The passage that I call your attention to for a little while this morning is John 1, verse 29. John 1, verse 29, and we will read in the surrounding context beginning at verse 12. John 1, verse 12, and read through verse 36. John 1, verse 12. Rather, verse 15. John 1, verse 15. John bare witness of Him and cried, saying, This was He of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of his fullness have all we received, and grace for grace. For the law was written by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him. And this is the record of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? And he confessed and denied, not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said they unto him, Who art thou, that we may give an answer to them that sent us? What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet? John answered them, saying, I baptize with water. But there standeth one among you whom ye know not. He it is who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoes latch it. I am not worthy to unloose. These things were done in Beth Arbor, beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day, John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, The Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. This is He of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me. For He was before me, and I knew Him not, but that He should be made manifest to Israel. Therefore am I come. baptizing with water. And John bare record, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon Him. And I knew Him not, but He that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, the same is He which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost. And I saw, and bear record, that this is the Son of God." Again, the next day, after John stood, and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold, the Lamb of God. As far as we read the Word of God this morning, may God bless the reading of His Word. I call your attention to this morning to page 63 in the back of the Psalter. We consider once again the doctrines of grace and we turn to limited atonement. We'll read the first four articles of the second head of doctrine. Page 63, Article 1, God is not only supremely merciful but also supremely just, and His justice requires, as He hath revealed Himself in His Word, that our sins committed against His infinite majesty should be punished, not only with temporal but with eternal punishment, both in body and soul, which we cannot escape unless satisfaction be made to the justice of God." Article 2, since therefore we are unable to make that satisfaction in our own persons or to deliver ourselves from the wrath of God, He hath been pleased in His infinite mercy to give His only begotten Son for our surety, who has made sin and became a curse for us and in our stead, that He might make satisfaction to divine justice on our behalf. The death of the Son of God is the only, this is Article 3, the death of the Son of God is the only and most perfect sacrifice and satisfaction for sin and is of infinite worth and value, abundantly sufficient to expiate the sins of the whole world. And then Article 4, this death derives its infinite value and dignity from these considerations Because the person who submitted to it was not only really man and perfectly holy, but also the only begotten Son of God, of the same eternal and infinite essence with the Father and the Holy Spirit, which qualifications were necessary to constitute Him a Savior for us. And because it was attended, with the sense of the wrath and curse of God due to us for sin. It's in the light of those articles of the second head of the Canons of Dort that I call your attention to verse 29 of John 1 this morning. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. This morning, we consider the death of Jesus Christ, and that's what we're talking about when we speak of the atonement of Jesus Christ. How did Jesus make atonement? He made atonement by his sacrificial death on the cross as the Lamb of God. What do we mean by atonement? I want to state that right at the outset this morning. When we speak of an atonement, we mean Jesus' payment for sin. That's the atonement of Christ, the payment that Jesus Christ made for sin. And that sounds, and I think that we ought to keep it this way this morning. That sounds simple, and we should keep it simple. Jesus Christ atoned for our sins. Jesus Christ paid for our sins. That is so simple that you would expect everyone, whether they are Roman Catholic, Arminian, Baptist, Reformed, or some other denomination or church, everyone would agree this is the truth of the atonement. Jesus paid for sins. But the fact is that the atonement of Jesus Christ is very controversial. In fact, one writer whose book I read this past week said of the five points of Calvinism, it was his opinion, I'm not sure I agree with him, but it was his opinion, this is the most controversial. And in support of that, he said that when you run into people who claim to be four-point Calvinists, that is people who say, yes, I believe in Calvinism, I believe in four points of Calvinism, The one point that they most often do not believe is limited atonement. Yes, I believe in total depravity, they will say, in unconditional election, in irresistible grace, in the perseverance of the saints, but I do not believe in a limited atonement. I do not believe that you can