Gospel—Bob Thonney
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Like to start by reading the verse?
This evening from God's Word.
Without.
Shedding of blood.
There is no remission. Remission means forgiveness of sins.
You're gonna have your sins forgiven. It has to be on the basis of.
Shed blood.
Let's sing #34 on our hymn sheet.
Precious, precious blood of Jesus.
Shed on Calvary, shed for rebels.
And for sinners shed for me.
Nsnoise Home Nsnoise.
Red Hot Garage and the laughing out loud radiation and radiation.
All of those radiation made you do the best.
And for me.
Like to sing another hymn #14 on the hymn sheet?
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?
Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?
Have you been?
I do watch in the water all the time.
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Let's turn to First Peter, chapter one.
And we'll start reading with verse 18.
For as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things.
As silver and gold from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your Father's, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish.
And without spot, who verily, was foreordained.
Before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you.
Who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead?
And gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God.
Senior, purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren. See that you love one another with a pure heart fervently.
Being born again not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible.
By the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of men as 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.
Well, in this portion we've read there are two parts.
Verse 18 down to verse 21, we have the work of God for us.
And verse 23 to the end of the chapter, we have the work of God in us. Both are necessary, but we want to speak first of all of the work of God for us.
Because even if there was number one saved, God had to be vindicated as to the question of sin.
And he has been by the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross.
Tremendously important to understand how serious sin is in the sight of God. Sin puts a question mark on God.
Didn't he create us? And we got ourselves into such a terrible mess. God had to be vindicated as to the question of sin. And so the Lord Jesus came into this world.
And he accomplished redemption. We are not redeemed, it says herewith.
Corruptible things as silver and gold. We don't think of silver and gold as corruptible, but according to its comparative value to the blood of Christ, it's corruptible. And the blood of Christ has value that is eternal.
Tremendous to get a hold of it. How much importance people put on silver and gold. Don't know if you've heard the story, but.
I love to tell it of what took place several centuries ago in South America.
When the Spanish invaded Peru, they took captive the.
Headman of the Inca Empire at the Walpa was his name, and they knew that he was in control of a lot of silver and gold because those metals abound in the Andes mountain range.
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And so.
Finally, when they had him captive.
He made an offer to the Spanish.
That he would fill a room, and he was a fairly tall man, according to the way they tell the story. He said in this room, I think it was a fairly narrow room. I don't know how big it was exactly, but he says, I'll reach up on the wall and I'll fill this room twice with silver and once with gold if you'll give me my liberty. And so the Spanish, of course, were quite interesting.
And so they accepted and gave the order, and Ottawa gave the order to his people to fill that room twice with silver and once with gold. Of course they were glad to get all that, but after it had been paid and put into the hands of the Spanish, they strangled him to death. They didn't honor their promise.
Silver.
And gold was not enough. And you know it's not enough for anyone here.
There's only one thing that God will respect. If you want the forgiveness of your sins, it has to be.
On the basis of shed blood, and not just any shed blood.
Shed blood of an acceptable sacrifice. Remember when I was working at the hospital in downtown Chicago?
A fellow workmate and I were kinda talking about the Lord and he said, you know what? I've converted to Judaism. I used to be a Christian, now I'm a Jew.
I said, well, if you know your Jewish scriptures, you know that it says very clearly in the book of Leviticus.
That it is the blood that makes atonement for the soul. In other words, atonement is a word that means a covering.
The only thing that will cover sin from the eyes of God.
Your sin is blood, and blood of an acceptable sacrifice.
Where is your blood for your sins?
So wow, I really haven't given that any thought.
I said, well, it's pretty important that you give it some thought.
It is, friend, it is right from the beginning of time the question of blood has been very important. The first ones that sinned, of course, were Adam and Eve, and in the garden they were thrust out, and God clothed them with the skins of an animal.
So that blood had to be shed so they could be covered from their nakedness. And if you are not covered with the blood of Jesus.
You are naked in the sight of God. He can see every one of those sins you've ever committed, even those you've forgotten about. I look back at my life and I have to say most of the sins I've committed I've forgotten completely about.
