Very good. Come out of your coat. That was an encore. Let's bow our heads and go to
the Lord in prayer before we begin. Most gracious Heavenly Father,
we thank You, dear Lord, for the opportunity that is ours
to come into Your house and to read Your precious Word and to
speak about our dear Savior. Dear Lord, You've blessed us
in so many ways. You've been so good to us. And
Father, we pray that You'll meet with us here today and that all
that is said and done might be done to glorify Your name. For we ask this in all things
in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen. In Matthew, I believe it's chapter
5, our Lord said this, He says, for I say unto you, except your righteousness shall
exceed the righteousness of the stribes and the Pharisees, you
shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven. And as I was
studying this and reading it, I recall someone saying that
All he was was a recovering Pharisee. And I think, I'm pretty sure
that's my case, a recovering Pharisee. And that if I have
a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees. It's got to come from outside
of me because I cannot produce any kind of righteousness whatsoever. This book says that Abraham believed
God and it was counted or imputed to him for righteousness. God
gave him a righteousness. And we tried to bring this out
Wednesday night. If you were here Wednesday night,
you'll probably hear right much of what we spoke about. The first
indication or the first reading in our Bible of this
righteousness that God gives to His people, this robe that
He puts on His people. The first indication of that
is right after Adam and Eve were expelled from the garden. In verse 21 of Genesis chapter
3, it says, Or let me start with 20. It says,
And Adam called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother
of all living. And her name means to live. And
unto Adam also, and to his wife, Did the Lord God Jehovah make
coats of skins and He clothed them? That's the first picture
of that robe of righteousness that God gives to His people. That first picture of that robe
that is produced outside of us is something that we cannot come
up with ourselves. We've got to look to another
for that perfect robe of righteousness. And our Lord provides that for
us. And you go on over into chapter
4, and it says, Adam knew his wife, and she conceived, and
she bare Cain, and she says, I've gotten a man from the Lord.
And then she knew him again, and Abel was born. And you know the story how Abel
bought of the firstlings of his flock, he bought a young lamb
that was not a year old. And Cain brought the best that his hands
could produce. He was right proud of it. It's
kind of like you grow in a garden and you go out there and you
get the very best vegetables out of it. But see, this book
teaches that without the blood There is no remission of sin. No blood, no forgiveness of sin. There has to be the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ or there is no forgiveness for sin. And
so then we'll skip over to Exodus chapter 12. We're going to have to move along
kind of fast. And the Lord spake unto Moses and to Aaron in the
land of Egypt, saying, This month shall be unto you the beginning
of much. It shall be the first month of
the year to you. Speak unto you all of the congregation
of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall
take unto 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 to him take a lamb
according to the number of souls. Every man according to his eating
shall make your count for the lamb. And your lamb shall be
without spot, without blemish, It's going to be a male of the
first year, and you shall take it from the sheep and from the
goats. You don't have to turn this time,
but I want to read to you what Doug read to us this morning
out of 1 Peter. 1 Peter chapter 1, talking about
that lamb from the first year taken from the sheep or taken
from the goats. From 1 Peter chapter 1. For as much as you know, that
you were not redeemed with corrupt things, you know, like silver,
like gold. You were not redeemed with these
things from the tradition of your fathers. But here is how you are redeemed,
with the precious blood of Jesus Christ the Lord, as of a lamb
without blemish and without spot, who truly was foreordained before
the foundation of the world. You remember in our Bible, it
talks about the lamb slain before the foundation of the world.
You remember back over in Genesis chapter 3, before there was ever
a sinner, God had already provided a savior. Now that's some kind
of God in it. Before there's ever a sinner,
there's a savior. He's a forgiving God. This book
says that he delights in showing mercy. He delights in showing
mercy. The one thing he wants to do
for you is show you mercy. And that's a blessing to all
of us. He was truly ordained before the foundation of the
world, but was manifest in these last times for you. Who by Jesus Christ the Lord
do believe in God, God that raised him up from the dead, gave him
glory that your faith and hope might be in God. Seeing you have
purified your souls in obeying the truth through the spirit
unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another
with a pure heart. Some of these things we listen
to and we hear it in our ear and we say a pure heart. Now where in the world can I
get a pure heart? I know I've heard people say,
now, well, they've said it to me right here. Now, Mr. Parker, you know I've got a good
heart. The Lord knows my heart. What a shame in this world. He
does know my heart. He knows my heart. See that you love one another
with a pure heart fervently. Dear Lord, if I'm to love one
another with a pure heart, there's something else that I have to
get from God. It must come from God to go back
to God, or else it'll never happen. being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible seed. What is that? It's by the Word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. You know, in the beginning
was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior. By the Word of God, which liveth
and abideth forever. That's a long time, forever. For all flesh is as grass, and
the glory of man is as the flower of grass. The grass withereth,
the flower thereof falleth away. Oh, but the word of God, the
word of the Lord our God endureth forever. And this is the word
which by the gospel is preached unto you, the word of God. Back over to Exodus chapter 12. down to verse 6. 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. And they shall take of the blood,
and they will strike that blood on the two side doorposts, and
on the upper doorposts of the house, wherein they shall eat
it. and they shall eat the flesh
in the night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with
bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden,
or at all with water, but roast with fire his head, his legs,
and the pertinence thereof. And I was looking in the margin
to see what the pertinence was. It says, enthralls. 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. And thus shall
you eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, your
staff in your hand, and you shall eat in haste. This is the Lord's
Passover, the Passover of the Lord. And he is called Jesus
Christ, our Passover. For I will pass through the land
of Egypt this night, and I will smite all of the firstborn in
the land of Egypt, both man and beast. And against all the gods
of Egypt, I will execute judgment. He says, I am the Lord. And here we go again concerning
that blood, that precious blood that represents the blood And the blood, verse 13, and
the blood shall be for you a token upon the houses where you are.
And the Lord God Jehovah says, when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. And a plague
shall not be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of
Egypt." Now the important thing there is God sees that blood
of His Son. It says in John chapter 10, Doug
also read this morning, it says, Therefore does my Father love
me. Why does your Father love you?
Because I lay down my life for my sheep. I lay down my life. No man takes my life, but I lay
down my life for my sheep. I give them eternal life, and
they shall never perish. Why God? He can just say, thy
sins are forgiven, and they're gone. This book says that the
sins of Judah and the sins of Israel, they're sought for And
they can't find them. God cannot find our sins. He says in Hebrews 10, He says,
I'm not going to remember your sins anymore. Turn over to Hebrews
10. And then we're going to go from
there to John 13. And we may get it all in. For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come and not the very image of the things,
can never, with those sacrifices which they offer every year continuously,
make the comers thereunto perfect. For then would they have ceased
to be offered, because that the worshipers, once purged, should
have no more conscience of sins. But in those sacrifices there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and the blood of goats should
take away sin. It can't happen. Wherefore, when
he comes into the world, he says, sacrifice an offering thou wouldest
not, but a body you have prepared for me. In burnt offerings and
sacrifices for sin, thou hast had no pleasure. Then said the
Lord Jesus Christ, he says, then said I, lo, I come in the volume
of the book. It is written of me to do thy
will. above, when he said, Sacrifices
and offerings and burnt offerings and offerings for sins are what
is not, nor neither has pleasure therein which are offered by
the law. And then said he, Lo, I come
to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first covenant
to establish the second, by the which will we are the body of
Jesus Christ once and for all. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering, and oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never
take away sins. But this man, this God-man, the
Lord Jesus Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice, that body
that was prepared for him, he offered that one sacrifice for
sins, he forever sat down on the right hand of God the Father.
from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with him after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my law into their
hearts and into their minds will I write them, and their sins
and their iniquities will I remember no more." There's one of those
all-important no mores. And there's one in verse 2 and
one in verse 18. Now where remission of sins is,
where remission of these is, there is no more offering for
sin. This man, this God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, by one offering has forever put away our sin. And there's nothing left to do. It's finished. And that's what
He declared there on that cross. He said, it is finished. Salvation
is accomplished. Your sins are put away. And then we're going to skip
over to John chapter 13 for our finishing part. Now, we've gone through I know
it's been scattered, and we haven't covered it like it should be
covered, but we've gone through what God gives to His people.
That's an absolute perfect robe of righteousness. He gives one
to every one of His sheep, and this precious Word of the Lord
He gave all of this to His people. I don't believe He could get
in a bad way, but ours would be in a bad way. And here's one
of the truths that He teaches all of His children, that He
gives this perfect robe of righteousness, that every believer is washed
in the blood of the Lamb. Every believer. There's a song we sing, Are You
Washed? In the blood. In the soul-cleansing
blood. That precious blood of the Lamb
of God. Right here it says that Christ
most plainly teaches us that every believer is washed. In the blood of the Lamb. And
our very best, you remember those filthy rags back over in Isaiah? The best that we can do is just
like a filthy rag. It's all washed away. We're washed
in the blood of the Lamb. and that each and every one are
equally and alike, perfectly clean from all sin in God's sight. We don't have a spot, we don't
have a wrinkle, we don't have any such thing. We're justified
from all things before God. And Romans 8.1 says there's not
one condemnation against the child of God. In other words, we can now come
before God with Jesus Christ the Lord as our advocate. But what about after we come
to God? What about after we've been saved? And what about after we keep
right on coming to God? The Bible says, glory to God,
whose precious blood cleanses from all sin. John chapter 1
and verse 7. First John. And now to John chapter 13. Now before the feast of the Passover,
when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart
out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own, which were
in the world, He loved them until the very end. And supper being
ended, the devil now having put into the heart of Judas Iscariot,
Simon's son, to betray Him, And Jesus knowing that the father
had given all things into his hands and he was come from God
and he was going back to God. Our Lord, excuse me, our Lord
rises from supper, laid aside his garments. He took a towel
and he girded himself. And he poured water into a basin
and he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the
towel wherewith he was girded. Now this is a strange thing indeed. for our Lord Jesus Christ to
be washing the feet of the disciples. There are some groups that think
He wanted to start another ordinance, you know, like baptism. But that
was not the case. He was showing His disciples
how to be humble. And He was also showing them,
in one of the verses, He says, Do you know what I've done? Do
you understand what I've done? And they did not understand what
he did when he was washing their feet. He says, well, you don't
understand now, but later on you will. And what he was doing,
when I was a young boy, we used to have an old smokehouse at
the back of the yard there. We'd take a tin tub. I don't know how much water it
held, but we'd fill it full of water. and sit it out in the
sunshine and let it get warm. Because we didn't have hot and
cold water. We just had cold. And the sun
would make that water warm. And that's where five of us took
a bath in that wash tub. That's the washing that Jesus
gives to His children. He says, now you're washed. You're
perfectly clean, every whit, from your head to your toe. But
what is this about washing my feet? Well, our Lord washes the feet to show
us that salvation is a one-time
thing. But salvation keeps us coming
to Christ. It's like Paul said, that I may
know Him. But you already know Him. But
I don't know Him like I want to know Him. I want to know everything
about the Lord Jesus Christ. I want the Lord Jesus Christ
to be my life. My life. Paul says for me to
live is Christ and to die is gain. So he washed his disciples' feet. And when he came to Peter, Peter
says, Lord, will you go wash my feet? He says, Never. And our Lord said to him, If
I don't wash your feet, you'll have no part with me. And then
Peter says, well, in that case, not my feet only, but my head
and my whole body. But all he was aiming at was
washing the feet. Keep you coming back to Christ. Let me read it to you out of
Peter. That'll see it a lot better than
I would see it. As a matter of fact, those very
words, coming to Christ, they're in 1 Peter 1 and verse 4. It
says, To whom? Coming. That is Christ Jesus
the Lord. That's to whom we are coming. To whom coming as unto a living
stone, disallowed indeed of men, oh, but is chosen of God, and
it is precious. To whom coming every day to get
our feet washed. Every day when we go out into
the world. We are sinners, aren't we? We
sin every day. This book says we do. And if
we say we have no sin, we tell God He's lying. And that can
never be. In verse 10, Jesus said unto Peter, He that is washed,
He that is saved, needs not to be saved again,
but he does need to have his feet washed, and he's clean every
whit, and you are clean, but not all of you, not all of you. For he knew who should betray
him, therefore said he, you are not all clean. And this word
for wash is in verses 5, 6, 8, and 14. So after He had washed their
feet and taken their garments, He was sent down again and He
said unto them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Master and Lord,
And you say, well, for I am. If I then, your Lord and master,
have washed your feet, you ought also to wash one another's feet. We have a very precious, merciful,
loving Heavenly Father. And in closing, I'd like to read
one verse from Micah chapter 7 and verse 18. Who is a God like unto thee? A God that pardons iniquity and
that passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage.
He retaineth not His anger forever because He delights in mercy.
I want to show you mercy. He delights in mercy. And He
will turn again. He will have compassion on us
and He will subdue our iniquities. and thou wilt cast all of their
sins into the depths of the sea." Where are my sins? In the depths
of the sea. They're cast behind His back.
They're as far as the east is from the west. He remembers our
sin no more. A forgetful God. Is there any
other kind? Thank you very much.