Look here with me in verse 11,
read down through verse 16, and I'm going to hopefully bring
a message from this that will be a blessing. Acts 30, verse
11, And the Lord spake unto Moses, God speaking to Moses, saying, When thou takest the
sum of the children of Israel after their number, this shall
they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord, when
thou number'st them that there be no flag among them when thou
number'st them. This they shall give every one
that passes among them that are numbered half a shekel after
the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is ten twenty gira,
and half a shekel shall be the offering of the Lord. Every one
that passes among them that are numbered from twenty years old
and above shall give an offering unto the Lord. The rich shall
not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel
when they give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement
for your souls. And thou shalt take the atonement
money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the
service of the tabernacle of the congregation, that it may
be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the Lord to
make an atonement for your souls. Talk about money is shekel, half
a shekel. And talking about money being
a ransom for their soul. To talk about money and redemption,
money and atonement, money and ransom at the same time seems
like an anomaly. Since the scripture says we're
not redeemed with such corruptible things as silver and gold, but
with the precious blood of Christ as a lamb slain without spot
and without blemish. But here it is. I read it to
you in black and white. We read it in God's Word. It
says there in verse 16, and thou shalt take the atonement money
of the children of Israel. Atonement money. And there it is, black and white. And the children of Israel, they've
taken a census here. They were numbering everybody
that was over 20 years of age. Every male child, when they numbered
them, they had to pay a half a shekel as a ransom, as an atonement,
as redemption money. And I'll tell you this, I'll
tell you a few things about it before I get into it. In bringing
their atonement money, they're half shepherds. They all admitted
by that, bringing that, that they deserved to die. That it
was an atonement. It was for atonement. It was
for redemption. It was for ransom. And only people that needs redemption
and has to have this is people who say they deserve to die.
So they need an atonement. And then secondly, they owed
and saw that they was in debt to God. They was in debt to God. And in bringing this hash shekel,
confessed that they were in need of redemption. They needed to
be redeemed. But this atonement money that
they called the redemption money, this redemption, give a ransom
for his soul unto the Lord, Make an atonement for your soul. Take
the atonement money. The atonement money here, that
was the atonement for their souls, was typical of the great redemption
promise, the great, great, great redemption promise, that would
be paid for the souls of sinners, that He should come and pay,
our Lord Jesus would pay, for the souls of sinners when He
came. And we're taught also this blessed truth. Let the redeemed
of the Lord. Psalm 107 verse 2 says, let the
redeemed of the Lord say so. If you've been redeemed by God,
say it. I've been redeemed. I needed
redemption. I owed a debt I could not pay. And I deserve to die. And I know this, that if men
reject the redemption that God ordains, then they're not His
people. Whatever God says, that's what
we believe. That true believers, those who
really know Christ, that have been numbered, that those that
are over 20, them that have been numbered, we all can say that
we've been numbered. We've been redeemed from sin
by the blood of the Lamb of the Lord Jesus Christ. He shed His
precious blood to redeem us and bring us to Himself. And all
of those who are Christians, true believers, have personally,
personally accepted the ransom, accepted the ransom that the
Lord provides, knowing that all that He provides He accepts. In fact, He only accepts what
He Himself provides. If He don't provide it, it ain't
worth having. And He provides it, and when
He provides it, then He accepts it. So we take what He provides,
and He only provides what we accept, and what He provides. And then they brought their redemption
money, these who know Christ. brought their redemption money
in their hands by taking the Lord Jesus Christ to be theirs. He is ours, I'm my Beloved's
and my Beloved is mine. And they by faith, listen to
me, we by faith bring the Lord Jesus Christ Because He's who
God provided for our redemption. We bring the Lord Jesus Christ.
We bring His atonement. We bring His blood. We bring
His worth. We bring His merit. He's whom
God provided, and we, by faith, bring Him to pour the Lord and
say, Here He is! I ain't got nothing but Him! I got nothing but Him! In my
hand, no price I bring, not of my own, but I've got Him. Lord,
here He is. He's who you provided Him, and
I'm bringing whom you provided." And that's why the Scriptures
means we're accepted in the Beloved. And the only ones that were numbered,
now listen to me, every one that passes among them that are numbered
from twenty years old and up, Only the ones that were numbered
were the redeemed. Men go around counting heads,
but God looks on the heart. Men can number people. You can
number how many in a congregation, but you can't number those that
God numbers. You can't do that. And all those
that have received His blessed Son by grace, So let's look at
this redemption prize, this redemption money, this atonement money.
Now look what it says here in verse 12. When thou takest up the sum of
the children of Israel after their number, then shall they
give every man a ransom for his soul unto the Lord. You notice
this, that this was personal and individual, every man for
his soul. Every man. He didn't say a nation,
not a nation, not a family, but every man. And it had nothing
to do with a person's position, didn't have nothing to do with
a person's birth, didn't have nothing to do with a person's
wealth. All alike before God, they individually. Every man
for his own soul. And we have to deal with God
on our own. God deals with us as individuals,
personally. And I don't like that, you know,
He's our personal Savior. But I do know this, that He deals
with each and one of us personally. Personally. Every man, every
man for his own soul. You keep this and look with me
over here in Psalm 49. Look at Psalm 49. Look what it says down here in
verse 6. They that trust in their wealth,
and boast themselves in the multitude of riches, None of them can by
any means redeem his brother or give to God a ransom for him. Not anybody. For the redemption
of their souls is precious. So I tell you, beloved, God is
saying that if every man You could try to pay for a man, but
God said here, that every man for his own soul. You know it's
a personal redemption. Paul said, that Christ, I'm crucified
with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not
I live, but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live, I live by the Son of God, by the faith
of Christ, who loved me, loved me, and gave himself for me. Now you can't get any more personal
than that. Paul said, this is what he did for me. gave Himself
for me. Can you say He gave Himself for
you? Oh my! It's not a general, not
a general redemption, not a universal redemption that gives no comfort. If Christ redeemed everybody,
how in the world can you tell whether you're one of the redeemed
or not? Oh, no, that's not the way it works. He didn't redeem
a general redemption or a universal redemption. I do know this, that
if He died for every man, every man would be saved. There wouldn't
be no such thing as hell if He died for every man. Everyone
for whom He died will have to be with Him where He is. And then, but I tell you what,
he said, those that are numbered, everyone that's numbered shall
give every man for his own soul unto the Lord. And let me show
you something else about this ransom over here in Exodus 30. Look in verse 13. This they shall give every one
that passes among them that are numbered a half a shekel." Half
a shekel. The price was fixed by God Himself. God fixed the price. No more,
no less. Man doesn't decide what he's
going to give. Man doesn't decide what he's
going to offer. Man doesn't decide what it's
going to take to ransom his soul. Man has nothing to do with that.
God fixed the price. And I'll tell you what, man doesn't
decide or fix the price that what he's going to give to God
for redemption. I'll tell you some people who
fixed their own price. Cain fixed his own price. What did it cost
him? It cost him his soul. Esau fixed
his own price, cost him his soul. Simon the sorcerer fixed his
own price, lost his soul. Ananias and Sapphire fixed their
own price in Paris. Demas fixed his own price in
Paris. Judas fixed his own price in
Paris. God fixed the price and it's
not up to us to decide what we're going to do. God said this is
what it's going to be. Huh? And that's why Job, you
know, Job when he was fixing to go down into the pit, God
said, deliver him from going down into the pit. Why? I found a ransom. And then not only says that,
I can take you over in a short key, but it says when God, when
He came back, when He said deliver him from going down to the pit,
I found a ransom. He said his youth came back to
him. His skin was like a child's skin. I mean, he was just new,
new. And oh, I found the ransom where?
He didn't find it in Job. He didn't find it in Job's goodness.
He didn't find it in Job's works. He didn't find it in Job's merit. He found the ransom price in
his own dear son. Huh? Our Lord Jesus said in Matthew
20, 28, He said, I came not to be ministered unto thee, but
to minister, and to give my life a ransom. Now listen to that. For many. Not everybody, but
many. Who? The number. The number. And oh, the price,
I'm telling you, the price was fixed before the foundation of
the world. Christ was the Lamb slain before
the foundation of the world, and God, He set that price. And I tell you what, beloved,
we couldn't pay the uttermost pardon. And our Lord Jesus paid
it all, all of them out. And let me tell you something
else about this ransom money, this atonement money. Again in
verse 13, look what it says. This shall they give every one
that passes among them that are numbered half a shekel. Now watch
this. After the shekel of the sanctuary. Now what does that mean? It was
a redemption that met God's holy demands. It was a half a shekel
after the shekel of the sanctuary. Now I was just reading what a
half a shekel is. A shekel is four hundredths,
point zero four hundredths of a silver. So your half a shekel
is point two hundredths. Just a little bit. But he said
it's after the sanctuary. There was a weight that God set,
a weight, and that weight had to be exactly what God said it
had to be. And I'll tell you what, it must
be according to the shekel that was laid up in the holy place.
God's the one that set the standard of this weight of the shekel.
