In this sermon, the preacher emphasizes the importance of understanding the gospel and the role of the law of God in bringing conviction. He shares a personal experience of sharing the gospel with a bouncer and witnessing the power of the law in convicting him. The preacher encourages believers to spend time reading and meditating on the Word of God to better understand and explain the gospel to others. He also highlights the example of John the Baptist, who understood his role as a witness to the light and not the light itself. The sermon emphasizes the need to focus on preaching Christ and helping the lost world understand their obligations before God.

Before I get started here, I apologize for this, but just one point of housekeeping. If you're looking at the books back there, you're interested in the price. If you look at the first blank end paper, there's a penciled price on the first blank page up in the corner. That price is in pencil, for a reason. So if you need some help with that price, I can definitely adjust that. That's a ministry. We want to equip you. Part of what Any Great Awakening is about is education regarding the gospel and the doctrines of grace. I'm sure you'll see, as you look through those books, there's some solid theology there. That's what we really want to do there is get sound theology out there into the hands of people who are interested in doing evangelism. The other thing that we want to encourage you to pick up, there's a little pamphlet there. It's free. Just grab that. It's about a church planning project and an opportunity to get more education in open-air preaching. That's all I'm going to say about that at this point. John 1, verse 29 is our text today. John 1, verse 29. A while back, I had the privilege of hearing a solid Reformed Baptist preacher talk about evangelism. He was just kind of tongue-in-cheek, kind of ribbing those of us who do street evangelism. He was saying, some of you guys think that you're John the Baptist. He kind of said it tongue-in-cheek. I was speaking with some brothers and sisters in Christ, some brothers in Christ in particular. They said, it's important for us to preach about Jesus when we go out there and preach the gospel. There's something that happens when we go out there and we focus on the law of God, and we never get to the cross. So many of us, we've come up through very good ministries like Way of the Master. They've done an excellent service to the body of Christ in helping us to understand the importance of preaching the law before we get to grace. Preaching the law before we get to the cross. In some preaching that's going on out there, there's no getting to the cross. It becomes a man-centered message to an extent. Because what we're doing is we're saying, you're this, you're that. You're this, you're that, and going down all the lists of sins and all these things that these people most definitely are in their totally depraved hearts. But we never get to the remedy. We never get to Christ. Something is wrong with our gospel preaching if we're not preaching Christ. Something's wrong with it. And so I began to think about what this man said. Some of you all think you're John the Baptist, and you're not that kind of as a dig. But have you ever looked at the preaching of Christ in the ministry of John the Baptist? John 1, verse 29. We have the preaching of Christ in the ministry of John the Baptist. It's simple. It's not even the whole verse. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let's bow together in prayer. Oh Lord Jesus, it is the desire of our hearts to see you. Father, forgive us if we have come to this place today to hear a man. Any one of the men who are listed. And Father God, give us a heart to see Christ. Give us a heart to preach Christ. Give us a heart to not worry about anything other than making sure that this lost and dying world understands their obligations before this King of Kings and this Lord of Lords. Oh Father God, I pray that you might come and that you might speak through a weak man this morning. I pray that you would be glorified. I pray that you, Lord Jesus, that you might come and stand beside me in this pulpit. And that you would give me strength and give me the words to say. We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. I want to break down this amazing phrase. John the Baptist. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Let's first of all focus on that first word, behold. Behold. John the Baptist was not a typical American evangelical preacher. John the Baptist was not a typical evangelical American preacher. He did not say, behold my molecular gifts. He didn't say that. He didn't say, behold my prosperity. He didn't say, behold my converts or the number of people that I baptized last year. He didn't say, behold my building program. Behold my personality, my best selling book, my TV show, my blog, my diplomas on my wall. He said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. That's what God has called us to do as open heart preachers. It's not to go out there and say, behold my blog or behold my website or behold anything else. Behold Him. Behold Christ. Fix your gaze on Christ. That's what John the Baptist is saying. If God supernaturally moved in the hearts of most evangelical preachers in this nation today on Sunday morning and they spoke the truth that's in their heart, they wouldn't be saying this verse simply because they know they ought to say it. But what they would be saying is, behold me. Behold me. It's not about us. It's about His glory. Behold the Lamb of God. When John the Baptist said this, what he said was, what he was saying is, look with understanding. Look with understanding. He wasn't just saying, oh, look over there. But what he's saying is, look with understanding. And to give them some understanding, he goes on here. But before we get into the rest of this text, I want to point out to you that John the Baptist understood his role. He understood his role. Go back to John 1, verse 6. 