Well, once again, it's indeed
a privilege to be with you, to be here, to open God's Word,
to read God's Word, to appreciate God's Word, and hopefully to
learn from God's Word. I ask you this morning, once
again, to turn with me to that Old Testament book, the book
of Numbers, the Gospel according to Numbers. Here in the book
of Numbers chapter 18, we'd like to begin reading with verse 12.
Just read verses 12 and 13, because we covered those a little bit
last week. In these two verses of scripture,
we find that God, through Moses, told Aaron, how wonderful, I'm
going to bless you. As a picture, a type and a shadow
of the blessings that go to the church, to the saints of God,
to those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ, to those
who are his children, he shares here in this picture, he says,
all the best of the oil. and all the best of the wine,
and of the wheat, the first fruits of them which they shall offer
unto the Lord, them have I given thee. And we were drawn over
there to the book of Ephesians chapter one, where it shares
with us that the church is blessed with every spiritual blessing
in Christ Jesus. And we went down through Ephesians
chapter one and just noticed a few of those rich blessings
that we have in Christ. He hath chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world. God knows so much better than
we ever will know in our natural state. God knows that we would
never ever choose Him. That we would never come face
to face with Him with a broken heart. God has to give that to
us. God has to give us faith. God
has to give us repentance. God has to do all those things
for us. It's like trying to have a child walk, an infant, a baby
in a crib to walk, to talk, to feed themselves. We would never
ask them to do that. We would take care of them. Well,
God knows that the same is true about us by our nature. We're
dead in trespasses and sins. We're worse off than an infant.
Our spiritual nature is completely dead. We have this physical being
that is animated. Heart is pumping, lungs are breathing,
the functions are going on, and we have this semblance of life,
but when it comes to spiritual things, we don't. Well, once
the Lord blesses us with the new birth and gives us Christ
as our Savior, He gives us the best of everything. the best
of Christ, the best of the Bible, the best of all things, as we
find there in the book of Numbers and over in the book of Ephesians
and throughout the scriptures. And then in verse 13, it says,
Whatsoever is first ripe in the land, which they shall bring
unto the Lord shall be thine. Everyone that is clean in thine
house shall eat of it. You know, he mentions that because
we get over to the New Testament and we find out that the Lord
chose 12 to be disciples. And he knew when he chose that
one person, Judas Iscariot, he knew what he was. He knew that
he was not going to follow him. He knew he was not going to believe
on him. He knew that he was not going
to be instructed by him, but he was placed there on purpose,
not only to fulfill the scriptures that we find in the Old Testament,
but to fulfill the very purpose of God and to fulfill the very
purpose of God's redemptive work in Christ Jesus. He was going
to be the key to betraying him. He was going to kiss him. and
then they were going to take him away. Well, we've been reminded
many times as we look into the Scriptures that they did not
take him. He said, I lay down my life that
I might take it up again. It looks like the rabble is taking
him off for trial, but he's given them permission to do that. When
he looked at those folks and he said, whom do you seek? And
he said, we're seeking Jesus of Nazareth. And he said, I am. That's all he said. And those
people are face down in the dirt. Now they didn't do that because
they wanted to. They did that because God put
his hand on them and put them down. He was in charge of this
whole thing. He was in charge of the trial. God was in charge
of the trial. God was in charge of him carrying
that cross up to Golgotha. God was in charge of him when
he was nailed to the cross. God was in charge when he was
suspended between heaven and earth. And God was in charge
when he spoke those seven times from the cross. And he was in
charge when he said, it is finished. And he gave up the ghost. Now,
most people didn't understand what was going on. There were
a few, one woman. The Lord said, she's doing this
for my burial. She seemed to understand something
about this. But after the resurrection, the
Lord revealed all those things to them, and they understood
the scriptures, and they became preachers of righteousness. Well,
here, going on into this chapter, this 18th chapter of the book
of Numbers in verse 14, we read an interesting verse of scripture.
