching to see what would happen.
[28:17] They didn't know what was going to happen next. When the Bible says behold the lamb of god as he takes away the sin of the world it means you're to trust in him.
[28:32] It means you're to love him. It means you have to have a relationship with him. Not just physically see him or you and I are excluded.
[28:43] We can't physically see him. But we must trust him, we must love him, we must follow him, we must have a relationship with him.
[28:56] The word behold here is simply another word for exercising faith in. Sometimes the Bible says look unto me and be saved.
[29:10] Sometimes it says come to me. Sometimes it says trust in him. It's all the same thing. Jesus is the one that takes away sin and love him and follow him and believe in him and you're saved.
[29:26] Remember the woman hemorrhaging blood and the crowd were pressing into him and all of a sudden Jesus said who touched me?
[29:36] And the disabled said there's all people touching you. Ah what Jesus meant is who touched me in faith, believing is trusting in someone.
[29:59] Just the same as we might say do you trust Keir Starmer? We all believe about him. We all believe he's Prime Minister legally.
[30:10] But do you trust his policies? Do you believe every single thing he says? That's the question. We can say I put to any Prime Minister.
[30:22] Do you trust in him or do we just believe about him? Do you trust in him? Loving him, needing him.
[30:34] But to behold him in our present situation, our present sinful condition, from where we are just turn round.
[30:45] You know I read somewhere a few years ago now there is salvation for facing the right direction. The salvation for facing Christ.
[30:58] Like a car you're going somewhere. You're going to a city of refuge. You've got a bush tire. You've got a flat battery. Your wipers aren't working.
[31:09] You're in the ditch. But you're going to the right place. You're facing the right direction. Facing Christ.
[31:20] The salvation for facing Christ. However far away you may feel if you're facing Christ.
[31:31] If you're going toward Christ. You're forgiven. You're saved. You're, he takes away your sin. I close with a quote from Spurgeon.
[31:43] I may have said it here before. He'll forgive me if I have. He was preaching once on the text, look unto me and be he saved. All the ends of the earth.
[31:54] That's not said to the people of God. That's said to the whole world. Look unto me and he said, a blind man can look.
[32:06] He may not be able to say I see, but he can look in the direction of. He can stare. He can peer. Beat with blind eyes.
[32:17] Well, there's life for a look at the crucified one. Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.
[32:35] May God, the Holy Spirit make his word effectual to every one of us. May God, the Holy Spirit make his word effectual to every one of us.