God doesn't have the problem of forgetfulness. He remembers everyone and everyone must meet. It's just penalty from the hand of God. There is no way to escape that, Absolutely no way.
And so as you go down through the history of the Old Testament, you find bloodshed.
In different places. One of the times we have in the book of Exodus, when the children of Israel were captive slaves in the land of Egypt, and God was sending one plague after another so that Pharaoh would let God's people go and finally came.
The plague of the death of the first born throughout the whole land of Egypt, and since death is the wages of sin.
God could not make an exception for the children of Israel. There had to be death in their.
Homes just as well as in the Egyptian zones. But God did make a provision.
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That instead of the death of the first born, they could take a lamb on the 10th day of the first month. They took that lamb and they kept it to the 14th day. For four days that lamb was being observed. As to whether it had any defect, it was important that it be without any blemish. You know a day with God is as 1000 years and for 4000 years from.
Adam to Christ, God was observing the human race, and there was #1.
That didn't corrupt his way. Everyone was found lacking.
All were sinners, until one day.
John the Baptist was standing at a certain place and he saw Jesus coming towards him and he said, behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. There was the Lamb that could deal with the question of sin well in the land of Egypt, to go back to our story there.
On the 14th day of the month, they killed that lamb.
And caught its blood in a basin, but it wasn't enough.
That that blood be shed from that lamb and caught in the basin.
It had to be applied the blood of Christ.
Is what God is satisfied with as to the question of sin?
But it's not enough that it's been shed. It must be applied. This is what really concerns me about a a group of people like we have here today is because.
I really wonder if everyone here has really gotten the question settled on an individual basis. You must deal with this question of sin. There is no way to avoid it. You must apply.
By faith in Christ, that precious blood to your own soul, or there will be no mercy for you. That's the only grounds upon which God can forgive your sins. Absolutely no other way. And so in each household, the man of the house took that basin of blood and went outside the door and painted it on the two side post and the upper door post.
And then it says that the destroying Angel passed through the land of Egypt that night, and the only thing he was looking for was the blood on the door. When there was the blood on the door, he passed over that house. That's why it's called the Passover.
If there wasn't the blood on the door, then he went to kill the first born.
He didn't ask as he came to each house. Is this kind of nice people that live here, or are they kind of bad people? He didn't ask that question, didn't even enter his thoughts. Only one question. Is there blood on the door?
And as God looks down into this room tonight, he says, is there blood on that soul?
Has that been applied by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the only grounds upon which God can show mercy to you. There is no other way to be saved but through that shed blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tremendous, because there was blood. There was shed blood in every household of Egypt that night. In some households, it was the blood of the Lamb that sheltered that household.
From the judgment of God in other cases where they didn't believe what God had said.
It was the first born throughout the whole land of Egypt. It didn't matter whether it was the king on the throne or they captive in the dungeon. God doesn't make exceptions for your position socially. Absolutely not. You must meet God and deal with him. As to the question of sin really concerns me.
I look at young people growing up and I know you've been instructed.
In the scriptures.
But a number that have grown up in Christian homes today that I know of have turned atheist. They profess to be atheist today.
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My only conclusion is if it's true that they truly are and have no faith in God, it means that they never had any faith in God. They just pretended. Is there some pretenders out there? I don't want to point the finger at you, I don't know. But God looks down and he knows exactly where you stand and I say for your own good.
Don't be a pretender.
Be real with God. If you have doubts, we're glad to be able to talk to you. Be frank, be open. There's answers that God gives in his word, but don't be a pretender, don't fake it. Be real.
Too many are going down the broad road to destruction.
Amongst the 12 apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, one was a fake.
Nobody suspected Judas Iscariot. When Jesus said one of you will betray me, they looked at each other and said is it I? They had no clue it was Judas. He did a pretty good cover up job, but it wasn't a cover up job with God and he manifested himself.
He loved money more than he loved Jesus, and he went to his own end.
There's one of the apostles of the Lord Jesus.
In Hell tonight, in torment.
Isn't that awful to think about? And I say please.
Think seriously about this matter. Don't shove it off into the corner of your mind.
So the children of Israel were redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, the blood of the blood of the Lamb.
