Would you turn back to Genesis,
Chapter 3? This evening we're going to observe
the Lord's Table, and I'm going to preach a message on the Lord's
Table from I Corinthians, Chapter 11, and I haven't preached a
message on that for ten years. I was surprised, and so I'm looking
forward to dealing with that, and let me remind you with regard
to the Lord's Table. The Lord said, this do in remembrance
of me. Now that gives the importance
of this. This do in remembrance of me. I wouldn't want to put, don't
want to put people into bondage about being in church, but if
there was one service I wouldn't miss, it would be when the Lord
said this do in remembrance of me, the Lord's table. Now, I'm going to announce the
title of this message at the conclusion of the message and
as the conclusion of the message. Verse 21, this is right after
the fall, unto Adam also and to his wife, Did the Lord God
make coats of skins and clothed them? Now, this necessitated
the very first bloodshedding. Many people would think, well,
wasn't Abel's blood the first bloodshedding? No, this animal's
blood was the first blood shedding. Look in verse 7 of the same chapter,
and the eyes of them both were opened, speaking of Adam and
Eve, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig
leaves together. They tried to make a covering
for themselves to cover their nakedness. to cover their shame
and to cover their sin. Now, have you ever thought about
fig leaves? I remember even when I was a
little boy, I'd think about that and I thought, how'd they stay together?
I mean, taking leaves and sewing them up and trying to, they couldn't
have lasted very long. They would have ripped up quick
enough. And it was a very ineffective covering But here we read also
where the Lord, I love this verse, unto Adam and to his wife did
the Lord God make coats of skins. Adam and Eve had tried to make
their own and it didn't do any good. But the Lord God made these
coats of skins. He didn't give them the materials
to make it themselves. Here, I'll provide the material,
and you all do the rest. You know, I actually heard a
preacher say this week, and I've never heard anything like this
before. I was watching TV. I don't know why. It was some
kind of religious station. I usually try to zip through
that, but I just got caught by this. The Lord's done the hard
part, the easy part's left to you. He did the hard work on
the cross and now all you gotta do is make him the Lord of your
life. I just winced when I heard that, winced. No, the Lord God
made the coats of skins. It was all his work and covered
them. Now this thing of fig leaves,
Represents the entire system of salvation by works. Would
you turn with me for a moment to Proverbs 28? I want you to
see this. Proverbs 28. Verse 13. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper. Isn't that what Adam and Eve
tried to do? They tried to cover their sins with the fig leaves. He that covereth his sins shall
not prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have
mercy. Now, Upon a cursory reading of that,
you would think, well, in order to have mercy, you first need
to confess your sins and then you need to stop committing them
and not sin anymore. You need to forsake that and
be done with it. Look carefully at the word them
in verse 13. It is in italics. It was placed
there by the translators to help understand the verse, but if
anything, it makes the verse un-understandable. If you read
them as the sins, you need, now listen, we ought not ever sin
again. Don't anybody misunderstand this. We ought not ever sin again.
There's never an excuse for sin under any circumstance. Sin's
evil. But if this means you won't have
mercy until you confess each sin and then forsake it, ain't
nobody in here gonna be saved, or anywhere else. That then is
in italics, whosoever confesses and forsakes this thing of trying
to cover your sins, like Adam did, and you look to Christ only,
that's the person who will find mercy. You have to have the ability
to stop a particular sin before you're gonna have mercy. That
makes salvation my works. That's all that is, is salvation
my works. Now somebody says, well, I don't
see that. Well, you better start seeing it. You better start seeing
it, because that's the truth. Adam and Eve sought to make a
covering for their sin. And the inspired writer in Proverbs
28, 13 says, Anybody that does that is not
gonna prosper. But your sin is to be confessed in this thing
of covering, trying to cover your sin, forsaken, and you're
to look, and I'm to look to Christ alone. Now back to Genesis chapter
three, verse eight. And they heard the
voice of the Lord God walking. Now I don't have any doubt that
that is a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the voice
of God, and He's the one who was walking in the cool of the
day. And they heard the voice of the
Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam
and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God
among the trees of the garden. Verse 21, we looked at Genesis
3 several weeks ago, but I think without one message on verse
21, we're not getting a complete look at Genesis chapter 3. The
Lord God made these coats of skins. He had to slay an animal,
it was the Lord Jesus Christ who did it, and you can't help
but think the Lord knew that this typified Him. He knew this
is what he was going to do. And here he is in time slaying
that lamb and making this clothing, and he covered Adam and Eve with
it. He didn't just hand it to them
to put it on. Scripture says he's the one who clothed them.
And if you and I are ever clothed, he's gonna be the one that clothes
us. You and I can't even get the clothes on. It's got to be
something he does. You see, salvation is of the
Lord. Now, this is a story that really
never had a beginning. In Revelation 13, verse eight,
Christ is called the Lamb slain. The Lamb having been slain. Not the Lamb who would be slain,
but the Lamb having been slain. from the foundation of the world. Before there was a star, before
there was a creation of any physical universe, Christ was the Lamb
having been slain before the foundation of the world. Now this is the eternal story.
Never had a beginning. Isn't that glorious? Never had
a beginning. Before the fall, The provision
for the fall had already been made before there was a sinner. There was a savior. There are so many implications
to that. The first of which is worship. Worship. When I hear that, when
I see that, when I think of that, all I want to do is bow down
and worship. You see, you will only worship
a sovereign, one who is in control and has controlled everything. And our response to this is worship. 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 lamb being slain. Everything is for this, the lamb
being slain. Now, Charles Spurgeon said, that's
not what makes it right. But Charles Spurgeon said, if
we limited our preaching to the cross of Christ, and never spoke
of any other subject, it would be a widening rather than a narrowing
of our ministry. Now, that's a good statement,
and it can be verified from Scripture. Paul said in I Corinthians 2,
verse 2, listen real Paul said, I determined not to know anything
among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Now, have you
ever yet, have I ever yet seen the glory of this message that
I'm not even interested in anything else? Save Jesus Christ and him
crucified. Paul said this under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. This determination he had with
the church of Corinth. I've determined not to know anything
among you. Save Jesus Christ and him crucified. As the Lord God slew that lamb,
as the Lord Jesus Christ slew that lamb, he knew that some
4,000 years later, that he would be the lamb slain. Having been
slain from the foundation of the world, this is when it was
going to happen in time. Now, when Noah got off the ark,
this is in Genesis chapter eight, this is the next big event after
the, you know, in the sequence of events in Genesis, when Noah
got off the ark, what is the first thing he did? He sacrificed every clean animal. There was a sacrifice made. And
the scripture says that it was a sweet smelling savor to God. I want you to think about this. He flew those animals and the
smell came up to God. And the scripture said it was
a sweet smelling savor. Oh, what an aroma. God smelled
this and he found such satisfaction in the smell of this sacrifice. Now somebody thinks that seems
so primitive. Blood shedding to appease an
angry God? That seems so primitive. Oh,
I hope by the end of this message, you're gonna see this as altogether
glorious. How God could see this as a sweet smelling savor. When Abraham first called upon
the name of the Lord in Genesis chapter 12, the scripture says,
in calling on his name, he built an altar for sacrifice. You see, you can't Everybody
in here? Everybody out of here? You can't
call upon the name of the Lord without some understanding that
God is only known through the sacrifice. God is only worshiped
through the sacrifice. We can't come into God's presence
apart from the sacrifice. And Abraham understood this.
When he called upon the name of the Lord, He built an altar
for sacrifice. Every time he called upon the
name of the Lord, he was building an altar for sacrifice. Now, toward the end of Abraham's
life, I think most of us are familiar with his story. Toward
the end of Abraham's life, he was called upon by God to sacrifice
his son. Most of you are familiar with
that. Take now your son, your only son, offer him up as a burnt
offering to me. on a mouth that I shall tell
thee of." It's a famous story. It's always told in Sunday school.
And people, you know, think about, well, how could Abraham do this?
Well, let's just forget that for a second. God provided a
substitute. Remember the ram? But I want
you to look at a passage, look at Genesis 22 with me. This is when they found, when
they arrived at the Mount that God told Abraham to sacrifice
his son, verse four. Then on the third day, Abraham
lifted, this is verse four, Genesis 22. And on the third day, Abraham
lifted up his eyes and saw the place afar off. 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 that
tells me right there that Abraham knew God was gonna raise his
son from the dead. He tells them we're gonna, he knew in his own
mind he'd already killed him. And he tells it because he knew
God's promise had come for the Messiah was gonna come through
this land. And he said, we're gonna come back to you. He knew
even then that God would raise him from the dead if he did kill
him. Now let's go and read him. And Abraham took the wood of
the burnt offering and laid it upon Isaac, his son, 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 he said, my father.
And he said, here am I, my son. And he said, behold the fire
and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering? Every message we hear, this question
should be asked. Where is the lamb? If the foundation of that message
is not the Lamb of God, it's not a gospel message. Where is
the Lamb? Whatever I'm hearing, whatever
I'm preaching, where is the Lamb? Now you can't take that too far.
Verse eight, and Abraham said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. Here are these words. There's nothing that you can
provide that God would accept. But here is the gospel. God provides
the lamb. Now he will only accept what
he provides. Do you hear that? He will only
accept what he provides and everything he requires, he provides. God will provide himself. Oh, I'm so thankful. Everything
God requires of me, he provides in the land. will provide for
himself, for him to do anything for me or you. He had to first
do something for himself. You see, he's a just God. He
can't just up and sweep sin under the carpet. He had to do something
for himself. He called himself a just God
and a savior. He made the way for himself to be just and yet
justify the ungodly. God provides for himself, and
here is the amazing thing. God provides himself as the Lamb. God provides himself as the Lamb. Now, we've seen the Lamb in God's
purpose, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Now see God's provision. God provides himself, the Lamb,
as the Lamb for the burnt offering. Now, some 400 years later, the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the children of Israel,
have gone into Egyptian bondage, just like God said they would
in Genesis chapter 15. He said this was going to happen.
Indeed, everything God says happens will happen. I thought it was
interesting. the religious thing this morning
in the paper, and the guy talked about Pat Robertson making a
prophecy about what was going to take place. And he said, maybe
it'll happen. He said, now, I know if you Google it, you'll find
out that most of his prophecies didn't take place. And I thought,
any time a prophecy doesn't take place, it wasn't a prophecy in
the first place. I mean, but God made this prophecy that the
children of Israel would be in Egypt. for 400 years, a nation
of slaves, and then the Lord was going to bring them out.
And we read of the 10 plagues. There was the river turned to
blood. There was the plague of frogs,
of lice, of flies, of the disease on the cattle, of the boils.
The plague of the hail, the locusts, the darkness that might be felt. And you know the scripture says
the Lord hardened his heart every time. He sent these horrible
plagues and then he hardened Pharaoh's heart. Somebody says,
does God do that? Sure he does. Sure he does. He's God. Somebody
says, well, how can that be? Well, it is. That's all I know
how to say. It is. God rules, reigns, and
is in control. And he hardened the hearts of
the Egyptians and Pharaoh, so they would not let the children
of Israel go. And then we have the 10th plague.
The 10th plague. God said, I'm gonna pass through
the land and kill all the firstborn. But you take a lamb, a lamb,
this typifies the lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
The lamb slain in the Garden of Eden. The lamb of God's providing
in Genesis 22, you take a lamb without spot and without blemish. Speaking of the perfection of
the Lord Jesus Christ, his perfect life, he never sinned. He worked
out a perfect righteousness before God. You take that lamb and you
slay it. And you put the blood over the
doorposts. And God makes this statement.
He said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Now, three questions. Who had to see the blood? God said, when I see the blood,
that's all that's needed, is for God to see it. What was God
looking for? When I see the blood. Not when I see your confession
of sin, not when I see your faith and your repentance and your
remorse over your sin and your efforts to try to not commit
any more sins. He didn't say anything like that.
He said, when I see the blood, that's the one thing God was
looking for, the blood. Third question, what will he
do? When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. What if somebody that very day
in one of those houses had committed a sin that was so shameful it
couldn't even be mentioned? And they were in one of those
houses with the blood over the door. What about them? God said,
when I see the blood, I will pass over you. You see, the blood
of Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. Now this speaks of the decease
that he should accomplish. Now this is the ground of our
salvation. When I see the blood, not when you see it, when I see
it. When I see the blood, not when I see your efforts or your
sins, when I see the blood. The result, I will pass over
you. Now, when God gave the law and
the ceremonies and the sacrifices, we read in Exodus chapter 29,
verse 39, that there was a lamb to be offered every morning and
every evening, every day of the year, year by year, continually. Every day began with what? The
sacrifice of the lamb. Every day ended with what? The
sacrifice of the Lamb. Everything in our day-by-day
experience begins and ends with the blood of the Lamb of God. And that's a reminder to us at
all times in our experience, Christ is all. in our salvation,
the blood of the Lamb of God. This is what this says. It says
that Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and
the end, the first and the last. Here's my experience. Here's
every believer's experience. Everything is in the Lamb of
God, having been slain from the foundation of the world. And
then there's Isaiah's famous prophecy in Isaiah 53. Would
you turn with me there for a moment? This is the great chapter with
regard to the Lamb of God. Verse six. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have 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's brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. Now, here we're having the lamb
not defending himself. He did not defend himself. Now, if I accuse you of something
you did not do, and you know you didn't do it, what are you
gonna do? You're gonna defend yourself. That's not right. I didn't do that. You're gonna
open your mouth. I'm gonna open my, you accused me of something
I didn't do. I'm gonna defend myself. Why did the Lord not
defend himself? Why did he open not his mouth? There's only one reason, because
he's guilty. That's why he didn't defend himself.
