in today's bulletin for our devotional
time. At the top, inside right page,
you'll see an article written by Pastor Henry Mahan, who has
gone on to be with the Lord. And his article is titled, What
Then is the New Birth? What then is the new birth, he
writes, It is not the removal of anything from the center nor
the changing of anything physical or fleshly in the center. Instead,
it is the communication of something new to the center. The new birth
is the impartation of a new nature. When we were born the first time,
we received from our parents their nature. So when we are
born again, we receive from God His nature. The Spirit of God
begets within us a spiritual nature. And you can read that
in Galatians 5.17 and 2 Peter 1.4. That which is born of a
man is human. That which is born of God is
divine and spiritual. Nicodemus was startled. He was
amazed at the Savior's word, yet he ought not to have been.
Man by birth in nature is blind and opposed to the things of
God. No amount of religious training can change this evil nature.
His chief need is a new nature, or to be born again, it is a
must. A man must have a spiritual nature
before he can understand, enter, or enjoy the Kingdom of God. Amen. I'd like to ask you to turn in your
Bibles, if you would, to the 7th chapter of Revelations. Revelation chapter 7. We were talking earlier in Bible
study about one of the greatest desires and
obviously the greatest desire in a child of God's heart is
to seek after the Lord. We take great comfort in our
trials and our tribulations knowing that those very themes draw us
to the weakness of the flesh and turn us to the strength and
the power of God Almighty and His Son, the Lord Jesus. But it's also a great desire
and a great privilege to be able to share with those that we encounter,
those that we love, those that we walk with through this world. The Gospel of Christ is so simple. that even a child should understand
it. Behold, said John the Baptist,
behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. That's a message that you and
I can remember quite easily. What makes you look so differently
at the things that are happening in the world around us today?
What makes you turn from the fear that the world is having
over the virus, over those who would attack our country and
crash planes into buildings, whatever. Put whatever you want
in there, whatever brings fear to your heart. What gives this
person who stands before me comfort knowing that it's all right?
It's a terrible thing. I know it's a terrible thing.
The virus is terrible. People who attack our country,
it's terrible. People who walk into a FedEx building and just
shoot a bunch of people up for no reason, it's terrible. There's
things like that going on all over the world. The world is
dead in trespasses and sin. It's like Henry Mahan just wrote.
You have to have a new nature to know who the Lord Jesus Christ
is. Our original nature, the nature we were all born with,
it's all that way. And by the grace of God, you
and I don't walk the same path as the many others who do those
very same things. And it is only by his grace.
Bill, would you catch the door? The wind has caught it and blown
it open. And that glass, I don't want
to see that glass break. It is our greatest desire to
declare salvation is of the Lord. Behold, not this book, but the words
that are in this book, inspired by God Almighty, a love letter
to God's children. Behold, the Lamb of God. The word lamb is used in just
about over a hundred times in a hundred different verses, beginning
in the book of Genesis, all throughout Scripture, all the way to the
book of Revelation. There are also many references
to a lamb, such as firstly, or firstborn, as in a flock of sheep,
The word lamb is used 59 times in the first four books alone.
But what I find really interesting is that it's used 29 times just
in the book of Revelation. Now obviously we don't have time
to go through and look at every single one of those 29 verses
referring to the lamb. But we can get a pretty good
idea what all the rest of them are meaning by what we see right
here in the 7th chapter of Revelations. Join me if you would, verse 9.
Revelation chapter 7 verse 9, After this I beheld, writes John,
and lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne.