It says, everything devoted in Israel shall be thine. everything
devoted. Now that word devoted is an interesting
word. It means to be dedicated. Everything
dedicated. Now this word has been translated
a number of times in the Old Testament in some odd ways we
would think. One of them comes to my mind
and if you don't realize by now I love to find out how these
words are used in other places. I find out a lot of information
in the scriptures to see how was this word translated in other
places. Well, if you remember, over in
the book of Joshua, progress was halted one time. Joshua was
in charge of the children of Israel. And it's so interesting,
we find that Moses was not permitted to enter this land, and we find
out why, because he represented the law. And nobody is ever brought
into the kingdom of God by keeping the law. We are brought into
the Kingdom of Heaven by another representative, and his name
is Jesus. Now it is no strange thing to
find out that God Almighty would have the guy in charge of Israel
named Joshua, which is Hebrew, and Jesus is Greek, and they
mean the same thing. Savior! deliverer. Well, he does so good of demonstration
of that, and yet we find at one time the taking of that land
that had been promised Israel was halted. So turn with me for
just a brief moment over to the book of Joshua chapter 7, if
you would. There is a point that the Lord
wants us to see here with regard to this word, everything devoted,
everything dedicated in Israel shall be thine. Well, this word
is translated over here in the book of Joshua chapter 7 in a
little bit different way. It tells us here in verse 1,
But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing. For Achan the son of Carmi, the
son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah of the tribe of Judah, took the
accursed thing, and the anger of the LORD was kindled against
the children of Israel. Now, When we first read that
we may not see that there is a lot of similarity between the
word devoted and a cursed thing, but they are translated from
the same Hebrew word, a cursed thing. Now we find out that this
thing that Achan had taken was dedicated to another religion. it was dedicated to the religion
of the people that Joshua and the children of Israel were trying
to overtake. God had promised that they were
going to take this land and they were going to defeat all the
enemies of that land. And yet we find here at this
one time, and it's the only occasion that we have record of, that
there was a halting to the progress because one man took something
that was dedicated to another religion, a man-made religion,
a created religion, a religion of man. Let's follow down through
here in verse 11 of this, and I would encourage you to read
this whole chapter. So, it's very interesting. It says, They
have also transgressed my covenant, which I commanded them, for they
have even taken of the accursed thing." This dedicated thing
to another religion. And you know what happens is,
this guy takes it into his bosom, into his personal wealth and
so forth. He takes this that is dedicated
to something else that is so contrary to grace, so contrary
to God, and he brings it into himself and says, I'll dedicate
this to God. Well, he hides it. Let's just
read on here. Cursed thing have also stolen
and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their
own stuff. Now in verse 20, I encourage
you to read this whole chapter, but in verse 20, and Achan answered
Joshua and said, indeed, I have sinned against the Lord God of
Israel. Now it's one thing to sin against
the Lord God of Israel, and it's another thing to sin against
my God. Achan is admitting here that
he has very little knowledge about God. It's the God, the
national God. It's the God of Israel. But we
will find in other places, against thee and thee only have I sinned. That's what David said about
his sin. You know, when it is personal,
when it is a personal God, a God that we relate to, a God that
has revealed Himself to us, it becomes a whole lot greater.
But to Achan, it was just the national God I've sinned against.
I've sinned against the God of Israel, and thus and thus have
I done. And then in verse 21, and when I saw among the spoils
a goodly Babylonish garment, Now this garment is not just
something that everybody wears. This is a Babylonian dedicated
garment to some religion of the Babylonians. Now what's God trying
to teach us about this? This is what I saw God will not,
he is not pleased, he nor will he come, he just cannot, he will
not allow a dedication of something that is so false as works-oriented
religion with grace. We cannot have it. God says,
no, it's not possible. I will not allow you to dedicate
something that is so wrong, so off the wall, so unscriptural. I will not allow you to dedicate
it in this religion. I will not allow my people to
have an accursed thing in their religion. We cannot mix works
and grace. We cannot have those things mixed. We will not go back to our works. We will not go back to those
things. We'll not go back to our former
religion and say, this is just as good as this. Achan said,
this garment is just as good as the high priest garments. And God said, they are an accursed
thing. We cannot, we are not allowed
to bring in to the gospel those things that are strange, accursed. God will not permit it. He does
not allow it. He will not have anybody stand
before Him in an accursed garment, he will only allow us to stand
before him in the righteousness of Christ. He will not allow
us to come before him with our works. He will only allow us
to come before him in the works of Christ. He will not allow
us to come in our own blood. He will only allow us to come
in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. So, don't go
to God with an accursed thing. Well, the new birth, as we heard
read there in the book of 1 Peter this morning, is being born again. And when that happens, God prevents
his people from bringing that stuff along. All right, let's
go back there to the book of Numbers. There's another point
that we want to look in Numbers chapter 18, and it has to do
with redemption. You know, redemption is quite
an issue throughout the scriptures. We find that redemption, redeem,
redeemer, Ransom, surety are words that are found throughout
the scriptures and principles and thoughts that are found throughout
the scriptures that are in the Old Testament generally as types
and shadows and pictures, but oftentimes we find speaking about
someone else that is going to do that for a people We find
here in the book of Numbers chapter 18 with verses 15 through 19
that there is the thought of redemption. Now here in the book
of Numbers that a person who is a month old is to be redeemed. The firstborn is to be redeemed.
And in this passage of scripture, they're to be redeemed with a
coin, some money. Well, it's no wonder when we
get over to the New Testament in the book of 1 Peter 1, that
the Apostle Peter reminds us that that system does not work
here. It never worked to actually redeem
someone from their sin. The system that God uses to redeem
His people from their sins is Jesus Christ's blood. That's what redemption means.
It means to be purchased from a very terrible state. In these
types and shadows and pictures, we find that we are, they picture
the redemption from the bondage of sin, and that's the greatest
thing that we have to deal with, is the bondage of sin. We cannot
overcome it on our own. We are held, our body, mind,
and spirit are held by this. We fell in Adam, and you know,
we had a representative. And that representative was given
every opportunity to do the right thing. He was given such an opportunity
that even when his wife ate that fruit, it did not bother the
system. No darkness. No running. No hiding. Everything was okay,
but she was not the representative. He was the representative. Adam
was the representative of all of his children after him. And he represented us very poorly. Now on the other side, hidden
here in the curtains, is a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Behind the curtains is an eternal everlasting covenant
that God was going to have his son redeem his people from their
sins. Adam acted on his own will. And I've said this many times,
and scriptures are evidence to this, that Adam was the only
person that ever got to act on his free will. Now when Adam
fell and he brought children into this world, down to this
very point, we can act on a will within the confines of our being. We can choose Wheaties in the
morning or we can choose oatmeal. We can put on blue socks or brown
socks. I could wear this shirt or I
could wear another shirt. I can act on the confines of
my realm. But when it comes to spiritual
things, the scriptures tell us, right out. You can't get there
from there because you're dead. You have no ability to respond
and come to God in any form. Now we come in religion. We come
with the accursed thing. We'll do that all the time. But
we cannot, we will not come to God. We cannot and will not keep
the law. It's impossible. And we cannot
come to God. God looked down from heaven to
see if there were any that did seek after him. The book of the
Psalms, chapter 14, Psalm 14. He looked down from heaven. God
looked down. Now that's not the preacher looking
down. You know, I look at you as, I
love you and I appreciate you a great deal. But God looked
down and he said the same thing that the scriptures have said.
He has a great deal more authority. And guess what? He can look at
our heart. In my natural state, I don't
even know my own heart. The scriptures tell us that the
heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? That word desperately
means incurable. We can't find the cure. Religion
has been striving to find the cure. We have all of those accursed
things. We have all of those rituals.
We have all of that stuff, and yet it has never achieved. There is only one thing that
has achieved, and that is God and God alone. Now, God grants
life. Let me ask you this, as I ask
most people when I'm around, what part did you play in your
birth, physically? And you think God is going to
have you do more with your spiritual birth than he lets you have in
your physical birth? It took the grace of God for
me to learn that. But when He gives us the new
birth, we say yes and amen. All right. It tells us here in
verses 16, 17, 18, and 19 some things about redemption. Here
in this passage of Scripture, humankind, firstborn, are to
be redeemed. Critters that are unclean are
to be redeemed. unclean. Well, they're not fit
for sacrifice, so redeem them. Now, it does tell us over in
the book of Job that man be born like a wild ass's colt. And in
the book of Exodus chapter 34 and verse 20, it says, if you're
not going to redeem an ass's colt, then break its neck. So you redeem it or it's dead. That's it. That's what the Bible
has to say about it. Now, man could not be a sacrifice
for himself. These unclean animals, camels,
pigs, you can go down the list of those who did not have cloven
feet or did not chew the cud. Break that out. Sheep could,
goats could, cattle could, camels couldn't, rhinoceros couldn't,
elephants couldn't, unclean. Now there probably wasn't many
of those in the camp of Israel traveling along with them, but
you redeemed them if they were the firstborn. When it got to
the redemption of cows and sheeps and goats, the firstborn were
to be brought and sacrificed. Their blood sprinkled on the
altar, and the most of the meat was given to the Levites. That's
their welfare program. The fat was burned, it was a
sweet-smelling savor. The very best was given to God.
Now, as we look through this, we find out that even in the
types and shadows and pictures, they could not demonstrate true
redemption. They could not demonstrate what
redemption of a person actually is. You cannot buy a person out
of sin. You can buy them out of slavery,
but you cannot buy them out of sin. You can pay for the property
they've lost, but you can't buy them out of sin. Sin has such
a crust on us that it cannot be purchased by physical means. We cannot pray out of it. We
cannot dedicate ourselves out of it. We cannot come forward
out of it. We can't sign a card out of it.
We can't do all the things that all the religion tells us we
must do. I remember going to my pastor and telling him I don't
think I'm saved, so he got me back down on my knees making
the sinner's prayer. When I told him that nothing
had happened, he said, only one thing is left, and that is you've
been called to preach. Well, that turned out to be a
lie. I wasn't called to preach. I was just another lost one leaving
a lost pastor. I'm so thankful that in time
God let me hear the gospel, that it was not you that saved you,
it is God that saved you. If you're ever saved, it's God.
How did I get the faith? God. How did I get the repentance?
God. How did you get sanctification?
God. How did you get glorification?
God. Nothing's left up to us. He takes care of it all. Redemption,
redeem, and redeemer are often occurring themes in the Old Testament
by type, shadow, and picture. And yet we find in the New Testament
so much is said about that. Now, it does not mean that people
in the Old Testament were not saved. They were saved by the
same grace. But the types and shadows and pictures are often
there. This redemption has to be in the form that is required.
Now, I was in France recently, and we were France or Germany? Where Audie Murphy made his great
stand and got his Medal of Honor. Germany or France? I think it
was France. Anyway, there is a wonderful
museum there. And we were in that museum and
I'm looking at all the stuff and pictures of Audie Murphy
and stuff like that. And there is a guy in there that
wants to buy this book that is written about Audie Murphy. And
you know what? He didn't have any euros. Now,
Euros are the money that is accepted through many European countries. But there are a couple of countries
that have not got to use Euros yet, and their money is not accepted
where Euros are accepted. Now, I could use American dollars
because people really like American dollars over there. They can
trade and write in for Euros. But they can't trade this. I
cannot remember what country it was, but that's all he had.
You know what? He didn't leave with the book.
They wouldn't sell it to him. It wasn't the right money. You
know, when Abraham wanted to purchase a piece of property
to bury his wife in, it tells us that he paid 400 shekels of
silver, current money of the merchant. He couldn't give those
faults out of the Well, I got these down in Ur of Chaldeas,
won't they be good enough? No, you don't own the property.
Well, this thing that is said is if you don't have the proper
payment, you don't get paid. You're not redeemed. You're not
brought out. You must have the proper payment,
and the proper payment is not our activities, not our works,
but the blood of Christ. That is the proper payment. That
is what God requires, is the blood of His Son. Payment for
His people. Now, everything else is not going
to work. Everything else is that Babylonian garment that is an
accursed thing. You cannot come to God and expect
him to take the money that he doesn't accept. You wouldn't
do it. I'm going to buy your car from
you, and I want to pay you in pre-World War II German marks. My brother gave me a thousand
mark bill. It was given to him. He thought
he was giving me something great. I took it to the bank. They said,
we'll have to look into it. I came back in a week and I says,
this is worthless piece of paper. It will not buy anything. It
may be a collector's item. That's it. Well, you bring to
God your works. And he says, I don't accept works.
And he's, I remember a preacher and please forgive me if this
is just too vivid for you. But I remember a preacher using
an illustration about a man coming up to a mansion that was for
sale, and he had a wheelbarrow of scrapings out of the barnyard
and said, I'd like to trade this wheelbarrow full of scrapings
out of the barnyard for your mansion. You know what happened?
The door was closed on him. It's not gonna work. The blood
of Jesus Christ. You know, we do find out, Job
said in the Old Testament in chapter 19, I know. My Redeemer
liveth. Now, he knew a Redeemer, and
he knew that he was alive. And a Redeemer is someone that
had purchased him, had purchased him. Turn with me, if you would,
to the Psalms for just a moment. The Psalms. In Psalm 49. Psalm 49. And verse 15, Psalm 49 verse
15, it says, But God will redeem my soul from, now notice this,
from the power of the grave. My God will redeem my soul from
the power of the grave. What's the power of the grave?
Well, when we leave this earth without redemption, without Christ,
we leave this world not only to enter into the next world,
but we enter into the next world held by the power of the grave,
which is death, which is eternal death, which there is absolutely
nothing left to do. The power of the grave. But God
said, I will redeem my people from the power of the grave.
I know my redeemer liveth. God will redeem my soul from
the power of the grave. He will purchase me. He will
redeem me. He will bring me out. Turn with me to Psalm, is it
back in verse seven of this? Yeah, verse seven of the same
psalm, verse seven. None of them, Psalm 49 verse
7, none of them can by any means redeem his brother nor give to
God a ransom for him. You know, I would have given
anything if there had been any way possible that I could have
redeemed my mother and my father and my family. But God said,
you cannot. There is no redemptive value
in your hoping. There is only redemptive value
in God. There's only redemptive value
in God's Son, in the blood of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God has sent redemption to his people. There is plenteous redemption,
we read in the Psalms. In the New Testament, we are
truly revealed who is the Redeemer. It's brought out in the Old Testament,
but in the New Testament, He's identified. In the Old Testament,
He's the Messiah, the One Coming. In the New Testament, we find
He's identified. Behold the Messiah. Behold the
Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. In 1 Corinthians,
turn there with me if you would. 1 Corinthians chapter 1 verse
30. What a wonderful passage of scripture
this is and how all complete it is to show us from beginning
to end that Jesus Christ is all and all to the church. He is
all and all to his people without the works of righteousness which
we have done. He redeems us. in 1 Corinthians
1, verse 30, but of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness. and sanctification,
and notice the last one. He's our redemption. He is the
Redeemer, and He is the redemptive price. It was the blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ that redeems His people from all their sin. We're not redeemed by works.
We're not redeemed by payment. We're not redeemed by any of
those things. We're not redeemed by anything that we can perform. It is out of our hands. It is
in the hand of God. And in Ephesians chapter one,
Verse 7, we read this last week, but we want to read it again
for we want to see this view that is brought out here. It
tells us how we have redemption. The price is paid. The Redeemer
has paid the price. He is the surety for the church. He's the one that said, if everything
fails, you know, I was told one time, don't ever become, don't
ever become the cosigner. Don't ever become the cosigner.
Because if they don't pay their bill, guess who gets to? Well,
the positive thing about this is, Jesus Christ in the covenant
of grace said, I will be their cosigner. And when it goes wrong,
I have taken care of it. Here in the book of Ephesians
1, verse 7, in whom we have redemption through his blood, Christ's blood,
and the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace. In
him we have redemption through his blood. No other redemption
is there. He's the only one that has the
redemption price. He's the only one that has the
right currency. to pay the redemptive price of
His people. We don't. Ours is worldly, His
is heavenly. In the book of Hebrews, in the
book of Hebrews, chapter nine, verse 12, the book of Hebrews
chapter nine and verse 12. Now all of this is far greater
than any pictures. I've used this illustration before.
I have been in some really nice restaurants that have wonderful
menus. I like those colored ones. It's
got pictures of the food. Well, sometimes what you see
in the picture is not what you get on the plate, But I've never
asked to eat the menu. As good as it looks, I want the
food. I want what that menu represents. Well, as beautiful as the pictures
are in the Old Testament about redemption, they didn't redeem
a thing. Nobody was redeemed by the blood
of bulls and goats. Nobody was saved by the law.
Nobody was saved by keeping or trying to keep the law. Nobody
was saved with any of those things. Only God could save his people
from their sins. Here in the book of Hebrews chapter
nine and verse 12, it says, neither by the blood of goats and calves,
but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place.
Not into that physical holy place, but he entered into heaven in
the presence of God. He appeared with his own blood.
to show I have redeemed my people from their sins. It goes on to
say, having obtained. Now I like that past tense when
it comes about obtained. It's taken care of. Having obtained
eternal redemption for us. What does he say? When I save
my people, I will lose none of them. When I redeem my people,
they will not go back and lose that redemption. Now, under the
Old Testament law, a person might sell himself into servitude because
he needed to pay a debt, and someone might come along, his
surety, and pay the price and get him out, and guess what?
He might sell himself again and go back into servitude. That
could be a possibility. But when it comes to salvation
from God, He is the absolute surety, security. And He said,
I will lose none. My son's blood has paid for them
in completeness. Though we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. Turn with me to Isaiah 35. Isaiah 35. In Isaiah 35 verse
10. Now this is the results of being
ransomed. The Redeemer has paid the price,
the ransom price, and now he's talking about the ransomed, those
who have been ransomed out of sin. He says, and the ransomed
of the Lord shall return and come to Zion. What does that
mean? I'm not leaving you where you are. I'm bringing you to
Zion. I'm not leaving you there. I've
shared a number of times when I was saved and the church I
was pastoring fired me, it really bothered me, but later I found
out the Lord was doing the best thing he possibly could. Not
to leave me there in that religion. God does not leave us in that
religion. He brings us to Zion. And what
is that Zion? Come to Zion with songs and everlasting
joy. My goodness, it is incumbent
upon believers to have joy in the Lord and enjoy. I like what
the Bible says. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Oh, great difficulties come into
your life. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say, so. I have cancer. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say, so. I lost my mother. Let the redeemed
of the Lord say, so. This is all in God's everlasting
eternal purpose. Paul said from the jail, everything has fallen out for
the furtherance of the gospel. And the ransom, verse 10, and
the ransom to the Lord shall return and come to Zion with
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. And they shall obtain
joy and gladness and sorrow and sigh and shall flee away. You
know, sometimes it's just hard to be around people that say
they're believers and they just can't get out of the mulligrabs.
They just cannot. I used to be in the mulligrabs
all the time. Salvation has helped me a lot. You get to say, so? Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. Brother Mike.