It was laid out with five floors with the men increasing in positive attributes as you ascended up the floors.
THERE WAS TWO RULES:
1) Once you opened the door to any floor, you must choose a man from that floor.
2) Also, if you went up a floor, you couldn’t go back down except to leave and never to return.
A couple of young ladies went shopping there to find a husband.
(1) On the first-floor door was a sign saying, "These men have jobs and love kids."
The women said, "Well, that’s better than not having jobs, or not loving kids, but I wonder what’s further up?" So up they went.”
(2) The second floor said, "These men have high-paying jobs, love kids, and are extremely good-looking."
"Hmmm," they said. "But I wonder what’s further up?"
(3) The third-floor sign read: "These men have high-paying jobs, are extremely good-looking, love kids and help with the housework."
"Wow!" they said. "Very tempting, BUT there’s further up!" And up they went.
(4) On the fourth floor: "These men have high-paying jobs, love kids, are extremely good-looking, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak."
Their response, "Oh, mercy! But just think what must be awaiting us further up!"
(5) So up to fifth floor they went. The sign on that floor said, "This floor is empty and exists only to prove that women are impossible to please."
That makes me think about some Christians.
That is, when it comes to looking for a Savior WHAT ARE THEY LOOKING FOR?
People approach Jesus today for all sorts of reasons:
1) Healing – They are interested in physical healing not spiritual
2) Problem Solver – Such as:
Such as:
? Marital problems to get their husband or wife straightened OUT.
? Also, it might be to get their children back on track.
3) Pre-marital – they want to get their boyfriend or girlfriend “saved” so they can get married.
4) Forgiveness - but not for a relationship; just to ease their conscience.
5) Inspiration – but without perspiration – nothing expected of them.
6) Baptism – they just want to get their eternal life ticket punched!
Jesus can do all of these things and more, but this is not why He came.
WHY DID HE COME?
The Bible tells us He came as THE LAMB OF GOD CAME TO SHED HIS BLOOD THAT WE MIGHT BE SAVED FROM OUR SINS.
HE CAME AS THE LAMB OF GOD FOR TWO REASONS…
1. To save us from our sins
2. To call us into His service.
Let me illustrate…
We need to consider the Feast of Passover in John chapter twelve…
Illus: The Passover was their 4th of July celebration, their Independence Day Celebration when they were freed from Bondage in Egypt.
When they were celebrating the PASSOVER, in the New Testament they heard JESUS was coming they went out to greet Him.
Look how they greeted him…
John 12:13, we read, “Took branches of palm trees, and went forth to meet him, and cried, Hosanna: Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
They were excited!!!
WHY?
Unfortunately – they were also misguided! Remember in their shouting they said, “…Blessed is the King of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord.”
(1) Palm branches were commonly used as a SYMBOL of Ruling Power and Jewish Nationalism.
Illus: Waving these palm branches would be like us waving our flag.
Here they were waving them hoping that Jesus would restore their political dominance – as the KING OF ISRAEL riding into town.
WHY DID THEY THINK THIS?
After seeing Jesus feed the 5,000 in John CHAPTER 6,
John 6:14 we read, then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, this is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.
They definitely thought that Jesus was coming as the KING OF ISRAEL AND DELIVER THEM FROM THE ROMAN DOMINANCE.
Look at John 6:15 “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”
They wanted deliverance from the Romans and were expecting JESUS to accomplish this for them.
This was a big Misunderstanding WHY HE CAME!!!
Let me explain…
• "When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi in Matthew 16, he asked his disciples, ’Whom do people say I Son of Man am?’
• They replied, ’Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’
• But what about you?’ he asked. ’Who say ye that am?’
• In Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered, And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
Everyone has an opinion of who Christ is...
1) Some say He is a Fraud – He is not God the Son, but a false prophet, a liar or a lunatic,
2) Mormons, claim that he was a man like us who became a god.
3) Jehovah’s Witnesses say he is just a man, albeit a great man (like Martin Luther King of George Washington.)
4) Some even claim that he was an apparition (the spirit of a dead person appearing in a form that can be seen.)
BUT LET ME TELL YOU WHO THE BIBLE TELLS US WHO HE IS?
HE IS THE LAMB OF GOD WHO HAD COME TO SHED HIS BLOOD FOR THE SINS OF MANKIND!!!