All of God's elect, he says, all that the Father giveth me
shall come to me. That's what John saw here. All
of God's elect standing before the throne. and before the Lamb, clothed
with white robes and psalms in their hands. And cried with a
loud voice, verse 10, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth
upon the throne and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood
round about the throne, and about the elders, and the four beasts,
and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
saying, Amen. blessings, and glory, and wisdom,
and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might be unto
our God forever and ever. Amen. And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me, what are these which are arrayed in white robes,
and whence came they? And I said unto him, sir, thou
knowest. And he said unto me, these are they which came out
of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made
them white, in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before
the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He that sitteth on the throne
shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more, neither shall the sun light on them, nor any
heat. For the lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living fountains of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes." Now if you would turn over to the first
chapter of the book of John. John chapter 1. My message this morning is the
simple message that you and I can go to with wherever we go to
in the world. Behold. Take notice. This one who rules
my life. This one who has always ruled
my life, yet now he has revealed himself unto me and to a new
heart that he has given me. I believe. Behold, the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sins of the world." It is my intention
to bring this message this morning, that the Lord may use it to prepare
our hearts for coming to the table of remembrance. But first,
we must clearly understand who this Lamb is that we read about
in Revelations. It tells us in the 29th verse
of John chapter 1, The next day John seeth Jesus,
it doesn't get any plainer than that folks, coming unto him and
saith, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of
the world. Now let's go over verses 35 and 36. And again,
the next day after John stood and two of his disciples, and
looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, behold, the Lamb of
God. Twice, within a 48-hour period,
John has declared this very one who walked the earth, this very
one who came down from heaven, this very one who came to each
and every one of his people and touched them with the power of
God to be the Lamb. slain before the foundation of
the world. This Jesus is the very lamb spoken of in Genesis
22.8, where Abraham says to his son, my son, God will provide
himself a lamb for a burnt offering. You'll recall the story. Abraham
and his son went up to a high mountain to worship the Lord.
The Lord said, take fire and a knife. and slay thy son. And when he got up there to do
so, the Lord said, wait a minute. Hold back on that. You've done
what I've told you to do. And his son goes, well, where's
the sacrifice, Dad? We've got the fire. We've got
the wood. Where's the sacrifice? And he says to him, my son, God
will provide Himself That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Our sacrifice. The very One who is a perfect
sacrifice. A lamb without spot. The very
One who walked perfectly as He walked this earth in righteousness
that you and I can't even really truly understand. We get a little
picture of how righteous the Lord is, but do you know that
God Almighty is so righteous He cannot even look upon sin,
the very thing that we are by the nature of our mother and
father, by the nature of Adam. But He looks on us and sees the
blood of the sacrifice of His Son, the Lord Jesus. Folks, I'm doing nothing more
than simply declaring to you the very simple message that,
behold, behold the Lamb slain. Stop looking to flesh and all
the things that we think that we would like to do to help ourselves
in salvation, and remember that there's nothing we can do. This
flesh is nothing but weakness. I said this earlier. I'm thankful.
I am thankful that the Lord continues to show me my sins before me
at all times. Why? Because I can see the weakness
that I am in this flesh and turn to the only strength that I have,
and that is in my Lord and Savior, the Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. This Lamb is called the Word. Look at verses 1-5 of John chapter
1. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was
in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was
life. And life was the light of men,
and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended
it not. Now look over to verse 14. And
the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory. The glory is the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. But that's not the only place
we see this lamb, is it? Let's look back to Genesis, if
you would, please. Wait a minute, wait a minute,
wait a minute, wait a minute. Look over at verse 29. Did I fall back on something
here? Go back to the book of Genesis
and let's see the first symbol. I told you that this book declares
the Lamb from cover to cover. What a better way for us to see
that this morning than looking at the beginning, the first book,
the book of Genesis. We see our first symbol, or type
if you will, of this Lamb and what it might be seen like. Lord
willing, may we also see why this lamb must be the sacrifice
that taketh away the sin of the world, as stated in John 1, verse
29. Look at Genesis 2, verses 15. Genesis 2, beginning at verse
15. And the Lord God took the man
and put him into a garden, the garden of Eden, and to dress
it, to keep it, And the Lord God commanded the man, saying,
of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat. But of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day
that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die." That's the
first commandment of God. I'm going to put you here to
take care of this garden, but don't eat of that tree. Adam
and Eve taking of that fruit was a surprise to God. There
are those who preach that. They preach the Lord has a plan
B. What a weak, worthless God that
is. I'm pretty sure that that's the
God that I heard about most of my life when I was growing up,
which is why I didn't pay any attention to Him. What a worthless God that is
that had a plan B. Uh-oh, my plan didn't work. That sounds like a human, doesn't
it? I do that all the time. If you look at my work on the
construction next door, you'll see that very clearly. John had
a plan B with that one, didn't he? Oh, our Lord has no plan B. Everything is planned and purposed
exactly how he had determined it to be. Our first commandment, do not
eat of that tree. Now look over at verse 25 of
the same chapter. Verse 25 of Genesis chapter 2. God's commandment we saw in verses
15 through 17, and now we see just before the fall in verse
25, and they, speaking of Adam and Eve, were both naked. But
notice this, the man and his wife were not ashamed. They had not betrayed the Lord. They had not gone against the
Word of God. They still were innocent in themselves. Yet the Lord knew what they were
going to do. In the day that thou eatest thereof,
our Lord said, thou shalt surely die. He knew exactly what was
going to happen. Remember. This land that we're
talking about is the land that was slain before the foundation
of the world. God knew it all. It's all been
purposed. Now look over at verse 4 of chapter
3. Genesis chapter 3, verse 4. And
the serpent said unto the woman, ye shall not surely die. For
God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes
shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods." Notice it says gods
in little form. You shall be as gods, knowing
good and evil. Isn't that the way natural man
thinks of himself in this very day? From that time on, after
eating that fruit, men have thought to themselves, I'm as powerful
as God. I can make a decision. I will
decide where I will go. I will decide what I will do.
