Well, thank you for staying.
Oh, my. It's just it's a delight
to be here. I have to tell you, that's just
an honest feeling. My wife and I just love you.
It's like being home. Just like being home. God's people,
grace people will be gracious and you have been very gracious
to us. We thank you. Well, join me. In one more time
in reading tonight, at least, the book of John chapter 5, I'd
like to read those three verses again. Moses spoke of me. Moses
wrote of me. Because we're going to be in
the book of Leviticus, the third book of Moses' writings. And here in the book of John
chapter 5, in verse 45, Jesus speaking again, do not think
that I will accuse you to the Father. The Word has already
done that. The Word of God has already done
that. Because, he says, there is one
that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom you say you trust. They said we have Abraham as
our father. And Jesus said, if you'd have known Abraham, you'd
know me. Now they knew him from a physical standpoint. You know,
they had a book at home. They could go back and says,
oh, here's my dad and my granddad and my great granddad and my
great great granddad and Abraham right there. I can go clear back.
I've got a book that shows that. Well, Jesus said, 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? The books of Moses are part of
the eternal word of God. They carry the weight of all
of the other scriptures. They were given by the Holy Spirit
Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit,
and the same Spirit gave Moses the word as he gave to the Apostle
Paul. The word of God. All right, join
me in the third book of Moses, and that's the book of Leviticus.
The book of Leviticus. Several years ago, I spent about
five years going through the book of Leviticus verse by verse. And it was, when I started it,
I shared with people, this was a flyover book for me. You know,
you had to read the Bible through in a year. You came to the book
of Leviticus and you got speed reading. It didn't matter whether
you ever took speedy reading in school, you had it here. You could go through that reading
the scriptures, the book of Leviticus. I could probably do it in about
five minutes because it was really fast. Well, when it took us four
or five years to go through the book of Leviticus, I found out
Moses wrote of Christ. That was his mission, was to
preach Christ and him crucified. every offering that was ever
given in the book of Leviticus, it was a declaration of Christ
and him crucified. The Lamb slain from the foundation
of the world was pictured in all of these sacrifices, and
they all had the same requirements, without blemish and without spot.
Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Leviticus chapter
1. Leviticus chapter 1, And I'd
like to read the first five verses of this book, Leviticus chapter
one, beginning with verse one, and then we're going to jump
ahead to Leviticus chapter 22 and read a few verses there.
But in between, we're seeing the same thing going on. Sacrifice,
offerings, rams, lambs. Bullocks, heifers, on and on
it goes. And we want to remember as we
read through these sacrifices what's written in the book of
Hebrews, that the blood of bulls and goats could not take away
sin. No one was ever saved by these
sacrifices. People were saved by the one
they represent. They were saved by the blood
of Christ. That's the only way people are
saved. And they were not saved when they brought their lamb
down and set a few things over the head of the lamb, and then
the lamb was slaughtered. But there's a picture here that
is so valuable for us, and it tells us in verse 1 of Leviticus
chapter 1, and the Lord called unto Moses. Notice that capital
letters again, we're dealing with Jehovah again. This is Jehovah
called unto 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. if his offering be a burnt sacrifice. Now the first five or six chapters
of the book of Leviticus talk about several different kinds
of sacrifices that were to be offered, but they all had the
same conclusion. Someone died, someone was burned,
and blood was shed. In all of them, let's read here,
if his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a
male without blemish, he shall offer it of his, now notice this,
of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle, in
the congregation of the Lord. And he shall put his hand upon
the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for
him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock
before the Lord, and the priest Aaron's son shall bring the blood
and sprinkle the blood around about upon the altar that is
by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Now here
we have some notes about what's going to happen with all of the
sacrifices that are recorded in the book of Leviticus. That
there's someone that's going to bring this. You know, as I
went through the book of Leviticus, I realized probably the doors
were not knocked down every day by people coming with these sacrifices. Because those who brought the
sacrifices were given the knowledge about themselves that they were
a sinner. And a poet said, a sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Spirit has made him
thus. So we're not going to find that
there's dozens and dozens and dozens a day. It's the same way
today. How many people do you have come
down and share with your pastor or with you on a Sunday day and
every Sunday and say, I am a sinner before God and I need to trust
him. Only God can move people to do that, and only God moved
people in this day and time to do these sacrifices. The end
was blood. The end was blood. The end of
these sacrifices was blood spilt. And this blood was a picture
of the most precious blood that we can ever read about, hear
about, or believe about, and that's the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. This is typical, this is picture,
but this is not the blood of Christ, it's a picture of the
blood of Christ. All right, if you'll join me over in the book
of Leviticus chapter 22. Now free will is only mentioned
17 times in the entire Bible, and that is attached to offering,
and that's mentioned 17 times in the Old Testament, free will
offering. We know that it is God that must
move in us to exercise a will to bow before God and say we
are a sinner before God and we need a sacrifice on behalf of
us. We cannot perform it ourselves.
