I invite you to turn with me, please, to the opening chapter of the Gospel of John, the fourth book in the New Testament, the Gospel according to John in its first chapter. Follow with me, please. I read beginning at verse 29 through verse 34. John 1, verse 29. The next day he, John the Baptist, 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 ranks before me. because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water, that he might be revealed to Israel. And John bore witness. I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God. As the Apostle John begins his presentation of Jesus, he draws attention to a significant week, quite possibly the very first week in the public ministry of Jesus. On the first day of this week mentioned, a delegation sent by the religious leaders in Jerusalem had come to John the Baptist investigating who exactly was he. A stir had been created by his preaching. Multitudes had come under conviction and were being baptized by this man known as John the Baptist. Who was he? Was he perhaps the Messiah that the people had long awaited? If not, was he Elijah or the promised prophet? Under what authority did he baptize the multitudes who had been so impacted by his preaching. Well, John the Baptist had quickly shifted the attention of this investigative committee to Christ himself. Verse 29 begins with the words, on the next day or the next day, It's now the second day of this momentous week. And once again, John the Baptist is in view. On this day, it's not a committee that approaches him, but it's Jesus himself. And seeing Jesus come toward him, the Baptist declares the following about him. He says that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He says that Jesus is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And he declares finally that this Jesus is the Son of God. Now those first two statements will provide our outline this morning. So I want you to think with me first. about this declaration that John the Baptist made in seeing Jesus of Nazareth walking towards him. He said, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold is a word used to draw focused attention on the subject at hand. In days before the word processor, it was a way verbally to underscore and to put in all caps and to put in bold print. It was a way of drawing attention, focused attention to something. And John wanted now to focus attention on this man who was approaching him. He wanted attention to be drawn to this unique person and appearance. Jesus was entirely ordinary. But John is saying this man is not ordinary. He is the Lamb of God come to take away the sin of the world. Let's break this down into its three constituent phrases. Lamb of God. who takes away the sin of the world. Let's begin with Lamb of God. That's long been a cherished phrase among the people of God. We were just singing a moment ago. Hallelujah, hallelujah. A lamb of God for sinners slain. It's entirely appropriate that that title for Jesus has become so embedded in the minds and in the hearts of the children of God. Interestingly, however, John 1 is the only place in the whole Bible where the phrase is found. John uses it here, speaking of Jesus, Lamb of God. And according to the passage before us on the next day, Verse 36, John's going to say the same thing, Lamb of God. So it's very key in the way that the Baptist speaks of Jesus, but it's the only place in the whole Bible where that particular phrase, Lamb of God, is found. If you're familiar with the closing book of the Bible, the book of Revelation, you know that The lamb is a dominant title there, at times the lamb that was slain, many times found in the apocalypse. But only here in John 1 is lamb of God used. What does it mean? Well, four passages in the Old Testament contribute in a very large way to our understanding of what the Baptist was conveying when he spoke of Jesus in this striking way, we would be mistaken to assume that John the Baptist understood fully what he was saying. When he said, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, it's clear as you read through the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that the disciples, amidst having the huge advantage of all of the personal conversation with Jesus and hearing him teach and seeing his works And Jesus would begin to explain repeatedly, as his public ministry continued, that the Son of Man had come to suffer. He had come to be killed, and then he would rise on the third day. But it's clear in the Gospels that the disciples were so embedded in the thought that the Messiah, when he came, would conquer. They didn't think of a suffering Messiah, that it's really only after the Savior died and rose again that it would really come into focus, their ability to grasp the significance of Jesus as the Lamb of God. When John says it here, it's probably more a prophetic word. He's speaking the truth, and it's truth embedded in Old Testament background, the truth that he himself personally did not largely understand. at this time in his own pilgrimage. Four passages in the Old Testament help us to understand what the truth that he conveyed, what it means. The first passage is Genesis 22. It gives us the narrative of Abraham having been tested by God, the Lord, and a strikingly unusual passage, had directed his servant Abraham to offer as a sacrifice his only son, the son that he and his wife had waited so long for, the son that had been promised over decades at last Isaac had come. He was so cherished by Abraham and God testing Abraham as to who did he love most. Did he love God most or did he now love Isaac more than God? And the Lord tested him, calling him to go to a designated place and to offer up the son that he loved as a sacrifice. And along the way, according to verses seven and eight of Genesis 22, Isaac, who was obviously very accustomed