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Please turn with me in your Bibles to John's Gospel, John chapter 1. We finished our exposition of the entirety of the Gospel a few months ago, but it's been many years or several years since we were in John 1, and our focus this morning in terms of the sermon is on verse 29, but I want to read that in its context, verses 29 to 34.

So John chapter 1 beginning in verse 29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me comes a man who is preferred before me, for he was before me. I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore I came baptizing with water. And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. Amen.

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for the written word of the living and true God, and we pray now that the Spirit who gave us this word would illumine our minds and hearts, to edify us, build us up in our most holy faith, sanctify us by your truth, that we may glorify the incarnate truth. We ask as well that You would save those dead in their trespasses and sins as we consider this great subject of the mission of the Son of God. We thank You that He is that Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. We thank You that there is forgiveness with You. We thank You that as a Father pities His children, so our Father pities His children. We just commit ourselves to You now, guide us by Your sovereign grace, and we pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Well, as we look at John chapter one, we'll look at it in verse, look at verse 29 in more detail in just a moment, it really does kind of summarize for us the entirety of John's gospel, or at least points us in the direction that John is going to take. There's a similarity in Matthew's gospel. In Matthew 1, 21, when the angel tells Joseph what he is to call Jesus, he says, you shall call his name Jesus, for it is he who will save his people from their sins. I've always thought that's a good thing to keep in mind as you work your way through Matthew's gospel. Why is it that he is suffering such mistreatment? Why is it that he is sorrowful? Why is it that he is cut off? Why is it that he is delivered up on the cross? Well, it is he who will save his people from their sins.

I think 129 in John's gospel functions in like manner. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. As you move through the entirety of the gospel, you will see that as its emphasis. Jesus calls sinners to faith in himself. Jesus offers eternal life. Jesus goes to the cross. Jesus dies as a sacrifice and a substitute. Jesus is raised again the third day. Why? because he's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And unique to John 1.29 is John 1.1-18. So John has two purposes in his gospel. First, to set forth God as he is in his internal relations. And that's what 1.118 does. We're met at the outset, the very opening words of John's gospel, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. It's an amazing statement. The Word, of course, being the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1.14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. and we beheld His glory." And then John 1.18, no one has seen God at any time, but the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father has declared Him. We call that in theology, get this, theology or theologia. In other words, who God is in Himself. And then from 119 to the end of the Gospel of John, we see what we call in theology the economy, the redemptive plan of God, the salvation of God, the external works of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, specifically in the salvation of His people.

So the Word made flesh, according to John 114, is the Lamb of God of John 129. And the broader context from 119 to 134 is the testimony of John the Baptist. So the first section, verses 19 to 28, there's a dispute with the religious leaders, John the Baptist, with the religious leaders, Jesus is absent. And then there's this declaration of Jesus' mission and dignity, Jesus is present, in verses 29 to 34. So, John the Baptist declares his mission, verse 29, and then he underscores his dignity in verses 30 to 34, which sort of crescendos in verse 34. Notice, and I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. The same emphasis that you see in that first section in John 1, 1 to 18. And as I said many times going through the Gospel of John, Jesus is the Son of God, not by creation. We're created. He's not the Son of God by adoption. We're adopted if we're in Christ. But rather, Jesus is the Son of God by nature. He's the only begotten Son of God, the only one that chapter 1, verse 1 could be true of. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

So let's look at the declaration of the mission of the Son of God in verse 29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. First of all, the arrival of the Savior in the first section of the verse, and then secondly we'll look at the nature of His mission in the latter part of the verse. But note what John the Baptist says according to verse 29. The next day, John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, Behold. Now, it may seem odd to spend some time on that word behold, but I think it's a behold that carries a lot of theological weight. With reference to the word itself, it means a marker of strong emphasis to look to see, to pay attention to. So with reference to John the Baptist, he's had this dispute with the religious leaders over his identity. He's not the Messiah. Rather, he's the forerunner and the announcer of the Messiah. And so when he sets eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ, he wants to call attention to that. Behold, This is the one that the prophet spoke of. Behold, this is the one that God had foretold. This is the one that is to bring all of the promises of God to a yea and amen in himself. The use of the word underscores the importance of the one that John now sees.

In Matthew 11, the Lord Jesus Christ describes John the Baptist as more than a prophet. Now technically John the Baptist was a prophet, but as Jesus says he was more than a prophet because he lived at that very transition from Old Covenant to New Covenant. He is the forerunner announced by the prophet Isaiah that would make straight the ways of the Lord. He is the one that now sets eyes upon the Lord Jesus Christ and says, behold. And again, that behold carries with it a note of fulfillment with reference to the anticipations that they had concerning the coming of the Messiah. I suggest that it carries the idea that this is, in fact, the seed of the woman from the family of Abraham.