You see, when the sins of the elect became his sins, He was guilty before God and
he knew it. That's why he didn't defend himself. Guilty as charged. Now this is the reality and power
of the gospel of Christ's substitutionary death. Though he never sinned
in and of himself, when my sin became his sin, he actually became
guilty of the commission of those sins and he didn't open his mouth,
guilty as charged. This lets us know why the Lamb
of God was dying. My sin actually became his sin,
and he became guilty of the commission of that sin. Now, some 700 years
later, three years before the actual slaying of the Lamb of
God, We hear what John the Baptist cried out, behold, the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world. Now, I love that
statement that he taketh away the sin of the world. John said
in 1 John 3 verse 5, he was manifested to take away our sins. And in him is no sin. Now I wrote down in my notes,
all your sins can be taken away. And you know what I did? I marked
it out. I'm not saying to anybody your
sins can be taken away. If you're in Christ, your sins
are taken away. You have no sin. Before God,
you stand without guilt because the Lamb of God takes away the
sin of the world. Three years after John's cry, We have the Lamb slain. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world, the Lamb typified for all these centuries in the
Old Testament. He is now nailed to a cross. The Lamb slain. Father, forgive them. And everybody he prayed for was
forgiven. Woman, behold thy son. Then he said to John, behold
your mother. Oh, he takes care of all needs as the lamb slain. He said to that thief today,
thou shalt be with me in paradise. He said, from the darkness, my
God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He said, I thirst. He said, it is finished. And he said, Father, into thy
hands I commend my spirit. And he gave permission to death
to come and take him. Now, the moment he died, the
Lamb of God, the sins of all of his people were taken away. I want to read a passage of scripture
from Hebrews chapter nine. You can turn there if you want,
beginning 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? HAVING OBTAINED ETERNAL REDEMPTION
FOR US. For if the blood of bulls and
of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctify through the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall
the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself
without spot to God. Purge your conscience from dead
works, thinking your works can have anything to do with pleasing
God. Purge your conscience from that to serve the living God. Revelation five, would you turn
there? Now revelation, the book of revelation
is a series of seven revelations given from different points of
view and revelation chapter five. We have the end toward the beginning
of the book. It shows it several different
times, but look at this revelation chapter five. And I saw on the
right hand of him that sat on the throne, a book. written within
and on the backside, sealed with seven seals. Written front and
back, nothing can be added to it. The decree of God, everything
God has purposed is in this book. This book is a whole lot older
than the Bible. This is the eternal purpose of God. Well, I can't
say that because the Bible is the eternal word of God, but
mystery. Well, let's go on reading. And
I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice. I reckon the
only kind of angel there is is a strong angel. But this strong
angel proclaimed with a loud voice, who is worthy to open
the book and to loose the seals thereof? And no man, not Paul,
not Peter, not John, not Moses, not David, not Isaiah, not Daniel,
not Joseph, no man in heaven nor on earth Neither under the
earth was able to open the book, neither to look thereon, and
I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read
the book, neither to look thereon. And one of the elders said 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 four beasts, in the midst
of the elders, stood a lamb as it had been slain. This lion
of the tribe of Judah is nobody less than the Lamb of God. There stood a lamb as it had
been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, 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. He came
as the equal to the divine majesty and took the book. I love to think of that. He took. He didn't grovel and ask for
it and say, please give it to me. 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 the four and 20 elders fell down
before the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden
vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And
they sang a new song. Now, when Aubrey was a little
girl, She would begin to sing, maybe some of you have heard
it, This is the Song that Never Ends. It goes on and on, my friend.
Somebody started playing it without even knowing it, This is the
Song that Never Ends, and then she'd start again. And she would
start again, and I would be getting so annoyed and irritated. I tried
to act sweet, but it got under my skin, just the way she sang
it. And she knew it, that's why she did it. This is the song that never ends. And it's always new. It's always powerful. It's always
fresh. They sang a new song saying thou
art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for
thou was slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation and thou 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 sang with a loud voice, worthy is
the Lamb that was slain. That is the eternal song. Now where do I come in, in all
this? That's a legitimate question.
Where do I come, where do I fit in this? Where do you fit in
this? Paul expressed it in Galatians chapter two, verse 20. Remember,
we're talking about the lamb slain. He said, I am crucified
with Christ. That's where I fit in. I am crucified
with Christ. When he went to the tree, I did
too. Nevertheless, I live. You see, when Christ was raised
from the dead, I was raised from the dead. I live. Yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. It's not me living. I know that
any spiritual life that I have is Christ living in me. Christ
is the author of it. He's the cause of it. He's the
life of it. Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God. Notice he
didn't say, I live by faith in the Son of God. He said, I live
by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself
for me. I have entitled this message
the whole counsel of God. And this is, in fact, the whole
counsel of God. So much so that Paul said, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ. By whom? The world is crucified
unto me and I unto the world. The whole counsel of God. Let's pray. Lord, I ask, I pray that we might
all be united in this request that we might be enabled to say
with Paul, God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, allow us to behold the
Lamb of God. In his blessed name we pray,
amen. The wind come and leave soon.