THE LAMB OF GOD

THE LAMB OF GOD

Text: John 1:15-34. Key Verse: 29.

Delivered on: December 2, 2007. Streetsboro.

Introduction.

1. There is much to be said about John the Baptist’s noble work.

2. There is also much to be said about John the Baptist himself.

3. In a future lesson, we will talk about John and his work.

4. Today I want to focus on the statement made by John in John 1:29. The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

5. Already in this chapter, we have learned much about Jesus.

   1. We have learned that He is deity.

   2. We have learned that He is our Creator.

   3. We have learned that He was a Light shining in darkness.

   4. We have learned that He is the Savior of mankind.

6. Jesus wears many different hats, so to speak.

7. He is described in many different ways.

8. The different terms used to describe Him tell us different things about His nature.

9. Let us see what we learn about Jesus as the Lamb of God.

1. THE LAMB OF GOD.
   
   

   1. Jesus as the Lamb of God was foreshadowed in the Old Testament.

      1. When God was about to launch the tenth plague on Egypt (the death of the firstborn), He told the children of Israel how to protect themselves.

      2. They were to sacrifice a lamb.

         1. Exodus 12:5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

            1. This lamb was to be without blemish.

            2. It was offered while it was still young. In the vigor of life.

            3. Had to be of the best of the flock.

         2. After the lamb was sacrificed, it’s blood was to be put on the doorposts and lintels. Exodus 12:6-7. Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷ And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.

         3. The blood over the door would protect them from the plague. Exodus 12:13. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

      3. Jesus is our Passover Lamb. 1 Corinthians 5:7. Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us.
         
         

   2. Jesus was the sacrificial lamb offered by God.

      1. The blood of animals could not remove sins. Hebrews 10:1-4. For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. ² For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. ³ But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. ⁴ For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

      2. Therefore, God supplied the Lamb. Hebrews 10:8-10. Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), ⁹ then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. ¹⁰ By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

      3. Jesus paid the price that we could not pay.

      4. He suffered in our place.

         1. Isaiah 53:5. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed.

         2. 1 Peter 2:24. 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.

         3. Hebrews 2:9. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.
            
            

2. WHO TAKES AWAY THE SIN OF THE WORLD.
   
   

   1. It was through the sacrifice of Jesus, that God took away the sin of the world.

      1. Revelation 7:9-14. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" ¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne and the elders and the four living creatures, and fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, ¹² saying: "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom, Thanksgiving and honor and power and might, Be to our God forever and ever. Amen." ¹³ Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?" ¹⁴ And I said to him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

      2. It is Jesus blood that is the cleansing agent.

         1. 1 Peter 1:18-19. Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, ¹⁹ but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

         2. Hebrews 13:12. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.

      3. We are figuratively sprinkled with that blood.

         1. Hebrews 12:22-24. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, ²³ to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, ²⁴ to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel.

         2. 1 Peter 1:2. Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace be multiplied.
            
            

   2. As our Passover Lamb, Jesus made atonement for us.

      1. Atonement – to reconcile.

      2. Colossians 1:19-22. For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell, ²⁰ and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. ²¹ And you, who once were alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now He has reconciled ²² in the body of His flesh through death, to present you holy, and blameless, and above reproach in His sight--
         
         

   3. He appeased the wrath of God through His sacrifice. 1 John 2:2. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

      1. Romans 11:22. Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.

      2. Hebrews 10:31. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
         
         

   4. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN TO US?

      1. It means that because of the sacrifice of Christ, we no longer bear the guilt of sin. John 8:32. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

      2. We also no longer must bear the punishment of sin. Romans 6:23. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.