Follow wherever I go. My sheep know my voice and come
at my call. But a stranger's voice they do
not know. My sheep, though I fall, I stay
by day. My sheep, though I fall, I stay
by day. They abide in the fold, they
go not astray. They abide in the fold, they
go not astray. They love me because I made them
my choice. The head of media fills the trees,
and they follow my call. They follow my call. Hark, my sheep, know my voice. My sheep know my voice, and the
pastures of green, where I need them so often to feed. My sheep know my voice, and the
cool sparkling stream, where beside it still wanders my lead. My sheep know my voice, now who
I say my days, My sheep are my boys, day by day. They abide in my home, they do
not stray. Abide in my home, they do not
stray. They love me because I made them
my choice. They love me because I made them
my choice. Follow my call. They follow my
call. For my sheep know my voice. My sheep know my voice and the
valley of death through which I shall eat them someday. But no danger nor harm can touch
one of them, for I will be with them away. My sheep, thou my foal, I stay
by day. My sheep, thou my foal, I stay
by day. They abide in the fold, they
go not astray. Abide in the fold, they go not
astray. They love me because I made them
mine. Thank you, ladies. We, as I indicated last weekend,
Brother Tim James, whether he would be with us or not, was
questionable because his older brother, Billy, is very ill. And he told me he just couldn't
make it. He was very sorry. And so last
weekend, Saturday I suppose it was, Something like that. Friday
or Saturday, anyway, I contacted Brother Norm Wells. Brother Wells is from Oregon. And I asked him if he would be
willing to come and preach. And he said he would. And I said,
you'll either preach two or three times or you'll preach four times.
It depends on whether Tim can come. And he graciously accepted
the invitation. We're certainly thankful to have
Brother Wells with us, and he passes Sovereign Grace Baptist
Church in the Dattles? Dattles? Oregon. So he's from
the left side of the country, but don't hold that against him.
He's one of the good ones. So we're thankful to have him.
Sorry his wife couldn't, his wife Nancy, sorry she couldn't
be with us. But we're grateful he can be. Norm, you come preach to us tonight. Good to have you, brother. I cannot express how delighted
I am to be here tonight. And I bring greetings from a
small group of folks out in the Dalles, Oregon. The Lord has
given me the ability of being there 30 years now, and they
put on the cake this last Sunday, and more to come. So it wasn't
one of those retirement dinners. I do miss my wife, and I wish
she could be here. I married way above myself. I missed her yesterday when I
was trying to find my way out of Columbus. She's my navigator. But I called
her and she gave me the instructions and they were right. I have to make a confession before
I say a few words from the word of God. A dear friend of mine
recently gave me a phone number of a pastor down in Georgia. And I had to call him. I was
impressed and imposed upon to call him and apologize to him. for many years of wasted fellowship. I was misinformed and didn't
take the time to find out. And that brother was so kind
and gracious and forgave me. But it's wonderful to be able
to hug Brother Bill now and say we're friends. I would like to say a few words
from the book of Leviticus tonight, but before you turn over there,
I would like to read four passages of scripture and short passages
in the New Testament that have to do with Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy, the books of Moses, the Pentateuch. And there is much said in the
New Testament with regard to those five books. I am reminded
every time I read the Old Testament that those books from Genesis
to Malachi are the only books that Jesus Christ ever preached
from. They're the only books that the disciples preach from
and they preach Christ. Remember the message that the
apostles preached on the day of Pentecost that they did here
in their own language, the wonderful words of God. God was pleased that day to save
3,000 souls. In the book of John chapter one
and verse 45, we have a passage of scripture of a man that has
just been elated to hear the good news. He's heard the good news about
Jesus, Jesus of Nazareth. And here in first, in John chapter
one, verse 45, Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him,
We have found him, of whom Moses in the law and the
prophets did write Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. We have found
him, who Moses wrote about and the prophets. Now, if you turn
with me to chapter five of the book of John, John chapter five
and verse 45, we have these words recorded. John 5, verse 45, and I'd like
to read those three verses that conclude the chapter. Do not
think that I am accuse you to the father. There is one that
accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed
Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if
