Jesus the Lamb of God

On the cross, Jesus Christ bore every sin of every person for all time. Dr. Tony Evans says, when the Lord died in our place, he did more than secure us a home in heaven.

The blood of Jesus Christ that saves you for the sweet by and by is here to help you in the nasty here and now. Celebrating 40 years of faithfulness, this is the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. Author, speaker, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas, and president of the Urban Alternative. In the Old Testament, people offered crops and sacrificed animals to make up for the things they've done wrong. Well today, Dr. Evans explains why the church gave up that practice and what replaced it.

Let's join him. John the Baptist gives us the next name of Jesus. He said, behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. That word behold, that means pay close attention and focus.

Remove all distractions. Behold, look at that. You see that man over there? He is the lamb of God. This name of Jesus as the lamb of God is a critical name because it speaks of his work. It speaks of the purpose for which he came. When he calls Jesus the lamb of God and he introduces it with behold, the reason he is so animated, the reason he is so forthright, the reason he is so excited, behold, is because Israel had been looking for this person for centuries. They had been waiting for the one who was promised to come who would address the issue of sin. John the Baptist says the wait is over. Behold, the lamb of God.

Now to appreciate why he's called the lamb, we got to go back. When Adam and Eve sinned, they tried to fix the problem themselves because they sewed together some leaves, tied them around themselves to cover themselves. The problem was their attempt to cover their sin was unacceptable to God. And not that they didn't try.

It's not that they didn't come up with a sewing singer program. It's just that the sewing of belief did not satisfy the demand of God. So God had to slay an animal himself and shed blood in order to provide a covering for Adam and Eve that he himself would accept. He would not accept the covering they offered.

He would only accept the covering he provided. This would lead to a sacrificial system throughout the whole Old Testament by which the wrath of God against sin could be assuaged. The main centerpiece of this program went back to an event in Exodus chapter 12 called the Passover. When Israel was leaving Egypt, the last plague was, I am going to take the life of the firstborn in every Egyptian home. In order for you, Israel, to bypass what I'm getting ready to do to Egypt, you have to slay a lamb and shed its blood. You are then to take the blood and paint it on the doorposts of your houses. And when the death angel comes over to slay the firstborn of these rebellious Egyptians, when I see the blood, I will pass over you.

Exodus 12 verse 13. In other words, the blood will avert judgment based on God's justice. When I see the blood, now why the blood?

Why couldn't the lamb have a heart attack? Why did it have to be the blood? Well, one of the principles of scripture is the life of the flesh is in the blood. When you go to the doctor, they're going to take a blood test. And the reason they're going to take a blood test is they can find out about your life through the blood. They can look at deficiencies.

They can look for disease. They can do all that simply by the blood. If you drain enough of your blood, you've drained your life for the life of the flesh is in the blood. And since that is God's life principle for His human creation, He says there must be the shedding of blood in order to avert my just wrath. Now we have to understand something about God. God is not reactional with His wrath.

In other words, He just doesn't lose it. His wrath is tied to His justice and His justice is part of His nature. So He has to respond to that which is outside of who He is. And therefore His wrath is a response to His justice. But God doesn't prefer wrath, but He can't skip justice. So even though He doesn't prefer wrath because He's just, He has to exercise it. But because He doesn't prefer it, He comes up with a means to avert it or bypass it. In the Old Testament, He came up with a way to avert His wrath on a temporary basis.

The temporary basis was through the slaying of the lamb and the other sacrifices. When I see the blood, I will accept that on the layaway plan. Do y'all remember when there used to be layaways?

Now I know that's back in the day. Not too many stores do that anymore. You know what layaway meant? Layaway meant you couldn't afford to pay for it all right now. So you had to put a little this month and a little that month and a little that month because we learned that we didn't have credit cards like we do today and all that. And they were not going to trust you to take that out the store and pay them later, okay? So what they did was they would let you buy it, but they wouldn't let you get it. So they held on to it and you paid them a little each month, a little each month, a little each month until it was fully paid off. Then you could claim it as your own because it had been paid in full. But until full payment was made, you could not have what had been provided. The Old Testament was God's layaway plan. It never provided full payment for the problem of sin.

Why? The reason that the Old Testament could not provide full payment is because it was not an equal sacrifice. In other words, the man was the sinner, but the lamb was the sacrifice. And it had to be equal to the nature of the one being sacrificed for. So because it's the lamb, but the man has the problem, God could not make it an acceptable sacrifice.

So that's problem number one. Problem number two, and the reason why it had to be temporary, is because there was no other man who qualified to be the sacrifice because every other man was as messed up as you were. So they needed a substitute and they needed their own lamb so they couldn't help you because they needed something to help them. The lamb had to be given without spot or blemish. In other words, it had to be a perfect lamb. It couldn't be diseased.

