The Lamb of God Who Takes Away the Sin of the World
Tom Shrader teaches from John 1:29-34, focusing on John the Baptist's declaration that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He traces the Old Testament background of sacrifice and shows how Christ's death and resurrection fulfill what no human effort or religion can accomplish. Drawing on Romans 3, 1 Corinthians 15, and John 3:16, Shrader calls both first-time hearers and longtime churchgoers to move beyond familiarity and respond to the overwhelming love of God with genuine faith.
“God loves you in spite of you, not because of you — He didn't say oh, he's so clever, look at his hair; He looked down and saw a heart of stone, and still sent Christ who died for you.”
— Tom Shrader
Series: Scottsdale Bible Church
Recorded: 2015 at Scottsdale Bible Church
Duration: 43 min
Themes: sin, sacrifice, forgiveness, salvation, faith, love of god, redemption, repentance, new believer, longtime churchgoer, spiritually complacent, seeking salvation, doubting faith, first-time hearer, young adult, struggling with sin
Scripture: John 1:1, John 1:19-34, John 1:28, John 1:29, John 1:34, John 1:38, John 1:41, John 1:49, John 3:16, John 10:10, John 14:6, John 20:30-31, Malachi 4:5, Isaiah 40:3, Romans 3:10-12, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, Romans 8:38-39, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, 2 Corinthians 5:14, 1 Peter 1:18-19
Theological Themes: atonement, substitutionary atonement, lamb of god, justification, old testament fulfillment, soteriology, incarnation, propitiation
Full Transcript
Introduction and Series Context
We are in a series called "I Believe," and what Jamie has decided to do is take a section of the Gospel of John and use one word as a title for each part. We pick up today in John chapter 1, verse 29, which begins with the phrase "the next day." You immediately realize you are walking into a continuation — a continuation of what we looked at last week — and I think we need to go back just to remind ourselves how we got here.
John the Baptist and the Delegation from Jerusalem
John the Gospel writer says, in chapter 1, verse 19, "This is the testimony of John." We need to be careful here: one is John the disciple who is writing the Gospel, and the other is John the Baptizer. The focus of our study today is John the Baptist.
John the Gospel writer tells us in verse 19 that the Jews sent to him priests and Levites — a group from the Sanhedrin — and they made an official visit. They asked him, "Who are you?" It is almost sneering the way they say it. What they are really asking is, "Who do you think you are?" Here is this odd creature, John the Baptist, who has popped onto the scene, and the leaders are saying, "We don't have a box for this guy. He doesn't fit into any of our rhythm or rhyme, any of the ways we would train. He is not one of us."
John answers them plainly. He says, in verse 20, "I am not the Christ." There was a general thought circulating that perhaps he was the Messiah, but he put that to rest. They pressed him further: "Are you Elijah?" That might seem like an odd question, but the Old Testament ends in Malachi 4:5 with God saying, "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord." John answered, "No." They said, "Well, who are you? We need an answer."
In verse 23, John describes himself by reaching back to the book of Isaiah: "I am a voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord." That is who I am, he says. I am the one who has arrived, the one who has proclaimed that there is One coming after me — and I am not even worthy to tie His sandal. He is the greatest of all, and I am the least of all.
The Place of Passage
These things took place, according to chapter 1, verse 28, in Bethany beyond the Jordan. The old name for Bethany is Beth Abara, which means "a place of passage." Tradition holds that this is where the Israelites entered the promised land under the leadership of Joshua, who was a type — a prototype — of Jesus. In the very setting where that picture once appeared, it is now going to become a reality.
Behold the Lamb of God
That brings us to verse 29, where we pick up the next day. The next day, John the Baptist saw Jesus coming and said, "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." I want to come back to that phrase and give it the emphasis it deserves, but let me first finish the surrounding context.
Verse 30 tells us John said, "This is He on behalf of whom I said, 'After me comes a man who has a higher rank than I, for He existed before me.'" John was chronologically older than Jesus, yet he declares that Jesus existed before him. How far back did He exist? We find the answer in chapter 1, verse 1: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." He is eternal.
John then makes a striking admission: "I did not recognize Him." That is an arresting statement, because Jesus and John were cousins, and in a close-knit community it seems almost certain they would have known each other. But what John means is that he did not recognize Jesus as the Messiah, as the One who was to come. John then gives his testimony: "I have seen the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven and remaining on Him." John is reflecting back on an incident that had taken place approximately six weeks earlier.