ye believe not, his writings, how shall you believe my words? Then if you turn with me back
one book or a couple of books, excuse me, one book to the book
of Luke Chapter 16. In Luke Chapter 16, the Lord
gives us the message about the man who died and lift up his
eyes in hell being in torment, and he spoke to Abraham. He said
at the conclusion of that conversation, to please send somebody back
to my brothers, that they would not come to this place. And in
Luke chapter 16, verse 29, we have, Abraham said unto him, they have
Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, nay, Father Abraham,
but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And
he said unto him, if they will not hear Moses and the prophets,
neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
And finally, if you'll turn with me to the book of Acts chapter
26, Acts chapter 26 and verse 22, and then we're gonna head
to the book of Leviticus. Acts chapter 26 and verse 22. The Apostle Paul is making his
defense, and he has this to say with regard to the Old Testament. He says, having therefore obtained
help of God, I continue unto this day, witnessing both to
small and great, saying none of the things than those which
the prophets and Moses did say should come. that Christ should
suffer, that he should be the first that should rise from the
dead and should show light unto the people and to the Gentiles. Friends, would you turn with
me back to the book of Leviticus and let's look for the gospel
according to the book of Leviticus chapter 1. Leviticus chapter
1, as we look here in this wonderful chapter, this wonderful book
to me for years, and I've shared this to some. For years, Leviticus
was the flyover book. You read Genesis, Exodus, and
flew over Leviticus and went to the rest of the book. To me,
it was very difficult to read. I could hardly make my way through
it in my daily Bible readings when I was in religion, and much
of it I just skipped over and mumbled a little bit. Not too
long ago, I read something that the book of Leviticus was written
to sinners. Now I know what I am. I have
in my studies some pictures of my hometown because the pastor
who brought me the gospel said, never forget where you came from.
Never get too high and mighty. Remember where you were saved
from. And I have those pictures. And when I think about it, we
all, every one of us, have come from sin and every known corruption
that is possible. And we've committed in our heart,
whether we've committed overtly or not. So I'm a sinner. And
when that person said that about the book of Leviticus, I wanted
to go to the book of Leviticus and find out what it said for
me. And I found a treasure trove. here in the book of Leviticus
chapter one. Now, there are many things that
could be said about the book of Leviticus and sometime we
may say more. It may be tomorrow. I don't know.
But in the book of Leviticus, there is the gospel. The gospel
of the grace of God with all that follows may be found in
this book. But I would like to start here
in the book of Leviticus chapter 1. In chapters 1 through chapter
7, there are five different offerings that are presented. These five
offerings are laid out and there's some types and shadows and pictures
in them, but every one of those types and shadows and pictures
are on purpose. and they reveal something about
the preciousness and the work and the ministry of our beloved
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in Leviticus 1, beginning,
we read verse 1, and the Lord called him to Moses. In the Book
of Leviticus, we find that the Lord spoke directly more times
than anywhere else in the Bible. We have more recorded words just
like that. The Lord called him to Moses
and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation
saying, speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them,
if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring
your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the
flock." This particular offering is the burnt offering. It's mentioned
in the very next verse of scripture, and in this burnt offering that
is presented by whoever brought it, it is telling us that Christ
is our sin bearer. Truly, we find in the scriptures
that it is only Christ that can deal with our sin issues. He
is the perfect Son of God, He is the impeccable Son of God,
and He was able to take our sins and His own body on the tree
and deal with them in an appropriate way that God was pleased with
and that could put away sin forever and thus could grant unto everyone
that He died for eternal salvation. There is no if, ands, or buts
about it. Now it tells us in this passage
of scripture, in this chapter one, and very early on in this
chapter, it tells us about the burn offering and Christ our
burn offering, and the instructions are very exacting. There is no
room for human innovation. You know, that's the problem.
That was a problem I had in religion. It was human innovation that
I was dealing with. We didn't listen to the scriptures,
we listened to somebody else and we dealt with it that way.
