It's always overwhelming to see the leading of the spirit and the singing. And the selection by the choir tonight, the choir master, worthy is the land, as in keeping with my message. We have looked at, behold your God, behold the man, behold my servant, and tonight the subject is behold the land. Shall we turn, please, to today a gospel by John, and reading two verses. John's gospel, chapter one, and reading verse two, nine, twenty-nine. The next day John seeeth Jesus coming unto him, and says, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Please to verse thirty-five, three-five. Again the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold, the Lamb of God. Once again the Lord will bless to us this lovely reading from his precious word. You feel like Moses, taking the shoes from off your feet. The place where on which stand is holy ground. when we discuss this great subject, the Lamb of God. Time and time again God speaks to us in simile on the metaphorical language to bring before us the dignity and the excellency and the supremacy of the Lord Jesus. He makes selections from the best of all kingdoms. In Isaiah fifty-three we read. He shall grow up before him as a tender plant and as a root out of a dry ground. The Son of Solomon chapter two is the apple tree among the trees of the wood. So is my beloved among the sons. Selections from the vegetable kingdom. And occasionally God makes selections from the feather kingdom. And in Psalm one or two we read, I am like the pelican of the wilderness. I am like the owl of the desert. I watch and am as a sparrow alone upon the hausta. The pelican is a bird of penetration. He's the aquatic bird. He loves the streams and the lake. But he's the pelican in the wilderness, out of his natural environment. And that was true of the Lord Jesus. When he came to this earth, he was out of his natural environment. Heaven is his fatherland. Heaven is his home. And as the owl of the desert, the bird of seclusion, that loves to operate in the night, and none of the ransom will ever know how deep were the waters crossed, or how dark was the night that the Lord passed through, ere he found the sheep that was lost. And there's the lone sparrow upon the house-up, and the bird of isolation. But God also makes selections from the animal kingdom. And we find him in the Revelation as the lion of the tribe of Judah. But here we see him as the Lamb of God. This subject the Lamb permeates and pervades the entire range of the Word of God. Just like a scarlet thread and interwoven, into this exquisite fabric of divine truth we see this red strand. pervading all scripture, uniting and cohesive, and what a subject this is, the Lamb. The first reference is found in Genesis chapter four. Abel brought his little lamb, and he offered it to God with the fat thereof. Here we have the lamb, and the lamb is typified with the fat thereof. We follow this great strand, we come through to Genesis twenty-two, and there we have the Lamb prophesied. Here is a fire in the woods, says Isaac, but where is the Lamb for a burnt offering? God will provide himself a Lamb. The Lamb prophesied. And we follow this strand through into the book of Exodus chapter twelve, and there we have the Lamb, and the Lamb is afflied. Israel instructed by Moses to take the blood and apply it to the doorpost and to the lintel. The lamb applied. Move into the area of the prophets. We come to Isaiah fifty-three. There was the lamb personified. Led as a lamb to the slaughter. And here in John's Gospel chapter one, the lamb identified. John, seeing Jesus as he walks, said, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Then to the Revelation we move into chapter five, and there we have the Lamb, and the Lamb is magnified. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain. And John concludes the Revelation. Seven times in chapters twenty-one and twenty-two, There's a reference to the Lamb, and there we see the Lamb, and the Lamb is glorified. We feel the emotional impact of such a subject tonight. Genesis chapter four, the Lamb typified the emphasis is on the sweetness of the Lamb. Genesis twenty-two, the Lamb prophesied the emphasis is on the preciousness. Probiticus chapter, Exodus chapter twelve, the Lamb applied. The emphasis is on the protectiveness. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Isaiah fifty-three, the Lamb personified the emphasis is on his submissiveness. John chapter one, the Lamb identified the emphasis is on his distinctiveness. Revelation five, the Lamb magnified the emphasis is on his worthiness. Revelation twenty two, I suggest to you, the Lamb glorified the emphasis is on his loveliness. The Lamb typified. He offered his lamb with the spander off. That is another word in these days of weight-watching fat. But in the word of God, it suggests the sweetness and the strength of the animal. Surely this again is a picture of the Lord Jesus. Wholesome sweetness ever characterized. Our blessed Lord. His name is sweet. There is a name I love to hear. I love to speak it worse. It sounds like music in mine ear, the sweetest name on earth. It was Bernard of Servo who said that the name of Jesus is as honey to the death, as music to the ear, and as a song of gladness to the heart, the name of Jesus. In the genealogy of the Master, the Savior, in Matthew chapter one, we have three groups of fourteen generations of the two names. In the first fourteen generation group, there was an outstanding man, and his name was Abraham, the man of faith. In the second fourteen generation group, the outstanding man was David, the man after God's own heart. In the third, fourteen generation group, the outstanding man was Zerubbabel, the man who brought the nation out of Babylon in captivity, with Ezra the scribes and with Nehemiah. But neither Abraham, nor David, nor Zerubbabel could save his people from their sins. Thou shalt call his name Jesus, Yeshua, Joshua, he shall say. his people from their sins. Jesus the Savior. When Saul of Pastors was going down the Damascus Road, that outstanding man, I love to read of him, an English gentleman who wrote a book Turning Point in World History. He said, as he compared Saul of Pastors with the Paulian Bonaparte and Alexander the Great, He says Napoleon was a creature of a moment, and Alexander the Great was a pygmy, but Saul of Parthus was a Colossus. That man, that intellectual giant going down the Damascus road, fell in love with Jesus. I am Jesus. And Jesus the sovereign meant everything to Saul of Parthus from that day on. Jesus the Saviour... Jesus the sovereign. And the book closes. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David the bright and the morning star. O be it, dear friend, his name is sweet. But so also it is friendship. Solomon says, Poisonment and perfume rejoiced the heart, so does the sweetness of a man's friend by hearty counsel. His friendship is sweet, and you'll never find a friend just like he. Earth's friend may say, but leave us. One day through the next day, leave us. But this friend will dare deceive us. Oh, how he will. The scold of the great Christosom, a Christosom, who was brought before the emperor Arteus, who demanded he give up his Christianity. He said, unless you do, he said, I'll put you into exile. Christosom said, Sire, this you cannot do. The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness are up. Well, he said, I'll confiscate your property. They said, Sire, this you cannot do. My treasure is in heaven. No one can break her. Well, he said, I'll take your life from you. He said, Taya, this you cannot do. My life is his with Christ and God. He was absolutely infuriated. Well, he says, this is what I'll do. I'll put you in solitary confinement away from your friends. He says, Taya, this you cannot do. I have a friend that's bigger than a brother, and he has said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And I recommend him to you tonight if you're not saved. What a friend we have indeed. His name is sweet, his friendship is sweet, his counsel is sweet. We took sweet counsel together, the psalmist said, and made his stand at his feet and heard the wisdom of his word. but so also is it once. My sheep hear my voice. His voice is sweet. The emphasis is on the sweetest. In Genesis twenty-two, moving along, following this beautiful, cohesive subject, the Lamb prophesied and the emphasis is on the preciousness. In Genesis chapter twenty-two, God said to Abraham, Take now thy son, thine owneth son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Mariah, and offer him as a burnt sacrifice on one of the mountains. This, my friend, is a picture of the sacrifice of all sacrifices. the Lord Jesus Christ. Every priest stands a daily offering of things, the same sacrifices that can never take away sin. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sin forever, sat down at the right hand of the majesty in the heavens. He examined Genesis twenty-two, there was a path to the altar. And there was a purpose. of the altar. And there was a place of the altar. And there was a pain at the altar. But there was peace of the altar at the altar. The path to the altar of the Father and the Son went on together. And what a picture this is of the Father and the Son as they went on together to the place. of the altar. He them as a boy. Wester not that I must be about my father's business. There at the tomb of Lazarus, Father, I thank thee that thou has heard me. John chapter twelve, what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour. For this cause came I under this hour. Glorify thy name. The voice came from heaven. I have glorified it and will glorify it again. And on the cross, Father, forgive them. They know not what it is. The path to the altar. Then there was a place. Three times in Genesis twenty-two, Abraham lifted up his eyes. and saw the place afar up, a place that was specially selected for that burnt sacrifice Abraham offering up Isaac, the place of the altar. My dear friend, the most significant place in the universe is not Washington, nor Ottawa, nor Peking, nor Moscow. The most significant place in the universe is the place called Calvary. But the greatest event that ever took place was a message on your behalf and must. When Neil Armstrong landed on the moon, and I'm glad it was Neil Armstrong and not Neil Dugall, President Carter said, rather President Nixon said, excuse me, President Nixon said, This is the greatest event in the annals of human history. All due respect to President Nixon, he missed it by two thousand years and a quarter of a million miles. The greatest event in the annals of human history and in the records of eternity was Calvary. Everything depended upon the success of the Lord's and the place of Calvary. The place of the altar. But then there was the purpose of the altar. I and the lad will go yonder and worship. It was a holy spiritual transaction between Abraham and Isaac. And both were in mutual enjoyment. And oh, my friend, the purpose of Calvary was for the glory of God. a mutual exercise to the Father and the Son. And the primary purpose of the cross was not to save your soul and mine. We became the beneficiary. Thank God. For the primary purpose of the cross was for the glory of God. He found the man that glorified him. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gaveest me to do. And my friend, there was pain. at the altar. Abraham's legs must have felt like lead. As he bound his son, his only son, and put him on the altar. You and I will never know the pain of the Lord Jesus and the pain of the father. At Calvary's great transaction, There was the identification with sin. Dear holy God, in the garden of Gethsemane, about to identify himself with sin, He sweaters aware great drops of blood falling down to the ground, in anguish of soul. Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, never the life of my will, but thine be done. He who knew no sin was to be made sin for us, but we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Here the Holy Son of God was facing the sin question, all the sins that we heard this much, of the whole world that he placed upon his blessed shoulder, identification of the pain. But there was also the isolation. Because of this, the Lord knew that he would have to be separated from God for a little while. An experience absolutely new to him. He enjoyed an unbroken fellowship for millennia. Solomon says, Who is he that ascended into heaven? or descended, who gathers the wind in its fish, bound the waters in a garment, and established the ends of the earth. What is his name? And what is his son's name? Eternal son of the eternal God, unbroken flesh. And the Lord knew because of the institution of the day of atonement what he would pass through. Remember in Leviticus sixteen on the day of atonement the priest took two goats, one which slaughtered on the blood sprinkled seven times before on seven times on the mercy. And the live goat, the Azazel or Azazel, was taken. And all the sins, and all the transgressions, and all the iniquities, of the nation was put on that little goat. And it was taken by the hand of a cleat man into the land of desolation. I had a friend in Scotland, a tremendous Bible teacher, when I was a boy, and he was an elderly gentleman, but forty men of God. A great poet, and he wrote a poem as of error. There is a land, a solitary land, a land from every other land afar. No sun did ever kiss this gloomy strand, nor dawn, nor day, nor moon, nor morning star. Land of the useless deer and useless stars, where skies are dead and every streamland ride. No strong bird ever rose to greet the ear, No flower did ever bloom to bless the eye. Unutterable desperation reigned this spotty for the kingdoms of despair. No change is known, nor seasons waxed away, still hopelessness hang stagnant in the air. I saw a goat with heavy head, hung gold, with sunken eyes, and well-worn travel people, in that sad land a living war. I hear its horse, lamentable, pitiate bleak. It pierced the