Remember, the Old Testament is thoroughly Messianic. It's not simply a collection of, you know, tall tales. It's not simply a – not that it is a collection of tall tales at all. It's not a collection of fables or religious myths. It's not a collection of just, you know, do-goodery. self-help and ethics and morals and how one is supposed to function in God's world, but rather it is a messianic document.

From the very outset, it announces the coming of one whom the Father would send to save His people from their sins. In fact, the proto-gospel, the first announcement of the gospel, is in Genesis chapter 3. We read in verse 15, God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."

So the children of Israel in the Old Covenant were taught to look for a man, not an angel, to look for a man that would be born of a woman, born under the law, that would redeem those under the law, that he himself would deliver a death blow to the devil. And the New Covenant, the New Testament everywhere testifies that this is true in our Lord's first coming.

As well, he is the promised Davidic king. Matthew's gospel starts out in 1.1, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. So what the authors are doing is showing what John the Baptist is doing here. The anticipation has become realized. The promise has become fulfilled. This is the one whom the prophet spake concerning.

So Jesus is that seed of the woman. He is that seed of Abraham. God made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that in their seed, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. He's not talking about national ethnic Israel. He's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, the very true Israel of God Almighty. Galatians 3.16, the apostle says, the seed singular, not the seeds plural, and he's pointing us to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In 2 Samuel 7, to make the Davidic connection, David comes back victorious from warfare. David has expanded Israel's territories and boundaries. David is sitting in a palace, and David is musing to himself, I'm sitting in a palace, and yet the Lord Most High is dwelling in a tent. So he wanted to build a temple. And what does God say? God says, no, it's not going to happen under you. It's going to happen under your son Solomon. But from your seed, from your line, from that Davidic gene pool, there will come one, a son of God, who will sit upon the throne at the right hand of God, whose kingdom shall know no end.

And so this, behold, carries with it all of the Old Covenant freight, and the Baptist is applying it to our blessed Savior. The promise of the Messiah throughout the Old Testament. Psalm 2, we've seen in the last month or so. Psalm 110, Yahweh said to my Lord, the Messiah, Sit at my right hand till I make your enemies your footstool. Psalm 72, a song of Solomon, but certainly transcends anything Solomon knew in his earthly kingdom. Psalm 45, that altogether lovely one, the Lord Jesus Christ.

We've got all these messianic prophecies. You've got the servant of the Lord songs in Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and 53. The servant of the Lord is that one sent by Yahweh that would ultimately die for his people and be raised again so that he could save them from their sins. Brethren, I think the behold of John the Baptist carries that in its very utterance. The Baptist lived at that time. He lived at that crossroads. He lived at the time the old covenant is coming to an end. Not because it was bad, but because it had functioned and served the purpose for which God intended, and in a sense, brought forth Messiah. And the Messiah initiates, or inaugurates rather, the New Covenant and the Baptist is mindful of that and so he says, behold.

And just by way of practical application, have you been able to say, behold? Have you been able to say, by God's grace, through faith in Him, behold? We've got two going in the water today that are able to say that. Perhaps they wouldn't have said Genesis 3.15. Perhaps they wouldn't have said the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I mean, I'd like to think so and hope so that they're paying attention in church, but they've beheld the glory of the Lamb of God.

Have you beheld the glory of the Lamb of God? Have you come to grips with, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God? Have you come to grips with the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, not just to set forth an example, again, not just to set forth morals and ethics, but rather to function as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

I think John's statement, John the Baptist in 129, at least indirectly, or rather by way of presupposition, assumes the problem Messiah came to address. He takes away the sin of his people. He doesn't come to give everybody a new bank account. He doesn't come to give everybody a new house. He doesn't come to give you new sort of promotions at work. He comes rather to deal with that problem that is indicative of man in Adam. We are fallen from that glory that God made us in. In Adam, all die. In Christ, all shall be made alive.

Have you by grace been able to say, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world? Again, whether or not you have all that old covenant freight and you're able to see the significance of the Baptist behold there, have you beheld him? Have you looked upon him? Have you seen him as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000? Is he the desire of your heart? Is he the forgiver of your sins? Is he the giver of your righteousness by which you're clothed and enter into the presence of God Almighty? That's the hope, that's the prayer, that's the intention.

As I said, your problem isn't a small house. Your problem isn't bad relationships at work. Your problem isn't socioeconomic. Your problem, rather, is ethical. You have sinned against God. For all we, like sheep, have gone astray. Every single one of us have has lacked conformity under that law and has transgressed it. And we are under God's wrath and curse both in this life and that which is to come.