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. He was not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light. If we could just get verse 8 drilled down in our own hearts, we're not the show. John the Baptist understood that. He understood that he wasn't the light. His ministry wasn't the light. God can do without our ministries. You understand that? God can do without lost cause ministries in Dallas, Texas. He can do without all of our ministries. Jesus Christ is all-powerful. He is God. And we need to communicate this. Jesus Christ is what everything is about. The gospel, it's all about him. He is the gospel. John 1, verse 19. And this is a witness of John when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, who art thou? He confessed and denied not, but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, what then? Art thou Elijah? And he said, if I am not. Art thou that prophet? And he answered, no. Then said they unto him, who are you? That's a big question these days, who are you? Well, let me tell you who I am, right? Who are you? And he says, I lost my place here. That we may give an answer to them that sent us, what sayest thou thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Isaiah. He was a fulfillment of biblical prophecy. He understood his role. His role wasn't to make straight his own way. His role was to make straight the way of the Lord. In John 3, verse 30, how many people would do this? In John 3, verse 30, he says, he must increase and I must decrease. And he wasn't just saying it for the sake of the audience. He meant it. He must increase and I must decrease, so much so that back in John 1, verses 36 and 37, we read there that when John was with his disciples, he saw Christ and he said again, behold the name of God and he sent his disciples to go follow Christ. How many people today send other people to follow Christ instead of getting them to follow them? John the Baptist was not your typical preacher. He understood his role and he called people to look with understanding on Christ and we need to do the same thing. Get people to fix their gaze on Christ. Let me tell you something. When you have the right understanding of who Jesus is and you see him in his glory and you see him in his purity and you see him in his holiness and you hear his commands that are so holy and pure in scripture, it only takes a passing glance at yourself when your gaze is fixed on Christ to see your own sinfulness. Is that not true? Just a passing glance. Just a peripheral glance at yourself reveals the rot and the total depravity that you are outside of Christ. And this is true of the sinner as well. Look at Isaiah chapter 6. In Isaiah chapter 6, when Isaiah has this thrilling vision of God, there's no one standing next to Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 6 taking him to a good person test. He sees God. And what does he say? Where is me? I am undone. I am a man of unclean lips. I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. Does that mean throw out the law? Absolutely not. Use the law of God because we don't have that luxury of just having the throne room of God show up anywhere. What we do is we go out there, we preach the law to give people a sense of the holiness of God. Yes. But understand that Christ is the light. He is the light. The law sets the stage to reveal in the darkness the depravity of man to show the glory of Christ. Isaiah 45, 22. Look unto me and be saved, all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. We can go out there with boldness and say to all men, commanding all men everywhere to repent, all the ends of the earth, look to Christ. Fix your gaze on Christ. See His beauty. See His glory. Jonathan Edwards wrote a wonderful sermon called The Excellencies of Christ. The Excellencies of Christ. On the one hand, He is the Lamb of God. On the other hand, He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. How can this be? A lamb and a lion united in one person. God and man united in one person. All these amazing attributes of Christ united together seemingly contradicting one another but united together in one glorious person in Jesus Christ. So call people to fix their gaze on Him. John the Baptist said, Behold. He also said, Behold the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. Bible scholars debate, what does this mean? What lamb is he referring to in John 1, verse 29 when he speaks of the Lamb of God? Some Bible scholars say it must be referring back to the Passover lamb from the book of Exodus. You know the story of the Passover lamb. The lamb that was slaughtered. The blood placed on the doorpost. The Lord Himself would pass over those households if He saw the blood there on the doorpost. You understand that. So the lamb may be referring to that. Other Bible scholars look back to Isaiah chapter 53. They look at Isaiah 53 and they see the lamb terminology that's used there. They say it's referring to that. Others go back to Exodus again and they see the daily sacrifices. Twice a day a perfect spotless lamb was slaughtered for the sins of Israel. A continually born offering that was offered up. Which one is it? I would suggest to you today that Christ is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament sacrificial system that's referring to all of it. John the Baptist in his transitionary role from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant is referring to all of it. And he's saying this man is the fulfillment of all of it. He's the fulfillment of the Old Testament priesthood. He is the fulfillment of the temple and the tabernacle. He is the fulfillment of the law of God. Look to Christ. Behold the Lamb of God. Behold the Lamb of God. Let's look at this. Isaiah 53 verse 7. Incidentally, I would encourage you to preach this kind of stuff on the streets. We hear this kind of stuff in churches all the time, right? I challenge you. I dare you. Go out and preach this kind of stuff in the streets. Isaiah 53 verse 7. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth. He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is done, so he openeth not his mouth. This is our Lamb of God. This is Jesus. He went there perfect, completely innocent, did not even open his mouth in objection as he laid down his life as a perfect sacrifice. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 7 says that Christ is our Passover. He is our Passover. He is the fulfillment. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 15 says this about Christ. We have not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. He was that perfect Lamb of God. He was tempted every way that you and I can be tempted, and he never once sinned in thought, word, or in deed. He was the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 1 Peter chapter 1 verses 18 and 19. 1 Peter chapter 1 verse 18. For as much as you know that you are not redeemed with corruptible things like silver and gold from your vain manner of life received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He is the perfect sacrifice. And we all know this concept of Christ being the Lamb of God, but it's interesting that in the word of God, the only author who refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God is John, who writes the book of John, also writes the book of Revelation. And so we go to the book of Revelation and we discover some things about this Lamb of God. Revelation chapter 5 verse 12. Revelation chapter 5 verse 12 reveals this about the Lamb of God, that He is worthy of praise. We need to thunder this out on the streets. That this Jesus that they reject, this Jesus that people are just kind of sloughing off and it's not a big deal that they're rejecting, He is worthy of everything that they have. Jesus Christ, our Lord, is worthy of everything that they have, everything that they are. He's God. Revelation 5 verse 12. This is what we're looking forward to. I'll go back to verse 11. I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the living creatures and the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy is a Lamb that is slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Oh, He is worthy, saints. You know He is worthy. When you hear this, something jumps up inside of you and says, Yes, I know He's worthy of all that. He's worthy of the aggravation that Jeff was just talking about, that you face in your own church, that you face out there on the streets. He's worthy of all that. He's worthy, but He's worthy of what? Look at verse 12. He's worthy to receive power, all the strength that you've got, all the ability that you've got is worthy to be poured out for this King of Kings. He is worthy, in verse 12, of all riches. This isn't a sermon about giving. He is worthy of every penny that you've got. He's worthy of all of it. He's worthy here of all wisdom. All wisdom. The best thoughts that you have, as you read the Word of God and meditate on the Word of God, He is worthy of that. And those things are to be proclaimed on the streets. He is worthy of all those things. And He is the coming judge, this Lamb, this Lamb of God. We look at a Lamb, we think of it as being something weak. But in Revelation, the Lamb is something that's powerful. Revelation 6, verse 15. Verse 15. Folks, Jesus is coming back. It's true. There's a second coming. But when He comes the second time, it's not like the first time. When He came the first time, He came to save. Like maybe down the street, he's got a nativity set. Plugs it in at night, glows, you know, plastic. There's the donkeys and the wise men and Joseph and Mary and the baby. It's cute, right? It's all cute. And our commercial society that we live in, they try to market it. And, you know, you've got a fat red guy in a suit. And everybody's buying presents for one another, right? We're doing all these things that we think the first coming was cute. When Christ comes back the second time, He's not coming to save. He's coming to slaughter. This is the Jesus that they're rejecting. He's resurrected. He's eternal God. And He's coming back. Do you preach the second coming of Christ on the street? What will you do when He splits the eastern sky and He rides down with 10,000 of His saints? What will you do when He comes riding a war horse? What will you do when He comes with His robes dipped in blood? What will you do? Repent. Be on the right side of that equation when that eastern sky splits. Repent and place your faith in Christ alone. He is the coming judge. But here's the amazing thing. He's our shepherd. This lamb of God, this sheep, He's our shepherd. Revelation chapter 7, verse 17. For the lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. To the lost, He is a terror. To the lost, Jesus Christ, the King of Glory, is a terror. They will see Him, the one that they have rejected, the one that they have said, Ah, you know, when I stand before Him, I'm going to say this and that. You've heard it all before. I'm going to say to Him, why don't you show me more evidence that you existed? These sorts of things, right? When you see Him at that time, Revelation 6, 16, says they will look for a rock to fall on them. To hide them from His face. He's a powerful God. But in 7, verse 17, we see for us as believers, He's a shepherd. He's a gentle shepherd. Psalm 