The lamb was slaughtered so that you might live. That's not a metaphor. That's not poetry. That's the beating heart of the Christian gospel. and it carries more weight for your life today than any headline you'll read this morning.
Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindahl brings us back to the most stabilizing truth in all of Scripture. that the spotless Lamb of God took our place. paid our debt, and finished the work completely. Today, he draws it all to a close with four qualities shaped by the Lamb himself. that are worth living by.
Lambs when going to slaughter go with blind compliance regardless of the destination. They go where they're led. The servant Savior, however, goes with knowing submission. He knew when he came that he came to this earth to die. Maligned, mistreated, misunderstood.
We read here. Like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, he did not open his mouth. John Chapter 1. includes the announcement of the baptizer. His forerunner, the one who leads the way.
Before the Savior uh Becomes that well known, John is preparing the way for the one who is yet to come. And A love is humility. Verse twenty-six: John answered them, saying, I baptize in water. But among you stands one whom you do not know. It is he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.
These things took place in Bethany beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing.
Now, look closely. The next day, He saw Jesus coming. to him. and said Behold. The Lamb of God.
Who takes away the sin. of the world. There he is.
Now, let's move ahead to right around 65. AD 65, 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1, love this verse of Scripture, knowing that you were not, verse 18, that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver. And gold from your feudal way of life. Constantly, in this culture, constantly, there's the emphasis on money.
You're not redeemed that way. Verse 19: Then, how are we redeemed from the precious? Blood as of a lamb There it is again, unblemished. And spotless. The blood of Christ.
Mm-hmm. It takes the blood to wash away the sins. of the world. It, as one man put it so well, it is the greatest detergent ever known to humanity. It continues to wash away sin.
The reason you have forgiveness is because of the blood of Christ that was poured out on that cross to redeem you From a slave market. From which you could never redeem yourself. Isaiah looked ahead, John looked at, Peter looks back. And his concern is that we live lives in light of that, lives of purity. See verse 17.
Look here. If you address as Father, the one who impartially judges according to each one's work, conduct yourselves in faith. Fear during the time of your stay on earth. His emphasis is that we be holy as our God is holy, and that's up in verses 15 and 16. Without the giving, the shedding, the pouring out of the blood, there is no forgiveness of our sins.
Now this uh Reminds me of something that Cynthia and I witnessed a number of years ago. Where we lived at the time, there was a track that went around a large football field. It was a community college in that uh town and we would go there to do our early morning walks and to Solve life's problems as we went around together. On the way from our home to that track where we walked around. Um Over and over again, there was a pen of animals.
The community college had a course that they taught. And in it, there was the raising of animals. And among them was a little small flock of sheep. And it was fun as we would go by there from one day to the next to look at those animals. And I was sort of taken by one.
And she was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And I realized this is a you who is heavy with young. And before, just as the six months ran their course, she delivered this little lamb. And I never wanted to crawl over a fence so much in all my life as when I began to see that little thing as it started to grow up, little wobbly legs and a little soft. It makes you cuddle up with it, right?
This little lamb. And this, this. Big old. You lamb, just kind of pushing her around. I'd say, go easy on the lamb there.
Watch out for that little lamb. I watched this uh site and uh It reminded me that the Lord knew what he was doing. when he called us. Sheep. What you got to know is as cute and cuddly and soft as the little lamb was.
Those other sheep are really a mess. I mean, if you've ever looked at the South end of a northbound sheep, you realize right away what a mess they make of themselves. And here, Here in the midst of all of these sheep, which is just so much like all of us. is this little lamb. As a little helpless lamb.
There are lamb-like qualities that we would do well to be reminded of. Our Savior God's Lamb gave himself for us and And in light of what we have seen, I want to suggest four Um qualities worth emulating. that stem from what I thought of as I looked at this little This little lamb. They do not come naturally to any of us. Especially those of us who are type A and strong-willed and determined and independent.
The first quality is a life of dependence. You heard it right. dependence. And I know I'm speaking today mainly to Americans. And I know you've cut your teeth on independence, and I love it too, and I believe it with my whole heart.
But there's a wonderful place in all our lives for dependence. As I looked at that little lamb in that pen, I realize there's not a way in the world that little creature can survive. on its own. Any more than a newborn two, three, four weeks old could make it. without a mama.
without somebody to care for him or her. A life of dependence. We have no defense in ourselves spiritually. You can't even see the enemy, he's invisible. He's not only insidious, he's invisible.
These powerful And his minions would love to do nothing more to bring you to your end. You can't defend yourself. You can't find your way. You have no incredible power. You have no natural brilliance, spiritually speaking.
The the the brilliance you have, you you gain from this book. From the Spirit of God who guides you into truth.
So, a life of dependence. Cultivate. The truth of Proverbs 3, 5, and 6. Which tells us not to lean on our own understanding. Trust in the Lord with all your heart.
Lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, He'll make your paths straight. I spoke at the seminary, Dallas Seminary, this past week, and I told them the thing I feared for them among the most things I feared would be a ministry of quick success. That's a danger. Young in the work of God.
and finding or learning and knowing. The Mm-hmm. You become independent. Self-sustaining. And even if you're not careful, self-important.
