It's indeed a joy again to be with you here this evening, and we just are very appreciative of those of you who have taken the time to come this evening to these meetings. And we certainly do carry an appreciation for your prayers. And I didn't say anything about this last night, but you know, I think we left here in 1972 as a young boy of 16. And I think this makes 50 years. And somehow or another that dates me, but I don't feel that old. I don't think so. Maybe I act that old sometimes. But I would just like to say that somehow or another coming here just felt a little bit like I was coming back to my roots. And there's a certain pleasure that has come with that, a certain blessing that has come with that. I can get so lost in this Holmes County area, and I actually have a map that I have on the car so that I can figure out where I'm at while I'm here. But I just want to say it's a pleasure to be here, and we certainly do look forward to meeting more of you as time goes along here. How many children are here? Can I see your hands? Pop them up high. Okay. All right, thank you so much for coming. Tonight we want to find, see if we can find Henry. Last evening, all of a sudden, when they went to look for Henry, he wasn't in his crib. You remember that. Okay, let's see if we can find Henry. Margaret had gone for just a little bit, and when she came back, Henry was gone. The musicians had been having that party and everybody was having a grand time down in the basement. But when they heard that Henry was gone, the musicians up, packed their bags and out the door and never even asked to be paid for what they'd done. Margaret searched room to room. The rest of the servants, likewise, they went from one room to the other, searched the castle from the bottom to the top, looking everywhere they could think where a child might be, and Henry was nowhere that they could see. Margaret became more and more distressed, to the point that she was just almost like ready to fade, it seemed like. The servants in desperation had gathered finally in the room where Henry had been and they were there wailing and wringing their hands and trying to figure out what to do when all of a sudden the door opens. And in walks Henry's mother, Adele. She knew immediately something was wrong. She walked over to the crib and there was nobody in the crib. As she looked around, Nobody was holding Henry. And when she discovered that Henry had disappeared, she went into throes of despair. She almost fainted. In fact, they caught her lest she would have fallen to the ground. She was desperate to know what had happened to her son Henry. When she discovered that it had only been a little while since Henry was gone, she sent the servants out of the house and down the roads. They were going down every road that they could think of and every street that they could think of. They were looking for Henry. Margaret was desperate and everyone that would come back, she would watch them from a distance to see if there was any word. When she would see them come empty-handed, she would just be more and more desperate. Finally, the last one had come back and no one had seen anything of Henry. And Margaret was so desperate and she threw herself down in contrition to Adele and plead for forgiveness. And Adele, seeing her despair and her sorrow, gladly forgave her. But a day or so later, as Margaret had become so quiet, just walked around like a shadow. A day or so later, all of a sudden, Margaret disappeared and no one knew where she'd go. But what had actually happened to Henry? There was a lady, she was actually a gypsy, dark, black hair, that had been hanging around the castle and been spying on the castle for days. She'd been looking for an opportunity to sneak into that castle. And she had connived with the head musician that he would somehow get his way into that castle with the hopes that while they were having a party, she could also make her way in. And she'd been gliding around the castle there at times trying to stay out of sight, but spying around. And the time came when those musicians were in the basement, George, the same boy that had pled to Margaret to come downstairs and enjoy the music and leave her charge, had carelessly left one of the gates in the back unlatched. She snuck in the gate, into the castle, and up into Henry's room, snatched the child, and a few things that she could, valuables that she could pick up along the way that were small that she could carry, and out, and out through the gate, and out into the forest. She had prepared well. She was working for a gang of robbers. She was their cook. And for a long time they had been looking for some child that they could snatch, that they could have as a hostage. in the event that they would ever get caught, that they could be safe because, say, we have this child, and if you harm us, we will kill this child. She had prepared well. On her route that she proposed to take back to the cave where the robbers were, along the route she had placed food parcels here and there. And as she had gone into the castle, she slipped out into the place where she had well prepared to hide. And there she had gone with Henry and was there while they were searching and they never found her. Night fell and she took Henry and she walked basically all night to the next place where she would wait for the day. At night she traveled, days she rested. until she came into the mountains. Up into the mountains she went, up into a place partway up the mountain, quite rugged, where there was an outcropping of rocks and an overgrowth of bushes and brush. She pushed herself through the brush, and in behind and through there, there was a spot she knew And as she went down into an old opening, into a place where there was a gate, she plucked out the key, opened the gate. It was an entrance to an old mine that had been forgotten and had been there for years, and it was the lair of the robbers. There's where she went with Henry. When the robbers saw her come, and that she had this child and they found out that this was the child of Frederick Einsfeld. They were, you, you really did a good job. They were really, really happy because now they thought they would be safe. Come back tomorrow night. We'll tell you more about what happens with Henry. Could we have a song? sing the song Lord Speak to Me. We can sing this as a prayer. Lord speak to me that I may speak of thy tones as thou hast taught, so let My title for this evening is The Lamb. Open your Bibles to Romans 3, if you will. Very familiar scripture in verse 23. We begin here, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. It's a very simple, very basic truth that every one of us needs to be aware of and needs to acquaint ourselves with, realizing, in fact, this is a reality. We go to chapter 6 of the same book, and again in verse 23, we have this truth, powerful truth. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. The wages of sin is death, All have sinned, and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Last night, we spoke about the revelation of Jesus Christ. Tonight, we want to speak about Jesus Christ again, but in a different way. We want to bring to bear tonight, we want to trace the Lamb from the beginning in the book of Genesis all the way back into the book of Revelation. The Lamb. And that start, just start in the book of Genesis, would you please? Turn with me to Genesis chapter one, we lay a basis, which you probably are all aware and have the basis already, but I just wanna bring it to bear again tonight. Chapter one, chapter two, I'm sorry of Genesis, in verse 15, and the Lord God took the man that put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord commanded the man saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die. Adam and Eve in the garden, that would be considered a paradise. And paradise is found only three times in scripture. And this garden is like a nun to a paradise. And man was kicked out of paradise because of his disobedience. But Adam and Eve here were given a command. There was only one negative command. You could eat of every tree in the garden, but of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil, You shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat of it, you're gonna die. Let's go to chapter three. We had, last night we spoke of the conflict. Tonight again, we're gonna look at the conflict. God says, you shall not eat of it, in the day you eat thereof, you shall die. Chapter three, beginning in verse one. Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field, which the Lord God had made. And he said unto a woman, yea, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, we shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die. Eve gives us even more information than we have in chapter 2. She said, God said don't even touch it. Now I don't know what you would have done if you would have been given a command like that. Now I'm a man that likes to look for solutions and probably if it hadn't been for the command you should not touch it I'd have taken a chainsaw and cut that thing down and got it out of my way. So I wouldn't have a mess with that temptation of having that tree there. It says it's right in the middle of the garden. But God said, evidently, he says this, you should not even touch it. So there was nothing to do but leave it there and walk around it. It was right in the middle of the garden, it says. In the midst of the garden. And so, listen what we go on here. Verse four, and the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die. What did God say? The day you eat thereof, you shall die. What did Satan say? You shall not surely die. For God does know that in the day ye eat thereof, your eyes shall be opened and you shall be as God's, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw of the tree was good for food, and it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit to rove, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat. The eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. Here we are brought to bear with one of the things that every one of us needs to come and bring to our attention and be aware of. God has given you the opportunity to choose. God has given you a choice. And it was his pleasure to allow man to choose. And that's what sets man apart from much of the rest of creation. Somehow or another, God decided that He would rather be served with someone that would voluntarily choose to serve Him than to be served with someone that had no other choice. Every one of us tonight, we talked last night how that Satan is wanting to get ahold of you so he can guide your destination. And that's exactly what Satan was wanting to do here. He was wanting to, he brought the temptation there. And he brought to bear options that did not exist as far as God was, that were not to be considered as far as God was concerned. God said, you shall not eat of it. And he put something with it. Said, if you eat thereof, you're going to die. Let me ask you the question tonight. What died? What died when men sinned? I don't have a clear answer for that. But I believe there was a spiritual death. Spiritual death. Man is body, soul, and spirit. The function of the soul of man, mind, will, and emotion continues on. What happens to the spirit of man at the point when man chose to disobey God? I believe there was a disconnect. Up to that point, we have in this passage in the book of Genesis that God was coming, and he was talking to the man and the woman, it seems like, as friends in the garden. But when God came after they had sinned, Adam and Eve were hid, and they heard God coming through the garden, and they were hiding. God knew something had changed. something had changed. Something had changed in man and woman. They had been naked, they didn't even realize it. They were in that garden as God had wanted them to be, but suddenly there was a change and they wanted to hide. I don't know if you've