Would you join me in the book
of Numbers chapter 35? Chapter 35. I really appreciate what the Lord
said about the book of Numbers. In his own ministry, he shared
this. Had you believed Moses, you would believe me, for Moses
wrote of me. And here we are, he's making
a comment about the book of Numbers. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers,
and Deuteronomy are the books that are attributed to Moses.
Now we know that he was just a secretary. He was not the author. The author is God. The author
is the Holy Spirit. So he's a secretary. He was used
to write these things down, and we get to appreciate him today.
I've shared a number of times why I've spent most of my ministry
in the Old Testament, and that was the two on the road to Emmaus. When the Lord explained unto
them, when He revealed unto them all the things in the Old Testament
concerning Himself, I mentioned in a message I wish I had been
there. Wouldn't it have been glorious?
And then that night, I woke up in the middle of the night and
says, we have it. It's the Old Testament, because that's all
they had. That's all Jesus ever preached from, Paul ever preached
from, the apostles ever preached from. So we're going to look
here in the book of Numbers chapter 35. Now in the book of Numbers
chapter 35, we're only going to be dealing with the first
eight verses of this chapter, because it has to do with the
cities that were given to the Levites over in the land that
the Lord had promised Israel. And the latter part of this chapter
deals with the cities of refuge. And that is such a blessed study. We're going to spend a little
time there on the cities of refuge. But this is also a blessed study
to find out about the cities that God ordained to be given
to the Levites when they went into the land. So let's read
here in Numbers chapter 35, beginning with verse 1. And the Lord spake
unto Moses in the plains of Moab, by Jordan near Jericho saying
they're almost to go into the land. They're preparing. They're
right up. They're close to going across
to Jericho. Now, that's going to happen soon,
but we find they're there, they're positioned, and many things need
to be instructed to these people prior to their crossing over
the Jordan River and entering in. Now, the Lord uses a word
in verse 2 that really puts some pressure behind the words that
He spoke, command. Command the children of Israel
that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possessions,
cities, to dwell in. And ye shall give also unto the
Levites suburbs for the cities round about them. And the cities
shall they have to dwell in, and the suburbs to them shall
ye be good for their cattle, and for their goods, and for
all their beasts. And the suburbs of the cities which ye shall
give unto the Levites shall reach from the wall of the city an
outward a thousand cubits round about. And ye shall measure from
without the city on the east side also two thousand cubits,
and on the south side two thousand cubits, and on the west side
two thousand cubits, and on the north side two thousand cubits.
And the city shall be in the midst, and these shall be to
them the suburbs of the cities. So apparently they had 1,000
cubits out and from there they measured another 2,000 cubits
out so they actually had 3,000 cubits. Now you take 3,000, multiply
by 18, divide by 12, you find it's about 4,000 feet that they
had. They did not have a lot of room
around these cities that they called their suburbs because
it was not their responsibility to grow grain. vines, trees of
any kind. They were just there to take
care of their stock. And the reason that they were
not required to have the other things is the children of Israel,
and we'll read that in just a moment, were required to provide for
all the Levites. Their tithe was to be given to
the Levites to provide for them. We'll look at that in just a
moment. So we have them settling. It says, In among the cities
which ye shall give unto the Levites there shall be six cities
for refuge. which ye shall appoint for the
manslayer, that he may flee thither, and to them ye shall add forty
and two cities. So all the cities which ye shall
give to the Levites shall be forty and eight cities, them
shall ye give with their suburbs. And the cities which ye shall
give shall be of the possession of the children of Israel, from
them that have many ye shall give many, but them that have
a few ye shall give few, even one shall ye give of his cities
unto the Levites according to his inheritance which he inheriteth."
Alright, so we have here that the Lord has commanded that Moses
share with the children of Israel that when they cross over the
Jordan River and enter into the land that God had promised them,
promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that there would be 48
cities given to the Levites, and the suburbs around those
cities, and six of those cities would be also cities of refuge. Now, this is mentioned in the
Scriptures during the 40 years that they traveled through the
wilderness. These Levites, they camped right around the tabernacle.
And it tells us in the book of Deuteronomy where they were,
right around the tabernacle, and outside of that were all
the twelve tribes. They camped around the tabernacle.
Well, once they entered into the Promised Land, this would
not be practical, and besides that, it isn't what God wanted.
He wanted them to have cities placed throughout all the places
that Israel was going to inherit. The children of Israel, if you'll
turn with me back to the book of Numbers. Book of Numbers chapter
one. For just a moment, the book of
Numbers chapter one, there in verse 52 and 53. The book of
Numbers chapter one, verses 52 and 53. We notice here that the
children of Israel shall pitch their tents, every man in his
own camp. They're going to have three on
north, three on south, three on east, three on west. And there
was specifically which tribes were going to be in those threes.
And it says here in verse 53, But the Levites shall pitch round
about the tabernacle of the testimony. "'that there be no wrath upon
the congregation "'of the children of Israel, "'and the Levites
shall keep charge "'of the tabernacle of testimony.'" So inside of
the 12 tribes, there was the tabernacle, and right around
them were the Levites. Moses and Aaron and his sons
were in a certain place, and then we have the three sons of
Levi are named in three different divisions of the Levites, and
we'll see that in just a moment. it would not be practical, nor
would it be God's will for them to settle in Canaan, and all
of them camped around the tabernacle. We find that that is exactly
the opposite of what God intended when He brought them into the
promised land. When these folks crossed over the Jordan, there
was a division going to be made. So if you travel with me just
a little bit into the book of Joshua, in the book of Joshua,
in chapter 21 of the book of Joshua. And they're beginning
with verse 3. Joshua 21, verse 3. It tells us about the inheritance,
and this chapter of Joshua even gives the names. We'll not go
into that at this time, but we do want to see where they settled. There was a reason that God gave
them cities in Israel. There was a reason that God put
the Levites in specific cities throughout the land that God
had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Now, we mentioned
last week that this promise that God had made to Israel was a
very conditional covenant. The everlasting covenant, it
is not conditional. It is based upon the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit's promise on the behalf of those
the Father chose before the foundation of the world, the Son was going
to die for and did die for on the cross, and the Holy Spirit
is in the business now of going and finding all of them bringing
the gospel to them, giving them the new birth, and they with
the rest of us shout, worthy is the Lamb. So that's the business
of God. Now this covenant that he made
with Israel was very conditional, and they broke it continuously,
often and daily, and so he finally said, I regard it not. It is not there anymore. And we find the covenant that
is now has been always the everlasting covenant, the covenant of grace,
whatever we want to call it, that's the one that was in effect
there because there were people saved during the Old Testament
times, and there were people saved during this time, the New
Testament times, all under the same covenant of grace. Jesus
Christ and Him crucified, buried, and risen again. Alright, here
in the book of Joshua chapter 21, in verse 3 it says, The children
of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance at the
commandment of the Lord these cities and their suburbs. So
we have the land taken. You know, some people have said
that God did not give them all the land. I had a discussion
with my father. And I said, one of his premises
about his eschatology was that Israel didn't get all the land.
And I says, well, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible
says He gave them all the land. That's what the Bible says. Joshua
is going to tell us that in the end of this chapter, that God
gave them all the land that He promised. So I said, am I going
to take the word of someone who wrote a book about eschatology,
or am I going to take the word of God? So I have to take the
word of God. He gave them all the land. Alright, it tells us
here in verse 4, Now there were three sons of Aaron, and each
of these sons were given a responsibility, or I should say the descendants
of those sons were given a responsibility when it came to the tabernacle.
some of them were priests around the tabernacle, some of them
packed it up and moved it, and others did other things. But
according to this, it says the children of Aaron, the priests,
which were the Levites, had by lot, out of the tribe of Judah,
and out of the tribe of Simeon, and out of the tribe of Benjamin,
thirteen cities. So they were going to be given
this, and the rest of the children of Kohath had by lot, out of
the families of the tribe of Ephraim, and out of the tribe
of Dan, and out of half the tribe of Manasseh, ten cities. So we're
going to have a total of 48 cities divided up, given to these Levites
after they cross the Jordan River, after the country or the taking
of it is made, and they're willing to divide it up proportionally.
Large tribes got more, small tribes got less, and when it
came to the division for cities like this for the Levites, larger
tribes had more cities. Smaller tribes had less cities
taken out of them, but there was a reason that God put them
there, and we?re headed for that just momentarily. Verse 6, ?The
children of Gershon had by law out of the families of the tribes
of Issachar, now the tribe of Asher, now the tribe of Manaphtali,
and out of half the tribe of Manaphtha in Bashan thirteen
cities.? So we have Kohath, Gershon, and now the last son, and the
descendants of that son, the children of Meriah, by their
families, had out of the tribe of Reuben, now the tribe of Gad,
and now the tribe of Zebulun, 12 cities. And the children of
Israel gave by lot unto the Levites these cities with their suburbs,
as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses. Now, if we go
on, we find out the names of those cities, and that might
be another study sometime. But for today, we're just going
to depend on they were given these cities. 48 cities in different
tribes. Every tribe had some proportion
of their property given to the Levites for their cities and
for their suburbs. the cities were named, and they
no doubt had some meaning about them. The very special designation
of the cities of refuge now. Now six out of those cities,
out of those 48, are going to be cities of refuge. What a study,
what a look at, because we find out that Jesus Christ is our
refuge. And there's such a blending between
the type and the antitype, and we'll look at that in time. Let
us spend a little time this morning on the cities of the Levites.
and the Levites themselves, because there is such a message here
about what God was doing with these people. In a way the cities
are a type of what we find, and if you turn with me to the book
of Revelation, the Revelation chapter 5, we find that throughout
the entire land, now we have looked at this in the property,
actual property that was given to Israel is about the size of
Mallier County, Oregon. not very much really. It?s not
a very big piece of property, but out of that there were 48
cities given to the Levites, and those 48 cities were carved
out of the rest. Now if you?ll turn with me to
the book of Revelation chapter 5, we find a verse here that
shares with us a good deal about That is a type. We have the antitype. And the antitype is the world.
And what does it say here in the book of Revelation chapter
5 and verse 9? It says, And they sung a new
song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open
the seals thereof. For thou wast slain, and hast
redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation. Now, in order for those people
to ever hear the gospel, God is going to have to put them
in a place where they can hear it or send somebody there. So God has given us a picture
here as He divides up this property into the cities that He gave
to the Levites. I?m going to put them in a specific
place because I have a purpose that they be there, and that
purpose is they?ll be a testimony of God?s great salvation in that. Now, most of the Levites probably
never even knew a thing about the gospel, but in type, they
were a representative of people who do. They were Levites, and
they had been given special instructions. And though it didn't apply to
many of them, as we find in the book of Hebrews, they too died
in the wilderness in unbelief. The rest of the folks weren't
just the only people. But we find here, it tells us that He
has redeemed out of every kindred, tongue, people, and nation. God
is going to get His Word by somebody to these outer places. So, as
we look at the nation of Israel, or at the piece of property that
Israel was given, even those two and a half tribes on the
east side of the Jordan River, we have cities that God ordained
that His Levites be in for a reason. It is going to be there that
God would share with us that every time he has a lost sheep,
and I use this word carefully, mature. Every time that God has
a lost sheep, He is going to get them the Gospel. That is
required. Whether it is in this border
of Canaan, or that border of Canaan, or over there where the
heretics live, among the two and a half tribes that wouldn't
cross over, He is going to have His Word in the right place at
the right time. So he's dividing it up just like
he intended to have it happen. And in verse 10, and has made
us unto our God, kings and priests, Levites, if you please, king
priests, and we shall reign on the earth. So we have this description
given to us about the cities that God ordained to be placed
in all of Israel and that they would be there on purpose. There
were even cities for the Levites in the area where the two and
a half tribes were. And it's not going to be long
that they're just kind of left out. But there are two, three,
excuse me, three cities of refuge and the rest of those cities
that they're there on purpose. It looks like nothing may be
happening, but according to God's eternal and everlasting purpose,
things are happening at the appointed time everywhere. and in this
world at the right time. These cities would have Levites
settled in each one of them. And what does that mean? over
all the land, God promised that there would be a people that
knew something about God. Now many of them knew minimal,
many of them was lip service, but you know when it comes to
spiritual Israel, there?s people that God has scattered all over
this world that know something about God, and they are there
on purpose He has set our bounds. He has purposed us to be where
we are. And if He moves us, it's on purpose.
That's His work. So these cities, there was a
land that God promised Israel that there would be a people
that knew something about God and God's salvation. And you
know, that's what He's doing right now. that he has his people
who know God and know about God's salvation planted in every place
he intends to have somebody saved. Now, it's not a mistake. He's
not hoping people will be saved over here. He's purposed that
they would be saved over here. Our friend, our brother down
in New Guinea, he's there on purpose. And, you know, we would
think if a thousand people who believe the gospel were assembled
at one time in one place, what a miracle. It happens every year
down there. people who believe in the sovereign
grace of God that are, you know, how many generations ago were
they cannibals? And now by the grace of God,
he has his lost sheep in New Guinea, and he has someone down
there that knows the gospel, and they're preaching the gospel,
and people are being saved. That's what God does. That's
his business, how he does his business, and it will not be
thwarted. It will not be short. It will
not leave anybody out. He will get to them. I have this
city over in this part of Canaan. And I have the city over this
part of Canaan, and it's there on purpose. And those Levites
are there on purpose because they know something about God
and how God saves His people. Now, that's from a spiritual
standpoint, and yet from a natural standpoint, probably not many
of them did. I am, as I follow this through,
we see God has moved His people to a place to intercept the gospel. One of my favorite places in
the New Testament is chapter 8 of the book of Acts and about
Philip. Philip is a preacher of the gospel. You know what
he'd say? I'd only preach Christ and Him crucified. Philip would
say, I have no other message but Christ and Him crucified.
And that's when he was preaching Jesus Christ, God came to him
and said, I have a man out in the wilderness, in the desert.
You know, that's where we all are by nature. We're all in the
desert. We're all in the wilderness.
We don't know what we're doing. There is a place of no water.
We can't, we're drinking, we're drinking bad water. Our religious
water is really bad water. There's no value in it. And as
that woman at the well, please give me this water so I don't
have to come down here and draw anymore. So we find that he sent
Philip out in the wilderness to intercept a man that has been
to Jerusalem at one of the most religious conferences in the
world, the Passover. And he's down there reading the
53rd chapter of the book of Isaiah, and Philip approaches that chariot
just like he's instructed to. He is going to a place. He is going to meet a man. He
is somebody that knows something about God and God's Word and
God's salvation. And he goes to him, and beginning
at the same place, he said, do you understand what you're reading?
He says, how can I understand except some man teach me? And
he began at the same place and preached unto him Jesus. Jesus Christ the Lord purposefully
coming to this sin-cursed earth to save his people from their
sins. Buried and rose again the third
day. That's what he preached. The
Levite cities were dwelling places so that each tribe may make a
grateful acknowledgment of God. We have a city here where there
are Levites. You know, from a physical standpoint,
I doubt if there were very many people that understood any that
was going on there, but there were a few that understood why
God put these people in this city. To some people, they were
an encroachment. Did you know who bought the house
next door? And I'll tell you what, I just
visited with them a moment and they said something, we go to
a Sovereign Grace Church, we'd like you to come and join us.
Are you kidding me? I'm happy where I am. But you
know what? That person is there on purpose. on purpose. The Levite cities
were dwelling places. The cities of the Levites were
placed among the rest of the tribes. Might have been benefit
to the Levites dwelling among them to teach them the good knowledge
of the Lord. We find that Abraham, by faith,
looked for a city. Abraham, by faith, looked for
a city whose Maker was God. You know, some way God moved
upon somebody to be in the right place at the right time. That's
why He put those cities where He did. They're there on purpose,
and the same thing happens in the world today. People are on
purpose, in a place, and somebody who knows something about God
and God's salvation Not this stuff that's going around, that's
always been going around. If you make a move, God will
move in your direction. You know, when we find out in
the Bible, after we're saved, we really come to this conclusion.
We're so dead in trespasses and sin that we can't raise a finger
in favor of God. He must come give us life and
then we can acknowledge that. You know, as we look at these
Levites, there are pictures of God's elect. And I'd like to
say a few things about how did you become a Levite? Was there a course you took?
Did you line up in line? Did you raise your hand at the
appropriate time? Did you sign the card? Did you speak to your
mom and dad and say, you know, you are the tribe of Benjamin,
but I'd really like to be over there in the Levites. You know
why? Because they don't have to work for their food. That's
mainly what we hear today. How did they become a Levite?
They were born Levites. You could not become a Levite. A Benjamite or an Ephraimite
could not become a Levite. You had to be born into that
family. And what does the Bible tell
us about that? Jesus told Nicodemus in John
chapter 3, ye must be born again. You're not going to get there
from here. And Nicodemus answered that question, what am I going
to do? What am I going to do? The natural thing to do. What
am I going to do? You must be born into this family. You cannot raise your hand, vote
yourself in, be appropriated in, in any other way. There's
no way to get into the Kingdom of Heaven except to be born into
the Kingdom of Heaven. You can only be born a Levite.
You can't be made a Levite. There's no council in the world
that can do that. Nobody, by baptism, church membership,
or anything else, can make a Levite out of anybody else. It must
be a birth that God gives, and that birth is God's birth. I
don't know how many times in the last three or four years
I've asked people, how much did you have to do with your physical
birth? Because they're arguing with
me about the new birth. And you know what? The answer
to that question by everyone that has told me, nothing. I
didn't have anything to do with my physical birth. Right answer. That's the right answer. How
much did you have to do with your spiritual births? Well,
now, I I, I, no, no, no. We're dead in trespasses and
sin, and we must be born again. Now, we find in the book of James,
of his own will, begat he us by the word of truth. It must
be a begatting. Those people that were Levites
were Levites by birth. They could not get there any
other way. And if you were of the tribe
of Judah, which was the line that Jesus was born in, if you
were of the tribe of Judah and you went into the Holy of Holies,
they would take you out and stone you to death. you took upon yourself
responsibility that you did not have. Only the Levites could
go in there, and only certain of the Levites could go in there.
But these Levites that were moved into these cities in the land
of Canaan, those 48 cities, only the Levites were in there. Now,
there might've been some other people that were in there too,
but that was their town, and that was their possession, and
they were there on purpose. So we find that the only way
that you could become a Levite was you must be born into that. And the only way that we become
a Christian is we must be born into that. Now there's a group
of people in the times of Ezra that wanted to be Levites. Turn
with me, if you would, to the second chapter of the book of
Ezra. In the book of Ezra, this is sharing with us a group of
people that were taken into captivity and now they're headed back to
Jerusalem and back to Judah. And here in the book of Ezra,
We read this, there was some people that said, we are Levites. And those in charge said, where's
your pedigree? Where's your pedigree? You know
what he's saying? Who are you trusting? for your
salvation." Well, my preacher got me down to my, no, no, no,
no, that's not your pedigree. Well, I went forth, no, no, no,
no, that's not it, that's not it. Turn with me to the book
of Ezra, chapter two, verse 61 through 63. Chapter 2, verse 61, And the
children of the priests, the children of Habiah, the children
of Chaz, the children of Berezillah, which took a wife of the daughters
of Berezillah in a Gideonite, and was called after their name,
they sought their register among those who were reckoned by genealogy,
but they were not found. Therefore were they, as polluted,
put from the priesthood. What's that say? You've got to
have a pedigree. And you know what our pedigree
is? My father, who art in heaven. Our pedigree is who we are depending
on for our salvation in all of it. Jesus' blood and righteousness
alone without anything added or taken away. That's our pedigree. Who do you trace your line back?
Right to Christ. Who do you trace your line back?
Right to the purpose of God in eternal election before the foundation
of the world. How do you know that? Because
He has revealed unto me that my faith is worthless but his
is invaluable." What's your pedigree? Oh, you
know, I used to hear my grandmother, she'd say, what are you, grandma?
Oh, I'm a Baptist. Oh, well, wrong answer. That's
not pedigree. She went to church all her life.
Very religious, and most people say, my cousins say, if there's
anybody in heaven, it's Grandma. Well, that's speaking very lowly
of your salvation, isn't it? What's the pedigree? Christ and
Him crucified. I cannot be in the kingdom except
by birth, and God gives me the proof of it by trusting Him. My faith and my repentance and
my hope is found in Him. I have none of my own. It is all of His. This young
man, he's asked me a dozen times, how do you know you're saved?