The Passover lamb. They weren't only redeemed by the blood of the lamb.
That was the price of redemption. But there is redemption by power too. And after they had been re protected from the judgment of God on the land of Egypt, why God took them out of that country completely out to the Red Sea and out of the Red Sea. There they were standing in front of the Red Sea, and behind them here comes Pharaoh and his hosts. On either side was the mountain.
And they were terribly afraid and they cried. If you would ask them right then, are you saved? Of course they would have said no. Look at he's coming to get us again.
Yes, they were saved from the judgment of God, but when God does the work of salvation, He does it completely. And so Moses, instructed by the Lord, lifted up his rod and over the Red Sea, and the Red Sea hearted.
And they went over on dry land to the other side, and Pharaoh and his hosts went in right after them. They thought they could get through as well.
But in the midst of the Red Sea, Moses stretched out his rod from the other side, and the waters covered them up. Pharaoh and his hosts were completely defeated, and the people were completely redeemed. Redeemed by price, redeemed by power. That's the position that you and I occupy if we have faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Not only.
Save from the judgment of God, but save from this world system we no longer form.
A part of this world system. Well, as we go through the Old Testament, we have a lot of other illustrations of the importance of the blood. Remember at the time of the dedication of the Temple, Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offerings to the Lord. 120,000 sheep and 22,000 bullocks.
Imagine the quantity of blood that flowed. Was that blood sufficient to satisfy God's holy character about the question of sin? I say, friend, it was a magnificent offering, but it was not sufficient. There was still a price to be paid. And when the Lord Jesus was here in this world.
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You know, he came and he was, as it says here, without blemish and without spot. It's wonderful to consider him because when he came into this world, he was not born.
By means of a human father, his mother being a virgin, conceived by the Holy Ghost, and through that means he was born into this world. He did not have a sin nature.
When the Angel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was going to be the mother of the Son of God, he said, That holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called.
The Son of God, he was holy at his birth. He could not sin.
He was completely free from that question and that was important because if he was going to be a sacrifice for our sins.
It was incredibly important that He be completely free from sin himself, since He had no sin. Since He never sinned, there was no need for Him to die, because the wages of sin is death. But He chose to die in His love for us. And as He comes to the end of His 33 1/2 years, He goes toward that cross. We see Him in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Praying, O my Father, if thou be willing remove this cup from me. And he sweat, as it were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. The question of sin and contact with sin was so abhorrent, abhor abhorrent to his holy character that He shrunk from it. Everything within him shrunk from that.
But in the perfection of his subjection to the will of God.
He said not my will but thine be done, and he went to the cross.
And there you know the story, the terrible story, the treatment of mankind toward the Lord Jesus. The religious people, the ones you would think that have some fear of God in them, were the ones that went up to him and spit in his face. They crowned him with thorns. They took him outside the city of Jerusalem. They nailed him to a cross.
And there the Lord Jesus hung between heaven and earth from 9:00 in the morning till 3:00 in the afternoon.
And the scripture tells us that at 12 noon.
The sun was darkened and in those three hours from 12 noon to three in the afternoon was when God dealt with Jesus about the question of sin. God had to be satisfied if He was going to extend forgiveness to you and me. There was no other way it could happen.
And Jesus bore our sins in his own body on the tree.
The full weight of divine wrath fell on him in all its fury.
For three solid hours, the waves and billows of God's judgment rolled over Jesus.
Just stop and think of it. It's way too hard for me to comprehend the.
Awfulness. The abject awfulness of those three hours of darkness.
And at the end he cried, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God forsook him so he wouldn't have to forsake you and me in a last eternity forever. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
You're sitting there without repentance in your heart. You are lost. You're going towards a lost eternity in hell. And I plead with you to get serious about the question of sin. We're getting down to the end of this world's history, at least this present age.
And the judgment that the Lord Jesus spoke about that's coming on this world.
Is the most powerful judgment this world has ever seen or ever will see.
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You know what impresses me as I travel around?
That I really believe that after the Rapture, the most awful places to have to live will be the United States of America.
Because people are pretty well armed and.
When things start going bad, they're gonna go bad. Seriously, I've often thought of it. I'd far rather be down in the jungles of South America.