Well, this practice that is designed here in the book of Leviticus
with regard to this sacrifice, to this offering was, There was
no room for innovation. The Lord spoke to Moses and Moses
gave it to the children of Israel, and this is exactly how it must
be done or you're not doing it right. We're going to find out
in time that the children of Israel were presenting to the
Lord broken and halted maimed animals because they couldn't
sell those. They sold the good ones and offered
to God the bad ones. That is really a demonstration
of what they thought about God. I used to be in that camp. He
was a broken God that couldn't get the job done because if he
didn't get help from me, he was useless. Well, we find just the
exact opposite is declared in the scriptures that God is almighty,
he is the almighty one, and he does all his will and according
to purpose, and he's laid it out and delineated it before
the foundation of the world, and it shall come to pass just
like he designed it. and the church says, thank you
God. I was living in that back and
forth, up and down. How many professions of faith
you can make and how many rededications of life you can make, and then
you find out when God actually saved you, that's all over with.
You're settled. The issue is settled. Well, here
in this passage of scripture, we find if any man of you bring,
and verse 3, If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd,
let him offer a male without blemish. It is going to be a
burnt sacrifice. It's going to be of the herd.
Now there are accommodations later in the same chapter that
if you're poor and you can't bring a oxen or you can't bring
a lamb or you can't bring a ram, you can bring turtle doves. But
everything still points to the exact same thing and that is
Jesus Christ is our sin bearer. Now for the part that we're gonna
look at tonight, we find that this sacrifices of the herd and
let him offer a mayo. Now there's a lot of discussion
today about that very thing. I used to teach school. I had
a great time with Brother Ron Trebran this afternoon talking
about that. We shared a lot of war stories.
We had a man come to our school and he was telling us there's
actually a difference between males and females. And he says,
let me explain. He says, ladies know 7,454 colors. I don't know what mauve means
to you. Ladies do. I don't care. And boys know eight. And there was a boy in the group
that came up to him afterwards and said, I find an exception
with what you had to say. And he says, OK. He says, I know
24 colors. He says, OK, name them. He says,
light blue, blue, dark blue. Light brown, brown, dark brown.
Okay, got your 24. Well, in this passage of scripture,
as well as in almost all of these sacrifices, a male was requested,
a male was demanded. And it's not because, there's
a couple of these offerings, females could be offered, but
in these specific ones where there is the necessity of demonstrating
and picturing Jesus Christ as our sin bearer, there is a responsible
party and he was a man. Adam was a man and he was in
the sin. It was because of him we are
where we are. It was because he was not deceived. He absolutely knew exactly what
he was doing to himself, to his wife, to his family that would
come, and to every generation afterward. He was not a caveman.
He was a very intelligent person and he knew exactly what he was
doing. When Eve took that fruit and ate it, nothing happened.
There was no darkness. She didn't know she was naked
even at then. But the moment that man took that fruit and
ate it, Lights went out and darkness reigned in the hearts of those
two and they knew they were naked. Here we have in this prescription,
it must be a male. When it comes to the one who
would be our sin bearer, we're going to look for the seed of
the woman, the man Christ Jesus. is absolutely essential that
he be the one. He is the one chosen of God and
he's the one that was pictured by the Lord when he spoke to
Moses about speaking to these people about bringing these offerings.
