the Lord of heaven would redeem
us from the slave market of sin. He would pay the price to redeem
us. The redemptive price was the
blood of Christ. It goes on in that passage of
scripture as with corruptible things. Now, in a slave market,
you might buy someone with silver or gold. That was common. It was common in the days of
the Apostle Peter. It was common in the days of
Abraham. It was common in the Old Testament.
And please don't think that I agree with it. That's just the way
it was. but you could be redeemed with silver or gold. But when
it comes to the souls of the people that our names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, it took a much greater redemptive
price, and that is the blood of Christ. And in so doing, that
demanded the death of Christ. If you take the blood, you take
the life. So the Lord Jesus gave his life
a ransom for many, and that's the ransom price of redemption.
As silver and gold from your vain conversation or your vain
manner of life received by tradition from your fathers. That was the
problem that I had. I grew up in the tradition of
my fathers, and I'm thankful that the Holy Spirit, through
the preaching of the gospel, counteracted the relationship
that I had with the tradition of the fathers, or I'd be left
in religion and without hope, without God, and without Christ
in the world. There would be nothing that I
would have. Barely, excuse me, But this is the redemption, but
with the precious blood of Christ. Now notice this last phrase of
this verse, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. That's our title tonight, without
blemish and without spot. Who verily was foreordained. Predestination gets involved
right away, doesn't it? Foreignation gets involved right
away. I'm so thankful for predestination
even in this present world. Nancy and I got on an airplane
in Portland, Oregon that was predestined to arrive in Charlotte,
North Carolina, and we're glad it went on its course. It was
predestined, not only by those airplane pilots and that airline,
but by Almighty God. So he was in charge of it. They
just carried it out. They were the hewers of wood
and drawers of water for God's people. That's the way they are.
But he was for, verily was foreordained before the foundation of the
world. He was purposed to give his blood
before the foundation of the world, the covenant of grace
so readily describes that. And we live because of that today,
because of that everlasting covenant purchased with blood. And then
it goes on to tell us here, but was manifest in these last times
for you, the prophets, As we heard read tonight by Brother
Tim, Moses and the prophets wrote of him, but in these last days,
Moses wrote of him, the prophets wrote of him. There was prophecy
about him all through the Old Testament. The Old Testament
is about the Lord Jesus Christ coming. A brother shared with
me a thumbnail sketch, and I might have shared this last week, or
last time, last year, last week, last time I was here, but you
probably heard it before because it was from Brother Henry. The
Old Testament, someone's coming. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John,
someone's here. And the rest of the New Testament
is someone's coming back. That's the thumbnail. All right,
look here. Verse 20, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Who by him do believe in God,
that raised him up from the dead and gave him glory, that your
faith and hope might be in God. Hallelujah. Our faith and hope
is not in ourself, it's not in our works, it's not in all the
things that we had by nature and by practice that we're performing,
but our hope is in God. Now, this passage of scripture
explains or shares with us one of the high qualities about the
Lord Jesus Christ, and that is where he was without spot or
blemish. From eternity to eternity, he
was without spot or blemish. He walked upon this earth and
he was without spot or blemish. He is without spot or blemish. Now, read with me in the book
of Hebrews, back up to the book of Hebrews 9, verse 14. Hebrews
9, verse 14, how much more shall the blood of Christ, Hebrews
9, verse 14, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your
conscience from dead works to serve the living God? This is
what is required, what is necessary, and what God uses to purge us
of our sins. and to cleanse us from that that
we inherited from Adam. Many times in the book of Leviticus
and Numbers is these terms used to describe the pictures, the
types, and the shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrificial
lamb, the sacrificial sheep, the goat, the bullock, the heifer,
these sacrifices were ordained of God and were typical of the
Savior. We know him as Jesus of Nazareth,
King of the Jews. the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
book of Exodus, would you turn there with me? Exodus chapter
12, you know what's in Exodus chapter 12, the wonderful description
of the Passover lamb. In Exodus chapter 12, we have
the children of Israel are about to leave the land. Now, it's
not quite time because the 400 years are not up. the very self
same day that they had spent 400 years in servitude, they
leave. 430 years from the time that
Joseph was down there, they get out of the promised land exactly
on time because that's the time that God told Abraham they would
spend there, the self same day. So we have a little bit of wait
time, it's almost there, and God prescribes that they set
aside a lamb. In the book of Exodus chapter
12 beginning with verse 1, We read these words Exodus chapter
12 the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt
saying This month shall be unto you the beginning of months.
