Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O LORD, our rock and our redeemer. As we reflect on the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ, help us understand the enormity of sin and its effects and the greatness of Your love. Help us to understand that the sacrifice of Christ has fully paid the penalty for sin and that whosoever, believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life and become partakers of God’s divine nature to the praise and glory of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen!
Beloved in the Lord. The theme for today’s sermon is “Behold, the servant of the Lord”, in other translations “Behold, the Lamb of God”. The words of John, the Baptist can only be understood with a reference to the book of Genesis when God said to Abraham, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.”
(Genesis 22:2) According to the Scriptures as they approached their destination, today described as the Temple Mount, Isaac, Abrahams long awaited and promised son asked a question “My father, Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7) Abraham replied, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” (Genesis 22:8) John the Baptist received a revelation that identified the lamb of God as he baptized Jesus Christ in the River Jordan. He saw heaven open, the Spirit descend on Him like a dove and a voice from heaven declared, “This is my beloved Son; in whom I am well pleased.” (Mark 1:10-11)
Beloved in the Lord. The entire message of the Gospel revolves around this revelation for two significant reasons. Firstly, the revelation that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God and secondly, the revelation that as God He became a man to take away the sin of the world. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, left the glory of His heavenly throne to come into this sinful world to pay the penalty for sin as the sacrificial Lamb of God. Jesus Christ, as a man, met the requirements of a perfect sacrifice, a lamb without blemish. He was the only one who qualified to save mankind from the penalty of sin and from the power of sin as “All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made” (John 1:3). Jesus Christ through His sacrifice has “perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” (Heb. 10:14) Perfected and forever speaks of a perfect sacrifice, the effects of which extend throughout time and into eternity. A single sovereign act of God brought together all the guilt and the suffering of humanity and offered one all sufficient solution, the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.
Beloved in the Lord, the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God, was God’s only remedy for sin, “For the wages of sin is death”. (Romans 6:23) His death fully dealt with the death, suffering, and misery of the human race caused by sin. The offering of animal sacrifices could not take away the sin of the world and had to be repeated over and over again. This explains why the Levitical priests never sat down in the Temple as animal sacrifices only pointed to the perfect and final sacrifice of the Lamb of God. God made the greatest sacrifice in the history of the universe when He gave His only Son to pay the penalty for sin since He alone fully met God’s requirements for the sacrifice. All previous sacrifices failed to meet God’s requirement as the judgement of God on sin was greater than the sacrifices. It was only the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who was born without a sin nature and who never sinned, that was greater than the judgement of God. He endured the fires of God’s judgement on sin and its effects; the curse, sickness and disease, poverty, condemnation, shame and rejection. It was only when the fires of God’s judgement were exhausted that He could finally cry out “it is finished”. His sacrifice saved man from the penalty of sin, is saving man from the power of sin and will save man from the presence of sin. His sacrifice has redeemed us from the curse of the Law, and from slavery to sin and Satan. He has made us righteous with His own righteousness, clothed us with His glory and reconciled us to the Father so that we can boldly come before His presence and call Him Father. Jesus Christ, after paying the penalty for sin, ascended to heaven and has sat down at God’s right hand making a clear statement that no other sacrifice would ever be needed again.
Beloved in the Lord. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, took our place as our substitute being made sin with our sinfulness that we night be made righteous with His righteousness, a righteousness that had never known sin before. Jesus Christ did not only take our place as our substitute; He also took our place as our representative. As our representative when He died, we also died with Him, when He was buried, we were also buried with Him, and when He rose from the dead, we also rose from the dead with Him. Our old man with its ungodly sinful nature died and was buried with Him so that the new man, His godly righteous nature, could come alive in us so that we are no longer ruled by the flesh, the world or Satan, but by the Spirit of God.
Beloved in the Lord. The sacrifice of Christ reveals the enormity of man’s sin and the greatness of God’s love. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) The whosoever refers to each one of us and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ would have served no purpose if we did not believe in Him and continued to live our old life. Everyone who believes in Jesus Christ is no longer under the Law but under grace. Grace offers so much more than the Law can ever offer and the two cannot be compared in any way. The Law revealed sin and death whereas grace revealed God’s gift of eternal life. “The law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17) The Law was given through Moses, the servant of God. Grace and Truth came through God Himself. Whereas the Law, given through a man, demanded righteousness, grace, given through God Himself, offers it as a gift. Grace imputes to man the righteousness of Christ and the ability to live the life of Christ, a life of total obedience to God.
Beloved in the Lord. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ demands a response. It demands a response to the One who died in our place to give us His life. The only response to such a sacrifice can only be that of trust and submission to His will. It demands aligning our thoughts with the word of God. It demands having the mindset of Christ. It demands a new way of thinking. It demands a new way of life, a life of faith for “The just shall live by faith” (Rom. 1:17) Let us by faith lay hold of all the provisions the grace of God has made available to us. The simplest and purest expression of true faith are the words “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. (Galatians 2:20) Let each one of us make this declaration our own to the praise and glory of Almighty God, the Father, the Son and the holy Spirit. Amen!