Now, I am convinced that there were not very many of these offerings
presented because the person who brought this offering was
required to know there were a sinner. Not many sinners. I like what
Mr. Hart said, a sinner is a sacred
thing. The Holy Spirit has made him
thus. Not many would come up and take one of these animals
and in front of all the priests and in front of all the hosts,
go through this formality that was required for someone to demonstrate
what it took to take away their sin. Not many would bring this
offering. A few, not all Israel is of Israel,
but I'll tell you what, all Israel will be saved. Spiritual Israel
will all be saved. Not one elect will be lost. Not
one Jesus Christ died for will go to hell. He will save every
one of them. None of them will find a place
of disrespect or dishonor with God, I can hear him say, welcome
thou good and faithful servant to everyone. And we say, when
did we do that? Only in Christ are we faithful. So here we have
a mail, it says, A sacrifice of the herd let him offer a male
without blemish. He shall offer it of his own
voluntary will. Did you notice that? A male without
blemish. This that was brought as a sacrifice
for the burnt offering was to be examined as close as possible
and was not to have any blemish of any kind that they could spot. Now, we can't see inside and
they couldn't see inside, but the outward observance was to
be absolutely without blemish. This was to picture the one,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who was without blemish or spot. A lamb without blemish or without
spot is what is required to be the sin bearer for his people. He was sinless before the world
was created, he was sinless while the world was created, he was
sinless in his own ministry, and he was sinless on the cross,
and he's still sinless, but he bore our sins in his own body
on the tree and put them away forever. We're going to find
out in just a little bit that when they sprinkled that blood
of this critter around the altar, it was sprinkled all the way
around. You know what? No one will be
able to find one sin of God's sheep. They've been all put away. I was raised in fear when you
did something and the preacher said, you're going to have to
answer for that. You know what? If I have to answer for one,
I must answer for them all. It means he was not successful,
He didn't do what he said he would do and we stand in jeopardy. But the promise of God is I will
lose none of them. They will all have my blood applied
in sufficiency where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. So
the blood of Christ is going to take care of this. Well, we
have this one that is Without blemish, he shall offer of his
own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before the Lord. Here we have a critter that some
sinner has brought. You know what he recognized?
He recognized he needed a substitute. He recognized he needed someone
besides himself to take care of the problem. That's exactly
what Abel was demonstrating. I need a substitute. By faith,
he offered a more excellent sacrifice. By faith, he did that. We are
in desperate need of someone to take care of the issue and
we can't do it ourselves because we're sinners. So this person
who brought this animal to be offered as a burnt offering,
they came with the idea that they were sinners and they knew
it. How did they know it? God revealed it to them. God
let them know, God showed them. When does he show them that?
Well, we find in the book of Ezekiel, after I do all this
for you, then you'll know your own corruption. Here we have
this man, and the next thing he's required to do is put his
hand on the head of that critter. Notice this, and he shall put
his hand on the head, Now that means he is to lean heavily to
put his weight on the critter. It's not just a little bit like
this. I'll let you take care of most of it, but I'll take
care of a little. You lean heavily. You're off
balance. You're in a position here that you have no alternative. You are leaning heavily on this
critter. And you are symbolizing that
something else must take my sin. It must be given to someone else. I can't take care of it myself.
And this critter is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. It
says here, put his hand upon his head. He's without blemish. And he is without any sin. And we find that this one who
brought this is a pictorial description of the presenter. The offering
must be the opposite. This offering must be perfect
because I am not. This offering must be perfect
and without blemish because I'm full of blemish. The offering
must be exactly the opposite of what I am. Then we find Christ
the true sacrifice without blemish and without spot. He is the one
that came and took care of the issue. He is without blemish
and without spot, and he's exactly the opposite of us. Yet he became
like us. became a man, born of a virgin
in due time. All those scriptures come into
play as we think about what the Lord Jesus Christ did. And then
he says, lean heavily on this one. There was that passage of
scriptures is casting all your care upon him for he careth for
you. When I was in religion, it says,
oh, all your financial cares, all your housing cares, all your
children's cares, all your worries, no, no, no, no. Let's get it
first. Casting all your spiritual care
on him. He must be the first reason for
all things. We have to, and the Lord gives
us only grace, and we find out it's all been taken care of afterwards.
We're just consenting to it by his grace. We're casting, I'm
leaning, all my spiritual needs are placed on him. I'm casting
all my care upon him. And then it says here, and it
shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. The antitype that Jesus Christ
made an atonement for his people, sure and steadfast. Here this one came and after
this all took place, make an atonement for him. I love an
atonement by an atoner that actually is an atonement. I love a savior that is actually
saves people from their sins. Only in grace do we have that.
In works there is no security. In fact, there's just the opposite.
But here we have an atonement is made for him. And it tells
us there that in the next verse, I'll back it up to verse 3. His
own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle. That takes
me right over to John chapter 10 when Jesus said, I am the
door. There's the only one place we
can come. There's only one place with help.
