Once again, we say good morning.
Greetings to everyone. Good to be here together. We
also wish to include those who will join us by Zoom and later
those who may join us by sermon audio. We're going to be in the
book of Numbers again today. The book of Numbers. Chapter eight. Have you ever wondered how it
is that you might know anything about a holy God? When I went down to a Bible school
in Dallas, Texas, I went down believing that it was God's hope
and prayer if people would allow him to save everybody. And I met a guy down there that
believed that God only was going to save his people. But he was
very arrogant about it, and he felt like, and he transmitted
that to me, that you had just attained a higher level of information
that you had really got smarter, that now you weren't quite as
dumb as you were at one time, that you'd made progress. And for many, many years, I thought
that that was where we were supposed to be. I now agreed with those
old writers. I read Gill and Pink and agreed
with them. mentally, but I could never agree
with them spiritually because I'd never heard the gospel in
the heart. And when the Lord permitted me,
by His grace, to hear the gospel, and the Lord did a work. It didn't
change my theology, but it changed my relationship with Christ.
And now I understood why he said what he had to say. Because if
he had not got involved, if he had not, if he'd not got involved,
I'd still be in that religion of thinking that I was, I'd arrived
and that I was just smarter than everybody else. Well, I come
to those words that the Lord uses by his writer, who hath
made you? Who hath made you to differ? So there has to be a you involved
in there. Who hath, who hath made you? There has to be a who in there
that makes us to differ. And so we're going to read a
passage of scripture here in the book of Numbers that deals
with that. We find that God often uses this
principle in scriptures that he separated or that he divided. And that's a principle of the
gospel. There is good news that God does not depend on our rise
of information or our rise of intelligence or our rise of acquiescence
to certain truths that someone may have, but He is the reason
that we know the difference. Okay, here in the book of Numbers
chapter 8, I want to begin reading with verse 10 and read down through
verse 18, but we're going to spend our time in a verse here
that Verse 14, let me read that first. Thus shalt thou separate
the Levites from among the children of Israel, and the Levite shall
be mine. Now this is a principle that
God is going to share with us many, many times in the scripture.
That He gets involved in separating. He gets involved in dividing.
He gets involved in severing. He gets involved in making a
distinction, making a difference. And it's not us. For left to
us, we would always stay in the original position. And that original
position is to leave this world as just a child of Adam. That's
our position by nature. All right, let's read here from
verse 10. And thou shalt bring the Levites before the Lord,
and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites.
And Aaron shall offer the Levites before the Lord for an offering
of the children of Israel, that they may execute the service
of the Lord. And the Levites shall say, excuse
me, shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks. And
when we covered this verse of scripture earlier, we noticed
that that was to lean heavily. Now have you ever put yourself
in a position against a wall, you backed your feet out far
enough that if you released your hands you'd fall? That's what
it's talking about. It's not just putting your hands
out here in a cursory manner, it is putting your hands leaning
so much. And what that insinuates, what
that shares with us, that when we're leaning in that position
upon Christ, we're not depending upon anything whatsoever. for any other support. We're
not going back to a communion service that we took. We're not
going back to a baptism that we were involved in. We're not
going back to some work that we did. We're not going back
to some good deed that we did. It's amazing how many people
want to share with people their good deeds. It's important to
them to share their good deeds because that ratifies them as
a human being for doing something good. And yet it's not going
to be of any value when we stand before God. Good deeds have nothing
to do with it. So this symbol that is used in
here is leaning heavily upon this sacrifice. And that is a
picture of God's church Believers leaning heavily on Christ and
if you move a muscle you'll fall Well, he's not gonna keep he's
not gonna have us fall He's going to sustain us. So that's the
difference. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is placed there in regeneration like it's never been there in
religion and we are focused upon him. We're leaning upon him.
We're trusting him. He has us in his hands. We're
in the hands of the Father. Everything will turn out for
God's glory and for the glory of the church. Well, it goes
on to tell us here, thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron
and before his sons and offer them for an offering unto the
Lord. Thus shalt thou separate the Levites from among the children
of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. And after that shall
the Levites go in to do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and thou shalt cleanse them and offer them for an offering. For
they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel,
instead of such as open every womb. Even instead of the firstborn
of all the children of Israel have I taken them unto me. For all the firstborn of the
children of Israel are mine, both man and beast. On the day
that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I sanctified
them for myself. I have taken the Levites from
all the firstborn of the children of Israel. Now, there's a great
transaction that's taking place here with regards to his trading
the Levites for all the firstborn of Israel, but we'll touch on
that at another time. This principle that we find here
in verse 14, where it says, thou shall separate the Levites, is
a principle that we find many places throughout the scriptures.