Turn to John 3 to see this in a summary statement in verse 36. John 3, again, language of the Baptist himself. 336, he who believes in the Son has everlasting life, and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. You see, that's the problem. Whatever it is that's going on in your life today, if you are by grace in Christ, be of good cheer. Your sins are forgiven you. Whatever may be good going on in your life, if you have not bent the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ and confessed Him as Lord and Savior, then don't be of good cheer because the wrath of God abides on you.

Notice, it's not the wrath of God someday in an ethereal state will abide on you. It abides now. Solomon says in his Proverbs, the way of the transgressor is hard. The way of the transgressor is hard. What is the implication? The way of the righteous isn't hard. I mean, it's hard because we've got sorrows, we've got struggles, we've got identification with our Savior who was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

But in the grand scheme of things, this train is bound for glory. In other words, we are going to overcome. We are going to enter into heaven. We will be in Emmanuel's land. The King there in his beauty we will see.

So back to our text, we see the arrival of the Savior underscored by the Baptist with this simple word, behold, a marker of strong emphasis. In other words, look, see, come and discover. That brings us then to the nature of his mission. Verse 29, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Now it speaks concerning his function and then it speaks concerning his purpose. The function is captured in that statement, Lamb of God. Again, I think the Baptist assumes some understanding of the Old Covenant or the Old Testament in his statement here. Imagine if you lived in a land where there were no lambs or you lived in a land where there were no lambs. That would be a bummer. What if you didn't know what a lamb was? What if you didn't have that conscious understanding? It would seem foolish. It would seem odd. It would seem strange to hear a man identified as a lamb.

But if you have a small understanding of what the Old Testament taught concerning lambs and their use in the Old Testament, this particular statement is pregnant with meaning. In other words, when he says the Lamb of God, there is an Old Testament background that the Baptist assumes and that I'm going to encourage you to keep in mind as we move through the text.

First, lambs were victims for sacrifice. Victims for sacrifice, the lamb was used for the Passover, Exodus 12. In daily sacrifices, in Exodus 29. In burnt offerings, though not exclusively in Leviticus 1. Peace offerings, though not exclusively in Leviticus 3. Sin offerings, though not exclusively in Leviticus 4. That simply means they were, but there were other animals that you could use as well. And then in guilt offerings in Leviticus chapter 14.

So again, the backdrop of this statement, the Lamb of God, is the sacrificial use of lambs when it came to Old Covenant worship. Basically, if you lived in Old Covenant Israel, on Saturday morning you'd go out to your field or you'd go out to your yard or your farm and you'd find a lamb. And you would take that lamb and you would set it apart as the sacrifice or offering that you were going to bring to the tabernacle or to the temple. And brethren, it cost something. It hurt. It pinched, excuse me, the flesh. You took it out of your daily routine, you took it out of its daily use, and you know the purpose for taking it out was to kill it.

Again, I'm not a farmer or the son of a farmer, but I can't imagine it's good business to kill your good animals. It just doesn't make sense. It's counterproductive. I need a lamb for all of the various uses that we get from a lamb. If I go out into my field and I grab it to take to the tabernacle, I'm going to deprive myself. Again, sacrifice. The very nature of sacrifice implies some sort of pinch of the flesh. So then once he picked that particular lamb, he'd go to the tabernacle, and there he'd present it to the priest. And then he'd cut the throat of that lamb. And then he would take it, give it to the priest, the priest would then take it up, and according to whatever the particular sacrifice was, he'd offer it up to God. There might be a portion for the worshiper and the peace offering, but it might be a whole burnt offering given wholly unto Yahweh.

That's the background. Imagine that the Baptist could have said any number of things. Behold, the King of kings and Lord of lords. John the Apostle does that in Revelation 19. The Baptist could have said, behold, the great religious teacher. Behold, the rabbi of rabbis. Behold, the man whose ethics transcends even Aristotle himself. He doesn't say that.

Where's the focus for the Baptist? The focus for the Baptist is on the true problem that is characteristic of man, sin. He speaks specifically with that referent in mind, behold the Lamb of God. But not only was the Lamb functioning as a sacrifice, but it was stipulated that it was to be the best of the Lambs. If you turn from the five books of Moses all the way to the book of Malachi just prior to the New Testament, you'll see there was a particular abuse at the time of the prophet Malachi.

They were going to the temple, but when they were going to the temple, they brought the worst of their flocks. There was no pinch. There's no sacrifice. There's no difficulty. You'd wake up on a Saturday morning, have your coffee, rub the sleep out of your eyes, and go out to the field, to the yard, and find the worst of the flock. Well, that one's, you know, gimped and hobbled. That one had an eye plucked out in a barnyard fight. That one's, you know, thin and sickly. Let's take that one.

