To be the Lamb of God and to take away the sin of the world, he had to be slaughtered.

Meaning number one of John's testimony is,

the Son of God took on human form so that he could be slaughtered.

Why was John the Baptist absolutely determined to point us to the God man?

That's the question John Piper answers from John 119 to 34 in this episode of Light and Truth.

This sermon was originally preached at Bethlehem Baptist Church on November 16, 2008.

Peter didn't write a gospel, though he probably is behind Mark as the main testimony.

But he did write an epistle and he did talk about the Lamb of God and he did relate it to our sins.

Let me read his testimony.

This is 1 Peter 1, 18.

You are ransomed from the feudal ways inherited from your fathers,

not with perishable things like silver and gold,

but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

So there it is.

The reason John in his epistle said he came to take away sin and he is without sin is because that's what lambs have to be.

Without blemish, without spot, so you and I don't qualify.

We need a lamb. We can't be the lamb.

Every one of you needs a substitute and no animal will do and no sinful human will do.

No sinner can take away the sin of a sinner.

How is it that Jesus was without sin?

Everybody born normally is sinful.

Everybody is born with sin.

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