to seeing his father offer a lamb as a sacrifice to God as a ritual of worship. Along the way, Isaac asked his dad, we've got the wood, we've got the fire, where is the lamb? It puzzled him. He was accustomed to the sacrifice of lambs, but where was the lamb? His father had not told him of God's strange directive that Isaac himself was to be the offering. And of course, most of you know the story When the test proved that Abraham did in fact love his maker more than he loved his only son, his son of promise, God stepped in and kept Abraham from hurting his son. God provided a ram and Abraham had responded to Isaac's earlier question with an affirmation that that is what would happen because when Isaac had asked him, where is the lamb for the burnt offering, Abraham had said, God will provide for himself the lamb. It's a huge statement and understanding how even the opening book of the Bible is pointing ahead to what God would do for the redemption of sinners. will provide for himself the lamb. The second key Old Testament passage is Exodus 12. And there we have the narrative of the Passover lamb. We read, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, tell all the congregation of Israel that on the 10th day of this month, every man shall take a lamb. Your lambs shall be without blemish. The whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lentil of the houses in which they eat it. The blood shall be assigned for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This was the night of the 10th climactic plague of the Lord God upon the Egyptians. The Egyptians had been killing Israel's sons. And now in just holy judgment, God was going to take their firstborn. This was the climactic plague whereby Jehovah would demonstrate that he is the God of all the earth and that he was going to take his chosen people. So long oppressed brutally by the harsh Egyptians, God was going to take his people to freedom, and he would do so by way of this climactic judgment in which the firstborn throughout the land would be destroyed. Israel itself would face that judgment unless they heeded the instructions of the Lord. God, in mercy, provided a way of escape for the Israelites. They were to take a substitute. They were to take a sacrificial offering. God had appointed that a lamb could bear the judgment that the people themselves deserved. And where the lamb was taken and slain and where the blood was applied, the death angel would pass over and would not visit that particular home with death. A third key Old Testament passage is in Exodus 29. Exodus 29 verses 38 and following. And there instructions are being given to the priest concerning the daily ritual of the tabernacle. Exodus 29, 38 and following, now this is what you shall offer on the altar to lambs a year old, day by day, regularly. One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight. It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations. This was back when the tabernacle was first being incorporated into the worship of God. Instructions had been given for this sacred tent that would be the center of Hebrew worship. And at the center of the tabernacle would be daily offerings that would happen every single morning, every single night. And y'all, this went on for centuries. for literally hundreds and hundreds of years, every single morning and every single night, a lamb was offered up to God as a burnt offering, per God's own instructions. Even 70 AD, as the Roman army surrounded Jerusalem and the temple, prepared to raise it to the ground, even then amidst the horrific suffering of the famine and the disease and the onslaught of the Romans, Still, every morning, every evening, a lamb was procured to offer to God. It would only be with the destruction of Jerusalem there in 70 AD that the daily morning and evening sacrifices finally came to a stop among the Jews. For this daily ritual, God had intended to stop. at the coming of Jesus, the final, the ultimate lamb. And throughout all those centuries, the daily ritual was reminding God's people that the wages of sin is death, and that without the shedding of blood, there can be no forgiveness of sin, Hebrews 9, 22. A fourth and final key Old Testament passage that lies behind what John the Baptist declared concerning Jesus, Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53, the prophet spoke of a coming servant of the Lord who would suffer on behalf of his people. In verse seven, Isaiah says, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. Like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. We should grant that the reference to a lamb in that context, Isaiah 53, is not a reference to a sacrifice. Lamb is being used as a simile. That's a grammatical way of describing something that is like something else. And the suffering servant who would come would be like a lamb in the sense that he would suffer silently. He would suffer submissively. He would not fight against the suffering that would be brought upon him. He would not resist it. He would yield to it, and he would yield to it without a word, like a lamb led to the slaughter. But that said, Isaiah spoke of this suffering servant who would be like a lamb in the immediate context of language that is full of the idea of a substitutionary sacrifice. Because in the preceding verses, Isaiah said this, Isaiah 53, the suffering servant, he was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace. With his wounds, we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. The language is just replete, it's just pregnant with the idea of substitutionary sacrifice. An innocent victim taking upon himself the iniquities of the people, the guilt of the people, and the innocent one suffering on behalf of the guilty one. Very clearly the idea. in Isaiah chapter 53. The Lord told our first father, Adam, that he and his