Would you turn back with me to the book of Genesis chapter 1?
God demonstrates in Genesis chapter 1, 2, and 3, so much about how
he saves his people. This is in type and shadow and
picture, but it is in reality he does much the same for his
people. It tells us here in the book of Genesis that in the beginning
God and our salvation must go back in the beginning. God will
never go back and say in the beginning Norm did something
and God comprehended it and did something there. In the beginning
God, our salvation is in the beginning God. That's where it
is. It's foundation upon him. It's
foundation upon him as our savior. It's a foundation upon him being
our mercy seed. It's foundation upon him. being
everything to the believer. It tells us here in. In Genesis
1 and verse 6, it says, and God said, let there be a firmament
in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from
the waters. Now, that word divide there is
the same word over here we find for separate. So God is in the
business of showing us some very radical things about this earth,
that he's the one that divided the waters from the waters. Now,
there's a lot of discussion about what that means. You know what
it means to me? God divided the waters from the waters. There's
some above and there's some below, but he did it. He's the one that
created it and he's the one that divided it. No one was around
to give him counsel. Whatever it means, no one was
there to give him counsel. No one was there to say, good
job God. No one was there to say that
this is a good idea. God did it before he created
man and he did it to demonstrate to us. that if you are ever placed
in the church, it is by the blood of Christ, it is because God
separated you, and it's because God had you in his mind before
the foundation of the world, and for no other reason. It's
not because we got smarter, it's because God demonstrated goodness
toward us. You know, if we follow this out,
we find that God would have been just, absolutely just, The moment
that Adam sinned, God would have been just to just wreck it all
and never do anything with it. He could have let everybody be
born into this world and go into the abyss and never have any
word of grace or hope. That would have been God just.
Now, God's mercy shares with us that there's going to be a
host that's going to be with him throughout eternity because
in the beginning, God. and he's the one that made the
separation. He's the one that caused them
to know him. He's the one that quickened them. He's the one that brought them
to life because death passed upon all men in the fall. In verse seven of this first
chapter of Genesis, we have it again, and God made the firmament
and divided the waters. which were made under the firmament
from the waters which were above the firmament, and it was so.
Did you hear that? God did it, he divided it, and
it was so. That's just how God does his
business. God purposed it, God carries
it out, and it is so. I'm so thankful that he never
left it up to a human being to make a positive choice towards
God because we don't have any positive ability as a result
of the fall. Another place here in this chapter,
verse 14, it says, and God said, let there be lights in the firmament,
of the heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be
for signs and for seasons and for days and for years. Let there
be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from
the night. I am so thankful even on the
worst cloudy day that when that sun comes up it pushes the darkness
away. God is gracious to us to even
demonstrate day by day, week by week, month by month, year
by year, eon by eon, as that sun comes up it pushes the darkness
away to demonstrate in the beginning God and when he sends his light
it pushes the darkness away. Now we may be under the shadow
of a cloud, we may be under the shadow of a great cloud. The
other day I was traveling to visit a friend there south of
Hood River. And I got into some of the thickest
fog I've been in for years. But you know what? It had pushed
even that. The sun got through and it pushed
the darkness away. I never said, well, it must be
midnight. No. The darkness had been expelled.
God divided. the darkness by the light. All
right, let's look here in verse 18 of this passage of scripture.
And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide
the light from the darkness, and God saw it was good. As we look back upon that time
that God brought us the gospel and God worked a work of grace,
we're going to be able if we know him we're going to be able
to say in the beginning God and he's the one that was in charge
of all of this great work just like he was in charge of the
great work of creation. Now he goes on to share with
us much more in that passage of scripture but turn with me
if you would to the book of Leviticus chapter 10. Leviticus chapter
10 God is going to use this word again and share with us that
he is in charge, that it is he that will get the glory. It is
he that makes us to differ. Who maketh thee to differ? Why
didn't we end up in an insane asylum? Why are not we sitting
in a room somewhere drooling all over ourselves? Now that
may come, but who made thee to differ?
Who made you different than anybody else? Who made you smarter than
anybody else? Well, it's not intelligence.
It's not study. It's not someone convincing us.