What's God say? Through the prophet. Present that to your governor and see if he's pleased. Present that to the Persian governor, to the Turshatha, and see if he's okay. We might say it this way today. Try to pay your taxes to Revenue Canada with something that doesn't measure up. And yet that's precisely what they were doing. And even worse than that, stealing sacrifices. You have your morning coffee, you rub the sleep out of your eyes. Junior says, are we going to get the lamb? Yeah, let's go steal it from the Jones's next door. God upbraids them for that.

Why? Because the demand of His law was for the best. The demand of His law was for that which was perfect. Leviticus 22, 17 to 33 stipulates, no blemishes. no broken legs, no gouged out eyes, no thin sickly runt status, but the best of your flock. The Apostle Peter tells us, according to 1 Peter 119, that we've been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

So when the Baptist sees Jesus and he says, behold the Lamb of God, it points to the function of the Lamb in the sacrificial system and it points to the dignity of the Lamb in the sacrificial system. It must be the best. Well, by the time we get to 129 in our gospel narrative, we shouldn't have to wonder or be curious about whether or not He's the best, because in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. How could it possibly be that this isn't the best? It could only ever be the best, the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ, the divine word who assumes our humanity, who lives for us, who dies for us, who's raised again for us.

So the Baptist assumes a certain knowledge of the Old Testament. He assumes a certain knowledge of the purpose of sacrifice, which I think is very well explained by the apostle in Hebrews chapter nine. It teaches us that without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. I realize that opponents of Christianity think this is barbaric. Oh, you've got to appease and atone to your God? Yeah, as a matter of fact, because He's thrice holy. His eye is too pure to approve any evil, and we are nothing but evil. We are vicious. We are vile. We are weak, wounded, sore, and bruised. We are done. And if there's not atonement, if there's not the purging of our sins, if there's not an imputed righteousness, no one's going to stand in His presence.

Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. Or consider Paul in Ephesians 1, verse 7, in Him, Christ, we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace. There must be blood atonement. Now in this old covenant setting, the bulls, the lambs, the sheep, the goats, the turtle doves, all this prefigured, all this pointed forward to, all this was a shadow and a type of this Lamb of God who came to take away the sin of the world.

So this idea, or this notion, or this attack on Christianity, that it somehow is barbaric in the notion that this holy God must sort of be bought off. No, He's not bought off. There's atonement wrought through the Son of His love, given freely by the Father, who assumed our humanity, who lived in our place, who died in our place, and who was raised again for us, such that Paul can say in Romans 4.25, He was delivered up because of our offenses, And he was raised for our justification.

And so for John the Baptist he points to this function. The New Testament fulfillment. This demonstrates the divine initiative in the salvation of sinners. Notice it's the Lamb of God. Not the Lamb of Man. Man didn't sort of sit around and wonder, how is it that we can atone for our sins? How is it that we guilty, vile, helpless sinners can stand in the presence of a holy God? How about we offer up our best champion? How about if we offer up the best of the best? No, it's divine initiative.

Remember that scene in Genesis chapter 3. God will put enmity between the seed of the woman and the serpent. Genesis chapter 22, remember? Abraham is told to go and to sacrifice his son, his only son, the son whom he loved, on Mount Moriah, future site of the temple. What happens there? Isaac's old enough to be conscious of the fact that we've got the wood, we've got the fire, but we don't have a sacrifice, Father. What's Abraham's response? The Lord will provide. He ties up his son. He's about to stab his son, and the angel of the Lord stays his hand. And then the next instance, what happens? Wow, what a coincidence. What a lucky happenstance. They turn and they see a ram caught in the thicket, and that serves and functions as the substitute for Isaac.

The Servant Song, specifically the Servant Song of Isaiah 53, it's all about substitution. It's all about the one standing in the place of the many, all those whom the Father had given him. The divine initiative for the salvation of sinners, the sacrificial system as a provision for sinners. I haven't mentioned Leviticus chapter 16. Leviticus 16 was when the sacrificial system and Old Covenant Israel came to its pinnacle. It came to its high point once a year, not every day of the year, but once a year. It was called the Day of Atonement. You've heard it in its Hebrew, Yom Kippur.

And on that Day of Atonement, what did the high priest do? He took off all of his royal or splendid insignia. He was dressed only in linen, and he alone went into the Holy of Holies. Why did he go in there? To make atonement for sins. He went in there for his own sin, he went in there for the sins of Israel, he went in for the sins of the altar itself, he went in there to deal with God because without the shedding of blood there is no remission.

So he'd go in there a few times to pour blood onto the mercy seat from one of the goats that was killed for that effect. There's a second goat, we call it the scapegoat. You've heard that in common parlance. Oh, he's just the scapegoat. He just gets, you know, all of the bad things happen to him. The scapegoat is precisely that. The scapegoat was, in fact, prayed over by the high priest. All of the transgressions of Israel is confessed upon it, or confessed over it, and then that scapegoat is driven out into the wilderness. That's the removal of sin. That's expiation. That's the glory of the Christian message. We are forgiven of our sins. We receive the righteousness of God. Those sins are taken and they're cast into the depths of the sea, according to the prophet Micah in Micah chapter 7.