Behold the Lamb of God
Earlier, before Jesus went into the desert where John baptized Him, John said it was that moment that he got it. He didn't recognize Him at first, but now he did. Here is the culminating testimony in verse 34: "I myself have seen, and I testify, this is the Son of God." This is God coming in the flesh. This is God who is coming to redeem His people, to save His people from their sins.
Troy mentioned I am part of a group that is now Redemption Church, and every Wednesday at Redemption Church, the men who will be teaching the next lesson gather together in something we call a collective. On a morning like today, we have nine congregations with nine guys teaching, and the collective is to come together and improve our message. You see things that another guy doesn't see — some insights — and you talk about the language, application, and possible interpretation. But we always try to walk away with what we call the big idea: the one thing we want to get at. What is the one thing that if two people meet the next day at Costco, getting the world's best $1.50 hot dog, and one says, "I wasn't there yesterday — what did they talk about?" — you could answer with the big idea. So for you today, since you're in Scottsdale, you're not at Costco, you're at Whole Foods tomorrow.
The Big Idea: John 1:29
The big idea is found in chapter 1, verse 29. The next day, Jesus is approaching — imagine the scene with me. You can picture it because you've seen those documentary films, those movies like *King of Kings* and *Jesus of Nazareth*. There are people all around, there is a lot of attention, John is there, these men are questioning him, and right in the midst of all of this, John says: "That guy right there — behold — he's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world." That is the big idea. Jesus is the Lamb of God.
One author writes this: "This passage is a verse that ought to be printed in great letters in the memory of every reader of the Bible. All the stars of heaven are bright and beautiful, and yet one star exceeds another star in glory. So also in texts of Scripture, all are inspired and profitable, yet some seem richer than others. Never was there a fuller testimony born to Christ upon earth than that which is born by John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."
Another author writes: "In one sentence we have the essence of the Christian message." This is a difficult task for Western ears — to appreciate the power of John's announcement — but these words brought an avalanche of meaning to the Jewish mind. John, the gospel writer, is the only one who uses this title, "Behold the Lamb of God." Just within this very chapter there are other titles used to describe Jesus: verse 38, He is called Rabbi; verse 41, Messiah; verse 34, Son of God; verse 49, King of Israel and Son of Man. But this is the title. This is the title that, in this moment, would cause those listening to say, at least to some extent: I get it. This would have been a startling title to those who heard it.
I was never good at math. I would see people all around me reach that moment in geometry where they would say, "I get it," and I would think, well, sit close to me because I am going to need some help during the test. But for those listening to John, something like that happened. They had heard in the Old Testament of these unexplained sacrifices — every morning, every evening, animals were sacrificed, a stream of blood — and on the big holidays they knew that there was no forgiveness of sin without the shedding of blood. But all of a sudden it all pulls together in this moment: behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This is God come in the flesh to be that sacrifice, to do for all mankind what we could not do for ourselves.
Peter writes of it this way in 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 18: "You were ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, that of a lamb without blemish or spot."
Four Things We Draw From the Big Idea
From this big idea, let me give you four things we can pull out of it. I borrowed these summary points from J.C. Ryle, though they are fairly evident on their own.
**Number one: Christ is the Savior.**
When I originally sent the PowerPoint over to Catherine and she formatted it and sent it back, I had capitalized the definite article, and it didn't look good on the screen. I said to Catherine, "That doesn't look right," and she said lovingly, "I've never liked all caps." We changed it — but I want to make sure you get this, because I want to read it that way: Christ is *the* Savior. He says it this way in John 14: "I am the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the Father but through Me." It is the definite article. He is *the* Savior. He did not come to be a great teacher, or a philosopher, or just another prophet, or a great role model. He is the Savior.
And as the Savior, His work is complete. "Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world." He did not give you some kind of temporary pardon. This is a big idea for some of you: in Christ, we are not on probation. It is finished. We are in right relationship with Him. His work is complete — that is what He cried out on the cross: "It is finished."
Again, we are so familiar with this that it can pass right by us, and that is part of what happened to me in putting this lesson together. We are so familiar with it. He is the Savior of all mankind — and to the Jewish listeners of that day, that would have been staggering. They were looking for a Jewish Messiah, and He is
The Lamb for the Whole World
This Sunday, all around the world, there are people who are radically different than you and me who are worshiping the same Savior. His work is complete for all mankind, and His work is perpetual. J.C. Ryle writes this: "He takes away the sin of the world. He is daily taking our sin away from everyone that believes in Him — daily purging, daily cleansing, daily washing, daily granting and applying fresh supplies of His mercy." He did not cease to work for the saints when He died on the cross. He lives in heaven as a priest, continually making that sacrifice before God.