Jesus knew they weren’t going to understand His true identity until after His Sacrifice on the Cross and His Resurrection.
Instead of a mighty warrior riding his White horse, He is the humble, gentle Savior riding on a donkey.
NOTE: Palm Sunday is not about welcoming the Victorious National King but about RECOGNIZING that Jesus is the Lamb of God who died and shed his blood on the cross so that we might be saved from God’s Judgement.
Illus: We have a picture of this in the Old Testament in Exodus 12 where God commanded Israeli families to put the blood on their door post and every door that had the blood on their door post when the death angel came through would be spared.
• There was some rejoicing for those who had the blood on the door post.
• There was some sorrow for those who did not have the blood on their door post.
John the Baptist knew who Jesus was.
Illus: In John 1: 29 we read, the next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world.
The Lord said He is the Lamb that takes away the sins of THE WORLD.
We Americans forget sometimes He did not just die for Americans; He is the LAMB of God that shed His precious blood for the WORLD.
That is why every church should support missions!!!
To further understand why He came as the LAMB OF GOD, WE NEED TO LOOK AT LUKE CHAPTER 19 WHEN HE CAME TO THE PASSOVER.
Look at…
• Luke 19:36 and as he went, they spread their clothes in the way...
• Luke 19: 37 And when he was come nigh, even now at the descent of the mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen.
• Luke 19:38 saying blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.
• Luke 19:39-40 and some of the Pharisees from among the multitude said unto him, Master, rebuke thy disciples. And he answered and said unto them, I tell you that, if these should hold their peace, the stones would immediately cry out.”
• Luke 19:41-42 And when he had come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes
In verse 42 we read while they WAVED their PALM BRANCHES THE Bible tells us, Jesus WEPT!
Why?
Look at Luke 19-42, we read “…but now they are hidden from thine eyes
They had no idea who he was, HE WAS THE LAMB OF GOD THAT HAD COME TO SHED HIS BLOOD FOR THEIR SINS.
And they are trying to make Him KING OF ISRAEL TO SET THEM FREE FROM THE BONDAGE OF ROME.
Look at Luke 19:42, What He is saying YOU CAME WITHIN REACH OF ETERNAL LIFE AND YOU MISSED IT!!!
You see a person can:
• Come to church every Sunday and die and go to a devil’s hell.
• Come to church every Sunday and tithe and go to a devil’s hell.
• Come to church every get baptize and go to a devil’s hell.
• Do all kind of good works and die and go to a devil’s hell.
Why?
BECAUSE THESE THINGS HAS NEVER SAVED ANYONE.
These are the rewards for the believers who have DONE THESE THINGS! NOT SALVATION!!!
Some have come and gotten close to salvation BUT they have never accepted The LAMB OF GOD WHO DIED FOR THEIR SINS.
• That is why today’s church is filled with people who think they KNOW HIM, but they have never known HIM AS THE LAMB OF GOD TO TAKE AWAY THEIR SINS.
• That is why they have never been BORN AGAIN AND MADE A NEW CREATURE IN CHRIST!!!
Listen, if I am going to miss heaven by inches, I had rather miss it by miles!
That is the GOSPEL OF CHRIST THAT THE BIBLE TALKS ABOUT!!!
The gospel the Bible teaches is the DEATH, BURIAL AND RESURRECTION OF CHRIST!!!
• Not tithing
• Not attending church
• Not doing good works
• Not singing in the choir
• Not teaching a Sunday school class
The Bible clearly teaches in the book of Hebrews; WITHOUT THE SHEDDING OF BLOOD THERE IS NO REMISSION OF SIN!!!
Illus: Listen, these liberal churches today that do not preach about the blood of Christ, teach about the blood of Christ, sing about the blood of Christ they are sending people to hell because they want a GOSPEL WITHOUT THE BLOOD.
Illus: I was witnessing to a man recently and he said, “I think I will be alright when I stand before Him on the judgment day, I am not really a bad person.”
Let me tell you how bad he is, if he does not come to the Lamb of God who died for his sins, he is going to bust hell wide open.
The only ones that are going to be in heaven are those who have been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God.
When Jesus came down the street riding that donkey, they had no IDEA WHY HE CAME!!!
While they cheered, Jesus cringed knowing what they were missing WHY HE CAME AS A LAMB.
