I'm thankful to be here with
you, and I love this church, love, esteem, and respect your
pastor, a dear friend, and I'm so thankful for him. And you
know what you were saying about the past and the future, two
places sinners try to hide, the past, looking at something they've
done, or the future looking at something they will do. Those
are no good. Would you turn with me to Genesis
chapter 3? I'd like to read the 21st verse
of Genesis chapter 3. Unto Adam also and to his wife
did the Lord God make coats of skins and clothed them. I'm going to give the title of
this message at the conclusion. And the Lord unto Adam also and
to his wife did the Lord God make. That's the same word used
in creation. The Lord made the heavens and
the earth. The Lord God made these coats of skins. Notice he didn't give Adam and
Eve the skins and say, sew them together yourself. He made the
coats of skins. He didn't hand them to him to
put them on. He clothed them. All they did was sit there while
he did everything. Now, this necessitated the first
blood shedding. Many would say the first blood
shedding was Abel, but no, it was not. It was the slaying of
this beast. Now look in verse seven of this
same chapter. This is after they ate the fruit. And the eyes of them both were
opened and they knew that they were naked. Now they were naked
before this took place, but it wasn't an issue. You know why? They didn't have sinful natures.
They had innocent natures. They wouldn't have known what
it's like to have an unclean thought. But now that they have
eaten of the fruit, they both know that they are naked. the shame involved, the sin involved. They now have become dead in
trespasses and sins. Now, if you look at this chapter,
you can see how dead they were, if you can say that. They never
asked God for forgiveness. They never confessed their sin.
They never expressed any remorse. They never expressed any sorrow
for their sin. As a matter of fact, they blame
God for their sin. Remember when Adam said, the
woman that you gave me, she gave me of the fruit and I did eat.
I'm a victim in this thing. I would not have done this had
you not given me this woman. It's your fault. The woman did
the same thing. The serpent begot me. It's not
my fault. I was deceived. They acted like
any other lost man and woman. And what's the first thing they
did? We read in verse seven, they sewed fig leaves together
and made themselves aprons. Now, I remember even when I was
a little boy, I thought, how do fig leaves, sewing fig leaves
together, how do they stay together? I mean, they're going to rip
up pretty quick, aren't they? And they were sewing together that
which had already been severed and was dying, were already dead,
and here they are making these coverings to cover their shame. Fig leaves represent salvation
by works. It's that simple. something that can cover my sin
and make me acceptable before God. That's all that represents. But the Lord in his mercy slew,
I believe it was a lamb. It doesn't tell us what kind
of beast, but I feel sure it was a lamb. And you think of
how they must have felt. I believe they were watching
this and they see the shedding of blood for the first time.
Can you imagine how poignant that was? How shocking that was. And I think of the Lord Jesus.
I have no doubt that the Lord Jesus was the one doing this.
And he knew that the shedding of this blood prefigured what
he would do some 4,000 years later, the slaying of the lamb. Now, this story actually never
had a beginning. What do you think of that? There is no starting point with
this story. Look in the last book in the
Bible, Revelation chapter 13. And you know, the whole Bible
is interpreted in light of this verse. This is how important
this verse is. Revelation chapter 13, verse
eight, And all the dwell upon the earth
shall worship him, this beast. All the dwell upon the earth
shall worship him whose names are not written in the book of
life of the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Now I can't possibly express
the importance of that statement. The lamb, not that would be slain,
the lamb having been slain. In the original, it's in the
perfect tense. Perfectly completed, never to
be repeated. And this took place before the
foundation of the world. Now, do I understand that? No.
Do I believe it? With all my heart. This is the story that never
had a beginning. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. Before there was ever a sinner,
there was a savior. Before the fall, provision for
the fall had already been made. And if words mean anything, this
tells me that my salvation was accomplished before the creation
of the world. Well, didn't he have to come
in time? Of course he did. Of course he did. But my salvation
was accomplished by him before I had any conscious existence. What is the response to that? Worship. Worship. You'll only worship an absolute
sovereign who has absolute control over you in every way and in
every respect. This bloodshedding that our Lord
does in the Garden of Eden, after the fall of our first parents
was given to give us an illustration of what had already been done. Now, this tells me that the creation
of the universe, the fall of our first parents in the garden,
and the ruin of our race was for this one event, the slaying. of the Lamb of God. That's God's reason for everything
he does. I love what Charles Spurgeon
said. He said, if we confined our preaching
to this one subject, Christ crucified, and never even spoke of anything
else, it would be a widening rather than a narrowing of our
ministry. Now, there's a scripture that
backs that up. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2, verse 2, I have determined. This was not a fleshly determination.
I've determined a lot of things and come to nothing. But Paul
is speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. And he said,
I determine not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ. and him crucified. As the Lord, in this pre-incarnate
appearance, it was he who walked in the cool of the evening. I
love the way that sounds. He wasn't walking in anger, red
heat. He walked in the cool of the
evening to come to our first parents. Where are you? They
messed up everything. And they couldn't undo it, didn't
even want to undo it. But he slew this lamb, knowing that it spoke of him. Now, some centuries later, Noah,
he gets off the ark. You know the story. He gets off
the ark. What is the first thing he does?
He slays the beasts, one of every kind that were clean. That took
a long time. I don't think he was upset about
that. He knew what he was doing. He
knew exactly what he was doing. He slays those beasts. And the scripture says it was
a sweet savor. a sweet aroma to God. Now think about that. He said,
this smelled good to God. He smelled it and it was a sweet
savor to him. Somebody says, isn't that kind
of primitive? I mean, an angry God needing blood to appease
him. That's the way people think of
that. But the scripture says it was a sweet aroma. You know
what that speaks of? That speaks of the satisfaction
the Lord Jesus Christ made. He knew exactly what this is
referring to. Oh, the infinite satisfaction
of Jesus Christ. When he died, God was completely
satisfied with what he did. I wish I could say that the way
it ought to be said. If somebody killed your child,
And they said, I'll give you $10 million to make up for it. Would you be satisfied? If they
said 100 million, would you be satisfied? No, the fact of the
matter is you could not be satisfied no matter what anybody did. But
if somebody killed your child, there would be no satisfaction.
But when the Lord Jesus Christ died, he did what no other death
could do. You see, the reason hell is eternal
is because there's never satisfaction. God has never said, that's enough,
that's enough. Murdering his son, but when the
Lord Jesus Christ died, he completely satisfied God and he satisfied
with everybody that Jesus Christ died for. It was a sweet smelling
aroma and savor to him. When Abraham is called, you can
read about this in Genesis chapter 12 and Genesis chapter 13, the
first thing that he did when he called upon the name of the
Lord is he did so with an altar. What's an altar for? For sacrifice. Now what that means is he knew
he could not come into God's presence without the blood of
Christ. And he wouldn't dare come into
God's presence apart from the blood of Christ. That's the way
a sinner always comes into God's presence. No other way. Only
pleading the Lord Jesus Christ in his precious blood. You see,
God is not known. Understand this. God, the living
God, is not known apart from the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
and it's the sacrifice of Christ that reveals all of His glorious
attributes. Turn with me for a moment to
Genesis 22. You're familiar with this story.
This is the story where Abraham is called upon to offer up his
only son as a sacrifice to God. And Abraham obeys. And you remember
the story how God provided the ram in his room instead. But
let's pick up reading in verse five of Genesis chapter 22. And Abraham said unto his young
men, abide ye here with the ass and I and the lad will go yonder
and worship and come again to you. Now he knew that he was
gonna come again with that lad of his, Isaac. He knew it, he
says it. We're both coming back. Well,
how is that gonna happen if you're gonna sacrifice him? He knew
God would raise him from the dead because God promised the
Messiah would come through him. He believed God. Now let's go
on reading. And Abraham took the wood and
the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son. You remember someone else who
walked up a mountain with a cross on his back and
the Lord laid it upon him? And he took the fire in his hand
and a knife and they went both of them together. And Isaac spake
unto Abraham his father and said, my father. Can you imagine the
pain that created for Abraham hearing that voice? My father. And he said, hear my, my son.
And he said, behold the fire and the wood And then he poses this question,
but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Shouldn't we ask that question
with regard to every sermon we hear? If the lamb's not there, the
gospel's not there. And listen to this answer. And
Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burned offering. So they went both of them together. With regard to this lamb, you
can't provide anything. You can't provide anything. I
can't provide anything that God would accept. You believe that? There's nothing that you can
do. There's nothing that you can provide that a holy God could
accept. But here is the gospel. God is
the one who does the providing. All, all He requires, He provides. You see, God had to provide for
Himself before He could do anything for me or you. He provided that
Lamb for Himself. He is the Lamb that He provided
for Himself. You see, God's holy. He can't
accept somebody like me or you at any time. The only way He
can accept us is in the Lamb. the Lamb of God, He made the
way that He could be just and actually justify sinners like
me and you. And let me remind you what justification
means. It means I never sinned. That's what justification means.
I never sinned. He made it by His provision for Himself where
He could be just and say, He's just. He's without sin. He's without guilt. That's why
He forgives our sin. First, he makes us sinless. Then
he says, oh, forgive him. God will provide himself. He is the lamb for a burnt offering. Now, go some 400 years later. The Exodus. God has visited Egypt with nine
plagues, the river turned to blood, the frogs, the lice, the
flies, the plague on the cattle, the boils covering everyone's
skin, hail, locusts, darkness, and you'd think Pharaoh would
have relented by this time. But you see, God hardened his
heart. So he would not let the people go. What's God got to
do to the man's heart? Let him alone. That's all he's
got to do. Just leaves me or you to ourself. See what happens.
That's all that is needed. Just let him alone. And this
is when he announced the 10th plague. He said, I'm going to
pass through the land of Egypt and destroy all the firstborn
everywhere. Man and beast. Now you take a
lamb without spot, without blemish. You slay that lamb. You put the
blood over the doorposts. And God said, I'm going to pass
through the land of Egypt. And when I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Who had to see the blood? When I see the blood, what was
he looking for? Not when I see your good works
or when I see your understanding or your sincerity. When I see
the blood, what would he do? When I see
the blood, I will pass. over you. He doesn't say I might do it
if you do your part. He's looking for one thing. When
I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now I've probably said
this here before, I don't remember, but I love to think about that
night in those houses. I guarantee you there was somebody
in there who had sin horrible sin, fresh on their mind, committed
that very day, thinking, it ain't gonna work, I'm afraid I'm gonna
get smitten anyway. Did he smite anyway? Not where
there was blood. Where there was blood, he passed over. Now that speaks of the success
of the blood of the Lamb of God. Wherever God saw the blood, he
passed over in mercy and grace. And all that was needed for him
to see was the blood of the Lamb. When God gave the law and all
the ceremonies and the sacrifices, In Exodus chapter 29, verse 39,
we read of a lamb that was to be brought every morning, and
a lamb that was to be brought every evening, of every day,
of every week, of every month, of every year, year by year,
continually. The day began with the slaying
of the lamb. The day ended with the slaying
of a lamb. Now, in our experience, in our
experience, everything begins with the blood of Christ, and
everything ends with the blood of Christ all the time. In Hebrews chapter 10, verse
22, we read of the news and the living way. Speaking
of entering into the holiest by the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ, the new and the living way. New means freshly slaughtered. The blood is always so poignant
to the father. It never loses its power. You know, when we sing that song,
till all the ransomed church of God be saved, the dear dying
lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power till all
the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. Let me
tell you something. It won't lose its power then. Our standing
is always in the precious blood of the lamb. Turn to Isaiah chapter
53 for just a moment. You're familiar with this famous
chapter. Isaiah 53, the ancient prophecy
concerning the Lamb of God. It's a wonderful chapter, but
look in verse seven. Now let's begin in verse six.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. Now here's true confession
of sin. All we, like sheep, have gone
astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. and the Lord hath laid on him
the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. So he opened
not his mouth. Now this teaches us something
of the guilt of the lamb. Now we know he never sinned. Even when he was on the cross,
he never sinned. holy, harmless, undefiled, and
separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. He never sinned. And when accusation is brought
against him, he opened not his mouth. If accusation's brought against
me, and I didn't do it, I'm opening my mouth. I'm going to protect
myself. I'm going to defend myself. Somebody
says, you ought not do that. I know I ought not do it, but
that's just me. I'm going to defend myself. If
I didn't do it, why didn't he open his mouth? Because he really
was guilty. The sins of God's elect became
his sins so that he was guilty of the commission of them. Somebody
says, are you saying that he sinned personally? No, I'm not
saying that. But I know this, God never punishes
the innocent. He only punishes the guilty. And when the Lamb of God did
not open his mouth to defend himself, it's because he knew
he was The horrible sins in my mind,
in my heart, in my hands, in my feet, in my actions, he became
guilty of. And it was the justice and righteousness
of God that put him to death. when we see him silent before
Pilate, silent before the high priest. There's only one time
he couldn't keep silent, when Pilate said to him, don't you
know that I have power to release you and I have power to set you
free? I've got power to crucify you and I've got power to set
you free. And he didn't keep his mouth shut at that time.
He said, you have no power at all. Openly. I'm not a victim
in this. I'm in absolute sovereign control,
doing my will. In John chapter one, you can
turn there if you want. At the beginning of his public
ministry, this was announced by John. Behold, this is some
700 years after that prophecy in Isaiah, John announces, behold,
the Lamb of God, the Lamb, listen to this, of God, the Lamb of
God's providing, the Lamb spoken of, the Lamb that was spoken
of in Genesis chapter three, the Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, the Lamb of God. which taketh away the sin of
the world. First John chapter three, verse
five says he was manifested to take away our sins. Question, did he do it? Did he succeed? My dear friend, When he said
it is finished, all sin, all the sin of everybody he died
for was taken away, removed, made not to be. You know what day the Lord was
crucified on? I bet you do. Passover. He was actually crucified
on the Passover day. I wonder the things that went
through his holy mind when he said, with desire have I desired
to eat this Passover with you. As he is hanging, on the cross
as the lamb of God. I love to think of what he said.
I'm not gonna make any comment much on it, but, Father, forgive
them. And the father forgave him. There
wasn't anybody he prayed for that the father didn't forgive. He said, woman, behold thy son. Behold thy mother. And then he said to the thief
today, thou shalt be with me in paradise. And then the middle
statement, when the earth had been darkened and that lets us
know that we'll never really understand what was going on,
we can believe, we can adore, we can worship, But there ain't
nobody that understands what all he meant when he said, my
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? He bore the full equivalent
of hell. He said, I thirst. Who can plumb the depths of that? He said, it is finished. There's the gospel. You know,
if it's finished, ain't nothing for me and you to do. He did
it all. And then he gave death permission
to come and take him. Father, into thy hands, I commend
my spirit. He died like no one else did. There's a scripture in Hebrews
chapter nine I would like to read to you as he came back to
heaven. We read in verse 12, neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood. He entered in once into the holy
place. What's it say next? Having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Now it was obtained before the
foundation of the world. And it was obtained when he suffered
on Calvary's tree and died and rose again. And it was obtained
when he goes into the very presence of the father and presents his
own precious blood. Now I'd like you to turn here,
Revelation chapter five. The book of Revelation is, as
far as I can tell, seven different visions. And those visions are
all given at different points of view. And this is the final
vision, and it's given at the first of the book. It's the final
vision. It's shown three different times
throughout Revelation, but let's look at this together. Revelation
chapter five. And I saw in the right hand of
him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside
Front page, back page, everything accounted for. You couldn't add
anything to it. That's the point. It didn't have any room. I mean,
if you look at my notes, I'm always trying to scratch something
in to remind me to, you know, I've got this hand scratching
that only I can read, but I'm always trying to put something
in. Can't put anything into this book. It's the decree of God. God has one decree that covers
everything, and this can't be added to. Our God is the God
who decrees all who decree. The one decree decrees everything
else. He's God. All we can say about that is
worship. He's God. Nobody like Him. Nobody can be
compared to Him. Everything about Him is other.
Everything about Him is complete. What's holiness means He ain't
like you. He ain't like me. That's what that means. He's
other. Well, at any rate, verse two,
and I saw a strong angel. I reckon any angels probably
pretty strong, aren't they? I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof. And no man. No man. Abraham, what about you? No.
No. Moses? No. No. Paul? No. No. Peter? No. No. No man. I remember hearing Henry Mahan
preach upon this passage, and I can use his name. So if it
sounds mean, you can blame him. Pope, are you? He said he didn't
even know there was a book. I always liked that. But no man
in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereof. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book neither to look
thereon." John was distraught. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals thereof And I beheld and lo in
the midst of the throne and of the midst of the four beasts
in the midst of the elders stood a lion. He looked for a lion. What did he see? A lion. As it had been slain. Having seven eyes and seven ears,
which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth,
And he came and took the book. He didn't ask for it. As the father's equal, he
took the book. Out of the right hand of him
that sat upon the throne, and when he had taken the book, The
four beasts and four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having
every one of them hearts and golden vials of odors, which
are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song. When Aubrey, my daughter was
growing up, she would sing this song that would grate on my nerves.
And she knew it, did it. She'd say, this is the song that
never ends. Y'all ever heard that? This is
the song that never ends. What's the next word? It goes
on and on, my friend. Somebody started playing it without
even knowing it. This is the song that never ends.
And she'd just repeat that and repeat it. God, you know. Well,
this is the song that never ends. And unlike that song I was talking
about, this is always new, always fresh, always powerful. And here's how it goes. They
sang a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book and
to open the seals thereof, all of God's purpose and decree for
thou was slain and has redeemed us. not made redemption available,
thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred
and tongue and people and nation and has made us unto our God,
kings and priests and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld
and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne
and the beasts and the elders and the number of them were 10,000
times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud
voice, worthy, is the land that was slain, to receive power,
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing.
And every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under
the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in
them, heard I say, blessing and honor and glory and power be
unto him that sitteth upon the throne and to the lamb forever
and ever. And the four beasts said amen
and the four and twenty elders fell down and worshiped him that
liveth forever and ever. I believe all that. Do you? I believe every bit of that.
Where do I fit in? That's a legitimate question.
Where do you fit in? Well, Paul put it this way in
Galatians chapter two, verse 20. I am crucified with Christ. I realize he died for the elect,
but my only hope is that I can say with Paul, I am crucified
with Christ. When he went to the tree, I went
to the tree. Nevertheless, I live, and the reason I live is because
he was raised from the dead. Yet, not I, I can't give myself
the credit for any of this in any way to any degree, but Christ
liveth in me. And the life that I now live,
I live by the faith of the Son of God. Now let me say this as
clearly as I can. I'm not looking to my faith,
I'm looking to his. I'm relying on his faithfulness. And then
he made this amazing statement. Can my soul get a hold of this?
Who loved me. He loved me. I stand amazed in
the presence of Jesus the Nazarene and wonder how he could love
me. a sinner, condemned, unclean. When with the ransomed in glory
his face I at last shall see, it will be my joy through the
ages to sing of his love for me. He loved me and he gave himself
for me. This is why Paul said, God forbid,
that I should glory, saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now here is the title of this
message, The Whole Council of God.