Well, good morning. It's such a pleasure to be here. I like being with you. And I get to be repetitious. Same story over and over and
over. It was that story that A man
many years ago brought to me the message of the gospel. I listened to a man on YouTube
last night and for 15 minutes I listened to him and he never
said one word about Christ. He was giving a book review. I hope it's never put on my headstone,
he just gave a book review. Join me if you would in the book
of Numbers this morning. Numbers chapter one, Numbers
chapter one. And I'd like to begin reading
with verse 47. We covered last week a portion
of scripture that was and continues to be quite repetitious. The
changes in those two, those couplets of verses was simply, the name
of the tribe, and the number of warriors that were in those
tribes. And we get down to verse 47,
and the subject changes slightly, for we read these words, but
the Levites, but the Levites. Now I ask you
this question, how did you become a Levite? You were born a Levite. That's the only way you could
become a Levite. You were born into this tribe
of Israel. And those that were born into
this tribe, let's read on here now in verse four, but the Levites
after the tribe of their fathers were not numbered among them. They were not part of the number
that we had just gone through, through that repetitious number
of over 600,000 people that the Lord had numbered there in Israel. It goes on to tell us, for the
Lord had spoken unto Moses saying, now I like this because he's
going to give the reason that they were not numbered with the
rest. It's not Moses giving the reason, but it's the Lord giving
the reason. And we're going to notice here
that the Lord is often manifest in the scriptures, distinguishing
grace. He distinguishes among tribes. He distinguishes among people. So let's read on here in the
book of Numbers chapter one, verses, verse 49. Only thou shalt
not number the tribe of Levi, neither take the sum of them
among the children of Israel. You're not going to include them
in that number that we just made. But thou shalt appoint the Levites
over the tabernacle of testimony and over all the vessels thereof. They shall bear the tabernacle
and all the vessels thereof, and they shall minister unto
it and shall encamp round about the tabernacle. Now the Levites
are going to have a very special responsibility placed upon them
by Almighty God. Remember what we read there in
verse 48, for the Lord had spoken unto Moses. This is the Lord's
words concerning this tribe. This one tribe picked out of
all the tribes. This one tribe that we find that
the Lord showed distinguishing grace to. He is the one that
demonstrates and shows distinguishing grace. And it is He alone that
is able to do that. And we'll go along just a little
further and we'll explain that. Now, and when the tabernacle
settles forward, the Levites shall take it down. This is going
to be their responsibility. The tabernacle, they're going
to take care of the moving of it. They're going to take care
of the setting up of it. And in fact, they're going to camp
around it. There is a responsibility imposed upon them by God Almighty,
as is recorded here in the book of Numbers, what their responsibility
will do. And the only way that you could
become a part of this tribe and do that responsibility is that
you were born into that tribe. Excuse me, the Lord's Echidnas.
You cannot see and you cannot enter in. to the kingdom of heaven,
except ye be born again. It must come by a birth. So it
was with these. Now, you and I, standing on the
outside, may say, you know, I think I would like to help them do
that. They're getting a lot of responsibility placed on them,
and I think I will take a little responsibility and go help them.
And let's find out if you did. And when the tabernacle is to
be pitched, the Levite shall set it up, and the stranger that
cometh nigh shall be put to death. As much as I may have wanted
to help, The instructions are, you, I, can't. And this is the penalty. Now isn't that so true about
helping God with our salvation? The Lord said, there is only
one that can put you into this position, and that is by birth. And if you attempt on your own
to do what you don't, then I have a responsibility to carry out
the punishment, and that is you shall be put to death. And that
ultimately is what we read over in the book of Matthew when all
of the nations of the world, all the peoples of the world
are gathered before a shepherd who divideth the flock as a shepherd
would divide the sheep from the goats. All of those on the left-hand
side have said, I want to be a Levite, and I want to help
with all of this. And God said, no way. And this
is the justice that shall be served, and that is, you shall
surely die. Well, the children of Israel
shall pitch their tents, every man by his own camp, and every
man by his own standard throughout the host. But the Levites shall
pitch round about the tabernacle of testimony, that there be no
wrath upon the congregation of the children of Israel. You know
what the Lord said to the church? You are the salt of the earth.