It shall be the first month of the year to you Speak ye unto
all the congregation of Israel saying in the tenth day of this
month they shall take of them every man a lamb according to
the house of their fathers a lamb for a house and 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 the souls. Every
man according to his eating shall he make your count for the lamb. Your lamb, this is a requirement,
shall be without blemish a male of the first year. You shall
take it out of from the sheep or from the goats. In Leviticus
alone, there are 18 different times that Moses was led by the
Holy Spirit to share with the children of Israel that your
lamb, your sacrifices shall be without blemish and without spot. The book of Numbers, it tells
us 18 different times that your, excuse me, 20 different times,
your lamb, your sacrifices shall be without blemish and without
spot. God Almighty was sharing with
the children of Israel that it was absolutely necessary if there
was going to be a sacrifice that would be sufficient, He must
be without blemish and without spot. These are all typical signs
that were given unto them. They were pictures and types
and shadows, and yet we find that many of those folks said,
this is reality, and they begin to worship these things that
they were offering on these altars. There were a few. a remnant according
to the election of grace that did not believe that these were
reality, but they were only a picture of him who was to come, the Lord
Jesus Christ. We have out in Oregon some wonderful
restaurants and they have beautiful, in fact, the pictures on those
menus are usually better looking than the food you get. You ever
have that with you? Have that happen to you? Can
you imagine going into a restaurant and all they serve you are the
menus, and you're expected to eat those menus? Well, that's
what it was with Israel looking at these sacrifices as reality,
and it happens today. People worship the elements of
the Lord's Supper and say, I am going to get better because of
this, I'm going to get holier because of this, or I'm going
to be saved as a result of this. Religions are based upon baptismal
regeneration, and that's exactly the same thing, that they look
at a picture and turn it into reality, and God says, not so. It is the blood of my lamb, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the one who is without spot or blemish, and
it is his blood that must redeem us from our sins. So the types
go on, the shadows go on, and yet there often were people that
will fell by the wayside and said, this is reality. They all
died in unbelief. By the thousands, they all died
in unbelief. We see it going on today, depending
upon the picture and not trusting the real. Well, we know why. God shared with Israel, the reason
you didn't believe me is I didn't give you a heart to believe.
And so if he's given you a heart to believe, rejoice. If he's
given you a heart to see Christ, rejoice, because he does it for
his people. Can you think that any of that
sacrifice that Abel presented would be any less than without
spot or blemish? Because God shared with us, as
he shared with Abel, he had respect on his sacrifice. Can you think of the sacrifice
of Noah presented would be any less than a sacrifice without
spot or blemish? Can you think of a sacrifice
that Abraham presented would be any less? I am convinced beyond
a shadow of a doubt that when Abraham was prepared to offer
his son as an offering, a sacrifice at the request of Almighty God
and God stayed his hand instead of Plunging that knife of justice
into his hand, he was stayed, and at that moment he heard the
bleating of a ram caught by his horns in a thicket. Can you imagine
it being maimed or hauled or lamed? No, this lamb, this ram
that God prepared was without spot or blemish. They could inspect
it all day long and find no observable fault about it. That lamb that
was prepared for the Passover, it was set aside on the 10th
day of the month, and on the 14th day of the month, they slew
it. They inspected it to make sure that it was up to the quality
that God required. Now, they couldn't tell what
was on the inside. but they certainly could tell what was on the outside,
and it was without spot and without blemish. The 10th day of the
month. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah
chapter 53. Isaiah chapter 53 in verse nine. The wonderful gospel according
to Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 53. I was visiting
with Brother Ron, he said, this just preaches easy. Isaiah 53,
just preaches easy. Isaiah chapter 53, and there
in verse nine, and he made his grave with the wicked and with
the rich in death because he had done no violence, neither
was any deceit in his mouth. Now it's interesting that those
two words have to do with the external and the internal. The
L word, violence, wrong, cruelty, injustice, unrighteousness. It says right there, he had done
no violence. And then deceit, that's inward,
treachery. sense of deceiving, guile, subtlety. So when we deal with this Lamb,
we have assurance that not only was He without spot or blemish
from the outward appearance, but He was without spot or blemish
on the inward appearance. When God Almighty viewed him
