Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 1060
“Behold the Lamb of God!” John 1:36.
IT IS the preacher’s principal business—I think I might say, his only business—to cry, “Behold the Lamb of God!” For this reason was John born and sent into the world, and such were the prophecies which went before concerning him. If he had been the most eloquent preacher of repentance. If he had been the most earnest declaimer against the sins of the times, he would, nevertheless, have missed his lifework if he had forgotten to say, “Behold the Lamb of God.” He did well when he baptized the repenting crowd. He spoke nobly when he faced the Pharisees and was a true hero when he rebuked Herod. But above all his chief errand was to herald the Messiah, to bear witness to the Son of God!
What we have said of John we may say of every God-sent minister—he is sent to bear witness to the Christ of God and whatever else he may do, if he does not this continually, habitually, earnestly—he is not fulfilling the errand for which his Master sent him, but has turned aside to baser ends. When any one of us who are called ministers shall die and come before the Lord to give our account, it will be a sorry thing for us if we can only say, “Lord, I have preached the dogmas of the Church to which I belonged,” unless we can also add that we have directed men to the living Savior.
Vain will it be to have argued with accurate logic and persuaded with lofty rhetoric unless we have uplifted Christ among the people. It will be idle to say, “I have preached against the skepticism of the times. I have rebuked the sins which raged around me and have proclaimed what I knew of the glory of God in Nature and in Providence,” for our chief and distinguishing work is to declare the name of the Lord Jesus and the power of His precious blood. As the stars called “the Pointers” always point to the Pole star, so must we always point to the Redeemer.
I think the minister who has failed to cry, “Behold the Lamb of God,” may expect at the last to be cut in pieces and to have his portion with the tormentors. I can scarcely conceive a doom too terrible for the man who dazzled his hearers with oratorical fireworks when he ought to have lifted up the Cross, or mocked immortal souls with the carved stone of his elocution when they were starving for the Bread of Heaven. Sermons without Christ condemn the preacher and delude the hearer. Sermons which do not point to Christ in them will be as hard to answer for as blasphemy or murder when the Judge is on His great white throne. It is cruel to amuse with trifles those whose souls are in jeopardy of eternal fire! Playing with men’s souls is murderous work and truly, if the Lamb of God is not preached, the ministry is playing with souls, if not worse.
John, however, most thoroughly discharged his lifework, for he was ever saying, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Notice in the text the attitude of the preacher, for it is very instructive. “Looking upon Jesus as He walked,” John said, “Behold the Lamb of God!” The preacher’s eyes should be upon his Master while he points to his Master. They preach Christ best who see Him best. John had his own eyes fastened upon Jesus and therefore he did, by his own example as well as by his words, say, “Behold the Lamb of God.”
If you will take your place in a crowded street and stand for a few minutes looking at a certain object in the heavens, or gaze upward as if something were there to be seen, you will soon find that without asking others to do the same, a company will gather round you and begin to look in the same direction. Indeed, a vast crowd might be collected by no other action than by your gazing intently into the air! So John, in addition to his saying, “Behold the Lamb of God,” was doing the best thing to attract others to behold Him—when he fixed his own eyes on Jesus—with a fixed wondering, admiring, adoring gaze.
John had no eyes for anyone but “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world,” and therefore his words had point and power in them. And note that John’s eyes were upon Christ not only when Christ was coming to him, but as He walked by him! Well may the preacher have his Master before him when his Master is cheering him with His
fellowship and honoring him with His Presence. But on this occasion Jesus was walking alone, as though in meditation, with His eyes probably bent upon the ground. It was not meet that He should always be coming to John—He had done that once and so had put an honor upon His servant.
But this time He came not to him lest men should think that He had a dependence upon John—He walked in quiet musing as though His thoughts were otherwise occupied. Nevertheless the Baptist had not forgotten his Lord, but again pointed Him out. If the Lord denies to the preacher His comfortable Presence; if no light of fellowship shines forth from the brow of the Crucified, it is still ours whenever and wherever we preach to let the eye of faith realize Christ as present and still to cry to others with a heart that palpitates in union with our words, “Behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world.”