Covered Dish Luncheon. My dear,
sweet wife. Put this on the pulpit so I could
remember to announce it. Covered Dish Luncheon, Sunday,
April 16th. That's two weeks from today.
Don't forget. Thank you, honey. Thank you. Psalm 64 verse 1 says, Hear my
voice, O God, in my prayer. Preserve my life from the fear
of the enemy. The last enemy is death. There's
no fear of that if it's been swallowed up in victory. Lord,
deliver our hearts from fear. Where the Spirit of God is, there's
liberty. Our hope is this morning that
he will be here and give us liberty in our hearts. Brother Tom, we're
going to sing the hymn on the back of our bulletins. Let's
stand together. Unto the Lord my God I trace,
that I am saved by sovereign grace. Tis with a sense of sin
I see, not else but grace could set me free. T'was grace which
e'er the world was made, Ordained my debt of sin be paid. What lovingkindness then was
shown, God chose me out to be His own. behold amazing wondrous
grace christ jesus came and took my place with him the father
was well pleased his bloody death god's wrath appeased grace reigns
through righteousness alone, for Jesus suffered grief unknown. The law was fully satisfied when
for our sins he bled and died. Ascended high upon His throne,
Christ reigns in glory all His own. By His resistless, quickening
grace, by faith I now the Son embrace. So this my song of songs
shall be. I'm saved by grace so rich and
free. Soon I shall see my Savior's
face and praise Him for His sovereign grace. Please be seated. Will you turn with me in your
Bibles please to Psalm 51 for our call to worship. Psalm 51. So good to have Joy here with
us. She was here Wednesday night
and today. This is a faithful saying, this
is God's saying, this is God's word. Christ Jesus came into
the world to save sinners. Paul concluded that statement
by saying, of whom I am chief. If you're the chief of sinners,
that's who Christ came to save. And this I know will be your
heart's cry to the Lord. Psalm 51, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to thy loving kindness. Now the word loving
kindness is the Old Testament word for grace. So according
to your grace, not according to anything I've done. According
unto the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions,
wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgression,
and my sin is ever before me. Against thee and thee only have
I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight, that thou mightest
be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
David was trying to hide his sin until Nathan came as a spokesman
of God and confronted Him and said, Thou art the man. And now
David is owning full responsibility for everything he did. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity
and in sin did my mother conceive me. I've been a sinner ever since
my conception. Before I was born, I was a sinner. Say, well, how can that be? You
won't understand the truth of that until God makes you to be
a sinner. And you'll know you inherited that same nature from
your father Adam, and it was with you before you were ever
born. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts, and in the hidden parts thou shalt make
me to know wisdom. What is the truth? The truth
is that sinners take sides with God against themselves. as the Lord done that work of
grace in your heart. Lord, you've done, you've done
what's right. Purge me with hyssop and I shall
be clean. Wash me and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness
that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy
face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in
me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
Cast me not away from thy presence. Take not thy Holy Spirit from
me. Lord, don't leave me to myself. Restore unto me the joy of thy
salvation and uphold me with thy free spirit. Freedom. It's the absence of fear. The
absence of fear is freedom. The only thing that's going to
do that is if the Lord answers this prayer, takes away the fear
of death, the fear of the law, fear of our sin. Lord, make me
free. Then, Lord, if you'll do that
in my heart, Then I will teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners
shall be converted unto thee. Deliver me from blood guiltiness,
O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness. Of thy righteousness, I will
speak of thy righteousness, even of thine only. There is no other
righteousness, is there? Let's pray together. Our Heavenly
Father, again we thank you for bringing us to this place. We
thank you for the promise. Where two or three are gathered
together in thy name, there you are in the midst of them. Lord,
we are so very hopeful that you would be pleased this morning
to speak to our hearts. We're so very hopeful that you
would cause us to come in faith to Christ, to rest in Him, to
find our freedom from the law and our freedom from death in
Christ. Lord, we pray for your Holy Spirit. Bless the gospel to our hearts.