Then be up here in the United States. You are here without Christ. That's what's before you. Think about it, do something about it. There's salvation tonight through the blood of Jesus that you have to make a decision.
You have to repent of your sins and trust in the Lord Jesus yourself. It's not good enough that your mom, your dad are believers. Your brother, your sister has to be you. That has to make this decision. Tremendous, tremendous. Jesus died.
John's Gospel is the only one that tells us what took place after he died.
Soldier came to make sure those three that were crucified that day, the Lord Jesus and the two thieves on either side, they were completely dead. And so the soldier came to the one thief, broke his legs, and he died and went to the other thief and broke his legs and he died. And then he came to Jesus and he saw that he was already dead.
And he takes his spear and plunged it into his side, and out floored blood and water. You know Jesus had many wounds in his body, the awful treatment he got from the soldiers.
Many ones. But scripture never speaks of the blood that came out of those wounds. It was only the blood that came out of his side that scripture speaks about. Why is that?
Because that blood showed that there was number life left in that human body. He was dead. The creator of the universe, the Lamb of God was dead on that cross. We are not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ.
You know, as I see that blood flowing out to the ground.
Think of the awfulness of the cost of our redemption.
Lord help us, we who are believers, to never forget the cost. Sometimes we forget and we use these bodies in ways that are not proper as a believer.
No, and that's why these scriptures are written, that we would remember that we have not been redeemed with silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ. You know, it says from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers. Perhaps that's a reference to the Old Testament.
When the people were numbered, each person had to give 1/2 shekel of silver and that was called the redemption money.
Well, that was so in the Old Testament, but now there is only one thing that can free you from the judgment of God upon your sins. The precious, precious blood of Christ. Jesus died. He shed his blood.
We know he was buried and the third day he rose again. God was satisfied with the payment that Jesus made.
And he was raised again the third day, and now Jesus.
Is a living Savior at God's right hand, powerful to save all that coming to God by him, wonderful salvation, wonderful Savior.
But you know, all this was a wonderful work of redemption. But there is another part. There is the work of God in us too. And that's what we are going to talk about a little bit now towards the end of this chapter from verse 23 on.
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Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth.
Innoviteth forever.
Born again.
Because by nature we are dead. Not physically dead, but dead in trespasses and sins. What we need is life, life from God. How can we have that? Life from God says in John 525. The hour is coming, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. God uses his word to impart.
Life to dead souls. And I ask you tonight, are you hearing? Can you hear him? I'm not talking about my voice necessarily in the measure that I speak the word of God. Do you hear it? That is what is so tremendously important.
That's the way God imparts life, through the hearing of His precious Word. You know I could.
I could holler at a dead man, it wouldn't have any effect on him, but when the Lord Jesus as the Son of God speaks the dead here and they that here will live. Wonderful to see it happen sometimes, you know.
People that are listening to the gospel, all of a sudden something clicks.
And you can tell God has worked how he does it.
We don't know when He does it. We don't understand. The Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus, The wind blows where it went, Lister, and thou Hearst the sound thereof, but canst not tell from whence it cometh comes, and where it goes. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Where did that start? I have no clue. Where did it end? Where will it end? God knows that too. The point is, is that His Word is what affects the change.
In persons that listen to his word, are you listening? Oh how important it is to have a hearing ears. So many times the Lord Jesus said in his ministry down here, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
And it's born again, not of corruptible seed the first time I was born.
I was born of corruptible seed. That's why I have Gray hair now. That's why my knee bothers me sometimes. Corruptible seed.
But when we're born again, we're born of incorruptible seed by the Word of God that lives and abides forever. You know what impresses me? To talk to people who have been born again and to see that they don't get old.
In that life they have in Christ, the body gets old, but the life that we have in Christ gets younger and younger as we go on. Tremendous.
So remember an old brother down in Florida, his name was Mr. Jackson. Got to meet him before the Lord took him home. The time I went to visit him in his home, there he was sitting in an easy chair. He was so weak he couldn't get up out of that chair by himself. He greeted us and then he started talking to us about the Lord's coming and he got so excited that he started waving his arms.
