All right, if you want to be
turning to Deuteronomy chapter 21. My text is in Deuteronomy chapter
21. I will read the first nine verses. They all deal with the
same context. And this is a law. This is not
some recounting of history. This is a law that God gave to
Israel through Moses. And I will read this law, and
you listen along. If you wanna read along, look
at it yourself, it's fine. But we'll read this, and I'll
make a few statements and give us the historical context. If
one be slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee
to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath
slain him. In other words, you find somebody
murdered, and you don't know who did it. And that's what he's
saying. Then thy elders and thy judges
shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which
are round about him that is slain. And it shall be that the city
which is next unto the slain man, or that is the one that
is closest, that's what it's talking about, slain, and even
the elders of that city shall take an heifer, that is a female
bovine that's never had a calf, a heifer which hath not been
wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke, that is,
this heifer's never been placed under the bondage to do work,
and the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer into a
rough valley. I hope to talk about that a little
bit. To a rough valley, in other words, a very difficult place. a very difficult place, which
is neither eared nor sewn, and shall strike off the heifer's
neck there in the valley." That is, totally separate the head
of the heifer from the body. That had to be a gruesome sight
and a gruesome act, just from a physical standpoint. Down in
this rough valley, and the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come
near. For them the Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto
him, and to bless in the name of the Lord. And by their words
shall every controversy and every stroke be tried. All the elders
of that city that are next unto the slain man shall wash their
hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley. And they
shall answer and say, our hands have not shed this blood, neither
have our eyes seen it. But then immediately, he says,
they are to say, be merciful. Be merciful. Just because you
may not be guilty of this, Don't mean you're not guilty of that.
Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel. Notice there is
no prayer here for the murderer. There is no action here taken
to find the murderer. I'm not saying this law forbid
it. It doesn't forbid it, but that's not even mentioned. The
heifer's not for the murderer, but for Israel. for all the people
of Israel. Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy
people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed and laid not innocent
blood unto thy people of Israel's charge, and the blood shall be
forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt
of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that
which is right in the sight of the Lord. That is my, I take my title from
that last phrase, doing right in the sight of the Lord. Of course, that is a topic among
religious, religionists, no doubt in many places this morning.
Men, and of course nowadays, even women will stand up and
tell other men and women what they are to do to be doing right
in the sight of the Lord. And most of it will be nothing
more than religious lies. Religious opinions. And in most
cases, it will be outright heresy. Take note that the crux here
of an unsolved murder is not the detective work that you engage
in to find out the murderer. Isn't that conspicuously obvious? When I first read that, we've
read other laws. When difficulties arose, they
were to do something to figure out the problem, right? Even
on one occasion, we're told there to bring out the urim and the
thummim. Yet in this law, God does not
instruct them how to find out who the murderer is, but how
to atone for their own sins. When I realized that, it opened
this passage up. No, it's not detective work here
that God commands them to engage in, but expiation. expiation. What is expiation? This tells
us a sacrifice that secures forgiveness. Not a sacrifice that offers forgiveness,
not a sacrifice that makes a stab at forgiveness, but expiation. And some of you may have a Bible.
Mine actually says the expiation of an uncertain murder. That's
an unsolved murder. Expiation is a sacrifice that
secures forgiveness. And I'm here to declare to everyone
that God may send this message to, and to those who are listening
right now, and to those of you who are here right now, unless
God Almighty expiated your sins when his son died on that tree,
you will go to hell. But if his son expiated your
sin and sins on that tree, God will send his spirit and his
gospel to you, and he will bow you down to the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This law doesn't even deal with
the murderer at all, does it? When I first read that, it just
struck me odd. But I realize it struck me odd
because of me, not because of God. It's for God's people. Proverbs 14, 34. The wise man
Solomon lets us know that seeing is a reproach to any people.