Cause us to worship you in the power of your spirit and according
to the truth of your word. We ask it in Christ's name. Amen. Let's all stand together once
again. We'll sing hymn number 168 from your hardback hymnal. 168. Oh. ? Lord, I hear of showers of blessing
? Thou art scattering full and free ? Showers the thirsty land
refreshing ? Let some drops now fall on me ? Even me, even me
? Let Thy blessing fall on me ? Pass me not, O tender Savior
? Let me love and cling to Thee ? I am longing for Thy favor
? Whilst Thou art calling, O call me ? Even me, even me ? Let Thy
blessing fall on me. Pass me not, O mighty Spirit,
thou canst make the blind to see. Witnesser of Jesus' merit,
speak the word of power to me. Even me, even me, let thy blessing
fall on me. Love of God so pure and changeless,
blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and boundless,
magnify them all in me. Even me, even me, let Thy blessing
fall on me. Pass me not thy lost one bringing,
bind my heart, O Lord, to thee. While the streams of life are
springing, blessing others, O bless me. Please be seated. One way you know that you're
the chief of all sinners is that you're most surprised
in your salvation. Sometimes we're amazed when the
Lord's pleased to save someone. They seem so far and disinterested,
and we rejoice, but we're caught off guard, aren't we? We're most
amazed that the Lord would save us. Even me. Even me. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Exodus chapter 12? We're going to observe the Lord's
table this morning at the conclusion of the service. And I want to bring a message from Exodus chapter 12, and I've
titled it from a phrase in the middle of verse 3, Every man
a lamb. Now, each of us have lots of
different circumstances and needs in our lives this morning. But I know the greatest need
you have, and that's for a lamb. You need a lamb. You need a blood sacrifice. You
need one who is able to stand in your stead before a holy God
and satisfy His righteous judgments, and put away your sin. And that's
what the Passover is all about. The Lord said, when I see the
blood, I will pass by you. And we know that Christ is all,
and He is in all. In Him is light, I'm sorry, in
Him is life, and the life is the light of man. David put it
like this in Psalm 115, he said, Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto Thy name be glory, for Thy truth and for Thy righteousness'
sake. Lord, I pray that that you would
set our affections on things above where Christ is seated
at the right hand of God and cause us to see that really He
is all in all. He's the cause of life. He sustains
life. He will bring all life to end
in His time. Now the Scriptures give us lots
of pictures of Christ. Lots of similitudes, lots of
types. He's beyond finding out. He's holy. He's beyond our comprehension. And so in order for Him to reveal
the mystery of who He is to us, He uses language of things that
we're familiar with. And so He refers to Himself as
a rock. He refers to Himself as the Son.
He refers to Himself as water. He refers to Himself as bread.
He refers to Himself as a friend. He refers to Himself as Father.
In all of these glorious pictures that we're familiar with, we
can understand some aspect of His character through these types
that He gives us of Himself. One of the glorious types that
that the Lord uses to picture Himself throughout all the Word
of God is that of a lamb. And what a glorious picture it
is. This innocent, affectionate, you have need to be loved? Oh,
there's nobody that can love you like He loves you. He's an
affectionate lamb. He's an innocent lamb. He's not
a predator. He said, I did not come into
the world to condemn the world, I came into the world to save
the world. He's the lamb that laid down his life for the sheep. The lamb without spot and without
blemish. What other animal in the scriptures, or in nature
for that matter, provides food and clothing better than a lamb. With all of our modern technology,
some of the best fabric that you can still put on your body
is that of wool, isn't it? We haven't improved on it. And
so this lamb supplied sustenance and it supplied protection. And the Lord gives us this picture
of himself in order to say that there is a day, there is a day
when the death angel is going to come. And those who don't have a lamb,
will fall victim to his judgment. But those with a lamb can say,
oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, grave, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. Thanks be to God through Christ
Jesus, we're free. We're free from sin. We're free
from the law. Why? Because we've got a Lamb. And so my question to you this
morning is, do you, not your neighbor, not your friend, do
you have a Lamb? God says, every man a Lamb. You have your Bibles open to
Exodus chapter 12. Verse 1, And the Lord spake unto
Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, This month the
plagues have already come, this is the tenth, the death angels
coming, God's breaking pharaoh bringing his people out of Egypt. This month shall be unto you
the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. This is the beginning of your
salvation. Speaking unto all the congregation
of Israel, I hope we're doing that right now, speaking to all
the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month,
they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the
house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. And if the household
be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto
his house take it according to the number of souls. Every man,
according to his eating, shall make your count for the lamb. Your lamb shall be without blemish. a male of the first year, you
shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and you shall
keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the
whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the
evening." Now they're to take this innocent lamb and bring it into their house.