Morales says, in his commentary on Leviticus, or in his biblical theology of Leviticus, he says, Israel's sins must be dealt with, expiated. Only a cleansed humanity may belong to Yahweh. The way to God, then, is through a bloody knife and a burning altar.

Again, I think this is all in the mind of the Baptist when he says, behold, the Lamb of God. I think if I were to hear, behold, the Lamb of God, I'd think, oh, cute little cuddly thing. Right? Doesn't that sort of, you hear lamb. What do you think? You think about your child's stuffy. You think about your neighbor's little animals. You think cute and cuddly, don't you? I mean, be honest, right? You think cute and cuddly. I'm sure there's animals out there that people don't like. You think snake and it conjures up various thoughts. You think bear and it conjures up various thoughts. You think shark and it conjures up various thoughts. I don't know of any anti-lamb people. I've never met anybody, I'm really deathly afraid of lambs. Lots of people are deathly afraid of sharks, deathly afraid of bears, deathly afraid of lions, but lambs? They're cute, they're cuddly.

Empty that notion from your mind as you hear the Baptist's words. When he says, Behold the Lamb of God, he's speaking about death. He's speaking about blood. He's speaking about sacrifice. He's speaking about that old covenant system where the high priest alone went into the Holy of Holies, pouring out blood. confessing transgressions, driving that goat out into the wilderness. That's what's in the mind of the Baptist using this convention, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And then note the purpose. So we see the function, the Lamb of God. The purpose is simple. It's stated very clearly by John, who takes away the sin of the world. This describes his work And then it gives us the scope of His work. He takes away the sin of the world. Description of the work, takes away the sin, and the scope of the work, of the world.

The definition of this word, notice again, who takes away. The word signifies both to take up and to take away, as Matthew Poole says. The Lamb of God takes up our sin to the cross.

The Lamb of God takes up our sin to the cross. Again, I think the significance of that scapegoat in that day of atonement, Leviticus chapter 16, was to display vividly to the minds of the Israelites the removal or the expiation of guilt and sin. He confesses the transgressions of Israel as he lays his hands upon that goat and then he drives it out into the wilderness. What does that do? What is that showing? It is showing that this Lamb takes the sin of Old Covenant Israel.

When the Son of God, the Word of God, the Lamb of God goes to the cross, He takes up our sin to the cross. Isaiah 53, verse 4. 1 Peter 2 and verse 24, who himself bore our sins in his own body on the tree that we having died to sins might live for righteousness by whose stripes you were healed. Or consider Paul in 2 Corinthians 5.21, God made him Christ who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

So that meaning is certainly present in the Baptist language here. The Lamb takes up our sins to the cross. But as well, the Lamb takes away our sins by having borne them on the cross. He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

What happened when He was made sin for us? That doesn't mean He was morally impure. That doesn't mean He actually committed adultery. That doesn't mean He actually was transformed from a righteous state to an unrighteous. It's a legal declaration. It's forensic in nature. It is imputation.

But what happens? When that sin is born on the cross, taken up to the cross by the Savior, what does the Father do? In the language of the prophet Isaiah, in that fourth servant song in Isaiah 53.10, it pleased the Lord to do what? To bruise Him. Or as the NAS has it, to crush Him. Why? Because divine justice must be satisfied.

At the cross, God demonstrates His own righteousness, such that He is both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. In other words, Christ on the cross is punished in our stead. That's beautiful. That's blessed. You understand what that means? We're not going to be punished in hell. We're not going to go to everlasting punishment. There's not eternal torment in our future because of what Christ accomplished for us, we enter into Emmanuel's land.

We enter into the new heavens and the new earth. We enter into that new Jerusalem. We enter into all of the blessings and privileges of the Son of God. Why? Because we're joint heirs with Christ. He took our place on the cross. He received in himself our punishment. The chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes we are healed. This is most blessed, most wonderful, and most glorious.

And then notice, with reference to the object in view, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here, A.W. Pink, it was the Spirit of God presenting the Lord Jesus to Israel in the very office and character in which they stood in deepest need of Him. As I said earlier, The Lamb of God doesn't come to deal with your socioeconomic woes. The Lamb of God didn't come to deal with their political woes, and certainly they did, Old Covenant Israel, living subject to the Roman Empire. I mean, if ever there was a time where you'd think, hey, perhaps this guy can, you know, exercise a little pressure on the Roman state, crush a few heads, you know, knock out a few teeth, and give us a position of preeminence that we quite enjoy, this would be the time. That's what they were looking for.

