Leviticus, the very first chapter. I expect you're familiar with
the fact that all 27 chapters of Leviticus only cover 30 days. And it's all the events and all
of the instructions that are in the book of Leviticus happened
between April the 21st and May the 21st in 2514 BC. So we're
talking about a little better than 2,500 years before our Lord
came to this world. Leviticus chapter 1, and the
Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle
of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto
the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even
of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice
of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer
it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall put his hand
upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for
him, or literally, in his stead. it shall be accepted in his stead
to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullet
before the Lord, and the priest Aaron's son shall bring the blood,
and they'll sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that
is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. He shall
flay the burnt offering and cut it into his pieces. And the sons
of Aaron, the priest, shall put fire upon the altar and lay the
wood in order upon the fire. And the priests, Aaron's sons,
shall lay the parts, the head and the fat, in order upon the
wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar. but his inwards
and his legs shall he wash in water, and priests shall burn
all on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by
a fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And if his offering
be of the flocks, namely of the sheep or of the goats for a burnt
sacrifice, He shall bring it to mail without blemish, and
he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before
the Lord. And the priest Aaron's son shall
sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar, and he shall
cut it into his pieces with his head and his fat. and the priest
shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which
is upon the altar. But he shall wash the inwards
and the legs with water, and the priest shall bring it all
and burn it upon the altar. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering
made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And if the burnt
sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he
shall bring his offering of turtle doves or of young pigeons. And the priest shall bring it
under the altar and wring off his head and burn it on the altar. And the blood thereof shall be
wrung out, not on the altar, but beside the altar. And he shall pluck away his crop
with his feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east
part by the place of the ashes. And he shall cleave it with the
wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder. And the priest
shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the
fire. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering
made by fire of his sweet savor unto the Lord. Let's ask God's blessings upon
the service tonight. Our Father, we bow before you
in recognition that thou art God, Thou art forever, even from
everlasting to everlasting, we read. Thou art God. We come to
you through the bloody sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
Savior, our substitute, the surety of the covenant. We thank you,
O God, that in Abundant mercy and grace, you chose us unto
salvation before the world began. In love, we have been given to
the Savior from everlasting. And therefore, about 2,000 years
ago, he came into this world to fulfill his own obligations
to the covenant of grace, to be the savior of your people. The sacrifice that he offered
was not one of bullocks or sheep or goats or fowl. The sacrifice he offered was
the sacrifice of his own self. He laid down his life for the
sake of his people. He was, as is insisted on in
this passage we just read, our Lord Jesus was without blemish. He was without spot. And all
the emphasis in this portion of scripture upon the necessity
and how vital the blood before the Lord was. And oh God, your
Son shed his blood. He suffered, he bled, and he
died to satisfy your righteous demands. And this was an offering
offered unto you. And as we read in Ephesians 5
in verse 2, his offering was a sweet savor, O God unto thee. And therefore by his stripes,
we are healed. By his death, he satisfied justice. And he forevermore put away all
of the sins of all of those in whose stead he died. Oh, how
we rejoice in full and free and finished redemption. And we bless
the name of our great Savior, who laid down His life for His
sheep. And we so rejoice in Him and
we worship Him, this One who ever lives to make intercession. for us. Lord, bless the ones
who grieve. We're thankful for the life and
for the blessing that our brother Sam was to this congregation,
to several in this congregation. He was so generous and so good. And we're thankful that you did
a work of grace in his heart and now you have exercised your
sovereign right and you have taken him unto yourself. Bless
those that are left to grieve and to miss him. We ask that
you'll give a special blessing to them. Bless the word of God
as it goes forth tomorrow afternoon. I pray that as our brother ministers
the gospel to those in attendance, that the word will go forth in
power and in simplicity, that our Lord Jesus will be magnified
and honored in all things. Lord, bless those of our congregation
who are sick, some affected with this virus. We ask that you'd
give them a restoration of good health. We pray that you would
protect all of the folks of our congregation and of every congregation,
your people, people that belong to you by adoption, people redeemed,
people regenerated, protect your people, keep us safe, and remind
us that whether in sickness or in good health, our lives are
in the hands of our great sovereign. And Lord, you reign to fulfill
your everlasting purpose of grace. We're thankful that all of our
sins are under the blood of the Lord Jesus and we rejoice in
that grace that was given to us in Christ before the world
began. And so as we present the message
that we believe you've laid on my heart for this evening. I
pray that it'll go forth with some degree of power, that the
spirit of grace will be pleased to enable me to make the gospel
of redeeming grace as plain as I can make it. And may we be
given ears to hear and eyes to see and hearts to receive. the
word of the gospel of grace. Bless all of your dear people.
