In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. This man came for a witness, to bear witness of the light that all through him might believe. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own did not receive him. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, This was He of whom I said, He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me. And of His fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Now this is the testimony of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? He confessed and did not deny, but confessed, I am not the Christ. I asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said, I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered, no. Then they said to him, who are you that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself? And he said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said. Now those who were sent were from the Pharisees. They asked him, saying, Why then do you baptize, if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet? And John answered them, saying, I baptize with water, but there stands one among you whom you do not know. It is he who, coming after me, is preferred before me, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to lose. These things were done in Bethabara, beyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing. And the next day John 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 is preferred before me, for he was before me. I did not know him, but that he should be revealed to Israel. Therefore I came, baptizing with water. And John bore witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him. I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, Upon whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God. And again, the next day John stood with two of his disciples. And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God. The two disciples heard him speaking, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned, and seeing them following, said to them, What do you seek? They said to him, Rabbi, which is to say, when translated, Teacher, where are you staying? And he said to them, Come and see. And they came and saw where he was staying, and remained with him that day. Now it was about the tenth hour. Let's ask the Lord to open our hearts to receive His Word this morning. Let's pray. O Lord, we thank You for this rich reading from Your Scriptures and the testimony that it gives us of Jesus Christ. We pray as we focus in, zoom in on one particular verse and consider it in light of the Lord's Supper this morning as well, that You would open our hearts to receive it. open our eyes to see and behold the Lamb of God. And whether this text is new to us, or whether it's very familiar to us, we pray still this day that you, by your Spirit, would refresh us, would teach us, would increase our understanding and mature us in grace. We pray, and I pray, Lord, that you would give me the grace to preach and proclaim with zeal and passion and joy and, Lord, to proclaim Christ and exalt him and that we would see him and that we would, that he would increase and that we all and I would decrease. Lord God, bless this word then in a powerful way as you work. In Jesus' name, amen. A few years ago, I was with a number of the men from our presbytery. We were traveling to Cape Breton, we had some work to do in Cape Breton, and we were actually on our way back, and it was, you know, February, and it was a dry day, but there's still some, that nice winter grime on the roads, and as you're driving, and you drive behind somebody, you get sprayed up on the windshield, and you go through a lot of washer fluid, but the problem was, that as we were driving home, I had, and I was driving in our van, that I'd run out of washer fluid in the middle of Cape Breton somewhere, and not anywhere near Sydney, so there was really no other store. I didn't know how long I'd have to drive, but you know, you start, you're trying to wipe it away, and then you run the windshield wipers anyway, and you hope maybe it'll just scrape some of the grime off, but you start to get a little more concerned because it gets thicker and thicker, and you're seeing less, and you're seeing less, and I've got all these men screaming at me. No, it wasn't that bad, but Still, we were starting to get concerned, and I couldn't see clearly at all. I think you, although it's nice in August, I hate to break it to you, we're going to get to winter again very soon, and you're going to be thinking of this sermon when you are washing your windshield or running out of washer fluid. But finally, found a gas station with overpriced washer fluid, but I bought it. because I needed it, because we needed to make it home alive. And so we put that in, and man, what a difference. It's one thing to have a clean windshield and be used to it. It's another thing to have a very dirty windshield and then clean it, and then all of a sudden it just seems to just make even be much, much greater. What a difference it made to see again. And we all, including Pastor John, made it home safely and are here to tell the story. But it made a difference to be able to see clearly what we needed to see. And that is true in the Christian life as you and I need to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus Christ. And there are lots of things in the Christian life or in our lives that can obscure our view of Jesus. It can indeed be dirt and filth that comes because we're indulging ourselves in sin. And it's