It couldn't have anything wrong with it because it had to be acceptable to the provider. So in the Old Testament, there was a temporary system put in place to keep God's wrath from being expressed to His people because of their sin through the sacrificial system. The book of Hebrews, which is a book written about all of this, says over and over again that the Old Testament sacrifices could not solve the problem of dealing with sin. Hebrews chapter 10, verses 1 to 14, Hebrews chapter 9, verses 11 to 14, he says those sacrifices could not fix the problem of sin. All they could do would be delay the judgment for sin. So every year the high priest would go on the Day of Atonement into the Holy of Holies to sacrifice, and then the people on a regular basis would offer their own lamb for their sin so that God's judgment would bypass them. So that is the Old Testament system. That Old Testament system looked forward to the day when God would provide a permanent solution to the problem of sin by having an acceptable sacrifice. This sacrifice or lamb was for the purpose, here it is, of the substitutionary atonement. Let me say it again. The substitutionary atonement.

Here it is. God must judge sin. We all sin. We are all under judgment.

Let me say it again. God must judge sin. We all sin. So we are under judgment. We don't all sin to the same degree. We don't all sin the same way.

But when you're dealing with perfection, it doesn't matter whether you're a big sinner, medium sinner, or tiny sinner because perfection. A lot of people go around and say, well, I keep the 10 commandments. Well, you just broke one because you lied.

But let's skip that. You say, I keep the 10 commandments. Well, let's say you're hanging over a cliff on a chain with 10 links in it. How many links have to break before you fall? You don't have to break all 10.

You just break one, and you might as well have broke all 10 because you've fallen off the cliff. God's standard is so high that only perfection will meet it. So the whole Old Testament anticipated through the lambs that they were slaying the time when God would provide this perfect lamb. Dr. Evans will come back in a moment with more on the Lamb of God. First though, I want to make sure you don't miss your chance to get Tony's engaging book, Experiencing Israel. This resource chronicles one of his recent tours to the Holy Land and lets you relive the whole experience through stunning pictures, insightful commentary, and real-life applications.

It's like taking the trip of a lifetime without ever having to leave home. You learn about the history, geography, culture, and people as you see the sights Jesus saw when He walked on earth. You'll not only feel closer to the Lord, you'll get a whole new perspective on what you read in His Word. Request a copy of Experiencing Israel right away, and we'll send it to you as our gift in appreciation for your contribution toward Tony's ministry. And as a bonus, we'll include all 11 full-length messages in his current teaching series, Encountering Jesus' Names, making this the perfect package to help you deepen your understanding of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, both of these powerful resources are yours as our thank-you gift when you make a donation in support of Tony's ministry. The alternative is a completely listener-supported broadcast, so your faithfulness is the only way we can keep bringing it to you each day. Make the arrangements right away at tonyevans.org or call us at 1-800-800-3222.

That's 1-800-800-3222. Well, Dr. Evans, we'll come back with more of today's lesson right after this. Add some adventure to your family time and impart spiritual truths to your kids with a library of books from Dr. Tony Evans specifically geared toward children. Written for children of all ages, these books will help you teach your kids the Bible, lead them to depend on the Lord, and spark joy in their hearts for Him, all the while enjoying time together as a family. You'll find scripture to memorize, journal prompts, and practical applications for the whole family to put into practice. But most importantly, you'll have a way to spend intentional time with your kids, having fun and enjoying each other while learning biblical truth together.

Explore Dr. Evans' line of kids books today and start them on the path to discovering what it really means to live faithfully for Jesus. Isaiah 53 verses 1 to 12 gives a description of this suffering servant, this person who would come and who would be like a lamb sent to the slaughter, and he would bear the iniquity of mankind. Behold, John breaks on the scene and says, we found him, the lamb of God.

Okay, watch this. He's not just the lamb, he's the lamb of God. In other words, it's God's solution to the problem.

It's not the lamb you came up with, it's the lamb God came up with. We call this unlimited atonement. That is, that the death of Jesus Christ was so sufficient that it addressed every sin of every person who have ever lived for all time. People don't miss heaven because of their sin.

Why? Because Jesus paid it all. His last words on the cross were, it is finished, tetelestai.

That means paid in full. When non-believers are judged in Revelation chapter 20, their sins are never brought up. Not because they haven't sinned, because the sin was paid for. The problem is, even though the sin has been paid for, they do not possess eternal life. For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth of them should not perish, but have everlasting life.

See, what's missing is life. Let's say I buy you a brand new car. It's a brand new car. Now that's not gonna happen, but for the sake of an illustration, I buy you a brand new car.

It's spiking brand new. I let you know this car is totally paid for, and it's available for you to take it and pick it up and ride it. You would be a fool to start sending in monthly payments.