You remember Isaiah? Go back and read Isaiah. Start
reading chapter one, chapter two. Boy, he just hammered on
Israel. Here's what you are, wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores from up here all the way to the
bottom to your feet. And then he goes on, chapter two, three,
four, five, woe unto this one, woe unto that one. Then all of
a sudden, Uzziah dies. And Isaiah himself sees the Lord,
holy, holy, holy. And he said, woe is what? Me. Me. Me. Our Lord shed some light
on this to help us, and I'll just give you his quote. You
can go find it if you wish, and that's what you'll have to do,
because I'm not going to give it to you. I'm going to tell you a chapter and
verse. He that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.
That's right. You see, when these Israelites
fell, oh, here's someone murdered. Here's someone murdered, their
life pooled of blood. the dirt around them sucking
up the blood. And you have no idea who did
this. And it's clear this is a homicide. What's the first thing we start
doing? In the flesh, pointing the finger
at somebody else. And you know what? We may not
be guilty of that murder, but we've got our own guilt to deal
with. We've got our own guilt to deal
with. God's holiness demands absolute
perfection. Turn to Psalms chapter 24, or
the 24th Psalm, I should say, more appropriately. It doesn't
really matter, but I was just trying to be correct there. The
24th Psalm. Most people think God's holy
because God don't go to the picture shows. God don't go to the pool
halls. Do they still even have pool
halls today? I guess they do. God don't go to the beer joints.
God don't go to the red light district. Well, listen what the
book says. Psalm 24, the earth is the Lord's
and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein.
That includes the people in the pool halls, people down at the
red light district, and the people up at the state capitol, and
the people up at the federal buildings up in Washington, D.C.
Includes us right here today. For he hath founded it upon the
seas and established it upon the floods. Who shall ascend
into the heel of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? Who? Here's the answer. He that
hath clean hands. And I remember Henry Mahan saying
this just up the road here a few miles years and years ago. He
said, let's see a pair of those. You ain't talk about, you can
go in there and you can wash and wash with soap and water,
use alcohol to cleanse any germs, and our hands are still guilty
before God. He that hath clean hands, oh,
and a pure heart. Let's see one of those. How many of us want our skeletons
exposed? Not this old boy, but God knows
him. I may keep him hid from men for
the rest of my life, but God knows him. Jack Mattis, God knew
I was going to do it before I even did it, and he still gave me
breath to live. Did he not? Is it not in him we live and
move and have our being? And even after that, Joe, he
still showed me mercy in Christ. He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor
sworn deceitfully. You remember that time he was
just talking to somebody about an event, and you lied to him
about it, and there wasn't even no need? You know what I mean? You weren't even being interrogated
for an unsolved murder. And you flat out just lie. Well,
we call that today exaggeration. God says it's called L-I-E. Lie. Now we excuse one another for
it because we're all guilty of it in some form or another. God
don't excuse us. We gotta have a heifer. And that
heifer's neck, there must be total separation. Because sin does what? Sin has
separated us from God. So the heifer's head must be
separated. And he goes on to say that even
the stars and the moon are not clean in God's sight. He even
charges his angels with what? Folly. There are some angels,
this is what we read, who fly around his throne. You remember
they had six sets of wings? And what'd they do with one set
of those wings? They covered their faces in front of the holy,
holy, holy God. I will not even attempt to describe
God's holiness. It is so far above language. And I believe this is part of
the reason why Paul said he knew a man caught up into the third
heaven, in the body, out of the body. He didn't know, but he
couldn't even speak of the things that he seen there. God's holiness
demands absolute perfection. His holiness expresses his glory,
verses seven through 10 of this psalm. And God tells us through
the Apostle Paul, for all have sinned and come short of the
glory of God. Don't misunderstand me. I know
this will be misunderstood by some. I'm sure it will be, but
I'm not gonna try to go into a bust to explain it. But the
murderer ain't our problem. Me is my problem. are your problem. The murderer
is his own problem. And had God not restrained me,
Joe, I'd be worse than that guy out there in California that
had all them hippies around him and murdered all those people.