Illus: They remind me likes some of the professional wrestlers on television when they are in the wrestling ring they are trying to kill each other. But when the wrestling match is over, they go out and party together.
Many are like these wrestlers in that they come to church and get caught up in an emotional experience but once they leave, they return to THEIR SINS.
No wonder the Bible tells us JESUS WEPT!!!
Jesus longs for us to recognize and to accept Him for Who He is? THE LAMB of GOD WHO HAS COME TO SHED HIS BLOOD FOR YOU?
Hebrews 9:22 “…without shedding of blood is no remission”.
Now, I have told you who he is, THE LAMB OF GOD, but the Bible also tells us how he sends us to represent him…
II. AS LAMBS AMONG WOLVES
The Lord sent out seventy disciples before Him to prepare the public for His ministry in our text for this sermon.
In verse 3 he told them, “Go your ways...”
The reason the Lord sends workers out into the world is because the LOST world will not come to them for the gospel of salvation.
• They will come for entertainment
• They will come for social reasons
• They will come for give-a-ways
You can fill a church with people who will come for these things.
But God has called us to GO FORTH AS LAMB AMONG WOLVES BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT GOING TO COME TO US, WE HAVE TO GO TO THEM.
• A church that will not go will soon die. The Lord tells us to “GO!”
The business of the church is soul winning, and in order to do that we have to be willing to GO!
Illus: However, many professing Christians remind us of some people at a red light. When it turns green they sit there and we begin wondering…
• How many times it has to change to green before they will be willing to go?
• How green does it have to get before they will go?
• How many sermons have they got to hear before they will go to their family and friends and tell them about the LAMB OF GOD THAT SHED HIS BLOOD FOR OUR SINS?
The Lord told the seventy disciples…GO!!!
The lost world is not beating the church doors down to get in, we have to go to the lost world and take the gospel to them.
Again, the Lord Jesus said, “Go your ways...” In this passage God instructs us to do this, but also, as we read this verse of scripture we see something that is amazing.
WHAT IS THAT?
THE LORD’S APPROACH TO RECRUITING DISCIPLES WAS AN UNUSUAL METHOD TO SAY THE LEAST.
For example, look at this verse again. We read, “Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.”
I cannot imagine the Lord’s saying that and there being hands shooting up all over the place and people saying, “I volunteer! I want to go!”
But the Lord is being “up front,” by telling us what we can expect.
Illus: There is an advertisement on television about the island of Jamaica. They show some of the most gorgeous places you have ever seen.
To look at the ads you would think to live in a place like that would be like dying and going to heaven.
But, those who have visited Jamaica know there are beautiful areas on the island, but for the most part the island does not resemble anything like the ads you see on television.
The reason the ads present Jamaica as such a beautiful place is because if they showed all the other parts, no one would want to go there, so they show ONLY THE GOOD LOCATIONS!
There are people who have traveled to Jamaica who had only seen the televisions ads, and they have been shocked when they got there they were immediately ready to get back on the airplane and go back home.
Why? Because they felt they had been deceived by the brochures and television ads.
The Lord did not present His work that way. He wanted His followers to know exactly what they were getting into when they chose to follow Him.
He said, “...I send you forth as lambs among wolves.”
WHY DOES THE LORD TELL US THAT HE SENDS US AS LAMBS AMONG WOLVES?
Because He is truthful. Serving the Lord is not always a picnic!
The Lord did not want His disciples to think they could earnestly contend for the faith and not have any contention.
This was why He said, “...I send you forth as lambs among wolves.”
He was being honest with those he called.
Illus: One of the reasons many pastors prefer the King James Version of the Bible is because of the honesty in translating it.
For example, when the translators were translating the King James Bible, if something was not in the original Greek manuscript they would put it in italics.
Such as in I Cor. 14 it talks about UNKNOWN TONGUES. But notice each time UNKNOWN TONGUES IN ACTS 2, verses 2, 4, 13, 19 and 27 Unknown is in italics.
Why?
Because the translators are being honest in their translations letting you know it is not in the original translation of the greek (Textus Receptus). The word unknown was added later by some translator.
Tongues are languages and if you turn to Acts 2 the Bible tells us in Act 2:3-10 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,
Tongues in the Bible are LANGUAGES!!!
Many of the versions of the Bible today are not honest Translation. They add words and remove words and in sometimes remove complete verses of scripture.