Now these people in this day and time, they practiced this,
they brought this lamb, they brought this bullet, they brought
this ewe, they brought this heifer, they brought these animals before
and they put their hands on them, they rested their hands on them,
they put pressure upon the animal and they confessed that they
were in need and then the priest slew it and burn it, cut it up
in pieces, put it on the altar, burn it, The blood was captured
and sprinkled around it and this happened when sinners came to
the knowledge of themselves and brought that sacrifice before
Moses. This is not an everyday occurrence
because not very many people know that they're sinners. Oh
yeah, I stole cookies out of my mom's cookie jar, and I hit
my sister as hard as I could once, and on and on we have these
little trivial things that we often do. Oh, I robbed a bank
once, and I stole something once. But you know what? When God brings
us down to grace, he lets us know that we offended God. He's the offended party. It's
not a little trivial thing that we've done against humanity.
Now, it may not have been so trivial, but my friends, brothers
and sisters in Christ, if you have ever come before God, you
have been caused to know that you have offended God against
thee, and thee only have I sinned and done this great deed. I've
sinned against the most holy God, and I am so in desperate
of need of something to take care of that, that the only thing
that can is blood. The blood. Each of these free
will offerings had one outcome. Shedding of blood. You know,
as I get over to the New Testament and I find out that my Savior
went to the cross and shed his blood on my behalf and put away
all of these sacrifices, I get so thankful. I'm so thankful
I am in New Testament times. I'm so thankful that I'm not
required to bring an animal every time I know that I've sinned
against the thrice holy God and offer it and see the blood splattered
all over. I'm so thankful that God took
care of that in one offering by the sacrifice of himself to
put away sin forever. What a glorious sacrifice. All
right. Here in the book of Leviticus
chapter 22, Leviticus chapter 22. I want to read beginning
with verse 18, Leviticus chapter 22, beginning with verse 18.
It says, speak unto Aaron and to his sons and to all the children
of Israel and say unto them, whatsoever he be of the house
of Israel, or the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation
for all his vows, for all his free will offering, which they
will offer unto the Lord for a burnt offering." Blood. Free will today does not talk
about blood. Free will talks about something
I exercise, something I do within myself, and it's not possible,
but we've tried to practice that. You know what free will offerings
really have as the heart and core is blood. The blood of Christ,
the blessed blood of Christ, the glorious blood of Christ
is the heart and core of a freewill offering. We come knowing that
he has made me willing in the day of his power. He has turned
me and I shall be turned. This is what God does for us. Then we realize that it is the
blood of the Savior, that has made atonement for me. Read on
with me here in the book of Leviticus in verse 19, and you shall offer
at your own will, a male without blemish, and bees of the sheep
or the goats, and whatsoever hath a blemish, that shall ye
not offer, for it is not acceptable for you. Oh my goodness, when
we come with any of the works that we have, that is offering
an offering that has a blemish. There's not a person in this
world that does not have sin before God. When we try to contrive
something on our own to present it before God, we are offering
a blemish before God and it's unacceptable. In the days of
Malachi, he said, bring those offerings to your governor. You're
offering these offerings. animals that have sores, and
these animals that are halt, and these animals that are lame,
and the stuff you can't sell at the auction, you're bringing
to God. In reality, when people are doing that, they are bringing
what represents their God. Their God is broken, their God
is halt, their God is blind, their God has sores, but the
God of the Bible is most holy, and he demands the blood of Jesus
Christ to put away our sins. And all his people are in agreement
that that is what is required and we are given the ability
of depending upon that free will offering. It was free, and it
was His will, and we've been given the grace to believe it.