Exalt yourself. We thank you, Father, for who
you are. We adore you. We reverence you. And Lord, we love you. And it's
because you first loved us. So bless tonight for Jesus' sake. Amen. If you would go back to the book
of Luke, and I say go back because we were there this morning, and
I want to kind of continue this theme that we began to work on
in our morning worship service that is Christ Fulfilled the
Law. Now let me talk about salvation
for just a little bit. First of all, our salvation,
our deliverance from sin, from Satan, our rescue from divine
justice, our salvation, the salvation of all of God's people began
back in eternity past. It was according to God's eternal
purpose that he chose us. We read in 2 Timothy chapter
one in verse nine that grace was given us in Christ Jesus
before the world began. And we can accurately say that
we have always been saved. Now, we didn't know anything
about this salvation, but really, we've always been in the hands
of our Savior. And when God chose us, and we
know that this is an eternal choice, God chose us unto salvation. He gave us over to the surety
of our souls, the surety of the everlasting covenant. And we
were safe in Him. We've always been safe in the
Lord Jesus. And so it is certainly correct
to say, we have always been saved. If you ask me, how long have
you been saved? I can say, I've been saved as
long as God has been God. That is forever, because his
decrees are without beginning and they're without end. His
decrees, the decree of God to save is as ancient as God himself
is. So we were saved in eternity. And I also know that this salvation
must be experienced. There is the necessity of the
work of the Spirit of God. Certainly the Father chose us
unto salvation, but it's the Spirit of God who brings it all
home to our hearts of who the Savior is. what had to happen
to save us. It's the Spirit of God who gives
us new birth. He gives us spiritual life. Our Lord Jesus said to Nicodemus,
you must be born again. Verily, verily, he said, I say
unto you, except a man be born again, he can't even see the
kingdom of God, much less enter into it. There is the necessity
of the work of the Spirit of God in salvation. Just as there
was the necessity of God's electing grace, there's the necessity
of the new birth. You must be born again. You've
got to be. You've got to be born from above.
You've got to be born of God. God's got to give us life, because
we're dead in trespasses and sins. And this salvation, it
must be experienced. The Philippian jailer, the illustration
of his own conversion teaches us that. He said to Paul and
Silas, he said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? And they said
to him, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shall be saved
and my house. We must believe. There's no question
about that. There is the necessity of repentance
toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus. And then we experience
the wonders and the glory of God's salvation. The Spirit of
God works a work of grace within us. He gives to us these gifts
of repentance, this gift of faith to believe on the Son of God.
We believe him as our prophet, as our priest, as our king. This salvation is experience.
And I would ask everyone who's listening to the sound of my
voice, who's watching right now, are you saved? Do you know something of the
grace of God? Have you experienced within you
the very power of God that leads you to see that Jesus Christ
is all in salvation? Do you pin all of your hopes
for everlasting glory and happiness upon the Son of God? Do you trust
Him only? See, those who trust the Lord
Jesus only for salvation, they and they only are the objects
of God's regenerating grace. You see, faith is the evidence
of and the result of regeneration. We're born of God. But there's
something else about this salvation. I know it was purpose before
the world began, and I know it is experienced in time. And certainly
I'm aware of the fact it's going to be perfected in eternity. But there's something else. There's
another aspect of salvation that is, well, it's sadly lacking
in most preaching today. And that's the justice of God
being honored in salvation. There is that matter of law and
justice. Most men aren't preaching that
today. I turn on the television, I'll
hear them talk about once in a while the experience of salvation. But most men don't know why Christ
came into this world. They don't know what he came
to do. He came to satisfy God's justice, God's law, God's justice,
and really everything necessary to satisfy God. In all of His
holy requirements for our salvation, the Lord Jesus, He perfectly
fulfilled them at the cross. The work is done. You see, the
work of regeneration, yes, it is a necessity. But regeneration,
it kind of flows out of redemption. Redemption. And God the Father's,
in His purpose of grace and His choice of us under salvation,
He pointed toward, He looked toward, and He was satisfied
with that redemption that His Son would accomplish in time. That's why we read in Revelation
chapter 13 that Christ was the Lamb slain from before the foundation
of the world. And when we get into eternity
in the future, our song is going to be the song of redemption.