like no one else could view him, he was without blemish and without
spot in every totality of his being. He is the glorious, almighty
Son of God. He is God the Son in perfection. and here he is among sinful men,
and it says that he is without spot or blemish, and by his precious
blood, he ransomed his people from the pit. The Book of John
Chapter 1. Would you turn there for just
a short reading? Brother Tim read that, but there's
a couple of verses I want to pick up on John Chapter 1 verse
35. John chapter 1 and verse 35, again the next day after John
stood and the two disciples, he looking upon Jesus as he walked,
he says, behold, the Lamb of God, without spot or blemish. All the prophets from Moses spoke
of the Messiah to come, and all the typical worship of the Jews
according to the Levitical law of Moses was a continued promise
of the coming of Christ, until John the Baptist came preaching
in the wilderness. When John came, he announced
in superior language, then those prophecies, behold, the Lamb
of God. This is He, that is without spot
or blemish, that all the Old Testament's prophets spoke of,
that all the Old Testament sacrifices spoke of, as everything that
had to do with any part that God gave to Israel, the kings,
the priests, the judges, all of those things, the prophets,
this is He that they all spoke of. In this language, behold,
he is here, the long-promised seed of the woman, the seed of
Abraham, and the seed of David. Behold, the Lamb of God is there. And then we read, the prophets
of the types said, Christ shall come. But John announced and
pointed to the very person saying, behold, he is right there, and
two of his disciples. That's what you and I as preachers
are to do too. There he is. We are never to
make a name for ourself. We're never to have a following
of our own. We're to point people to Christ. That's our privilege, to point
you to Christ. This one, the Lord Jesus, who
is without spot or blemish, as we read there in the book of
1 Peter 1 and verse 19, he is the lamb that is spoken of in
the book of Revelation in chapter 5. Would you turn there with
me for just a moment? Revelation chapter 5, as we think
about this lamb that is spoken of so often in the book of Revelation,
But here for a stop in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 12, the scripture
share with us these glorious words about the one who is without
spot and without blemish, the one whose blood would be our
redemptive price, the life of this one. He would give a ransom
for many. This is the one that would call
his people unto himself. This is the one that was promised
from eternity past as the old, The divines would say, old eternity
he was promised. This one that would come, this
is the one who is without spot and blemish. There is not a mark
on him. The only marks that would be
put on him are those who took the whips and beat his back,
those who plucked out his beard but did not change his nature. He forever is the glorious Holy
Son of God. Revelation chapter five and verse
12, it tells us here, him that overcometh, excuse me, I'll get
there to five. Five and verse 12. Saying with a loud voice, worthy
is the lamb that was slain. Now, this lamb that is without
spot or blemish is the one that could be slain for his people. Now, all those other sacrifices
of the Old Testament, wonderful pictures, types, shadows, but
nobody was ever saved by the blood of bulls and goats. They
could not take away sin. They are inferior even to human
beings, and human being sacrifice could not take away sin. It took
the God-man's sacrifice to take away sin, the Holy Son of God
without spot or blemish. There's not an animal that has
ever lived that doesn't have some problem with it because
they too fall under the curse. There's not a man, woman, boy,
or girl that has not without problem because we fall under
the curse. This earth has been cursed. Every
animal, every blade of grass, every human being has been cursed
by the fall. We need someone out of this realm
and his name is Jesus. We need someone out of this realm,
someone from above. Here in Revelation chapter five
and verse 12, it says, saying with a loud voice, worthy is
the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and
strength and honor and glory and blessing. Worthy is the lamb
that was slain. This lamb, Found over in the
book of Hebrews, again, if you'd turn there with me, Hebrews chapter
four, Hebrews chapter four, and there in verse 15, Hebrews chapter
four and verse 15, these wonderful words again that share with us
the blessing of a lamb without spot or without blemish, the
glorious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, he came untainted by
humanity. It was absolutely essential. It was necessary beyond all statement. He must be born of a virgin. He could not have a human daddy. If he had a human daddy, he's
as frail as you and I are. Since that which was born of
Mary was of the Holy Spirit, he was not tainted as we are. He didn't have the frailties
we have. Can you imagine raising a child without a cold? This one never had a cold. He
never had pink eye, never had a sore leg, sore hip, he had
a sore back. He gave his back to the spiders.
But he didn't have the frailties that we have. He had the perfect health. And you and I took him and cried
in the streets, crucify him. Crucify him, crucify him, crucify
him. Why? Because he's so much different
than we are. Hebrews chapter four and verse
15, For we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was in all points tempted like we are. Yet he was without
spot or blemish, yet without sin. 1 Peter 2, verse 22. First Peter chapter two and verse
22, who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. He's without spot. He's without
blemish. After the inspection by almighty
God of this one who was sent from heaven to this earth to
be the ransom for the people written down in the Lamb's book
of life, after all the inspection, we find that God permitted, no,
God allowed, no, God purposed, yes, God predestinated that this
perfect one would be taken to the cross and there our sins
would be placed upon him like a blanket and he would give his
life a ransom for his people. In the book of in the book of 1 John. 1 John chapter three and verse
five. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins. 1 John chapter three and verse
five. And you know that he was manifested
to take away our sins and in him is no sin. In the book of Malachi, God brought
up a problem that those Levite priests were doing in the days
of Malachi down there at the temple. They were bringing the
halt and the blind and the maimed and the broken and having them
offered as sacrifices. And God was so unpleased with
them because they were saying, this is their savior. You know
what they were really saying? This is what my God's like. And
that's the religion of the world. They're offering a sacrifice
that is broken, and halt, and maim, and saying, this is my
God, when God said it must be without blemish and without spot.
That's my requirement. They said, our requirement doesn't
matter what God says. And they offered all of that
and God was so upset and displeased with what they were offering.
God in heaven would never allow the picture of his son, the Lamb
of God as a sinner. He must be the impeccable one. One more time in the book of
Hebrews, Hebrews chapter two and verse 17. Wherefore, in all things it behooved
him to be made like unto his brethren. Oh, he had flesh and
bone. They couldn't tell him from another
man. He could slide out of their midst
and they didn't even recognize him. He was like unto his brethren. You know what he looked like,
you and me. Yet without sin. that he might be a merciful and
faithful high priest in things pertaining to God to make reconciliation
for the sins of his people without blemish and without spot. He
made reconciliation for the sins of his people. He paid the price
of the sins of his people. Now, what does that do for us?
Well, the blood of Jesus Christ without a blemish and without
spot saves us. But you know there's a verse
of scripture I want to close with and that's found in the
book of Ephesians chapter 5. Ephesians chapter 5. This is what he is going to accomplish
with that blood that is without blemish and without spot. You
know how he's going to present his church? You know how he's going to present
you if you know Christ? Augustus' top lady said this,
what coming and what returning sinner need despair of acceptance? No person can be worse than Saul
before his conversion, and no person can be worse than Peter
after his conversion. Saul was a scoundrel before his
conversion, The apostle Peter denied his savior three times
and even cursed about it. And guess what? The Lord Jesus
Christ threw that as far as the east is west behind him. You're
my child. Here in the book of Ephesians
chapter five and verse 27, we read these words, that he might
present it to himself, a glorious church not having spot. or wrinkle. Can you imagine that? Being in such a state that there's
not spot or wrinkle, that's what he's gonna do with the people
he redeemed with his own blood. He is the lamb without spot and
without wrinkle, without blemish. He laid down his life, a ransom
for many, and he gives that very essence to his church, and he
says, I will present each and every one of you without spot
and without wrinkle. glorious church, not having spot
or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and
without blemish. Job accomplished. Job finished. I took what was wretched and
blind and halt. We're the wretched, blind, and
halt. And he said, by my redemptive work, you'll be presented whole,
without spot, without blemish, in the glory of the Son of God. And we will for eternity say,
worthy is the Lamb that was slain.