I will do it my way. You all thought Elvis Presley
was the first one to come up with that, didn't you? No. Cain did it that way. Now look over at verse 7. For God doth know that when ye
did eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall
be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw
that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the
eyes, and the tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of
the fruit thereof, and did eat it, and gave also unto her husband
with her, and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were
opened, and they knew that they were naked. Notice the difference
between that and verse 25. They know good and evil now,
don't they? And their eyes were opened. And they knew that they
were naked. And look what they did next.
They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. Fig leaves. First evidence of man's work,
right there. I've sinned. And I'm trying to
cover it up. First evidence of man's sin right
there. Adam was not deceived as it says in 1 Timothy 2.14. He went into this eyes wide open. He knew exactly what he was doing. Another picture of our Lamb. sacrificing Himself for His bride. Isn't that what the Lord has
done for the bride, His bride, the church, those that the Song
of Solomon are written about? Fair is what Solomon says. That's the way the Lord looks
upon you and I. Fair. I know it's hard to understand,
But when we stop looking at this flesh and we look to what this
Bible is about, to the Lamb of God, the Lamb slain, we can see
that there is nothing in us to see that is good, but it is in
Him. It is in His righteousness that He has established for us.
Now look at verse 21. Genesis 3, verse 21. Let's see God's work. The shedding
of blood unto Adam also and to his wife did the Lord God make
coats Coats of skins and clothed them. How do you think the Lord
got the skin off that animal? Same way we do today. You have
to kill the animal. And the Lord made coats of skins
and clothed them. We see the shedding of blood.
Look at verses 22-24, and the Lord God said, Behold, the man
has become as one of us to know good and evil, and now let us
put forth his hand, And now lest he put forth his
hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever,
therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden
to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out
the man, and he placed at the east garden of Eden cherubims,
and the flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. They were cast out. They were
cast out and they could no longer touch the tree of life. That
is what sin has done to all mankind. Why do we need a lamb slain? Why do we need a sacrifice? Because
the folks, they're sinners. We are sin. We sin because we
are sinners. And because of that sin, a holy
God cannot even look upon man in the flesh. He must look upon
blood, the sacrifice of a lamb. The sacrifice of that man. Now
let's see the first clear reference to this lamb over in chapter
4 verse 1. We had a little picture there
of the Lord clothing Adam and Eve with the skins of an animal,
picturing the One who would shed His own blood for them. Here
it's very, very clear. Verses 1-5, And Adam knew Eve
his wife, and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have
gotten a man from the Lord. And she again bare his brother
Abel, and Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. And in the process of time, It
came to pass. Now, in that process of time,
these boys were taught something, and we're about to see that next.
They were taught something. In the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought
of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. He brought
something with his own hands. He brought fig leaves and made
a stew. I don't know what it was, but
it might as well have been fig leaves. He brought something
made of man, brought of the ground. And Abel, it says in verse 4,
he also brought the firstlings of his flock, and of the fat
thereof. And the Lord had respect unto
Abel, and to his offering, but unto Cain, and to his offering
he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and
his countenance fell. We see the first reference to
this lamb in its totality, that Abel brought a lamb before the
Lord, slain. Abel was taught by his father
to slay an animal that there was nothing he could do with
his hands to come before God, because his hands were tainted
with sin. He had to bring something that
pointed us, just as we come to the table, that points us to
what Jesus has done. Abel brought a sacrifice, a lamb. So we see in God's Word a very
clear picture of the fall of man which continues till today.
And it will continue to the second coming. And we see the price
of that fall. The price of death. The very
price that each and every one of us deserve. The very price
that each and every one of us have earned. But God. But God, in His rich
mercy and grace, wherewith He loved us." Spiritual death came
upon all mankind, the separation from a holy and righteous God.
We sin because we are sinners. Our nature fell without Him.
We come into this world dead in trespasses and sin, unable
to seek after God, unable to take of the tree of life. There
is no remission of this sin without blood for all who sin must die. Aren't you thankful that a lamb
died for us? One who could accomplish exactly
what we need. Salvation is of the Lord. And so God instructed, by example,
the sacrificial lamb. God rejected the offering of
Cain because it was the work of man. Abel's, on the other
hand, was a symbol of the perfect, spotless lamb of God who was
yet to come as a man. The Word was made flesh. One
who laid down his life and shed his own blood for the sins of
his people, the people that are spread throughout
time, Aren't you thankful that the Lord had to come through
rescue? Aren't you thankful that the Lord must go through Samaria? There was a certain woman there,
wasn't there? Well, there was a certain person right here in rescue that
the Lord had to save. There were several certain people
here at rescue that the Lord had to come through to hear the
Word of God preached. We read in Hebrews 10.4, for
it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take
away sins. Those goats, the blood of those
bulls and goats that were shed over all those years were nothing
more than to point to the One's blood who would accomplish His
purpose. The perfect blood of Christ.
There is only One who can take away sin, and that's the Lord
Jesus. The Lamb slain from before the
foundation of the world. That means that our Lord and
Savior was seen as slain before anything that was created. That's
why we read in Ephesians 1-4, according as He hath chosen us
in Him, chosen God's people in Christ Jesus before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him. God the Father chose His people
and gave them to His Son, knowing that His Son would come as a
man, born of a virgin, without the fallen seed, without the
fallen nature, but of the Spirit, holy and without
blame, walking perfectly before God the Father, doing exactly
the Father's will. establishing a perfect righteousness
for you and I. In Romans 9.15 we read it this
way, For He saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have
mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.
He gave this people to His Son knowing that He would have to
be made sane. Can you imagine that? Can we
wrap our minds around that fact? A perfect Lord, perfect in every
way, became sin and then died on the cruel cross for us. Am I magnifying the grace of
God in what I'm saying or not? Are we raising up the Lord Jesus
as Moses did with the servant in the wilderness? Or not? It
is by His grace we are saved. It is because of His love for
us that we are saved. It's because of that One who
sacrificed Himself and made Himself our Lamb. Our perfect, spotless
Lamb. Cursed is everyone that hangeth
on a tree, saith the Scriptures. God gave this people to His Son,
knowing that His Son would pay the price in full, and pay it
perfectly. Pay the price in full to the
uttermost, removing their sins from His sight forevermore. And here's why that He knew these
things would come to pass. God the Father, God the Son,
God the Holy Spirit. Three distinct persons, yet one
God in perfect unity. Why would God the Father look
upon Jesus Christ as the Lamb slain, all the way before any
creation was made, when He hadn't even walked this earth yet? Because
He is God in the flesh. That's why the blood of Jesus
that was shed for you and I was perfect and cleanses us from
all sin. It's because it was God's blood. Yes, it was Christ that walked
this earth in the flesh. God the Spirit can't die. God
in the flesh, the Son of God, died for His people. He didn't
come here and try to save sinners. He saved His people. There is only one God, and all
the fullness thereof dwelleth in the Lord Jesus Christ. Worship
the Son, and you worship the whole blessed Trinity. Worship the Lamb on His throne,
for death could not hold Him. The only sacrifice that could
satisfy God's justice was the sacrifice of His only begotten
Son. Salvation is of the Lord. Behold
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world. But there's
a warning that goes out in God's Word. Do not fall for just any
Jesus that somebody stands before you and speaks about. In 2 Corinthians
11.3, Paul, writing to the Corinthians, wrote this under the inspiration
of the Spirit. He said, but I fear, lest any means, as the serpent
beguiled Eve, that we just read about a few moments ago, through
his subtlety, so your mind should be corrupted from the simplicity
that is in Christ. Behold the Lamb of God." It doesn't
get any simpler than that. For if he that cometh preacheth
another Jesus whom we have not preached, or ye receive another
spirit which is not received, which He hath not received, or
another gospel which He hath not accepted, ye might well bear
with Him." We are warned of men who come in making truths of
the Lord lasciviousness, in other words, wickedness. Isn't that
what it is, to take the Word of God and make it weak? To take
the Word of God and say, yeah, God's Word says this, but... Did you hear what I just said?