So the big idea is this: behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He does this as our Savior, complete in His work for anyone who will come to Him — man, woman, boy, girl, any ethnic background — not based on anything, not even the level of your sin. Come to Him, and He will receive you.
Two Kinds of People in the Room
Here is always a challenge in a moment like this. There are in this room a broad group of people with diverse backgrounds. Some of you, this is brand new. You got here today not sure how it happened — someone kept saying, "Come with me, come with me," and finally you said yes, and at this very moment you are re-examining that decision. You haven't understood anything that's happened. We sang a bunch of songs, you saw a hospital in Mexico that touched your compassion, and now I'm up here and you're thinking, "I don't know if I get it."
That's one end. On the other end are those of you who have heard this so much, so often, so long, that all you've heard to this point is blah, blah, blah. You've already closed your notebook, you've got your phone out, you think you're fooling me with a Bible app, but you're really texting your best friend saying, "I should have played golf with you today."
Now, I never put together a lesson based on who's going to be there. But someone said to me this week, "I heard you're going to be at SPC Sunday," and I said, "Yeah," and they said, "I'm bringing my neighbor — I hope it will really be good." That was the inspiration. If you are that neighbor sitting here today, we are so glad you're here. I care deeply about that first group — I want you to understand this. But the second group is a bigger challenge. Those of you who have heard it and heard it and heard it — I want us to get the depth of this.
There is a bumper sticker that used to be out there. It says: "The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it." Well, the middle part of that is a waste of ink. The real statement is this: the Bible says it — that settles it. It doesn't matter what I think. It doesn't matter what Jamie thinks. It doesn't matter what you think, with all due respect. What does the Bible say?
Why We Need the Lamb of God
So why do we need that Lamb of God? I am going to take you down a path. What happened to me this week is that I began to preach this message to myself — almost as if I were trying, though I know it's impossible, to come to it completely fresh.
Here is what the Bible says about you. Romans 3, verse 10: "It is written, there is none righteous, not even one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become useless. No one does good, not even one." If you are in that first group, perhaps something wells up in you and says, "That's not right. I do pretty well. I've got a neighbor — he's an incredible guy. When I'm gone in the summer, he cuts my grass." And then there's Nana. Let me tell you something about Nana: you didn't know her when she was younger. There is none good — no, not one. That is the heart of man.
My wife Sandy's sister and mom are in town, and the big event for us this afternoon is to introduce them to our grandkids. We have eight of them — ages nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one. My guess is Haley and Sarah will have them all ready: "Hi, it's nice to meet you. Hi, it's nice to meet you." They might pull that off for a moment. But it won't take thirty seconds before they're out there whacking each other in the face and stealing each other's candy. If you've ever had kids, you never had to teach them to lie, did you? You had to teach them to tell the truth. Why? Because, as Paul summarizes in Romans 3:23, "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God."
Every person who has ever lived comes into this world a sinner, separated from God. I want you to deal with that right now. I'm not talking about somebody out there. I'm talking about you.
Four Responses to Guilt
You are a sinner. There are moments, no matter how seared your conscience is, where you feel guilty. You feel guilty because you are guilty. You have four ways you can respond to that guilt.
Number one, you can deny it. That is like the young ruler who came to Jesus. He said, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus said, "Keep all the commandments." And the young ruler said, "I already did that." You may not be that brazen. You might say, "I guess I've sinned a little bit, but it's no big deal. It's not that much. I cut somebody off in traffic, I do a bunch of little things, but no big deal. God can't possibly be that upset about that."
Here is a second response to guilt: you can accept it and be filled with despair. The biblical character who models that is Judas. Think about it — what Judas did and what Peter did were not radically different, but Peter's guilt drives him to the cross. Judas says, "There's no hope for me." That might be you. You might be here right now thinking, "I've done so much, so bad, beyond anything you can imagine." Listen — it takes no more grace to save the worst of sinners than it does to save you. God can forgive you. He knows everything you've ever said, everything you've ever done, everything you've ever thought, and He says, "That's all right. My grace is sufficient." Amazing grace, unfailing love.
Here is the third response to guilt, and it is the most popular, the natural reaction: accept it and try to fix it. That is called religion. Some of you are on that track. "I really messed up, but I'll fix it. I'll start doing this, stop doing that, start going to church, prove how dedicated I am." But our problem is this: the wage of sin is death. Our sin has separated us from God, and there is nothing we can do to fix it.