There's only one place that will take care of our needs. There's
only one place that is exactly opposite of what we are. We're
the sinners. Isaiah said, from the top of
the head to the bottom of the feet. The description is horrific
that we are by nature. I never robbed a bank and I didn't
realize until after I heard the gospel and God saved me that
it was here was the problem. I hear all kinds of people blame
all kinds of things on the devil or the company you're keeping
or everything else. Here's the problem. It's right
here in our heart. It's fallen. Don't give your
heart to Jesus. He doesn't want it. It's black.
He'll give us a new heart. Well, here we have at the very
door, I am the door of the sheep, I am the good shepherd, I giveth
my life for the sheep, put his hand upon the head, I'm gonna
cast all my care upon him, all my need, all my hope, all everything
is put upon him, and nothing of this leaving was on the person,
frame of mind, character, or conduct. God and the believing
soul must meet at the very same place, Christ. God and the saved soul must meet
at the very same place. We rest our soul on the same
point and person as Jehovah, rested his wrath. We trust Christ
and don't move a muscle. It was God's wrath and our trust
meets at the very same person. The transfer took place, sin
of the church to him. I can't explain it, but I'm thankful
that he took my sin upon himself and I can go free. At this point,
all action took place. If we read here just a little
further, the priest took over. Can't go any further. We're not
going to go in there and we're not going to slaughter this critter.
We're not going to collect the blood. We're not going to sprinkle
the blood. That's in the high priest's hands. That's in the
priest's hands. That's in God's hands. That's
in the Son's hands. All of this took place as the
Son gave them utterance, and shall be accepted for him to
a man for an atonement And then it tells us in verse 5, and he
shall kill the bullock before the Lord, and the priest Aaron's
son shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about
upon the altar, that is, by the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. Blood everywhere. Look for the church's sin. It's
covered with the blood. The payment has been made. who
can lay anything to the charge of God's elect, it is God that
justifies. There is no sin to be found. Perfect righteousness from the
Lord Jesus Christ given to us in such a fashion that we bow
before Him, and then we say at that last day, you did all of
this, and we say, when did we do that? Those on the other side said,
when did we do that? That's the difference between
grace and works. You did it for me. Works, oh,
I'm so proud, and depart from me, you workers of iniquity,
for I never knew you. Blood everywhere, blood covering
every sin of every elect sheep in all time, and not one sin
will ever poke through that robe. covered, paid for. In my little
hometown, my dad didn't want me raised around city folks.
The little town I grew up near was 160 folks, and my dad didn't
want me growing up with those city folks, so we were out of
town two miles. Every once in a while, my mother
would ask me to walk up to town to Mr. Ferris's store and buy
a can of pork and beans or something. My dad had an account there.
And Mr. Ferris would pull it off and
write that down. And once a month, my dad would come in and pay
that. Mr. Ferris never charged him
double. There is no double payment. Christ paid for it. It's clean. That was a wonderful blessing,
wasn't it? Thank you very much. Let's get
our black folders out again. Look to number five. And I'll
ask you to, once again, stand and we'll sing this. And then
we'll take a little bit of a break. And when you hear the musicians
strike up a few notes, then you find your seats again, if you
would. Page five, all I need. Stand together. Oh My redemption full and sure He
is all I need Jesus is my all in all All I need, all I need
While He keeps I cannot fall He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power,
holiness forevermore. Oh Oh My redemption full and sure,
He is all I need. To my Savior I will flee, All
I need, all I need. He will not disturb and flee,
He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power,
holiness forevermore. My redemption full and true,
He is all I need. He's the treasure of my soul. All I need, all I need He has
wins and made me whole He is all I need Wisdom, righteousness,
and power Holiness forevermore By redemption full and sure. He is all I need. Glory, glory
to the Lamb. All I need, all I need. By His
Spirit sealed I am. He is all I need. Wisdom, righteousness, and power,
holiness forevermore, my redemption full and sure, He is all I need.