Our text this evening will come from John chapter 1, verse 29. John 1, 29. In Jeremiah 6, verse 16, we read this. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the way and see. and ask for the old paths, that path that is well trodden. Out by our house, there's a pasture field, and there's a place on the side of the hill you can see. It's the way the cattle always go. It's a well-trodden path. It's a safe way. Doesn't look that way from a distance, but it's the way they travel, and it's beat down because that's the only path they take. It's a familiar trail, a well-trodden path. That's what Jeremiah is saying here. He said, ask for the old paths. We don't need a new way. There is no new way. The old path, where's the good way? and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." That old path doesn't change. And that's true of this gospel. This gospel, God's gospel, does not change. It's the same message. Here in just a few hours, That ball will drop and we'll go from 2024 to 2025. 2024 will be gone and we'll celebrate the new year. The year will change. It'll take us a few weeks to get used to writing those dates on checks and everything else, but the year will change. This gospel. does not change. Aren't we thankful? Aren't we thankful that it does not change the message of God's free and sovereign grace to sinners? It's the same gospel. And this evening, I pray the Lord would enable me to preach his gospel. I believe what I have, even though it's a new year, It's the same old message. An old message for a new year. It's the message that has been proclaimed since Adam's time. It's a message concerning the Lamb. Turn with me, if you haven't already, to John 1, verse 29. John 1, 29. The next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and he saith, Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb. It's the same Lamb that has been seen throughout God's Word, throughout the Scripture. Behold the Lamb of God. That word behold, it means to look earnestly. If you look at verse 36 of John 1, you'll see the same command. He says the same thing again. John again says, Behold the Lamb. I don't know what all was going on what events were taking place during this, but John said, behold the Lamb. That's what we need to be taken up with. Any question about the importance of this statement, of this command, the significance of it, the urgency of it? Behold the Lamb of God, a careful and deliberate observation. I pray the Lord would enable us to do that, not just this evening, but every time we gather together to behold the lamb. First, to behold the lamb prophesied. This lamb was prophesied. We read of a lamb to the slaughter. A lamb led to the slaughter. Turn to Isaiah 53. Look at verse 7, Isaiah 53, verse 7. It says, he was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a what? As a lamb. As a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shears his dung, so opened he not his mouth. He was oppressed and afflicted. You know, He was oppressed His entire life from His birth. Consider that. Christ began His life, a life of suffering. He was born into this world, the King of kings, the Lord of lords. He was brought into this world and laid in a manger, that which is used to feed animals, in a barn. There was no room for Him. Scripture said there was no room for Him in the end. Men still have no room. That's not changed, has it? Men still have no room for Christ. He lies in that manger. He was born of a poor mother. He's going to know the ills of poverty. King Herod sought to kill Him. And shortly after his baptism, he spends 40 days, 40 days fasting in the wilderness where he suffered. He suffered being tempted. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. At Gethsemane, consider this, he suffered. He sweat great drops of blood. I can't even imagine what that even looks like. He suffered. He was betrayed by Judas. He was falsely accused. He was despitefully treated. He was bruised and scourged. He was nailed to a cross, mocked to scorn, deserted by the Father, and then he yielded up the ghost. a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief from the cradle to the grave. He said this, behold and see if there be any sorrow like my sorrow, which is brought upon me, wherewith Jehovah God hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Behold the Lamb. We read this in Isaiah 53, Despite this, yet he opened not his mouth. He didn't complain about that affliction that was laid upon him. He opened not his mouth. He didn't complain against the justice of Almighty God, the demand that was made upon him as he hung there on the cross. as he became surety for his people. He took that punishment as if it was his own. He made it. He made it his own. He paid the debt. He bore the punishment without any dispute, without any hesitation. Behold, The Lamb. Read on in Isaiah 53. It said, He's brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before her shears is done. A lamb. A lamb. Behold the Lamb. The innocence of Christ as of a lamb. The patience of Christ in His suffering. His willingness to be sacrificed, not for sins of His own, but for the sins of his people. He suffered and died in the room instead of his people. He went to the cross without any hesitation. Scripture said he set his face like a flint. He opened not his mouth. Peter wrote this. He said when he was reviled, he reviled not again. When he suffered, He threatened not, but he committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. Behold the Lamb. The Lamb prophesied. Behold the Lamb in picture. That's the second point. Behold the Lamb in picture. Back in the book of Genesis, in Genesis 3, we read God made Adam and Eve. Remember that? The very first thing he did after the fall is he made them coats of skins and he clothed them. He covered them. Those fig leaves, the work of their own hands, that's not going to get the job done. That's never going to cover their nakedness. He made coats of skins. God slew an animal. He shed its blood and he made coats of skin to cover them, to cover the skin of guilty sinners. An animal, an animal slain. We don't know. It doesn't say what that animal was. It wouldn't surprise me if it was a lamb. He slew an animal, shed its blood, behold the Lamb, behold it in picture, Christ the Lamb of God. He