It is, in the beginning, God. And He makes all the difference. All right, the book of Leviticus,
chapter 10. Leviticus, chapter 10. And there in verse 10, the
word shares this, that ye may put a difference between holy
and unholy, and between unclean and clean. Now God instructed
the Israelites, there's a difference between the holy and unholy.
You put a difference, but who put it in the mind to know the
difference? He described all of the unholy
things, and he described all the holy things, my son. That's
the Holy One. This is Him. In Chapter 20 of
the Book of Leviticus, notice this with me, as we find out
who made a difference. Who made thee to differ? Who
makes a difference? What is it that we go back to?
What foundation do we go back to, to say, this is where a difference
started? Do we find our foundation is
because someone convinced us of something, or do we find our
foundation that in the beginning, God created something? Here in
the book of Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 24. Let me get in
chapter 20. Chapter 20 and verse 24. But
I have said unto you, ye shall inherit their land, and I will
give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk
and honey. I am the Lord your God, which
have separated you from other people. Now he's speaking about
Israel in that point, but many times we find that this Israel
that God speaks of in the Old Testament is the church that
has been with him forever. I have separated you from other
people. Who moved us someplace so we
could hear the gospel? I've separated you from other
people. Who placed us in a place where
there was something that would be worth hearing? I placed you
among the people. I've separated you from among
the people. I'm thankful that God never left
it up to us to find the place. He's the one that leads us to
the place. He's the one that puts us in a position that we
can hear the gospel with an open heart. He's the one that does
all of that work. He is the creator of our spiritual
life. He's the creator of heaven and
earth, and He's the creator of our heaven and earth. as it tells
us there in Leviticus chapter 20 and verse 24, it says, I'm
the Lord your God which have separated you from other people. Why don't you go believe what
they believe over there or what they believe over there or what
they believe in a totally different realm? I'll never forget going
down to the seashore there in Hawaii and here is a piece of
stone, a piece of rock, a piece of former lava that's been carved
and people will come from a hundred miles to go down to that stone.
I got the privilege of praying to my God anywhere. He hath separated us. And in verse 26 of that same
chapter, chapter 20, verse 26, and ye shall be holy unto me
for I the Lord am holy and have severed you from other people
that ye should be mine. Israel left to itself. It was
brought up about Abraham this morning. Abraham lived among
heathens. You know, not only did he live
among them, he was one. He was an idolatrous man. What does the foundation of Israel
have? Abraham, who was a heathen man.
Who made the difference? God called him out of. God brought him out of. God taught
him. God revealed to him. By faith,
we read that Abraham, by faith, Abraham was a child of God. God
gave him salvation and God gave him as a part of that salvation,
a gift of that salvation, faith to believe him as that he is
his God. This one, Abraham, he could do
nothing right down there in Ur of the Chaldees. And even after
he was brought out of Ur of the Chaldees, he was a liar. But God gave him what nobody
else could give him and no other God could give him, and that
was in the beginning God, the heavenly God. In the book of
1 Kings, we had a portion of that read there in the book of
1 Kings. That's a prayer of Solomon dedicating
the temple. after many years in the building. It was finished, and they're
moving the instruments in it, and there is a time that Solomon
brings the people there, and he spreads his hands before the
Lord, 1 Kings chapter 8, and he prays that great prayer. One
of the parts of that prayer that he mentions that's so interesting
is he says, all of the promises that you ever gave Israel have
been fulfilled. Everyone. Every parcel of ground
you gave them, you fulfilled it and gave it to them. Well,
here in the book of 1 Kings chapter 8 and in verse 53, we have that
principle again brought out. For thou did separate them from
among all the people of the earth in respect about Israel. You're
the one that created Israel. You're the one that brought the
father of Israel out of. You're the one that created this
country, this nation, for thou did separate them from among
all the people of the earth. You know, it tells us there were
many other nations that lived there in Canaan, but not one
of them did God separate like he separated Israel. And so it
is with the church. There is no separation like the
separation God gave to the church. He calls the church out of all
the rest of the world. As it tells us here in 1 Kings
8 and verse 58, excuse me first Kings verse 53
it says for thou did separate them from among the people all
the people of the earth to be thine inheritance as thou spakest
by the hand of Moses thy servant when thou broughtest our fathers
out of Egypt O Lord God as he recounts goes over the history
of Israel he said we go we too must be able to go back in the
beginning God and Now, he called out those people, and most of
those were no different than Abraham before he came out of
Ur of the Chaldees. They were prone to worship a
golden calf. They were prone to worship a
brazen serpent. God put that brazen serpent up
on a pole. Those who looked lived. They