I understand, I've not been around lambs much, but I understand
that they're very affectionate. And here, this little lamb is
brought in and now he's for three full days there to care for this
lamb and watch this lamb and make sure there's no sickness,
make sure there's no problems with the lamb. And at the end
of the 14th day, take the lamb, and slay it, and shed its blood.
Verse 7, And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on
the two sides of the post of the upper door post of the houses,
where they shall eat it. So the blood was to be put on
the door post, each side of the door, and of the lentil of the
door. You see the picture, don't you?
Picture of the cross. Here's the one that this lamb
was to portray. And they shall eat the flesh
in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread, and with
bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw. Now I've met a lot of folks in
my life that want to eat the Lamb of God raw. They want to have a part in the
meek and mild Jesus. They want to have a part in the
babe from Bethlehem. They want to have a part in the
prophet who came from God. They want to have a part in the
example that he is to mankind, but they want no part of the
fiery wrath of God that fell from heaven upon their substitute
on Calvary's cross. The Lord says, don't try to partake
of Christ apart from the cross. He came into this world to die.
He set his face, the scripture says, like Flint towards Jerusalem. His whole purpose for life was
to go to the cross. The cross was his, well, that
was his salvation. Without the cross, There's no
justice without the cross, there's no forgiveness. The Lord Jesus
Christ came into the world to die. Eat not of it raw, roast
it with fire. And we just read in Hebrews that
our God is a consuming fire. And that's true in that the Lord
Jesus Christ consumed the fiery wrath of God on Calvary's cross.
He consumed it. He put it away once and for all. And so the Lord's given us this
type. He said, take this lamb, slay it, roast it with fire,
don't eat it raw, and don't sodden it with water. Don't try to water
down the gospel. Don't try to take the offense
out of the gospel. A lot of people say, well, yeah,
Christ died on the cross, and that's all part of it, but then
they'll deny election, or they'll deny particular redemption, or
they'll say something like this. I've heard people say, well,
you know, Jesus Christ died for everybody that will believe. That's true. That's true. But why would you say it like
that? Why would you say it like that? Because you wanted to sodden
the gospel. You wanted to water down the
offense of election. Jesus Christ came into this world
and laid down His life for His sheep, whom God chose in the
covenant of grace before the world began, and He successfully
accomplished their salvation. That's offensive. That's offensive. That takes away from man all
of his free will. Yeah, it does. The Lord said,
don't eat it raw and don't sodden it with water. Burn it with fire. Why? Because the full wrath of
God's justice fell from heaven on Calvary's cross. And the Lord Jesus Christ absorbed
it all. Look what he says. But roast
it with fire, his head, his legs, and the pertinence thereof, and
you shall let nothing of it remain until the morning. And that which
remaineth of it until the morning, you shall burn with fire. There's only one way. Only one
way to deal with this lamb. He's burned with fire and eaten. Unless you eat of my flesh and
drink of my blood, you have no life in you. And thus shall you eat it with
your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your staff in your
hand, and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the
land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt,
I will execute judgment. I am the Lord, and the blood
shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you are. And
when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of
Egypt. And this day shall be unto you
for memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord throughout
your generations. You shall keep it a feast by
the ordinance forever. A lamb for a man. Now this lamb,
the scriptures make clear, was promised in predestination. In Revelation chapter 13, the
scripture speaks of those whose names were not written in the
book of the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the
world. And they worshiped the beast. And so, this lamb was
slain by God in the covenant of grace before time ever began. Predestinated in the covenant
of grace. What a glorious God we serve. We have a God who purposed our
salvation before we needed it. Ephesians chapter and that's
in Revelation chapter 13 verse 8 and verse 9 says, If any man
have an ear, let him hear. The only way you're going to
hear about this lamb that was slain before the foundation of
the world in a covenant that God made with God. This isn't
a covenant. A religion is all based on man
making promises to God. That's what religion is. I'll
make this commitment to God, and in response, He'll be gracious
to me. The hope of our salvation is
all based on a commitment that God made to God. The Lord Jesus
Christ entered into this covenant with His Father and became the
slain Lamb before time ever began. And God Almighty looked at us
in Christ before the foundation of the world. So what the scripture
says, listen to Ephesians chapter 1 verse 4, according as He, God
the Father, has chosen us in Him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blame without
blame before Him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption
of children by Jesus Christ unto Himself according..." You say,
well how, why would this be? The scripture tells us, "...according
to the good pleasure of His will." according to the good pleasure
of His will. Our God is absolutely sovereign.