must shed His blood. He must do that to put away our sin. And listen, He provides a robe of righteousness to cover us. He was made sin for us. that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him." God's holy. See that? God is absolutely holy. We see sin all the time. We drink iniquity like water. We just let it go. We just watch it and go on. God can't do that. He's holy. Sin must be punished. even when it's found on his son. The wages of sin, what is it? Death. It can't be passed over. The debt must be paid and God's justice must be satisfied. Another picture of the lamb. Remember Abel's sacrifice, that firstling of the flock? There in Genesis 4, beginning with verse 1, we read this, Adam knew his wife and she conceived and bare Cain and said, I've gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother Abel. What was his occupation? Abel was a keeper of the sheep. Cain was a tiller of the ground, Abel a keeper of the sheep. And in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain, he brought the fruits of the ground. Look what I've done. I've got out there and I've scratched the ground and I've planted seed and I've pulled the weeds. Look what I've done. Cain brought the works of his hands, Abel. What Abel bring? He brought of the firstlings of the flock. What was that? He's a keeper of the sheep. He brought a lamb. He brought a lamb and the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and his offering. Not to Cain. Unto Cain and his offering he had no respect. And Cain was wroth and his countenance fell. Is that any different in our day? Bring that up at the lunch table at work, right? Saved by grace. They'll talk all day about religion, but when it comes to God saving a sinner, men won't have anything to do with that, will they? Abel brought a lamb. Behold the lamb. He brought an offering of faith. He brought an offering that pictured the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, a blood sacrifice picturing the Lord Jesus Christ who suffered and died for our sins. He brought an offering confessing his sin, owning that he deserved death. Our sin deserves the wrath of God. In order for us to, listen, in order for God to justify us, the Lord Jesus Christ must die in our room instead. He must die before the justice of Almighty God as our substitute. We love that word, substitution. Just think about that. The Lord Jesus Christ died in the place of His people. He made full satisfaction before the law of God, before the justice of God, enabling God to be just and justifier of those who believe in His Son. In Exodus 12, we read of the Passover lamb. We could spend the rest of the evening, we could spend this next year looking at nothing but the Passover But listen to just a few of these parallels. That Passover lamb pictures the Lord Jesus Christ. Consider this, the choice of the sacrifice. What did he tell Moses to go get? Take a lamb. Take a lamb. Our Lord Jesus Christ, what is he? He is the Lamb of God. The characteristics of that lamb. It wasn't go get that lamb that's probably not going to make it through the night. It was the choice lamb. A lamb without blemish, without spot. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the spotless lamb of God. He did no sin, neither was there guile even found in his mouth. Consider the death of that lamb. How did it die? Its blood was shed. The Lord Jesus Christ, by His own blood, He entered once into the holy place, into the presence of God, having obtained eternal redemption for us. How about the eating of the lamb? Feeding on that lamb. They ate that lamb. That's what they were to do. They were to eat of the lamb and they were to just rest. The work's done. Our Lord spoke in John 6, 53. He said, except you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life, and I'll raise him up at the last day. You know, that which we eat, it ends up in our body, isn't it? That's Christ in us. A picture of Christ in us. And consider the result. What was the result of that Passover lamp? The people were delivered. God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. The people were delivered. And so it is with God's people. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. Well, third, behold the Lamb in person. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1, 1 Peter 1, 18. 1 Peter 1 verse 18, for as much as you know, you weren't redeemed with corruptible things, silver, gold, your vain conversation received by tradition of your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb. without blemish and without spot. Back in the Old Testament times, those sacrifices were made over and over and over again, pointing to the need of a sacrifice to take away sin, and particularly to that Passover lamb. But the Lord Jesus Christ, he's the true Passover lamb, sacrificed for us. And that lamb, again, it had to be without spot, without blemish. All of this, all of this pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. He had no sin. He had no sin. He had no spot. He had no blemish. but he was made a sacrifice for sin. He came to redeem his people. Paul writing to the Hebrews, he wrote of the Lamb of God, he said of the Lord Jesus Christ, now once in the end of the world he hath appeared to put away sin. How? By our deeds? No. No, by the sacrifice of himself. The Lamb. Behold the Lamb prophesied. Behold the Lamb in picture. Behold the Lamb in person. And fourth, behold the Lamb provided. Listen to the words of Abraham. You can turn back there in Genesis 22. Genesis 22 verse 8. God had told Abraham, He said, you take your son, take your only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and you offer him there as a burnt offering upon the mountain, which I'll tell thee of. And Abraham, he got up early the next morning, and he took the wood of that burnt offering, and he laid it upon his son Isaac, And he took the fire in his hand and a knife and both of them went together. Isaac was a willing sacrifice. And as they were walking, Isaac spoke to his father. He spoke to Abraham and he said, my father. And Abraham said, I'm right here. And Isaac said, behold the fire and the wood. Where's the lamb? Where's the lamb for a burnt offering? There is no acceptance. There is no communion between God and man apart from a blood sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission. There must be a lamb. Look at verse 8. Genesis 22, verse 8. Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. And they went both together. I just think young people sometimes ask a lot of questions. That was the answer, wasn't it? God will provide himself a lamb. He didn't need any further explanation. We don't have any record. He asked any more questions. That was enough. I ask you, is that enough? God will provide himself a lamb. The Lord will provide himself as the lamb. Who is that Lamb? Any question about who that Lamb is? The Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. He is God. The Lord will provide for Himself a Lamb. God's the one, He's the offended party. We're not the offended party. God, we have offended Him. That blood, that blood that was put on the doorpost, who saw that? Not the folks inside. God did. He said, when I see the blood, the blood was shed for Him. The Lord will provide. He'll see to it. He'll see to it that every one of His sheep is redeemed. He'll see to it that His law is satisfied. He'll see to it that His justice is satisfied. He'll see to it that His covenant is fulfilled. He'll see to it that the eternal glory of His Son is accomplished. Nothing, nothing left undone. Men often say that. They'll say, God's done this, this, this, this, and this, and He's left this up to you. Where is that? Where is that in Scripture? What did the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, cry on the cross? It is finished. It's complete. Nothing. Nothing left undone. God will provide himself a lamb. And then if we read on in there, verse 12 of Genesis 22, he says, lay not thy hand upon the land, neither do thou anything unto him, for I know that thou fearest God, seeing that you've not withheld thy son, thy only son, from me. And look at this, Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked. And look at that, and behold. You see that? Behold. Behold the lamb. Behold behind him a ram caught in the thicket by its thorns. And Abraham went and he took that ram and he offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. Is there any question? who provided that ram, huh? What did Abraham tell him? God will provide himself a lamb for a barren offering. Can you behold the lamb? Can you behold the lamb that God provided? Turn again with me to John 1.29. The lamb provided. Listen to John's words here. John 129, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Behold. Again, a careful and deliberate observation. John wasn't the one people needed to behold. John wasn't that light, was he? No, he came to bear witness of the light. He said, I must decrease and he must increase. What did he say? Did he say, look at me? He said, behold the Lamb of God. In Hebrews 10, Paul wrote, the law having a shadow of good things to come. Not the very image of those things. Those sacrifices, they were offered year after year, continually, but they could never make the comers thereunto perfect. If they could have been, they'd cease to have been offered. But they didn't, did they? And those sacrifices, there's a remembrance again made of sin every year. It's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats could take away sin. Wherefore, when he cometh into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body, a body, Christ became a man, a body thou hast prepared me. And burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin, you had no pleasure in those. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the volume of the book it's written of me, to do thy will, O God. Behold the Lamb of God. The Lamb. There is but one Lamb. There is but one Savior. And we read that song, yes, there's one, only one, the blessed, blessed Lord Jesus, He's the one. This is the one of whom the prophets spake. That one that was pictured and prophesied throughout God's word, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Spurgeon wrote this, he said, no other in all the world can take away sin but the Lamb of God. There is no sin which He cannot take away. There is no limit to the value of His great sacrifice. He taketh away the sin of the world. 1 John 1 verse 7, the blood of Jesus Christ. Who is He? He's the Son of God. He cleanses us from all sin. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. The Lord Jesus Christ, who his own self bear our sins in his body on the tree that we being dead to sin should live unto righteousness by whose stripes ye are healed. Behold the Lamb of God. And last, behold the Lamb prophesied. Behold the Lamb in picture. Behold the Lamb in person. Behold the Lamb provided. Last, behold the Lamb to be praised. to be praised. Turn with me to one more scripture and I'll close. Turn to Revelation 5. And I tried, I really tried to find just a few verses of this passage to read, but there was just no place to start but verse 1 and no place to end but the last verse. You follow along with me. John said, I saw in the right hand of him again, Revelation 5, I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within, and on the backside sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man in heaven Nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and read the book, neither to even look thereon. And one of the elders said unto me, weep not." Fear not, be of good cheer. How many times do we read that in Scripture? Weep not, behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof, 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 what? 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. And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat on the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation." Any question to who this refers to? The Lord Jesus Christ. And it has made us unto our God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne. and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and thousands saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven And on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them, heard I say, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever. We'll praise him forever and ever. And the four beasts said, amen, and the four and 20 elders fell down and worshiped him that liveth forever and ever. Behold, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. All right.