It's good for us to be reminded
again that we have not discovered something new. We stand in a
long line of God's people throughout time, from Abel on, who have
worshipped God in spirit and truth on the basis of who the
Lord Jesus Christ is. And we stand unashamedly in that
tradition, I trust. But we also stand unashamedly
because that's just what the scriptures say about our Lord
Jesus Christ. And we trust that you have found
these foundational chapters of Acts as as relevatory and as
refreshing as I have found them. I think it's wonderful to look
at foundations again and to have them laid again and again before
us. And the reality of course is
that the events that occurred in the early church are events
which keep recurring in the church throughout time. And the reason
they are put there before us in such form in the early church
is because they are the very things that recur in the life
of believers. And the great wrestle that goes
on is the wrestle between flesh and spirit, between law and grace. And in our text this morning
I want us to look at someone who is a remarkably privileged
person in the Jewish law, the man Barnabas, but he is a trophy
of grace and I would like us to see him this morning as a
picture of what it is to be a true Levite, what it is for God to
do a true work of grace in the hearts of his people. And that
work of grace, of course, comes with great power and great grace
was upon them all in Acts 4.33. And the apostles gave witness
to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon
them all. Neither was there any among them
that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses
sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold,
and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made
unto every man according as he had need. And Joseph, who by
the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, which being interpreted the son
of Constellation, a Levite and of the country of Cyprus, having
land sold and brought the money and laid it at the apostles'
feet." Last week we looked at a couple who imitated this and
copied it, masquerading in that light that Barnabas had brought
to that early church. And we saw the sad end of Ananias
and Sapphira, and I think they are a picture of all of those
people who seek to come to God on the basis of anything they
do. And Barnabas is a remarkable picture, a remarkable picture
of a person who is saved by sovereign grace, is a remarkable picture
and in particular pointed out to us significantly because Barnabas
was someone who had remarkable privileges under the law. You
think of the Pharisees and all their zeal for the law. There
was one group of people that they would have been jealous
of. Paul could parade himself around the place with great zeal
for the law of God. They could tithe their mint and
their cumin and they could do all of those works. They could
brag of themselves that before the law they were righteous.
Faultless is what Paul called himself in Philippians chapter
3. But when they looked around that religious world, There were
things that they couldn't do. There were things that the Pharisees
couldn't do and there were places that the Pharisees couldn't go.
In the service of the Temple, in the service of the High Priest,
there was this particular tribe that was set apart by God, set
apart by God, chosen by God, set apart by God to minister
to the High Priest and therefore to minister to God. And so the
Holy Spirit raises up Barnabas here before us and he describes
him, Barnabas, a Levite. And we know that he had a significant
role to play in the rest of the New Testament church history
in Acts. It was Barnabas in Acts chapter
9 that took Saul, Paul, and he brought him to the apostles.
And on the basis of Barnabas' approval, Saul was accepted. He was obviously accepted by
God long before that. And it was Barnabas and Saul
that were set apart by the Holy Ghost in Acts 13 for the work
whereunto I have called them, says the Holy Spirit. And they
were sent out. They were sent out on that first
missionary journey. And they were the ones that were
sent back down to Jerusalem, Barnabas and Saul. to be there
at the council in Jerusalem where the whole issue of whether believers
are to be back under the law or not was to be discussed. Barnabas
had a remarkable role to play. Barnabas in Acts 11.24 is described
as a good man, full of the Holy Ghost and of faith. And because of his ministry,
it goes on to say, and much people were added to the Lord. Barnabas was someone who had
his name changed, didn't he? His name, Barnabas, means consolation,
son of consolation, the son of comfort, or the son of encouragement. I don't know about you, but that's
what I would long to be, to the children of God. Someone who
brings consolation, brings comfort, brings encouragement, and there
is just one place for all that to be brought, isn't there? There
is just one source of all that, there's one place, and that is
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Barnabas, Barnabas was one of
those who was separated by God, by the grace of God, to be a
preacher. And he served his God and he
was given that new name, Son of Comfort. He was given a new
name and he was given a new task, wasn't he? He no longer served
that earthly temple and that earthly high priest. He was now
the servant of the true high priest and he was a servant of
the true Church of God. He was one who was appointed
by God, in the words of Isaiah 40, Comfort ye, comfort ye my
people, saith the Lord, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her, and tell her her warfare is accomplished,
her iniquity is pardoned, and she is received of the Lord's
hand double for all her sins. Barnabas is one that brought
comfort to the early church and I think his story, I trust his
story might bring comfort to us this morning as we see what
it means to be a true Levite. Barnabas went from being a Levite
in the flesh to being a true Levite, a true spiritual Levite. He was given a new heart and
that new heart was reflected in many things, wasn't it? It
was reflected in the fact that He was joined with them. He was
joined with them in that place where they prayed and the place
was shaken and they were assembled together and they were all filled
with the Holy Ghost and they spake the word of God with boldness,
verse 31, and the multitude of them that believed were of one
heart and one soul. And neither of them said of any
of them of things which he possessed with his own, but they had all
things in common. See, what made Barnabas to be
so generous? What was the thing that moved
him? It is the same, isn't it? It's
the same that moves the heart of all of God's true Levites. When the Lord Jesus Christ becomes
all in all, when He becomes all, not just something, but He becomes
all to you. See, Barnabas had heard those
sermons. He'd heard how the Lord Jesus Christ had fulfilled all
of the prophecies of the Old Testament. He had heard by the
Holy Spirit's work in his life, giving him new life. He'd heard
that the Lord Jesus, whom he had been a party to the crucifixion
of, was raised of God. and that this was God's determination
and this was God's purpose. This great high priest, the high
priest after the order of Melchizedek according to Psalm 110, this
great high priest had a people who would be made willing in
the day of his power. He has a people who would be
made willing because they were separated unto God. and they would be made willing
because their sins were taken away by the Lord Jesus Christ
and they were robed in that perfect righteousness, a righteousness
which the law could never ever bring to anyone. He was given
a new heart. He was given a new heart. and
he became a true Levite. And Barnabas is here, I think,
set before us in this early church, is to show that how the law is
fulfilled in the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. There
is only one man ever who kept the law of God in any way at
all. No one has ever kept the law
of God except the Lord Jesus Christ. He will magnify the law
and make it honourable. The faithfulness of the Lord
Jesus Christ has made the law honourable and it's fulfilled.
By faith we fulfill the law. and now believers are set free
from that law. It's the great liberty, it's
the great freedom that the early church had to battle with in
all of the letters of the rest of the New Testament. It is a
proclamation of the wonders of the Lord Jesus Christ and in
those wonders the glorious freedom that we have. a freedom to serve. Barnabas, as a Levite according
to the flesh, was obligated to serve. Now Barnabas, as a true
Levite, he serves the real high priest, serves with the liberty
and the freedom and he delights, he delights in the opportunities
to serve His God and serve His people. Why? Because the law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the
law of sin and death. Just read it again, isn't it?
Romans 8.2, for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made me free from the law of sin and death. Barnabas was
taken out of that earthly worship and out of that law obedience
and put into something which is much, much more significant.
