Mary Had A Little Lamb
(as preached by Pastor Stout 12/22/02)
From childhood, we were taught the little song “Mary Had A Little Lamb, its fleece was white as snow. Every where that Mary went, the Lamb was sure to go. It followed her to school even though it was against the rules.”
Nearly 2,000 years ago, the Virgin Mary had a Lamb. I would like to capitalize the word LAMB. Luke 2:7 says, “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.” Mary gave birth to the Lamb of God, the Son of God, and the redeemer of all mankind!
He came by choice, not by force. Mary didn’t know whether to feed Him or praise Him. Joseph didn’t know whether to call Him “son” or “Father.” Matthew 1:21 “And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.”
I want to submit three passages of Scripture to us today to tell us about Mary’s little Lamb.
Before I do, I want us to recall the great promise of a Redeemer in Genesis 3:15. “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”
This passage gives us three specific details about this Lamb. This passage is the dawning of the gospel.
1) We see His INCARNATION, in that He should be the seed of the woman. In Luke 3, we see the genealogy of Jesus. His lineage goes back to Adam (Luke 3:38), but God does the woman the honor to call Him rather her seed, because she it was whom the devil beguiled, and on whom Adam laid the blame. The woman was first in transgression but God shall use a woman for His son to descend from.
2) We see His SUFFERINGS and DEATH, pointed at in Satan’s “bruising his heel,” that is His human nature. It was Satan who tempted Christ in the wilderness, trying to draw Him into sin. The devil did all he could do trying to destroy Jesus Christ.
The devil put it in the heart of Cain to kill Abel,
but God rose up Seth to carry the seed.
The devil caused so much evil upon the earth that God decided to destroy the earth with water, yet He saved Noah.
The devil moved Esau to kill Jacob, but God preserved Jacob.
The devil moved Pharaoh to destroy all male babies of the Hebrew families, yet God spared Moses.
Satan tried to destroy the Jews so the Messiah could not come.
In the New Testament, Satan moved Herod to kill all babies when Jesus was born, but an angel warned Joseph to take his son and flee to Egypt.
It was the devil who put it in the heart of Judas to betray Christ. It was the devil who caused Peter to deny Him. The devil caused the chief priests to prosecute Him, the false witnesses to accuse Him and Pilate to condemn Him. All this was done trying to ruin our chance of salvation. When Christ died on that cross, Satan thought he had finally won, but to the contrary, it was by that death that Christ destroyed Satan who had the power of death.
Christ’s heel was bruised when His feet were pierced and nailed to the cross.
3) We see His VICTORY OVER SATAN. Satan had now trampled upon the woman and insulted her; but the seed of the woman should be raised up in the fullness of time to triumph over him. Colossians 2:15 says, “And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” He shall bruise his head, the head of Satan which means He shall destroy all his politics and all his powers and give a total overthrow to his kingdom and interest. By the death of Christ, Satan faced a fatal blow, a wound to the head of the beast that can never be healed.
So from Genesis 3:15, we see the promise of the LAMB OF GOD!
Now, let’s look at three passages concerning this LAMB OF GOD, Mary’s Little Lamb.
1. Genesis 22:1-8 (7-8) “...Behold the fire and the wood: but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? (8) And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.”
Philippians 2:6-8 “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (7) But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: (8) And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.”
The Trinity is so hard to understand. God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all ONE. INCARNATION means to take on human form. That’s exactly what Jesus did. He was God in the flesh. John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Where is the Lamb? God will provide HIMSELF a Lamb. He is the Lamb.
2. John 1:29 In this passage we see John the Baptist introducing Jesus for the first time in His public ministry. Luke 3:21-23 says, “Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened, (22) And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. (23) And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,”
The earthly ministry of Christ began. He came with a purpose. Luke 19:10 tells us that purpose. “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Matthew 20:28 “Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.”
We could talk about the 36 recorded miracles; the 38 recorded parables; the 19 prayers He prayed; the 45 predictions He made; the 16 sermons He preached; the 37 names and titles given to Him as our Savior, but the greatest thing we could preach about is, “...Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.”
1 John 3:5 “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.”
(1) He was God in the flesh; (2) He came to take away our sins. And thirdly...
3. Revelation 5:1-12 (12) “...Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing.”
As the centurion said in Matthew 27:54 “...Truly this was the Son of God.”
He is worthy of our worship, our praise, our adoration, our reverence, our remembering. As we approach this Christmas season, may we take time to remember what Jesus did for us. He gave His life for our sins.
Mary had a little Lamb, His name was Jesus. He came to give His life for sinners. Jesus gave His all for us. For Christmas this year, sinner, would you give Him your heart, your soul and your life. Christian, would you give Him your commitment and sacrifice your all to Him?