He hath done whatsoever He wills with the armies of heaven and
the inhabitants of the earth. No man can stay His hand, and
no man can say unto Him, What doest Thou? He does all things
for His glory, and He glorified Himself by creating man and ordaining
that man should fall in order that the Lord Jesus Christ would
be exalted as the Lamb slain before the fall ever happened,
before Adam was ever created, before you and I were ever born,
before we ever heard the message of the Gospel. Christ was slain. You know what? That's all God's
people need to know about the events of life is that God is
sovereign over them. Let the world I heard someone
this morning, you know, this autumn, the senior adults that
were killed in that van out west somewhere, how many were there?
Thirteen of them in a car accident. And the religious editor for
the news was trying to explain it, why the bad things happen
to good people. And her ultimate explanation
was that God had to give man a free will. that God's hands are tied in
order for God, here's what she said, in order for God to be
good and in order for God to be all-powerful, God had to give
man a free will. And so man bears all the responsibility,
we bear all the responsibility, there's no question about that. But our God is all-powerful,
and He's all good, and He does whatsoever is right in His own
sight. And God's people just bow to
that. We don't try to trump God's sovereignty with man's free will. We have a Lamb that was predestined
in the covenant of grace before time ever began. We have a lamb
that was promised to Abraham and to his children. You remember
in Exodus chapter 22 when the Lord told Abraham, Abraham, I
want you to take your son, your only son, and I want you to sacrifice
him. And Abraham took two of the servants
and took Isaac with him and went to Moriah. And told the servants
to stay and he told them, he said, Isaac and I are going up
to worship God and we shall return. Abraham had every intention of
doing exactly what God told him to do. But he must have believed
that the Lord was going to raise him from the dead. Because he
said, we're going to return. And so Abraham took Isaac, and
on their way up the mountain, Isaac said, Father, here's the
wood, and here's the fire, but where is the lamb for the burnt
offering? And Abraham said to Isaac, Son,
God will provide himself a lamb. God's going to do the providing.
God's going to provide Himself as the Lamb, and God's going
to provide the Lamb to Himself. The Lamb's not provided to you.
The Lord Jesus Christ wasn't making an offering to you and
me on Calvary's cross. He was doing business with God. He was offering Himself to the
Father. It's the father that was pleased with that offering
and accepted it on behalf of all of God's people. God will
provide himself a lamb. And so Abraham took Isaac, and
you remember that story, Isaac doesn't resist. So why does Abraham
bind Isaac when he puts him, he says he set the wood in order,
he took Isaac, he bound him, and he put him on the wood. If
Isaac wasn't resisting, Why was he bound? Because Isaac was a
picture of Christ, God's Son, God's only Son, who was bound
on Calvary's cross. And as Abraham lifted his knife
to obey God, the angel of the Lord spoke and stopped him. And
Abraham looked and what did he see? He saw a ram in a thicket.