23, you know, He leads us beside the still waters. He leads us to green pastures. He restores our souls, and we've experienced that as believers in Christ. He is the lamb of God. Behold this lamb. Look at this lamb. I say to you today as preachers and as Christians, behold the lamb. Jesus is the gospel. He is Christianity. And when we go out and we share the gospel, get people to see the lamb in all of His excellencies. In all of His glories. Yes, He's a gentle shepherd to Christians, but He is the coming judge to those who aren't. He is worthy of everything. He is worthy of our praise. And He has paid the ultimate price for sin. He has laid down His own life. And that brings us to the next point. He takes away the sin of the world. This isn't like the Paschal lamb, like the Passover lamb that was offered simply for Israel. Jesus Christ was offered up for all nations. All nations. All nations, all tribes, all tongues. He came to take away the sin of the world. The Greek is saying, bearing away. To bear away the sin of the world. That's why Jesus came. How does He do that? Let me suggest to you four ways from the word of God how Jesus bears away our sin. First of all, He is our scapegoat. He is our scapegoat. Leviticus chapter 16 speaks of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. When the scapegoat was brought and the priest would lay his hands on the head of the scapegoat and symbolically transfer the sins of the nation of Israel to the head of the scapegoat. And the scapegoat was sent out into the wilderness, symbolically carrying the sins away from the camp. Christ is the fulfillment of that. He has fulfilled that. He is our scapegoat. Hebrews chapter 10 verse 4 says that it was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. To bear them away. It was impossible when the blood of bulls and goats was totally possible in Christ alone. He is our scapegoat. God the Father poured out His wrath against His Son. He bore our sins. The scripture uses this language over and over. Meditate on this, Christian. Think on this. Christ bore, He carried your sins. Isaiah 53 verse 4. Isaiah 53 verse 4. We'll look at several verses here. Also verse 10. Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. Verse 10. It pleased the Lord to bruise Him. It pleased God to crush Him. It put Him to grief. When thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin. He shall see His seed. He shall prolong His days. And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand. Verse 12. Therefore will I divide Him a portion of the grape. He shall divide the spoil of the strong. Because He hath poured out His soul unto death. And He was numbered with the transgressors. And He bore the sin of many. And made intercession for the transgressors. He bore our sins. Leviticus chapter 5 verse 17. Speaks of something that most of the lost are doing right now. And they're bearing their own sins. Leviticus chapter 5 verse 17 says. If a soul sin and commit any of these things. Which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord. That he knew it not. Yet he is guilty. And shall bear his iniquity. Folks those people that you see out there on the streets. They are bearing their iniquity. They're dead in their trespasses and their sins. They're carrying around the full weight of their sin. The good news of the gospel. Is that Christ bore the sins of His people. He bore them. He bore our sins. And He justifies us. The third way. He justifies us. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. That is the gospel. If you're not preaching justification by faith. And you can talk all day long about being a reformer. You can talk all day long about being a Calvinist. But if you're not preaching justification by faith. You're not preaching the gospel. God made Him who knew no sin to be made sin for us. That we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. How glorious is that? That God would take His Son. Perfect. Tempted. Any way that you and I can be tempted. Make His soul an offering for sin. The sins of His people be laid upon Him. God treated His Son as we deserve to be treated. Put out the full brunt of His wrath against His Son. So that when we repent and believe the gospel. God in grace and grace alone. Gives us His righteousness credited to our account. There was a guy about 2 or 3 months ago. He woke up. He checked his online bank account. And discovered that several billion dollars had been accidentally transferred to his bank account. That's billion with a B. That's a lot of money. Right? And so he got up and he looked at that. And he made the news. Because what he did was he called the bank. And said, hey, there's been a mistake. And so it was all over the news. This guy had done this thing. And what a great guy this is. Well, in a far greater way. In a far superior way. Not with silver and gold. But with the blood of Christ. We've had His perfect righteousness credited to us. His righteousness. When we stand before God on the day of judgment. God doesn't have to look at a filthy dirty sin. But He sees the perfect righteousness of Christ. That's the gospel. Share the law of God. Urge people to repent and believe the gospel. But point out to them and say, it's hard to explain that. Well, tough luck. A lot of things are hard. Sit down. Read the word. Meditate on it. Think about it. And try to figure out a way to explain this to somebody. After you share the law of God with them. I had the privilege of doing that. With a bouncer out in Dallas. Out in Greenville Avenue. About 1 o'clock in the morning. Me and my wife were there sharing the gospel with this guy. This guy was a cool night. But he was sweating out of the top of his head. Like I am right now. Just getting soaked. Right? Because he's under conviction