Deo Gloria
January 18, 2026
Sermon
Pastor Martin Bentz
Text: John 1:29-41
Theme: Look, the Lamb of God!
- Who takes away our sin
- Whom we can share with our family and friends
“Look, mommy, look,” said little Jimmy. “Look at the horses with all the stripes.” It was Jimmy’s first visit to the zoo, and he was pretty excited. “Mommy, look at the elephant and his long nose.”
“That’s called a trunk,” his mother replied.
“A trunk? That’s a silly name for a nose. Mommy, look over here. Look at the monkeys. They’re kind of funny. Oh, mommy, mommy, what’s that over there?”
“That’s a rhinoceros,” his mother answered.
“A rhinaferis?”
“A rhinoceros,” his mother repeated. “See the big horn he has on his nose.”
“Wow, cool!” said little Jimmy.
This morning the verses of our text direct our attention to an animal too—not a zebra or a monkey, not an elephant or a rhinoceros. They call our attention to a lamb, and not just any lamb either, not the kind you would see in a petting zoo or at the county fair, but a very special lamb, a lamb who takes away our sins, a lamb we can share with our family and friends. Through his messenger John the Baptist, God says to you and me, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
Lambs were very familiar to the Jewish people. Many of them raised sheep and goats for a living, or maybe their cousins did, or their neighbors. But even if they didn’t happen to own any, chances are they would run across them as they were traveling through the countryside. They might see a shepherd leading his sheep down the side of a ravine to the waters of a bubbling brook, or sitting on a hill, watching his sheep as they grazed on the hillside below.
In addition, lambs played an important part in their worship life. Whenever a Jewish person had sinned, for instance, he didn’t simply get down on his knees, confess his sin, and ask for God’s forgiveness. He also had to take a lamb from his flock or go to the local shepherd and buy one, take the lamb up to the temple in Jerusalem, and there offer it on the altar as a sacrifice to atone for his sin. Likewise, there was the Passover Lamb, the lamb they sacrificed every year at Passover time, as they remembered how God had spared their ancestors from death and had delivered them from slavery in Egypt.
Now imagine what must have gone through the heads of John’s disciples when he pointed at Jesus and said, “Look, the Lamb of God!” Do you suppose they thought that John might need a pair of glasses? “John, when was the last time you had an appointment with the eye doctor? That isn’t a lamb. It’s a guy named Jesus.” But John didn’t need any glasses. His vision was perfectly fine. John knew exactly what he was saying. He was saying that there was something different about Jesus, that he was no ordinary person.
John, you see, had seen the same thing we saw last week: the incredible events that took place at Jesus’ baptism. In fact, he had been an eyewitness. He’s the one who had baptized Jesus. He saw heaven open up as Jesus was walking up out of the Jordan River. He saw the Holy Spirit descend on Jesus in the form of a dove and remain on him. Likewise, John had heard that voice that came from heaven, the voice of God the Father, which said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased”(Mt 3:17). John saw these things with his own eyes. He heard them with his own ears. And John testified. “I have seen and I testify,” John said, “that this is the Son of God.” Yes, there was something different about Jesus. An ordinary human being he was not. This was the Son of God, who had humbled himself and taken on human flesh and was born in a stable in Bethlehem. This was the Lamb of God, who had come to take away our sins.
What would you offer so that your sins might be taken away—you know, the nasty argument you had with your spouse just last week or the lies you told your teacher about why your homework wasn’t finished? How much would it cost to atone for sins like that and make things right with God? What about the time you went to a party with your friends and got drunk, or the time you took your girlfriend to a party and purposely tried to get her drunk? What would it take to make that right? Or what about the time you were frustrated and upset, so you cursed and swore and misused God’s name, or the time you swore at your neighbor and told him he could go to hell, or the time you told God to stick it in his ear? What would it take to atone for such things and make it right with God?
If you offered God your car, would that be enough? How about your house? How about your retirement account? Would a million dollars be enough? 10 million dollars? 100 million dollars? Truth is no payment is enough. There is no payment you could make, no sacrifice you could offer, no service you could perform that could atone for your sins. The payment God demands for sin is death. “The soul that sins,” he says, “is the soul that will die”(Ezekiel 18:20). If it was up to you and me, if we had to pay for our sins, we would be doomed to death in hell.
There is one thing, though, that can atone for our sins, one thing that can take our sins away: a lamb. In the Old Testament God’s people had to sacrifice a lamb in order to atone for their sins; but those were only pictures. Those lambs didn’t actually take people’s sins away. Rather, they pointed ahead to another lamb, a perfect lamb, a lamb who would take away all people’s sins. They pointed ahead to Jesus.