limit the death of Jesus Christ to only certain people. I believe in an unlimited atonement that Jesus Christ died for everyone. The Reformed faith, confesses, Jesus' atonement is limited. He died and made payment, not for everyone, but only for the elect who are chosen by God in eternity to salvation. Hence, limited atonement. But this morning, following the first four articles of Head 2 of the Canons of Dort, we do not focus so much on for whom Jesus died. We will consider that in an upcoming sermon. But this morning our focus is on the worth and the value of the death of Jesus Christ. And here again, you would think that there shouldn't be any controversy or disagreement. Wouldn't all agree that Jesus Christ, when he died on the cross, made a payment of infinite worth and value? And it doesn't matter who you ask. If you speak to a Roman Catholic, what do you believe about the worth of Jesus' atonement? He is certainly going to say, I believe Jesus' atonement, His payment for sin, is of infinite worth and value. You ask a Baptist, you ask an Arminian, and they are going to say the same thing. And of course, in the Reformed Church too, as we saw this morning in the Canons of Dort, we confess that Jesus made a payment that is Unlimited in value. When we speak of limited atonement, we don't mean at all that somehow there's a limit to the value, the worth of Jesus' death. His death is of infinite worth and value. The Arminians, this is important to recognize, the Arminians say to us reformed folk, no, You don't believe in a death of Jesus of infinite worth and value because you make it limited only to the elect. And our answer to them must be this. Yes, we do believe in a limited scope, but just because we believe in a limited scope that the death of Jesus isn't for everyone, only for the elect, doesn't mean we limit the value. And then we turn around and we say to them, you are the ones who actually limit the value of the death of Jesus Christ, because you are the ones who say that there are many people for whom Jesus died, for whom Jesus made a payment, who end up not being saved. and going to hell. So this morning, to defend the Reformed faith, to expose the lie of Arminianism, let's consider the truth of the atonement as it is taught here in John 1 verse 29. Here is the truth about Jesus Christ, his death on the cross, what he has accomplished according to that last and greatest Old Testament prophet, John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. And let's hear this word this morning not only so that we can engage in defending the truth, not only so that we can expose the Arminian error, but let's hear John the Baptist as he speaks to the faith of believers and says, in Jesus Christ as the one who is fully and freely paid for your sins. So let's consider this morning atonement, taking away sin. First of all, needed atonement. Secondly, valuable atonement. Thirdly, true atonement. John the Baptist Think of him this morning, John the Baptist, as a finger pointing First of all, and mainly, to Jesus Christ. He is the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he served in that function very faithfully. We see that here in John chapter 1. Immediately in his preaching, it's clear that John is not saying, behold me, look at me, but he is saying, behold Jesus, look at Jesus as the Savior. Right away, verse 15, he that cometh after me is preferred before me, for he was before me. I may have been born before him, I may have entered ministry before him, but in rank he is above me. And then when important people from Jerusalem come, the priests, the Levites, and the Pharisees, and they want to know who John is, John keeps pointing away from himself. No, I'm not the Christ. No, I'm not Elias. I am not that prophet. Who are you, John? I'm a voice calling attention to someone else. I am the one who has to make way, make the path straight for the Lord, for someone else. It's not me, but there's someone else coming after me. John is very, very humble when he refers to himself as that man who makes the road straight. He is pointing to the lowliest of all of the soldiers in the army. This is what you give to the men who almost are failures as soldiers. You say the king is going to travel and you go before him. Instead of holding a sword, a shield, and being engaged in battle, you're going to go before the king and you're going to fill in the potholes and make the way straight for him. And then John uses another figure. He says, there's one coming who's shoelatched and I'm not worthy to unloose. This was the lowest of all of the jobs for a student. This was the one job really that the teacher didn't expect of the student. He'd make the student do everything else, but the one thing you don't have to stoop down to do is get down and take the shoes off of my dirty feet. And John is saying, I'm not worthy to do that even. The one who is coming is so much higher and better than me. He has a baptism that's not just with water, but he has a baptism with fire and the Holy Spirit. And so John is pointing a finger at Jesus Christ as every faithful preacher of the gospel must do, as every believer really must do by their confession, by their walk of life. Point the finger. Who's my Savior? Jesus Christ. He's the Savior from sin. Behold the Lamb of God. That's what John does in verses 29, and then again in verse 36. But John is a finger pointer in another way