We deviate from the Names of God lessons today to focus on something a lot of folks, even some Christians don't know the answer to...why is Jesus called the Lamb of God? This is a long explanation so it will be spread across two days, PART1 and PART2.
PART1: (Background)
God instructed man not to sin. However, very early in his being, man disobeyed God when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree which God instructed them not to eat from. Ever since this time, man has been disobeying God by all sorts of means such as idol worship, breaking of the commandments which God handed down to Moses, as well as turning away from God and engaging in such things as nature and earth-worship, engaging in fornication, sodomy and adultery, alcoholism, debauchery as well as many other sins against our Holy God. These and other sins incur the wrath of our Holy God. The wrath of God which deserves nothing less than death!!! We have all --- each one of us --- at one time or another in our lives --- sinned. We are all sinners. Whether the sin is a big one, being one of the ones described above, or a little one, such as looking at a woman in lust, coveting the neighbor’s Bentley, or speaking a little white lie, the fact is that we are all sinners and have fallen short of the Glory of God. “..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ [Romans 3:23] There is none who has not sinned. None except one --- Christ alone. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst." [John 8:7-9]
So while we all deserve death, and there is nothing we could possibly do to appease, ameliorate, pacify or otherwise do to satisfy an angry God except by spending an eternity in hell, something so enormous has been done for us that we have not only been spared the death penalty, but have been granted a promise of life everlasting. That enormous deed was done some Two Thousand years ago when God sent His only son to die on the Cross for our sins at Calvary. “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” [Philippians 2:8] Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world as a human being (the unique God/man) to be the perfect sacrifice for sin and to make atonement --- propitiation for our sins. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” [Romans 3:24-25] To understand this a little better, imagine that you had committed a capital crime and were sentenced to die. You were blindfolded and tied to a tree, with a firing squad squarely taking aim at you, ready to shoot you to death. Terrified you hear the sergeant shout out, “Ready --- Aim --- “ then silence. In a minute, your blindfold comes off, and when you open your eyes, there is Christ tied to the tree and shot in your place. He has taken the bullet for you. He has died in your place. This, my friends, is what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did on the Cross, for those who believe in Him --- for those who have received Him as Lord of their lives. How can anything compare to this? How can any love equal this? Christ not only paid the penalty for the sins of His generation, but for all generations to come for those who believe in Him.
PART1: (Background)
God instructed man not to sin. However, very early in his being, man disobeyed God when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the tree which God instructed them not to eat from. Ever since this time, man has been disobeying God by all sorts of means such as idol worship, breaking of the commandments which God handed down to Moses, as well as turning away from God and engaging in such things as nature and earth-worship, engaging in fornication, sodomy and adultery, alcoholism, debauchery as well as many other sins against our Holy God. These and other sins incur the wrath of our Holy God. The wrath of God which deserves nothing less than death!!! We have all --- each one of us --- at one time or another in our lives --- sinned. We are all sinners. Whether the sin is a big one, being one of the ones described above, or a little one, such as looking at a woman in lust, coveting the neighbor’s Bentley, or speaking a little white lie, the fact is that we are all sinners and have fallen short of the Glory of God. “..for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’ [Romans 3:23] There is none who has not sinned. None except one --- Christ alone. “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.” And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst." [John 8:7-9]
So while we all deserve death, and there is nothing we could possibly do to appease, ameliorate, pacify or otherwise do to satisfy an angry God except by spending an eternity in hell, something so enormous has been done for us that we have not only been spared the death penalty, but have been granted a promise of life everlasting. That enormous deed was done some Two Thousand years ago when God sent His only son to die on the Cross for our sins at Calvary. “And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” [Philippians 2:8] Jesus Christ, the Son of God, came into the world as a human being (the unique God/man) to be the perfect sacrifice for sin and to make atonement --- propitiation for our sins. “Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God.” [Romans 3:24-25] To understand this a little better, imagine that you had committed a capital crime and were sentenced to die. You were blindfolded and tied to a tree, with a firing squad squarely taking aim at you, ready to shoot you to death. Terrified you hear the sergeant shout out, “Ready --- Aim --- “ then silence. In a minute, your blindfold comes off, and when you open your eyes, there is Christ tied to the tree and shot in your place. He has taken the bullet for you. He has died in your place. This, my friends, is what our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ did on the Cross, for those who believe in Him --- for those who have received Him as Lord of their lives. How can anything compare to this? How can any love equal this? Christ not only paid the penalty for the sins of His generation, but for all generations to come for those who believe in Him.
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