clouding our vision because the dirt is blocking our clear view of Christ. It can be the darkness you experience in the midst of a heavy trial, and it seems that there's hardly any light, and so you hardly can see Jesus, and you think He's not there, and He's forgotten you, and He's abandoned you because you can't see Him. There can be the fog that can descend on you in confusion as you are being perhaps led astray, some false teaching. You found something on the internet that doesn't quite conform to the Word of God, but you're following it because it's attractive to the senses, appeals to your human wisdom rather than the divine wisdom of God and His Word, and it can confuse you, and you're not sure which way to go anymore. It used to be so clear, you used to see the path in front of you, but now you're starting to wonder, where am I exactly going? Am I still on the path? What kind of rabbit trail have I gone down in my Christian life? But it can also be, the obscured view can also just be from the half-closed eyes of our comfortable complacency. Some of you are just comfortable Christians. You think, well, I've been a Christian all my life. I'm going to get to heaven. So right now I'll just kind of coast along and I'll get there. And your eyes are half closed. You're not paying attention to what's in the road. You're not watching out for what you might hit or how you might go astray. Think of, if you're familiar with Pilgrim's Progress and it's Christian and faithful that are going along and the road was hard and they found the nice grassy path that kind of went right along the road and they were so comfortable that they didn't notice the path start to veer off bit by bit by bit until they were in Doubting Castle from under giant despair. And we can be, perhaps that's maybe in our, in your life, in your family, it's just comfortable complacency. We're not really that zealous, we're not really paying that close attention to what we're doing, what we're indulging in, and watching, and engaging who our friends are, because it's just going so smooth, it seems. So we can obscure our view of Jesus Christ. We can do that in various different ways. And if your view of Christ is obscure, it's going to be difficult and impossible to move ahead in the Christian life, and to make progress in your sanctification. You can't see Christ, you can't see the central part of the Christian story, which is the cross of Christ, and the fact that he died, he went, he lived, he suffered, he died, and then the grave is opened and he rose again. We're going to have, in a few moments, the Lord's Supper. We're going to celebrate, again, this sacrament of the Lord's Supper. But before we get to the Lord's Supper, where Christ is lifted up before us in the simple elements of bread and wine, we need to understand what it means by the word. We need to come to the word of God so we have a clear view of Christ, even in the Lord's Supper. We have a clear understanding of what it's getting to, of who and what is involved in this meal. So we're going to use to do this, we're going to use these words of John the Baptist in John 129. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Words which J.C. Ryle wrote ought to be printed in great letters in the memory of every reader of the Bible. We're going to go to the Word of God to see Christ and to behold Him. And I trust that the Holy Spirit will work this morning as He takes the Word of Christ and as He lifts, to lift our eyes to see Him, to take away that which is obscuring our view of Christ and to see Him clear again. If you're not in Jesus Christ this morning, if you're not believing on Him, if you've never really cared to behold Him at all, I pray that you will also be, today will be the day you look to Him, you rest in Him, you see the clarity, you see all of life suddenly much more, much different because you've come to Christ, your sins are taken away, your eyes are opened, and you can see Him in all His beauty. Because it is good for you to gaze upon the Lamb from God who takes away sin. It is good for you to gaze upon the Lamb from God who takes away sin. I'm just going to work through this verse in three stages. First, the behold, the call of John, then the Lamb of God and the imagery and the language of the Lamb of God, and then the work that Christ does, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. First, we're called to behold Christ. John is calling you and me today, and as he was calling there in the ministry, he was engaged in the wilderness of Judea and along the Jordan, calling people to behold. Now, John was a wonderful minister of the gospel. John was called by God to go before Jesus, to prepare the way for the Christ. And he did a wonderful job. John was preaching boldly. He was zealous. He called everyone to repentance. And he was calling them, really, with this idea of making them have this desire to anticipate the coming of the Messiah who could save them. And John was calling them to repentance. And he preached the gospel. But he was clear that he was not the Messiah himself. People were developing a bit of a messianic fervor. There was a desire. They were looking for the Messiah. But John was clear. He says, I am not the Christ, the Messiah. I am not Him. Rather, he says, there's one coming who's far greater than me. He was far greater than me. And that expectation then was rising amongst the crowds until John, the next day, sees Jesus. And he declares, you can almost see him pointing to Jesus who is coming near, and he says, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He wants the people's eyes to get off of him and onto Christ. To look to the Christ. To look to Jesus. John's job was to bear witness of the Christ, not to be the Christ. There are many who like the spotlight. There are many Christians who like the focus to be on them. There are many Christian ministers who like to have the spotlight and the focus. They want to be the Messiah. They realize, well, I can't be, but they still kind of want to be that important. But John did not want the spotlight. John put the spotlight on Jesus without any sense of bitterness or any sense of losing something. John was the one who, in John 3, when his disciples are concerned that Jesus was baptizing more than John, John said, it's okay. He said, it's like a wedding. You know, I'm the best man at the wedding. But as soon as the bridegroom shows up, nobody cares about the best man. Nobody's paying attention to the best man. Nobody's wondering where the best man went, unless he's got the rings. But there's a focus. John was saying, That the best man, if he's actually a best man, wants the focus to be on the bridegroom. That's what he's there to do. He's there to draw attention to the bridegroom. not to take attention for himself. And so as Christians, who are here, your very name tells you you're here, you're a Christian, you're one who follows Christ, who serves Christ, your work in declaring Christ, in witnessing for Christ, is not to gain attention for yourself, but to say, don't look at me, but look at Christ in me. Look at what Christ has done for me. Not because I'm the one you need to see, but you don't need me, you need Christ. You need the same Savior. Don't notice me, but notice Christ in me. And you see that in what we read a bit later on in the text, where the next day, John was there with Andrew and another disciple, and he says, he points out Jesus again, he said, behold the Lamb of God. And those disciples went and followed Jesus. And John doesn't say, hold on a second, I didn't mean that, come back. He was happy to see them graduate from his ministry and his teaching of them to a greater ministry, to follow a greater man, and who is the Son of God Himself, not merely a man, but God Himself. And so John was happy to see that, to send them to follow after Jesus. Because John was not just telling people this so they could kind of say, wow, I get to tell my grandkids I saw Jesus one day. But that they would look to Jesus, they would follow Jesus, they would go wherever He called them to go. That they would follow Him and own Him as their Messiah and as their Savior. That's your call as a Christian. When I'm calling you this morning, when the scriptures call you, behold the Lamb of God, it's not so that you can just have a momentary glance, but you would fix yourself on Him and follow after Him and walk after Him, because that's why you wanna see Him, isn't it? To go with Him, not just so you can kinda see Him and then He disappears in the distance. You want a clear view of Him so that you can follow Him to where He leads you, both through this life and into heaven, into the place that He is preparing for all those who trust in Him. It is good for you to gaze upon the Lamb from God who takes away sin. As we've read these verses in John 1, Beautiful verses, verses that I think even perhaps as a Christian you're very familiar with these verses, and if you're new to the Christian faith, this is often a place where we send people who are first interested. Go to read the Gospel of John, and it's such a beautiful passage, and there are many titles that are given here for Jesus, the light of the world, and the word, and there's many titles, but we're gonna focus just on this title this morning. the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. We're going to behold Christ as a sacrificial Lamb. And that's what John, first we hear the call to behold, now we have behold what? Well, behold the Lamb of God. And if you're familiar with Christian faith, if you're familiar with, if you've heard Christian hymns, that this idea of Jesus being a lamb is not an unfamiliar title. It's something we've heard before. It's something we've sung before. It's something that doesn't perhaps surprise you, but it actually wasn't a common title for the Messiah. It wasn't the kind of Messiah that the Jews were looking for. They wanted a warrior for a Messiah. They wanted another King David for a Messiah to destroy and kick out the Romans and establish the kingdom. reignite the empire of David and Solomon and establish this in the world. It was not a common idea to think that they wanted a lion more than a lamb. It was not a common idea to think of a lamb because a lamb was a picture of weakness, of insignificance, of death. In fact, even today, there's some scholars who will be critical of John here and say, well, he just made this up. This idea of a lamb, that Jesus being a lamb, that's not something he got from the Old Testament. It was new with John and he didn't really have a basis for it. There are two parts to that. One, John was a prophet, and so by the inspiration of the Spirit, he's very well declaring this title. It's not something he just dreamt up one night and decided on his own authority to declare it. It's a title that he was taught and directed by the Spirit. But the idea is certainly found throughout the Old Testament. There is a great Old Testament basis for this title of the Messiah, the Lamb of God, and that you and I need a lamb from God in order to be saved. Because the lamb is a pictures for us, the sacrifice that is necessary for you and me to be forgiven for the sins that we have committed, that have separated us from a holy and a righteous God. It addresses, we need a lamb in order to have our sin problem, our sin problem that separates us from God to be addressed. See, God is holy. God is completely holy, is separate from us in His perfections of His being, and He cannot even stand to have sin in His sight. And if He can't stand to have sin in His sight, and you are not just a person who sins, but you are a sinner, one characterized by sin, when outside of Christ, that is your identity, we all talk about identity in our world, the identity of everyone who has not believed in the Lord Jesus Christ is sinner. You are a sinner. God cannot have a relationship with you. You cannot expect to go to heaven. You cannot so much as come before God on your own and expect him to receive you. You are accountable to God for sin. Sin needs to be addressed, and only when sin is addressed can you then even begin to have a relationship with God. But you can't help yourself. You can't stop sinning on your own. You can't forgive yourself for the sins that have been committed. You can't gain or earn or pay back or do anything to pay for the sins that you've committed. And so outside of God, mercifully, coming up with a plan, outside of God's perfect plan to save people, none of us would be saved. But God, and God has done that, God promises atonement. That is, He promises a way for sin to be washed away, for your sins to be taken away, for you to then have access to Him. And that He can both forgive your sins and receive you into His presence because that problem, that problem of separation has been addressed. God promised a way whereby your sins would be washed away and His wrath, His just anger would be turned away. And what was needed for that to happen is blood, a blood sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood, we're told in the book of Hebrews, without the shedding of blood there is no putting away of sin, there's no remission of sins. That is the way. Life needs to be given for death. Because we've gained death, we've separated ourselves from God, there needs to be one who gives his life and to pay that penalty. But it can't be yours. Your blood is polluted. Your blood is full of sin. You will die because of your sin, but you cannot die to atone for your sin. You cannot die to atone for anyone else's sin. You cannot offer yourself to God in the place of anyone else because your Blood is polluted by sin. So what has God done is that he's promised a savior. He's promised one who is pure and perfect, undefiled. He's promised a lamb who is perfect for the sacrifice, perfect to come and lay down its life, who has no broken legs, no problems, no disease, no sickness, nothing. Perfect, 100%, perfect and without blemish. God promises a savior. The very first promise, is Genesis 3.15, where God promises to send a seed of the woman who would crush the seed of the serpent, and who would be a savior for the world, and that there would be one who would conquer sin and Satan and death itself. And then God demonstrates what it's going to take by himself providing a covering, which is what atonement pictures, a covering for Adam and Eve who are naked in the garden by killing the very first animal and providing for them skins by which they were to be clothed. That's a picture, that's not just a insignificant detail that's just kind of tacked onto the story. That's significant because it refers to the shedding of blood needed to provide a covering. a covering to take away the shame and the guilt of sin. And we find in Genesis 4 the very first sacrifice that we're told about, and that is Abel takes a lamb from the flock and he offers it as a burnt offering to God, as a sacrifice, and that lamb offered as a symbol of the atonement that was needed. that he was offering this in his place, wanting to be accepted of God on behalf of this lamb. Well, this lamb itself couldn't do anything. The lamb itself offered nothing in terms of real atonement, but it was a picture of what was needed, a picture of the bloodshed that was needed, a picture of a lamb that was needed to be sacrificed to provide forgiveness. God accepted it in anticipation of the real lamb whom he would send. And then you go to Genesis 22 and you remember the story of the binding of Isaac, where Abraham is commanded by God to sacrifice his one and only son. And God says to Abraham, take your son, your only son, your beloved son, Isaac. English doesn't quite emphasize this, but God gives it almost in that staccato way. Your son, your only son, your beloved son, Isaac, and go and offer him as a burnt offering to me. And as they're going up the mountain to do this, Abraham being obedient to God, as they're going up the mountain, Isaac looks around and he says to his father, he says, I see the wood and I see the fire and I see the knife and I see everything, but father, where's the lamb? Where's the lamb for the sacrifice? And Abraham says, God will provide a lamb. And then they go up the mountain, and Abraham's about to kill his son, but God stops him. And he says, now I know that you are so fully devoted and committed to me. Do not, that you are willing to give your own son. He said, but don't give me Isaac. There's, I'll provide a sacrifice. And then Abraham turns around, and there's a ram caught in the thicket. but it wasn't a lamb. There's still the question that really echoes through the whole Old Testament. Where is the lamb? Where is the lamb? This was a Jewish question that echoes through. Abraham said, God will provide a lamb. God provided a ram. And there's still the question, where is the lamb? It wasn't provided yet. And then you come to the Passover, and the people to get out of Egypt, for God was going to pass through the land of Egypt, including where the Israelites were, and wherever there was no blood of a lamb on the doorposts of the house symbolizing that sacrifice, that atonement was made for the residents of that home, their firstborn would be killed. They needed a lamb, and that was yearly, that sacrifice that now has been transferred into the Lord's Supper, a picture of a lamb and the need for a blood atonement in order for sins to be forgiven. And then at Sinai and from the sacrifices that God instituted in the ceremonial law, daily morning and evening, there were lambs that were slain, slaughtered, rivers of blood running through the whole Old Testament of lamb after lamb after lamb. along with other animals, but here thinking particularly of the lamb, but they were never enough. It was never where God said, that's enough because those animals cumulatively have solved the problem. No, it's kept pointing the people to the lamb that was needed, a greater lamb. The lamb from God who takes away the sin of the world. Just as we read of the prophecy of that lamb in Isaiah 53, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was led as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before its shears is silence, so he opened not his mouth. So you see, brothers and sisters, when John says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, he's not referring to one passage or two. He's referring to the whole thrust of the Old Testament, answering that question. Father, where is the Lamb? And John says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He's here. He's finally here. This is the moment of fulfillment. Now Jesus, as John points him out, is not yet dying. He's not yet about to go to the cross. He was just about to begin his public ministry. But soon that time would come where he would be led as a lamb to the slaughter and not open his mouth as a sheep about to be killed. He was coming. as the sacrifice that was needed in order to, the fulfillment of all the animals that were slaughtered. He's not coming as an animal, but as the very Son of God himself. God the Son coming in our humanity to offer himself as that perfect lamb in order to satisfy for the sins of all his people. One perfect sacrifice. The one who was sent from God. appointed by the Father, devoted to the Father perfectly in His work, and accepted by the Father as the sacrifice that satisfied divine justice and reconciles us to God. He is the Lamb who was planned in eternity past, who was promised already from Genesis 3.15 and onwards, and who was perfectly provided at the right time Christ came to die for sinners, the perfect lamb without blemish, without spot, without sin, without any taint in his blood at all he could offer himself. Has he died for you this morning? Have you been washed clean by the blood of this lamb? There's no other sacrifice. There's no other blood to be shed that can provide atonement for you. Do you know the cleansing of this perfect sacrifice? Well, if you do, then you can know for yourself the truth of the words that Peter describes using very similar imagery in 1 Peter 1. If you know the cleansing of the blood of Christ, then you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver or gold from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but you have been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's the lamb who's preached now in the Word and then in the Lord's Supper. That's the lamb you need to see. That's who you need to have your eyes fixed on. Behold the lamb. gaze upon Him with joy, look to Him by faith, give thanks for Him and love Him. It is good for you to gaze upon the Lamb from God who takes away sin. Oh, we've beheld the Lamb, remembering who He is and why He's come, but let's consider more of what He does. Because John says, focuses in on this particular work, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. As I've noted already, the Old Testament sacrifices did not in themselves provide any forgiveness. They were not enough to provide even the forgiveness of one sin. All the bloodshed could not forgive the one sin of one person in one part of the world. They were only a sign pointing to what was needed. If Christ never came, then all of that was for nothing. And not a single person would be in glory. But this Lamb, Jesus Christ, comes and He fulfills everything they pointed to. It's because of Him that every saint that came before Him and comes after Him is able to be forgiven. Because this Lamb actually takes away your sin. He actually removes. This is the language of removal. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He removes it. It's gone. It's cast into the sea of forgetfulness. It's removed far from you. As far as east is from the west. Where did those sins go, you ask? They went on Him. They were placed on Him. They were pressed upon Jesus on the cross when He died, offering Himself as a sacrifice that would obliterate the sins and put them away. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to His own way, and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. It's the perfect sacrifice whereby God Himself, His justice was satisfied, Christ accepted as a substitute for you and me. You will die without Christ, but you will not atone for your sin. But in Christ, He died in your place, and His death atoned for your sin if you believe on Him. Notice John's language. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. It's not a future. Behold the Lamb of God who will take away the sin of the world. It's not even a future completed action. Behold the Lamb of God who will have taken away the sin of the world. It's present tense. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is important as you think about the work of Jesus Christ is always In the sense of thinking about this, it's thinking about it in the present. He has done work in the past, but also it's ongoing ministry. John was saying, Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Jesus had not yet gone to the cross, but already he was doing the work that was necessary in order to provide salvation and atonement for sinners. because he was already living for 30 years. He'd been living the sinless, perfectly righteous life that was necessary in order for him to be a lamb without blemish, without any spot, without any sickness, without any sin that would make him unacceptable as a sacrifice for his own salvation, never mind the salvation of anyone else. He was sinless and He was suffering in this life, already suffering through His life in order to be providing for us. He was on that track, on that trajectory that would lead to the cross. But then, He's the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world at the cross because it was necessary for Him to die in order to suffer death in our place and to suffer the pains of hell in His suffering on the cross. that He suffered hell for us and our sin could be removed so that we can be justified, declared righteous, our sin removed in the moment of our coming to faith in Jesus Christ. But He's still the Lamb from God who takes away the sin of the world. Because as our Shorter Catechism tells us, that Jesus as our priest, he offered himself as a sacrifice to satisfy divine justice and to reconcile us to God and in making continual intercession for us. The work is not done. The work is ongoing. He still is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world as He continues to pray for us, to uphold us by His Spirit, and to grow us in holiness and the full, complete removal of sin from our lives. When you come to faith in Jesus Christ, you are no longer a slave to sin. Your identity changes. You're no longer in sin, you're in Christ. He becomes your new identity. You're no longer a slave to the evil one, but you're able now, for the first time, to do right and good things. Not perfectly, not completely yet, but yet you're able to do, you're able to do right and to decide correctly by the grace of God. This is part of the ongoing work of Christ in you. and His ongoing, not justification, but sanctification, making you holy day by day until you die, and there then will be made perfectly pure. But still the Lamb of God is taking away sin, taking away sin until all your sin is gone. And so still today, this isn't just behold, let's look back, but behold the Lamb of God who still continues to take away sin, the sin of the world. That in itself, just the language of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world is beautiful. In the Old Testament, the sacrifices were for Israel. The sacrifices were not meant for just anybody who happened to wander into the temple area at the time. They were meant for the particular people, those particular people. And the Jews had developed this idea that the Messiah was coming, not for anybody else, but for them. It was a very selfish view of, even though God in the Old Testament promised over and over again that the Messiah would be for the whole world, yet they were still thinking it's all for for us. And they were very territorial about that. But John is saying, this is the Lamb for all nations, and all tribes, and all tongues, and all peoples. This is the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. And when he says the sin of the world, he's not referring to every single sin, and every single sinner. For there are those who die in their sin, who refuse to look to the Lamb, who are not saved. And there is no payment. There is no two times payment, whereby Christ died once, and God is still going to judge you for sin. No, Christ died for those who believe in Him, those whom the Father had given to Him. So what this sins of the world refers to, it's not inclusive of every single sin in the world, but he's referring to the breadth, how broad the sacrifice was. It wasn't just for Israel. It wasn't just for the Middle East. It wasn't just for a certain part. It was for the whole world. This was to go into all the worlds that in Asia and Africa, and America and everywhere, there would be those who would behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world by faith, that would behold Him and know His forgiveness and receive that atonement and be made right with God. That is our privilege this morning, wherever you're from, wherever we are right now. that we here in Halifax get to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. John wasn't thinking of Halifax, but God was. God was. And He sent His Son so we could see Him and behold Him, believe on Him, hear in the Word, and then in the Lord's Supper. As we come to the Lord's Supper shortly, We get to behold Christ. Remember, this is not a re-sacrificing of Christ. He doesn't have to go to the cross again for us this morning, or at any other point. That was a one and done act of Christ. But here we get to behold him and remember what he has done in the past. We do get to behold what, for John, was still going to be the future. We get to behold what he did in that time on the cross. and is taking away sin, but it's also a time for us to consider in the present and look to the future because he continues that work. This is spiritually nourishing. This is to build up your faith and encourage your Christian life. This is part of your sanctification, to be growing in grace, to have Christ, to feed upon him by faith. This is to remind you every time you participate in the Lord's Supper that your sins have been paid for, that the benefits of Christ have been given to you. and to give you courage for the spiritual warfare that you and I are engaged in through our weeks. And that is done as you behold Jesus Christ by faith as you receive the bread and the wine. As Robert Rollock writes, the influence of Christ's sacrifice is perpetual, it's ongoing, and His blood never dries up. It's a wonderful thought to think about when you want to reflect on your sin this past week, your sins this morning, and your sins in this service, to think that His blood is sufficient to make atonement for you. Look to Christ. But so too, it's our final thought, that the Lord's Supper is also not just for us to consider what God has done for us, but it's also to stir us to serve Him. It's to give us a commitment for service to Him. You see what happened with Andrew and the other disciple that when John said, behold the Lamb of God, they turned and they followed Him. They followed Jesus wherever He was going to go. He said, what do you seek? They said, teacher, where are you staying? He said, come and see. They came and saw where he was staying and remained with him that day. And they remained with him all the way through. Looking to the Lamb from God who takes away the sin of the world is for you, when you do that by faith, say, I will go, Lord, will you call me to go? I'm going to follow you. I want to see you and know where you are that I might follow you. Jobiki writes, he said, let us honor his giving up of himself for us with a more complete surrender of ourselves to him so that we would request to be his willing servant. now and forever. This is that goal too, saying, Lord, I want to see you. I don't want there to be any obscurities in my view of you. Just as I was driving down that road in Cape Breton, I didn't want obscurity because I wanted to stay on the road I knew I needed to go and the ditch wasn't where I wanted to be. If you want to stay on the road following Jesus Christ, not end up on this ditch or that ditch, then you need to have a clear view of him and you need to consistently look to Christ. Fix your gaze upon Him because it is good for you to gaze upon the Lamb from God who takes away sin. And even now this morning as you look at Christ, this should prepare your heart. This meditation upon Him should prepare your heart to stir you to love and praise Him and give you an eagerness to meet Him at this table that He's prepared with His own body and blood. J.C. Ryle writes that Christ, he says, is a Savior. Christ is a Savior. He did not come on earth to be a conqueror or a philosopher or a mere teacher of morality. He came to save sinners. He came to save sinners. Friend, is He taking away your sin? Friend, is He currently taking away your sin? If you can't say that He has, then you've been pointed to Him this morning. Go to Him. Run to Him. Realize that there is no taking away of your sin without Him. There is no reconciliation to God without Him, there is no future without Him. You can know this taking away as you come to the Father through this Son, and as that work of Christ is applied to you by the Holy Spirit. Brothers and sisters in Christ, For you, the privilege is to come to the Lord's Supper in these next moments because your privilege is to know this Lamb, to see Him and to have beheld Him by faith. And you can come again rejoicing as you gaze on Him who takes away the sin of the world, Him who was slain in your place. Gaze upon Him who is taking away your sin. Let's pray. Please stand for prayer. O Lord our God, Father in heaven, You sent the Lamb we needed, Your Son, Your only Son, Your beloved Son, Jesus. O Lord our God, we cannot, we cannot repay what You have done for us, but we can rejoice and we can receive Him and we can give thanks and not reject Him. And I pray, O God, that here in our hearts that would be the reception that this Lamb receives this day. Perhaps, Lord, an encouragement to us in the faith and a call to those who are not in Christ yet. God, make the difference. Make that difference in these hearts. May we all, with eyes opened by the Spirit, be able to behold Him, see Him, remove every obscurity, whatever it might be. O Lord God, we thank you. that we can behold that salvation that you have given, that we can know it and live it out in our day-to-day lives. We pray for that each and every day. We are prone to have our eyes fixed on all sorts of things, and even on the Lord's Day, to be distracted by that which is not worthy of the day. And then to go into our work week and to still there to also become dominated quickly by the wisdom of men or by the frustrations of this life or by the annoyances of other people or whatever it might be. And