Remember, He feeds the multitudes. He feeds them bread from on high in John 6. What do they do? They try to seize Him by force to make Him a king. Why? Because they like free bread. They like the potential threat to the Roman Empire. They like the thought of no more subjugation. They like the thought of prestige and power. They quite like that.

But notice when the Baptist announces his arrival, it's, behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Not takes away the oppression of the prisoner. Not takes away the oppression of those subject to the Roman Empire. Not takes away the oppression of being poor. Pink says, it was the Spirit of God presenting the Lord Jesus to Israel in the very office and character in which they stood in deepest need of Him. They would have welcomed Him on the throne, but they must first accept Him on the altar.

And is it any different today? Christ as an Elijah, a social reformer, will be tolerated. Christ as a prophet, as a teacher of ethics, will receive respect. But what the world needs first and foremost is the Christ of the cross, where the Lamb of God offered himself as a sacrifice for sin. Pink's right. People will tolerate Jesus as long as he's a religious teacher. And even then, he goes too far. People are okay with Jesus, the social reformer, again, as long as he doesn't go too far.

What's John emphasize? John emphasizes what Paul will encapsulate in Romans 5.8, but God commends His own love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. You see, that's what this world needs. That's what sinners here need. That's what saints need to be reminded of each and every day, that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

And then as we trace this out through the New Testament, the book of Acts, mark the apostolic preaching of the cross. It is conspicuously the apostolic preaching of the cross. Repent and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for what? For a new house? For a new car? For a better bank account? No, for the remission of sins.

Acts chapter 10, where does the apostle Peter point the household of Cornelius to? Jesus. Why? For the forgiveness of sins. When the apostle Paul starts his preaching ministry in the first missionary enterprise, he goes to Pisidian Antioch in Acts 13. And there he goes specifically to a Jewish synagogue. Talk about guts and courage. He knew that the Jews, unbelieving ones, rejected, resisted, and despised Jesus. So what does Paul do? He goes to their synagogues. I don't want to offend them. I don't want to make them unhappy. He goes and he offends them with the truth that believe in Him and you will receive the forgiveness of sins.

I mentioned Ephesians 1, in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace. Psalm 103, we sang, stanzas 5 to 8. What does 1 to 4 sort of encourage us about? When David says, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. And then David says it again to David, kind of encouraging. David needed to hear from David twice. I suspect all of us need to hear from ourselves, in our right minds, twice. He goes on to say, bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, and forget not all His benefits.

Why do you think David says that? Because there's a tendency in us to forget all his benefits. There's a tendency in us to forget who we are in Jesus Christ. There's a tendency to forget what God has done for us in Christ, just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

Guess where David starts as he rehearses the benefits that he's supposed to not forget? Forgiveness of sins. That chief boon of the Christian life. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He carries it up. He's punished by the Father. And in that he's taking it away from all those whom the Father had given him. It's most blessed.

Look at John 6 for one specimen sample. In John 6, specifically at verse 38, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me. This is the will of the Father who sent me, that of all He has given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. And this is the will of Him who sent me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the last day.

Well, let's do another specimen sample. Look at John chapter 7, verse 37, again in enemy territory. Paul is, you know, not a trendsetter. Him going into enemy territory in Jewish synagogues in the first century is not something the Lord didn't do. The Lord's biggest confrontations was with the unbelieving Jews. And in John 7, all that confrontation had been happening. And we get to 37, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

That's the promise of the Messiah. That's the promise of the Lamb of God. That's the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ. How can he make that promise? Based on what it is he has come to do. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Because I don't think we want to be here for another couple of hours. If you trace through John's gospel, how does he do that? He does it through his life of obedience. He does it by being delivered up to the Roman Empire by the unbelieving Jews. He does it by standing before the Sanhedrin. He does it by standing before Pontius Pilate. He does it by ultimately hearing his own kinsmen, according to the flesh, cry, away with him, away with him, crucify him. He does it by going to the cross, taking our sins up there, being punished in our stead, such that he can take them away through his own precious blood. He does it by going into the tomb. He does it by being raised again the third day.

See, this isn't magic, it's not ethereal, it's not sort of out there. The gospel is about Jesus, his life, his death, his resurrection. And everyone who by grace believes that gospel shall have everlasting life. The benefits of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Back to our text and quickly. The scope of his work. when it says the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's not teaching universalism. It's not teaching that everybody without exception is going to be saved. Universalism is incorrect, it's unbiblical, and it's heretical. It's unorthodox. There's no universalism. When he says the world though, what he is mentioning or what he is referring to is that not just the Jews Remember it was the Old Covenant Scriptures given primarily to the nation of Israel that announced the coming of Israel's Messiah. Those Old Covenant Scriptures foretold the inclusion of the Gentiles. The oracle of Noah prophesies that already after the flood. All throughout the Psalms, all throughout the prophets, you see this massive inclusion of men, women, boys, girls from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And in a special way, John seems to emphasize that. 

