Sermon File

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen

The Second Sunday after the Epiphany (2026)                                                          

Who is the Christ?                                                                                                         Rev. Toby Byrd

“The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29, ESV) 

Desperate cries pierce the silence of the darkness, the cries of wailing mothers who have been awakened to find their first-born male child dead. Holy Scripture tells us, “And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.” (Exodus 12:30, ESV) This event happened because of Pharaoh’s pride which would not allow him to be subservient to God. No, he thought, he was the most powerful man on earth, no one could compare, so who does this God, who is not my god, think I am? His arrogance brought the wrath of God upon his people, the death of their first-born male child.

We read in the forty-sixth chapter of Genesis that Jacob (Israel) moved his family and all his possessions to Egypt where his son Joseph was the second most powerful man in the land. They settled in the land of Goshen (Gen. 47:6, 11) and were treated well by Pharaoh. But this did not last. As the years of their residence in this foreign land continued, new Pharaoh’s arose to power, and they were not as accommodating to the Israelites as the Pharaoh during the life of Joseph (Ex. 1:8). Indeed, the Israelites had grown into a mighty nation within Egypt, and the people of Egypt began to fear them, so they enslaved them and made their lives bitter (Ex. 1:9-14). Such was the condition of the Israelites for four-hundred years (Gen. 15:13), then God heard their cries for mercy and remembered His covenant and sent one to rescue them from their misery. He sent Moses (Ex. 2:23-25; 3:9-10). But Pharaoh would not listen to Moses or be persuaded by the plagues God sent upon the Egyptians. In all, God had sent them nine plagues, but none of them moved Pharaoh. Then God sent a tenth and final plague.

God, through Moses, told Pharaoh, “About midnight I will go out in the midst of Egypt, and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle.” (Exodus 11:4–5, ESV) Every firstborn in Egypt shall die, that is all except the firstborn of the Israelites, God will save them from the angel of death! 

God gave Moses and Aaron instruction on how He would save His people, saying, “Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight. “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it . . . It is the Lord’s Passover. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:3-7, 11–13, ESV).”

Therefore, with these instructions the firstborn of all the Israelites were spared from the angel of death and this final plague with its instructions to the Israelites established the Feast of the Passover. God said to Moses and to Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.” (Exodus 12:43–47, ESV)

So, why the symbolism, why paint the doorposts with the blood of a freshly killed lamb, a lamb without blemish? God said, “The blood shall be a sign for you,” a sign pointing to something far greater than just that one night when death came for the Egyptians. This sign pointed to One who was to come; One who would save His people from eternal death by saving them from the consequence of God’s wrath. God preferred mercy rather than vengeance, love rather than bitterness, so through the blood of an innocent lamb, God would offer His people a safe haven from His wrath, pointing to the future when He would offer sinners forgiveness by offering the blood of His holy and blessed Son as payment for their sins. This Savior is coming, but how do we know who He is? How do we know who is the Christ?

In the Gospel Reading for today, John the Baptist calls our Lord Jesus, “the Lamb of God!” (John 1:29, ESV) He had witnessed the anointing of Christ by the Holy Spirit at His Baptism, and had heard the voice of God say, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:17, ESV) In that blessed moment the prophecy given by Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.” (Isaiah 11:2, ESV) was brought to fruition in the Baptism of Jesus. He is the Anointed One, the Messiah who was to come. Through this divine and blessed revealing the Holy Spirit revealed the hope of Israel, that hope which centered on the Messiah, while also opening John’s heart to believe that this Jesus is indeed the Messiah, “the Lamb of God” who was to come into the world to save all mankind from their sin. This Jesus is the Messiah, “the Lamb of God” who would take the place of the Passover Lamb, and by His bloody death would pay the ransom for men’s sin not with gold or silver but with His precious blood, like a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Peter 1:18-19).

Outside of the prologue of John’s gospel, “the Lamb of God” is the first title given to our Lord Jesus. There is great significance in this title, significance which is often overlooked or forgotten by many who call themselves followers of Christ. When we confess this title for Jesus, we recall the description of the suffering servant of Isaiah; “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed . . . He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.” (Isaiah 53:5, 7, ESV) Furthermore, we recall the description of the Passover lamb, “Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old . . . It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.” (Exodus 12:5, 46, ESV) This lamb is to be sacrificed, its blood is the saving sign protecting the people from the angel of death and its flesh is to be eaten without breaking any of its bones. These instructions are important for they point directly to the crucifixion of Jesus on the Altar of the Cross, where John writes, “Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. So the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. But one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once there came out blood and water. He who saw it has borne witness—his testimony is true, and he knows that he is telling the truth—that you also may believe. For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: “Not one of his bones will be broken.” And again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they have pierced.”” (John 19:31–37, ESV) Yes, “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29, ESV) is the fulfillment of the type, the Passover lamb, showing us how we are saved from eternal death through faith, that is faith alone, in God’s holy Son, the Lamb of God. Thus, it is faith and not works, faith in the Gospel and not adherence to the Law that opens the door of heaven to the repentant sinner. But as I said earlier, many have forgotten this truth.