And I warned them, and I today warn all of us. about conceit. Self-serving. The tendency to Make it on our own. We are to live lives of dependence.
This week, lean on him. Instead of worrying yourself sick over the plan and what you have to do, just pause and pray and say to your Father. I can't make it without you. Takeover. Take away this draining anxiety and replace it with an assurance that you've got it in your hands, you're taking care of things.
You'll not only sleep better, you'll live better. The second thing I see in the Lamb is the assurance of approachability. Approachability. Uh Perhaps it was It was that which first attracted the men to their Savior. When he said, Follow me, I'll make you fishers of men.
I don't know the last time you thought about it, but. These men left their careers.
Some of them established careers. and a few of them rather lucrative careers. And they set it aside, and they followed him. Who won them over by his winsomeness. He was approachable.
Remember his own words telling us of his temperament? Come to me, I am gentle. And I'm humble. Apart. Little little lambs.
like I said earlier, just are so inviting. Uh They are not intimidating. They're not violent. They're not going to bite you. They can't even run that fast.
They stumble and fall. They're approachable. Let me let me speak to you who are, you know, pretty big deals in your circle. You're the hot shot.
Okay? And don't raise your hand. That doesn't help. But you're the boss, or you're the one that makes the most money, or you're the powerful one, or you're the one that could easily intimidate. You make a decision and the employee's gone.
So you're the big deal. Stay approachable. And let me say this too, if you're growing in your faith and you're learning a little about the Bible, go easy on others. But don't pull rank. You you really To be approachable is to let people learn.
and invite them to learn.
Something wonderful about being Very capable, but not Acting like it.
Okay. brings back a memory. Cynthia knows where I'm going with this. When I was in my last year at Dallas Seminary, it's a hard story to tell. We had come to the middle of the semester.
And the uh Beginning of the last semester in the master's program, there was what was called the seating of the seniors. I don't know if the seminary still does that, but we did at the end. It was one of the few times that you really felt great about it. First of all, you thought, I'm going to make it. And so that's an encouraging thing right there.
But you also are honored in that they introduce you and you walk down the aisle at Chaffer Chapel and you sit down and you all once your class is in place, applause. How's that sound? That's a brand new sound. And so that's all part of it.
However, the previous weekend, we had a man who was drunk hit our car. full on and totaled our car. And we had already lost a baby. through this miscarriage that I had mentioned earlier. And uh So we were sad about it.
Cynthia was now pregnant. and uh carrying uh what would be our second child. Our oldest, the only one we had with at that time was our son, Kurt, and he was standing up in the front seat. Remember the days when there were no seat belts? Remember that?
I mean, you're just like rockets when you hit something. And that little guy went foo right under the windshield and broke his jaw. Uh Cynthia's injured and begins to hemorrhage and we think we're going to lose our baby and Her mother got cancer, and she's dying with cancer and would soon be gone. It was just a terrible time. And uh How would we ever get our sun fixed?
What am I going to do for a car? And we didn't have any money. And I had to go back to school. And um I just we were at the bottom. And I remember when I got back on campus, It's absolutely true story.
I remember thinking, if I could just find one. Professor. Just one of these guys. If I could just talk with him for 10 or 15 minutes. I could make it.
And it was late in the evening, and I walked along. I remember walking along the hallway and looking under the door for a light. Because their offices were all in a row here, and I saw a light. I didn't even bother to see what name. I just go.
And uh What I'm not going to tell you, I've rarely shared. Uh The prof is no longer a part of the faculty, I might add. Back then he wasn't. He cut the door open a little bit. Yes, what do you want?
That's a nice start. I got tears. I said, uh Dr.
So-and-so, I uh I will let. What do you want? And I said, well, I am. He said, You know, I'm very busy tonight preparing for tomorrow's class. Tell me what you want.
And I said, I don't want anything from you. He closed the door. That was it. And I remember s walking away and walking out into the night. I didn't know if we're going to be able to keep our baby or lose another one.
I didn't know if I'd ever get out of school. And I needed somebody approachable. There's more to the story, but time doesn't allow me to tell it. But let me just stop right here and say someday. You're going to hear a knock at your door.
And somebody who may not mean all that much to you. or may not seem all that significant. will need you. Take time. Think of yourself as a lamb, not a lion.
Jesus said, I am meek and humble in heart. Take time. Maybe one of your own children. Maybe one of your grandchildren. The assurance of approachability.
Third would be a heart of innocence. A heart of innocence. That's the absence of duplicity and deceit. A heart of innocence. Really, that's a naivete toward wickedness.
That's unusual in our day, isn't it? When I see a lamb, I think of innocence. Little lamb. Yeah. With our little children as they grew and started going to school, I remember thinking that.
Just these little innocent kids going off to school. I mean, as innocent as you could be being one of my kids, but you know what I mean. Innocence is an absence of duplicity. Let me give you another one. Not not familiar with a wicked lifestyle.
It's kind of nice to meet up with people that are still a little naive. They just don't know all the dirty stuff. Lambs are like that. My granddaughter, who is a junior in college right now. told me a sweet story.