That is down in here. Now I know there's some people
that will reject that and say, that is not me. You see these
sanctimonious people on TV, on the news, and they talk about
this person doing it, boy, then they're just so holy, ain't they?
Huh? The sad part is they probably
don't really know that there is corrupt on the inside before
God as those people they're pointing the finger at. And yet I find
myself pointing my finger to. I find myself pointing my finger
too. Is there sin and sinning among
us? Yes. Yes. We're as guilty as the murderer. I am the guilty party even if
I have not sinned that particular sin. Right? That law teaches
us all that. Now, if you missed that when
you read it, I hope you see it now. I hope you see it now. Well, Joe, when I first read
it, of course, I read it long before, but as you get closer
to it, you read this, and you move forward a little, and you
read it again. And I read it, and I thought, what? Where am
I at? Then I realized you're right
there in the text, old boy. You need a heifer's neck severed
because you're as guilty as the next. Take note, expiation is
to be done in a rough valley, and the expiation is final and
sure. If the heifer's neck is severed
in the rough valley, sin is what? Forgiven. For all of God's people. Isn't that what this is? Isn't
that what this law teaches? That's what it teaches. Take
note, expiation to be done in a rough valley. Let's walk over
to the edge of the rough valley a moment. Try to be quick. Here's
the edge. We're looking down into the rough
valley. And I see our Lord's sufferings
at the hands of men. Remember, this is the God of
all glory. This is creator God himself in
human flesh. And he manifested so because
when he was betrayed and a mob came after him to take him into
custody. You remember the account? He's
betrayed by Judas with a kiss and got a mob of men with him,
right? And he said this one phrase,
I am. And they fell down backwards.
You remember that? But then that same I Am allowed
them to stand back up and stay right where they were. He could
have called legions of angels and wiped out mankind and say,
you will not treat me this way. I am your God. But there's something
in that first place where he's betrayed Dakin. He said, you
can take me, but you can't have these. You remember that? There
were 11 other disciples. Judas had betrayed him. He said,
you could take me, but you cannot have them. And you know what?
There was nothing they could do about it. I can't say that,
but bless God he can. And when he does, if he tells
the demons of hell and your own sin, you can't have that man
or you can't have that woman because you're allowed to take
me. There's my hope. There's my hope. Betrayed. Taken by mob. We're looking down into the rough
valley. Lied upon. Spit on. Punched and slapped. Malked. And all of this was by
the religious folk. Then the religious folk turned
him over to the government. There he was interrogated, scourged
with many lashes, which ripped open his flesh. This is a rough
valley. Is it not? There is no other
valley more rough than this. Based upon who it is it's being
done to. Lashes ripped open his flesh. They stripped him. Platted crowns
of thorns. Malked him as a king. Spit on
him. Hit him on the head with a stick,
a reed. Plucked out his beard. and finally
crucified him. That was torture. Yes, sir. Torture. They nailed his feet
to a tree. Yes, sir. And nailed his hands
to a tree. Joe, that's torture. That ain't
no lethal ejection. That's right. That was it. And
then come up and stuck the spear. Stuck the spear. And folks, all
we're doing is just looking down into the rough valley. We ain't
even got in the rough valley yet. Because when all of this
happened at the hands of men, our Lord's sufferings, look at
them at the hands of God the Father. There is the rough valley. God the Father turned his back
on the Son. Because he's seen men and women's
sins, odd or more appropriately, in the Son. God the Father turned
his back, so that our Lord cried out, and Joe, it's a cry, I pray
God I never even get close to understanding. My God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? But he knew, but thou art holy. Even when he was made sin, Joe,
he was still perfect. I can't explain that. I just
know it's so. And let me tell you something,
the heifer's neck was severed. Total separation took place,
did it not? If he prayed the Father had turned
his back on him, you can bet your last dollar he turned his
back on him. But he didn't do that to the
son because of the son. He did that to the son because
of you and I. there in that rough valley, our
sins were expiated. Thou so shalt thou put away guilt
of innocent blood from among you when you do that which is
right in the sight of the Lord. So what's right in the sight
of the Lord? Gotta find out who's the real guilty party. Now we're
all the guilty party. See the law? We need expiation. There's what's doing right in
the sight of the Lord. He did what's right in the sight
of the Lord. Christ did what's right in the
sight of the Lord. And bowing to him honors him. Bowing to the crucified, buried,
risen, ascended, seated, reigning Lord. God the Father loves that. Yes. As Tim James said one time,
it's all right to believe God. But as our beloved brother Paul
this morning pointed out, if you really believe him, you're
gonna serve him. Because if you really believe him, and it's
a real belief, you'll love him. And what you love, you give service
to, don't you? Now I'm not gonna use, I like
ice cream, so I eat ice cream. If you love something, don't
you think you're gonna do more than just treat it like ice cream? Mmm, there's the rough valley
There's the rough valley And somebody said well Well, the
Lord Jesus knew what was going to happen in the end. Anyway,
don't you belittle what he went through? because you and I Hope
to God. I never understand it in one
iota because if I do it'll take an eternity and hail and to even
touch what is right to be in the rough valley. Because I,
if I go to hell, I'll deserve to go to hell. If God turns his
back on me and casts me into outer darkness, I deserve that. He did not deserve that for his
own deeds, for his own actions. But he did deserve it when our
deeds were put on him. and God satisfied divine justice. This ain't no God offers you. God's not offering men anything. I am not preaching a God that
is offering men anything. Jesus Christ offered himself
to the Father as the heifer whose neck was severed. and he willingly,
for the love of the Father, the Father's justice and holiness
and righteousness, and the love of his people. The love of his
people willingly and lovingly despised the shame, endured the
cross, and it was a rough valley. Men hurt him badly. And in all of that pain and agony,
the Father turned his back on him. So that God the Father would
never turn his back on us, his people. Now when you feel pretty
bad about yourself, look to him. When you fall flat on your face
and you fail your God miserably, repent, cry out for forgiveness,
but I want you to know that the forgiveness before God has already
took place at Calvary in the rough valley. Us confessing our
sins is for the comfort of our own consciences and heart. It's
not for God's benefit. It's not for God, God's already
been benefited. He rejoices in his son. How do
I know that? He set him in his own right hand,
in a body, forevermore. I can't fathom that. And he's
worthy. God the Father's got a book in
his hand that's sealed with seven seals, and no man was worthy
to even look at it, let alone open up the seals. But who did?
The lion of the tribe of Judah. The light of the tribe of Judah,
but when you see if you're seeing the line of the tribe of Judah
You're gonna see him as a lamb that was slain And he gonna he
gonna come and take the book. I like that I like that because
it's so When God's holy law comes after
your soul, Jesus Christ will say, and I don't know exactly,
please give me a little license here. When God's holy law comes
after your soul, if Jesus Christ was separated from the Father
for you, Christ will say, you can't have him. You can't have
her. I satisfied your demands. Folks,
that's our hope. It's not how righteous I am.
It's how righteous He is. That's my hope. That's my hope. Oh, God sweetly forced me to
look to Christ. My expiation. Not to make expiation. No, no. That He's already made
expiation. God sweetly forced somebody.
I know some people don't like God. Some of you actually heard
the prayer. God's a gentleman. He don't make
anybody do anything. That's a lie. This Bible talks
about all kinds of things God makes men do. Oh God, make me
about his son. Oh God, when I fall, uphold me
with your hand. Because I'm as guilty as the
next man. Even though I may not have done the same deeds as the
next man, I'm still just as what? Guilty in myself. Sweetly force me to Christ. Make me to see him and him alone
as my only hope. That, that is doing right in
the sight of the Lord.