The only right answer is the fourth response: accept your guilt and believe the gospel. Understand that you are a sinner, that your sin has separated you from God, and that the provision for that separation is what John sees in John chapter 1, verse 29 — the Lamb of God. Everything else is denial, ignoring, or doing. But there is only one sacrifice.
The Gospel in a Nutshell
My friend Larry Wright used to call 1 Corinthians 15 the gospel in a nutshell. Look with me at 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 3: "I deliver to you of first importance that Christ died for our sin." That is why Christ died. That Christ died is not stop-the-presses news — we know He died. But why did He die? He died for your sin. When He died on that cross, what we call the agony of the cross was not primarily the physical agony. It was the agony of that moment when all the guilt deserved by all the people who would ever come to Him was thrust upon Jesus. He died specifically with people in mind. He died for our sin.
Verse 4 tells us they did with Him what they do with dead people — they buried Him — and He rose on the third day. That is a huge deal. I delivered 23 years of Easter messages, and they always came around to the same theme: the resurrection. I got it down to this — Jesus Christ rose from the dead. The evidence is overwhelming. There are ten historic facts that make the case.
I remember coming to this church not long after I had become a believer. I sat right over here when Josh McDowell came and did a series called The Resurrection Factor, and it transformed my thinking. All of a sudden I thought, this is a historic fact. He really rose from the dead. And if Jesus rose from the dead, this is a very big deal. Here is what it means: He is who He said He was, and you are who He says you are. There is a gap between you and God because of your sin, and there is nothing you can do to fix it.
When Paul completes this thought in Romans chapter 6, verse 23, he says the wage of sin is death. If all you want is what you deserve, you deserve death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus. All you have to do is believe on Him. Is it that easy? Yes, it is.
A Walk at Granite Reef
Maybe you have been around this your whole life. I have told this story before, but I never identified the other person in it. The other person is my dad. We were taking a walk one day at Granite Reef, at the corner of Granite Reef and McDonald. My dad was having me explain this whole thing to him.
He said, "What do I have to do?" He was in Mass every day. By any human standard — unless you had to live with him — he was a good man. Model citizen, same job for 43 years. He said, "Are you telling me that doesn't matter?"
I said, "I'm telling you God is not impressed with your effort. Christ died. If you believe that Christ rose from the dead and that He is Lord, if you confess that with your mouth and believe — not just mentally, but put your faith and trust in Him — you will go to heaven, and you can know that right now." He said, "No matter what?" I said, "No matter what."
He said, "Let me ask you something. If I believe this right now and I kill somebody tonight, am I still going to heaven?" And I said, "Well, we don't—"
Eternal Life Begins Now
He got grace. You can have eternal life — and when does eternal life begin? Right now. When does it end? There is no ending.
Why John Wrote His Gospel
I have John chapter 20. John tells you why he wrote this gospel. I almost said I read a lot of books — that's not true. I start a lot of books. In almost all the books that I start, in the introduction I'll mark an arrow and write "aim" or "purpose," because usually at the very beginning the author tells you why he or she is writing. John does it at the end.
So the gospel you have in front of you — John said, "Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples that aren't written in this book, but these are written that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of God, and believing in His name you have life."
Put it all together now. The weight of sin is death. I'm dead. There's only one thing a dead man needs, and that is life. That life is not found through my human effort — it's found only in the person of Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. In His death and resurrection, I have life, and nowhere else.
John 3:16 — The Most Familiar Verse
This book is rich with so many quotable verses. The most familiar is probably John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" — here it is again — "whoever believes in Him shall not perish but has eternal life."
Do I want eternal life? And by that I don't just mean heaven — I mean a life here. John 10:10: Jesus said, "I have come that you might have life and have it abundantly." I can have real life here.
Why would He do that? There's the answer: "For He so loved the world."
The Nature of God's Love
That is a really difficult word for us — love. Anything that I relate to as love, and I think you too, is conditional. Sandy and I have been married three years next month, and I'm in this kind of goofy, tingly phase where when I see her I just tingle. I get so excited. I'll sit as she's talking and find myself smiling, thinking, "She's incredible." I love her — but how could you not? She's really pretty, she's really smart, she's great. I watch her with the kids, I watch her in every setting. She loves me. I love her a ton. I love her more now than I did three years ago, and I presume I'll love her more three years from now. The more I know her, the more I love her.
But I don't know — if all of a sudden she wasn't so smart, and wasn't so kind, and not so nice — I wonder if I'd love her like that.
