Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus has been the theme of the recent messages that I brought to you. And today, in continuing with that theme, I want to consider the words of John the Baptist when he saw Jesus. And he cried out to those around, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Who is Jesus? Among the many dimensioned answer to this question, we can reply that Jesus is the Lamb of God. Jesus is the Lamb of God. In Revelation 5, 6, one of the visions John sees as he's observing these incredible things that are revealed to him He says, and I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth. One of the ways in which Christ is shown forth in this spiritual reality, revealed in Revelation, is that he is shown as a lamb as it had been slain." What does this mean? What does it mean for John the Baptist, on beholding Jesus, to cry for all those around him to behold this man as the Lamb of God? This must indeed have been a phrase that carried with it great impact and connotation upon those that heard it. It meant something to them. It implied something to them about his person and his mission. About who he is to them. He's the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. Well, the Lamb must immediately call to our minds the idea of sacrifice. The idea of sacrifice. Because the Lamb was a sacrificial animal under the system of the law that God had given to the nation of Israel. He gave them all manner of sacrifices and the lamb, the unblemished lamb offered up to have its blood shed was a sacrifice that God had gave to them. We can read in Exodus chapter 29 about some of the sacrifices that were given to the children of Israel to be offered by the priests as offerings of thanksgiving, as offerings of atonement for sin, as offerings that were part of their daily worship. And they were given a continual, day after day, morning and evening, system whereby they offered blood sacrifices, shedding the blood of these animals, and then offering up to God. They were given this. So let us read in Exodus 29, verse 38 to 46. Because here is where it describes the offering daily of the lambs, the sacrificial lambs. Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar, two lambs of the first year, day by day, continually. The one lamb, thou shalt offer in the morning, and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even. And with the one lamb, a tenth deal of flour, mingled with the fourth part of an hen of beaten oil, and the fourth part of an hen of wine for a drink offering. And the other lamb thou shalt offer at even, and shalt do thereto according to the meat offering of the morning, and according to the drink offering thereof, for a sweet savor an offering made by fire unto the Lord. This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord, where I will meet you to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory, and I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons to minister to me in the priest's office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the Lord their God. Consider what's being described to you, what's being given. as an ordinance to the people of Israel forever, as a perpetual system of sacrifice. They are to take these two lambs, one for the morning and one for the evening. And they would take the lambs and the priests would slaughter these lambs, put them to death, shed their blood, drain the blood out of their body, and then they would offer them as a burnt offering. They would burn them before the Lord. Also notice that they were offered with bread and with wine. And that in the course of offering these things, God and his presence would sanctify the altar, the tabernacle, with his presence. And that through this sacrifice, through this atoning sacrifice, God would be present with the people. And the communion between God and his people would be made continual forever. He says, I there, I will meet with the children of Israel. That this sacrifice would be a means by which the people of Israel would encounter God. These sacrifices would be offered day after day after day, year after year after year, generation to generation, century to century, up until the time of Christ. These sacrifices were continually offered and the people would, their mind, their imagination, their understanding of worship would be filled with this idea of sacrifice. In some ways, this is so foreign to us. It's so foreign to us to imagine. Imagine. We get up every week on Sunday, and we come together, and we worship, and this becomes part of our routine, part of our lives, part of the cycle of how our lives go from week to week and from day to day. We begin our week and end our week all at the same time with this time of worship. But imagine if this cycle of worship, if this continual, perpetual, day-to-day and week-to-week practice involved continually the shedding of blood, the smell of death, the scent of the burning of flesh. What different mindset we must have, how affected we would be by that. And this was the way it was, and the way it was intended to be. Because in the people's relationship with God, at the center of it was the idea of sacrifice, the idea of the shedding of blood for the remission of sin, the idea of atonement, the idea that man's sin separated man from God to such a degree that the shedding of blood is necessary. And all of this was given to point to the fullness of the reality of a sacrifice that could remove sin once and for all. You see, the message of a blood sacrifice is at the center of our worship perpetually. But our sacrifice that we look to is one that doesn't need to be made continually, day after day, morning and evening. It is one that can be made, that was made, once and for all. One that we continually look to. One that we partake of. They offered flour, oil, and wine to God in their sacrifice. But in Christ, giving of the supper to his disciples and to us thereby. He gives us bread and wine. He feeds us with his own flesh by his sacrifice of his body being offered for us, for our sustenance and our nourishment. In Hebrews 10, 11 to 14, it says, every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices day after day after day. Think about it. Think about the routine, day after day, a lamb coming and being slain continually, oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But this man, speaking of Jesus, but this man, after he had offered one sacrifice, four sins, four ever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Now this brings us back to this idea of the priesthood of Christ and how his priesthood is one that is of a different nature than these priests. They offer, and they offer, and they offer, and they offer, but they're never done. They're never finished. That work is never complete. But what did Christ say upon the cross in the midst of his suffering as he was being offered? It is finished. This man, he sat down. For by one offering he hath perfected forever then that are sanctified. To say that Jesus is the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world is to say that He is that sacrificial Lamb which will successfully remove the sins of His people. He takes away the sin of the world. This carries with it the weight of the reality that His sacrifice, it was not just. for the nation of Israel. His sacrifice would be for the sin of the world. And not just sins, not just particular sins, to remove those, though he indeed propitiates particular sins, but his sacrifice is able to remove the sin of the world. The sin. It goes back. to the very source and the heart of that sin that through one man entered the world and through that sin death and death passed upon all men, that original sin. That total depravity of mankind is able to be overcome, that his sacrifice is able to wash clean all those that come unto God by him. and to save them to the uttermost, because his sacrifice is able to remove not just some sin. And so we're reminded again of that testimony of Christ, that they would call his name Jesus, save them, because he shall save his people from their sins, because he is that Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. So John the Baptist can proclaim to those disciples that had followed him and had heard his word, he could point out to another and say, behold, just like any preacher today, worth anything is gonna point to Christ, away from ourselves, point to Christ and say, behold the Lamb of God, because he can be the help. He can be beheld. Even if we don't see him physically walking down the side of the street like John might have seen him, behold him. Behold him as he's declared. Behold him, for he lives and ever lives to make intercession. And that sacrifice, perfect sacrifice, complete sacrifice. It's able to wash clean those that are sanctified by it. Isaiah 118. Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. God washes away the sin of his people so that they are just as as clean as if they'd never seen it all. We sang that hymn before. One of the lines in one of the hymns we sang is, though the righteousness in thee may appear to take the part. Let the righteousness imputed be the breastplate of thy heart." And this hymn line comes to us in these great theological terms, speaking about imputed righteousness, the righteousness worked in us, But when you really distill it down, what is it saying in simple terms? What that is saying is it's saying that when God's work of grace has been continually working in us, our lives change, our behavior changes, our actions change, our thinking changes. And it's saying, If you look at yourself and you see this work happening in you, and you see these changes, and you see God is working righteousness in his people, do not begin to look at that and think, that is why I am saved. That is why my relationship with God is on good terms, has been restored. When you start to do good works, Don't look at those works and compare yourself to others and say, the reason I'm in favor with God is because of that righteousness that is in me. Say, that is never the case. That is never how it is. Because even that righteousness is the work of God himself, as it says in Ephesians. We are his workmanship, created unto Christ Jesus for good works, which God has before ordained that we walk in. Even the good works are God's work in us. But even so, that is not what makes us right with God. But let righteousness imputed be the breastplate of thy heart. What that means is that the righteousness which makes us right with God is not even a righteousness in us anyway. before or after our salvation, it is the righteousness of Christ applied to us by forgiving our sins and making us clean before God. That it is all a gift. of something that comes from outside of ourselves, that our atonement, reconciliation with God comes because of the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. So God can say, come now, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be whiteness. Though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. The Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world is who Jesus is. Let me close with these words that I came across in the course of my studies. This is from a Barnes commentary on this passage. Behold the Lamb of God. A lamb among the Jews was killed and eaten at the Passover to commemorate their deliverance from Egypt. from Exodus 12, three to 11. A lamb was offered in the tabernacle and afterward in the temple every morning and evening as part of the daily worship. Exodus 29, 38, 39, where we read earlier. The Messiah was predicted as a lamb led to the slaughter to show his patience in his sufferings and readiness to die for man. That's from Isaiah 53. A lamb, among the Jews, was also an emblem of patience, meekness, gentleness. On all these accounts, rather than on any one of them alone, Jesus was called the lamb. He was innocent, 1 Peter 2, 23 to 25. He was a sacrifice for sin, the substance represented by the daily offering of the lamb, and slain. at the usual time of the evening sacrifice. And he was what was represented by the Passover, turning away the anger of God and saving sinners by his blood from vengeance and eternal death.