In the first chapter of John's Gospel, in
the 29th verse, you'll find these words, The
next day John seeeth Jesus coming unto him,
and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world.
It's often seen to me that there's been
a great deal of misunderstanding as to the
ministry of John the Baptist, the great forerunner
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
You'll remember how appreciatively Jesus spoke of him.
He said, Of all those born of women
has never been a greater than John the
Baptist.
What was there about this man that was
so great?
Well, of course, the outstanding thing was this,
that he proclaimed the coming of Messiah, lived
to see him for himself, baptized him, saw
his start out on his wonderful mission, and
died for his name's sake.
Some people have an idea, you know, that
the great business of John the Baptist was
baptizing people, and that somewhere or another, by
his baptism, their souls were saved.
We read in the scripture, Then cometh John
in the wilderness of Judea preaching the baptism
of repentance for the remission of sin, and
people get an idea that John was preaching
baptism for the remission of sin.
That wasn't what he was preaching at all.
He was preaching proclaiming a baptism of repentance
with a view to the remission of sin.
That is, John's baptism was his presence of
repentance.
John was telling people that all were sinners,
and all deserved to die.
He said the act is laid to the
root of the tree.
Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit
is hewn down and cast into the fire.
And so, he called upon the people to
come down to the waters of Jordan, and
there be baptized, confessing their sins.
Now, that's repentance.
They came confessing their sins.
They came justifying God, acknowledging that what he
said about them was true, and their baptism
was simply the outward expression of their penitence.
But now, that was a baptism of repentance
for the remission of sin.
The sins weren't remitted through the baptism, but
in what way were the sins remitted?
Well, he tells us here in this 29th
verse of John 1, Behold the Lamb of
God which taketh away the sin of the
world.
Baptism doesn't take away sin, but the Lamb
of God does.
And how does the Lamb of God take
away sin?
Why, he came into the world the only
begotten son of the Father, and himself absolutely
sinless, went to Calvary's cross, and there from
the cross he bore our sins.
The word of God says he was wounded
for our transgressions, he was bruised for our
iniquities.
The chastisement of our sins was upon him,
and with his Christ we are healed.
Now, because our sins were laid upon him,
because he takes the penalty due to those
sins, he takes away the sin of the
world.
That is, if we turn to him, if
we trust him, if we believe in him,
we have the right to say, Thank God
my sins are gone.
Gone in what way?
Because I was baptized?
No, that wouldn't put away my sins.
Because I joined some church?
No, that wouldn't put away my sins.
Because I turned over a new leaf?
No, that wouldn't put away my sins.
Because I have tried to be charitable and
kind to the poor and the needy?
No, very good thing to do all that,
but that wouldn't put away my sins.
What then?
Because I put my trust in the Savior,
the Lamb of God, who takes us away
the sin of the world.
The Savior knew all that I was guilty
of.
That is, of course, he died long before
I came into the world, but he knew
all I'd ever be guilty of, and he
took all my sins and bore them there
in his own body in a tree, and
endured the judgment that those sins deserve, so
that now God can be just and the
justifier of him that believeth in Jesus.
And this is the gospel that John the
Baptist preached.
Some people think that John didn't know the
gospel, but here it is.
He couldn't get a clearer gospel than this.
Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sin of the world.
That's the very tip and narrow of the
gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ is God's Lamb, God's
sacrificial Lamb who gave himself for us.
You remember when Abraham and Isaac were going
up Mount Moriah, and Isaac turned to his
father and said, Father, here's the wood and
here's the fire, but where's the lamb for
a burnt offering?
And Abraham said, My son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering.
Well, John the Baptist says, this is the
Lamb, this is the one that God has
provided, this is the savior for sinners, this
is the one who can offer himself without
spotting to God an hour and a half,
and this is the one whom he calls
upon us to receive.
We read in the first chapter of John's
gospel in verse 11, he came unto his
own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them
gave him power to become the children of
God, even as Adam and Eve on this
day.