Here's the thought: God loves you not because you're prettier, not because you're smarter, not because you're handsome, not because you're good, not because you've got a good financial statement. This is something I say often, and it's one of those things where I think, "Wow," and people never seem to respond the way I think they ought to. That's not to put pressure on you to respond — that's just to tell you this is a big deal.
God loves you in spite of you, not because of you. It's not that He said, "Oh, he's so cute, he's so clever, look at his hair, how could you not love that guy — he's a little messed up." No. He looked down and He saw a heart of stone that not only didn't love God, but hated God — a heart that made false gods to worship instead of the real God.
Here's what He's saying — and my grandpa would say, "Doesn't this jar your preserves?" He loves you in spite of you, not because of you. He didn't say, "If I could just ding out some of those little dents, that would really be something." God so loved you that while you were despicable and sinful, He sent Christ, who died for you.
The Love of Christ Controls Us
So there's the great thought. In fact, Paul says it this way in 2 Corinthians 5:14: "For the love of Christ controls us."
There's a phrase. If you go on a trip — say you go to Toledo — you rent a car, you rent a Ford Fusion. You'd never had a Fusion before, never really noticed it. You come back from your trip, you're driving around town, and every car you look at is a Ford Fusion — they're everywhere. I'd like that to be the same thing here: that all of a sudden you start to see this love of God, the love of Christ. Paul says at the end of Romans 8, "What can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus?" Nothing. That's His love for you. There is an overwhelming love for you. Another translation says, "The love of Christ compels us."
When I walked in last night, they had painted the wall — "Love is here, love is now" — it was all over. That's the thing that moves us. When I begin to contemplate it, I'm not moved out of duty. I'm overwhelmed by His love for us, and all of a sudden there's a connection that should take place between my intellect and my emotion.
Jonathan Edwards on Religious Affection
There was a man born in 1703 and who died in 1758, and his name was Jonathan Edwards. He actually looks a little softer in the picture on the screen than he usually does, but he doesn't look like a guy you want to fill out your March Madness bracket with, sit around, cook brats, and watch a ball game. They tell us he taught in a monotone voice — not a lot of laughs.
Many say — and this is secular scholars, not theologians — that he is, if not the greatest, one of the greatest minds America ever produced. In 1746 he wrote a treatise called *A Treatise Concerning Religious Affections*. Here's what he said: our emotion and our intellect both play a role in our conversion, but there should be times when it's not just, "I got it intellectually."
Here's the problem with a really good church like Scottsdale Bible Church — and you've got...
When Familiarity Becomes a Trap
You have had great teachers. You have had Daryl, you have had Jamie, you have had the pictures of the guys hanging on a wall. But if you are not careful, you will turn this thing into an academic study. Now, it needs to be studied, but never separated from your emotion and from your heart. The love of Christ ought to at times overwhelm you.
I am not saying it is one constant adrenaline rush, but there ought to be times. My fear in my life is that I am so familiar with the fact that there is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world that it is like a sunrise that is absolutely breathtaking — and you look at it and think, it is like that every day. He is the Lamb of God. He has been for a long time.
The Big Idea
So here is the big idea for today. Jesus is the Lamb of God. If you are here for maybe the very first time, or hearing this for the first time, or maybe you are here often and for whatever reason it is coming together today, then what you are realizing is that you are a sinner. That seems indisputable. It seems to me there is an overwhelming empirical data to support it.
You are a sinner, and the result of that sin is that it separated you from God. The only way to be in right relationship with God is through Jesus Christ. If you want to talk about that, talk to the person who invited you here today, or the people who will be at the front of the room, or one of the campuses joining us this morning — ask them what it means, and go to the Connect Us table.
A Heart Stirred Anew
But I also hope that some of you who are thinking, "Blah blah blah, I've heard it" — I hope the Holy Spirit rips your heart out today and gives you a heart where you go, "Wow." Because you may have already fallen into the trap of thinking you are an okay guy or an okay gal. You were not. But in spite of you — not because of you — Christ died. Is that not amazing? You have forgiveness. And now you are His display case to the world around you. Now people look at you and see Him.
Closing Prayer
Father, let that be the case for those who are here. For those for whom this might be a day of coming into a right relationship with You through Christ, work in their hearts, move them. And for those of us who have maybe been around this a long time, God, stir up that same affection in us anew.
Remind us who we are now. We were that — but You have washed us and cleansed us and brought us into Your family. We sang it: You took orphans and made us sons and daughters. God, thank You for that work. Thank You for this place. And in all we do and say, let us glorify You. We pray that in Jesus' name.