In Like a Lamb
Spring 2019 • Sermon • Submitted
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· 22 viewsFirst Sunday of March sermon showing what "The Lamb of God" accomplished for us
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I remember as a young boy in school learning the old idiom that we have probably all heard that the Month of March is supposed to come in like a lion and go out like a lamb
It means that the fury of winter should hit us at the beginning of the month and as March progresses it should get nicer and nicer
Well when considering how the month of February was going, March actually came in more like a lamb than a lion and as one who is anxiously awaiting the start of motorcycle season I pray that instead of going out like a lion it continues to get more springlike
For the sake of my preaching however, I am going to accept the reverse of this and say “In like a lamb and out like a lion”
That’s because over the course of the month of March I am going to cover several spring topics that I believe am pertinent to us as we transition seasons and I am going to bookend the month with two messages, In like a Lamb and Back Like a Lion
So let’s begin, the first chapter of John is perhaps the richest theological chapter in all the Bible
The first chapter of John is perhaps the richest theological chapter in all the Bible
It begins with the incarnation of the Messiah but from a heavenly point of view instead of the earthly point of view that the other gospels focus in on
Then it jumps right into the brief story of John the Baptist who was shaking things up in the religious world with his preaching, his water baptisms, and his confrontations with the religious establishment of the day
Beginning in verse 19 those same religious leaders send an envoy to John to see if he would implicate himself in heresy by claiming to be the Messiah
But the Apostle records that he, “confessed freely, ‘I am not the Christ.’” , instead
John replied in the words of Isaiah the prophet, “I am the voice of one calling in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord.’ ”
John 1:
A reference to the prophecy of that the Pharisees would have taken to mean that the Messiah was about to be announced
Now let’s skip down to verse 29
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
He goes on to say, “This is the one I meant”
Now who is he talking to?
Obviously he is talking to those religious leaders who just the day before had been there to try and shut him down, to whom he said, ‘I will be the one to announce the Messiah to you’
Little did they realize that the announcement was to be right then and there as John drew their attention to his cousin and declared, “Behold the Lamb of God”
This was his grand announcement of the Messiah, not ‘Behold the king of kings who is here to take back His throne.’ not ‘Behold the Word of God who created all things and is here to put things right.’
The first introduction that the world had to the ministry of the Messiah was, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.’
John’s grand announcement was that the Messiah had come, that the Christ was here in their presence, but that unlike what they had been expecting, He had come in like a lamb, like a passover lamb who would be sacrificed
Their thoughts also would go straight to passover and the lamb that would be selected to be sacrificed on their behalf
So what does this statement mean to us more than 2000 years later
They wouldn’t believe it but they definitely would have thought about it
Well we could literally go on for hours about the significance of this statement but allow me this morning to give you 3 reasons why this statement by John the Baptist is important for us
The first one is that as the Lamb of God Jesus came to disclose a problem, the problem of sin
You see, Israel was waiting for the Messiah but they had already determined in their heads what their needs were and so what form that Messiah would take
The original Greek word is “ide” and it is as Strong’s Complete Word Study Concordance puts it, “second person singular imperative active” tense of the normal Greek word for “look”
Their problem, according to them was that they were under the rule of another kingdom, that Israel was being held down and so the Messiah would be a political ruler who would set them free from the tyranny of Rome and once again establish them as the great nation they once were
He told them open up your eyes and take a long hard look and see for yourselves that there is a problem and that problem is sin
They were looking for someone who could rally the troops, who could conduct negotiations, someone who looked the part and was bold and strong and forcefull
But He came in like a lamb because He knew that their problem was not Rome
Israel was waiting for a political ruler who would come and set them free from tyranny but as the Lamb that was not the purpose of Jesus
Jesus spent much of His ministry drawing the attention of people to the problem of sin
There was a bigger problem, sin, a problem that still impacts us today
Sin is still our greatest problem today even if the world refuses to acknowledge that
tells us
In a recent survey of Millennials called the World Economic Forum’s Global Shapers Survey 2017, climate change was chosen as the most serious issue affecting the world today
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
A distant second was war and in third place was inequality
The greatest problems that the world faces today are not poverty, human trafficking, war, racism or any other such problem for these are nothing more than symptoms of the underlying cause, SIN!
Rounding out the top 5 were poverty and religious conflicts
But unfortunately the world refuses to acknowledge that this problem exists and so they do not search out a solution for it
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Like Israel they look for solutions to what are only symptoms and ignore the source , that mankind has willfully turned his back on God and has chosen his own way of doing things and is therefore guilty in the eyes of God of rebellion
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
But even more important than admitting that the world has a sin problem is for us to admit that “I” have a sin problem
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
But before we are too quick to point an accusing finger at the world and say, “Ya!” let us remember that we too suffer this same problem and are born with a sinful nature
And as a sinner “I” am in need of the lamb of God
If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.
Which brings me to the second point, Jesus didn’t just come as the Lamb of God to identify the problem of sin
Let the fact that He came in like a lion be a reminder to us today that we are a sinner in need of forgiveness
Which brings me to my second point, by coming in as a lamb, not only did Jesus disclose the problem of sin but He dealt with the penalty of sin
You see God is holy and just and cannot tolerate sin in His presence and so explains that the wages of sin is death for the sin must be punished
Under the Old Covenant God postponed this judgement by means of the sacrificial system, and a lamb was chosen to bare the penalty on behalf of others
Passover became an integral part of this system where a perfect lamb without defect was chosen and slaughtered
The blood was to be
Some of the blood was then to be placed on the sides and tops of the doorframes to show that those who lived there were “under the blood” and would be spared the judgement of God
But as I said, this could only postpone the judgement, because the sins of mankind were mankind’s to atone for and no animal no matter how perfect was good enough
And so Jesus came as a lamb, perfect and without defect or sin and He was sacrificed upon the cross where His blood was spilt as an atonement for our sins
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood,
In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace
Epheians 1:
Revelation
That’s why we use phrases like “under the blood” because it is a testament to the fact that Jesus came in like a lamb, like a sacrificial lamb
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray,
each of us has turned to our own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed and afflicted,
yet he did not open his mouth;
he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,
and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
so he did not open his mouth.
Isaiah 53:
And we could stop right there and head into communion and have a great time celebrating the forgiveness that is ours through Jesus Christ but there’s one more point that makes it even more exciting
By coming in like a lamb not only did He disclose the problem of sin and not only did he deal with the penalty of sin but He also disabled the power of sin
In his letter to the Colossians Paul wrote,
In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your whole self ruled by the flesh was put off when you were circumcised by Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
Colossians 2:11-
Now there’s a lot of fancy theological stuff in there but don’t let it confuse you from the simple truth that because Jesus came as the lamb and died on the cross the power that sin held over you has been disarmed, disabled, dismembered and disassembled
It no longer has any claim over you
Oh make no mistake that sin will try and convince you otherwise, it won’t go away quietly but because of the lamb it will go away, it has to
I don’t have time to read for you all of Romans chapter 6 but I would encourage to read the whole thing for yourself, for now I will just give you a few verses
Romans 6:1-14
What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?
Romans 6:
Romans 6:6-7
For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.
In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires.
Romans 6:11-12
For sin shall no longer be your master, because you are not under the law, but under grace.
Romans 6:14
And I can’t think of a better place than that to stop and celebrate communion by celebrating the lamb of God
Let’s pray