ever tried to sew leaves together or not. Now this was the Garden of Eden. I don't think they had leaves like this. I figured they had leaves like this. But I still say it'd be a pretty flimsy thing to wear. And I have no clue how they sewed them together. But they made themselves garments of fig leaves somehow or another because they wanted to hide. What makes them wanted to hide? There was guilt. And my friends, tonight, every one of us at some time in our life, as we come to the age of accountability, we suddenly realize there's a measure of guilt that we suddenly carry with us because of the sin that we have done. As by sin, as by one man's sin came, Book of Romans tells us in chapter five and verse 12. So death passed upon all men, for they'd all have sinned. So man begins to carry guilt. You don't have to have a child where a child doesn't have to be very long until there is a sense of guilt that comes when they disobey their parents or whatever it might be. They begin to get a sense of guilt. And it ought to be that way. I believe that All children, that's a healthy thing. If they learn that feeling of guilt and they wanna do something with that guilt. But knowing you are guilty and that you have sinned is not enough. We'll get to more of that later. In chapter three, verse 21. Unto Adam also and his wife did the Lord God make coats of skin and clothed them." You see, what they had done was not good enough for God. And the reason I point to this scripture is we don't have the whole story. I think God pulled them aside and said, You said, and for the first time, I think they witnessed death. Death. Was it a lamb? Was it a heifer? Steer? I don't know. But somewhere God got skins and clothed them. For the first time, I think, They witnessed the writhing of a beast as it died. It doesn't say that. Please, bear with me, I'm just letting my mind run. I think this was where they became aware that without blood, there is no remission of sin. Let's read on in chapter, in verse 22. This is what he says. And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil. And now lest he put forth his hand and take also 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 placed him at the east of the garden of Eden. So he drove out the man, and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life." Notice what happens here. This time, God is taking no chance. If I understand it right, up to this point, they could have been eating from the tree of life. But now, they had eaten from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and God is now saying, you're not going to eat from the tree of life. Absolutely not. Satan would have loved to have them eat from the tree of life, and sin would have been immortalized. That's the way I understand it. But God didn't want it to be and he wasn't going to take any chance this time. And he puts the cherub in there with a sword that turns every way. There is no way anybody is going to come back to that tree of life and get a hold of any of that fruit without God's permission. That's why we have the New Testament scripture in John chapter 14 and verse 6, where Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. The tree of life disappears here in the Garden of Eden. We do not find the tree of life again in this way. Yes, Proverbs talks about wisdom being a tree of life, but that's different. In the book of Revelation in chapter 1, no, chapter 2, I believe it is. He just turned to it very quickly. Revelation chapter 2 in verse 7. This is what he says. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God. The tree of life. We have it in the Garden of Eden. We lose it. We find it back all the way back in the book of Revelation. And then we go to Revelation chapter 22. Revelation chapter 22. In verse 12, 13, and 14. Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to give every man according to his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. I submit to you today that from Revelation, from Genesis chapter 3 all the way to Revelation, man has been searching for a way to get back to the tree of life. And there is only one way back to the tree of life, we've already referred to that, by the shedding of blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is absolutely no remission of sin. And you find that scripture in the book of Hebrews in chapter nine in verse 22. The last part where he said, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. Why, my friends, is blood so important? I don't like the thing of, I don't like to see blood. I sure don't like seeing my own. When I cut myself and the blood comes out, you just know it's not a good plan. It's not the way it ought to be, right? We don't like to see blood. And certainly when it gets old and has been out a while, it starts to smell, and it smells really, really bad. So what is there about blood? Why is blood so important? If we go to the book of Leviticus chapter 17, it tells us why blood is so important. In verse 11, for the life of the flesh is in the blood. And I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. Why is blood so important in the redemption plan of man? Why is blood needed? Because life is in the blood. Very interesting to notice in the book of Luke. After Jesus had died, and his disciples saw him again, and he puts out his hands, they were afraid. He said, he's a spirit. And he says, touch me and see. For the spirit hath not flesh and what? Bones. Didn't say flesh and blood. He'd given his blood. He said, spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have. You see the secret of redemption lay in the pure, spotless, sinless blood of the Lamb. Turn with me to Genesis chapter 22, will you? Beautiful passage here. Beautiful in a lot of ways, heart-rending in another. You know the story well. God told Abraham to take his son Isaac up into the mountain and to offer up his son. And here we have it in chapter 22 in verse 7. And Isaac spake unto Abraham his father and said, my father. And he said, here