You're the only reason that this world continues as it is. Because when the last salt is
brought out, this place is gonna be folded up as a tent. This
world will be finished, and as we know, be done. Here it is,
those children of Levi camped around the tabernacle are the
symbol that this is going to be protection for the rest. The
children of Israel and Levi shall keep the charge of the tabernacle
of testimonies and the children of Israel did according to all
that the Lord commanded Moses so did they now it's interesting
to find that just a little bit later in chapter 3 that the Children
of Levi are numbered but in this number with the rest of the hosts.
They are not numbered He makes distinguishing grace evident
to the children of Israel and to the children of Levi that
there is a place where God has everybody, and everybody is in
their place, and he has put them there by divine appointment.
Now, we may ask ourselves, I think I could do a job just as good
as those Levites, but would you turn with me to the book of 1
Corinthians chapter 4. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4, the
Apostle Paul deals with this very subject. that could have
been dealt with over there by those who wanted to come up and
help the Levites with their job and get a few points. 1 Corinthians 4 and verse 7,
the scriptures share this. For who maketh thee to differ
from another? What hast thou that thou didst
not receive? Now those Levites were put into
the family of Levi by what? By birth. And who gave that to
them? Almighty God gave that to them. He had distinguishing grace.
Do you know that God, if he had a chosen to do that, would had
us born in the farthest reaches of some dark continent where
we would have never heard the gospel? People are born there
right now. But by his distinguishing grace,
he had placed us where he intended to have us so that by his grace
we could hear the gospel and God would overpower us with that
great new birth and we would be a worshiper of the true and
the living God. We read that God commanded Moses
to count the certain groups of folks out of the tribes of Israel,
those 12 tribes. And we also find out that God
said, don't count the tribe of Levi. They're going to be distinguished
from the rest. God is the God of distinguishing
grace. And he distinguishes between
tribes and a tribe, or between peoples and a person. We notice that the very, Verse. They're in verse 51. If you want
to get involved in a job that the Levites are responsible for,
the pun is sure. They're in Numbers chapter 1
in verse 51. The stranger that cometh not.
What does that mean? It doesn't mean that there's
someone from the outside, some Hittite or Hivite that came over
and wanted to join in. It means that they were the tribe
of Dan, Naphtali, one of the other
tribes of Israel shall be surely put to death. Now there's an
interesting verse of scripture that I want to take us to, and
I wonder how the Jews at one time could read this. The Jews
that Paul dealt with, the Jew that Paul was, Saul of Tarsus,
and the Jew that Jesus Christ dealt with, because over in the
book of Isaiah chapter 66, would you turn over there? By nature,
by our relationship with the first Adam, we are unfit and
unworthy to have fellowship with God until we are first called
by his grace into the fellowship of his son, Jesus Christ, the
great high priest. By nature, we cannot appropriate
that position. We are unfit to be in the presence
of the great high priest. We are unfit to be priests of
God. We want to come up and help the
Levites out. We wanted to do it for gain.
We wanted to do it for our own gain before God. We are responsible
and we can take care of the problem. Well, we find out that God has
already taken care of the problem without our aid and without our
assistance. And over here in the book of
Isaiah chapter 66. Turn there with me if you would.
Isaiah chapter 66 beginning with verse 19. Now this is the last
chapter of Isaiah and it brings up a wonderful subject of a new
heaven and a new earth. We're looking at some spiritual
things that God shares with his people the true priests of God,
the true subjects of the great high priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here in the book of Isaiah, it
is promised that God would take Levites to himself out of the
Gentiles. Now notice with me here in the
book of Isaiah chapter 66 and verse 19, and I will set a sign
among them, and I will send those that escape unto them, unto the
nations of Tarshish, Poole, and Lod, all figurative language. He's going to send people to
the nations, to the outlying areas, to every kindred nation,
people, and tongue that know some message out there that the
people out there don't have. They don't have the tabernacle
out there. They don't have the rights of
the tabernacle out there. They don't have the a fire by
night, and they don't have the cloud by day. They are out there
on the hinterlands, and they have nothing of their own. They
have nothing of righteousness. He says, I'll draw the bow to
Tubal and to Javan and to the isles afar off that have not
heard my fame. I'm going to make sure that those
that know something are going to go someplace where I appoint
them to go, and they're going to go out to the Gentiles. They're
going to go out to where there's Jews, too. Remember, the Apostle
Paul was taken to a number of places where Jews had left Jerusalem. And they were out there in the,
well, and 1 Peter writes about to the 12 tribes spread abroad. But I'm going to take out somebody
to know something about the fame, as it says there, Not heard of my fame, neither
have seen my glory, and they shall declare my glory among
the Gentiles. I am the recipient of what God
said in this passage of scripture. The gospel is for Jews and Gentiles
alike, distinguishing great Jews and Gentiles alike. And they
shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the Lord
out of all nations. Now, they're going to travel
different ways. The man who brought me the gospel came by air. Others go by car. Some go by
horses, and some by chariots, and some are carried there by
liars, and upon mules. Unclean beasts upon swift beasts
to my holy mountain jerusalem They're going to take everybody
to jesus christ the lord He is the one that has the fame and
he is the one that has the glory And he's the one that is only
able to do what we cannot do for ourselves saith the lord
as the children of israel bring an offering in a clean vessel
into the house of the lord As these people come, it's going
to be similar to the children of Israel doing what they were
supposed to do. And then it tells us here, and I will also take
of them for priests and for Levites, saith the Lord. Now that's good
news to me. The fame and the glory is going
to be taken out. And God is going to bring his
people to his holy mountain, to himself, to his person, to
the Lord Jesus Christ. And in that doing, we're given
a position that we did not have by ourself, and that is to become
a Levite, to become a priest. a priest of the Most High God,
kings and priests of the Most High God, be able to worship
Him as we had never been able to worship Him before, to be
able to be placed around His tabernacle, to be able to serve
Him as we could not serve Him because we had ulterior motives
about serving Him. This one, the Lord Jesus Christ,
makes Levites out of Gentiles as well as Jews. It comes by
the new birth. It is made quite evident from
the scriptures that all those who are called of God to this
spiritual priesthood have much in common. You know what those
Levites had in common? Their dad, Levi. They had him
in common. Every one of them could trace
their line right back to Levi, the son of Jacob, one of the
sons of Jacob. And this tribe was specially
honored by Almighty God to demonstrate what it is to have distinguishing
grace. You're not going to be counted
with the rest. You have special responsibility here around the
tabernacle. When it's time to move it, you're
going to move it. When it comes time to set it
up, you're going to set it up. And if anybody takes elves to
try to help, here is what is going to be meted out. If you
try to take this gospel and this salvation that God has given,
and you try to do something to warrant it or to have it, this
is the final judgment. It will be death. And that death
is eternal death. It is no small thing to slap
God in the face by saying, I can do what you said I can't do. And that's essentially what we
do. Lord says, you cannot come unto me except by the Father.
And we say, oh, yes, I can. What does that say about God?
We have a very minuscule opinion of the Most High God when we
say we can do what he says we can't say. Well, we find out
that there's some things in common among all of those Levites that
were there, but the Levites, those who ministered at the tabernacle,
those who saw that cloud by day move and they said, okay folks,
it's time to set take this down, and put it on carts, and haul
it over there. And then when they saw it stop, they said,
OK, folks, it's time to stop here. They were the ones that
insulated that tabernacle from all the rest of the tribes. They're
the ones that moved it. They're the ones that set it
up. They're the ones that honored God, because they had been appointed
to this parade on some things. I was told the other day, Brother
Craig and I were told the other day, I have friends that are
in a such and so forth church that believe in such and so forth,
and I know they're saved. And we said, well, we don't believe
that. It's not church salvation. And
I know this, if we are in a false church, and God is pleased to
bring us his fame and his glory through the preached word of
somebody who knows it. We cannot stay there. God will not allow us to stay
there. We cannot put up with it anymore. God is faithful to us to put
us right next to the tabernacle. All right, now what do we have
in common? What do those Levites have in common? What do all believers,
all believers have in common? Those Jews and Gentiles that
are made Levites by birth. We are made priests by birth. We are made priests by the new
birth. What do we have in common? Now,
there's many things that we have in common, but one of those things
is most valuable. And we find a preacher of righteousness
in the most obscure place declaring this, and that is our Jonah in
the great belly. Every one of those Levites that
God gives the new birth to every one of them will agree on this
that Salvation is of the Lord There is no room for movement
on this point that everybody that is born again Salvation
is of the Lord Jonah spoke the truth there It's recorded there,
and we find a number of places in the particularly in the Psalms
We had one of them read there in the book of Habakkuk this
morning Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God
of my salvation. Where did our salvation come
from? It originates with God, it's given from God, it's brought
from God. We have no salvation in ourselves
and we cannot appropriate any salvation. You know what the
problem is? We're so dead in trespasses and
sin that we cannot make a vote. We voted in Adam. And we voted
against God. And we voted against ourselves.
Now you say, I wasn't present there. We were in spirit. I don't like what Adam did. That's
not the point. The point is that it took place.
We were in Adam. In Adam all sinned, in Adam all
died, and in Christ we are made by the birth, the new birth,
he says, I will make sure that everybody that I ever raised
from the spiritual dead will account God as their salvation
and nothing else. They will not stand on one other
thing, not one other grain of sand will be under them but the
rock of their salvation, the Lord Jesus. Turn with me, if
you would, to the 18th Psalm. Psalm 18. God's people everywhere,
it doesn't matter where they are, whether they're there around
that tabernacle or whether they're spread to the farthest parts
of this world, when God gives them the new birth, they will
confess this, Jesus Christ is the Savior, not me. In the book
of the Psalms, Psalm 18, verse 2. Psalm 18 and verse 2. We read these words. It says
here, the Lord is my rock. Well, let's back up to verse
1. I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock,
and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom
I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and
my high tower. Now, there's enough room there
to bring a number of messages, but every one of those things
are very valuable and very important to the believer, and that is
he is all. There is no doubt. He doesn't
put any strings and say, well, if you do this, I'll do that.
He says, I must do it all. If you're going to be a Levite,
if you're going to be a priest of mine, I must have you born
into that tribe. And that only comes by the new
birth. Now, we would be foolish to say I become a real Levite
by being born again. It's figuratively. But we become
priests of the Most High God, and our confession is, God is
my Savior. Nothing else. Verse 46 of that
18th Psalm. Verse 46. The Lord liveth. And blessed be my rock, and let
the God of my salvation be exalted. He is my Savior. What do we depend
on? We must have Him. It's no works, no church membership,
not even following the ordinances. Next Sunday, Lord willing, we
hope to have communion service. But that's not going to buy anybody
salvation. It just declares the Savior.
It declares the shed blood. It declares the broken body.
It declares that He is the fame and the glory that is taken out
to the hinterlands by something and nobody is left out there
in the hinterlands. They are all brought to the tabernacle,
the Lord Jesus Christ. And around that tabernacle we
sing salvation is of the Lord. Another thing they all knew,
every one of those Levites, as a picture, as a type and a shadow,
they knew this. Every believer is confident of
this very thing because without it, we don't have salvation. You know what God does for us
when he gives us a new birth? He says, you are a sinner. I can't make you a sinner. I
hear preachers trying to get people to be sinners. The preacher
tried to get to me to be a sinner. You know the only sin I'd ever
done was I'd taken cookies out of my mother's cookie jar and
I'd lied to her a couple of times and you know that sort of stuff.
That's what we count as sin. And when we're dealing, when
I was dealing with young people, That's what I acquainted them
with, but it is a much bigger issue than that. The issue is
sin against God. He's the issue. He's the offended
party. What does God let us know? God lets us know that He only
hates sinners, nobody else. We are truly made to know our
state after we have been born again. Now we know that we've
done some wrong things, but it isn't until after we're born
again that he allows us to know how wrong it was, how terrible
a condition it is, how dead in trespasses and sins we were.
No wonder I couldn't raise my hand in response to him in a
proper fashion, because I was like that man in the tomb, or
that girl that was on a a bed or the young man being carried
out in a beer or Whatever it is typified in the scriptures.
That's where we find ourselves We don't have any disagreement
with God telling us that in every fashion in every part of us We
fell in Adam. We don't have a discussion It's
worse than I thought it was and then he lets us know it's worse
than we knew all of that How does he do that through the new
birth? He lets us know that he saves sinners alone We are truly,
and we cannot get it past it. People, I've been working with
a young man, and he's told me how he does it. Now, what I say
is not gonna give you salvation, but repeat after me. That's a
big lie out of the pit. God never asked. Nobody has been
required, asked to do that. And when we fall into that trap,
it's a sure sign that we don't have anything that God has ever
given us. In the book of 1 Timothy 1, would
you turn there with me? 1 Timothy, this is one of the
blessings that I can share with you, the Lord Jesus Christ is
a Savior that actually saves us from our sin. He doesn't make
us savable. He saves his people from their
sin. In the book of 1 Timothy chapter
1 and verse 15 the scripture saying this is a faithful saint
and worthy of all acceptation that Jesus Christ came into the
world to save sinners and Paul was privileged And yet the Holy
Spirit moved him to do it, of whom I am chief. Now I am convinced
that everybody God ever saves could put their name in there
and not just Saul of Tarsus or Paul. that he saves sinners,
and that is all he saves. If we've never been a sinner,
then we have not been saved. If we've just broken mom's law,
or dad's law, or law of the state, and never had to deal with God,
then we've never been saved by the grace. David said, after
he had committed adultery, and after he had a man murdered,
and was brought to his attention that he was the man, He said
in Psalm 51, against thee, God, and thee only have I sinned.
Now, if that's taken care of, the rest will be taken care of.
But against thee and thee only have I sinned. Matthew chapter
9. Would you turn there with me?
Matthew chapter 9. The mission, ministry of the
Lord is to come to seek and to save that which is lost. And
only God can allow us to know the perilous position we have
been in. And it is after we were born
again that we have any cognizance of how perilous a position we're
in. I'll never forget what a friend
of mine told his daughter when she says, you don't think I'm
saved? And he said, I know you're not. And she says, how do you
know that? She says, number one, you've
never been a sinner. You know, I have very valuable,
important members of my family. My dad taught Sunday school for
35 or 40 years. You know what? He never was a
sinner. He does what most do. On YouTube, we blame the devil. We blame the devil. The devil
brings this to your mind. How can he? Is the devil omnipotent? Is the
devil omniscient? Is the devil omnipresent? Absolutely
not. He's not a God. He is not God. He's not on the same level as
God. God is here and Satan is just
his Satan used by him to accomplish his purpose. But he cannot get
into your mind. What is the real problem? Us.
We're the real problem. We're born into sin. We grow
and become greater sinners. Here in the book of Matthew chapter
9 verse 12, the Lord Jesus shared with people, he said this, Matthew
chapter 9, And verse 12, but when Jesus heard that, he
said unto them, they that are whole need not a physician. Now, if you're in good health,
most of us by, well, I should say all of us by nature said,
well, I may have a little illness. I got a sore throat, but I'm
not that bad. I'm not dead. But go and ye learn what that
meaneth. I will have mercy, and not your
works, not sacrifice. For I am not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance. This is the words of the Lord
Jesus. If you're not a sinner, I've never saved you. If you're
not a sinner, you don't need a savior. If you're not a sinner,
then the name Jesus means nothing to you but another name. For
Jesus was given that very special name on purpose by God Almighty,
and he was named before he was born of the Virgin Mary. You
shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from
their sins. Another thing, and this will
be the last point. Another thing, that those of the tribe of Levi,
priests of the Most High God, priests and kings of God, as
they're called in the book of Revelation. What does that mean?
Every born again one. They have something in common.
Not only do they recognize that the Lord God Almighty is their
own. They're depending on nothing
else but his blood and righteousness. Secondly, they admit wholeheartedly,
without reservation, that every time the Bible says that they're
dead in trespasses and sin, they understand. That they're sinners
by nature, sinners by practice, and sinners by choice, they understand
that. They know that without Him, they
would be in the most perilous place. And thirdly, all that
these are called out, priests, will agree on this. The Lord
only save those who will call Him Lord. I grew up where you ask Jesus
into your heart and later, later, you might invite Him to be your
Lord. And that is a lie. Every one of those priests, those
Levites, those that are born by God into his family will confess
him as Lord. Now we don't understand all that
implication of that but that's what they'll confess. They'll
confess that though all that we are caused to know that God
is a God of distinguishing grace because it is given unto you You know what the disciples said?
Why do you talk to us in types and shadows and pictures? Why
does he talk to people spiritually? Old Testament, New Testament.
You know, it's a big trap because a whole lot of people will read
through the Old Testament and say, well that's history. And
that's the way you arrive at God and that's how God saves
his people by sacrifices of animals and so forth. Why does he talk
to people in types and shadows and pictures? Why did he bring
parables with his disciples? The disciple says, why do you
bring these parables all the time? You're teaching us some
parables. You know what he said? Because it's for you to know
the mystery of the kingdom of heaven and not them. distinguishing grace. It is for
God's people to call upon God as Lord and really mean it. The scriptures tell us, would
you turn with me to the book of Philippians chapter 2? Philippians
chapter 2. The Bible has so much written
about this very subject that there is, he is Lord, he is sovereign,
he is king. That's why To me, it's just a
mystery why believers, quote unquote, would argue over the
sovereignty of God. Because if God's already convinced
you that he is Lord, and if he wants to say that he's sovereign,
God's people say, I agree. I'm convinced of it. Here in
the book of Philippians chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2, And
there in verse five, Philippians chapter two and verse five, let
this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who being
in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with
God, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of
a servant and was made in the likeness of men and being found
in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, God hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven,
of things in the earth, and things under the earth, and that every
tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. That's pretty all-encompassing
when it comes to Lord. He's the one we serve. He's the
one we worship. He's the one we read about. He's
the one we look for in the scriptures. He is Lord. He is absolute sovereign
Lord. He could say, but Levi. That's
why he could say there in the book of Isaiah, I'm going to
bring a whole bunch of folks from outside. I'm going to send
my fame, someone's going to take my fame and my glory over there,
and when I work effectually in their hearts, they will automatically
turn to me. They will come to the tabernacle.
Now, not literally, but spiritually. And they will know something.
They will know that salvation is of the Lord. They will know
beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are sinners and desperate
sinners, and their only hope is the Savior who saves sinners.
And thirdly, they will know Him as Lord, as King, as great King
of kings and Lord of lords. It's interesting in distinguishing
grace that there are times when Jesus took Peter, James, and
John alone. Now a transfiguration. There was times when he only
sent Peter and John. Go get my Passover place ready.
He sent Peter and John. And it's interesting that there
are three places that one of them to lay his head on his bosom.
which disciple the Lord loveth. The Lord has distinguishing grace. You are where you are because
of God for no other reason. And you are saved on purpose. And if you're not, you're not
You don't realize that God is the only Savior, that we are
sinners, and that he will absolutely reveal himself as Lord. I'm thankful. In religion, I didn't know any
of that. In salvation, he gave me all of that. It was a gift. I didn't have to get educated
into it. It was a gift. So we're thankful that God said,
but the Levites, The priests, I make them.