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Preached in Markham Baptist Church, November 11,  2007

Some time ago Maclean’s magazine ran an article commemorating the sacrifices of our Canadian troops on Juno beach June 6, 1944.  It was D-Day.  The editorial for the issue is headlined, “A Special Sacrifice”. 

The main portion of the magazine is taken with retracing the steps of a surviving Canadian veteran, Sgt. Major Charlie Martin.  Martin was a man of courage and strength.  As a sargeant in Toronto’s Queen’s Own Rifles he led his men across the English Channel by small boats at 5 in the morning.  They hit the beach of Normandy by 8:20 and were showered with machine gun fire.  Even though comrade comrade was picked off, Sgt. Martin and a few others managed to press on across the beach shooting as they ran so as to make a hole in the defensive line.  The only injury he sustained was a massive headache – a bullet had hit the side of his helmet.  That was over fifty years ago.

Fast forward to the present and we have this poignant picture of Charlie Martin standing in the midst of the Canadian War cemetery at Beny-sur-mer.  There the 75 year old Sargeant Major is surrounded by row upon row of identical white stone crosses and he is weeping.

One stone causes him the most grief the grave-stone of his friend rifleman Hawkins who was killed on July 18, 1944.  He was providing covering fire that allowed wounded members of his platoon to retreat from a heavy German attack.  His gravestone at Beny-sur-mer reads, “Rifleman H.H. Hawkins gave his life for his friends.”  The brave, the strong the courageous Charlie Martin is left to weep.

And so should we weep at the loss of so many young lives who fought for our freedom in so many wars through the years.  And yet our tears are not only tears of mourning but also tears of gratitude for they gave their lives for our freedom.  We shed tears of celebration for the evil that sought to devour the world was fought back and roundly defeated.  Let us never forget. 

This morning, we too gather around a cross.  We too remember a death.  We too are made to think of Special Sacrifice.  We too might even weep if it weren’t for the overwhelming victory that was achieved for us.  We remember one who led the way in laying down His life for His friends - indeed the world.  The one who set the standard, the one who’s cross is lifted up in victory for it is empty.

And we gather with emotions of sorrow, gratitude and celebration – it is with these emotions that we must read the words of John the Baptist this morning.  And hear about one who gave himself up so that the enemy called sin may be thoroughly defeated.  For it is with the emotions that John spoke the words in verse 29, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

Here we have words of proclamation. Here are words that proclaim the action of God for the world.  God breaking into the world as a lamb to take away the sins of the world.

The people of John’s day longed for the coming of the Messiah – they longed for God to free them from Roman tyranny.  They longed for one who would conquer as a lion – indeed they even called the Messiah the Lion of Judah – they longed for God to react with the ferocity of a lion – a Messiah who would smash the Roman oppressor and lead them to victory and power. 

Indeed we still wish it today we look at the world around us and we see the dreadful suffering of those in Afganistan, and Darfur, and Iraq.  We read of a reign of an iron fist in Pakistan. On our televisions we hear of drug pushers and drug takers.

And we say this could be a beautiful world, life could be marvellous – God has given us so much, but there are all these demons in the world and you say to yourself, “Why doesn’t God intervene? Why doesn’t God end it?  Why doesn’t God smash the evil in our world and bring us in to a time of joy and peace and laughter and loveliness?”

We all want God to work as a lion in our world. But here is the proclamation, “Look, the Lamb of God.”   You say, “Why doesn’t God act? Why doesn’t God do something in the world?” And the Christian faith says, “God has acted, God has done something – God has sent his Messiah of gentleness and meekness.”

In His wisdom God knew we didn’t need a lion, but a lamb who would sacrifice Himself for our sake.  A spotless lamb – one of purity untouched by sin who could pay the debt we owed.

Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.   A proclamation.

But here we also have words of celebration.  The lamb is a familiar image in the Old Testament and to the people who heard John make this proclamation.  The lamb – it was the blood of the slain lamb without defect which protected the houses of the Israelites on the night when they left Egypt.  On that night when the angel of death walked through the city and struck down the first born of the Egyptians, and the Israelites were to smear their doorposts with the blood of the slain lamb, and the angel would see that blood and pass over the house.  It was the blood of the lamb which delivered them from destruction.

It was as if John is saying, “Look, look, there is the one true sacrifice who can deliver you from death.”  Indeed this is what Paul wrote to the Corinthians in his first letter chapter 5 verse 7, “Christ our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.”   These are words of celebration.

Not only was Jesus the lamb of God whose death would be a sacrifice – His death would also be for us!  In Hebrews 9 we read that the “law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” (Hebrews 9:22)  The forgiveness of God is that cut and dried. It is that black and white.  The means by which God forgives sin is the shedding of blood.  Anything else or anything less than that doesn’t cut it.  We can groan, we can moan, we can promise to turn over a new leaf, but none of that removes sin from us.  Sin is a capital offence and it carries the death penalty. 

The sin for which the penalty is death has been placed upon the shoulders of the lamb – He is our sacrificial lamb who dies the death that was continually hanging over our heads.