You would be out of your mind. The only reasons, two reasons you would send in monthly payments, one, because you didn't believe me, or two, you were unwilling to accept my gift. But either reason has nothing to do with whether I paid for it or not. I chose to pay for it. I paid in full, tax, title and license.

It's all been covered, but just because it's paid for doesn't mean you driving it. Just because it's paid for doesn't mean you're benefiting from it. You have to receive what is paid for in order to benefit from the payment that has been made. If it's your birthday and I bring you a present that I paid for, but you choose not to accept the present, that has nothing to do with the payment.

The payment has already been made, but it has everything to do with whether you get to benefit from whatever I purchased. So it's possible to have sins paid for and people not benefit from the payment. So I just want to get this straight. People don't go to hell because they've sinned. Sin has been paid for.

They don't go to heaven because they have not responded in faith to the one who paid for it in order to receive the gift that was paid for, which is designed to give them eternal life. See, that's why the gospel is good news. The gospel, let me tell you the good news of the gospel. The good news of the gospel is I don't have to pay. The good news of the gospel and the reason why we should tell people about Christ is the good news is it's my debt, but I don't have to pay. Behold, the lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world in order that God can now offer the whole world eternal life. You're not having to fix your sin to get saved. That price was already paid.

You have to accept the savior so that he can now give you eternal life. A policeman in France became a substitutionary atonement. He offered to go in when the terrorists took over this place with 15 or so hostages and he says, I will go in if you let one of the ladies come out.

I will take her place. The officer went inside and they let the lady out. There was an exchange. The lady was being controlled by a terrorist, but there was a substitute. The policeman offered to substitute himself for the terrorist that was holding her hostage and the terrorists let her go. The terrorists killed the police. He killed the substitute. The substitute lay dead. There is no way in the world that this woman that has now been set free because somebody voluntarily substituted their life for her that she should go out and live any other kind of way than a grateful life because if it wasn't for the substitute, she wouldn't even be here.

It was the substitute that gave her a reason for living all the rest of the days of her life. It was Jesus's death on the cross that when you really understand what he accomplished should affect you living the rest of your life. That's why I love what Revelation, Revelation chapter 12 verse 11, it says, and they overcame him by the blood. They didn't overcome him by the power of positive thinking. They didn't overcome him by physical strength. They didn't overcome him by who they knew and how much money they had. It says they overcame him by the blood. Why?

Because the blood has activated in them. Let me explain what happened. On the cross, Jesus not only paid for your sin, he broke the authority of Satan.

Okay, listen to me now. He did not only die for your sins, he did do that, but the Bible says he broke the power of Satan. In fact, you hear sermons about Friday, he died, and then you hear sermons about Sunday early morning, he rose from the dead, but you don't get enough preaching about Saturday.

See, Saturday was a big day. He died on Friday, he rose on Sunday, but the Bible says on Saturday he went to hell and he declared victory to the demonic realm. So between death and resurrection, he was preaching a victory sermon. He was saying, devil, I win, you lose.

I'm in charge here. The back of the devil was broken. So the only way the devil can own you now is to trick you. That's why he's called the great deceiver, because he now has to trick you into thinking you don't have enough power, and the main way he does it is to get you to forget about the blood.

Because if he can get you to forget about the blood, and the blood is the only thing that breaks his back, and you don't remember to utilize the blood, then he knows you don't have power to stop him from messing with you. Dr. Evans will return in just a moment with some encouragement to close out our time together today. In the meantime though, if you'd like to have a copy of today's message to review on your own, or to pass along to a friend, just contact us for the details on the title, Jesus, the Lamb of God. Better yet, get this message as a part of Tony's current teaching series, Encountering Jesus' Names. Right now, for a limited time, you can get all 11 messages in this powerful series as our gift, along with the Experiencing Israel book I told you about earlier, all in appreciation for your generous contribution to help us keep this program coming your way. Call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 to make the arrangements. It's open around the clock. Again, dial 1-800-800-3222, or get all the details and instantly make the arrangements online at tonyevans.org.

People whose parents came from different places in the world sometimes say they're part this and part that, but no matter how many parts they list, they only add up to 100 percent. Tomorrow, Dr. Evans will explain why that limitation doesn't apply to Jesus. I hope you'll be with us. Right now though, he's back with some final encouragement for us. When you get up in the morning, the first thing you ought to say is, behold. You ought to open up with behold. You get up in the morning, I know you're gonna mess with me today, but I just want to tell you before my day ever starts, behold the Lamb of God who has dealt with all of my sins, not only to get me to heaven, but to keep you off of my back today. I am depending on that blood. That is the sacrifice of the atonement. The alternative with Dr. Tony Evans is brought to you by the Urban Alternative and is celebrating 40 years of faithfulness thanks to the generous contributions of listeners like you.