She said to me the other day, Bubba, I was in chapel and the president was speaking. He just said, I'm just going to open the floor to your questions. And there was 2,500 in the school. The the chapel was packed. And he had just a microphone.
He said, ask any question you like. I'd like to answer if I can, if I'm able. She said, I only remember one of the questions, but it It was a wonderful question. One of the young ladies in the school said, Dr.
So-and-so, what are you most concerned about regarding us as students? Isn't that a good question? What keeps you awake at night? You know what his answer was? There's about a 30 second pause of quietness.
And he said, The growing absence of innocence. He said, you see, students, when I was a student, I Uh you had to work hard to get into stuff that's filthy. You had to sneak around and But he said now it's just the punch of a key on a computer. It's just Left punch. There it is.
He says, and I know that there's no way in the world I can monitor all of you and your lifestyle. And he said, I'm concerned. That you may Be involved in things that ought to be waiting until you're Older, and in some cases, you ought not even be aware of it at all. The heart of innocence. It's wonderful if I may just add this, no extra charge.
It's wonderful. It's wonderful. And I'm going to make it both ways. When a man's going to marry a young woman, to know that she's pure. What a gift.
To know that she's a virgin. And for the woman to know that her husband's Husband to be is a virgin. How right is that? A heart of innocence. I bring to you my life.
No one else has known me intimately. And that's for you. I've saved it for you. Fourth is a spirit of sacrifice. Sacrifice.
Lambs existed. to be sacrificed. If you have a spirit of sacrifice, you will not always be watching out for your own good. Paul said in his life toward the end, I am poured out as a drink offering, 2 Timothy 4, 6. I've fought a good fight, the course I've finished, the faith I've kept.
poured out as a drink offering. Our goal is to have the likeness of Christ at work in us. I urge that for every one of us. regardless of your age, regardless of your status. regardless of your role, regardless of your gender.
to be like Christ. You've listened so well.
Now I urge you to live it well. Live it well. Let me tell you with that kind of model You won't have to look very far for an opportunity to speak of Christ. Your life will be like a magnet. Where are you in that list?
Life of dependence, the assurance of approachability. A heart of innocence, a spirit of sacrifice. The godly Robert Murray McShane was once Quoted As he's Had written, it's not great talent God blesses so much as great. likeness. to Jesus.
Let's bow together. Will you please? Maybe you've never trusted in the Lamb. This is such a marvelous moment for you to do that. We don't beg people or plead with people or try to manipulate you to.
To do something you're not ready to do, we respect your. right to think it through, but Haven't you heard enough to learn that You have wandered far from the one who made you. And the only way back is to come through the cross. Because the lamb was slaughtered. Your Opportunity for knowing God is open and available to you.
Trust him now. Lloyd, in this fast world and this culture. We are aware, every one of us, of the great temptation. of faking it. Looking one way but living another.
Talking about innocence but not experiencing it. Guard us, our Father and And Cleanse us. As we come to you like little lambs, dependent on you for life. and for defense. And for a purpose.
to go on. Lord, help us all in this journey from earth to heaven. To see in these truths of Christ. Lessons to live by. May they cause us to open our door when there's a knock.
and open our hearts. when there's a need. May we be people who are Contrite. and gentle. and understanding and caring.
And innocent. Guard us, our Father, from a phony life. and duplicity. And hypocrisy. Yeah Remind us that the one who paved the way for us was the perfect Lamb of God.
whom they slaughtered. We worship Him today. And now with our lives. In His precious name we pray. Everyone said.
Amen. A lamb was slaughtered so that we could be free. That's the thread God wove through every altar, every sacrifice, every drop of blood spilled on ancient stone. all of it pointing toward one spotless, silent, willing lamb who took our place. Don't let this truth fade.
We invite you to take advantage of the resources that Inside for Living has prepared for this series. Chuck Swindahl's 12 sermons are recorded and available on CD and MP3. Plus, there's a Bible study workbook in the popular Searching the Scriptures format. It features meaningful questions to ponder and plenty of room to jot down your personal thoughts and observations. The title of this twelve-part series is How Great Is Our God.
Call us at 800-772-8888 or go online to insight.org slash offer. You know, one of the most staggering truths we can hold on to is this: the lamb who was slaughtered is alive. and He's preparing a place for those who belong to Him. Heaven is not just a comforting idea. According to Scripture, it's a real place for real people with real bodies and a real future.
But for many of us, heaven remains more of a feeling than a fact. We know it's there somewhere, but we couldn't tell you much about it.
Well, Insight for Living wants to change that. The Understanding Heaven Passport is a free digital download that answers the questions you're actually asking. What heaven is really like, who will be there, and what it means for your life today. God revealed these truths not to overwhelm us, but to anchor us in hope. You can download your free copy right now at insight.org/slash heaven.
This guide won't cost you anything, but it just might change the way you live between now and eternity.
So download it today at insight.org slash heaven. I'm Bill Meyer. In light of America's 250th birthday, Chuck Swindahl explains how to help our nation survive. Friday on Insight for Living. Ooh.
The preceding message, The Lamb That Was Slaughtered, was copyrighted in 2008, 2009, 2016, 2019, and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindahl, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.