Let me put it plainly for you – Everyone of us will have to give a personal account to God.  So the question is this – how can a life stained by sin be made right with the perfect and holy God?

We think we can do it in our own strength.  We get to thinking that we can clean ourselves up.  We aren’t so bad that we can’t clean our lives up and live straight. But that’s a lie.

This past Thursday – there were three of us in the office – Susan, myself and Stephanie deBriujn.  And we had a group of teenagers gather for a fight in our back parking lot.  This has happened before recently – Susan was here alone, and she simply yelled out her window that she had called the police and they all scattered.     

Generally we have about a hundred teens a day in our back parking lot playing basketball – it’s great and on the whole they are a super group of kids – but on Thursday it got out of hand and a circle formed – first clue – and then two guys start duking it out.  I see it all get up run out of my office – go to Susan’s office and she’s already on the phone to the police.  And Stephanie says, “Don’t you think someone should go out there and break it up?” 

I thought for a minute – Susan was on the phone.  Stephanie was photocopying, Rena wasn’t here. So that just left me.  So I go running out and before I can say, “Hey!” they all start running – like mice on a sinking ship – they just scatter.  They run behind the cedars on the right hand side, they run along the side of the church – I’ve never seen anything like it. 

And I’m thinking – Hey, I know I’ve been working out – but this was not the response I would get.  “You better run – don’t show yourself around here again!” 

And I was feeling pretty good - I am one mean dude.  And I come back into the office and say to Susan – “Wow, even before I could say anything they just scattered.”

And she says, “I know it’s because one of them looked up at my office window – and I stood up with the phone in my hand and they knew that I had called the police again – they gave the signal and everyone scattered!”

Are you sure about that?  O yeah, pretty sure.

We think we can get rid of sin our own, we need only flex our puny moral muscles and sin will go running.  But that’s a lie. Is there any remedy for our sin? Is there any hope for us – for we have all done wrong before God? Is there any physician that can heal this awful moral sickness which afflicts every human being? Thank God there is – and it is stated for us here – “Behold the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.” 

The only thing that will get rid of sin in your life is faith in the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the Cross.  There is the hope of beaten, sinning, suffering humanity.  Christ died for our sins.  Those little words state the central fact of the gospel of divine forgiveness.

Before Christ died on Calvary, every smoking altar on which a bird or a lamb lay in sacrifice pointed to the coming of the great sacrifice when Christ once and for all put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

My friends, I cannot shy away from the proclamation – we are all sinners, in need of Saviour – because it is such a great celebration.  Look, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

Words of proclamation and words of celebration.

O, the celebration! When the Jewish nation dreamed of a lion like leader they were dreaming of conquest.  And God answered that dream, not with a lion, but with a slain lamb.  He conquered by way of the cross by sacrificial love.  And so we read in Revelation 5, “Worthy is the lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honour and glory and praise.”

Czechoslovakia could have been called the jewel in the communist crown.  To be sure it was small, but it was probably the only country that enjoyed any kind of economic success under Communist Russia rule.  Because of that it was the show place of communism.  And because of that, the leaders would try to out communist the others. And because of that the church there suffered greatly.

The government leaders vowed that with one generation the church would be gone.  And they had this idea that if they could force the church inside, it would go away.  They wouldn't allow the church to have any word in the press.  They wouldn't allow the church to be in public - you could not even have a sign out in front of your church indicating that it was a church. If the church building had a bell in the steeple, it could not be rung.  It was as if the church was not there.

But the old rulers of Communist Russia now know what the people of God have always known.  You cannot keep God down. You've heard how in November 1989 the people of Prague changed the course of modern history and ousted the communist government, not with guns of anger but with candles of faith.

And you know how they decided that November 27, 1989 that every Czechoslovakian would walk out of their office, their factory, their school, their house, everyone at 12 noon would walk out into the open and stand. They decided that at 12 noon every church bell that had been silent would be rung. And it happened. Think of that. Bells that had been silent for forty years.

And that afternoon the story is told that a little Methodist church in Prague put out the first sign they ever had - it was a homemade sign.  And they put it up that afternoon.  Do you know what the sign said?  It said, “The Lamb wins!” Not the bear, not the tiger, not the dragon - the Lamb wins!

Look the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Words of proclamation, words of celebration – words of invitation. 

Behold – look!  Come! See for yourself!  The sacrifice has been offered on your behalf.  The victory has been won.  He now waits for you to make a decision for Him.

Is there someone here today who has been waiting for the Lion of God – someone to pick up the broken pieces of your life, someone to heal and mend the heart torn apart by sin? The lion of God has come in the Lamb.

Come and make your decision for Him today.  You have waited to long already, and He is calling you today. 

All you need to say to Him is, "Dear Saviour and Lord I surrender my life to you. .  I trust that your death on the cross was for me and instead of me.  I ask you to forgive my sin and cleanse my soul.  Come and live in me and take the title deed of my life.”

If you will confess Christ in this way you can go from this place assured in your heart that you have victory for this life and for the life to come.

Copyright MBC and Tom Cullen - November 2007