We're gonna be talking about worthy is the lamb who was slain,
who redeemed us to God by his blood. The word of God teaches us and
we must emphasize this. Yes, the purpose of God in salvation,
certainly, that's the purpose of the father. That's what he
did. He determined our salvation.
And yes, the work of the Spirit of grace. He works this work
of salvation within us. He gives us a new heart. Yes,
He does. But that is done, and both the
Father's work and the Spirit's work all point back to the substitutionary
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything hinges upon the work
of the Son of God. As we look here in Luke the second
chapter, we see that our Lord Jesus was born of a virgin and
that immediately it becomes evident he's under the law of God. He
knew why he came. Don't pay any attention to these
people who say Christ didn't know who he was and didn't really
know why he came. He knew who he was and he knew
exactly why he came to satisfy all the demands of a holy God
in order to save his people by substitutionary death. He knew
very well. And that's the reason that he
embarked upon his life's journey. beginning with obedience to God's
law, and he was obedient to God's law all the way through his life,
up until his death. His death was an act of obedience. He wasn't ever disobedient to
that which God called him to do, to that which he volunteered
to do. He was obedient in all things. as a faithful son and as a faithful
servant of Jehovah. Our Lord Jesus came and he put
himself willingly and voluntarily under dominion to and under the
authority of the law and justice of God. And here's the reason,
because God cannot justify, God can't show grace, He can't save
anybody at the expense of His justice. I talked about a little
bit this morning and I'm gonna insist upon it tonight because
the Word of God insists upon this, there's got to be death
for sin. God's not just going to wipe
sin away. He's not going to, as we say
proverbially, sweep sin under the rug. A holy God can't do
that. He's got to deal with sin in
the severity that sin deserves. There are no little sins. Every
sin is a rebellion against God. And we're born in sin, that means
we're born rebels. And we go through our lives speaking
lies. And hating God. And not believing
on the Son of God. We're destitute of any goodness,
of any holiness, of any righteousness. And yet God demands, be ye holy
for I am holy. And you'll be holy or you'll
go to hell. And I'll be holy or I'll go to
hell. That's just the way it is. These
are the demands of a holy God. And this is what people are not
hearing today. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry there's
so many lousy preachers out here who are being dishonest with
people and they don't set forth the very truth of God to their
listeners, to their audiences, to their congregations. But I'm
gonna tell you the truth, Christ came into this world born under
the law, made under the law, Galatians 4 says that. made under
the law's authority, under the law's dominion. Yes, parental
law, certainly. Local laws, absolutely. Civil laws, yes. But mainly he's
made under the law of God. And he was bound to obey God's
law inwardly as well as outwardly. This is what God demanded. You
see, this is the life that he lived without spot and without
blemish. And then as I said this morning,
there's the issue of the penalty of sin, which is death. That's
why he had to die. Justice demanded death. Christ
honored God's law. He bowed to the will of divine
justice and he gave up his life. in order to save his people because
in dying for us, he answered the final demand of the law,
the soul that sinneth shall die and he died. And as we get here to Luke the
second chapter, we see our Lord eight days after his birth. He
immediately establishes the fact he's made under the law. And let me read it to you again.