And he took that ram, was caught by his horns, the scripture says,
in a briar patch. There's a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, all of his strength being caught up in our sin, and
Abraham took that ram and sacrificed him instead of his son. And then the Lord says, that
promise has been to all of the seeds of Abraham. Not everybody
is a child of Abraham. Remember, the Jews thought being
a child of Abraham was a physical thing. They said, we'd be children
of Abraham. We've never been under anybody's
slavery. And what did the Lord say? God
can raise up children of Abraham from those stones right there.
And that's exactly what he did. If God saved you, he raised you
up from a stone. Turn to me to Romans chapter
four, Romans chapter four. We have a lamb provided in predestination,
a lamb that was slain before the foundation of the world.
We have a lamb that's promised to the children of Abraham. But
chapter four of Romans chapter four, what shall I say then that
Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For
if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof the glory,
but not before God. Now religious men glory in their
good works because they value the praise of men more than the
praise of God. But you're not going to glory
in your works before God. God's not impressed. He's not
impressed. God requires a lamb. A lamb without
spot, a lamb without blemish, a perfect sacrifice and no amount
of offering, no amount of sacrifice on our part will satisfy God. And so he says, Abraham, it wasn't
his works that saved him. Look at verse three, for what
sayeth the scriptures? And there's the only question
we ever have to ask. What sayeth the scriptures? What
does God say about it? Not what do I think, not what
do you think, not what does religion say, not what do the creeds and
confessions say. What sayeth the scriptures? Here's
what sayeth the scriptures. Abraham believed God and it was
counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the
reward not reckoned of grace but of debt. If you work, you
get paid for your work. That's not grace. Somebody owed
you that. But to him that worketh not,
we don't work for our salvation. Work's already been done. Work's
finished. Did you not know that I must
be about my father's business? I came to do the work of the
Father. But to him that worketh not,
but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly." There's you and
me. We're ungodly. Man at his very best state is
altogether vanity. The best thing that you and I
can produce is ungodliness. But he that justifieth the ungodly,
his faith is counted for righteousness. The object of his faith, the
one he's looking to for the hope of his salvation, is all his
righteousness before God. And oh, what glorious righteousness
he is. So this lamb that Abraham told
his son, God will provide himself a lamb. That's to Abraham and
all of his children. What a glorious... Do you believe? Are you like Abraham believed
God and it was counted to him for righteousness? It's the only
question you and I have to ask ourselves is do I believe God?
You know what the believer says? I can't not believe God. I try
every day. I try every day not to believe
God. I can't do it. He has made me
to be a believer. And there's our hope. Faith,
it's the substance of things hoped for. It's the evidence
of things not seen. You can't look at your works
or your life to get evidence for your salvation. You look
to Christ and you know that I just, I can't do anything but believe
Him. The Lord asked the disciples one time, he said, aren't you
going to leave me? They all left, aren't you going
to follow them? What did Peter say? Lord, we've got no place
to go. You've shut us up to yourself.
We know and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the
living God. That's just faith. I've been, I didn't make a decision.
God shut me up to the gospel. He shut me up to Christ. He shut
me up to the Lamb. I've got to have a Lamb. I can't
represent myself before God. Each man a Lamb. A Lamb that was promised in predestination. A Lamb that was promised to Abraham
and to his children. And a Lamb that was prophesied
all throughout scripture. You remember in Isaiah chapter
53, the Ethiopian eunuch was reading from that passage. In
Acts chapter 8, when Philip came alongside of him, understandeth
what thou readest and what the Ethiopians say, how can I unless
except a man should guide me? And where was he reading from?
He was reading from Isaiah chapter 53, verse 7, all we like sheep
have gone astray. We've each gone unto our own
way. We've all chosen our own way. There is a way that seems right
unto man. The way that seems right unto man is that I would
earn favor with God by something I do, or by something I believe,
or by a decision I make. That's the way that seems right
unto man. But in the end, that way leads to death. And the scripture
says, all we like sheep have gone astray. We've each gone
unto our own way, but God. Aren't you thankful for the but-gods?