Not too long ago, the phrase, “What Would Jesus Do?” became quite popular among Christians in the United States. WWJD became their personal motto, a reminder that it was a moral imperative to live their lives as Jesus lived. To love as Jesus loved and to suffer as Jesus suffered. But rarely does such effort manifest itself in the humility of Jesus. Now, this theology was not new, in fact it can be traced back to a 14th century monk named Thomas Á Kempis. It was also preached by John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church, who developed the concept of Christian perfectionism, that religious movement which led to the rigorous moral lifestyle of the holiness movement, a Pharisaic movement which hoped to attain religious perfection in this life by human effort. Now desiring to live a pious life is not a bad thing, but when it replaces faith in “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world,” with faith in one’s ability to keep the Law of God, then it becomes a false hope that believes it can obtain the perfection St. Paul speaks of in Philippians 3:12. But the perfection St. Paul speaks of is a perfection that is obtained on the of the Resurrection when the believer is fully conformed to the image of Christ in the flesh and in the spirit. That is, it requires the resurrection to make fallen persons perfect, fully Christ-like partakers of the divine nature, for in this life we can never obtain perfection, that is, one hundred percent of sanctification, we are born sinners and we die as sinners, but sinners who confess their sins and receive God’s absolution. Therefore, we do not die as unrepentant sinners, but forgiven sinners by faith in “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!”

Today, we also see churches that place social ministry on an equal or even higher level than the ministry of the Word. They preach and teach Christ as example rather than gift. Overcoming poverty, justice for the poor, equality for homosexuals, same sex marriage, abortion, radical feminism, and criminal justice reform have replaced the proclamation of the Gospel. Social and economic reform trumps the forgiveness of sins. Social issues become confessional platforms taking precedence over the Gospel turning churches into political organizations rather than congregations of Christ. Helping the poor is not a Christian imperative alone, it is also God’s imperative to His Old Testament people. Thus, a socializing faith is not faith in Jesus, it’s faith in equity. In their quest for social outcomes many have failed to recognize the trap they have laid for themselves: Their quest for social ministry leads them into the jaws of works righteousness and the arms of Satan. Failing to recognize Christ as God’s sacrificial gift for the forgiveness of sins; makes Christ nothing more than a good man, an example for social justice. So, Christ as sacramental gift, as “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” becomes nothing more than a metaphor.

But following Scripture, true believers see Christ’s Word, work, and suffering in two ways, as gift and example.

The gift of Christ’s Passion is His sacramental death which brought the remission of sins. The example, is the imitation of His suffering. But whoever wants to imitate Christ and use Him as an example must first believe that Christ sacramentally suffered and died for the forgiveness of their sins and the sins of the world. Therefore, those who contrive to blot out sins by means of works and labors of penance fail to understand God’s free gift in Christ Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, since they begin with the example, when they should begin with the sacramental.

Providing us with an example, St. Peter says, “Because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example” (1 Peter 2:21, ESV). That is, “Since … Christ suffered in the flesh,” then we are to, “arm [ourselves] with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin,” (1 Peter 4:1, ESV). Thus, St. Peter says if we are to follow Christ as an example, then we need to be prepared to suffer for our faith. But if Christ as example is nothing more than a moral or social imperative, we need to ask; is there a moral or social imperative in suffering? What type of good work is suffering? Therefore, it’s not a matter of a moral or social imperative, it’s a matter of faith and faithfulness. Christ reminds us, “A servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. (John 15:20, ESV) 

When St. Peter says, “Christ … suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21, ESV) he is speaking about that sublime crucifixion by which sin, the devil, and death are crucified in Him and not in you. On the Altar of the Cross Christ fulfills the purpose of His Father, fulfilling the saving benefit of the Passover lamb. His blood poured out on the Altar of the Cross saves all who believe in Him from eternal death, an eternity in hell. Therefore, as a believer in Christ you have been crucified with Him through faith. The sins Christ paid for by His crucifixion, ransomed your sinful self from the consequence of God’s wrath; your sins are cast away from God’s presence, having been atoned for by “the Lamb of God’s” sacrificial atonement on the Altar of the Cross. God no longer remembers your sin.

When you follow Jesus as example you do what you see Him do; as you see Him praying, fasting, helping people, and showing love, you should do the same, both for yourself and for your neighbor. However, this is the least important part of the Gospel, in fact it cannot even be called Gospel, because by these works Christ cannot help you any more than any other saint. His life remains with him and does not help you. This does not make Christians; it only makes hypocrites. Now you might argue and say, “Well, pastor, aren’t we told to do these things?” Yes, you are, but such works cannot get you into heaven. The prophet Isaiah speaks clearly to this subject, saying, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.” (Isaiah 64:6, ESV) If Isaiah is not enough to convince you, then listen to Jesus, “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17:10, ESV) Yes, we would all like to live as shining examples of Jesus, but in truth we live as corrupted humanity, tarnished souls in need of forgiveness.

Who is the Christ? Scripture shows He is the Son of God, “the (very) Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” who came into this world to save you and me and the world from our sin. He is the Redeemer of all mankind, the Second Person of the Godhead in whom we were blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” (Ephesians 1:3–4, ESV) Just as God chose the Israelites to be His holy people, He chose you to be a member of the new Israel, the Church of all who believe in His holy Son, Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Indeed, “he predestined (you) for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” (Ephesians 1:5, ESV) God saved His people from the angel of death by the blood of the Passover lamb. He now saves you from eternal death by the blood of His holy and precious Son, Jesus Christ. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

May the Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.