I says, well, number one, I quit arguing with God. I don't argue
with God anymore. When He said it in His word,
I just believe it. I don't argue with Him. Well,
I'd sure like to have met you before you were saved." And I
says, I'm looking at Him right now. I argued with God over the gospel. So that stops. So the Levites,
they had to be born a Levite, and if you couldn't prove your
predigree, you were not included. Now God's the only one that knows
that. You know, there's that parable of the wedding feast,
and everybody in there is in a wedding garment. And the wedding
garments are provided. You know, it's just like our
robe of righteousness. We don't have our own. It's provided. And so we're in this wedding
feast and only the master of the feast could tell the difference
between all those that had and the one who didn't have the wedding
garment. And he said to him, how did you
get in here? He was speechless. He says, wrap him up, cast him
out, throw him into outer darkness where there's weeping and gnashing
of teeth because he doesn't have the pedigree. He's a pretender. All right. Now, secondly, the
Levites had everything that was necessary was provided. The tithe that the children of
Israel given was given to the Levites. They didn't work because
they were to spend their time in the word of God. Now, I know
there was a bunch of slackers among them. just like there is
today, a bunch of slackers. They want a free ride. But there
were certain among those that understood why it was important
that they have this given to them. You know, as the church,
as a church, as the living church of the living God, everything
that we require is provided for us. Righteousness is provided. Deliverance from sin is provided. Hope is provided. Everything
that God requires is provided in Christ Jesus. What a picture
of these Levites as they are in their cities. Here comes the
provisions. They didn't have to go out. That's
why they didn't have a lot of property for growing grain. Someone
brought it to them. Who brought it? The Lord brings
us a bread of life. They didn't have to go out and
do anything. He is a fruit of the vine. He is our shed blood
and broken body. He is the one. So everything
that we need is provided just like it was for there. The Levites
were not given land for tillage, needed not to sow. They didn't
need to reap. It was provided for them. And so every believer
in Christ Jesus that God has brought the gospel to and quickened
by the new birth, everything they need is provided. And when we say, we sing a song
once in a while, there's a in our green book about if you have
one thread of your own in that robe of righteousness, that robe
of righteousness is invaluable or valueless. It's nothing. If
you have one of your threads in it, it has to all be the thread
of Christ. And then the Levites were sent about by birth and
they realized they had nothing to offer but God's word. You know, that's a wonderful
thing about our ministry. I remember coming to church one
time after the Lord saved me, and I was up here, and it just,
I had so much to learn so quickly, and I'm on my way, and I says,
oh my goodness, I just saw that the results are not up to me. That's almost, it just gave me
life. The results are not up to me.
In religion results, you had to have results up here on a
reader board. You had to have results in your
mission letter. You had to have results to share
with the board. You had to have results. You didn't have a good
frame of mind if you didn't have results. You had to have charts,
you had to have graphs. I remember a man, I went over
to visit him. He was attending our church and
he goes, this is what we, the men, people we had last Sunday,
this is what we have this Sunday, this is what we have this Sunday.
And you know what? I can't go to church with that few. He left. Well, he left one non-gospel
church for another non-gospel church because I didn't know
anything about the gospel at the time either. But how we measure
things. The Levites were set apart by
birth, and they realized they had nothing to offer but the
Word of God. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Acts, chapter 4. The book of Acts, chapter 4.
Brother Loren read most of this, but I just want to read here
the book of Acts, chapter 4. A very interesting thing is said
here in verse 36. Here's a man that was quite religious. He'd been down there to some
religious observation, observance, and he heard the gospel. And he is among a great host
of people that were saved on one day. My, my, my. And what was it, Joseph in your
translation, Lord? Joseph? In mine, it's Joseph. I never heard of it. Who's that? And Joseph, who by the apostles
was surnamed, oh, I know this guy, Barnabas, Barnabas, which
being interpreted as son of consolation. Did you know what he was? Did
you see that? A Levite. Now, he never, after this day
ever went back and wanted the Levitical being. He's of the tribe of Levi. You
know, I'm of the tribe of English, Irish, Scots, and all that stuff
that goes on. I'm of that tribe. But it doesn't
mean beings. Being a Levite doesn't mean beings
to Barnabas any longer, except, it shares with me, he knew something
about the gospel because the Levites that were put in certain
towns in Canaan were there because they knew something God intended
for them to be there at the right time, at the right place, so
that they could share what they knew about God. And God is going
to meet them up with somebody. Now, if we followed the life
of Barnabas, God used him to meet up with a lot of folks.
A Levite. He was only born Levites. You can't be made any way else.
Can't be made any way else. Must have the pedigree. What
do you think of Christ? That's a good pedigree. What
do you think of Christ? Well, he's a good man. No, no, no,
no. We're going to have to count that as bzzz, doesn't work. You
must have Christ in Christ alone. And then, oh my goodness, I have
only one thing to offer. I can't talk you into it. I can't
get you on your knees. I can't get you down with a letter.
I can only share what God gives us and then He takes over. And the church says, hallelujah,
that just made our job so easy. Declare what you know. Declare
what you know. And God will take care of it.
So, the cities are the Levites. They're on purpose. Levites could
only be born. Once in a while, they had to
prove their pedigree, and those who couldn't, couldn't. Levites had everything
provided, and Levites were there for one reason, to share God's word. Lord willing,
next week, we'll bring a message like we always do, the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. Brother Mike, if you'll come.