took that brazen serpent, and many years later, they worshipped
it. They were, well, we'd say, they
just weren't as smart as us. No, that is not the reason at
all. Those who didn't worship it had
been given some faith to realize their hope was in God Almighty
and not in a brazen serpent. The rest of them did what they
became natural. Turn with me if you would over
to the book of First Corinthians. First Corinthians, God would
have have been completely just and just pulling back after the
fall and letting everybody go into the abyss. That would have
been justice served. Well, we find here in the book
of 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 17, the passage that I've
been alluding to several times as we've been talking this morning
in 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and there in verse 7, 1 Corinthians
chapter 4 and verse 7, something to ponder. that the
Apostle Paul was used to bring up for us to ponder, for who
hath made thee to differ from another? And what hast thou that
thou didst not receive? Now, if thou didst receive it,
why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it? Everything
spiritual we've received. There's no boasting point. You
know, one of the things about grace, it does not promote arrogance. It doesn't promote, well, I'm
just better than other people because I see better than other
people. In fact, the opposite is true. Gracious produces thankfulness. Lord, you could have left me
alone. Lord, you should have left me alone. I had nothing
in me that was any different than anybody else, but you didn't
leave me alone. I'm thankful that you didn't
leave me alone. You got involved. You went against
me. You went against my will. You
went against all the principles that I held. You went against
what I thought. You went against what I believed.
You brought me to a point that you brought me to Christ. And
that is all the difference in the world. Who hath made you
to differ? No, that's a point to ponder.
Get a little bit arrogant. It's a point to ponder. Nobody
made me any different All right, and in the book of Titus chapter
2 would you turn there with me Titus chapter 2 verses 13 and
14 as we think about God commanding the division the separation A
place where the Levites were taken and separated from all
Israel. Now they had a specific duty
to do, but he did what he has practiced throughout all eternity.
He made a difference. He separated. He divided. Just like he did the light and
the darkness, he divided it. From the waters and the waters,
he divided it. And here it comes down to where
we live. He divides. He separates. He's the one that's involved
in putting us in the straight gate. He's the one that's involved
in causing us to hear the gospel. Here in the book of Titus, and
there in the book of Titus chapter two and verse 13, we read these
words that were written to Titus by the apostle Paul. Titus chapter
two, verse 13 and 14, looking for that blessed hope and glorious
appearing of our great God and our savior, Jesus Christ. How
in the world could we look if we haven't been given grace
to look? How would we even know? What
difference would there be if God had not gotten involved?
And then it says, who gave himself for us that he might redeem us
from all iniquity. What great business God was in
to cause us to know something. to cause us to hear in the beginning
God. He's the one that moved, that
I might know, to purify unto himself a peculiar people. You know, by this great work
of grace that God performed, he purified to himself a peculiar
people. Now, you know, the definition
of words have changed over time. If my dad used the word peculiar,
you know what he meant? Strange. Oddballs. That guy's peculiar. He's strange. He's an oddball. He doesn't fit
in. Well, this word peculiar has
much more than that. A people selected by God from
other nations for his own possession. That's what Thayer says it means.
A people selected by God. That which is one's own possession. That's the peculiar people he's
talking about. He said, I'm going to redeem
a people for my own particular people. I'm going to have a people
out of all nations. They will be my own peculiar
people. How will they be his? It tells
us there in that passage of scripture, it says, who gave himself that
he might redeem us from all iniquity. We've been purchased, paid for,
boughten, and that makes all the difference in the world.
He said, the beginning is God. The beginning is the purpose
of God. The beginning is the covenant
of grace of God. The beginning is the grace of
God. The beginning is the mercy of God. It's the beginning that
we have. Everything else falls out underneath
that. And so he says, who gave himself
for us that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify
unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works. What's
the good works? that a believer has. Well, many
people say, well, you know, I've knocked on some doors. I've invited
people to church. I tithe. I've sent this to there. I send letters to missionaries. I know a church that even sent
used tea bags to a missionary. And I'm not teasing. And they
used to take the little lumps of soap that were left over that
you couldn't do anything with and lump them together and send
that to missionaries. And they marked their box. What
is the good works of a believer? Repentance and faith. That's
what the Holy Spirit gives us. Repentance and faith. Repentance
from dead works and repentance from worshiping idols. And faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's good works, and those
are coming from God. He's the one that gives us those
works. We don't have them on our own. In the beginning, God.