moral universe above, upon eternal short the echo bridge, that loud, that lone lamentable cry. My God, my God, why, this thou need? birthday. Isolation. Because of your sin. And what? I was in Toronto a week past Maury's day. The gentleman told me of a dear friend of him who some years ago, his name was Hugh Walker, well known in Toronto, and he loved to witness for his master. He was in a warehouse with a Hebrew gentleman, and he thought somehow, some way he would try to get around to him the subject of salvation. And so he said to this Jewish gentleman, one of my most emotional moments is to read about the abandoned cry of the Lord Jesus. Eli, Eli, Lama, Sebastian I. The Hebrew gentleman says, Sir, he of the Royal Annunciation. And he cups his hand around his mouth in that warehouse this Hebrew gentleman. It is this is how it sounded. Elie, Elie, Lama Subhafani. Abandoned. My God, my God. Matthew records it, Mark records it. Because Matthew is the trespass offering gospel, Mark is the sin offering gospel. And that's why he was abandoned for you and for me. Because he was bearing our trespass and our sins in his own body on the tree. Identification with sin. And so the angel came and strengthened him. What an enigma. The creature strengthening the creator. Isolation because of that. But oh my friend. We think of that moment. When God raised the poor. Abram raised the night. And God said. Abram Abraham. And turning round he saw a ram caught by its arms in a picket, a substitute for Isaac. For there was no substitute for the Lord. He did bear out since in his own body on the face. And God raised the sword, and the sword of justice that should have been pierced in your heart and in mind. He plunged it into the heart of his son. Wake or sword against my shepherd, and against the man who is my equal. Surely the emphasis is on the preciousness. There was nothing more precious to Abraham than that ram. The substitute is what it was. And it was hailed by its horse. Had it been hailed by any other part of its body, it would have been blemished. That could never be a type of a Lord Jesus. He was held by the horns of his love. T'was love that led him to Gethsemane, or Judas ne'er could find him. T'was love that nailed him to the tree, or iron ne'er could find him. T'was love that lived, t'was love that died, with endless light of blood. May thou hast thou run thy bloodboard gray, lurk, Are thou, Lord Jesus, precious, the Lamb of his heart? Exodus chapter twelve, the Lamb of thy life. Assuming that an Israelite went so far as to obey the orders of capturing the blood-heaving of the animal from the tenth to the fourteen day of the month, and capturing the blood in a vessel but failed to apply it to the doorpost and to the lintel, that Israelite would have died the same as the Egyptian. That blood had to be applied. As we heard this morning, there is adequate provision in the death of the Lord Jesus for all mankind, but men must take the initiative. You remember in the days of Pharaoh and Joseph, there was hunger throughout the land of Egypt. And Joseph built small houses and gathered corn like the sand of the sea shore. And when the famine came, it was throughout all Egypt and surrounding land. But the message by Pharaoh was, go, did Joseph. There was adequate provision. in the storehouses, but men, women, boys and girls had to take the initiative to go and satisfy their palate. Likewise, my friend, blood has been shed. But you must apply it to your great needs. Most of you know, much of my activities is in the field of evangelism. We could keep you here to midnight telling of some wonderful occasions when the blood was applied. in all its preciousness. One of the most productive memories I have is ten years ago in Spanish wealth in the Bahamas. God came in on the spirit moved upon the waters. Housewife got saved, an educator, Samuel Geithner, young people, fishermen. We were supposed to conclude on a Tuesday evening, but the brethren prevailed and asked to continue a few more days. And the final night was a Friday night, and it will always be precious in my memory. In the audience was a dear gentleman, but the naval Charles Curry, and his dear widow, daughter, son-in-law, and children are in this audience. I preached the gospel that night from Zechariah chapter one. The Lord is at hand. He has prepared a sacrifice, and he has finished again. I should hand to dear Charles as he went out, and I could see that he was anxious. As the Charles were leaving tomorrow morning, I befriended him for the month. For leaving tomorrow morning, I'd like to come up and say goodbye. By all means, he will welcome in my home any time. He went up to see