Horton was went in the hospital
Friday and hopefully she'll be going home today but her and
Robert are out today she's improving but we'll need to have some further
procedures done got a update on Don Fortner situation
I understand he's going in tomorrow for his final treatment and uh... the uh... three to six weeks
before they'll know the uh... results of those and uh... actually the type of uh... procedure
that they're doing on his tumors in his lungs is very similar
to the procedures they've been doing on our daughter's tumors
in her liver and uh... she goes tomorrow for some more
test and uh... lord enables you to uh... to pray for us and pray for jennifer
uh... that would be uh... much much
appreciated our contractor assured us that
we would have some plans in hand by this tuesday so uh... that's the plan and uh... hope we can see something uh...
moving in that direction uh... this coming week The last Sunday of this month
we'll hang out together for lunch, so you all come and plan on that. I think it's the 28th of April.
Tom's going to come and lead us in hymn number 143, Rejoice,
the Lord is King, Your Lord And King Adore, may God give
us the grace to rejoice in our King, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's stand together, Tom. Rejoice, the Lord is King, your
Lord and King adore. Rejoice, give thanks and sing,
and triumph evermore. Lift up your heart, lift up your
voice, rejoice again, I say rejoice. Jesus the Savior reigns, the
God of truth and love. When he had purged our stains,
he took his seat above. Lift up your heart, lift up your
voice, rejoice again, I say rejoice. ? His kingdom cannot fail ? He
rules o'er earth and heaven ? The keys of death and hell ? Are
to our Jesus give ? Lift up your heart ? Lift up your voice rejoice
again ? I say rejoice Rejoice in glorious hope. Our Lord the Judge shall come
and take his servants up to their eternal home. Lift up your heart. Lift up your voice. Rejoice again, I say rejoice. Please be seated. Norm Wells pastors church in
the Dalles, Oregon. You all know Norm. He's been
a friend of this church for many years. And I've asked him if
he would bring the first message this morning. So Norm, you come
up brother. We look forward to hearing what
the Lord's put on your heart. It's a wonderful blessing to
be with you again. And I am so thankful that just
recently I got a text from your pastor said, can we have lunch
together? And I had a wonderful time visiting with your pastor
and I appreciate that very, very much more than he'll ever know.
I asked you if you'd turn with me to the book of Leviticus this
morning. please pray for our folks out in the dowels out in
the dowels it is seven o'clock and it won't be long they'll
be meeting uh... recently someone brought to my
attention that over half of our congregation was traveling eighty
miles or more to be there and it's nice to find some sheep
that are out in the hinterlands that don't mind traveling to
hear something during the uh... men's meeting this morning I
hate to mention a name, but Brother Noah brought this in his prayer
and it just struck me. He said, nothing more important
than what is about to happen here. There is nothing more important
in life than what is about to happen here. It's life changing. You'll never be the same after
you hear the gospel. never be the same. In the book
of Leviticus, and I started calling this book, The Gospel According
to Leviticus. It has the gospel. The Lord Jesus
Christ said in his personal ministry, as you speak unto folks, Moses
spoke of me. And in the book of Leviticus,
we find many, many pictures of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the
first many chapters of this book, in the chapters one through twenty-four
most of what is said is how god expects him to be dealt with
it was through types and shadows and pictures there were animal
sacrifices and we find the writer of the book of hebrew said the
blood of bulls and goats could never take away see they were
pictures and types and shadows of the one who could take away
see it recently someone brought up to my attention Abel was a swineherder. What would he have used? He would
have bought a lamb. He would have bought a lamb.
That would be the requirement. A picture, a type and a shadow
of the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Well,
in the first 24 chapters, all of those sacrifices are mentioned,
and we really rejoice in the scapegoat and how he's taken
out into the wilderness by the hands of a fit man and left there,
which is typical and pictorial. of Christ taking care of our
sin and taking it as far as the east is from the west. And he
could only do that by having it paid in full. It could never
be brought up against the elect again. It would always be paid
in full. God's people will never stand
before the God of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy
Spirit in that day and have to answer for one sin. If we have
to answer for one, we'll answer for it all and we'll not be there.
So, he either took care of it all, for all his people, or he
didn't take care of any of it for his people. Well, and then
in that wonderful chapter, chapter 25, we have the year of Jubilee. What a wonderful event took place
in Israel, over 50 years. There was a time after the Day
of Atonement, a horn blew. Now, I really appreciated what
Mr. Robert Hawker said in his dictionary
about that year of Jubilee trumpet. He said, the Jubilee trumpet,
which was heard but once every 49 years, and though it was never
heard but on that day, yet so particular was the sound of it
that no captive in Israel could mistake its meaning. They'd never
heard it before, and yet when it blew, if they were in servitude,
if they were in slavery, if they had land that they had sold,
they knew exactly what that sound meant. And that's the sound of
the gospel that comes to us. We may never have heard it before,
but when it strikes us and God, through his Holy Spirit, brings
it to our heart, it's freedom, like we've never had before.
Bondage was in religion. Freedom is in the gospel. And
we're free in Christ, like we have never been before. And it
is one thing that we'll never go back under the old bondage.
God keeps us from going there. And that was the message that
Paul brought to the Galatians. Well, in this 26th chapter, After
the year of Jubilee, after all those sacrifices, the year of
Jubilee, we start out here in chapter 26, and it says, there's
the first three verses, God gives instructions to Israel. Now,
if we look at these simply as fleshly instructions, we will
fail on every count. We cannot keep the law. it's
impossible for us to keep the law and if we're going to say
we're going to keep it and we offended in one point we're guilty
of it all we just can't keep the law so we're going to go
beyond that and look at this from a spiritual context and
we see in these passages of scripture these first three verses the
benefits of redemption the benefits of the year of jubilee the benefits
of the gospel and here it says thou shall have no other idols
before you and when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians he said
By the grace of God, when the gospel came to you and God converted
you and saved you by his grace, he turned you from worshiping
dumb idols to serve the living God. God is gracious to take
us from that path that we had been following for so long. And
we may not have been worshiping stone idols and gold idols and
things like we think the pagans do, but every one of us had an
idol and we called it our will. We worship our free will. Well,
God in his grace takes us from that worship and we're permitted
for the first time to worship the true and the living God.
We're able to bow down before him and with sincerity and with
truth, be able to say, worthy is the lamb that was slain to
receive all this glory. Well, in verse two, it says,
you shall keep the Sabbaths. And we go over to the book of
Hebrews and it says, I'm your Sabbath. I'm your rest. If Joshua had been able to give
you rest, but he couldn't. But Jesus Christ gives us rest. He is our Sabbath. And then in
verse three, you shall walk in my statutes. How in the world
is the church able to walk in the statutes of the Lord Jesus
Christ? Because he imputes to us his righteousness. He kept
the law perfect. It was pleasing to God in how
God kept every ordinance and everything. And he is able, by
his grace, to impute that holiness to us. We don't muster up holiness. We don't muster up sanctification.
It is given to us by the free grace of God. And we stand before
him and Jesus Christ as if we had never sinned. We'd never
been related to Adam. God breaks that relationship. I'm thankful that we have now
a new name, not the name of Adam, but our new name is the Lord
Our Righteousness. That's our name now. We have
been adopted into his family. We have become righteous in the
eyes of God only because of the righteousness of Christ. And
then in the remainder down through verse 13 of this, we have the
every spiritual blessing that is brought out there in the book
of Ephesians chapter one. The apostle Paul writing to the
Ephesians shares with us that in Christ Jesus, we have every
spiritual blessing. There is no blessings that we
enjoy outside of Christ. He is the one and only one. What is it to preach the gospel?
That's to tell the truth about Christ. And Jesus Christ is our
salvation. Period. That's it. Well, in verse
four it says, then I will give you rain in due season. Now let
me say this. If Israel's obedience to the
law or our obedience to the law, in it we got rain from heaven
and food, we'd have all starved to death a millennia ago. If their obedience to all these
ordinances of God and all the law of God was what was required
for them to be able to eat, they would have never eaten. because
we can't keep it. But we do find in the book of
Matthew, for he maketh his son to rise on the evil as well as
the good, and sendeth rain on the just as on the unjust. Matthew
chapter five. So God does that. We have had
a lot of rain in the Dalles. It would be interesting just
for a moment to have rain only on the elect, because I'd go
knock on their doors. But he reigns on the just as
well as the unjust. He sends his son on the just
as well as the unjust. So we have no indication there.
But we find in this passage of scripture these many spiritual
blessings that God gives to the church through Jesus Christ.
He says, then I will give you reign. When I have given you
salvation, I will give you in that. every spiritual blessing
also. I will give you rain in due season,
and the land shall yield her increase, and the trees of the
field shall yield their fruit, and your threshing shall reach
unto the vintage. That means you can't keep up.