so quickly our eyes are shifted away from you, God. We pray that you would help us to be more focused, help us to be more full of you. and bear us up. Blessed are you, O God, who bears us up, who lifts us up, who is patient with us, who reminds us of these wonderful truths. God, we pray that you would continue to strengthen and equip us as a people of God to follow after you and to receive from you all the nourishment and the strength that we need. We pray, Lord, that we would know your new mercies every morning, that we would declare that your faithfulness is great. Lord, as we look up to you now in this time of prayer, we pray that the work that you have done to save sinners would be evident, both evident in our families, in our marriages, in our children, in whatever our life situation is, whatever our struggles might be at this time. We pray that you would daily bless us with daily bread. Lord, it's harvest time around the province and there's more yet to come and we enjoy, Lord, enjoying for our bodies the fruits of the field and the orchards and everything else and we bless you for that and we thank you for your provisions for us. We pray also that we would experience a fruit upon your word amongst us in our souls and those we witness to and evangelize and invite to church. We pray there would not be a famine of the word, but that, Lord, we would come Lord, in our own personal lives and with our families and here at church with a hunger and a desire for the truth. Lord, we pray that in this city and in all the towns and villages of Nova Scotia that your kingdom would come, that your gospel would be proclaimed, that here and everywhere there are faithful preachers of the gospel, that you would bring great fruit. Lord, we pray that you would help us and bless our witness, Lord, that our lives would not be lived merely for ourselves, but for you. We pray that you would give us patience with our neighbors, Lord, as you call us to love you above all and our neighbor as ourselves. And so within our families and outside of our families, give us patience with our neighbors that we would not be surprised. when they act as unbelievers or that we would not become impatient with their differences from us, that we would rather love and be willing to enter into awkward situations and uncomfortable conversations in order to be able to truly love them and tell them of Jesus. We pray, Lord, in the neighborhood or even this neighborhood around this particular church and around our homes, give us opportunity to speak of you. Draw many here to hear your word and to give hearts, give them hearts of true worship. We pray that our invitations to worship would receive a positive response even maybe years after it was given. God in heaven, we thank you for our opportunity to worship here this morning. We thank you for all who are involved. in worship, in leading worship, and being part of the service in one way or another, or just making preparations for worship. All those who are behind the scenes, who are unnoticed perhaps, and not often thought of, we pray with thanksgiving, Lord, for the many. who serve Christ faithfully and quietly. We thank you Lord for the elders who serve and we thank you for their labors and service in leading the congregation. We thank you for Andy and his diaconal service and leading the congregation in in that service, that mercy ministry and service in that way. We thank you for Pastor John and the gifts you've given him, the heart for the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, the persistence in preaching and proclaiming Christ privately from house to house and publicly in the pulpit. We thank you, Lord, for his years of service and pray for many more to come. We pray that you would uphold and strengthen him and his family, and that they would be blessed in the ministry together. I pray, Lord, that you would continue to grant this church family all that they need to serve well, including calling more men to serve as elders and deacons, and for older men and women to take up their responsibility to those younger than them with joy and eagerness, that there would be natural and organic discipleship taking place. and that you would provide that for increased maturity amongst the congregation. Lord, when we gather together, we come together, as we have this morning, not just for ourselves, but to serve you, ultimately. But also, Lord, as we receive visitors and welcome them, we pray that we would also, that they would be warmly received and welcomed, that the things that we would recognize, that perhaps coming into a church service, whether they've never been or have hardly been, can be a very strange and destabilizing experience, that we'd be willing to love, to be friendly, that friendly, welcoming person, and that we would not quickly brush past people we don't know, but that you would give us the courage to be kind and gracious as our Savior. We pray, Lord, that you would receive the glory in all these things. And even now, Lord, as we respond to your word in our hearts and as we receive the Lord's Supper by faith, those who are able to come, we pray that, Lord, you would strengthen and uphold us and help us to hear our prayers. Establish your word. for the glory of your name. In Christ we pray, amen. Now the blessing of almighty God and go in his peace. The Lord bless you and keep you. Lord, make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and give you peace. And so go in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen.