First Peter Chapter 1. And verse
18. For as much as you know. That
you were not redeemed with corruptible things. As silver and gold. From your vain conversation received
by tradition from your fathers. But with the precious blood of
Christ. as of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, 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."
Four precious verses of scripture. from God's word and our subject
this morning, the title of our message would be the Lamb of
God, the Lamb of God. The symbol of a lamb is used
to describe Christ Jesus from eternity past through time and
into eternity future. And this may seem like a simple
thought to some of you, but to some of you who are not so familiar
with God's word, I really want you to get this this morning,
the symbol of a lamb describing Christ Jesus. Beginning in Genesis,
the first book of the Bible, all the way through to Revelation,
the last book of the Bible, Christ is the lamb of God. throughout. He is the chief subject of the
Bible. He is the purpose of creation. He's why God made this ball of
dirt in the first place. In the words of Paul, the apostle,
Christ is all. Nothing else matters apart from
him. We've come to a time in this
world, the generation in which we live, that is so, so very
far off course. When God means nothing, his word
means nothing, his people are nothing, and his church is nothing.
But oh, dear friends, Christ our Lord is what this is all
about. He is our reason for living. Apart from him, nothing matters.
And this is true for all of us, regardless of what you may or
may not accomplish in life or experience in life. To have a
personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is the most
important thing in this world. The Lamb of God, He is to be
sought after. and desired above all else. And if that's not your attitude,
if that's not your pursuit this morning, certainly you're missing
it. So I want to see 10 things concerning
the lamb in the scripture this morning. As we just kind of walk
through here, looking at these things, 10 things. And this tells
us what God thinks of his son. and presents him as the main
subject of the Bible and the main purpose for creation and
the main treasure to be sought after by all of us. Number one,
the Lamb's people, the Lamb's people. This would be the redeemed,
the blood washed, born again, the true church of Jesus Christ. Now realize that there are multitudes,
great multitudes gathered in buildings like this and some
much larger than this around the world this morning. But they've
got all kind of ideas of what church is and what the church
is. The church is not a building.
The church is not a program. The church is not an organization. The church is an organism. a
living body, the sons and daughters of God, whose life is hid with
God in Christ, the church, the church. Now the lamb's people,
the lamb's people, the redeemed, that's the lamb's people. And
most everybody thinks that this is folks who decided to become
religion, religious. This is folks that somebody talked
into going to church and making a decision. This is folks that
decided to accept Christ. But no, those who truly receive
Christ in this world are those who were already in him before
he made the world. Ephesians 1.4 is clear about
this. according as He, God the Father,
hath chosen us, we who believe, in Him, in Christ, before the
foundation of the world. Then whose choice was it? Did
God accept us because we chose Him? That's what's preached today. Or did we accept Him because
He chose us? That's what the Bible teaches.
If God responded to you, you're to be praised. I mean, if you're
so big and so wise and so spiritual and could do something to cause
the God of the universe to respond to you, you're to be praised
for that. You're somebody. But if you responded to Him,
He's to be praised. And that's certainly how it is. 1 John 4, 19, we love him because
he first loved us. We couldn't love him otherwise.
We wouldn't love him otherwise. We love him because he first
loved us. Our love for God is not the cause
of his love for us. That's backward. Our love for
God is the result of his love for us. That's the order. There was nothing in you to respond
to him by nature. You were dead in trespasses and
sins. That's what Paul said in Ephesians
2.1. And you had the quickened who were dead in trespasses and
in sin. So our connection to Christ is
not in time, but before time. As the Lamb's people, God chose
us and gave us to Christ. And that's who Christ prayed
for in John 17, when he was here, he said, I pray to the, he's
praying to the father. He said, I pray for those whom
thou has given me out of the world. He said, I pray not for
the world. Oh boy. But for them, which thou
has given me out of the world, when were they given, given by
the father to the son before the creation of the world. So
when the Lord did a work in your heart that began your knowledge
of him, but not his knowledge of you, his knowledge of you
and his choosing you. was from eternity, the Lamb's
people. And it was in God's appointed
time, God's appointed hour, God's appointed way to quicken your
heart and cause you to embrace Christ and believe the gospel. I hear these sissified religions. Boy, I'm glad I got saved when
I did. Well, the first place you never
got saved. If you're saved, God saves you.
A dead person don't get alive. They have to be quickened to
life. That's God's work. Boy, I wish I hadn't have waited
so long to get saved. If it had been your doing, you'd
have waited forever. You'd have went to hell. We're talking about
what God does. People talk about salvation like
it's their doing. No way. No, no, no. The Lamb's people. chosen in
him before the world was. Number two, the lamb of God,
the lamb predestined. That's the second thing. A lot
of people don't realize God never decided to send his son into
this world after man fell into sin. After we had need of a savior,
God decided to get on the ball and do something about it. No,
no. We're talking about our God here, knowing all things from
eternity. Verse 20 says that Christ's coming
and dying was verily foreordained. I like that. That word verily
means surely, truly Christ was surely, truly, verily foreordained
before the foundation of the world. That's what this verse
says. A lot of people don't like it. A lot of people would have
it that God wasn't able to do anything before we got here.
And we're so great, he sure won't be able to do much when we're
gone. But that's not the case, friends. He verily was foreordained
before the foundation of the world. What am I saying? God
had the remedy. before we had the problem. Aren't
you glad of that? I sure am. You see that fact
that thinking is very, it's very healthy exercise for the minds
and hearts of God's children to think about this, that God
knew all about everything going on before any of it was going
on. God's never had a crisis. He had the remedy before we had
the problem. So blessed to think of. But today,
a lot of folks think, well, you know, even so-called Bible believing,
fundamental religion teaches people not to think. Just take our word for it. There's
a dilemma. God's pretty desperate. He really
needs you. And he'd be happy if you'd cooperate.
That's pretty much the story. Well, the truth is God has no
dilemma and never has and never will. He's not desperate. He don't need you. And he's happy with his son,
well pleased with his son. So this morning, look away from
your religion. Look away from your morality.
Look away from your good works. Look away from the fact that
you think you're better than somebody else. No, look to Christ. Unless God is pleased with you
in Christ, he'll never be pleased with you at all. There's no hope
outside the lamb. Oh, no. So Christ, the Lamb of
God, came not to respond to a dilemma God
hadn't anticipated. He came to accomplish what was
foreordained from eternity. The Lamb foreordained. Again, in verse 20, who verily
was foreordained, truly, surely before the foundation of the
world. Number three, the lamb punished,
the lamb punished. When Adam fell back in the book
of Genesis chapter three, he died spiritually right then. Now he never died physically
right then, he lived 900 and something years. But he died
spiritually right then because God had said to him, in the day
that thou eatest of this forbidden fruit, thou shalt surely die. He didn't say if you eat of it,
God knew he would. He said, in the day that you
eat of it, you will surely die. And he did die spiritually right
then. What did that mean? That meant
he had no desire for God. He had no hunger for God. He never sought after God from
that time forth. That's what it means, dead spiritually. And that's what Paul said about
us. We were dead in trespasses and sins, dead spiritually. Adam, that day, lost all desire
to know God and to fellowship with God. And that's when he sensed that
he was naked. Not just physically, but spiritually. You see, he and Eve, you go back
and read their Genesis three, they made them some aprons out
of fig leaves. To cover their nakedness physically. But they could not face God even
with their fig leaf aprons. So when the Lord came walking
in the garden, they ran and hid themselves. That's what fallen man has done
ever since. That's what I did. That's what
you did. And until and unless the Lord
quickens, you does a spiritual work in your heart. That's all
you'll ever do till the day you die is run from God by nature. We don't run to him. We run from
him. Instead of killing them physically
that day, the Bible says that God showed
mercy. Genesis 321, the Lord made coats of skins and clothed
them. He didn't tell them to do it.
He did it. Fig leaves was their business.
Clothing them was his business. How did he do it? There was bloodshed. God slew a lamb and God made
them coats of skins. The lamb slain to make coats
of covering pointed to the slain lamb of God who died on the cross. It would be 4,000 years yet future
in time, but you see in God's mind time is nothing. That's
why the Bible says Christ was a lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. That ugly sight on Golgotha's
hill that day with the son of God beaten to a pump, a bloody
mess hanging on a cross. That ugly scene was as fresh
and visible and present to our God when he hung the stars before the world was created. The bleeding lamb on the cross
2000 years ago was the bleeding lamb in the mind of God before
time in the eons of eternity. And by the way, that bloody mess
on the cross is just as fresh in the mind of God right now. as it was 2000 years ago when
it actually happened. You say, explain that. I cannot
explain that, but an all wise, omniscient, immutable, unchanging
God knew it all before there was any of it. And he ordained
it. And the lamb would die to clothe
Adam and Eve. That little lamb didn't deserve
to die. It was the innocent dying for
the guilty. And so it is with the Lamb of
God introduced there early in Genesis chapter 3. Christ didn't
deserve to die, but he was punished. The innocent for the guilty. Peter said, 1 Peter 3, 18, the
just one for the unjust. That he might bring us to God.
The lamb died to clothe us spiritually. But man never killed him. The
devil never killed him. But the God man himself told
us in the book of John, he laid down his life. He punished himself. The lamb
punished. Genesis three, number four, the
lamb provided the lamb provided in Genesis 22, the Lord commanded
Abraham, the man that he'd called by his grace to follow him. He called him to offer his son,
Isaac. Upon an altar to take his son's
life, a human sacrifice. This is Genesis 22. And it points to God offering
his own son, the Lord Jesus, upon the cross. Now, if you read
earlier in Genesis, Abraham had an older son, Ishmael. But Abraham's not instructed
to offer Ishmael, but to offer Isaac. And by creation, God had an older
son, Adam. But ain't no use considering
him for no sacrifice. The Lord said to Abraham, sacrifice
this son you love. That only son, Isaac. God didn't
even acknowledge Ishmael's existence at that point. In like manner, Adam was not
considered. as a sacrifice for your sins
and mine. No, he's a sinner himself. He's
the reason we're sinners. He was like us. An appropriate
sacrifice must be better than those represented by the sacrifice. And there was none, not one of
the sons of Adam any more qualified than anyone else. Your godly
parents, grandparents were eat up with the same disease you've
got, sin, sin. But God, but God punished and
provided, provided a lamb. There in Genesis 22, on the way
up the mountain, Young Isaac asked his father, behold, the
fire and the wood. I know we're going to offer sacrifice,
but where is the lamb? We forgot to bring a lamb to
sacrifice. And Abraham said to him, my son,
God will provide himself a lamb. He never said God will provide
for himself a lamb. He said, God will provide himself
a lamb. He is the lamb. The lamb provided. Go read that in Genesis 22. It'll do you good. And then you'll read when they
came to the place. When you're reading it, look
for that word place. Verse three, Abraham went unto
the place God told him of. Verse four, he lifted up his
eyes and saw the place afar off. Verse nine, and they came to
the place. There is a place. Where is it? Where is it? Matthew
27, 33. And when they were coming to
a place called the Golgotha. Mark 15,
22, and they bring him onto the place, Golgotha. Luke 23, 33, and when they were
come to the place, John 19, 17, and he bearing his cross went
forth into a place called the place of the skull. there is
a place. The Lamb of God was provided
to suffer and to die. Number five, the Lamb protecting. The Lamb protecting. These are
pictures of the Lamb of God that we see coming through God's Word. The Lamb protecting. Years after
Abraham is gone and his son Isaac is gone, And his son Jacob is
130 years old and they moved down to Egypt. 17 years later, Jacob died. And
for 400 years, his family is in Egypt and they became slaves
and they're suffering greatly. And the Lord announced, I'm going
to judge Egypt. And on such and such a night,
I'll pass through the land and destroy the firstborn in
every house in Egypt. Not every house of the Egyptians,
but every house in Egypt that included the Israelites. But
God instructed them through Moses about a lamb of protection. Exodus 12 is so beautiful and
we'll study that further in weeks to come as we approach the Passover
season and Easter and the Lord's Supper. The Lord instructed Moses,
tell the people to take a lamb and slay it and strike the blood
upon the two side posts of the upper door post of their houses.
Blood, blood of a lamb. And when I pass through Egypt
in judgment that night, Exodus 12 verse 13 says, 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. You will be protected
when I see the blood. A lamb will have died there.
The blood is the token that judgment has already fallen there. Because a lamb has died. And
your firstborn son won't have to. The lamb protecting. When I see the blood. He didn't say when I see your
religion. When I see your good works. He didn't say, when I see that
you don't smoke, drink, cuss, or chew, and you don't run with
them that do. He never said any of that. He
said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Those heathen Egyptians might
could have tried something. Might could have saw all that
blood on the front of the houses of the Israelites and said, you
know, I believe I'll get me some red paint. and do something like
that. It seemed to be a fad. Fashion
wouldn't have worked. God didn't say, when I see the
red or when I see the paint, he said, when I see the blood,
the blood of the lamb, this pointed to the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ and our protection in him. And that's exactly what
Peter said here in our text. You're not redeemed and corrupt
with the precious blood of Christ. That's our redemption. That's
our hope. Number six, the Lamb proclaimed. We have all these Old Testament
pictures of the Lamb, but when we come to the New Testament,
John the Baptist is preaching and baptizing at the River Jordan. And this Lamb projected all through
the Old Testament He comes walking from a distance
toward the river. All eyes are on John the Baptist
as he's preaching, baptizing. But suddenly his eyes are fixed
on this one that comes walking. And he proclaims him to the people. Behold, look. The Lamb of God. All the thousands of lambs slain
in the Old Testament times, they all pointed to this one. One
man called the Lamb of God. The man Christ Jesus. Behold
the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Now, obviously he never took
away the sin of all humanity. If he had, not one could possibly
perish in their sins, but many have perished in their sins and
many more are perishing in their sins right now. The Lamb never
took their sin away. They couldn't perish if he had.
But John is saying he taketh away the sin of the world in
the sense that he's the only one that does. He's the only sin remover for
the Jew. John was talking to a bunch of
Jews. He's the only sin remover for the Gentile. He's the only lamb of God there
is for the entire world. Proclaimed, proclaimed. Number
seven, the lamb precious. And this is here in our text.
Verse 18 says that when it comes to redemption, forgiveness, and
acceptance with God, it cannot be through things the world counts
precious. Things corruptible like silver
and gold. There's not enough of it in all
the world. Not enough silver, not enough
gold, If it was all yours to find peace with God or acceptance
with God or forgiveness of your sins, it's not by silver or gold. It can't be bought. Money might
be the answer for about everything, but it's not the answer for everything. It's not that precious. And then
he mentions religion and tradition and old culture that's put for
godliness and holiness. And grandpa in his overalls and
grandma in her bonnet. We're going to have an old timey
day. You can forget that junk. You're not redeemed. And verse
18 says, from your vain conversation, meaning manner of living, received
by tradition from your fathers. We're not totally free from tradition,
foolish tradition. I wish we were. I'm going to
tell you the difference. Conviction is from heaven. Tradition is from hell. Matthew 15, 3, Christ asked the
crowd, why do you transgress the commandment of God? These
were people that claimed to keep the commandments of God. Why
do you transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? Well,
this is just the way we've always done it, and we're not going
to change it. God's word is the answer. God's
word is the authority. And Christ went on in that text,
Matthew 15, six, thus have you made the commandment of God of
none effect by your tradition. You've laid God's word aside
and listen to some stiff neck, loud mouth devil. He spoke up
and said, well, I believe this is the way we ought to do it.
I believe this would be the right thing to do. Tradition. You transgress the commandment
of God. What is the commandment of God?
It's to believe on his son and what he's done. Don't transgress
against that by placing any spiritual value on your proud boast of
staying with the old time way. Huh. I hear that every week. Well,
coming to church with a horse and wagon is the old time way,
but that's not my preference. I'd rather drive in a car in
a few minutes than it take an hour to get here. And a whole lot of folks say,
well, you know, boy, we really got it over in our church. We
don't allow this. We don't allow that. We don't put up with this.
We don't put up with that. That may look good. That may
sound good. And it does to them. But it makes them so proud of
themselves that they're so much better than other folks. But
nobody has ever been redeemed because they didn't allow this
and didn't allow that and did this or did that. No, no. If that's my stance by tradition
only for tradition sake, it's not so precious, but here's what's
precious. Here's where redemption is. Salvation
is. Verse 19, but with the precious blood of Christ,
the lamb, precious Hebrew, uh, excuse me. First
Peter two seven next chapter under you. Therefore, which believe
he is precious. No, what that word precious means.
It means priceless, priceless. There is nothing. There is none. So precious. as the lamb of God
who bled and died. The lamb precious. He is so precious till Acts 4.12
says, there is none other name under heaven given among men
whereby we must be saved. Salvation is in the lamb precious. Number eight, the lamb pure. The lamb pure. The latter half of verse 19 says
this of Christ and his blood. As of a lamb without blemish
and without spot, notice the double emphasis that word without
twice without blemish. and without spot. The distinction here, blemish
is inward. Spot is outward. Blemish is original
sin. Spot is committed sin. Blemish is impurity in character. Spot is something contracted
from the outside, like a spot of leprosy. In Christ is no blemish. Born
of a virgin. God is his father. No sin, no
blemish in him. And then while he walked this
earth, no spot, he did no sin. He's pure. Both in character
and in conduct within and without in time and eternity. He's the
pure lamb. Number nine, the lamb preached
to just got to, to go wake up. Number nine, the lamb preached. I'm telling you folks, this is
what this whole book's about. The lamb of God, the lamb preached
in the old Testament prophecy of Isaiah. Chapter 53. All God's people ought to be
familiar with this chapter. And in that chapter, the crucifixion
of Christ is described very vividly being more than 700 years before
Christ came. The prophet Isaiah inspired of
the Holy spirit. He makes such statements as.
He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter. Here's the lamb of God talked
about in the Old Testament, 700 years before he came to die.
And Isaiah said, he's brought as a lamb to the slaughter. He
was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. Oh, the suffering of our Redeemer. When we come to the New Testament,
Acts chapter 8, there's a certain Ethiopian eunuch that is on his
way home from Jerusalem and he's arrested by the Spirit of God
and he's seeking God. But God is not to be found. Except
in the Lamb Christ Jesus The Ethiopian is riding along
in his chariot reading This is in Acts chapter 8 now, and he's
what's he reading? He's reading Isaiah 53 of all
places and The Lord sent Philip down
there in the middle of the desert of Gaza to meet him And Philip asked him do you know
what you're reading? And the fellow said, how can I? Except
some man got me. I need someone to tell me what
this means. This suffering one I'm reading
about here in Isaiah 53. Is it the prophet talking about
himself? Or is he talking about some other man? And the Bible
says then that Philip opened his mouth and began at the same
scripture. preached unto him Jesus. This,
my dear friend, you Ethiopian friend, is talking about the
Lamb of God, Calvary, the crucifixion. The Lamb preached. That's our
message. Paul said we preach Christ and him crucified. Not my business to tell you how
to dress and where to go and not to go. God's children have
a witness within, have the Holy Spirit live within to tell you
how you ought to act and how you ought to speak and how you
ought to look and where you ought to go and not go. That's not
my job. If you're God's child, the Holy
Spirit lives in you. And if you're not God's child,
who cares? You're going to hell anyhow. But it's my job to preach the
Lamb of God. Preached. We preach Christ, Paul
said, and Him crucified. People have actually left this
church and have told me so because I don't waste precious time telling
jokes in the pulpit and get everybody laughing. And I don't waste precious
time Telling sad stories about some little cripple boy whose
puppy got run over. You can get that feeling sitting
on a barstool. Listen to that sad barroom music. Why are we here? We're here to,
by faith, behold the Lamb. Preach the Lamb. Worship the
Lamb. The Lamb preached. Number 10,
and I'm through, the Lamb praised. The Lamb praised. In the last
book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 5 and verse 6, and I beheld and
lo in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, And in
the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. Verse 8, and when he had taken
the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down
before the lamb. They're not worshiping angels.
They're not worshiping grandmas and grandpas. They fell down
before the lamb. Verse 12, 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. Every creature which is in heaven
and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the
sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor
and glory and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne
and unto the Lamb forever and ever. The Lamb is praised. So I've showed it to you from
Genesis to Revelation. The message is the Lamb of God. Throughout the Bible, Christ
Jesus, the Lamb of God is the message. The Lamb who died shed
his blood, laid down his life, was raised
again ascended, exalted, given a name which is above every name.
And we just read in Revelation five here that he's right now
in the midst of the throne. He's worshiped and he's praised. By all the redeemed, the lamb
of God. You say, but how can I know he's
my lamb? How can I know he's my savior? How can I know He's taken my
sins away? If you really want Him to, He
has. If there's really that desire
in your heart, He's the one that's brought you to that desire of
wanting Him to be your Savior. If He hadn't brought you to it,
If he wasn't your lamb, you wouldn't really care. You wouldn't have the desire
you have. Christ called it thirst, spiritual thirst. If any man
thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Let him come unto
me. You don't have to come down to
the front of the church. You don't have to come to the preacher.
But in the secret place of your heart, you do have to come to
him. Come to Christ. Come to the Lamb. The Bible is all about what God
thinks of the Lamb. And if you're ever going to have
peace with God, if you're going to escape the damnation of the
lake of fire for what you are by nature, you must come to the
Lamb. He's that rock of ages cleft
for me. Let me hide myself in thee. The Lamb of God. The Lamb of
God. Stand together.