in all of his preaching and ministry, and here too in John chapter 1, but especially in Matthew chapter 3, if you read that sometime today. When it comes to the Savior, John doesn't point to himself or anyone else, his finger is pointing to Jesus Christ. But who needs the Savior? Sinners. And who's the sinner? And John is a finger pointer pointing right to all of those who are listening to his preaching. You are the sinner. Repent. Every one of you is in need of repentance. John points at many common Jewish people. Yes, they're sinners. They need a savior. He points to the tax collectors and to the soldiers of Rome. And you would expect this, that John would be pointing a finger at them. Yes, repent. You need repentance. You need a Savior. But then he points to the respectable people, to the rich people who come from Jerusalem, the servants of the priests, the religious leaders in the land. And when they come, he doesn't code over the truth for them. When they come, he calls them a generation of vipers and says that they must flee from the wrath to come. And John's point then, is not to charge anyone with sin and to tell them, you're damned, there's no hope for you, you're irredeemable, your soul will perish and be miserable forever in hell. But John comes, repent, repent, turn from your sin, confess your sin, know that the kingdom of heaven is at hand. And the point is, there's good news, there is forgiveness of sins, For those who know they need a Savior. For those who know their guilt and their sin. For those who know that they need a Lamb, a Savior to come and deliver them from their guilt and sin. And the finger is pointed at you and me. Do you see that this morning? Do you see that John, this minister of judgment, of wrath, this man who came and he was very serious. He didn't come with any worldly comforts. He was wearing a coat of camel's hair. He's wearing a leather girdle. He ate locusts and wild honey. This was a man who was very serious. He had a serious message and he's pointing the finger at you and me. And will you say this morning, I'm the sinner. I need the lamb to pay for my sin. We have sinned against God. John speaks here of sin. And there are two pictures to think of this morning in connection with this text. Think of sin, first of all, as target shooting. The word sin that he uses here refers to the fact that there's a target, a target for which we must aim as human beings. That one target really is the glory of God. The glory of God, not only outwardly in everything that we do, but the glory of God from the heart and with the mind. That's the requirement of those who have been created by God. And we can think of that target in terms maybe of ten targets when we think of the Ten Commandments. This is what God is saying in those Ten Commandments. I not only want you to do these things outwardly, to behave in a certain way where you don't do these things and you do these things, but I want you to keep these Ten Commandments with this motive and from this point of view that you are aiming at the glory of my name. And in those 10 commandments, God demands perfection. There aren't any points here for hitting the side of the target. God demands you must hit the bullseye. With all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, love and seek my glory. And it won't do to hit nine out of the 10 targets. Now what John is saying, and what the Word of God is saying to Jews who needed to hear this, and we need to hear this too, of people who don't want to admit our sins, he's saying, here's the truth about everyone. He's pointing a finger. You have not hit the bullseye. You have not scored 10 out of 10. You have not perfectly loved God. In fact, by nature, the truth is that You don't even aim for the glory of God. You don't aim for the target. You turn your back on God. You aim for your own glory. This is your sin. It's not that we miss the target once in a while, but we live constantly for ourselves. And even then, you see the seriousness of what we call little sins. Little, John is saying, you missed the target of God's glory. Repent and flee from the wrath to come. The second picture here is of a weight of sin. John speaks of Jesus as the Lamb of God who taketh away sin, and that's the picture of lifting up from us the burden of sin, but now the implication is This is our natural condition. You, every one of you, me too, we have the burden of sin upon ourselves without Jesus Christ. The burden of sin's guilt. The burden of the law of God saying to me and you, every time we do not hit the target of God's glory, you're guilty before God. You owe God a debt of love. You owe God for the hatred that you have shown for Him, the rebellion that you have committed against Him. Now many people would say, you talk of a burden of sin. That doesn't have any impact on me. I don't know what you're talking about. Maybe some would say, yes, I feel that burden when I'm caught and I am punished. Doesn't bother me otherwise. But yes, when the police officer pulls me over and gives me a fine, I'm burdened by that. Or when my dad catches me and he grounds me or punishes me, then I am burdened by the way that I have broke the rules of the house. But burdened with guilt before God? They don't think about God. And that's why it's important for the gospel to come, for John to come, pointing the finger and saying, understand that the ax is laid to the root of the tree. The kingdom of heaven is coming. This life is not going to go on forever. Jesus Christ who's come, he makes the difference. There are some who go to heaven and the rest go to hell. And don't you understand that's what you deserve because of your sin and your guilt. And so God, apart from sin, apart from Christ rather says, your sin that you committed, you're responsible for it. And it's as if he ties it to a scripture, uses that language of being bound to sin. It's yours. You're responsible for it. And I'm not going to let it go. And then you commit this sin and that sin. And then now the idea is that that burden keeps growing because every day we sin against God. And then what is the payment that God demands for sin? This is part of the burden. God says you deserve wrath and hell. That's what John preached. And this was the testimony of the whole Old Testament too, of which John really is the climax. He's the bridge between the Old Testament and the New Testament. He comes talking about a lamb that has come. And he's saying, now think about this. This is really the whole point of the Old Testament history. All those lambs. They were given by God to convict. To say to the people, see your guilt. See what you deserve, death, the shedding of blood for your sins. And the need, John's making this very plain, is not for someone to come and share the burden with you. Not for someone to come and make it possible somehow through him and through your cooperating with him to carry that burden away. But when John comes pointing a finger, he comes saying this, and this is what you must confess. There is nothing you can do about your sin. That's part of the burden that you bear. Sin has to be taken away by someone else so that it's gone. We need to understand the justice of God. We need to understand His just demand that sin be paid for if we're going to understand the atonement of Jesus Christ. God doesn't demand that we be reeducated. God doesn't demand that we try a little bit better in the future than what we've been doing in the past. God says, this is what you need. You need your sin taken away. And so the first question really this morning is, do you see the finger pointing at you? Not someone else. Oh yeah, he needs to repent. But at me. I'm the guilty, damn-worthy sinner who cannot save myself. I need the Lamb. And the message of John is, behold. And he repeats it, behold the Lamb. And that's the message of every sermon. That's the message of the Gospel every Sunday and every service to the people of God. Behold. With your spiritual eyes, with the eyes of faith and trust, behold Jesus Christ. He is the Lamb of God. That means, first of all, He's the Lamb who comes from God. Who can forgive sins but God only? Who can produce the sacrifice, provide that sacrifice? Well, God revealed that in the Old Testament when Abraham and Isaac went to Mount Moriah. And on their way there, Isaac is saying to his father, I see everything that we need for the offering unto God except for the sacrifice. And Abraham said to Isaac, God will provide. We don't provide the sacrifice. We don't provide salvation. This cannot be of man. It is of God. And this is why we can look to Jesus Christ and say He is the Messiah. Because he doesn't claim this for himself, God has appointed him and proclaims him to be the Savior. That's why we don't look to Muhammad or Joseph Smith or anyone else who claims to be a Messiah or a Savior. He's not the Lamb of God. That's true only of Jesus Christ. And this is also a reason for our awe of God, our thanksgiving to Him. Here is the God whom we sinned against. We offended Him by our sins, by not hitting the target of His glory, and yet God, seeing that we cannot provide our own sacrifice, says, I will provide the Lamb, the Savior. And he is the Lamb of God, understand too, that God determined to sin before the foundation of the world. Do not think of the death and the atonement of Jesus Christ as that which earns the love of God for us, so that somehow there's a separation between God's love and that sacrifice. But rather we need to understand John 3 verse 16 that says to us that this is the love of God that he sent his only begotten son into the world that he might make that sacrifice for our sins. So that when you're asking this question, what's the worth? What's the value of the death of Jesus Christ? Make sure you don't overlook this. Behind Jesus' death is the infinite love of God. Secondly, that Jesus is the Lamb of God points to his perfection. That was the requirement in the Old Testament. And there were some Israelites who didn't care. You can read about that in Malachi. Bring the best lamb? No, we're going to keep that for ourselves because that's the most valuable for us. We'll bring the maimed, the halt, the lame lamb. But there were many people in Israel who took this very seriously. They selected the best lamb. And you know what? They never found a perfect lamb. They loved their sheep. But you can think of it like the farmer today, or the 4-H member today, loves the animal that they're going to show, do everything that they can to make sure that this animal's without blemish, it's going to be perfect for the judges to look at, and yet, if you look carefully, you can see flaws in that animal. But God's lamb, Jesus Christ, behold him, examine him, look at him, and you tell me where you find any flaw." Where has he ever missed any