wife Eve could have free access to every tree in the Garden of Eden. We're not told how many trees were there, but we infer that there were more than a few. It must have been a beautiful paradise. There must have been all shades of color, all kinds of texture, all kinds of tastes that our first parents had access to in the garden paradise. and it was all for them. God in generosity made it for them that he would be glorified through their enjoying him and enjoying his created gifts. Every tree was accessible to them for their pleasure and for their development with one exception. They were not to eat from one tree, the tree of the knowledge of evil. And if they did partake of that one tree that was forbidden them, they would surely die. Well, Adam did eat the forbidden fruit and death came into the world and death to this very moment is still with us and it's all around us. The time from when we started this worship to the time that we ended, there'll be some 7,000 people to die all over the globe. That's about 115 people every minute. That's about two people a second, just two, four, six, eight, 10, And it just goes on, and it goes on, and it goes on, and it goes on. And we can't escape it. It's all around us, just in our relatively small congregation. We've seen Dorothy Wingrove pass this year. We've seen Barbara Miles pass. And we've seen Ann Barker and Ivy Perez. Just this weekend, we saw Terry's father, Charles Moretz, pass. Death is marching on. It's all around us. It's inescapable. Your time is coming, right? Right? Our funeral service is coming. If Jesus tarries, mine is coming. There is no escaping the justice of God and generosity. He created the world for man, but we defied him. We insisted on having our own way and his just judgment is death. And there's no getting away from it, and there's no escaping the second death, the eternal death, apart from atoning sacrifice. God has opened a way whereby His mercy can meet His justice. A way whereby His justice can be satisfied and death, the due punishment, is enacted and yet the guilty one can be set free from that punishment by way of the punishment being visited upon a substitute. All of our wealth, all of our technological progress, all of our scientific knowledge has not done a thing to remove death. Nor can it. We will die and we will face the second death unless we find refuge in the God-appointed sacrifice, a substitute to take our place. Animal sacrifices, of course, were symbolic. The blood of animals cannot wash away the sins of humans. We recognize that animals are not as significant as those made in the image of God. And we recognize that animals are not nearly as evil as we made in the image of God who've gone astray. Animals act only by instinct. We choose our evil. Animal sacrifices were pictures. All those lambs that were slain, they were pictures. of a coming sacrifice that would be a true sacrifice, an ultimate sacrifice, a worthy sacrifice. And when John the Baptist saw Jesus by the spirit of God, by way of a prophecy, he declares, behold, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. Are you clinging to that sacrifice? Is that your testimony this morning? that you are leaning on, you are relying upon, that sacrifice that God has provided in Jesus. Let's move on to the next constituent phrase, who takes away the sin. The Lamb of God who takes away the sin. In this context, the phrase takes away has two nuances of meaning, both of which apply to the Baptist declaration. One shade of meaning is that Jesus takes sin away from his people by placing it on himself. What exactly is meant by he takes away sin? Well, he takes sin off of the guilty and places it on his own person. 1 Peter 2, verse 24. Speaking of Jesus, he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree. Jesus would take away sins by burying it in his own person, on his own body. Similarly, 2 Corinthians 5, 21. For our sake, God the Father made him God the Son, the God-man, God the Father made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Jesus came to be the great sin-bearer. The only person who's ever walked on our planet, the only human who's ever walked on this planet who was truly sinless, came in order to be regarded as, at the cross, the great sinner. One who would be reckoned as having our unrighteousness imputed to his account. He would be regarded as if he was the guilty one. As if he had done the things that we have done. The innocent one. became the guilty one in the sight of heaven. There's another nuance or shade of meaning here. Jesus takes sin away from his people by removing it from the sight of God. How does the Lamb of God take sin away? He removes it from the sight of God. Having borne our transgressions, having been punished in our place, The effect is that Jesus has covered our iniquities. That's the idea of atoning. It's a religious word, the atonement, or an atoning sacrifice. The idea is of a covering, and the idea behind that is something being covered whereby it is not seen. It's as if it's not there. It's as if it's gone. And Jesus, having borne the sins of his people, and having borne the punishment due to those transgressions, has carried their sins far away. We sing a song, living he loved me, dying he saved me, buried he what? Carried my sins far away. We have that truth wonderfully illustrated in Leviticus 16, in the scapegoat ritual. That was a very special offering on the Jewish religious high day of the year, the Day of Atonement, and there would be two goats used in the ceremony, and the priest would place his hands on the head of the goat. a goat named scapegoat. We still use that term to this day, one who is blamed for the sins of others. Well, the goat would be blamed for the sins of Israel that was acting as a substitute. That goat was slain. It was sacrificed. It was put to death because the wages