So the Baptist says, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John chapter 4, Jesus goes and has saving dealings with that Samaritan woman. And then the rest of the village comes out to discourse with Jesus. They talk to Jesus. What do they learn after their interaction with Jesus? We have learned that He is the Savior of the world. That's good news if you're a Samaritan, because you're looked down upon if you're an Israelite. If you're an Israelite, you look at the Samaritans like they're dogs, like they got big problems, like they're outsiders. The Samaritans are able to confess Jesus as the Savior of the world. 

Remember the prophecy of Caiaphas in John chapter 11. He understood, not consciously and not redemptively, that the death of Jesus would redound, or rather the ministry of Jesus would redound, not just to this nation, but to the other nations as well. John chapter 12. Greeks are coming to see Jesus. The Pharisees don't like that. In fact, they complain, the whole world's going after him. What do the Greeks say? Sirs, we would see Jesus. That is precisely what they got to see. 

John 3.16, paradigmatic, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. You see, John's theology, along with John the Baptist's theology, is such that it's not just the lost tribes of the house of Israel, but it's for the nations that Jesus comes. Ephesians 2, the apostle discourse is concerning Gentile inclusion in the covenants of promise or the covenant of grace. Ephesians chapter 3, Paul explains the mystery of Christ and what is that? that it's not just one locale, one geographic people, one ethnicity, but rather this Jesus is gonna save from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. That's the language of Revelation 5-9. It's the language of Revelation 7-9. 

And what I think that speaks to all of us here is that there's hope. There's blessed hope. John 7, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me. Well, I don't happen to belong to this particular social caste. I don't happen to belong to this particular. Whoever thirsts, come. Well, I'm not part of this particular nation. You hear that sometimes. Christianity is for the white man. No, it isn't. It's from every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. How much more conspicuous than the Apostle John, or can the Apostle John be when he refers to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation? 

Wherever this gospel is preached and sinners believe, They will be saved, Mark chapter 16. So don't talk yourself out of being one who can come to Jesus. I don't get that. You hear gospel preaching and the preacher says, come to Jesus. And then you reason thus with yourself. Here's 10 reasons why you shouldn't. That's the devil. The parable of the sower or the parable of the soils in Luke's account in Luke chapter 8 tells us about when the sower goes out to sow his seeds and the birds of the air come and they gather up that seed. 

Early on in Chilliwack, we lived on Armstrong Road. We lived right across the street from a smallish dairy farm. And it was very common for me, farmer that I'm not, to be able to muse upon the reality that, hey, when those guys go out there and seed the field, those birds come along and have a, pun intended, field day. 

But you see, those birds didn't do it to put my farmer neighbor out of business. They didn't have machinations in a tree saying, let's go destroy that evil human. See, Jesus says specifically with reference to the devil. He doesn't want you to hear the word, lest you believe the word and be saved. Don't help the devil do his job. 

Well, I'm not from this nation. I'm not from this socioeconomic group. I'm not white. I'm not black. I'm not this. I'm not that. And sometimes people are so wrong, sorry, I know you don't like to hear that, but you're so wrong that you say, I'm too sinful. He won't take a wretch like me. 

Well, Paul answers that particular argument in 1 Timothy 1. He says, this is a faithful saying. It's worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And then Paul says, of whom I am chief. If you think you're too sinful to be saved, think again. If that man breathing threats of murder and imprisonment and persecution is saved by the glorified Christ on the road to Damascus, there's hope for sinners. 

If you think it's only one geographic location, one ethnicity, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Paul can say it this way in 2 Corinthians 5.19 that God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. It's beautiful. Don't argue yourself out of because then you're doing the devil's bidding. Rather, resist Him. Look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Come to Him, all you who are weary and heavy laden. And He promises to give you rest, forgiveness of sins, and a righteousness by which you can enter into the presence of God Most High. 

Well, in conclusion, I just want to mention a few things relative to baptism. Other than John the Baptist being in this text, it's not really a text about baptism, so I think it's good for us to remind ourselves as to why we do what we do in terms of baptism. 

First, it's commanded by our Lord. Excuse me, Matthew 28, the Great Commission, Jesus says, "...go therefore, make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." It's commanded by Jesus. Jordan and Lindsay are obeying a command today, not for salvation, but because by God's grace they have been saved. 

As well, Jesus mentions baptized in the name singular of the plural persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So what we're testifying through that tank is the nature of the living and true God. He is triune. one divine essence. In this divine and infinite being, there are three subsistences or persons, the Father, the Word or Son, and the Holy Spirit, each having the whole divine essence, yet the essence undivided. 

Gregory of Nazianzen on his Oration 40 on holy baptism. He says, no sooner do I conceive of the one than I am illumined by the splendor of the three. No sooner do I distinguish them than I am carried back to the one. When I think of any one of the three, I think of him as the whole, and my eyes are filled, and the greater part of what I am thinking escapes me. I cannot grasp the greatness of that one so as to attribute a greater greatness to the rest. When I contemplate the three together, I see but one torch, and cannot divide or measure out the undivided light."

In other words, Gregory recognizes in his oration on holy baptism, it's a good time for us to reconsider this living and true God, not reconsider as if we're going to reorganize it. but to rethink, to fulfill our minds, to understand the nature of the living and true God, that in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and that Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And in John 14, when Philip says, we haven't seen the Father, show us the Father, what's Jesus able to say? If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. Don't you know that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? It's truly sublime, beautiful, excellent, and glorious.

So think Trinity as we think baptism. I would suggest thirdly, with reference to the practice of the church, you go through the book of Acts, and we won't do this, but just, I don't want to say take my word for it. If you want the text, email me and I will give you the text. I just don't want to give you another hour or at least 20 minutes to go through this.

It takes place after conversion. It takes place after conversion. In other words, somebody has faith and repentance, they close with Christ, and then they're baptized. They're not baptized in the hopes that someday they may be converted. No, make disciples, baptize those disciples, and then teach those disciples. That's the conspicuous order. Paedobaptism fails here. It baptizes and then it teaches in the hopes that disciples will be made.

Thirdly, it is the external sign that symbolizes God's internal grace. The water isn't magic. The water doesn't have any power to convey forgiveness or impute righteousness. It's an external sign which signifies the internal grace of God received by the baptizees.

I would suggest fourthly, it is primarily for the person baptized. We get to watch. We get to be encouraged. Remember that Ethiopian eunuch? What prevents me from being baptized? What's Philip say? Well, if you believe in your heart, profess Jesus as raised from the dead, then you can. So what happens? They go down in the water and they both come out. It's primarily for the party baptized.

I would suggest as well, it is for members of the New Covenant only. Jeremiah 31, 31 to 34 really specifies what the nature of the New Covenant community is. And I know we talk a lot about external, internal relationship to the covenant. We talk about that with the old, we talk about that with the new. I think we're trying to mingle or mix old with new in order to yield paedo-baptism. No external connection to the new covenant. You're in or you're not. The answer isn't baptism or paedo-baptism. The answer is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The way to internal participation in the new covenant, the covenant of grace, is to look and live and then be baptized as one who evidences and gives forth the marks of those in the new covenant.

I would suggest as well the privilege of the people of God. This is specifically to Jordan and Lindsay. So our confession says baptism is an ordinance of the New Testament ordained by Jesus Christ to be unto the party baptized. So it's especially for you two. Then it goes on to say a sign of his fellowship with him in his death and resurrection. That's what this is. A sign of his fellowship with Christ in his death and resurrection. That's why we baptize. That's why we immerse 

The water signifies death, burial, resurrection. There's theology behind the practice. There's theology behind the mode. There's theology that the Bible sets forth for us that is beautiful. It's death, burial, resurrection, and Jesus. Immersion or baptism, which baptism means, is the sign that demonstrates that. It's beautiful. 

of his being engrafted in him or into him. That means union with Christ, close association with Christ. It goes on to say of remission of sins and of his giving up unto God through Jesus Christ to live and walk in newness of life. That's privilege. There is responsibility. Live in light of that blessed statement. Live in light of Paul's theology in Romans 6, which by the way, Paul in Romans 6 is arguing for holiness on the part of the people of God. 

And Paul will get to, do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness. But you know where Paul starts? As he's addressing the problem of sin, remaining in the people of God, he starts with baptism. Not as hocus pocus, not as a powerful remedy to never sin again, but to the theology of baptism. You died, you were buried, and you were raised with Christ. Why then would you continue in sin? Why then, if you're new men and women in Christ Jesus, why would you present your members as instruments of unrighteousness? Don't do that. 

So he does preach law to them, to be sure. Don't do it. But he starts from the foundation of death, burial, resurrection in our Lord Jesus Christ. So please, in your future doings and dealings, in your relationship with one another, to your children, to this church, to everybody in general, think in terms of baptism as representative of what God in Christ has done for you both. 

Well, let us pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Help us to behold him each and every day. Help us to find him as altogether lovely and chief among 10,000, and bless the preaching of the gospel throughout the earth, and may it run to every tribe, tongue, people, and nation. And we ask this in Jesus' name, amen.