of the targets? Where has he ever in any thought, any purpose of his heart, any deed missed the glory of God? Oh no, he loved God perfectly for 33 years and his enemies examined him very carefully. They looked for any smallest blemish that they might possibly find. And in the end, the only thing they could do was bring false accusations. And really, in the end, the only thing they could do is do what Pilate did and declare Jesus Christ to be perfect. And so the canons say, you want to know something about the value and the worth of the death of Jesus Christ? Well, first of all, as I pointed out, it's that he comes from God. He is the Lamb of God. But secondly, this has to do with who he is. He is the perfectly righteous man, but then we can add to that, he is also God, as the canons point out in article three. The Lamb of God not only comes from God, But He is the Son of God, that's the witness of John. He is the Son of God, the only begotten Son of God, who from eternity is in the bosom of the Father, as verse 18 says. This is how you measure the worth of the sacrifice made for us. The one who made it is not a mere man, but God Himself. Then the third thing is, this Lamb of God is powerful. He taketh away the sin of the world. When you look at Jesus Christ, With your earthly eyes, a man who suffered and went down to death on the cross, you might think, how weak and pathetic. And that's why many are offended and stumble at the name of Jesus Christ. Here is a man who doesn't come with a great army to conquer nations. But here is the man who comes to conquer the host of sin. Here's a beautiful picture to consider. Two pictures again actually. First of all, think of another person or think of yourself, maybe that would be better, carrying a heavy backpack. And that backpack is a burden to you that you cannot really bear. Another person comes along and takes it away. That doesn't mean this. I'm going to come and I'm going to put my arm around you and you can put your arm around me and we will shoulder the burden together. And it doesn't mean this either, give me your backpack for a little while and I'll carry this burden for you a little way and then after a little while, the burden's back on you. But think of this friend taking that backpack, maybe here in Jenison, and running. He has the strength to do that, to carry that weight as if it's nothing. to run all the way to the pier in Holland, maybe even to go out in the middle of Lake Michigan, and he drops that backpack there. And it sinks into that, not a sea, but that lake of forgetfulness, and the weight is gone forever. Or think of that burden, if it's not physical, as maybe a mental weight, a financial debt, Hopefully you haven't experienced this in your life, but maybe you can still get a sense of what that would feel like to owe somebody millions of dollars and you could never pay it back. And then someone comes and says, I'm going to help you by lifting that burden from you. And that doesn't mean that now I'm going to every month add a little bit of my own money to your money to pay the debt. And it doesn't mean that for the next year or two, I'm going to cover the debt totally for you. But I have removed the burden. I paid the millions of dollars that you owe so that the burden is gone. That's what Jesus has done with sin as the Son of God. He says, I've taken it upon myself. And now John is pointing to Jesus as the one who's going to do that yet. But we look back now at the end of the Gospel of John and receive the testimony there that Jesus Christ shed his blood for our sins, that he suffered hell for our sins, so that he could say in John chapter 19, it's finished. It's gone. Sins are gone. So how do you measure the value of Jesus' death? Where did he come from? He's the Lamb of God. Who is he? He is the perfectly righteous man, the Son of God, who has powerfully done what? Taken away our sins. And then fourthly, lastly, he's taken away the sin of the world. And of course, that does not mean that Jesus Christ has taken away the sin of every man, woman, and child. But we're going to focus on that another time, that Jesus' death is only for the elect. The point here, though, is two things. First of all, world here refers to all different kinds of people in the world. John the Baptist is telling the Jews, he didn't come just for you. Jesus Christ hasn't come just to take away the sins of one kind of man, one man's family, or even one nation, but he came to take away the sins of the world, the Gentiles included. So that it wouldn't be John the Baptist, but later it would be the apostles. Paul and others going throughout the world, and they would never come to a place and say, alright, I've preached the gospel to all of these people because Jesus took away sins of people like them. But now that I've come here, I can't preach the gospel to them. Jesus didn't take away their sins. No. He took away the sins of the world. Perhaps just as important is this for the hearer. No one in John's hearing and no one in this congregation this morning can say, well certainly Jesus Christ came to take away the sins of many different peoples, but not for the kind of people I belong to. No one who hears the truth that Jesus is the Lamb who takes away sin. You can never say that. It's not for the kind of sinner I am. He is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world, all kinds of people. Secondly, what this emphasizes is that Jesus has died for all the sins that people commit in the world. Or to put it another way, he has paid for the whole world of my sins and the whole world of the sins of his people. When you behold and believe in Jesus as the Lamb who takes away sins, you can say, He's the Lamb who has taken away my little sins and my big sins. He's the Lamb who has taken away my past sins, my present sins, and my future sins too. He's taken away the sins I committed in thought, word, and deed. The sins of omission and commission, He's taken away. The sins I know and the sins I don't know. The sins that I have confessed and the sins that I have not confessed, He's taken them away. The sins I committed deliberately, the sins I committed in ignorance, the sins I committed against God and against men. The sins of the rich and the poor, the powerful and the weak. And you get the point. There isn't any sinner who can say, if he believes in Jesus Christ, or she believes in Jesus Christ, I am concerned that there are certain sins that Jesus hasn't paid for, they're just too great. No, he is the Lamb of God who has taken away the sins of the world. There's not a sin in the whole world. that Jesus is not taken away for His people. And that's true atonement. Full payment for sin with the result that the sin is gone. The sinner is saved now and unto eternity. True atonement, I say. Really, we shouldn't need that word true. For if we do not mean that Jesus Christ has paid for sins and secured salvation, then we can't really call that an atonement at all. But you see, the Arminian corrupts the truth. He wants to speak of an atonement, but he doesn't really mean atonement. He denies the worth and the value of the death of Jesus Christ. He denies that Jesus actually paid for sin. The Arminian comes to John 1, verse 29, and you have here the clear word of Scripture that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world, and the Arminian has to put a spin on that. You can't take this as the simple statement of the truth that it is, but you have to take it this way. Jesus has made it possible and he now offers to you through his death on the cross to have your sin taken away. I hope that you can clearly understand that this is a denial that Jesus has fully paid for sin. This is actually a denial that he made any atonement, any payment for sin. I hope that you can understand the difference between a man coming to you and saying, you owe millions of dollars and I've paid that debt so now you owe nothing anymore or a man coming to you and says something like this, you owe millions of dollars and you owe nothing If you fulfill a few conditions that I give to you, and if you won't fulfill them, maybe perform some acts of service for me, well then that man may come to you later and say, you know what? You actually do owe the bank again. You actually do have to make payment on that debt. And what does that mean? Well, that means if the man came to you and said, I paid the debt for you, But now you found out that you still have to make payment yourself, that he really lied. Because if that debt had in fact been paid, then there would be no requirement for you to pay that debt ever again. Well, that's how Armenians use language. They say Jesus made atonement. They say he paid the debt. They say that he saves sinners. But that's not what they really mean. He offers help is what they really mean. but he leaves it really up to man. For the actual removing of the debt, the actual accomplishing of salvation, somehow you have to fulfill the condition of choosing to believe in Jesus Christ. And you understand then what the Arminian is really saying is not that Jesus has lifted the burden and carried it away and removed it from you forever, but the Arminian's really saying, you need to shoulder the burden. There's something you need to do to remove the dot of your sin. And I hope you're horrified. I hope God has given you the grace to be horrified by the idea of you or me having to bear the burden of removing even One sin, for we know that we would be crushed forever by that sin in God's wrath for it. I hope that you are also horrified by the blasphemy of denying that Jesus is the Lamb of God who, as the Lamb of God, fully takes away sin. I hope you are horrified by the way that scripture is twisted to teach that Jesus only makes salvation possible. Let us behold and love and rejoice in the very simple words of Scripture. Behold, Jesus is the Lamb of God who has made the perfect sacrifice, fully paying for sin, taking them away. So that it's not only possible, but you are saved. Those who believe and behold him. Amen. Father in heaven, bless thy truth unto our hearts that we may glorify thee. And Thy Son, Jesus Christ, magnifying the power and the perfection of Thy love, the power and the perfection of the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross to pay for our sins. May that word take root in our hearts, too, to comfort us as every day anew our consciences accuse us in that burden of our sin and guilt. Many sins and terrible sins weighs upon us. May it be a comfort to us to know that the Lord Jesus Christ came and has taken away the sins of the world. Hear us we pray for his sake. Amen. Psalter number 217. Oh Lord, our Savior, help and glorify Thy name. Deliver us from all our sins and take away our shame. That's stanza two. Let's sing the four stanzas, 217.