of sin are death, Romans 6.23. But the other goat, would be led out to a wilderness place and would be released, never to be seen again. And that goat was a live demonstration. It was an ancient video. It was like old-time YouTube. The goat would be led out into the wilderness and it would walk away. It'd never be seen again. It was a visual display of the result, the effect of the substitute, the God-appointed sacrifice having been offered, having been accepted, The result in heaven's sight was that the sins of the people resting on that goat had disappeared. As far as the east is from the west, so far have your transgressions been removed from you. The prophet Micah said, speaking on behalf of the Lord God, I'll cast your sins into the deepest sea. It's underscoring. Sins have been dealt with. They're no longer in God's sight. Now, when God looks upon the one who has placed his or her trust in the sacrifice, God sees righteousness. God sees the righteousness of the Holy One. The real transgressions that we've committed, they're gone. The sacrifice has borne them away. The final constituent phrase is of the world. Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. For centuries, the God-appointed sacrificial offerings had been taking place on behalf of just one nation and all the earth. Just the people of Israel knew the sweet, gracious privilege of the way of atonement. God is sovereign. God has the right to do as He will with His creatures. God is not under obligation, especially with His people having rebelled, with His people having stepped across the line and gone out of bounds and insisted on continuing in that course. God has never owed mercy to any. But God chose to have special mercy on one people. For centuries, only Israel knew that provision of God, there was no exception, except for some individuals here and there, a Rahab, a Ruth, who in the providence of God and in the grace of God were drawn into the community of the Hebrews. But in the coming of Jesus, the Lord's ultimate purpose was revealed more completely. For it has always been God's purpose that he would have a people drawn from all over the earth, a people from every nation, a people from China, and a people from Ethiopia, and a people from Bolivia, and a people from all over the planet, every nation, every tribe, every tongue, the Old Testament itself. spoke in advance of this being the purpose of God. Passages like Psalm 67. Let the nations be glad. Not just Israel. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy. Let the peoples praise you, O God. God, bless us. Let all the ends of the earth fear him. When John the Baptist saw this humble-looking ordinary looking man approaching him. Led by the Spirit of God, he declares, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin, not just of the children of Abraham, he takes away the sin of the world. It's an incredible statement for a Jewish person to make. But he rightly recognized We're not sure how much he entirely understood, but he was speaking the truth. God's plan is that this sacrifice, this ultimate sacrifice provided by God is provided for a world of sinners. Well, we've been considering this wonderful declaration. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Consider next with me the affirmation made by the Baptist that Jesus is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Jesus is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Our passage says, the Baptist speaking, this is he of whom I said, after me comes a man who ranks before me because he was before me. I myself did not know him, but for this purpose I came baptizing with water that he might be revealed to Israel. and John bore witness, I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit." We've noted earlier in our consideration of the opening chapter of John, John the Baptist was fully persuaded that He was nothing. Jesus was everything. He was deeply convinced of the preeminence of Christ. And he recognized that that preeminence in no small part was rooted in the fact that Jesus was preexistent. That even though in earthly time, Jesus had been born after John the Baptist, that that's not where Jesus began. That back when the world began, that this Christ already was. John was gripped by that reality of the transcendence of Jesus. John had some knowledge of Jesus before he baptized Jesus. They were distant relatives. Their mothers were related as cousins, I think. And so, no doubt, John would have some awareness of who Jesus was. They didn't grow up in the same community. But John makes it clear here in this narrative before us that he did not understand that Jesus was the Messiah until God made that clear by way of revelation. And God told him that he would see firsthand the Messiah, and God told him how he would recognize that the Messiah was then in his presence. John came baptizing with water, and according to verses 32 and 33, the Baptist bore witness. I saw the spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, he on whom you see the spirit descend and remain, this is he. baptizes with the Holy Spirit. Jesus comes to be baptized by John, and interestingly, the Apostle John does not draw our attention to the event of Jesus himself being baptized. We find that in the other synoptic Gospels, but we know from those accounts that John the Baptist would baptize Jesus. Jesus was concerned to fulfill all righteousness. And in Jesus coming to John as he was baptizing to be himself baptized, John noted something that was extraordinary and that was supernatural. A dove came down from above. and descending, it alighted upon Jesus and it remained there. And by way of a prophetic insight that God had given John the Baptist earlier, he knew that it was more than just a bird on a man's shoulder. It was the promised Holy Spirit coming down in an extraordinary fullness upon this one Jesus of Nazareth, and by way of the dove remaining on the shoulder, it was signaling the reality that the descending Holy Spirit would remain upon Jesus in an extraordinary, ongoing way. The prophet Isaiah had said centuries earlier, This is from chapter 11, verses one and two. There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit, and the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him. The spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The people of God had been awaiting this promised one upon whom the spirit of God would rest in an extraordinary way. Again, Isaiah chapter 42, verses one and following. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights, I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations. He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice. Don't make it hurt in the street. A bruised reed he will not break. A faintly burning wick he will not quench. that gentle and lowly ministry, that grace upon grace that would come to the defeated, and to the worn, and to the guilty, and to those whose lives had become a wreckage. This One who would come with grace and who would not extinguish a flickering wick, who would not break a bruised reed. This is the One who would be full of God's Holy Spirit. that would be placed upon him in an extraordinary way. And John the Baptist, knowing his Old Testament, no doubt had some understanding that these passages were coming to fruition. This is the one that had been promised, upon whom the Spirit descends, upon whom the Spirit remains. The prophet Ezekiel spoke of how the Lord would give the Holy Spirit to his people. Not only would there be a great servant of the Lord upon whom the Spirit would come, but through the servant of the Lord, the people of God would receive the ministry of the Holy Spirit in a whole new way in the coming new covenant. Ezekiel 36 verses 25 through 27. God speaking through his servant says, I'll sprinkle clean water on you. and you shall be clean from all your uncleanness. And from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I'll give you a new heart and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put My Spirit within you." This is one of the greatest promises of the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules." Speaking of a new covenant unlike the old, which characteristically was broken by the people of God. God would do something new inside his people. And it would be in connection with the coming of the promised one. God would write his law upon their hearts. He would put the fear of himself inside of them. His spirit he would place in their souls, giving them a genuine concern and a real ability to walk in his ways. There would be a transformation of heart. There would be an alteration of moral character. whereby the law of God would not characteristically be broken. It would be loved. It would be honored. It would be viewed as sweet to walk in God's ways, to live a life surrendered to him. The law of God is not what burdens people, it's sin that burdens people. But God was promising the gift of his spirit, the baptism of his spirit, to use John's language, that would bring about this deep change within, whereby carefully observing the statutes of God would become a cherished way of life. As we close this morning, let me invite you to think of someone. For years, it would always be a man who would come to my mind. I'm forced to realize by way of pastoral experience and by way of repeated researches that this can be a female thing as well as a man thing. Think of someone, perhaps young, perhaps not so young, in a given moment looking at their laptop, looking at their phone, they come across an image. of a naked person in a very seductive pose. And he realizes that this is forbidden ground. And she feels a sense of stain upon her conscience. But they find themselves drawn in. And they continue to look. And maybe they go for days without looking again. Maybe they go for weeks. Maybe they go for months without looking at those forbidden scenes of naked people engaged in sexually provocative poses and behavior. But they find themselves pulled back in. They find themselves in a whirlpool that is sucking them down with a strength of current. that they're not able to resist. And they are resisting, perhaps, on some level. And yet, they find themselves returning to this place. Everybody here knows, when you stop and think about it, the real nature of pornography. And you know that it's looking upon other humans in an entirely manipulative way. You understand, I understand that it's entirely exploitational. It's taking God's good gift of sexuality and it's stripping it of everything meaningful that God put in place to protect that good gift that he designed and that he gave to the people made in his likeness. You know that pornography has nothing to do with intimacy. And intimacy is, true intimacy is a huge part of what God designed sex to accomplish. You know it has nothing to do with love. And love is a huge part of what God designed for the gift of intercourse between one man and one woman. You know that pornography has nothing to do with covenant commitment. A huge part of the fence that God erected in creation to protect what is something beautiful but what is something that is fragile. Something that can bring such blessing but something that can bring such hurt in ways that we can't even completely expound it goes so deep into the human psyche and God protected that A gift that was so fragile by creating covenant commitment whereby this gift from above would be experienced in the context of a man and a woman making a sworn pledged to each other that they would, by the grace of God, work out, that they would be true to one another, that they would love each other, that they would share in a secret garden, something that only