When you were little, did you ever blame your brother or sister for something you did, and they got in trouble instead of you? Maybe you accidentally knocked a picture off the wall and broke the frame. But you told mom that your brother pushed you, so he got in trouble instead. He had to do some extra chores, or maybe he had to pay for it out of his allowance.
That’s what Jesus did. As our Brother, as our Savior, Jesus took our place. He took the rap for our sins. He took our sins upon himself and suffered the punishment we deserved. On Calvary’s cross Jesus offered his life as a perfect sacrifice, a perfect payment for our sins, a perfect payment for all people’s sins. As the Bible says, “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world”(1 John 2:2). And because of Jesus’ sacrifice, because the payment has been made, our sins are all forgiven, completely erased from the records, deleted from the hard drive of God’s computer.
Are there sins that still trouble you, things that still haunt you from the past, things you said in anger and regret you ever said, things you did when you were young and dumb but had some long-term consequences? If so, then look to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who takes away your sins, who takes away the sin of the world.
The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”
When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.(vv. 35-37)
As John carried out his job of being the forerunner of the Messiah, he did more than point out people’s sins and call them to repentance. Likewise he did more than baptize people in the Jordan River. He also pointed people to the Savior. On previous occasions he had told the people who had come to be baptized, “I baptize you with water. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire”(Mt 3:11). On this occasion, as John saw Jesus walking by, he said to two of his disciples, “Look, the Lamb of God!” John knew who the Savior was and he shared what he knew with others. He pointed them to Jesus.
Andrew did the same, didn’t he? He was one of those two disciples who went and followed Jesus. He spent the day with him. And as he walked and talked with Jesus, he became convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, the promised Savior. Did he keep that knowledge to himself? Of course not! The first thing [he] did,” John tells us, “was to find his brother Simon and tell him, ‘We have found the Messiah’”(v. 41). As a result, Simon came and listened to Jesus. And before long he too came to believe that Jesus was the Savior.
So how about you? Like John and like Andrew, we too know who Jesus is. We know he is the Son of God, who came into the world to be our Savior. We know he is the Lamb of God, who takes away our sins, who takes away the sins of the world. Is that something we should keep to ourselves? Of course not! It’s something we ought to share with other people, something we ought to share with everyone in the world, because Jesus died for everyone’s sins.
Now granted, you and I may not be in a position right now to go over to a place like Africa or India or Indonesia and tell the people there about Jesus Christ, but we can tell the people right here. We can tell our own family and friends. Maybe you have a brother or sister, an aunt or uncle, who doesn’t go to church, who doesn’t believe in Jesus as their Savior. You can be like Andrew and tell them about Jesus, the one who came to save them from their sins. Maybe you have a neighbor who doesn’t go to church or someone you know at work or someone you play basketball with on Tuesday nights. You can be like John and point them to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who came to take away their sins too.
But, pastor, I wouldn’t know what to say. Well, then let me suggest that you come to the new Bible Class that we are starting today: Let’s Go—Love, Listen, Lead. You see, that’s the point of the class, to equip you, to encourage you, to help you feel more confident about sharing the good news about Jesus with the people in your life. So please come. This is our goal as Christians, the goal of our church. We just want to reach more people with the good news about Jesus. But whatever you do, don’t keep that wonderful news about Jesus to yourself!
A businessman was on his way to church one Sunday when he noticed a stranger walking by. Ordinarily he didn’t say anything in situations like that. He always thought it just wasn’t the right time. This time, however, he took a chance. He went over and invited the stranger to church. And to his surprise the stranger came. He came and heard about Jesus Christ that day, the one who died on the cross for his sins so that he might be forgiven and might live forever in heaven. And he believed
Some time later this stranger told the man who had invited him, “You know, I lived in this city for seven years before I met you. And no one ever asked me to go to church. Guys at work invited me to go to the bar or to play with them on their softball team. The insurance man called and asked if I might be interested in buying some insurance. I even had a politician stop by the house once and ask me if I would consider voting for him in the upcoming election, but you were the first person in seven years who invited me to come to church.”
Whether it’s a stranger or a friend, a neighbor across the street or an associate across the hall, don’t make them wait for seven years. Don’t even make them wait for one. You and I have an exciting message to share, a message that people need to hear so they too might be saved. Watch for opportunities to share your Savior with others. And when those opportunities arise, speak up. Do like Andrew did or John. Or do like little Jimmy. “Look, mom. Look, dad. Look, Fred or Dorothy or Aunt Sue. Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” Amen.