And his body was leaning forward in the chair and all of a sudden flop back in the chair. He forgot that his body was getting old. His spirit was too young for his body. That really impressed me as a young man. You know, you young people.
Got a lot of things to be thankful for. Health and strength. Young sisters, Beauty. It's beautiful to see you. How long is that gonna last?
That health and strength and beauty.
Well, it says here all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, the flower thereof falleth away. Scripture says time is short.
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It doesn't last very long. You young people, you'll turn around and you'll be old.
That's the way I feel it is in my own case. It seems like yesterday I was a young man.
My wife has irises in her garden.
I think she told me she counted over 300 yesterday morning irises in her garden.
Beautiful, those flowers that God has made, how long they last?
Well, I think I heard her say somebody to somebody, maybe three days. Is that all? Such a beautiful thing. Just three days, that's all.
And you say you're gonna be.
Full of strength, young man. Full of beauty, young lady. How long is that gonna last? Add another 80 years. How do you think you'll look in 80 years? The flower of the field sage and the grass Withers. Many of us are experimenting the withering, but there's something that lasts forever. The word.
Of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you. Wonderful, wonderful. So the work has been accomplished on the cross. 2000 years ago God was satisfied with what Jesus did, but now God is working in human hearts, sending out his word. I'm amazed that the word sometimes.
That God uses to impart life to dead souls. Sometimes verses that are not even used for the gospel. But it penetrates. That's the Word of God. It's penetrating.
And if there are ears that hear, God in that way imparts life to dead souls.
Before we finish, I want to go over to the Book of Revelation.
To give a final warning if you have not accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
I want to read what relates to the manifestation or we could say the revelation of Jesus Christ. You know when Jesus came the first time, he came in meekness and lawliness.
But when he comes again, he will not be with meekness and lowliness. It will be the same person that will be as a mighty warrior to make war in this world.
You know, there's so much evil going on. I I just marvel at God's patience. When you see what's going on over in Syria, in other parts of the world, I'm sure we don't hear the half of it.
Mothers and children being slaughtered and terrible, terrible, terrible. What's going on? God is not going to let evil run forever.
He is going to intervene.
Evil comes to its full developed state and then God.
Will step in and this is when he steps in by the Lord Jesus coming back to reign supreme in this world. Revelation chapter 19 and verse 11.
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a White Horse, he that set upon him, sat upon him, was called.
Faithful and true and in righteousness.
He does judge and make war.
And that's something.
You imagine Jesus making war. That's what it's telling us here. He's going to in righteousness, judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood.
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And his name is called the word of God.
No question about who we're talking about here. It's the Lord Jesus, and the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations.
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vestion upon his thigh a name written.
King of Kings and Lord of Lords, this is what is in front of you. If you do not accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you will have to meet with Jesus. There is no way you can escape it. This is what is called the judgment of the living when He comes back to meet people and it says later on in this chapter.
Verse 19 That the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies were gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army.
That's Western Europe.
Europe is apostate today.
Incredible times I've gone over to Europe and Spain.
They say that 50% of the people are atheists.
The rest that are nominally Roman Catholic despise that religious system.
Europe is apostate and when Jesus comes back, it's that.
That will go with all their armies to eradicate Jesus when they see him coming.
So Jesus comes out of heaven to judge and to make war.
And he's going to make war and he's going to put his enemies under his feet.
His garments are gonna be stained with blood. Not his own blood, but the blood of his enemies, the one that refused to deal with the question of sin. They will have to meet him at that time.
There are others who die. They will have to meet with Jesus later at the Great White Throne. But there is no way that you can escape coming face to face with Jesus on his judgment throne. Whether it's the judgment of the living or whether it's the judgment of the dead, you must meet him. You cannot escape it. And that's why we're here tonight to plead with you in the name of the Lord Jesus to repent of your sins.
To come in saving faith to the Lord Jesus.
There is any questions or any doubts that you have, we're willing to talk to you, not only myself, but there are others that you can speak to to get those questions answered. It's so terribly important that you get it straight. Get it straight as soon as possible because Jesus is coming again and when He comes, the door of salvation will be shut. Now is the accepted time now.
Is the day of salvation.