He's the one that separated. He's the one that brought it
out. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, gave himself. Now, speaking
about Israel, even when they got to thinking they were pretty
proud, you know what the Lord told them? In Deuteronomy chapter
7, he said, I didn't choose you because you were the greatest
of people. or the most people, you're the fewest. Let a little air out. They got
an inflated idea about themselves. And how religion does that for
us, it gives us an inflated view of ourselves. And grace gives
us a true view of ourselves. And then we have our only place
of hope is in the Lord Jesus Christ. It all goes back right
there to the very first chapter of the book of Genesis, in the
beginning, God. First of all, in the beginning,
God knew me in my mother's womb. Guess what? He knew me in my
grandmother's womb. all the way back to Adam. And
before Adam, he knew me in the covenant of grace before the
foundation of the world. That's how far his knowledge
of his people go back. In the covenant of grace before
the foundation of the world, he knew his people. He marked
out his people. He had them set apart. He had
them peculiar. He had them particular. He had
them there blessed. Who and who? The Son. He had
him blessed in the Son. The Son had promised to be their
mediator and to be their sacrifice, to be their lamb. He is going
to be their redeemer. He took care of it all. In 1
Corinthians 1, would you turn there? First Corinthians chapter
one, as we hear some of those Levites, you know, I just can
hear those Levites because they were just Israelites and Israelites
are just people that whose great-great-grandfather came out of Ur of the Chaldees.
You just hear someone say, you know, isn't it great that we're
in this group here? I just didn't think being a Levite
would amount to anything, but here we are, we're all set apart.
Now we're going to be, you could just hear some of those people
saying that. And then, once again, the Lord
says, okay, let me point out that I am the first cause of
all things. And if you have that attitude,
you're a Levite in name only. What's that F-A-U-X? It's fake, fake ivory. Yeah. Fake Levite. Fake Christian. That's all it is. Well, here
in the book of 1 Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 23. 1 Corinthians,
chapter 1, verse 23. The scriptures share this. But we preach Christ crucified
unto the Jews a stumbling block? And unto the Greeks foolishness?
Who's left? Who is left? Jews and Gentiles,
unto the Greeks, foolishness. Unto the Jews, a stumbling block. But unto them which are called,
now this is a holy calling. You know, I was visiting with
somebody yesterday, right there, right after Ernie's service,
and they were talking to me and I said, you know, I went down
to Bible school and I was taught to be a, I was taught how to
bear people into the kingdom of God by asking them a few questions. And if they consented to my questions,
they had to be saved. That's just, oh my goodness. And I shared with them, God does
not call anybody to call anybody out of death but the Son of God. Can't do it. We're charlatan
if we think we can. He goes on to tell us here, for
the Jews require a sign, the Greeks seek after wisdom, but
we preach Christ crucified to the Jews a stumbling block, to
the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called both Jews
and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God,
because the foolishness of God is wiser than men. Now he's just
using the figure of speech here. God has never been foolish. But
if we compare it, the foolishness of God is so much wiser than
any man. And the weakness of God is stronger
than men. He's never been weak. For we see your calling, for
ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after
the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God
hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the
wise, and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound
the things which are mighty. Who's done the calling? God hath. God hath chosen, God hath chosen,
God hath chosen. And base things of the world,
the things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things
which are not, to bring to naught things that are. Why? That no
flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption, that according as it is written. And one more
time, the Apostle Paul could take us right back to the Old
Testament and say, in the Old Testament it is written, he that
glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Jeremiah. He preached a message out of
the Old Testament. The Old Testament had the same
message. And all of these things were not born physically, were
not wise, and that's what God attributes it to. All of these
things, he said, not many. Now there were a few that were
noble that were called, but it was God's call. There were a
few that were smart that God called, but by and large, It
was just the average people that he calls from darkness into his
marvelous light. It must be a holy calling. It
must be a call of God. Too many folks today have the
idea that they can call the dead to life. The believer knows it's
God that calls the dead to life. It's the gospel that is used.
God must separate just as he did with those Levites. He must
separate. They were separated by God. But
Israel, separated by God. The church, separated by God. You and I. If we know grace,
we're separated by God. And we will not go back to an
experience. We'll not go back to a specific
day and say, that's where it all started. We'll go right back
in the beginning, God. And the works of God's work is
repentance and faith. Not dead works. Brother Mike,
if you'll come.