him. That night at his charles, the Lord is at hand. The Lord comes tonight, and says, I'll be gone. Your daughters will be gone. I'll be gone. And you'll be left behind. He trembled from head to foot. He got up his chair and threw himself flat on the carpet, put his head in the carpet, and he wailed, Oh, God, save my soul. And I get down beside him with my Volkswagen engine here, and I would fail with him, Morton. My old heart was pumping, and I have a bad heart, it's both of you know. We get off our knees. He said, I've got to call my mom and dad. So he got through to the operator, but he couldn't speak, so I got the telephone, and all messages there went through the operator. She heard. I said to his mom and dad, Charles had just gotten there. And that went right through the island like a bushfire. We were down to see his mom and dad. And then he had a special friend whom he promised, if he ever got saved, he'd be the first person to tell. We got down to Godfrey Albury's house, knocked at the door, lots of tears. And he says to Godfrey Albury, say, Brother-in-law, I just got saved. I'm now the child of a king. He went down the street, telling friends, and pointedly outside of the chapel, at midnight. He said, Oh, happy day when Jesus washed my sins away. Six minutes in the morning was the man's prayer meeting, and we were leading by the ferry at eight o'clock. I went to the prayer meeting, and who came in, but Charles Curry? He was down on the knees, all of us. We all prayed and I, and we waited, and finally he began to pray. He said, Lord, this praying business is new to me, but I'm going to pray anywhere. He prayed for his brother, prayed for many friends, and he prayed for his boy and I. He said, I might get saved. In the islands, they all have nicknames for men, and his nickname was Chicken. And I said to the correspondent, Don Hugo, that morning at his dawn, do me a favor. Change his name from chicken to eagle. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount upward wings as eagle. Run and not be weary. Walk and not say, I sense he was going to become a man of prayer. And there are brethren here in this audience today who can testify. He was a great man of prayer. Two years later, overcome with cancer. I called him in Miami in the hospital. He said, Brother Neil, was this thing I could lose everything cancer. But one thing I cannot lose is my failure. And the day the Lord took him home to glory. He got word from Spanish well that his boy Nigel had gotten there. You see, he applied the blood to his great need, and the Lord brought him into the family of God. And I'm sure the family don't mind me telling that tonight. The lamb, the blood, applied. The great Queen Victoria used to visit my native city of Edinburgh, and there was a tremendous The paper mill there, special paper produced in a paper mill that was made from rags. And so she was being conducted through these molten mills, as they were called. And the superintendent was purposely veering her away from this particular building. She says, I want to see what's in there. He says, Your Majesty, please. She says, I insist. And finally opened the door, and she was pushed back almost with the smell of these rags. Sometime later, they sent down a large quantity of beautiful white linen paper down to Buckingham Palace, to Her Majesty the Queen. She sent a letter back to the President of the large paper mill and said, That was just like me. All my righteousnesses were as filthy rags. But now I'm washed white in the blood of the Lamb. And so as I closed, Let me say tonight, my friend, if you're not saved, we appeal to you, time is running out. You might never ever get another opportunity to apply the blood. God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. So the emphasis there is on the protectiveness. And be assured, if you're sheltered under the blood, you are saved and saved for all eternity. Behold, the Lamb of God, shall we pray. Gracious Father, we thank Me again for the Lamb, and the blessed Lamb of Calvary. We pray, O Lord and Father, He'll become increasingly more precious to us. Give me a sight, O Savior, of thy wondrous love to me, of the love that brought me down to earth, to die on Calvary. O make me understand it. Help me to take it in. for it meant to be the Holy One, to bear away my sins. We ask these things, asking to take care of thy word, as we ask it in his precious name. Amen. If you have a question or need help in any way to find the Savior, there are many here qualified, and we're willing to help you, remember Peter, who was instrumental in bringing Cornelius to the Savior, and we sure can help you. May it be so for his name's sake.