The picking of the fruit is just ahead of the plowing. It's just
an ongoing precious process. They never had that when they
were in Israel in the property. but we have it in Christ. The
plowing is just keeping up with the picking. There's never a
dull moment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He continues to showers
with all these eternal blessings. There just is no end to it. There's
no drought. We may think there's a drought,
but He never stops blessing His people. Even in the drought,
we get that rain in our soul. The Apostle Paul, he wrote in
the book of Acts chapter 14, would you run over there with
me for just a moment? Acts chapter 14 and verse 11, the apostle
Paul had been in a place where there was a man that was crippled. And when he was led by God to
heal that man, here in the book of Acts chapter 11, excuse me, Acts chapter 14, In
Acts chapter 14, when he was led to heal that man of this
crippleness, the people in the town said, whoa, we have a God
among us. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter,
or Zeus, and they called Paul, Mercury, or Hermes. He says,
we've been looking for you. You are our gods. And Paul tells
us here, let's read verse 11. And when the people saw that
Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in speech
of Lyconia, the gods have come down to us in the likeness of
men. And they called Barnabas Jupiter
and Paul Mercurius because he was the chief speaker. Then the
priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen
and garlands unto the gates and would have done sacrifice with
the people, which when the apostles Barnabas and Saul heard of, they
rent their clothes and ran among the people crying and saying,
sirs, We do why do you these things? We also are men of like
passions with you And preach unto you that you should turn
from these vanities unto the living god Which made heaven
and earth the sea and all things therein who in times past suffered
all nations to walk in their own ways Nevertheless, he left
not himself without witness in that. He did good and gave us
rain from heaven and fruitful seasons filling our hearts with
food and gladness. He brought up the same subject
that we're looking at in the book of Leviticus and he said
when God said this in the Old Testament by the prophets, he's
insinuating, he's telling the church and the church recognizes
this fact that this is not just physical blessings that he's
going to bring on them, this is blessings to the heart. He
tells us they're who gave us the rain from heaven and fruitful
seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness. Oh, to recognize the spiritual
blessings that God provides for us in the blessing of Jesus Christ
as our Savior. to go day by day, even in the
dark hours, even in the great hours, even in times of trial,
even in times of testing, to recognize the fact that all our
blessings are from God Almighty in Christ Jesus. Now as we go
back over here, I'd like to spend just a few minutes on that verse
that tells us in verse 4, I will give you rain in due season.
Blessings of rain would make the blessings of grace so apparent. there would be no comparison
between what had taken place down in Egypt and what was going
to take place when they got to Israel. What he is saying is
there's no comparison to how we got water in religion and
how God grants it to us in salvation. And I direct your attention to
a book of Deuteronomy. Would you turn there with me?
Moses is sharing with Israel the difference between Egypt
and Israel. He's sharing the difference of
how people get water in Egypt and how they get water in Israel. And by that he's saying, this
is how you got it in religion. and you never got it. And this
is how you're going to get it when you're in Christ. Deuteronomy
chapter 11. I will give you rain in due season. And in Deuteronomy chapter 11
verse 10 and 11 we find that the prophet, the priest, the
preacher, the apostle, the disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ by the
name of Moses, who wrote of Christ, said, this is how to compare
it. Deuteronomy chapter 11. And there
in verse 10, it says, for the land whither thou goest to possess
it is not as the land of Egypt. Now there's a lot of comparisons
we could make between Egypt and Israel. But Moses was led to
write this about that. The land whether thou goest to
possess it is not as the land of Egypt from whence he came
out where thou sowest thy seed and waterest it with thy foot. Now what does that mean? In Egypt, if they were going
to have water for their gardens and their crops and to make brick,
they had to use water wheels and pull it out of canals and
put it up into a place that they could use it. it was a constant
daily everyday work. And they may go home for some
rest, but the next day they came back and did exactly the same
thing over. That is the only way they could
water their gardens down in Egypt. He said, you used your feet to
do it. Now, my parents used to have
a garden, and we watered by ditch irrigation. And every once in
a while, you go down and the ditch would break, and we'd go
along with our feet and fill in so we could make that bank
again. That may be it too, but you still
used your feet. The next verse tells us this
is how it's going to be when you get to the land God's given
you. This is how it's going to be
in Christ. Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 11, it says, but
the land whether you go to possess it is a land of hills and valleys
and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. Now how much do you
and I have control over that? How much do we have control over
the rain that falls? We have none. It doesn't matter
if you fly through it with an airplane and see it like I used
to hear about when I was a kid. Rain falls from heaven. It is
a from top down blessing. Egypt says, work your full hearts
out, but you'll never get the job done. In religion, we work
and we work and we work and we work, and there's always somebody
telling us, it's not enough. In Christ, the blessings come
down because He has done all the work. We have a tract that
we pass out. There's a difference between
religion and Christ. Religion says, do. In Christ,
it's done. He said, it's finished. All the
blessings are going to come down from me now. And I will bless
you from rain from heaven. So as we find that Moses writing
to the children of Israel in the book of Leviticus, he says,
I'll send you rain from heaven in due time. We find out there's
such a difference between Christianity, Christ, and what we were involved
in before. Even was it painted with the
best paint that's possible. It can't hold the candle because
you're wearing yourself out I've probably said this before and
probably your pastor has to there were no chairs around the tabernacle
or the temple Those priests were never finished but our high priest
has sat down and at the right hand of the father because the
ministry and work and redemption that he had set before him in
the covenant of grace was taken care of and now he can rest he
sits making intercession for us this rain from heaven he caused
in the book of Hebrews would you turn there with me Hebrews
chapter 4 Hebrews chapter four, we have
this wonderful statement that gives us some thoughts about
creation. I had a Sunday school teacher
tell me one time that God rested on the seventh day because he
was tired. And I believed it. But when the gospel comes, you
find out God's never tired. God's not weary. but we do find him resting, sharing
with us. Let's look here, book of Hebrews
chapter four, verse eight. It says, there remaineth therefore
a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works as God did from
his. Let us labor, therefore, to enter
into rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."
When don't we enter into rest? In unbelief. When do we enter
into rest? In belief, in faith, in trusting
Christ. And we find out that that was
supplied for us. It was given to us. And so we're
not at the water wheel anymore. We're in the land. We're in Christ. We're receiving the blessings
from top down. They're on us every day. The
blessings of redemption are ours to enjoy every day. The blessings
of eternal life are ours to be blessed, for us to be blessed
every day. We don't spend our time wondering
what it will be like after we close our eyes in death, because
then it will be heaven. I have many descriptions in the
Word of God about heaven, but the one I like the most, I'll
be in the presence of Christ. Wherever that is, the presence
of Christ. We'll be able to sing songs like
I've never been able to sing before. Worthy is the Lamb. And so we find that the water
wheel is not used in the land. It's not used in Christ. We are
at rest in Christ. We have put away works. We're
not dependent upon that. We're dependent upon the blood
and righteousness of Christ alone and nothing else. Not one stitch
of our robe of righteousness is of our making. It is all the
making of God. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Ezekiel chapter 34. Ezekiel chapter 34. The prophet
Ezekiel spoke of the spiritual blessings that we have in Christ.
These showers of blessings. Someone took those words and
made a song that we sing from time to time. There shall be
showers of blessings. They're from top down. They're
from God to us. We don't add anything to God,
but he certainly does add everything to us. The book of Ezekiel chapter
34 and verse 22. Ezekiel 34, 22. Therefore, will I save my flock,
and they shall no more be a prey, and I will judge between cattle
and cattle, and I'll set up one shepherd over them. and he shall
feed them, even my servant David. He shall feed them and he shall
be their shepherd." What wonderful words Ezekiel was permitted to
write about the blessings of our shepherd, the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's much in the words, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall
not want. To enjoy the blessings of Christ
and to be putting away the water wheel. Here it goes on to tell
us, in Ezekiel chapter 34. He says, and I'll set up one
shepherd. And verse 24, and I, the Lord,
will be their God. And my servant David, a prince
among them, I, the Lord, have spoken it. And I will make with
them a covenant of peace and will cause the evil beast to
cease out of the land. And they shall dwell safely in
the wilderness and sleep in the woods. To put those in spiritual
words, I like what poets do. Poets can so succinctly put in
such quick words pictures in our mind that volumes can't even
be written about. And that's what we have with
the Word of God. The words were so succinctly
chosen that as we look at them, the benefits and the blessings
of these words are with us every day. even in the night seasons,
we can relish and delight in the Word of God. And then it
goes on to tell us, I've made with them a covenant, hallelujah.
David said that he hath made with me a covenant, an everlasting
covenant. And they shall dwell safely.
And I will make, verse 26, and I'll make them and the places
round about my hill of blessing. And I'll cause the shower to
come down In his season there shall be showers of blessing."
Nothing more important ever happens than what happens here. To hear
of God's grace. It's a message that is so, so
fewly spoken. Very few places. All over the
world. All over Orlando. It's interesting
to read reader boards everywhere you go. And you can say, I know
what they believe without them saying a word. When you're reading
their reader boards, Jesus has made a step, and now it's up
to you. Under grace, he found us in a dry, thirsty land. He
found us where there was no rain, in a desert place. That's where
he found us. And we were in our own pollution.
And we had not been bound up. We'd not been mollified with
ointment. We hadn't heard the blessings of grace. And he came
along and saw us in our pollution. He's not waiting for anybody
to clean up because that's his job, to clean us with his own
blood. He washes us with his own blood. And he came by and saw us in
our pollution. And in that pollution, he said,
live. What happens? Same thing that
happened at Lazarus' tomb. Lazarus came forth. It goes on to tell us there,
And the tree, verse 27, and the tree of the field shall yield
her fruit, and the earth shall yield her increase, and they
shall be safe in their land, and shall know that I am the
Lord when I have broken the bands of their yoke and delivered them
out of the hands of those that serve themselves of them. Oh,
he has delivered us. and made us safe. Sometimes we
get kind of agitated, don't we, by what goes on in the world,
what goes on in our country. Oh, may we take rest in the fact
that not one thing that happens happens without his directive.
He's not just permitting it, he's directing it. He is the
director. He is the one in charge. He's
not asking for us to be directors, he's asking for us to be heralds. A herald only tells what he knows. only shares what the Bible has
to say. But God is the director. He's
the one in charge. He's directing His word where
it will go. He is directing His word how
it will be applied. And He is directing every head
of state in the world. May we dwell safely in the land
that He has given us, knowing that He worketh all things after
the counsel of His own will. And in that, he's sending down
showers of blessings every day through the night season. God's
word has the ability of touching us. God, the Holy Spirit has
the ability of dealing with us. There is much thought about the
weakness of the Holy Spirit in the religious world. He is sovereign. He is sovereign. Would you turn with me to the
book of Galatians chapter 5. In the rest of that verse in
the book of Leviticus, it shares with us, it says, and the land shall yield her
increase and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
In Galatians chapter 5, The Apostle Paul was used as a secretary
to write to a group of churches, and they were having some difficulties,
but God was gracious and sent them a letter. We know it as
the word of God. There are certain letters that
were written that Paul even wrote that were not part of the Word
of God. We don't have them. But we have record of them being
written to certain churches. To the churches of Galatia, he
sent this wonderful letter. And it really means, this really
means that God cares for his people. He cares for their freedom. He cares for their liberty. And
here in chapter five, verse 18, we have the words that come from
that passage over in Leviticus, bearing fruit. Galatians chapter
five, verse 18, but if you be led of the spirit, you're not
under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these. adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations,
wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envies, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like, of which I tell you before, as I
have told you in time past, that they which do these things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God, but the fruit of the spirit.
And he goes on to say here, there's never been a law against these.
Fruit of the spirit. is love, joy, peace, long-suffering,
gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against
such, there is no law. Out in our area of Oregon, there's
about 6,000 acres of sweet cherries grown. And some of them are sold
as fresh fruit, and many of them are made into maraschino cherries. Those who own those 6,000 acres
don't have to worry about those cherry trees producing apples
one year. They don't have to worry about
them bringing on peanuts or green beans or broccoli or any of that
other stuff, because they know it's the nature of that cherry
tree to bring on cherries. and the nature of God's people.
He said, I will produce this. And we say, where is that? I'd
sure like to have some of that right now. He's producing it. He's in charge. The rain comes
down from heaven. Sometimes it takes somebody to
come to us and jar us loose from our preconceived ideas, like
a pastor, a friend. But those blessings come down
from heaven. So the rest of that passage is dealing with much
the same thing. I'll get rid of all the wild
beasts. I'll put you in the land. I'll take care of it. I'll do
this. I wills of God, I wills of God, I wills of God are mentioned
in the next few verses of that chapter. I will do this for you. And you know, the people said,
well, I'm not keeping the law. I will do this for you. It's
part of the covenant of grace. He that has the Spirit is not
under law, we're under Christ. Brother, thank you. Thank you, Norm. Isaiah 64, verse 1. says, oh, that thou wouldst rend
the heavens and come down and cause the mountains to flow at
thy presence. In light of that message, that's
our prayer this morning. Lord, rend the heavens. Come
down. Shower us with the blessings of your grace. Thank you, Norm. Encouragement. Appreciate you,
brother. Let's take a break. OK. Okay.