[Scriptural quotes used in
the lesson were taken from the NASB translation of the Holy Bible.]
In the life of Jesus there were the early years in his life in which the bible tells us very little about aside from the events surrounding his birth leading up to the settling in Nazareth. There is also the story of when his family traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover when he was 12 years old.
The gospel accounts of Jesus earthy ministry begins with Jesus making the transition from private life into public life. First in this step was his baptism in the Jordan River. Then came the temptation in the desert. Now immerging victorious over Satan in the desert, we now find Jesus returning to the banks of the Jordan where John the Baptist chose to present Jesus to the world. In doing so he chose to introduce him with these words found in the gospel of John 1:29 -
“Behold. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”
A few weeks back in one of Scot’s lessons he asked if any one had ever met a President of the United States. A few people had, who here has ever met a President? I’ve seen two Presidents, but have never met any. In the military I have been introduced to Admirals, even a General once. But, whether you believe it or not you have never had a more important introduction than the one in which John the Baptists chose to introduce Jesus. To be introduced to the Lamb of God, who will take away your sin.
What does that mean? I started looking for that answer a little over three years ago. Prior to that time I thought I knew about Jesus, but I really didn’t. I didn’t understand all this talk and all these songs about blood. I thought, well this religious stuff can be kind of strange at times so I just wrote it off. I didn’t take the time to ask, so what does that mean?
So what does that mean? This morning I want us to look at this introduction of Jesus to the world, “Behold. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”
Lets start by saying that in this introduction John the Baptists reveals some very important facts about Jesus. One is that He is the “Lamb of God”. I had heard that phrase before in my past and never gave it much thought. When I read it for the first time in the mind set of wanting to know Jesus, the first thing I though was, “A Lamb?” Why not a tiger or a bear. At least something with a little more teeth! But a Lamb?
Well, to the Jewish audience of that day who heard him called the Lamb of God, they knew the significance of the symbolism behind that term. Because they knew the story. They could tell you about how long their ancestors were in Egyptian captivity. It was 430 years before Moses came along with the plagues. And they could list each of them, leading up to that tenth one and every year they recounted the tenth and final plague that set them free.
God instructs Moses to have the people of Israel select a year old lamb without defect, one for each household, and to slaughter it. Then they are to sort of paint the doorway of their homes with the blood of this lamb.
Why would that command take place? The explanation comes from God in v. 12.
Imagine that day. The lambs, already gathered and chosen, and at sunset the slaughter of the lambs begins; enough for all the households of Israel, which was probably close to a million. Then, taking some of the blood in a bowl or bucket someone from each household painted a stripe of blood on the sides and top of the doorframe to their house. Then each family would go into their home where they would eat the lamb.
It was at midnight that the dieing started to take place:
In those hours mothers would find the first born baby son breathless; wives would find their husbands could not be awoken. Even the first born of animals died. Only those in the blood-covered homes were saved.
Now, it’s important to notice that it wasn’t just because they were Jews that they were saved; it wasn’t because of who they were. It also wasn’t just those who knew Moses that were saved; it wasn’t who they knew.
It was also stirring for them to hear him say he was here to, “take away the sin of the world.” Again they would have recognized that from the book of Leviticus.
To us the book of Leviticus is full of sacrifices and ceremonies that we don’t fully quite understand, but they were at the heart of the Hebrew faith. And it is in the sixteenth chapter of Leviticus that God gives instructions on how Aaron, the high priest, was to atone for the sins of the people of Israel. It is very detailed and in order to save time, here in a nutshell is what was said:
Aaron was told to sacrifice a bull for his sins and the sins of his family. Then he is to take a special bath and put on some special clothes. Then he is to take two goats. One is to be a sin offering (another sacrifice) the other is to be a sin bearer.
So the people of Israel gathered for this Day of Atonement, as it would be called. The sacrifices would take place and eventually Aaron would place his hands on the head of the goat and confess the sins of the people.
Now, I don’t know if he took requests, or if he allowed people to come up and speak on their own behalf or if he just spoke on everyone’s behalf. I don’t know if he just said we’re liars, we’re cheaters, we’re adulterers, we’re unfaithful and on and on. However it was done, with hands on the goat he confessed the sins of the people of Israel.
Now what’s significant about his hands being on the goat? Look at the passage again in v. 21, “and he shall lay them”, what’s them? The sins; He is placing the sins on the head of the goat.
Don’t miss what is happening. A transfer is taking place. The sins of the people are being placed on the animal. Still to this day we use the term for the goat that comes out of this tradition, it’s found in v. 8 – scapegoat.
So all of the sins are placed on the head of this scapegoat. The next question is, what’s going to happen to the goat? Does Aaron get to keep it as a family pet? Does it get a special place in the zoo? No, quite the contrary
The goat with all the sins of the people is banished. From what is a very curious ceremony we have a very serious message and that is that God does not like sin in the midst of His people.
How does God deal with sin? He calls for people to confess it, but then look what happens; He places that sin on an innocent animal and that animal is banished from the presence of the people and released into the wilderness. God is a fair and just God and therefore can’t simply overlook sin, it must be atoned for.
Back to the Israelites on the banks of the Jordan; they knew all about this. They knew about the blood over the doorway and the sin placed on the goat. So when Jesus is introduced as The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, they looked up and they looked at Jesus.
They had heard about this and wondered about this “Lamb of God”. When? Where? How was this to take place? There were those who thought, as powerful as the ceremonies were, these ceremonies of the Passover and the Day of Atonement which they would celebrate each once per year, I still feel some lingering guilt. Can the blood of animals really take our sin away? Some of them thought, “I know we do this every year, but I still don’t feel close to God. How can I be sure?”
We know that these issues were being raised because later on in the NT a Jewish Christian himself answers these questions. Look what he says in the book of Hebrews:
The OT ceremonies were a reminder of their sin but could never sufficiently take away their sin. The law could not take away on an annual basis what they did on a daily basis. They needed more.
So God gave them more. He gave them a Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That’s why Jesus came. That’s His role; the Lamb of God, and that’s his purpose; to take away the sin of world; both to cover us with His blood and to take away from us our sin. On the cross Jesus had our sin - past, present & future; all of our sin – placed on Him and He became our scapegoat, carrying upon Him our sin. This is the role of Christ.
And look at the resolve of Christ. He came to completely take away the sin of the entire world. He didn’t come to downplay our sin. That is what humanism does. Humanism is the philosophy that so permeates our society today. Humanism teaches that the heart of man is really good. We’re all pretty decent people and all we need is a few more years or a few more decades and a few more social programs and we’ll get it all worked out. Humanism downplays sin and says we’re all pretty decent folk.
Christ would have none of that! He doesn’t say our sin needs to be downplayed. He says our sin needs to be taken away.
Nor does Christ tell us how to pay for our sins, that is what “religion” tells us. That’s what many people, including myself, have been told at some time in our lives “Religion” says “pay” for your sin.
Many years ago I visited Rio De Janeiro and took a tour of the city. One of the stops on the tour war this beautiful church called Il Gracia de Pena, which is Portuguese means The Church of Penance. This beautiful church is set upon one of the highest hills in the city and the only way to get to it is to climb the 693 stone steps the leads up to the church. What stuck in my mind all of these years is that when you go visit this church you will see people, mostly around Easter, climbing up the steps on their hands and knees. Their hope is that when they reach the top they can say to God, “See what I did. Now you have to forgive me.” It totally negates the grace of God.
It’s as if to say, if I sin 20 lbs. worth then I have to go to church 20 lbs. worth and maybe it will even out and I will break even somehow. Religion says you pay for your sin.
Buddhists deal with sin through meditation.
Muslims deal with sin through dedication.
Jews deal with sin through self-justification.
Christian legalists deal with sin through self-renunciation.
In contrast to all of this Christ deals with sin through salvation. By doing for us what we can not do for our selves. He doesn’t down play our sin, He takes it very seriously. Nor does he tell us you pay for your sin – He pays for it for you.
Imagine that! God paying for your sin day by day, moment by moment; If you’re covered by the blood of Christ. It doesn’t matter who you are or who you know; it matters where you are. Another way of saying this is to say you are “in Christ”.
It’s about this time some of you might be thinking, “But Ed, I still sin.” The presence of sin is still present in this physical life. But, if you are covered by the blood of Christ the penalty has been taken away - forever. There is no need for penance. Yes we still struggle with sin; sin is still present but the penalty is not. And because of the one sacrifice made by Christ on the cross the eternal separation from God, which was the result of our sin, has been bridged. We are no longer separated from God because of our sin!
So imagine what Christ is doing for you in heaven right now, if you are in Christ. Has anyone besides me sinned this week? Did you do something you knew God wasn’t proud of? If you are in Christ here is what happens when you lost your temper, when you lied, when you coveted what someone else has, when you cursed someone else’s success, when you complained about your own lack of success, when you weren’t compassionate, when you were less than thankful to the God who loves you.
When you do all the things that we all do, Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father in heaven says, “I’m paying for that. I’m taking that away. I’m taking the consequences for that.” And little by little as we grow in Christ the sins become less and less. The sin will never stop completely, but the penalty has been removed because He paid for it.
Because He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. My friends, this claim can only be found in Christianity.
Now, knowing the role, purpose and resolve of Christ, the only other question that remains is what is our response? The answer from John the Baptist is simple.
Behold Him! We behold Him.
We don’t need to persuade Him; He’s already persuaded.
We don’t need to convince Him; He’s already convinced.
We don’t need to get God’s attention; we already have it.
And we don’t need to win Gods affection; we’ve already received it.
So what do we do? Behold Him, The Lamb of God. Let Him dominate your thoughts. Give Him your best hours and your deepest wonderings. Behold Him.
Are you ever guilty of beholding something less or someone less? To behold means to fix your attention on. What has your attention these days? Why behold lesser things than Christ?
The apostle Paul says that that is the heart of our problem:
He’s saying that we tend to behold the things of earth and miss out on beholding the great things of heaven.
I want you to commit to changing that, will you please? If you take nothing else away from this message, I want you to resolve to behold the Lamb of God. To let Him have your finest thoughts, our best thinking and our most alert hours.
I’m guilty at times of being so preoccupied with other things that I don’t even think about prayer time until my head hits the pillow at night and I find my self drifting off to sleep and my mind wandering away from my conversation with God!
Lets commit to more than a Sunday only deposit of goodness. But, that we will behold the Lamb of God. Keep you eyes on Jesus. Not occasional glances; Behold Him! He is our savior. He takes away our sin. Study and ponder on How He did it!
When we behold Him, you know what happens? We become more like Him. The secret to dealing with your struggles isn’t to focus on your struggles. Rather to focus on Christ. Satan would like nothing more than for us to take our eyes off of Jesus. Satan knows when our hearts are not full of God and he uses that to his advantage. He wants to keep us discouraged. He wants us to think that one minute we’re saved then next we’re not, then we are then we’re not again.
Behold the Lamb of God and allow His image to transform you
to be more and more like Him.
What do you say we do that right now as we celebrate the Lords Supper.
[Communion servers take their place]
We invite all those who are under the blood of the Lamb and who have entrusted their sins to the scapegoat of heaven, we invite all of you to gather around the table. It doesn’t matter whether you belong to this congregation or not. That’s not important; whether you belong to Christ is.
[Prayer before the Bread]
[Prayer before the cup]
Some of you may be hearing this for the first time; why Jesus is called the Lamb of God, why He did what He did. May your response now be I want to be a follower. I want to place myself under the protective covering of his blood. There are many here who would love to spend time with you and even pray with you about this.
For many, you probably already knew all of this. But we tend to forget it and we let guilt and anger come in and the truth of God’s grace seems to fade to the back recesses of our minds.
So for all of us for whom this was a reminder, our response, if you don’t mind my saying, should be one of great gratitude that our Lord loves us so much.
Do you have burdens or struggles? The same Christ who takes away your sin is there for you in the midst of your struggles. He may not take away all of our struggles, but He will always take away the fear and give strength in the midst of those struggles.
My prayer is that your leaving this morning with a great load lifted off of you; That your head is lifted a little higher and your face is lifted toward heaven.
If you’ve never trusted Christ as your Savior don’t let the sun go down tonight without the assurance of knowing for sure where you will spend eternity. The Lamb of God, He takes away our sin. Trust in His work not yours. And by His resurrection we know His sacrifice was accepted. Nothing we can do can equal it. Why try? Give up and in your surrender to Him you will share in His victory over death for all eternity. That is His promise to all people.
How can you have this? Admit to God that you’re a sinner and in need of saving. That you trust in the Gospel of Christ as the one and only way to the Father and will obey His command to be baptized in the name of Jesus. From that moment on you will be changed for all eternity and your life will have true meaning, purpose and direction.