All right, it goes on to tell us, Whatsoever offering a sacrifice
of peace offerings unto the Lord, to accomplish His vow, or freewill
offering in the beaves or the sheep, it shall be perfect for
to be accepted. There shall be no blemish therein,
blind, or broken, or maimed, or having a wind, or scurvy,
or scab. Ye shall not offer these unto
the Lord, nor make an offering by fire, of them upon the altar
of the Lord. Why? Because they're imperfect. They are us, and you can't offer
us. You can't offer sin. You can't
offer us on the altar. We cannot do what is required. I don't know what a win is, but
we all have it. We all got scurvy. We all have all kinds of impairments
in our mind and in our heart, and we are, by the day, moving
towards that day when what God said to Adam shall fall upon
us, we shall surely die. We're moving in that direction,
every one of us. Some have a head start, but we're
moving day by day, same direction, and you know what? That is because
of sin. God said to Adam, in the day
you eat, you shall surely die. And we find the apostle Paul
picking up on that in the New Testament and said, in Adam all
died. everyone that Adam represented,
every boy, girl, man, woman that's ever born into this world. Adam
represented that person, and when he fell, when he went against
God, when he challenged God, when he said, God isn't good,
God isn't right, I'll do it my way, and went against God, he
took his entire representation down with him. The whole building
fell with him. I don't know where you were when
9-1-1, but it was something to watch that whole, oh my goodness,
those twin towers come down in dust and ashes and hundreds,
thousands of people were inside of them as that great blow by
those jets ran into them, shook them to the timbers, shook them
to the foundation, and they fell down in a heap. What a statement
about Adam when he was upright and he knew God, he visited with
God, he had fellowship with God. And the moment he ate, it was
like those twin towers. He went down in dust and ashes
and carried everyone with him. But Jesus Christ is told by the
Apostle Paul that everyone that he represented shall live. In Adam all died, in Christ all
shall be made alive. And so everyone that Jesus Christ
represented is brought out here in the book of Leviticus in these
sacrifices that he would shed his precious blood on their behalf. It was going to take time. There
was 400 years that the children of Israel were in bondage. After
they were set free, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years.
After they were over here in the promised land, they were
there for a long time under Joshua and the rest of those people. judges, and the rest of the folks,
and the kings, and so forth, and at the appropriate time,
the time set aside by God before the foundation of the world,
Jesus, the Son of God, was born in Bethlehem of a virgin. Don't you think? She didn't go
through life having a hard time. But she said, Be it unto me according
to thy will. And she bore that son into this
world. And you know who she knew? She
knew who he was. He was her savior. The Lamb of God. She takes away
the sin of his people. This free will offering, everything,
went to the shedding of blood. Yes, they burnt that Yes, they've
killed it. Yes, they did all of those things
to it. But in the ultimate outcome, there was the shedding of blood.
The shedding of blood pictured the shedding of Christ's blood.
Oh, how glad we are when we read in the scriptures, thy people
shall be willing in the day of thy power. God said, my people
will be willing, and guess what? They are! In the day of his power,
when he comes to us with the gospel, he makes us willing in
that day to trust him with all our heart, and we say, how did
I do that? He said, I took care of it for
you. I took care of it for you. I didn't leave it up to you.
It's in my hands. I'll see to it. I'll see to your
redemption. Yes. I'll see to your new birth.
Yes. I'll see to your conversion.
Yes. I'll see to your belief. Yes. I'll take care of it all
and you'll come out on the other side and bow and do exactly what
Saul of Tarsus did when God did that very work for him on the
road to Damascus. First words out of his mouth
is Lord, sovereign, sovereign king. What
will you have me to do? We find in John chapter 1 verse
8 through 13. Would you turn there? As you've
noticed, we have such an overlap. from Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
and Numbers and Deuteronomy tomorrow. But turn with me here to the
book of John chapter 1, and we find these wonderful verses of
scripture that share with us about this necessity of blood,
and it's not because of us. Those people that brought those
sacrifices were caused to know something. They were not just,
okay, Joe, it's your turn. Today's your turn to do this.
Okay, Bill, tomorrow it's your turn." They didn't have a sign-up
list for offering these sacrifices. They didn't have, well, you know,
Pete hasn't done it for a long time, maybe we should call on
him to do it. They didn't have that kind of thing. It was of
their own voluntary will. You know what? There were people
that came along and took their lambs up and people said, oh
my gosh, I didn't know that about him. Oh my, I didn't know that. Boy, we're going to have to have
a meeting over at McDonald's and talk about this. All of the
things that happened today didn't happen then. They went of their
own voluntary will and offered this sacrifice, and it was without
spot and without blemish, and they knew full well that this
sacrifice was not going home with them. This sacrifice would
be confessed over, killed, cornered, burnt, blood spilt, and that
was it. And then they would go home.
And you know what? Those who did that rejoiced in
the Lord God Almighty that this is a type. You know, today we
have the same thing. We do two things in our church
out in the Dalles. You probably do it here. Lord
saves somebody and comes to your pastor and says, Lord, just save
me. I want to be baptized. You know what he's doing? He's
doing something just like those sacrifices. Those sacrifices
didn't save a soul, neither will baptism. It's just a declare. I'm declaring something. I'm
declaring what God has done for me. I'm declaring what God has
done for me. It is going to be required that
someone be a substitute for me and baptism is declaring I've
been saved by the grace of God and I want to follow him as his
command. And then once in a while we send
around a plate with some wine and some bread on it. That didn't
save a soul. None of those sacrifices, and
none of the ordinances today do. There's no salvation in any
of that. There's only salvation in the
blood of Christ, which that wine represents, and that bread, which
is the broken body of our Savior. There's only salvation there.
In the book of John chapter 1 verse 8, turn there with me. John chapter
1 verse 8, the scriptures share this. It says, speaking about John the Baptist, he said, he
is not that light, but was sent to bear witness of that light.
That was the true light that lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. He is in the world and the world
was made by him and the world knew him not. Now there's a whole
bunch of people that didn't know him. Now there's a few people
that knew him. There was a man that came in
when Jesus was brought into the temple. And he picked him up.
Can you imagine that happening today? Boy, the police would
be called, wouldn't it? All the guards would be right
there. This old man's got my baby. No, this old man had been
told, I shall not die till I see the Lord's Christ. And he picked
him up and said, now let your servant die in peace. I have
seen my salvation. handed him back to mama. You
know what? He went and died. This, he was in the world, the
world was made by him, the world knew him not, he came unto his
own and his own received him not, but as many as received
him, to them gave he power or authority to become the sons
of God, even to them that believe on his name. Now notice verse
13, here's the qualifications. Which were born not of blood,
We don't inherit this. Our parents, because my parents
went to church doesn't mean that I'm saved. My parents went to
church all their lives and didn't know the first thing about the
gospel. They died without hope. They were dependent upon their
own works. They were dependent upon their own baptism. They
were dependent upon themselves before God. And there is nobody
gonna stand before God because we're unclean. We don't have
the right category. We need someone greater than
us. We need a lamb, the lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, the lamb
of God. And he goes on to say, which
were born not of blood, nor the will of the flesh. Oh my goodness. Mama wants me saved. I guess
I better go forward. Nor of the will of man, because
why? Our will is as dead as the rest
of us. God said his commentary on this
whole thing, and very few people want to listen to God's commentary
on this subject of the will. It says in the 14th Psalm, God
looked down from heaven to see if there were any that did seek
after him. You know what he said? I found
none. That's God's commentary. We can't
go any further than that. All right? It goes on, which
were born, not of blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the
will of man, but of God. That's where it comes from. For
it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of his
good pleasure. What motivated these people in
the Old Testament times to bring their free will offering? What
was it that caused them to say they would do their own voluntary
will? God worked in them both to will
and to do of his good pleasure, and they came and portrayed,
they came and declared. In this type, shadow, and picture,
the Savior that was coming, the Lord Jesus Christ, and He must
be broken. He must be put on a cross. He
must shed His blood in order for me to turn around and go
back home with peace. We find that throughout. Natural
man declares his free will. Turn with me to the book of Luke,
if you would. Book of Luke, chapter 10. We find this passage of scripture
that just openly declares what the free will of man is like.
This is us. Yes, we can declare, I'll have
Wheaties in the morning or I'll have Frosted Flakes, but that's
as far as it goes. In Luke chapter 10, verse 25,
the scriptures share this. And behold, a certain lawyer
stood up and tempted him saying, Now, why would he call him master
when in his heart he doesn't believe he's the master? He's
tempting him. He's trying to tempt him. What
shall I do to inherit eternal life? And he said, what is written
in the law, how readest thou? And he answered and said, thou
shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy
soul and with all thy strength and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself.
And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right, this do and thou
shalt live. But he, now here's the will,
willing to justify himself. That's all we can do. Justify
himself, said unto Jesus, who is my neighbor? Now, if you have
done, verse 27. If you have done, verse 27. You
can only do it because of Christ. Because he's the only one that
ever loved God in that capacity. And he's the only one that can
give you that kind of love for God. Because you and I, it's
impossible to do, that means... 24 hours a day, seven days a week,
365 days a year without missing it. You have to do that and you
can't do it. So we need someone who has done
it and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Over in the book of Romans
chapter 10, would you turn over there with me? Oh, excuse me here. Let's move just a little further.
There is no salvation for the soul but in the atoning blood
of Jesus Christ. Whatsoever else presents itself
as such a delusion and a snare This is truly the
stone which the builders disallowed. Jesus Christ's sacrifice is declared
to be that stone which the builders disallowed. You know, a stone
is stumbling on a rock of a fence and the builders disallowed it.
What did they not want? They didn't want blood. They didn't want blood to represent
them. Now they take somebody's blood,
but they didn't want blood to represent them. They didn't want
the blood of Christ because they were okay as it was. We need
the blood of Christ. In the book of Romans chapter
3 and verse 25, join me over there in Romans chapter 3 and
25 and thank God that he's made us willing. thank God he's turned
us and that's the only reason that we look at these verses
and say hallelujah his blood is the propitiation for me in
the book of Romans chapter 3 and verse 25 we read these words
about the blood of Christ it says here in verse Romans chapter
3 and verse 25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood. You know, over in the book of
1 John, it talks about the propitiation. It's not only the propitiation
for us, but for the sins of the whole world. And I used to argue
over what the world was, but if you understand what propitiation
is, you don't have to worry about the world. Propitiation means
payment, full payment. Now, if you've had full payment
made, you don't have to worry about the rest of the world.
God is taking care of this world. God takes care of His world. He takes care of His lost children. He has blood atonement for them. It is a propitiation through
faith in His blood to declare His righteousness for the remission
of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. God took
care of this in eternity past and promised that His Son would
come and His Son came and laid down His life for ransom many,
and in that he shed his precious blood." We've been justified
by his blood, we have redemption through his blood, we find out
he might sanctify people with his own blood, who has washed
us from our sins in his own blood. You know, this is the most precious
thing that God has ever given. The precious things of God, there's
not one so precious as the precious blood of Christ. Oh, I have life. That comes from God. Yes, we
do. Oh, I'm able to have health. That comes from Christ. Yes,
I've got that. But it's not near as precious
or as eternal as the precious blood of Christ. As a lamb without
blemish and without spot, we find that he has loosed us from
our sins in his own blood. He does that in a miraculous
way. He doesn't actually take us up,
as some people interpret it, and put us down in some bloody
bath or some water and wash away our sins. He does that in the
mind of God through the sacrifice of His Son when His Son's blood
was shed, an atonement for us that paid for our deliverance,
who washed us from our own sins. He cleansed us from our own sins
in His blood. has washed us their robes and
made them white in the blood of the Lamb." There's nothing
more precious in the Bible than the blood of Jesus Christ. He puts away sin now and forever. When his blood covers our sin,
it is no longer ever brought up. Our sin is as far as the
east is from the west. It is not brought up by God again.
He's not going to be like my dad, a historian, bringing up
the past. He doesn't say, well, look at
that, what you did. Who shall lay anything to the charge of
God's elect? It is God that justifieth. And how did you do that? By the
blood of the Lamb. By the blood of the Lamb. Oh,
we are rebellious by nature. We're without hope by nature.
We have nowhere to turn by nature. And religion comes along and
says, follow my route, follow my route. And we do that for
a time. But to God's people, he says, turn in here. Turn in
here. I want you to hear something.
Now, you're not going to be glad about it. You're going to be
pretty sad about it to begin with, because I'm going to tell
you your religion is absolutely worthless. I'm going to tell
you that your hope is no value. I'm going to tell you that there
is no hope whatsoever in what you're trusting. I'm going to
tell you all of this, but I'm going to reveal Christ to you
through the preaching of the gospel, and you're going to have
dependence on one and one thing alone, and that's Christ and
His blood. Of your own voluntary will, bring
the Lamb, offer the sacrifice, and watch the blood being spilt. No lost man is going to do that.
Those who God has made willing will come and trust only the
blood of the Lamb. Brother Wade.