The Lamb Of God In Scripture

The Lamb Of God In Scripture

(No. 2329)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, OCTOBER 8, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S-DAY EVENING,
AUGUST 25, 1889.

"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!" John 1:35,36.

You all know the old, old story. The world was lost. God must punish
sin. He sent His Son to take our sin upon Him that He might honor the
Law of God and establish God's government by being obedient to the Law
of God and yielding Himself up to the death penalty. He whom Jehovah
loves beyond all else came to earth, became a Man and, as a Man, was
obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. It is He who is
called, in our text, "the Lamb of God," the one Sacrifice for man's
sin. There is no putting away of sin without sacrifice–there is only
one Sacrifice that can put away sin–and that is Jesus Christ, the
Righteous. He is Divine, yet Human–Son of God, yet Son of Mary. He
yielded up His life, "the Just for the unjust," the Sinless for the
sinful, "that He might bring us to God," and reconcile us to the great
Father. That is the story and whoever believes in Him shall live. Any
man, the world over, who will trust himself to Christ, God's great
Sacrifice, shall be saved, for this is our continual witness, "He that
believes on the Son has everlasting life." "For God so loved the world,
that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life."

Tonight I do not intend so much to preach a sermon as to urge those who
have seen the Lamb of God to look at Him more intently, to study Him
more and especially to plead for the power of the Holy Spirit to reveal
Him to them. I want to entreat men who have looked elsewhere, to now
turn their eyes away from the fruitless search after peace and life,
and to come and, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of
the world." May the Spirit of God open their eyes and incline their
hearts that, tonight, even tonight, they may look unto Him and live!

When John saw Jesus Christ on that memorable day, he, first of all,
beheld Him, himself, and then he said to others, "Behold the Lamb of
God." "Looking at Jesus as He walked," steadfastly beholding Him,
watching Him, gazing with humble admiration at Him, he said, "Behold
the Lamb of God!" Brethren, we cannot preach what we have not
practiced! If these eyes have never looked to Jesus, how can I bid your
eyes look at Him? Beholding Him, I found peace to my soul. I, who was
disposed, even, to despair, rose from the depths of anguish to the
heights of joy by looking unto Him! And I, therefore, dare to say to
you, "Behold the Lamb of God!" Oh, that each one of you might believe
our testimony concerning Jesus and look to Him and live!

What did John mean by saying, "Behold the Lamb of God"? Behold, in the
Latin, "ecce," is a note of admiration, of wonderment, of exclamation.
"Behold the Lamb of God!" There was nothing of greater wonder ever seen
than that God, Himself, should provide the Lamb for the Burnt Offering,
that He should provide His only Son out of His very bosom, that He
should give the delight of His heart to die for us! Well may we behold
this great wonder! Angels admire and marvel at this mystery of
godliness–God manifest in the flesh! They have never left off
wondering and adoring the Grace of God that gave Jesus to be the
Sacrifice for guilty men. Behold and wonder, never leave off
wondering–tell it as a wonder, think of it as a wonder, sing of it as
a wonder! Even in Heaven you will not cease to wonder at this glorious
Lamb of

God!

I think that John also meant his disciples to consider, when he said to
them, "Behold the Lamb of God!" So we say to you, "Think of Him, study
Him, know all that you can about Him, look Him up and down. He is
God–do you understand that He stood in the sinner's place? He is
Man–do you know how near akin He is to you, how sympathetic He

is–a Brother born for your adversity? The Person of Christ is a great
marvel–how can God and man be in one Person? It is impossible for us
to tell. We believe what we cannot comprehend and we rejoice in what we
cannot understand! He whom God has provided to be your Savior is both
God and Man–He can lay His hand upon both parties. He can touch your
manhood in its weakness and touch the Godhead in its All-Sufficiency!
Study Christ! The most excellent of all the sciences is the knowledge
of a crucified Savior. He is most learned in the university of Heaven
who knows most of Christ. He who has known most of Him still says that
His love surpasses knowledge. Behold Him, then, with wonder! And behold
Him with thankfulness.

But when John says, "Behold the Lamb of God!" he means more than
wondering or considering. "Looking" is used in Scripture for
faith–"Look unto Me and be you saved." Therefore we sing–

"There is life for a look at the Crucified One, There is life at this
moment for you!" Beholding is a steady kind of looking. Believe then,
in Christ with a solid, abiding confidence. Come, you sinners, come,
and trust your Savior, not for tonight, only, but forever! Believe that
He is able and willing to save you and trust Him to do so–

"Venture on Him, venture wholly Let no other trust intrude."

Take your eyes off everything else and behold the Lamb of God! You need
not see anything else, nothing else is worth seeing, but behold Him.
See how He takes your guilt, see how He bears it, see how He sinks
under it and yet rises from it, crying, "It is finished!" He gives up
the ghost. He is buried. He rises again from the dead because He is
accepted of God and His redeeming work is done. Trust Him, trust Him,
trust Him! "Look and live," is now our message–not, "do and live,"
but, "live and do!" If you ask how you are to live, our answer is look,
trust, believe, confide, rest in Christ–and the moment you do so, you
are saved!

But, once more, when John said to His disciples, "Behold the Lamb of
God!" it was a hint that they should leave off looking at John and turn
their attention wholly to Jesus and follow Him. Hence we find that
John's two disciples left him and became the disciples of Christ.
Beloved, we who preach long to have your attention, but when you give
your attention to us, our longing, then, is to pass it on to Christ our
Lord. Look on Him and follow Him, not us! What can we do, poor
creatures that we are? Look unto Him! Mark His footsteps! Walk in them.
Do as He bids you! Take Him for your Lord, become His disciples, His
servants. Behold the Lamb of God and always behold Him! Look to Him,
look up to Him and follow where He leads the way.

Thus I have put the text before you pretty simply. Now I want to talk
to you a little about beholding this Lamb of God, taking a hasty run
through various Scripture references to the lamb. And I will ask you,
first, to Behold the Lamb of God in His connections with men. And
secondly to Behold the Lamb of God in His benedictions to men.

I. Let us, first, BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD IN HIS CONNECTIONS WITH MEN.

How was the Lamb of God first seen in the world? It was the case of the
lamb for one man, brought by one man for himself, and on his own
behalf. You all know that I refer to Abel, who was a shepherd, and
brought of the firstlings of his flock, that is, a lamb, and he brought
this lamb for himself, and on his own account, that he might be
accepted of God, and that he might present to God an offering
well-pleasing in His sight. Cain brought of the fruit of the ground as
an offering to God. I think that there was a difference in the
sacrifice, as well as in the man bringing it, for the Holy Spirit says
little about the difference of the man, but He says, "By faith Abel
offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain," and he was
accepted because he brought a more excellent sacrifice. The one
sacrifice was bloodless, the fruit of the ground–the other was typical
of Christ, the Lamb of God and was, therefore, accepted. "And the Lord
had respect unto Abel and to his offering."

Now, Beloved, our first view of Christ usually is here, to know Him for
ourselves. I am a sinner and I want to have communion with my God–how
shall I obtain it? I am guilty, I am sinful–how shall I draw near to
the holy God? Here is the answer. Take the Lord Jesus Christ to be
yours by faith and bring Him to God! You must be accepted if you bring
Christ with you! The Father never repelled the Son, nor one who was
clothed with the Son's righteousness, or who pleaded the Son's merit.
Come you, as Abel came, not with fruits of your own growing, but with
the sacrifice of blood– with Christ, the Holy Victim, the spotless
Lamb of God–and so coming, whoever you may be, you shall be acceptable
before God by faith. Now, behold Him, each one of you for yourself!

I know what someone will say, "I hope to do that, by-and-by." I hope
you do not so deceive yourself! I have heard that there was once a
great meeting in the den of the arch-enemy and he was stirring up his
lackeys to seek the destruction of men. One of them said, "I have gone
forth and I have told men that there is no God, and no hereafter, and
no difference between sin and righteousness, and that they may live as
they like!" And there was considerable approbation among the evil
spirits. But Satan, himself, said, "You have done small service, for
man has a conscience, and his conscience teaches him better. He knows
that there is a God. He knows that there is a difference between sin
and righteousness. He knows that there must be future punishment. You
have done but little." Then another stood up, and said, "I have done
better, I think, most Mighty Chieftain, for I have told them that the
Bible is a worn-out book, that it was a fable at the first, and that
they need not believe it." There was a round of cheers, for they said
that he had done splendid service for the cause of darkness.

But Satan said, "It is in vain that you meddle with the old Book! It
has taken care of itself and it can still do so. There is no shaking
it, it is like a rock. You have done service for a time, but it will
soon pass away." And scarcely did any of the fallen spirits, after
that, venture to bring forward his boasting in the presence of the
terrible master who sat in the midst of them. But, at last, one said,
"I have told men that they have souls, and that there is a God, and
that the Bible is true. I have left them to believe as they will, but I
have whispered in their ears that there is plenty of time to consider
all this." Then there was a hush–and the great master of demons said,
"You have done best of all. This is my great net in which I take more
souls than with any other, this net of procrastination or delay."

Therefore say I to you, my Hearers, disappoint the fiend! Fly to Jesus.
Fly to Jesus at once! Behold, not tomorrow, but tonight! Behold the
Lamb of God, each man for himself!

Now turn over the pages of this grand old Book and you will find the
Lamb, next, in another connection. Israel was in Egypt and there they
had the lamb for the family–"In the tenth day of this month they shall
take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers,
a lamb for an house." Oh, I wish that you would all go on to behold the
Lamb of God for your households! "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and
you shall be saved." Why do you stop before you finish the verse? What
said the Apostle to the trembling jailor? Not merely all that I have
quoted, but more– "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be
saved, and your house." Are there not many Believers who do not believe
for their house? Come, now, and believe in this provision of the Lamb
for the house! Trust the Grace of God for that little girl, the last
born, and for that boy who is still at school, who does not think much
of these things as yet–and for that son of yours who has left home and
gone out as an apprentice. Oh, that the Lamb of God might be for him!
Pray for him, tonight, and you older parents, pray for your sons who
are married, and your daughters who have taken to themselves husbands
and are away from you! The Lamb is for the house, pray for the whole
household, tonight–take in your grandchildren, all you old folks–all
of them who are in your house. Pray that the Lamb may be for the house!

I bless God that I can look upon all my household and rejoice that they
are converted to Christ! My father has this joy, too! And my
grandfather also had that joy! Oh, it is a great bliss to have
families, generation after generation, all brought to Christ without
exception! Why should it not be so? Let us cry for it! Surely we may
expect the same blessing that God gave to His chosen people under the
Law and expect it more largely. Grace does not run in the blood, but
Grace often runs side by side with it, so that Abraham is loved, and
Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph, and Ephraim, and Ma-nasseh. Thus the
Covenant blessing goes on from one to another. Plead with God, tonight,
that all in your house may be beneath the sprinkled blood of the Lamb
and be saved from the destroying angel–and that all with you may go
out of Egypt to have a possession in the land of the promise!

A little further on, following the Scripture, and asking you to still
behold the Lamb, in the 29th chapter of that famous Book of Exodus, at
the 38th and 39th verses, we come across God's command for the lamb for
the people–"Now this is that which you shall offer upon the altar; two
lambs of the first year, day by day, continually. The one lamb you
shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at even."
Here is the lamb for all the chosen people, the lamb for Israel! It
began with the unit, it went on to the family and here the Lord, who
"loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob," makes
His Tabernacle to be the central place where a lamb shall be offered
for the whole nation! Think of it with delight, tonight, that Christ
died for all His chosen people! He has redeemed them from among men.
Though they are as many as the stars for number, or as the sand on the
seashore, innumerable, yet that one Sacrifice has redeemed them all!
Glory be to God for the blood of the Lamb by which the whole of
Christ's people are redeemed!

Then let your mind take wing right out of the Old Testament into the
New, for I have not time to trace all the successive steps. Come now to
John, saying, in the 29th verse of this chapter, "Behold the Lamb of
God, which takes away the sin of the world." Now you have gone beyond
the bounds of Israel, and have come to the Lamb for the world. You have
come to the Lamb of God who dies for Gentiles as well as for Jews, for
men in the isles of the sea, for men in the wilds of Africa, for men of
every color and every race, and every time, and every clime! Oh, glory
be to God, wherever there are men, we may go and tell them of Christ!
Wherever there are men born of Adam's race, we may tell them of the
Second Adam, to whom looking, they who look shall live–and in Him they
shall find eternal life! I love to think of the breaking down of the
boundaries that shut in the flow of Grace to one nation! Behold, it
flows over all Asia Minor, at first, and then over all Greece, and then
to Rome, and Paul talks of going to Spain and the Gospel is borne
across the sea to England, and from this country it has gone out unto
the utmost ends of the earth!

Well now, take your flight, if you can get beyond that, away to Heaven,
itself, and there you will see the Lamb for all Heaven! Look at
Revelation, the seventh chapter, and the 14th verse. No, you need not
look it up, for you know it. All the saints in Heaven are standing in
their glittering ranks, white-robed, pure as the driven snow. They sing
and praise one glorious name, when one of the elders first asked the
question, "What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and from
where did they come?" He, himself, gave the answer, "These are they
which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb."–

"Round the altar priests confess, If their robes are white as snow,
'Twas the Savior's righteousness, And His blood that made them so." The
blood of the Lamb has whitened all the saints who are in Heaven! They
sing of Him who loved them and laved [washed] them from their sins in
His own blood! I have often wondered why that second word was not
brought into our translation, for it so beautifully fits the language
of the beloved Apostle John–"Unto Him that loved us, and laved us from
our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests unto God
and His Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."
There is no whiteness in Heaven but what the Lamb has worked, no
brightness there but what the Lamb has bought! Everything there shows
the wondrous power and surpassing merit of the Lamb of God!

If it is possible to think of something more glorious than I have
already described, I think you will find it in the fifth chapter of
Revelation, at the 13th verse–"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 saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory,
and power be unto Him that sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb
forever and ever." The day shall come when, from every place that God
has made, there shall be heard the voice of praise unto the Lamb–there
shall be found everywhere men and women redeemed by blood, angels and
glorious spirits, rejoicing to adore Him who was, and is, and is to
come, the Almighty Lamb of God!

I think I have given you something to consider if you turn over the
pages of Scripture and follow the track of the bleeding Lamb.

II. But now, taking you again over the same road a little, I want you,
in the second place, to BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD IN HIS BENEDICTIONS TO
MEN.

The first blessing of all is that of Abel. He was accepted of God. He
offered a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. Well now, let anybody
here who does not know it, try to learn this lesson tonight. You can
only be "accepted in the Beloved." God loves His Son with such an
overflowing love that He has love enough for you, love enough for
me–if we are in Christ Jesus. He is the great conduit or channel of
God's love and that love flows through all the pipes to every soul that
believes in Jesus. Hide behind your Lord and you are safe! Trust His
name, living and dying, and nothing can harm you. How many dear hearts,
when passing through the Valley of the Shadow of Death–when grim
thoughts have clustered about them–have been cheered and comforted by
the thought of Christ! Remember the monk who, as he died, put away the
priest, the crucifix and everything else, and cried, "Tua vulnera,
Jesu! Tua vulnera, Jesu!" "Your wounds, Jesus! Your wounds, Jesus!" I
am not saved by what I can do, but by what He has done–not by what I
have suffered, but by what He has endured. There hangs our everlasting
hope–we trust to Christ in life and in death and we are accepted for
His sake! Come, every sinner, bring the Lamb of God! Put Him on the
altar and you shall be accepted at once, and you may at once begin to
praise the name of the Lord!

But then, as we go on, we find this Lamb of God useful, not only for
acceptance, but also for rescue and deliverance. It is a dark and
dreadful night. Egypt shivers and stands aghast. And just at midnight
flies forth an angel, armed with the sword of death. In every house of
Egypt there is heard a wail, for the firstborn is dead, from the
firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the woman who turns the mill
to grind the daily corn. Death is in every house! No, stop–there are
houses wherein there is no death! What has secured those habitations?
The father took a lamb, shed its blood, dipped a bunch of hyssop in it
and smeared the lintel and the two side posts–and then all sat down
and feasted, undisturbed, on the lamb–calm and happy. They rejoiced to
have for food that lamb whose blood was the ensign of their safety.
There was no crying, there, no dying there! Death could not touch the
inhabitants of the house that was marked with the blood of the paschal
lamb. Beloved, you and I are perfectly safe if we are sheltered beneath
the blood of the Lamb of God! Nothing can harm us, everything must
bless us–and we may go to our beds, tonight, singing–

"Sprinkled afresh with pardoning blood,

I lay me down to rest,

As in the embraces of my God,

Or on my Sa vior's breast."

We may rise tomorrow morning, if we are spared, and go into this busy
world without any fear. The broad arrow of the King is set upon us in
the blood-mark of the atoning Sacrifice, and we are safe, and safe
forever. Glory be to the name of the Lord for this!

Nor was that all. As I have told you, the blood of the paschal lamb was
not only sprinkled for the protection of the house, but its flesh was
the food of the inhabitants. Oh, Brothers and Sisters, we do not, at
first, know what it is to feed on Christ! We are satisfied to be
sprinkled with His blood, but the Believer, afterwards, finds that
Christ is the food of his soul. His blood is drink, indeed, and His
flesh is meat, indeed. Oh, what a festival have we kept over the Person
of our Lord! Sometimes, when faint and hungry, we have begun to think
of the Incarnate God, the bleeding Lamb, the full Atonement paid, and
we have said, "My soul is full, satisfied with favor, full of the
blessing of the Lord." I do not know what there is in the Gospel if you
take away the Atoning Sacrifice. It seems to me that there would be
nothing left but chaff which might suit asses and horses, but would not
be fit for men. Look to Jesus Christ dying in our place and here is
something for the soul to feed upon, yes, and to be satisfied with, as
with marrow and fatness!

I pointed you, a little further on, to the lamb in the wilderness, the
lamb offered up every day. That brings us to another point in our
Lord's work. We have had Christ for acceptance, Christ for safety, and
Christ for food, now we have Christ for perpetual resort. The Lamb of
God in the morning! Oh, blessed be God for a Savior in the morning! If
the night has gathered anything of evil, He does then disperse it, as
the sun dispels the darkness. But oh, what a precious thing to also
have the Lamb of God in the evening! If in the day we have soiled our
feet in traversing this busy world, here we come to the Fountain and we
are made clean through the blood of the Lamb! Perpetual merit,
perpetual intercession, perpetual life-giving, perpetual salvation flow
from Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God! He is not slain twice. His one
wonderful offering has finished transgression and made an end of sin,
but its efficacy continues as though He were sacrificed often, always
supplying us with merit, so that, in effect, His wounds continually
bleed. He is always a new Savior for me every morning, always a new
Savior every night and yet always the same Savior, the same Christ!
There is no getting weary of Him, there is nothing "stale" in Him. They
may talk about "a new view of the Atonement." I have no view of the
Atonement but this–"Who loved me, and gave Himself for me." "Who His
own Self bore our sins in His own body on the tree." And that old view
of the Atonement is always fresh and always new to the heart and
conscience!

Well now, Beloved, when we again come to John, following our former run
of thought, we find the Lamb of God useful for guidance, for when John
said, "Behold the Lamb of God," the two disciples followed Jesus and we
read of some, "These are they which follow the Lamb wherever He goes."
The Lamb is our Guide. The Lord is a Shepherd as well as a Lamb, and
the flock following in His footsteps is safely led. My Soul, when you
need to know which way to go, behold the Lamb of God! Ask, "What would
Jesus do?" Then do what Jesus would have done in such a case and you
can not do amiss.

Further on we find such a passage as this, telling us of victory
through the Lamb of God–"They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb."
The Lamb is a great Warrior–there is none like He. Is He not the Lion
of the tribe of Judah? Though He is gentle as a lamb, yet against sin
and iniquity He is fiercer than a young lion when it roars on its prey.
If we

follow Him, hold fast His Truth, believe in His Atonement and
perpetually proclaim His Gospel, we shall overcome all error, all sin
and all evil!

Well now, this blessed Lamb–it is not easy to leave off talking about
Him when one once begins–one is so blessed that you may well behold
Him, for all happiness comes through Him. In Heaven you will see
nothing without Him. "Nothing," you ask? No, nothing–here is a proof
of my words. "The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to
shine in it, for the Glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the
light thereof." All the light, the knowledge, the joy, the bliss of
Heaven come through the Atoning Sacrifice of Christ! Not Jesus only,
but Jesus slain, Jesus the Lamb of God is the very Light of Heaven!

And what do you think is the joy-day of Heaven, the time for the
highest exultation? Why, the joyous day when all the golden bells shall
peal out their glorious melodies, and all the silver trumpets shall
ring out their jubilant notes will be the day of the marriage of the
Lamb! It is the Heaven of Heaven, the climax of ineffable delight!! And
the voice of the great multitude, as the voice of many waters and as
the voice of mighty thunder, sings, "Alleluia: for the Lord God
Omnipotent reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to Him:
for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself
ready." So that, at the topmost round of the ladder of eternal bliss,
there you find the Lamb! You cannot get beyond Him. He gives you all He
has, even Himself. Behold Him, then, and go on beholding Him throughout
the countless ages of eternity!

I would to God that you had all beheld Him, and I pray you to behold
Him tonight. It is but a little while and the death-film will gather
about your eyes–and if you have not seen the Lamb while yet you have
mortal eyes, you will see Him, you will certainly see Him–but your
vision will be like that of Balaam. "I shall see Him, but not now: I
shall behold Him, but not near." If it is with you, "not now," it may
be, "not near." It will be an awful thing to see the Lamb with a gulf
between yourself and Him, for there is a great, impassable gulf fixed
in the next world–and when you see Him across that gulf, how will you
feel? Then shall you cry to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us, and
hide us from the face of Him that sits on the Throne, and from the
wrath of the Lamb!" Jesus will still be a Lamb, even to the lost–it is
"the wrath of the Lamb" that they will dread! The Lamb is always
conspicuous. He may be neglected, rejected, refused tonight, but He
will be beheld in eternity and beheld to your everlasting confusion and
unutterable dismay if you refuse to behold Him now. Let it not be so
with any of you–

"You sinners, seek His face,

Whose wrath you cannot bear!

Fly to the shelter of His Cross,

And find salvation there."

Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: JOHN 1:1-37.

John is the majestic Evangelist. He is the high-soaring eagle with
piercing eyes. His is the Gospel of the Son of God!

Verses 1-3. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All
things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was
made. We cannot describe the Deity of Christ in clearer language than
John uses. He was with God. He was God. He did the works of God, for He
was the Creator. If any doubt His Deity, they must do so in distinct
defiance of the language of Holy Scripture!

4, 5. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light
shines in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. Christ is
still not understood. Jesus is still not known. How should darkness
understand the Light of God? It opposes the Light of God–it has to
flee before light, but it does not, it cannot understand the Light of
God! O God, work a miracle in our dark hearts and fill them with the
Light of Christ!

6, 7. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came
for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him
might believe. That is our business, too. We who are ministers sent
from God bear witness of the Light, that all men through Him may
believe. Oh, how often we go home and cry, "Who has believed our
report?" We do not ask you to believe in us–no, but in our Master,
whose heralds we are. If we can lead you to faith in Him, we shall be
glad, indeed! But, if not, we will sorrow because we have missed our
mark and failed in our purpose.

8, 9. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that
Light. That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into
the world. If any man has saving Light, true Light, he gets it through
Christ. There is no other Light–all other light is but darkness
visible. The Light in which we see God comes from Jesus.

10. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world
knew Him not. Strange was it that the Creator came to His own earth and
yet He was unknown. Men mistook Him, they hated Him, they crucified Him
whom they ought to have entertained with sacred hospitality and
worshipped with holy loyalty.

11, 12. He came unto His own, and His own received Him not. But as many
as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even
to them that believe on His name. All men are not the sons of God! The
doctrine of the universal Fatherhood is utterly untrue! They only
become the sons of God who receive Christ and believe on His name.
Otherwise they are heirs of wrath, even as others–

"To them ga ve He power to become the sons of God."

13. Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but of God. There is another birth beside the natural
one–never does the birth of the flesh make us Christians! If our
ancestry should be a line of saints, yet are we born sinners–we must
be born again if we are to become saints. If we could trace our
pedigree to a perfect man, if such there is, yet the birth by the flesh
would not avail us. Sons of God are, "born, not of blood, nor of the
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."

14. And the Word was made flesh. Here was the Incarnation of Him who
made all things. He that is God, "was made

flesh."

14. And dwelt among us, (and we–The Apostles

14. Beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-Begotten of the Father),
full of Grace and truth. Oh, all you who would know Christ, learn that
He is worth the knowing! He is full of Grace for your sinnership and
full of truth for your ignorance! He can cleanse and He can teach.
There is everything in Him that you need. You shall not be deceived,
for He is full of the Truth of God–you shall not be rejected, for He
is full of Grace.

15-18. John bore witness of Him and cried, saying, This was He of whom
I spoke, He that comes 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 given by Moses, but Grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at any time. He is too high, too
spiritual to be perceived by human senses.

18. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He has
declared Him. What of God we need to know, we may see in Christ–enough
to save us, enough to sanctify us, enough to make us all like the
only-begotten Son of the Father.

19, 20. And this is the record of John, when the Jews sent priests and
Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, Who are you? And he confessed, and
denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. With indignation he
must have repelled the idea that he was the Messiah–

"I am not the Christ."

21-23. And they asked him, What then? Are you Elijah? And he said, I am
not. Are you that Prophet? And he answered, No. Then said they unto
him, Who are you? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What
say you of yourself? He said, I am the voice–Humbly he reduces himself
to a voice, but he was not "a voice and nothing more." There was much
that was mighty and wise in that voice.

23-27. Of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the
Lord, as said the Prophet Isaiah. And they which were sent were of the
Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptize you,
then, if you are not that Christ, nor Elijah, neither that Prophet?
John answered them, saying, I baptize with water: but there stands One
among you, whom you know not; He it is, who coming after me is
preferred before me, whose shoelaces I am not worthy to unloose. How
John hides himself behind his Master! He was a most worthy man, a truly
great man, but he counted himself unworthy of the most menial service
for Christ and felt honored by filling the office of a slave to
unloosen His Master's shoelaces. It is better to be the slave of Christ
than to rule vast empires! He who truly serves Him is glorified
thereby.

28, 29. These things were done in Bethabara beyond Jordan, where John
was baptizing. The next day John saw Jesus coming unto Him, and says,
Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. Now is
he bringing out his message! Now is he pointing out his Master.

30, 31. This is He of whom I said, After me comes a Man which is
preferred before me: for He was before me. And I knew Him not. John
knew Jesus very well, but he did not know Him as the Sent One of God,
the Messiah, till after he had received the sign and token at His
baptism. "I knew Him not."

31-34. But that He should be made manifest to Israel, therefore have I
come, baptizing with water. And John bore 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 you shall see the Spirit descending, and remaining
on Him, the same is He which baptizes with the Holy Spirit. And I saw
and bare record that this is the Son of God. Jesus and John must have
been well acquainted with one another–they were closely related–but
John was not to know anybody as the Messiah till he received the token
from God. When he saw that token, then he officially knew and he bore
instant witness– "This is the Son of God."

35, 36. Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples. And
looking at Jesus as He walked. With holy reverence, with loving awe,
gazing upon this extraordinary Person–"as He walked"–

36, 37. He said," Behold the Lamb of God!" And the two disciples heard
him speak, and they followed Jesus. This is our one business tonight,
to cry, "Behold the Lamb of God!"