the two of them would experience, that no one else would be brought into that garden, and they wouldn't climb over the wall of that garden to experience with someone else what God had intended for just two people, permanently, monogamously, man and woman, to experience. Now, I'm not saying anything revelatory, am I? You know this is the truth. Pornography is, depending on who you read it, generates from $6 to $12 billion of revenue just in America every year. Research indicates that 85% of young men between the age of 14 and 18 have viewed pornography. And perhaps surprisingly to some of us, the same research indicates that well over 50% of young women aged 14 to 18 have viewed pornography. And for some people, it's become an addiction. They realize it's not right. They realize this is not the way to life. But they can't get away from it. It has got chains shackled around one, if not both ankles. What are you going to do? What are you going to do if you're married and you're doing that stuff? And you don't need me to tell you that you should feel guilty over this. This is adultery. This is marital treachery. Well, if indeed I'm speaking to someone who has become somewhat addicted, there are a number of things that could be said as to what you need to do. But the most basic counsel that I can give you is this. You need the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Because Jesus came from heaven, God's own son, so that at the cross, he would be viewed as the porn indulger on behalf of his people. He would be viewed as the one who kept clicking those images and would not stop looking at forbidden flesh, looking in a manipulative, exploitative way. Jesus, of course, never did anything like that Himself, but He would be viewed as if He had done those things. And this was the plan of God, one that the Son and the Father and the Spirit planned together from before the foundation of the world. And Jesus came, and there at the cross, He took on the smut of our lives. He took on the filth of our lives. The things that we would most be embarrassed for even our closest friends to know about us. And He took it upon Himself with this goal that taking it upon Himself, He would bear the punishment. He would remove it forever from the sight of God. It's gone. It's covered. It's been cast into the deepest sea. That's what Jesus Christ does for any and every sinner that places their trust in him. That is the only fountain deep enough. That is the only fountain pure enough. That is the only fountain heavenly enough to be able to get down into the DNA of our corruption and to wash us clean in the sight of heaven. And that's exactly what the blood of Jesus does for anyone and everyone who trusts in him. But we also have a need of power, don't we? We need a power that will overcome the power of sin. We need something that will get inside of us That will give us the ability to say no to that which is screaming for us to say yes to. We need something that can mute the clamor of that seductive voice that's saying, you've got to have it. You know you're going to do it. Give in. Give in. It's only a matter of time. You've given in before. You might as well go ahead and give in now. We need something that will help us inside of us. to be able to say, God, help me. Lead me not into temptation. Deliver me from the evil one. I want your ways, O God. And that's what the Spirit of God does in every single Christian. It doesn't work perfectly. It doesn't mean that you become a plaster saint overnight. But Jesus is not a Savior who stands up on a high mountain and says, I'll save you if you can reach me. If you've got the strength to pull yourself up here, salvation is here. Do better. Improve. Get over it. Stop it. Reach me. I'll save you. That is not the Jesus of the Bible. He is the Lamb of God coming to us in our filth, in our guilt, baptizing with the Holy Spirit. No one understands better than God our covenant-breaking inclinations. It's in all of us. The only thing that can emancipate is the life-giving, life-changing Spirit of God. And the spirit is not for the elite ones or for those who can work yourself up into enough of a fervor that you can start to babble in other tongues. The spirit of God is the lamb's gift to everyone who receives him in repentance and faith. And he makes a difference because he does what God promised he would do. He creates a disposition that, while not perfectly, is sincerely concerned to obey the statutes of God. Has that happened in your life? Are you conscious that God has come in Jesus to forgive you and to change you? Now, some of you may be here today and you just feel in the grip of the coils of your addiction, and you certainly don't feel very changed at the moment. Look to Jesus. Because he is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And from his fullness, sinners like us can receive. Believe in Jesus. and follow Him, repent, take action, talk to someone. This sin loves anonymity. Be prepared to take some radical steps, but the remedy is the Lamb of God. He does take away the sin of the world. Let's pray. Our God, we thank you. Oh, how we thank you for your precious word. We need, oh God, everything that you have declared Jesus to be. We need this kind of omnipotent deliverer. We need this kind of unmerited favor. We are guilty a million times over. And we ask that you would please forgive us of our iniquities for Christ's sake. And we thank you that you vowed that you would do something different than what had been done for Israel of old. You pledged, dear Lord, that you would work inside of your people So do that gracious work by your Holy Spirit, and may our desires for holiness be greater than ever. We pray for those who are outside of Christ, and we pray, O Spirit, that you would speak with that voice that cannot be resisted. We pray in Jesus' name, amen.