You're there, Luke chapter two and verse 21. When eight days
were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called,
all capital letters, Jesus, which was so named of the angel before
he was conceived in the womb. And when the days of Mary's purification,
according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought
him to Jerusalem, that is Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus
to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. And then here's a parenthetical
statement, as it is written in the Old Testament. In the law
of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called
holy or sanctified or set apart to the Lord. End of parenthetical
statement. Verse 24, and to offer a sacrifice
according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtle doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering
and one for a sin offering. Now, it is no shock to us that
everything pertaining to the birth of our Lord Jesus had to
be according to the law of Moses. The first man failed in obeying
God's law. God gave him one law. Of every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat, but of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it, for in the day
ye eat of it, thou shalt surely die." That's the law God gave
to Adam. He didn't enter into this covenant
with Eve, he entered into the covenant with Adam. Adam was
the covenant head, the representative, the federal head of all mankind. And Adam broke that law And all
of the sons and daughters of Adam ever since have been lawbreakers. You're a lawbreaker. You say,
Preacher, I'm a good person. I'm trying to do right in life. I'm trying to obey the laws of
the land. You're a lawbreaker before God. You break God's law
in your heart, in your mind, in your motives, even in your
actions. And in your words, every man
and woman, boy and girl, is a lawbreaker. Thank God there's another representative
man, and here he is. And he begins his life on earth. This one who is the head of and
the representative of his people, he begins it. being made under
God's law, and he begins to fulfill this law. He begins to be obedient. And listen, he never failed. He never failed. You and I, it
could be written out beside our names, failures. What's man's
number? Six. What's the number of ultimate
failure? Six, six, six, because man is
a failure, a failure, a failure, but not the God man, not the
Lord Jesus. He never failed to do what he
set out to do. Now notice three or four things
in this message. Number one, here the baby is
officially named. Eight days after his birth, Mary
and Joseph bring him to the temple. And on the day he was circumcised,
as the text says, he was named. He was officially named. Now,
Mary didn't give him the name. That is, it didn't originate
with her. Joseph didn't give him the name.
That is, it didn't originate with him. The name of Jesus was
given to him by God's choosing. and by our Lord Jesus's choice. One writer said that there are
seven men in the Bible who were named before they were born.
Ishmael, Genesis 16, 11. Isaac, Genesis 17, 19. And Solomon, verse Chronicles
22, nine. Josiah, First Kings 13, verse
two. And then in the book of Isaiah,
a man by the name of Cyrus, who was a type of the Lord Jesus,
Isaiah 44 and 28. And then in the New Testament,
John the Baptist, Luke 1, 13. And Jesus. Luke 1.31 and Matthew 1.21. Think about this, as to our Savior's
name, He had at His disposal, He had the choice of any name to be named
that He wanted. Now, there are a lot of names
of our Lord Jesus in the Bible. In fact, Isaiah says in Isaiah
9, 6, His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty
God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He could
have chosen one of those names for His earthly name. He could
have been called the Last Adam or the Second Man. or the Almighty
One, Alpha, Omega, First and Last, Beginning and End, Shepherd,
Apostle, the Captain of our Salvation, the Faithful Witness, Emmanuel,
which means God with us, the Just One, the Light, the Lion,
of the tribe of Judah, the Lord, the man of Saras, the Rose of
Sharon, the Root of David, the Son of the Highest, the Son of
Righteousness, Daystar, Daysman, Branch, Chief Cornerstone, Master,
Messiah, Morningstar, Rock of Offense, the True Vine, the Word,
and on and on we could go, but the name that he chose to go
by in this world, the name that he was to be named, Gabriel,
having come to Mary and telling her in Luke 1.31, his name shall
be called Jesus, and comes to Joseph in Matthew 1.21, of all
the names he could have chosen to be called by. He said, I'm
gonna be called Jesus. He passed by all the other glorious
names that He is named every once in a while, but He chose
this one, which indicates He's the Savior. He's the one who
shows mercy. He's the one who's gracious.
He's the one who is our helper. He's the one who is our deliverer. His is a precious name. The name
of Jesus. Oh, what a sweet name. Jesus,
oh, how sweet the name. Jesus, every day the same. Jesus,
let all saints proclaim His worthy praise forever. His name, the name of Jesus,
restores us when we're troubled over sin, It lifts us up when
we're cast down. It softens our pillow in time
of sickness. And His name supports us in the
hour of death. No wonder Solomon wrote in Proverbs
18.10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous
runneth into it. and is safe. How many times have
we run to the name of our Lord Jesus? We've run to him in weakness,
in fear, needing him who is our advocate, needing him who is
our great high priest, needing this one who is our savior. Oh,
blessed Jesus, help me. Why is he called Jesus? Well,
the scripture says in Matthew 1.21, for he shall save his people
from their sins. We're not left to doubt or to
guess or to speculate as to why this was the chosen name for
the Savior. He was formally named Jesus right
here in Luke chapter two. It's because he would save his
people from their sins. He's not a want to be Savior. He didn't come to put all men
in a savable position. He came to save. Look at that
reference over there in Matthew 1. And I know that you know this
verse by heart. Almost all of you do. Certainly
everyone who has studied the scriptures for very long, but
look at Matthew 1.21 once again. Matthew 1.21. and she shall bring forth a son,
and thou shalt call his name Jesus, all caps, for he shall
save his people from their sins. I want you to notice, and maybe
you've already done it before, notice the word shall, and then
shout, and then once again shall. First of all, The messenger from
God says, and she shall bring forth a son. She shall. Well,
did she? Oh yeah, she did. Because look
down here a little further in the chapter, look at verse 25.
And Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn
son. The messenger from God said,
she shall, she shall bring forth a son, and she did. And then
watch this. And thou, Joseph, shalt call
his name Jesus. Well, did he? Did Joseph call
him Jesus? Well, certainly. Look at verse
25 again, the last statement. And he, who's the he? Joseph. and he called his name
Jesus. The messenger from God said,
thou shalt call his name Jesus, and he did. So Mary did what
the messenger from God said she would do, and Joseph did what
the messenger from God said he would do. Now here's the real
issue here. Did Jesus do what the messenger
from God said he would do? Don't tell me that Mary did as
it was said she would do, and then Joseph did what was said
of him he should do, and then say, well, Jesus, he tried to
do, he tried to say. No, that's not right. God doesn't
try to do anything. God does. And God the Son, he
came into this world. What's his name? His name is
Jesus. For he shall, write it down. Write it in indelible ink. He shall save his people from
their sins. Isaiah 42 says it, he shall not
fail. He shall not fail. Who is he?
He's the eternal Son of God. He's the everlasting substitute. He's the effectual savior. And
he's the enthroned sovereign. His name is Jesus. Jesus. This is the name that the angels,
the two angels, used when they spoke to those disciples who
watched our Savior defy gravity, and he lifted up himself, having
blessed those men, he lifted up himself into the heavens,
he ascended back to the throne of God. And the angel said to
the disciples, why stand ye here gazing up into heaven? This,
this same, what do you say? Jesus. This same Jesus, he shall
so come again in like manner as you've seen him go. This is
the name Peter used in his message on the day of Pentecost. Let
all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made
this same Jesus whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ. And isn't it interesting when
our Lord confronted Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road, knocked him off his horse, blinded
him with the glory of his own being, so that that poor rebel
cried out from the dust, who art thou, Lord? And the voice
came back and said, I am. Jesus, whom you persecute. And when he comes again, and
before him are gathered all the people of all ages, and he will
be admired and worshiped by all mankind. Since he became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross, wherefore God also
hath given him a name which is above every name, that at the
name of Jesus every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, things
in earth, and things under the earth. And every tongue shall
confess that Jesus Christ Jesus the Messiah is Lord to the glory
of God the Father. Christ was given this name. He
chose this name. It's a blessed name, Jesus, which
is really the same as an Old Testament name, Joshua. And in
the Old Testament, two very, very eminent men, very important
men, pictured our Lord Jesus and their names were Joshua.
One of them was the leader who succeeded Moses. Moses couldn't
take the children of Israel into the promised land because Moses
represents God's law. Joshua, God who saves, that's
who takes them into the land, promise. And then also the other
Joshua was a high priest in the days of the prophet Zechariah. And He sets forth our Savior
who as a high priest sets upon His throne and rules over all
things to represent His people to the Father and to be our mediator. Christ is the Savior. And the
notable thing here in Luke chapter 2, eight days, after his birth,
it certainly is his circumcision. We talked about this morning,
but that was the day he was named. And then we get to the second
thing, Mary is purified. Look at verse 22 again, Luke
two, I'm back in Luke two. And when the days of her purification,
according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought
him to Jerusalem to present him. to the Lord. Every Jewish mother
was required under the law of God to appear before the Lord
with two offerings. It's stated in verse 24, to offer
a sacrifice according to that which is in the law of the Lord,
a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Had to have two
offerings and two birds would do, this indicates the, that
Mary and Joseph were of a poorer section of society. Two offerings,
one a burnt offering and the other a sin offering. A burnt
offering, it's the reason I read Leviticus chapter one. It's the
very basis of worship. The burnt offering was totally
consumed by fire. See, our Lord Jesus was the sacrifice
offered to God, and he offered his whole self. One of the notable
things about the burnt offering was it was totally consumed.
None of it was spared, the fire. Because it speaks of, the burnt
offering speaks of the wrath of God and the justice of God
that demands payment for sin. And so when Joseph brings Mary
to Jerusalem, in order to fulfill the law of God, the law of purification,
there had to be a bird brought for a burnt offering, a burnt
offering. I read to you there in the book
of Leviticus how that if you were of the poorer sort, you
could bring a bird, a dove or a pigeon, a dove being always
an indication of peace and meekness, a pigeon being he's the messenger
from God. But did you notice, as I read
there in Leviticus chapter one, how violent those birds died? That burnt offering, his neck
was wrung. And then his blood was shed. And it wasn't poured on the altar,
but down beside the altar. And I tried to draw your attention
to that when I read that passage of Scripture. Throughout Leviticus
chapter 1, blood has a very conspicuous positioned throughout the chapter. The blood, it's the blood that
makes atonement for the soul. And so even when it came to the
ringing of the neck of the bird, it wasn't just pour whatever
blood there was of that bird on the sacrifice, but no, pour
it along the side of the altar that all may see sin deserves
death. Bloodshed. Without the shedding
of blood, there is no remission of sin. What can wash away my
sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. You see, throughout the Old Testament,
there was no cleansing from any kind of sin or transgression,
except by the blood of a sacrifice. And if you and I If we want to
be clean before God, the only cleansing that we'll do is the
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary had to be purified, burnt
offering. And then there was a second birth
that had to be offered, and that was for a sin offering. And you can read about this back
in the book of Numbers, but the sin offering was not for any
specific sin, unlike the offering for transgressions or the trespass
offering. The trespass offering was for
specific sins, but that which is named in the book of Numbers
as the sin offering was not for any specific sin, but for the
sin nature. Now this tears to pieces the
Roman Catholic heresy that Mary had no sin, that she is born
without sin. She had to have a sin offering,
a sin offering, because she was a sinner. She said, my spirit
hath rejoiced in God my Savior. She knew she had to have sin
offering. You see, sin is our nature. Trespasses,
they're the deeds of evil. They're the results of sin. That's
the very fruit of our corrupt nature. You see, man-made religion
deals with the fruit of sin. You need to stop this. You need
to stop doing this. You need to stop that bad habit.
You need to start good habits. But it doesn't deal with the
root of the problem. The root of the problem is sin. That's what we are. Our Savior
said, out of the heart proceed all of these things. Let's get
to the root of the problem. Not lop off the branches. Well,
you need to quit lying. You need to quit cheating. You
need to quit swearing. Well, surely if you're doing
those things, you need to quit them, but that's just trimming
out at the very edge of the branches. You gotta get to the root of
the problem, and only God can do that. The root of the problem is what
we are by nature. Ah, the sin offering. And so
two birds were brought, one for a burnt offering. You know, the
very first place in the Bible where the burnt offering is mentioned,
do you know where it is? It's in Genesis chapter 22, when
God told Abraham, take Isaac, your son, the son that you love,
that one so dear to you, you take him up to a mountain that
I'll show you and offer him unto me as a burnt offering." Do you
have any comprehension of the severity of that? You burn him
up till there's nothing left of him. And Abraham said, Lord,
I'll do it. And he takes Isaac and they go
to the mountain. And there's six or seven times,
six times I think in that chapter, that expression burnt off. First
usage in the Bible is used. And when Abraham started to kill
his son, God said, stop. I see you believe me. I see you
love me. There's a ram called in the thicket
over there by his horn. Now you go get that ram. You
release Isaac. And you take that ram and you
kill it. You offer that ram as a burnt offering unto me. And Abraham did that. You see,
you and I were like Isaac, strapped as it were to the altar of justice. and
justice would have killed us. But God said, stop. I found the
ransom. My own dearly beloved son is
going to take your place. Release him. Release her. Let him go free. And take my
son, who's going to be made under the law. to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ unto himself. This is all according to law,
according to justice. And then the last thing I'll
give you and I'll quit. Jesus is presented here. It says in the latter part of
the 22nd verse, to present him to the Lord. To present him to
the Lord. I can't imagine how Mary must
have felt when she carried the Son of Man in her arms, who's
now officially been named Jesus. and she walks into the temple.
Joseph walking behind her, Joseph as the head of the household,
he brings the two birds and he gives them to the priest. Here's the God man coming suddenly
into his temple, into his temple. You see, in the Old Testament,
the law of God said, sanctify unto me all the firstborn. Whatsoever openeth the womb among
the children of Israel, both of man and beast, God said, it's
mine. And according to the law of God,
Mary must take this baby and give it to the priest, put it
in the priest's hands. Already been circumcised. Now
he's presented to the Lord. You talking about a baby that's
been dedicated to the service of God. He truly was. Fully, fully committed to serve
God as God's faithful servant in order to save you and me and
all of his people, he's presented. And you know what? They had to
pay a redemption price for the Savior, though it isn't mentioned
here, had to pay five shekels. That's the price of redemption.
You ever thought about that? The Redeemer had to be redeemed.
with five shekels of silver. Five shekels of silver. Let me
give you one last reference. Go to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter 1, here's the price of
redemption. See, all of the other tribes, 11 of
the tribes, they had to pay a redemption price for their firstborn son.
not the tribe of Levi. The redemption money would go
too. Actually, Moses would give that
redemption money to Aaron and he would divide it up. Our Lord
was not of the tribe of Levi. He was of the tribe of Judah.
So for him, Joseph and Mary had to pay five shekels, five shekels. The Redeemer was redeemed. But
when it came to our redemption, silver won't do it. You see here in 1 Peter 1, look
at verse 18. For as much as ye know, that
you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold. And you know, when he said silver
and gold, the ears of all the Jews would have perked up, especially
the firstborn males that said, that's the way I was redeemed.
Yeah, according to the law of God. but you were redeemed. I was
redeemed. All of God's people redeemed,
verse 19, with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot, who verily, who truly was foreordained
before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these
last times for you, for you. Who'd He come to save? All who
are His people. Everybody who believes Him, they
can take this personally. He was manifest in these last
times for you, for me, who by Him, by the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by His quickening power, who by Him do believe
in God. We believe God as He's revealed
in the Word of truth. that raised him from the dead
and gave him glory, that your faith and hope might be in God."
Oh, we've been redeemed, all right. But it wasn't with a few
shekels of silver. No, that won't do it. Our Lord submitted to that because
he was born under the law. But he honored God's law. in
paying the redemptive price to save His people. And the redemption
that saved us is redemption by His blood. What a glorious Savior. God help us to trust Him, rest
in Him, worship Him, and love Him more and more every day. Our Father, bless the words that
have gone forth tonight. We thank you for the faithfulness
of our Savior, who was made under your law to redeem them that
were under the law, that we might receive the adoption that you
purposed and predestinated before the world began. We're thankful
that he honored every jot and tittle of your law. He fulfilled
it all. And we are saved by his faithful
obedience unto you, even his obedience unto death. And he's
been raised again. He's in glory. In taking Sam
home to himself, he exercised his sovereign right and said,
I will that Sam Robinette be with me where I am. that He might
behold my glory. And our brother breathed his
last here, and he was immediately in glory. What a marvelous Savior. Enable us to trust Him more fully,
to have less doubts, and weaken our unbelief and strengthen the
faith that You gave us. Glorify Yourself, for Christ's
sake I pray, Amen.