God's Word says this, but... Isn't that what the devil did?
Is that not what the devil did with Eve a little while ago?
Didn't we not just read a little ago? Oh yeah, God said, if you
eat of this tree, you know, but... But He knows. In Jude 1, 4 we read this, for
there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old
ordained to this condemnation. Judas of Iscariot was ordained
to be the betrayer of God. ordained to this condemnation,
ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying, denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though you once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the
people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that
believed not. Men who come, speaking of a Jesus
who has power over all, but withholds His power over man's so-called
free will. I've done everything I need to
do, now it's up to you to finish it. Aren't you thankful the Lord
didn't leave us to do that? I know. And I know this because I know
I was blind. And if you are of God and God
has done a work in your heart, you know what I'm talking about,
about being blind. I know that if the Lord God Almighty
left me up to myself, I'd still be chasing around whatever rabbits
I wanted to chase around in my life. Men will come in speaking about
a Jesus who is a failure, and all who believe on that one call
the true and living God of Scripture a liar. Our Lord says, for all men are
as clay, and the God of heavens rules as the potter rules the
vessel, making one unto a vessel of mercy and another unto a vessel
of destruction. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. And
I'll bring this to a close. 1 Peter chapter 1. We're talking
about the simplicity of the Gospel, the simplicity of what you and
I can go out into the world with words that we can simply say,
the Lamb, behold, the Lamb of God, the Lamb who rules over
all things, the Lamb who has mercy on whom He will have mercy,
and who is man to question the works of God. Are you washed? in the blood, the soul-cleansing
blood of the Lamb. Look at 1 Peter chapter 1 verses
18-25. 1 Peter chapter 1. Forasmuch as ye know, do you? Forasmuch as ye know that ye
were not redeemed with corruptible things, That's what our free
will is. That's what the natural will
of man is. It's corruptible. Everything of this flesh is corruptible.
That's why we need a perfect Savior, a perfect Lamb. For we
know that we were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver
and gold from your vain conversations received by the tradition from
your fathers. but with the precious blood of
Christ, the Lamb without blemish and without spot. Behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the world, who verily
was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest
in these last times for you." Aren't you thankful? He's still manifesting. He's
still manifesting His names. I have hope. All those people
who were here yesterday for my granddaughter's announcement
that she's going to have a baby girl, by the way. No, we did
not blow up any cannons. I know. I really wanted to do
that. But the fire department said
we can't. They had a cake that had peat filling inside. All
those people that were here yesterday, my hope for them is that the
Lord is still manifesting the lamb slain. There's still error
in this earth because our Lord is still manifesting the Lamb
slain before the foundation of the world. There's still men
out there who are faithful to God, who God has made them faithful
to preach who Jesus Christ is. Verily foreordained before the
foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times
for you. Verse 21, who by Him do believe in God? Who by Him
do believe in God? Gift is a faith of God, not of
works, lest man should boast. Continuing, verse 21, that raised
Christ up from the dead and gave Him. Glory, that your faith and hope
might be in God, not in the flesh, in God. Seeing you have purified
your souls and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned
love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure
heart, fervently, being born again, not of corruptible seed,
but of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. What is our message? Behold. The Lamb. The Word of God. For all flesh is as grass, verse
24, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass
withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of
the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the
gospel is preached unto you. The gospel. The good news. There is a Savior. A man. chosen of God, determined by
God to save his people. His name is Jesus, for he shall
save his people. Paul declared Christ came to
save sinners of whom I am chief. Every single child of God can
say the same thing, of whom I am chief. I'm going to read some words
for you out of our psalm book. Listen to these words without
music. Sometimes we lose the meaning of words when we sing
them along with music. But sometimes if you take just
the words of the psalm, have you been to Jesus for the cleansing
power? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His
grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Are you walking daily by the
Savior's side? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Do you rest each moment in the crucified? Are you washed
in the blood of the Lamb? When the bridegroom cometh, will
your robes be white? Are you washed in the blood of
the Lamb? Will your soul be ready for the mansion's bright? Are
you washed in the blood of the Lamb? And then the fourth verse is
this, Lay aside the garments that are stained with sin, and
be washed in the blood of the Lamb. There's a fountain flowing,
For the soul unclean, oh, be washed in the blood of the Lamb. Behold, behold, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Amen.