For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the
flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh,
and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, And this is the purpose
of it, Romans 8.4, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Sin had been revealed as utterly
sinful by the crucifixion and the death of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the law is now satisfied. It has its satisfaction, it has
its death. The law has its perfect obedience. Both in His obedience and in
His sin-bearing death, the Lord Jesus fulfilled both parts of
the law. The Ananias and Sapphira, as
we saw last week, picture those legalistic believers. They actually
test God. The same test that the believers
in Acts 15, who claim to be believers, were wanting to do to God. They
were testing God by putting people back under the law. They are
a picture of anyone who imagines that they come to God at the
beginning of their Christian life, or during their Christian
life, or at the end of their Christian life, with something
in their hands to bring, some merit of their own, some works. So what I'd like to do this morning
is to examine Barnabas in light of him being a Levite and to
examine it in light of the Gospel. So I'd like you to turn back
to Numbers chapter 3, we'll begin there. Because the tribe of Levi
has an extraordinary history and it's a Gospel history and
it should cause us to look upon our Lord Jesus Christ and His
gathering His people to Himself out of a religious world, gathering
them to himself. There is, in Numbers 3, if you
read there in verse 11, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
And I, behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children
of Israel instead of all the firstborn, that opens the matrix,
opens the word, among the children of Israel. Therefore the Levites
shall be mine. Verse 13, because all the firstborn
are mine. For on the day that I smote all
the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed, made holy
unto me all the firstborn in Israel, both man and beast. Mine they shall be. I am the
Lord. He has separated, he has elected,
he has separated this particular tribe and they are called the
firstborn. They are chosen out instead of
all the firstborn in Israel, aren't they? He has this particular
tribe rather than all the firstborn. And the whole purpose of the
law of the firstborn, the law of the firstborn receives a double
inheritance, it's the king's firstborn son that inherits the
kingdom and so on and so forth. The law of the firstborn is a
law which is about the Lord Jesus Christ being glorified and separating
a people for himself. and to himself, and for his service
in this world, and to reflect his glory in this world, his
electing glory. He is the real Firstborn, as
you know from Colossians 1, Colossians 1.15, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the image of the invisible God. He is the Firstborn of every
creature, Colossians 1.18. And He is the head of the body,
the Church, who is the beginning, the Firstborn from the dead.
And the purpose of it is that in all things He might have pre-eminence. And the Church is called in Hebrews
12.23 to the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn. which are written in heaven,
and to the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect." The Lord Jesus Christ is the Firstborn and His Church
is the Firstborn, the Church of the Firstborn. It's His Church
and it's in Him. So God has separated a people
unto Himself. You see it there in Numbers 3.13,
they are mine. mine shall they be, I am Lord.
God separated these Levites. and they are given by God as
a gift to His people. And if you think about it in
the context of Acts chapter 4 and you think about it in the context
of this religious world and what was going on then, there was
in Barnabas a picture of out of that religious world, all
of Israel claimed to be Christian. If you'd asked them whether the
Christ is coming back, if you asked them whether they believe
in Jehovah, they all would have put their hand up, almost to
a man that would have owned themselves as believers of some sort. But
in the choosing out of Barnabas and the choosing out of this
particular church, there is, out of that religious professing
world, there is a gathering by God to Himself of His particular
people. out of that group of professing
believers. God separated them. In Numbers 18.6 it says, I don't
have to turn there, Numbers 18.6 it says, And I, behold I, have
taken your brethren from among the children of Israel, to you,
they are given as a gift for the Lord to do service, to do
the service of the tabernacle of the congregation." This is
the people of the firstborn, isn't it? Romans 8.29 says, For
whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed
to the image of his Son, that He might be the Firstborn among
many brethren. It is the Church of the Firstborn.
But you might have also noticed there, not only is there a separation,
God separated the people from all eternity and He separates
the people in time and He separates the people unto Himself and for
Himself. But if you notice there in verse
12, there is also substitution there, isn't there? Behold, I
have taken the Levites from among the children instead of, instead
of all the firstborn that open the matrix." Instead of taking
all the firstborn of Israel, he takes this particular tribe
and says, they are mine. He's taking them instead of the
others. He separated them to be mine.
He says, He separated them to be mine on the day that I passed
through the land of Egypt. They are mine because I put them. He put them in His Son. When
did He put them in His Son? He put them in His Son from the
foundation of the world. You take this firstborn son.
And this firstborn son, our Lord Jesus Christ, he laid down his
life to serve his God. And that's what the Levites were
being chosen to do, wasn't it? That was typifying, their choosing
was typifying the fact that they had to lay down their life from
that time on. to serve the high priest in the
place of all the firstborn of Israel. They were particularly
chosen out. So God took the Levites instead
of the firstborn sons of Israel. The other thing that's remarkable
about it is that this was done in the will and purpose of God
when He passed over Egypt. When did they get to know that
they were a chosen, separated group amongst the tribes of Israel?
Not until after they came out of Egypt and not until after
Sinai. You see, Barnabas, as Peter had
proclaimed again and again in those remarkable sermons that
we've been looking at, our God sovereignly ordains all things
from all eternity. And what God has done in eternity
determines what happens in time. See, this separation of the Levites,
this separation of Barnabas, Barnabas probably at this stage
didn't have any idea that he was going to be used as a missionary.
But God had separated him. Firstly, that's what God does.
He separates these people from all eternity. This separation
occurs in the Councils of God before it's seen. God's reality is God's determination,
isn't it? The reality is in the will of
God. Now Barnabas, who had been a
Levite all the days of his flesh, all those days he had now been
part of that house that was shaken, he realised now that he had another
High Priest. He was drawn out from that earthly
tabernacle and that earthly service to the true service of the real
High Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. And now he saw all that law of
God in a different light, because all of it pointed to the Lord
Jesus Christ. That law, that law of the Levites
revealed that God had separated and sanctified a people unto
himself. And again, as you see in Numbers
3.12 and in other places, you'll see it again and again as you
study these chapters, he says, they shall be mine. The Lord
claims them as Mine. You are Mine. The Lord's Mine
are the gift to His Son and His Son's delight, delightful inheritance. And you see all of this came
about in Barnabas' life when he was broken. And when Christ
crucified meets a broken-hearted sinner, there is a union. It is at that time the revelation
of a union and in God's continuing revealing you realise that that
union is an eternal union, that union is a vital union, that
union is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is revealed. revealed to Barnabas in the death
and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. So all this grace,
this great grace and this great power had attended the preaching
of the Word of God and it came upon Barnabas. It takes great
grace and great power of God to draw people out of this world's
religion and its fleshly activities and cause them to see the Lord
Jesus Christ in His glory and to see Him as the true High Priest,
to see Him to see Him in His heavenly Jerusalem, to see Him
on that throne and to see Him, Barnabas, as part of that, mine. The Lord Jesus says they're mine.
It's a lovely word, isn't it? God says they're mine. He has
a people, He says they're mine. They are loved, they were chosen,
they were redeemed. He fetched them and He drew them
to Himself and He holds them and He keeps them and He glorifies
them and in this world He ordains the path that they should tread
to glorify the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what Barnabas'
path was, wasn't it? So he came, didn't he? He came
to the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw Him and he met with Him
and he had this new heart of love and in that new heart of
love he just simply trusted Him and he just came and he laid
his possessions at the feet of the apostles. He laid his possessions
at the feet of the church, in the church's hand. Barnabas had
every privilege under the law. We'll look at some of them in
a minute. But the Levites had the most remarkable privileges
under the law of God. But now he sees what his real
privileges are. The great privilege of being
God's inheritance, the great privilege of being separated,
the great privilege of being separated by substitution, the
great privilege of realising that the righteousness of God
is revealed in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteousness
has nothing to do with His law keeping or His service at the
temple. He sees all of that and all the
glory of the God that he had served. He saw all of that now
subsumed in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's overcome and overwhelmed
as the Lord Jesus always does, just overwhelmed with the presence
of His being and His glory in the preaching of the Gospel.
And now we see Barnabas willing to give He says in Numbers 3.6,
Bring the tribe of Levi near and present them before Aaron
the priest, that they may minister unto him. And they shall keep
his charge, and the charge of the whole congregation, before
the tabernacle of the congregation, to do the service of the tabernacle. And they shall keep all the instruments
of the tabernacle, the congregation, and the charge of the children
of Israel to do the service of the tabernacle. The Lord Jesus
Christ is the tabernacle, isn't he? The true tabernacle of God. And thou shalt give, verse 9,
thou shalt give the Levites unto Aaron and to his sons. They are
wholly given unto him out of the children of Israel. So this tribe, this Levitical
tribe, was presented to Aaron the high priest to do his bidding
to serve. And their service, the point
of their service was to bring glory to the high priest and
bring glory to God in the high priest's service of God. But
now Barnabas knew that God had given him to the Lord Jesus Christ
and now He comes and he serves the true high priest after the
order of Melchizedek. He serves that true high priest
in that heavenly tabernacle. And he serves him not for Barnabas's
glory, but for Christ's glory. He serves him by serving his
people. So that's what God has called
us out. When God calls out a people and he separates the people,
he does it with a purpose, isn't it? That we might serve each
other. That's what Levitical priests
do. We serve the great high priest. in service of each other, and
what does it look like? It just simply looks like trusting
Him, relying on Him, looking to Him, being gathered together
by Him, willingly submitting our lives under Him, longing
to be used of Him, and do it joyfully, to do it joyfully under
him. See, Barnabas had to serve under
the law. He had to serve, whether he liked
it or not. If he got out of bed and it was
a sore, miserable day for him, and he'd had arguments with his
wife and his family, he still had to go and serve, and he had
to serve for an appointed time. It was a labour to him. Now he serves with joy. If you turn to Numbers 8, you'll
see something of this service, something of the privileges.
But there is, before there is a service, the Levites are required
to do something. Most people in religion think,
don't we, that we actually, by serving, we sort of purify ourselves. If we can get ourselves clean,
then we can buy our activities. The Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,
Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse
them. How do you cleanse them? And
thus shalt thou do unto them to cleanse them. You'll sprinkle
the water of purifying upon them." The water of purifying, that
washing, typifies the washing by the Holy Spirit. The Holy
Spirit comes and cleanses our consciences from dead works to
serve the living God. that Holy Spirit had come in
power and shaken that house, that Holy Spirit had come in
power and enabled and powerfully enabled Peter and others to witness
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know in the Lord Jesus
Christ that your sins are gone, gone forever, cleansed. and let them shave all their
flesh and let them wash their clothes and so make themselves
clean." They washed their clothes, they were laying aside all the
things of this world and all the garments of self-righteousness.
Barnabas was laying aside all of those privileges that he had
under that law. And the Levites shall lay their
hands upon the head of the bullocks, and thou shalt offer one for
a sin offering, and the other for a burnt offering unto the
Lord, to make an atonement for the Levites. That burnt offering is the Lord
Jesus Christ, isn't it? That sweet savour of the faithfulness
of Christ, where the righteousness of God is manifest unto all His
people. The Lord Jesus revealed in His
glory, in His sin-bearing death, is that sweet offering to God,
that sweet savour. And thou shalt set the Levites
before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them for an offering
unto the Lord. And thou shalt separate the Levites from among
the children of Israel, and the Levites shall be mine. And after that shall the Levites
go in and do the service of the tabernacle of the congregation,
and thou shalt cleanse them and offer them for an offering. Verse
16, for they are wholly given unto me from among the children
of Israel. Instead of such as open every
womb, even instead of the firstborn of Israel, I have taken them
unto me. If you go down to verse 22, and
after this, after all of this purification, after this washing,
after that, went the Levites in to do their service in the
tabernacle of the congregation of the Lord." You see, it's the purified, it's
the washed, it's the cleansed, it's the separated who truly
serve God. They shall be mine. What does the Lord Jesus speak
of His people? In Revelation 1 it says, From
Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness and the first forgotten
of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth, unto
Him that loved us. Loved us. So He begins with His
love in all eternity, that free love. unto Him that loved us
and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made
us kings and priests unto God and His Father, to Him be glory
and dominion for ever and ever. We washed, washed. Barnabas realised that all of
that ceremonial washing, the true reality of it had just typified
the washing and the cleansing by the Lord Jesus Christ. For
him to be a true Levite, to serve the true tabernacle, to be a
servant of the true high priest, to be a servant of the true congregation
of God, He was given in that eternal covenant and now in Barnabas,
in the sweet time of love, Barnabas is brought to the Lord Jesus
Christ and he leaves all of those earthly things behind. See, Barnabas
had gladly received the words of Peter. He gladly received
that what men esteemed in legalistic religion, Barnabas now saw were
just wicked hands. that he had been one of the ones
denying. He had been one of the ones calling
for the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ. He had been one
of the ones that had been part of a religion that was empty
and crooked. And he has a new life. True Levites
have a new life. They have life from above, the
life of God in the soul of man. And it comes because we see the
Lord Jesus Christ as He really is. Barnabas, like the others
in religion in Jerusalem, would have heard so much about the
Lord Jesus Christ. They would have had Him come
and preach to them. They would have listened to His
sermons. They would have esteemed Him possibly as a great healer
and possibly a great teacher, some a prophet. But now Barnabas
saw Him in a completely new light, that this is God. This is God. This is God's true priest. This is God's true tabernacle. This is the one place where God
meets with man. And that that cross, which they
had mocked and scorned him on, was actually the triumphant and
glorious victory of a great redeeming saviour, fulfilling all of the
law and the prophets. magnifying it and fulfilling
it. And now the righteousness of God, the real righteousness
of God is in the Lord Jesus Christ and not in anything that man
does. And Barnabas wants the Lord Jesus
to have all of the glory. Barnabas believed. It's a simple
description of Barnabas, isn't it? He believed. He believed
that the Lord added to the church daily such as should be said. See, men in religion go through
all the motions of religion because they are fearful of what happens
if they don't. They are fearful of what happens
if they don't. And also they esteem and are
esteemed of men, for they think that their righteousness is in
the things they did. None of them had the privileges
today that Barnabas had 2,000 years ago. Yet Barnabas is laid
before us in these early chapters of the foundation of the Church
as a true Levite who left all of that Levitical service, left
all of that fleshly service and turned his whole life over to
the Lord Jesus because he'd been captured. He'd been captured
by the love of Him. He had realised that all those
things were shadows and now the reality has come and he couldn't
turn back to shadows. He serves in the newness of spirit.
He worships in spirit and truth, not because he's under law or
under some obligation, but because he'd seen Him, as the Shulamites
said, as altogether lovely. He bowed to Him because He loved
Him and He wanted to. And He gave because He wanted
to. He was compelled by the love
of God. See, no true church of God will
ever compel anyone to do anything. You're either compelled by the
grace of God, compelled by the love of the Lord Jesus Christ,
or don't do it. Don't do it. Don't give. Don't do anything. unless you
are compelled by the love of God. That's one of the wonderful
things, isn't it? I love what Psalm 110 verse 3
says. The Lord Jesus Christ has a people.
He has a people who are his own. They are thy people. And they'll
be made willing in the day of His power, willing to believe,
willing to serve, willing to give. They'll be made willing
in the day of His power because He owns them as their own and
their great delight is that they belong to Him. They belong to
Him in the everlasting covenant in all eternity. They belong
to Him by creation. They belong to Him by redemption.
But most of all they belong to Him by the overwhelming love
of His presence that captures their hearts and moves their
will. That's what Romans 8.2 says, and the law of the spirit
of life has made me free from the law of sin and death. And Barnabas laid hold of the
faithfulness of Christ. I do quote it often. I don't
know that I can quote it too often. Paul in Galatians 2.20
says, I am crucified with Christ. All of Barnabas' earthly service
in that physical tabernacle with all of its glory and all of its
pomp and all of its ceremony and all of the esteem of men,
Barnabas now saw him like Paul. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless
I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which
I now live in the flesh I live by the faith the faith of the
Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. And Barnabas left the temple
and left that service. And it would have cost him dearly
in the eyes of family and friends and others. But he came. He came out of that physical
temple and out of that physical nation, Israel, and he came to
be part of the true nation of Israel. And he came to a service
of the high priest. And he's saying by giving his
possessions, he's saying, I'm laying down everything I have
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is, it is the fact
that God owns us as his own and causes his people to lay down
their lives for him because he becomes everything to them. In
Numbers 8.20, He speaks of the Levites again and says, The LORD
spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in the land,
neither shalt thou have any part among them. I am thy part and
thine inheritance among the children of Israel. God is our part, God
is our portion, and God is our inheritance. What a remarkable
inheritance the children of God have. No wonder it's so easy
to get rid of the things of this world. They have no inheritance
here, but the Lord is their part and their inheritance. And then
you might ask, well, if Barnabas gave things away, how on earth
do you survive? How did the Levites survive? How are you going to live the
rest of your life? They have to leave. They have
to have somewhere to stay. And when it came to that division
of the land, God gave the Levites cities. He gave them towns, numbers
35, command the children of Israel,
they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession
cities to dwell in, and also give unto the Levites suburbs
for cities around them. They were in Numbers 18.24 to
have the tithes But the tithes of the children
of Israel, which they offer as a heave offering unto the Lord,
I have given to the Levites to inherit. I have said unto them,
among the children of Israel, they have no inheritance. They
will have no inheritance, but God has promised that He will
provide everything for them. They'll have no inheritance but
every provision. They'll have no inheritance,
but they'll have a city. If you look at it in Numbers
8, Numbers 35.5, the provision of God is measured. These cities are measured, aren't
they? Thou shalt measure from without the city on the east
side 2,000 cubits, on the south side 2,000 cubits. You can see
how precise the provision of God was for those people, just
as it is perfectly precise for all of God's people. In this
eternal covenant everything is ordered and sure in every detail. And the children of God can look
to the Lord to provide. The true Levites will see that
everything that they have belongs to the Lord, everything they
have comes from the Lord, and he is free to do with it as he
sees fit. Barnabas now had everything in
common with all God's people because it all came from God.
It was all for the glory of his son. There was another provision
which typifies the Gospel so beautifully. There were, amongst
the cities that were given to the Levites, there was a city
of refuge. They were given cities of refuge.
The Church is now the city of refuge, isn't it? Why do you
go to the city of refuge? Because you've been found responsible
for a murder. and you go to the City of Refuge
and you hide in the City of Refuge. There are six cities in Numbers
35.6. You give them unto the Levites,
they'll be cities of refuge, which ye shall appoint for the
manslayer that he may flee hither." You can flee to the City of Refuge. You can flee to the City of Refuge
and be perfectly safe. and you're perfectly safe there
and you can stay there without harm. This, the church, is a city of
refuge. All of these privileges, for
Barnabas's privileges, all of these privileges speak of the
gospel and speak of the church of God. There is just one city
of refuge, there's one place There's one place of safety from
judgement, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, in His Church
and with Him. The Levites had remarkable privileges
regarding the possessions that they may have lost. Everyone
else, if they sold something, it belonged to other people until
the year of Jubilee. But the Levites, according to
Leviticus 25.32, the Levites can redeem their cities at any
time. But also the field and the suburbs
of their cities may not be sold, for it is a perpetual possession."
So the Levites had that remarkable privilege. Other people who sold
something had to wait for the 49 years to be up. But the Levites
could redeem it at any time. But they have a perpetual possession. They have an everlasting possession,
the true Levites of God. God has separated them, God has
redeemed them, He's clothed them, He's anointed them, He's appointed
them, He provides for them in this world, He protects them
even in the face of enemies. And what glory comes to the Lord
Jesus Christ. by his church, this church, his
church being established in the very midst of Christ's enemies. He established them there to
show them that no matter what the circumstances, he would provide
for them and he would care for them, he would watch over them.
Will he not, says Romans 8, will he not along with Christ give
us all things? But in the law of jubilee there
is something that Barnabas, who no doubt knew all these laws,
so clearly came to see. In Leviticus 25.17 it says, Ye
shall not therefore oppress one another. What does the law do? The law is an oppressive burden,
isn't it? For those who are under it, you
are obligated to do it, and do all of it, and do all of it perfectly. And the law continues today to
be oppressive and it brings anyone who goes to it and looks to it
for anything of their standing before God, all it does is bring
them into bondage and it captivates people. The most captivated people
you meet are those who are proud of their law works, proud of
any of their works. They're captivated. They're under
its obligation and they are continually oppressing one another, feeding
the flesh, fleeting on other people's flesh, preaching what
man has to do rather than what Christ has done. See Barnabas wasn't asked to
give. He wasn't commanded to give. He wasn't under any compulsion
to give. He gave freely. He gave freely
because of Christ's glory. And that's something else that
the law cannot do in Leviticus 25, 17. The law oppresses, but
the law will never bring what the next phrase says, that thou
shalt fear thy God, for I am the Lord thy God. The law can
never bring that fear, because whatever you can do something,
Whatever you can do something, you'll be looking to yourself.
When everything is utterly dependent upon God and He's absolutely
seen to be sovereign and glorious, there is, as He does throughout
the Book of Acts, He brings His people to a place where they
fear Him, where they reverence Him. They are in awe of His being,
they are in awe of His sovereignty, they are in awe of His justice
and His holiness. And in the next verse, Leviticus
25, 18, it says, Wherefore, you shall do my statutes and keep
my judgments and do them and you shall dwell in the land with
safety. How do you establish the law
of God? How do you establish the law
of God? How do you do the statutes of
God? You believe by faith. By faith we establish the law. Love, Romans 13.10, love is the
fulfilling of the law. So God's provision, God's provision
for his people in those earthly provisions of the Levites are
all spiritual pictures of his provision and his care for his
true Levites who serve the true high priest and serve the true
congregation of God. The next verse in Leviticus 25,
19 speaks of that provision. And the lamb shall yield her
fruit and you shall eat your fill and dwell therein in safety. The internal glory is the inheritance
in this city of refuge and there's safety and security and there's
provision. Barnabas heard the words of comfort
and he became a son of consolation. He became someone who was born
of the consolation and the comfort that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Only the free and the pure serve
Him because they are simply trusting in Him. Ananias and Sapphira
were covetous for the glory of men. They were covetous to be
seen as religious and to be seen as generous. Barnabas is a true
Levite. and cleansed and a willing servant
of his God. His love for the Lord Jesus Christ
was his love for his true Levites. The Pharisees would have been
quick to go back to the law and say to Barnabas, those fields
are a permanent perpetual possession, you're not to sell them. You're
not to sell them to anyone but another Levite. What did Barnabas
do? He sold his land and he gave
it to the true Leelites of God, who serve the true High Priest. I might finish in Hebrews 10,
I know we go there often. The Hebrews 10 speaks of the
shadows, don't they, and those offerings which were continually
offered. Barnabas would have been part of that continual offering.
And they can never perfect those that come. And with all those
offerings, no one's made perfect. They're continually offered.
With all of those offerings, there's just a remembrance made
of sins every year. And it can never take away sin. Hebrews 10.14, for by one offering,
the Lord Jesus Christ hath perfected forever, them that are sanctified,
them that are holy. Perfected forever, them that
are holy. Wherefore of the Holy Ghost is
also witness to us, for after he had said before, this is the
covenant I will make with them in those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will
I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember
no more. Now where remission of these
is, there is no more offering for sin. What glorious good news
for sinners. No more offering for sin. God
is perfectly satisfied with his son's offering. That great high
priest, that great high priest in heaven's glories right now,
continually presenting that one offering to his God. And all of his true Levites All
of His true Levites serve Him and serve His cause with delight
and with freedom and with great, great joy. Let's pray.