am I, my son. I love to hear that relationship between father and son. And he said, behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering? And Abram said, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering. So they went, both of them, together. And they came to a place which God had told them of. And Abram built an altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac, his son, and laid him on the altar upon the wood. And he raised the knife and was ready to slay his son. When there was a voice from heaven and said, Abram, stop. And he looked behind him, and we have it in verse 13. And Abram lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns. And Abram went and took the ram and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son. What I want to pick out of this passage is this. There are some words that Isaac said that echoed all the way down through the Old Testament. Where is the Lamb? Where is the Lamb? As men sinned, and they were seeking to do something with their guilt, seeking to look for a way away from their guilt and for freedom. Over and over, they were asking, where's the lamb? Gotta have a lamb. Here in this passage in Genesis chapter 22, it took a lamb for a man. Says that ram that was there was there instead of Isaac. And he offered up the ram instead of Isaac. There needed to be a ram, a lamb for a man. But as you follow on into the scriptures, let's look at the lamb a bit more. Let's go to the book of Exodus in chapter 12. And here again, we find the lamb. Exodus chapter 12. Now we're just skipping along here because we don't have time to go into the details. In verse three, The Lord gave people, I'm sorry, chapter 12, verse three, speak unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the tenth day of this month, they shall take to every man a lamb according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for a house. Here we have a bigger picture. Israel was down in Egypt. They had been slaves. They were in dire straits. Pharaoh did not know God. In fact, he mocked God. Who is the Lord that I should listen to him? I know not the Lord. Indeed, he didn't. But now Israel was at the place God was going to deliver them. And he tells them something they had never done before. He says, take a lamb. Separate that lamb. Make sure it is a perfect lamb. Take that lamb for your household. And if your household is too small to eat the whole lamb, bring someone else there. Take the lamb cut the throat, catch the blood, take the hyssop, up the sides of the post, up the side, up along the top and down the sides, get into the house, stay in the house, eat the lamb inside the house, carry there the death angels coming. And that night as the death angel came, the Bible says, when I see the blood, I will pass over. So here we have a lamb for a house. Lamb for a man, a lamb for a house. But we have yet another dimension if you go back, forward, further, back further, whichever way, and to the book of Leviticus in chapter 16. We have now the time when there was a sacrificial system set up for the children of Israel. And once a year, there was a time when the priest was to go into the holiest of all. And he would take the blood of a lamb, and he would take it into that holy place, and he would sprinkle it there around the mercy seat, which was where the Ark of the Covenant was. And on the center of the mercy seat between the cherubims was the dwelling place of the Spirit of God. And that priest, when he would go into that place, he had to be very careful. Because to do everything just right, God wanted it done just right. Verse 15, 16 and 17 of this passage. Thou shalt kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people and bring his blood within the veil and do with the blood as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat and before the mercy seat and he shall make us an atonement for for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, because of the transgression in all their sins. And so shall they do for the tabernacle of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out and have made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel. So now you have land for a man, land for a house. Now you have a land for the nation, for the nation of Israel. God had provided a route and a way, not only for them individually, not only for them as a house, but also as a collective nation. They were God's chosen people. And he wanted them to remember that. And once a year, they were to bring that blood into the holiest place, in the very presence of the Shekinah glory, where the Holy Spirit was resting. And they were to put the blood right there upon that place, as a remembrance of the sacrifice that it was going to take for the nation of Israel to call them apart as a separated people, separated under God. What a blessing to think about that. Will you please turn with me to Joshua chapter 7. And I want to look at something very, very sobering here. Tremendously sobering. You know the story. We're not going to go into details. Let's just read. Achan had sinned. You know that, you know the story. But he didn't confess. Until they went out to Ai, they tried to fight Ai and 36 men were killed and they came back and Joshua was distressed beyond description. And he threw himself on the ground and the angel of the Lord came and said, get up. What are you doing on your face? Now's not the time to pray, now's the time to get rid of sin. You got problems in the camp. Go find the sin, get rid of the sin in the camp. Well, I'm sure that was a shock to Joshua. He trusted his people. I don't think he'd expected any of them to take anything out of that camp, out of Jericho. Jericho was an awful place of idolatry, and that's why God asked them to destroy everything that was there. Everything burnt, except those things that wouldn't burn, that were to be brought before God. But Achan had seen there something he wanted, and I don't know what he thought he was going to do with