But God hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was
afflicted, and he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a
lamb to the slaughter. And as a sheep before her shearers,
he is dumb. He opened not his mouth. Why
did the Lord Jesus Christ not open his mouth on Calvary's cross? A few reasons, not the least
of which, his obedience to the Father. Just like Isaac allowed
Abraham to bind him and put him on that altar and never objected,
the Lord Jesus Christ came in order to offer to his father
the sacrifice of his blood for the saving of his bride, and
he wasn't going to object. In the garden, the agony of it
was so great. Father, if there be any way this
cup can pass from me, let it be. Nevertheless, not my will,
but thy will be done. But he knew. It was God's will. He was going to have to drink
the bitter dregs of the cup of God's wrath. He was going to
have to feel the full fury of God's justice for the sins of
his people to put them away. And he went to the cross willingly,
laying down his life for his sheep. No man took it from me.
The second reason why he didn't open his mouth, he went as a
lamb before his shearers. He was dumb. He opened not his
mouth. is because he was bearing our sins in his body upon that
tree and as the sin bearer was standing before the law, the
bar of God's justice, he had no defense. He was guilty. Guilty before God with the sins
of his people. God wouldn't have poured out
his wrath on Christ had he not seen sin on him. He had no defense to make. He
was bearing willingly. God made him sin who knew no
sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
And thirdly, he did it out of love for his bride. Love for
his bride. He went to the cross for his
church. Husbands, love your wives as
Christ loved the church and gave his life for it. He laid down
his life for his bride and he willingly did it. We have a lamb prophesied. Surely, surely that was a lamb
that God slew in the garden right after the fall in order to clothe
the nakedness of our parents. And all those sacrificial lambs
from the Passover in Exodus chapter 12 until the coming of Christ
1500 years later. All those millions of lambs that
were slain, prophesying to the lamb that
would come. Abel, right at the beginning,
Cain offered the works of his hands. The fruit of his labor. What did Abel bring? The firstlings
of his flock, an innocent lamb, and shed blood. Why? Because
his father, Adam, had instructed him. As a result of Adam's sin
in the garden. This is what God requires for
the putting away of our sin. He requires the shedding of blood.
For without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sin.
And so we have a lamb. all throughout scripture, a lamb
prophesied. And then in 1 Peter 1, verse
18, we have a lamb precious. A precious lamb, and that word
precious doesn't mean cute, it means priceless. Listen to what
God says in 1 Peter 1.18, for as much as you know that you
were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold from
your vain conversation, that's your lifestyle, your empty life. That's what God called it. God
calls our lives an empty life. You weren't redeemed from your
empty life by your silver and gold. But you were redeemed from
your empty life by the precious blood of the Son of God, the
Lord Jesus Christ, who as a lamb without spot and without blemish
is your life. If you don't have a lamb, you
don't have life. Your life's empty. It's vain. It's purposeless. You've got
no life without Christ. In Him was life. And the life
was the light of men. Now, we've been delivered from
an empty life to true life. True life. Oh, what glorious
life. Eternal life. This is the covenant that I've
made with you. He who has the Son has life. He that has not the Son of God
has not life. These things I've written unto
you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you might
have life. There is no life outside of Christ.
The majority of people in this world are To use a modern vernacular,
walking dead. They're just walking dead. Spiritually, they're just zombies.
They have no life. As you've heard me say before,
the problem with zombies is they're dead and they don't know it.
And that's the problem with men today. They're dead and they
don't know it. When God's given you life in
Christ, you know there was a time you didn't have the Lamb. Your
life was nothing but vain conversation. An empty, purposeless life. Now you have real life through
the precious, priceless blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God
requires perfection. And that perfection is seen in
the Lamb who is without blemish and without spot. Fifthly, we have a Lamb proclaimed. You remember in John chapter
1, when the Lord Jesus Christ came to the Jordan River where
John the Baptist was baptizing and the Lord had already spoken
to John and said, when you see the Spirit of God descending
on the Son of God, you'll know that He's the Lamb. And sure
enough, John saw it. How did John see it? Nobody else
saw it. God revealed it to him. Same reason you're going to have
to have it revealed to you. Same reason I have to have it
revealed. It's a mystery. But John saw it. And what did John
say? Behold, the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. And you know what the next verse
says? John's disciples left him and started following Jesus.