BUT THE KING JAMES TRANSLATORS ARE BEING HONEST WITH US.
These translators translated from the greek (Tectus Recptus) WORD FOR WORD WITH WORDS OF EQUAL VALUE.
The Lord was honest with His followers. He told them exactly what they could expect.
THE LORD USED THE ILLUSTRATION OF LAMBS AMONG WOLVES BECAUSE IT CONVEYS THE TRUTH.
He was not trying to discourage people from following Him. He just wanted them to know what they could expect as they followed Him.
Sometime these WOLVES in SHEEP CLOTHING ARE IN THE CHURCH.
Illus: An elderly lady that professed to be saved played the piano in the church. She had beautiful white hair, and when she sat behind that piano, she had this beautiful smile. Everyone thought of her as an angel as she played.
But she had a favorite seat that she liked to sit in once she was through playing for the congregational singing. One day someone made the mistake of sitting in her favorite seat and this lamb turned out to be a wolf.
She turned red in the face, and she became furious.
Illus: We all have seen these horror movies where a man turns into a werewolf. That is, he is an ordinary man one moment, but all of a sudden, his face changes. His hands and feet change. He starts growing hair all over his body immediately.
God sends us forth as LAMBS representing him to a lost world.
A lamb is one of the humblest creatures on the face of this earth.
Illus: Have you noticed that there is not a nation on the face of the earth that uses the lamb as its symbol.
For example:
• America uses the eagle as its symbol.
• Russians use the bear.
• Red China uses the dragon.
Why?
Because all these are symbols of power.
No one uses the lamb because the lamb does not STAND FOR STRENGTH, it STANDS FOR HUMILITY.
Yet the Lord has called us to go out as LAMBS AMONG WOLVES.
A lot of Christians could win many to the Lord if they would stop being a WOLF AND BECAME A LAMB.
Illus: The lamb will stand, with no protest, while someone cuts its throat.
Illus: When the Lamb of God was placed on the cross, He willingly LAID HIS LIFE DOWN FOR OUR SINS.
• It was not the power of the Roman soldiers that put him ON THAT CROSS.
• It was not the spikes that held him there.
It was because He was the Lamb of God that came to shed His blood for our sins that held Him There!!!
John 10:18, we read, no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father.
Illus: David Wilkerson in his book “The Sword and the Switch Blade” He worked with some of the toughest gangs in New York. One of the gang members NICKY CRUZ got mad with David Wilkerson because he won his girlfriend to the Lord, and she broke up with him.
• Later on, when David tried to win him to the Lord he said…You come near me, and I'll kill you!
• David Wilkerson humbly said, “Yeah, you could do that. You could cut me up into a thousand pieces and lay them in the street, and every piece will still love you.”
The Holy Spirit took those words and led him to the Lord Jesus.
Conclusion:
As I close, I want to bring to your attention in “Fox Book of Martyr” we read about these great men and women of God was sent to spread the gospel and vicious wolves literally tore their bodies apart.
HOW COULD SOME OF THESE WHO SUFFER DEATH FOR CHRIST DO IT?
For example…
Illus: When Nero threw those great saints of God in the arena in Rome to be eaten by lions, we are told that many of them fell onto their knees with their out-reached arms toward heaven and never flinched when the lions pounced on them.
HOW COULD THEY DO THIS!
They could do this because although their earthly bodies were being torn apart by the lions, those saints of God spiritually had their eyes fixed on the Lord Jesus.
To them the Lions were nowhere worthy of their attention as the LAMB OF GOD WHO SHED HIS BLOOD FOR THEIR SINS.
HOW COULD THEY DO IT?
Illus: When Stephen was being stoned to death, he had that Lamb-like spirit.
Look at Acts 8:59-60. We read, “And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord; lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.”
With a lamb-like spirit, he prayed almost the same prayer as our Lord Jesus Christ, asking the Lamb of God to forgive them.
As the stones pounced on his body it was as if it was nothing compared to the glimpse of the LAMB OF GOD THAT CAME TO SHED HIS BLOOD FOR HIM.
If we are going to reach the lost world for Christ, we must have a lamb-like spirit.
Our calling involves our knowing...
I. THE NATURE OF THE WOLVES
II. THE NATURE OF THE LAMB
If you say you are a lamb but live like a wolf, then you are misrepresenting the Christian life.
We are called to be LAMBS!