it, because he had no place to go with it. He took it home and he buried it in his tent. And so God says, well, you bring the child of Israel, and we're going to cast lots. And they cast lots, and they got the tribe, and went all the way down to the family, the grandparents, the clan, the whole works, right down to Achan's family. No way out. He had no way to deny it. God had chosen him very clearly in the presence of the congregation. You're the one that has sinned and listen to this confession. You cannot hardly improve on this confession. Verse 21, when I saw, well, verse 20, indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done. When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, 200 shekels of silver and a wedge of gold of 50 shekels weight, then I coveted them, took them and behold their head in the earth in the midst of my tent and the silver under it. What a complete confession. The Bible says in the book of Proverbs chapter 28, I believe it in verse 13. He that covereth his sin shall not prosper. Whoso confesses and forsaketh them shall have mercy. A could confess. Why was there no mercy? The question I ask is, where was the lamb? Could Achan have brought the lamb? I don't have that answer. There's no record that he attempted to bring a lamb. Could he have brought a lamb? Can you imagine the heartbreak? Of that grandfather, we don't read anything of Achan's wife. It talks about his children and Achan being taken out and stoned and his animals and everything. Taken out and stoned. Can you imagine? As they're gathering the family and taking them down to the Valley of Acre. And the grandparents and everybody's got to be there. And the stones begin to fly. And the children as they're clinging to their dad. Daddy, grandpa was throwing a rock at me. Terrible time. It's what had to happen. Where was the lamb? They all died. They were burned and a great heap of stones put over the top. And I suppose those from AI and those around were wondering what's going on in the camp of Israel. There was death that day. Turn to James chapter one. What Achan confessed is exactly what happens in the heart of man today. The process he defined it so well in the Old Testament there, it almost sounds like what we read here in the book of James in chapter one here, beginning in verse 14. But every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lusts and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, It bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. And then we have this warning. Do not err, my beloved brethren. That word err means don't roam. Be careful with how you live. My friends, tonight, every one of us, this process, we're prone to this process. Why do we sin? Some people would like to say, well, the devil made me do it. I don't know who, we all look to blame someone when something goes wrong or we've done something wrong. But my friends, what we need to be aware of is what he says here. Every man is tempted when he's drawn away of his own lusts and enticed. We are our own worst enemy. We need to be aware that inside our heart, the inclination of our heart to do wrong is there. Somehow or another, Satan makes sin appeal to the point that we think sin is going to be fun. And I'm going to tell you something. Don't kid yourself. There are times when sin is fun. But when it's done, the fun is gone. It'll take you where you never meant to go, never planned to go, and you won't know the end of it. But the end thereof is the way of death, the Bible says. So my friends, tonight, the process is clearly here. And the process is something that every one of us needs to be aware because we'll walk right into it, walk right down that same path. We're led away of our own lust, we're enticed after temptation. Then when lust has conceived, it bringeth forth sin. Sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. The wages of sin is death! But my friends, there wasn't a lamb for Achan. And I puzzle with that over and over again when I read that account. But let me tell you tonight, you're under the sound of my voice. There is a lamb available for you tonight. Every one of us tonight There is a lamb here. Let's look at that lamb. Let's turn to John chapter 1. John chapter 1. Powerful word here. Let's just read verse 29. It's the only verse I plan to read in this passage. Could read more. We got time running here. The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the, say it together, world. Not a lamb for a man, not a lamb for a house, not even a lamb for a nation, but a lamb for the world. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. Tonight, we have the lamb for the world. Look up tonight and see Jesus. We pointed to him last night, but tonight I want you to look at him in a different way. I want you to see him as the lamb. I want you to walk with me to the cross where Jesus went. And as he went there, he went there willingly. He gave his life. We're gonna talk more about that here in just a sec, just a few minutes. And when he got onto that cross, the Bible tells us in the book of Luke, the first words out of his mouth, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. The message of forgiveness, right there. His message, that's what he came. He was bringing to man's attention, I'm up here, I'm dying, but I'm forgiving. I'm forgiving. The sins of man have put Jesus on the cross. And every one of us have added to that issue. Every one of us is a part of having put Jesus on that cross by virtue of the sin of mankind that has been passed down to us through the generations. We are not exempt of it. We're a part of it. That sin that nailed Jesus to the cross, We're very much a part of it. Had it been only my sin, it would have still taken the precious blood of Jesus, the sinless blood of Jesus, because there was no other sinless blood. The blood of beasts and goats could not, as the book of Hebrews says, could not take away, could not cleanse the conscience, could not clear the conscience. Only the blood of Jesus can wipe away the guilt. By the sacrificial system of the Old Testament, every year there was a remembrance of sin. By the Passover celebration, every year there was a remembrance of sin, but it did not take away the consciousness of the sin. My friends, tonight, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. And he says from the cross, Father, forgive them for they know not what they do. And then we have that beautiful exchange as that thief, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. And the Bible tells us, I believe it's in the book of Matthew, that they were both mocking Jesus. But one of them, as time went on, he began to see this is not the normal thief. There's something different. And he looks at Jesus and says, Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom. And Jesus says to him these beautiful words, today shall thou be with me in paradise. Now, I don't know that much about paradise. I could make a sermon out of that paradise issue, but that's not our subject this evening. But what did Jesus mean, today thou art with me in paradise? Where is paradise? Think about it. Great to think about. Jesus from the cross, he said, today thou shall be with me in paradise. We have then more words from Jesus, if I catch up with my notes here. We have in Matthew chapter 27 where Jesus said, And we notice here when Jesus says, Father, forgive them. That was the father-son relationship. The treasured relationship. Reminds me of the relationship of Isaac and Abraham. Dad, where's the lamb? Here's the wood. There's the fire. Where's the lamb? The relationship. Jesus had that kind of relationship with his father. And he calls him father, forgive them. But we have this cry of agony in Matthew chapter 27. Something changed. All of a sudden, he doesn't say father. He says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God, why'd you forsake me in my hour of need? He's not calling out, Father. He's saying, God, why have you forsaken me? That moment of aloneness on the cross, and it seems to me that because of the wickedness of sin and the intensity of the suffering and all that had to happen, the book of Isaiah says, he shall see the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. When Jesus said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There was that moment of separation, as I understand. God could not allow that sin, could not look upon that sin that was upon the back of Jesus. Was not Jesus' sin, but the sin was there nevertheless. And that momentary separation, it would seem, is what I'm reading from that. But we pass through the moment, and then we have, in John chapter 19, these beautiful words, where Jesus says from the cross, and I think it was with a loud voice, it is finished. The work of redemption is done. The blood has flowed. The book of Luke gives us this picture and gives us the last words. It tells us how the centurion was there and Jesus cried with a loud voice. I think that centurion nearly came out of his boots. This man was supposed to be dying. It tells us he cried with a loud voice. You see, they were used to seeing men die and those guys weren't crying with a loud voice. They were weak. They were dying. They were just about finished. This man shouts, it is finished! The job of that centurion was to watch that man. He had the right to decide when that man would die. He had the right to determine, okay, it's long enough, we're gonna take that sword and spear and pierce his side and get it done with. Or we're gonna break his legs and it's gonna be finished. He had the right to decide that. As I understand, that was part of his responsibility, to oversee the death of that man. This was different. He had no say. This loud voice comes and then follows the words, the relationship is restored. Father, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit. And he bows his head and dies. Is it any wonder that the centurion said, truly, This was the Son of God. Truly, this was the Son of God. Closing, turn with me to 1 John, chapter 1, verse 9. I'm sorry, we're not quite ready to close here. If we confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What a promise. And every one of us tonight have that opportunity. But now, in the closing moments here, turn with me to Revelation chapter 5. We've looked at the Lamb in the Old Testament. We've looked at the cry of the Old Testament. Where is the Lamb? We've looked at the message of the new dispensation. Behold, the Lamb. But I want to look at the Lamb at the end. Revelation chapter five, beginning to read in verse 11. saying, and I beheld and heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and the elders, and the number of them was of 10,000 times 10,000, and thousands of thousands, 100 million and millions more, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which was in heaven on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever." My friend, the message of eternity. Worthy is the Lamb. Message of the Old Testament. Where is the Lamb? Looking for the Lamb. Message of our day. Behold the Lamb. You can present the Lamb to any person alive upon the face of the world today. Where is the Lamb? Behold the Lamb, my friends. We found the Lamb. The Lamb for the world. You can kind freedom. All have sin. But God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life. We can find life here and now through the blood of Jesus Christ. And when we get to glory, we're not going to be done talking about the Lamb. Because the theme, as I see in Revelation chapter 5, worthy is the Lamb. My friends, tonight, every one of us needs to make a decision concerning the Lamb. The Lamb is there for you. The Lamb is there for me. But it's only going to do us good if we accept the Lamb as the redemption for my sins. And I say, I have sinned. I am guilty. I am sorry. I repent. And I confess Jesus as the only way back to the tree of life. The path is open to the tree of life through Jesus Christ. Let's stand for a word of prayer.