under the law of God. Which is great. A lot of us would stop right there and say, praise God. I brought conviction on that guy. Right? That's not the gospel. So I sat down with him. I explained him 2 Corinthians 5. And I went through this thing with him. And his eyes went from being fearful to hope filled. He was like, that's amazing. It's not a coincidence that John Newton wrote amazing grace. This is truly amazing. And about three weeks later I get this call on my voicemail from this guy. And he says, man, I got right with God. You know, he didn't pray a single prayer. He didn't need me to be there. But he got right with God. Glory to God. This is the gospel. Christ justifies us. He declares us to be right with God by virtue of his perfect work on the cross. And here's the kicker in the Bible Belt, this last thing. He changes us. For me to stand up in a pulpit in the Bible Belt and to insinuate, this isn't the Bible Belt. I'm very glad to be here. But the truth is, is that if you say that the gospel has the ability to change somebody, that's saying a radical thing in Dallas-Fort Worth. To say that the gospel could actually change someone is those of you who've been there know what I'm talking about. It's like you're Mormon or something. Look at 1 John 3, verse 5. I actually have people say that a lot. But you know, man. You probably heard it too. 1 John 3, verse 5. This is the word of God. We all quote verse 4. Whoever commits sin transgresses also the law, for sin is a transgression of the law. And you know that he was manifested to take away our sins. It's the same word in the Greek language that was in John 1, verse 29. To take away our sin, and in him is no sin. Now, I don't preach sinless perfection. I don't believe in that. I'm Calvinist. But the bottom line is this. The gospel changes people. It changes people. There is a difference that takes place. If any man's in Christ, he's a new creation. The old things pass away and everything becomes new, right? This is Christianity 101. It's not complicated. The gospel changes us. It's a power of God unto salvation. What ludicrous thing is this? That people believe they can pray a sinner's prayer and ask Jesus into their hearts and have no change. Think about that. Jesus living inside of you and yet you're still fornicating and all these other things. Right? Is that possible? It's not even possible. And yet they revel in that stuff. The word of God. This gospel changes people. We need to preach that on the street as well. And say to people, look. I'm not talking about praying a prayer. I'm not talking about joining my church. I'm talking about something that's going to radically change your life. This is going to be the end of life as you know it. And you need to tell him that. He changes us. And I know this. I was a pastor for 13 years. I got saved after I was pastoring for about 12. And then I was preaching a false gospel. And now I'm not the only one. I know I'm not the only one. I drive by a church. I pray for the pastor. He takes away our sin. Isn't it glorious? What amazing grace is this. That God would save us. That he would change us. This is what we must preach. We must preach Christ. I've only touched the very tip of the tip of the iceberg. But in conclusion, let me say a couple of things. If Christ bore my sin, I don't have to. If Christ bore my sin, I don't have to. And since God has appointed this deliverance as the way of salvation, there is no other way. There is no other way. My sin or the bliss of this glorious thought. My sin, not in part, but the whole. It's nailed to the cross. And I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. Our only hope, and the only hope is Christ. Sotus Christus. Christ alone. Martin Luther said sin has but two places where it may be. Either it may be with you. So that it lies upon your neck. Or upon Christ, the Lamb of God. If now it lies upon your neck, you're lost. If however it lies upon Christ, you are free and will be saved. Take now, whichever you prefer. Folks, one thing that I've been greatly concerned about is that there are people who know how to evangelize, but don't know Christ. There are people who are my friends who really, you know, they're fascinated with the law of God. And they believe that somehow you can maintain the righteousness by obedience to the law of God. This is not the gospel. The law of God cannot save you. Read the book of Galatians. Christ is the one who saves us and justifies us. Even he is the one who sanctifies us. Folks, it's possible that there might even be somebody here today that's very enamored with what we do. They like the idea of getting on a box and preaching. But you're not looking to Christ. You're looking to your own obedience to the law of God. You say, yeah, man, I'm tired of all that counterfeit Christianity and all that garbage that's out there. And so now I'm going to obey the laws of God, you know. But the law can't justify you. Only Christ justifies. I say to you as John the Baptist would say to you today, Behold the Lamb. Not behold any ministry, not behold any method. Behold the Lamb of God. Christ, who takes away the sin of the world. Let's close in prayer. Oh Father God, we come before you now in a very meek way. I've tried to preach your word and I pray that you would take your word and that you would accomplish the purpose for which you've sent it. Lord, I thank you for your word. I thank you for salvation. Oh God, that you would save me. It's amazing. I can't get over that. Lord, help me never to get over that. Lord, help us never to get over it and to go out there and preach with boldness and with power just to preach Christ, the excellencies of Him. And not to preach ourselves or anything else. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen.