If my memory serves me correctly,
I believe it was Chrysostom who, during the times of horrid persecution,
was cast to the lions in the Colosseum. And as the lions began
to approach him, he stretched out his arm to the mouth of the lion and
was heard to say at the top of his voice, now I begin to be
a Christian. When I have given all to Christ,
now I begin to be a Christian. I'm here today as God will enable
me to talk to you as plainly as I can about a voluntary consecration,
to issue to you a call to a voluntary consecration. Our text is Leviticus
27. As the Lord God our Savior, the
triune Jehovah has proved himself utterly consecrated to us, has
he not? in redeeming and saving our souls
by the sacrifice of his own darling son, in the gift of his grace,
in all the works of his providence. He has proven himself utterly
consecrated to us. Let us give ourselves in utter
consecration to our God. That's the message of Leviticus
27, verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses
saying, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them,
When a man shall make a singular vow, the person shall be for
the Lord by thy estimation, that is by Moses estimation. Verse
eight, but if he be poorer than thy estimation, poorer than Moses
estimation, then he shall present himself before the priest and
the priest shall value him. according to his ability that
vowed shall the priest value him. Verse 28, notwithstanding
no devoted thing that a man shall devote unto the Lord of all that
he hath, both of man and beast and to the field of his possession
shall be sold or redeemed. Every devoted thing is most holy
unto the Lord. Every devoted Every consecrated
thing is most holy unto the Lord. Verse 34. These are the commandments
which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel in
Mount Sinai. I've read just those portions,
those small portions of this chapter. We read the whole chapter
earlier. I urge you to go home and read it again while it's
fresh on your mind very soon. This is the way Moses concludes
the book of Leviticus. This 27th chapter is all about
vows and gifts made to God. The man makes a vow, brings a
gift to God. The things spoken of here, none
of them are required by law. None of them are demanded by
God. But if a man makes a vow or brings a gift to God, this
is what God requires. Whether you call them vows or
resolutions or determinations or promises, they all amount
to the same thing. In this chapter, the Lord God
gives specific instructions which we need to understand. Now let
me point out immediately, in the scriptures, Old Testament
and New. God never commands anyone to
make a vow. It's never commanded. Vows are
never mandatory. They're never obligatory upon
the people of God. We do not have to promise God
anything. We're never required to promise
God anything. Particularly, we are not to promise
God anything with the hope of getting something from him. We
don't bribe God. God is a giver. He delights in
giving, that's his nature. Every good and perfect gift is
from above and cometh down from the father of lights with whom
is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. Because he who is
God is love. He delights in giving. God delights to give. Someone wrote this, I have no
idea who. Love ever lives and ever stands with open hands.
And while it lives, it gives. For this is love's prerogative.
to give and give and give. God is love and God gives. God gives. He's always giving. His gifts are always voluntary.
And all that we do for our God and Savior must be voluntary. Constrained by nothing except
his love revealed to us and his love for us the love of Christ
Constraineth us all Service to God all gifts to God all acts
and deeds done for God must be Voluntary he won't accept anything
else Constrained by his love, but voluntary. Constrained by
the experience of his grace, but voluntary. He won't have
anything else. And yet there's something innate
in human beings that makes us want to vow, to promise, to make
resolutions to God. When he left home, Jacob made
a vow to God. Jephthah, when he was going out
to do battle in the name of God, made a vow to God and gave God
his only daughter and child. We read in the scripture about
Hannah, who begged God for a son and before the son was ever given
her, gave that son to God, make a vow to him. The scriptures
speak of many others who make such vows, but God never requires
them. The scriptures, however, do teach
us that once the vow is made, there is no turning back. It's
to be kept. If you turn to the next book
of the Bible, turn over to Numbers chapter 30, you will find that
these, it's clearly stated how this would be done in Numbers
30, verses one and two. Moses spake unto the heads of
the tribes concerning the children of Israel, saying, this is the
thing which the Lord hath commanded. If a man vow a vow unto the Lord,
or swear an oath to bind his soul with a bond, he shall not
break his word. He shall do according to all
that proceedeth out of his mouth. Obviously then when we talk about
vow, a vow of consecration, a vow of devotion. The book of Leviticus
clearly represents our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the imminent one
to take a vow. Our Lord Jesus is that one who
swore to his own hurt and stood by it. He changed not. When he swore to his own hurt
as our surety, He stood forth in the covenant of grace and
pledged himself as our surety. Our all-glorious Redeemer consecrated
himself to God as his righteous servant and swore that he would
perform all his will. He would perform all his will.
obey all his law, bring in all his righteousness, perform perfect
righteousness, and then lay down his life for his sheep. And that
he, upon raising himself from the dead, would bring all his
sheep by the power of his grace, by his spirit, safely home to
God. And that's what he did by the
will of God. Hebrews 10 tells us how he came
into the world and said, lo, I come to do thy will, oh my
God, by the which will we are sanctified by the offering of
the body of Jesus Christ. But Leviticus 27 specifically
talks about you and me. The vows and gifts spoken of
in this chapter are matters of voluntary consecration. The first
things of the flocks and of the herds, the first fruits of the
fields and the tithes are specifically exempted as things already belonging
to God. So the book closes with a call,
a call of voluntary consecration. That's our subject. Truly, this
book of Leviticus is a radiant jewel in the crown of Holy Scripture. These last words of the book
come from Moses' pen with solemn weight. They seat us as it were
on some high mountain from which we survey the traverse plain
through which we have come. In verse 34, these are the commandments. which the Lord commanded Moses
for the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. They're looking
back, all the way back to Sinai now. They've been in this wilderness
for some time, and Moses gives us this book by inspiration,
and he concludes it by saying, this, this the commandments God
gave us back at Sinai. This is what God required of
us back at Sinai. They bring the whole book into
view, urging us to survey everything and count all our gains before
we move forward. I wonder if we can do that. Let's
count our gains. We are approaching the day of
thanksgiving as a nation. Let's count our gains, and then
I will give you the message of this chapter. First, the book
of Leviticus, obviously, is all about our Lord Jesus Christ and
his great work of redemption. We read it aright, only when
we read it in the light of his presence, seeing him on every
page, hearing him point to each picture and say, this is talking
about me, this is talking about me, that's talking about me.
Each picture portraying our savior. Have we thus found him and walked
with him through these luscious chapters? Is he more clearly
seen, more fully known? Is he more fully enshrined in
our hearts? Is he the mainspring of our lives? That's been my
purpose in preaching through this book that seems so mysterious
to so many, so mind-boggling to so many. As indeed through
the other portions of Scripture, I'm not here just to give you
an education in Bible literature. My purpose, Mike, is that you'll
know Christ more fully. that he become more precious
to you, that you see him more clearly. Christ is the juice,
the life. He is the heart blood of Holy
Scripture. And he is the juice, the life,
the heart blood of the book of Leviticus. If we don't read the
book this way, a blinding veil is over our eyes and we grope
about in darkness and it's just a book of so much confusion.
I told you several times through the course of preaching through
Leviticus, my dear friend, Brother Charlie Payne is with the Lord
now. He was an elder for many years at Ashland. Charlie and
I met many, many years ago, and he happened to be in our house.
The first time I wrote out a bulletin on, used an old, I don't even
call it a mimeograph machine then, spirit duplicator. And
Charlie was just being nice, but he read the article. He said,
Don, that's great. I want you to send me everything
you write. And always did. And I didn't know for a long
time that Charlie would take the bulletin articles And then
the daily radio broadcast and other articles I'd write. And
he'd duplicate them and send them all over the place. He'd
send them all over the place. And come to find out, his sister
was a Sunday school teacher at a Church of God place. And she
got her Sunday school literature from Charlie, and he got it from
me. That's how God works things. But anyway, Charlie got on a
plane one time flying to Mexico, and he sat down and thought I
wanted to talk with him a little bit. And he saw that Charlie was reading,
and reading in the book of Leviticus. And the fellow said to him, he
said, I never have understood the book of Leviticus. It's confusing
to me. And Charlie never missed an opportunity
to witness. He said, did you ever read the
book of Hebrews? Let me show you. The book is all about Christ. Christ is our sacrifice. Christ
is our altar. He's our priest, our mercy seat,
our atonement, our propitiation, our satisfaction, our light,
our guide, our bread. He is our acceptance, our wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. Christ is our
Savior and Christ is our God. That's what Leviticus is all
about. Second, seeing Christ here. The glory of this book,
we see something else. We see that our God is love. The son reveals the father, the
gift proclaims the giver, and here the golden letters write
out God's name in clear, clear letters, L-O-V-E. God is love, wondrous truth. God is love. His love, His infinite
mercy, grace, and love for perishing sinners shines forth in all the
sacrifices, in all the ceremonies, portraying redemption and redemptions
planned by His grace. He calls His Son to bear the
sins of His people. He lays all help upon one mighty
helper, like a flood of grace, his love burst forth through
Jesus Christ, our Savior. The first thought and the last
thought in God's eternal purpose is love for his people. Don't
you find that amazing? The first thought and the last
thought And God's eternal purpose of grace is love for his people. Because this blessed book of
Leviticus exhibits Christ crucified, it calls for you and me ever
to adore the love of God. Ever to adore the love of God. For God so loved the world. What a statement. God so loved. No word can be found to describe
that love. No word can be found to set forth
measure that love. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life. God commendeth his love
toward us. This is how God recommends his
love to you. This is how God would woo you
by his love. God commendeth his love toward
us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Hereby perceive we the love of God because he laid down his
life for us. Do you perceive the love of God?
He laid down his life for us. God who cannot die. God, the eternal one, took on
himself our nature and the God-man laid down his life for us. In
this was manifested the love of God toward us because that
God sent his only begotten son into the world that we might
live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation
for our sins. The scripture clearly does speak
about our love for God. If any man love not the Lord
Jesus Christ, let him be damned. But the scriptures speak little
about our love for God. This is what scriptures tell
us plainly. We love Him because He first loved us. We didn't
love Him. We couldn't love Him. We wouldn't
love Him. But He first loved us. And His
love for us is the cause of our love for Him. Could we with ink
the oceans fill, and were the skies of parchment made, were
every stalk on earth a quill, and every man a scribe by trade,
to write the love of God above would drain the oceans dry, nor
could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from
sky to sky. But there's something else. Here's
a third thing. There is more to the gospel than
the love of God. The love of God chose us in eternal
election. The love of God sent his son
to die for us as our substitute. But God's love could never have
saved us apart from the satisfaction of divine justice. Turn to Romans
chapter three for a moment. Romans chapter three. Now, when you read in the scriptures
about the sacrifices, all those rams, all those goats, all those
lambs, all those pigeons, all those turtledoves, all those
sacrifices, all the sheaves, all the burnt offering, all the
wave offerings, when you read about those sacrifices and you
see blood, blood, blood, blood at the door of the tabernacle,
blood on the porch of the temple, blood in the holy place, blood
in the holy of holies, blood over the mercy seat. You think,
what can all this mean? What barbaric religion? Barbaric
indeed, unless, unless it shows for something infinitely beyond
the wisdom of man. unless it shows how God can be
just and justifier of the ungodly. You see, God cannot save. God cannot be gracious. God cannot be merciful. God cannot
forgive sin. God cannot ignore transgressions. God cannot forget your iniquities.
God cannot receive you, except somehow, some way be found by
which he can do so in perfect consistency with his holy justice. And when he's beheld his son,
stand forth as our surety, as the Lamb of God. This is it! I have found a ransom. Deliver
him from going down to the pit. You see, the sacrifice of Christ,
as is portrayed in the book of Leviticus, declares to us that
God, through his Son, through the sacrifice of his Son, is
both just and the justifier of him that believeth. Romans 3,
24. We're justified freely by his grace, freely on our part,
freely to us, without any cause or cost, but justified freely
by his grace through the redemption. There's the cost. Through the
redemption that's in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be
a propitiation, a justice satisfying sacrifice, a propitiation, a
vengeance silencing. a wrath ending, a fury consuming
sacrifice, a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare
his righteousness. God's righteousness in the forgiveness,
the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God, verse 26. To declare I say at this time
his righteousness that he might be just and the justifier of
him which believeth in Jesus. Let me see if I can maybe make
that plainer without confusing anything. I just caught the eye
of Brother Gary Baker back there. Let's suppose, let's just suppose
that Brother Gary got in a hardship And he came and wanted to borrow
some money from me and needed some bills paid. And I took care
of that hardship and gave Gary a note. He agreed to pay it a
certain time. And before Gary could come pay the note, Brother
Mark Henson found out about it. And he came in with a little
extra money and he came and he said, he's done, let me pay Gary's
bill for it. I want to pay what he owes. It's
all right with me as long as I get my money. That's perfectly
all right. And then the next day, Brother
Gary comes. And he said, but I don't wanna
pay my bill. He doesn't know anything about what Mark's done.
Well, okay, let's have it. That's not justice, that's evil. You see, justice cannot be twice
paid. You understand that? No debt
can be twice paid. Justice cannot be twice paid. Jesus Christ, God's darling son,
by the sacrifice of himself, paid my debt to God. That means God in justice must
justify this sin. Those for whom Christ died must
be justified before God. Justice demands it. Here's the
fourth thing. The book of Leviticus is a marvelous
display of God's desire, His determination, His delight in
blessing sinners with grace. Blessing sinners with grace who
fully deserve His wrath. Commandment after commandment,
picture after picture, ceremony after ceremony, sacrifice after
sacrifice, promise after promise, sets forth the gospel of God.
Types and figures are profusely given through the book. Every
method imaginable is used to picture Christ. Here are clear
models of God's saving work. Part after part moves like a
parade in front of you, and God just shows you a little bit here,
and you watch the parade, and it just gets better with each
passing float. One exhibition after another
comes. And then another follows until at last the whole thing
is portrayed. All had just this one purpose.
God's purpose is to set forth Jesus Christ and him crucified,
evidently before our eyes, so that we, looking on Christ, understand
God says, I will be crucified. God says, this is my name, this
is my glory, forgiving iniquity, transgression and sin. God says,
this is who I am, I delight in mercy. who can harden his heart
against such mercy. Only he who being often reproved
hardens his heart and refuses to hear. Fifth, Leviticus graphically
displays God's method of grace. It shows us how God says. It's a bloodstained book. Its
ceremonies are full of death. His pages resound with the groans
of the crucified, slaughtered beast. And I see and hear Christ
here. He cries not. His voice is not lifted up in
the streets. He makes no effort to compromise justice. He seeks
neither medication nor reprieve. He grants that poor, ruined,
doomed, damned, helplessly undone sinners like us have life everlasting
only through his blood. Here is my chosen. Here is my
redeemed. Here are the people I represent.
They're guilty. They're black, they're vile,
they're dirty, they're sinful. Hell is what they deserve. Eternal
damnation, eternal darkness. But I come to redeem them by
the sacrifice of myself. He claims the right of substitution. He pleads the covenant which
gives him the right of redemption as a kinsman and a surety. He
comes as our representative. The representative man by an
eternal compact of grace. The seed is sin for flesh and
blood. So he takes our nature. He assumes
our flesh. He becomes our kingdom and redeemer.
If flesh must suffer, he is flesh. If soul must agonize, a human
soul is his. And thus, he is fit to bear,
to suffer, and to die. And he leaps into the place of
the guilty. And who he is is that one who
for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame. And he takes our sin to be his
own. And he drinks the bitter dregs
of the wrath of God. And the sword of justice is sheathed
in him forever until at last he cries it is finished and redemption's
work is done. Salvation hangs only upon Him. His person, His obedience, His
death. Nothing hinges on you. Nothing depends on me. Salvation
hangs entirely upon the Son of God, our Savior, who shall see
of the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. Oh, what
joy of joys to look on the crucified Christ and see no frown in God,
no fury, no anger, no displeasure. No look, but tenderness. Smiles, approval. Oh, what a joy. Through Christ,
our sacrifice, to see nothing of disapproval in God, but only
approval, delight, and satisfaction. Hell's portals are closed. Its chains are all broken. Its
fires are all quenched. It's sealed with a great seal.
This is a static rapture to my soul. This is an open passage
to our glorious eternal home. Blessed rest and an everlasting
reign with God in heaven. Here in Leviticus, in this book,
this book of law and mercy, Grace and love are written in blazing
letters. They shine forth brightly in
the face of our crucified Savior. There's an altar standing prominently
in the book. That's Christ. Victims without
number are slain. That's the Lamb of God. A stream
of blood flows without end. Each drop speaks of the dying
Lamb. Priests spare not the death blow. That's Christ, our Redeemer with
the sword of justice as our priest and the blazing fire consumes
the sacrifice and our Lord Jesus being consumed as our sacrifice
consumed the fire of God's wrath. God meets sinners in the tabernacle
at the mercy seat and declares himself reconciled to sinners
and sinners reconciled to him. All that's revealed here points
directly to our Savior. Now, what's the profit of this
for our souls? I pray for you who know not my
Savior, that God will be pleased by the revelation of himself
in Christ, the crucified Redeemer, to charm your soul to him, to
woo you by his grace to him, to hiss for you as the shepherd
does his sheep and calls you to come to him. For you who are
gods, you who are believers, we leave the book of Leviticus
with joy for God's revelation of him, causing our hearts to
pant more to know him. striving to see Him, striving
to understand His works and His ways, to hunger and pray for
deeper knowledge of Him who loved us and gave Himself for us. Because
when Satan whispers in your ears that you're vile, the sacrifice of our Savior passes
in view and Satan is silenced. When you hear of coming judgment
and wrath, and others are tormented, you know that hell, the terrible
reality of hell, its fires are all quenched and there is no
hell for you, for judgment is over in the judge savior. And
you seek renewed assurance of God's grace and his mercy, his
smile upon you. And the only place assurance
is found is in the crucified Christ. You look again to the
savior and you trust him. Your piercing eye reads the language
of Christ's heart when Christ says, forgiven, justified, righteous. He counted no suffering too great
to redeem you. He waded through all the billows
of God's wrath and the flames of hell and the depths of torment
to set you free. And that's our assurance. And
we walk through this world as we make our way through this
pilgrimage under our fair and happy land in the city four square
with this blessed knowledge, behold how he loves me. This is what he gave at the beginning,
and this is what it reminds us of continually. By these things,
by these commandments, these sacrifices, these ordinances
revealing our Savior, the Lord God calls us to consecrate ourselves
to him. That's what this chapter is all
about, a singular vow. God calls for us to consecrate
ourselves to him. Now, it's interesting how he
does this. You come and bring a house or
a field or a child or yourself to God. And whatever is brought to God
must be valued by Moses. Valued by him who represents
the law Moses you value this thing according to the shekel
of the sanctuary and We read these words in Leviticus are
in Exodus chapter 30 listen carefully the rich Shall not give more
and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel When they
give an offering unto the Lord to make atonement for your soul
In the matter of atonement, we stand all upon common ground. We are all guilty sinners. The rich shall not give more,
the poor shall not give less, so that every sinner saved by
God's grace, male or female, bond or free, Jew or Gentile,
black or white, learned or unlearned, rich or poor, all stand before
God guilty sinners. And the atonement money is the
precious blood of Jesus Christ. That's all. Now, then he makes
another statement. If the one bringing these things
would redeem them, he's poor. He's poor. He just can't afford
to pay it. Verse eight. If he be poorer
than thy estimation, then he shall present himself before
the priest, and the priest shall value him according to his ability
that vowed shall the priest value him. Here I come to God. What's the shekel of the sanctuary?
What is the silver of the sanctuary? God only requires two things.
He only requires righteousness and satisfaction. Righteousness
of infinite worth. Satisfaction of infinite worth. Righteousness which Christ alone,
the God-man, could perform. Satisfaction which Christ alone,
the God-man, could give in his death. I can't bring that. I can't bring
that. What do I do? I fall back on
the priest. I fall into the arms of the priest,
the priest who brought the righteousness and the satisfaction in the sacrifice. That's Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. Oh God give you grace. Fall back
in the arms of the priest and know the blessedness of God's
salvation. And upon these things, all this
grace and this mercy, I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies
of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly
acceptable unto God. A living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God. Come now. Come to Christ the Lord in the
arms of the priest, our blessed Savior, and present your life,
your life, a living sacrifice. And this is the most marvelous
thing in the world. Here I come. and give myself
to God. And God tells me I'm holy, acceptable
unto Him. Holy, acceptable by the merit
of His Son. Now, that's the most reasonable thing
in this world. It's just your reasonable service. God give
you and give me grace day by day, hour by hour, moment by
moment, breath by breath to give ourselves in voluntary consecration
to Christ our Redeemer. Amen.