And someone asked John about that and John said, oh no, I
must decrease. He must increase. He's the only
one that can take away the sins of the world. And so what have
we been doing for the last 2,000 years? The same thing John did
at the River Jordan. Behold, look, look, look at the
Lamb of God. He's the only one that can take
away your sins. And so we're proclaiming the
Lamb. We have a Lamb that's powerful.
In Revelation chapter 5, John's caught up into heaven and he's
given a vision of a book. that's in the hand of God. And
the book is sealed with seven seals from within and from without.
And John looks around and he finds no one in heaven. There's
not an angel. There's no one that's able to
take the book out of the hand of God and unloose the seals
and reveal the mystery of the book. It's the Lamb's book. It's the
only hope that we're gonna be saved is the book be opened.
And so John begins to weep because he finds no one able to open
the book. And finally the angel says, John,
weep not. For the lion of the tribe of
Judah hath prevailed. He is able to open the book. And John looked and he saw the
Lamb of God sitting upon the throne of God. And he opened
the book and unloosed the mysteries of it. And at the end of that chapter,
the Lamb is seen being forever praised as the 24 elders and
all the thousands upon thousands in heaven are singing, worthy
is the Lamb to receive glory and honor and power. He's worthy. Now God has revealed Christ to
us in the type of Lamb. And he says, if you don't have
a Lamb, you don't have a Lamb. The death angel is coming. No
question about it. But when I see the blood of the
Lamb, Those children of Israel, they
got in the house, behind the blood, and they didn't stick
a finger out of the window, did they? Why? Because they knew
God meant business. They knew that they needed a
lamb, and that lamb, being roasted by fire, was the only hope that
they had. Nothing's changed. Exactly the
same, right now. Right now. 2017, as it was 1500
BC, it's exactly the same. Nothing, God hadn't changed. The message hasn't changed. Do you have a lamb? You have a lamb. If you do, celebrate that lamb
at the Lord's table. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we're so very thankful for the revelation that you've given
us of Christ in your Word, and we pray now that you would give
to us the faith to receive this bread and this wine as a type,
a picture, of that glorious person, thy dear Son, the Lamb of God,
which taketh away the sins of the world. For it's in his name
we ask it. I'm going to ask the men if they'll
come please and distribute the bread and wine. Tom's going to
come and lead us in number 17 in the Spiral Hymnal. ? See the table spread before you
? See the feast of bread and wine ? These are symbols of our
Savior ? Tokens of his love divine ? Bread that's broken is his
body ? Crushed beneath the wrath of God Wine poured out is a reminder
of our Savior's precious blood. Children of our God, remember
how he bought your soul and mine. In remembrance of our Savior,
eat the bread and drink the wine. Jesus came, the God incarnate,
to fulfill God's holy law. On the cross He made atonement
and redeemed us from the fall. Let us never forget the promise
Jesus made to come again. Soon He comes, our King, to call
us home to glory, praise his name. With this hope and expectation,
we rejoice to keep this feast, celebrating our redemption till
we lean on Jesus' breast. The Lord speaking to his people
at one point said that he feared lest, as the serpent beguiled
Eve, that their hearts should be taken away from the simplicity
that is in Christ. The glory of the Gospel is seen
in its simplicity. It's Christ. It's His life for
all our righteousness, and His death for all our justification
before God. It's that simple. And the Lord
gave us this table. He said, celebrate this perpetually. So we're following the very command
that God gave to the children of Israel, 1500 BC, and the ordinance
that the Lord gave us in the Last Supper. Remembering Him. As often as you do this, you
do it in memory of me. This is my body, which has been
given for you. The Lord told Adam, in the day
in which you sin, you shall surely die. God will not settle for
any sacrifice that you and I have to make to make up for our sins. He's satisfied with Christ. When
I see the blood, I'll pass by you. And all God's people said, amen,
amen. Let's stand together. Brother
Hugo, would you please dismiss us in prayer? Father God, we
come before you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving
thanks for this blessing that you have poured upon us, listening
to your word, listening to Christ being a priest. We thank you
for Christ. It's our righteousness, it's
our justification, Father, and we pray that throughout the week.