And I tell you, this shekel that they're talking about, this ransom
money that they're talking about, it's not the money of commerce
that's been tainted. It's not the worn and worn out
and tarnished. No, no. And they said it's a
half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. And I told
them, I told them, must meet the requirements of God. We got
to meet the requirements of God, just like the shekel after the
shekel of the sanctuary. Perfect way. God's standard. We got to meet God's standard.
Well, how can we meet God's standard? Well, we can't. Well, who did? His blessed son did. How are
we going to meet God's standards of holiness, righteousness, His
law and His loving God and loving your neighbor as yourself? Where
can we find the perfect weight? Only, only in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Only in Christ, only by His blood,
only by His righteousness. God set the standard. God fixed
the ransom. And the ransom, our Lord Jesus
Christ, His ransom was perfect. God set the standard. He paid
the full price. God said, you've got to be holy.
He was holy, harmless, undefiled, shepherd from sin. God said,
the soul that sinneth in shall die. Christ died. Not with it
for his own sin, but for the sins of his people. God's broken
law says there's two things that you need to obey it. And if you
break it, we're talking about the Ten Commandments now, and
if you break it, you're under the curse. Well, our Lord Jesus
Christ did both. He obeyed it and then went under
its penalty and bore its curse and redeemed us by His blood
from under the curse of God's holy law. And I'll tell you what,
He was weighed in the balance. Our Lord Jesus Christ was weighed
in the balance. And I'm telling you what, he
met God's standard in every way you could possibly imagine. Huh? He was weighed in God's sanctuary
in heaven. And his weight was a perfect
weight, a glorious weight. And I tell you, they weighed
him in every way. They weighed him in the law. The law weighed him. What did
the law say? I find no fault. He's sinless,
holy, harmless. He's satisfied me. He's obeyed
me. He's upheld me. He's magnified
me. Man fight him. Man fight him. And our Lord said, which of you
convinces me of sin? Pilate said four times, I find
no fault in this man. Pilate's wife said, don't have
nothing to do with this just man. And all his prodigies put in
the balances of Satan. Satan tried him in every way,
found him at his weakest part, as far as his flesh was concerned.
And then when our Lord got ready to go back, he said, here comes
the prince of this world and he has no part in me. And oh
my, then he was put in God's way, God's balances. Oh my, and
you know what he said? He said, Father, I finished the
work that you gave me to do. Now, now glorify me with the
glory that I had received before the world began. And I'll tell you something else,
the last thing that tried him, the last thing that he was put
in a balance of life, he was put in a balance of death. And
with death, he put him in them balances. They put him in a cage. And God said, I will not let
mine holy war and suffer corruption, and I mean even death. Oh, He
came up to the sanctuary. He came up to perfection. That's
the sacrilege of the sanctuary. God fixed it. And God provided
it. That's all. Let me show you something
else about this ransom money. Look here in this ransom money.
There in verse 15. The ransom was the like for exactly
everyone. The rich shall not give poor,
and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel when they
give an offering unto the Lord to make an atonement for their
sins. Every man requires redemption,
but it's the same for all. That's what I love about the
gospel. I love this about the gospel. You bring a prince in
here, a king in here, a sultan in here. He's got to hear the
same thing that you've got to hear. You bring a man in here
that I mean he ain't got no money in his pocket. He's asking you
for money to go buy himself a meal with. That's how poor he is. The same gospel for him. You
bring a philosopher in here. He's got all kinds of degrees
in philosophy. I mean, He's got a brain that
you know you can't measure. He's got to hear the same thing.
He's got to have the same Christ. And then you bring a poor person
in here, a peasant in here, somebody that absolutely has nothing. Oh, my! The preacher! Oh, the
preacher! Greg said, no, Todd said he heard
a preacher say, Here recently, a pre-millennium, he told his
congregation, he said, y'all gonna shine my shoes in the millennium. He ain't gonna be there. But
I'll tell you this, every preacher, I got to have just what you have.
Gotta hear what you hear. Huh? Whether you're a preacher
or apostate, high or low, Rich or poor, educated or uneducated,
it don't make no difference. It's a half a shekel for everybody. It's the same for everybody.
And this is one of the greatest offenses of the gospel. That
they cannot stand this. Somebody comes in with this great
intellect and they say, oh listen, I just cannot believe that. I
heard a fellow say the other day, Jesus does not exist. God does not exist. That ain't
going to keep God from existing and Christ from existing just
because he said he don't. But it's sufficient to tell the
man that ain't got no education, eighth grade education, and a
fellow that's got a great philosophical mind and got PhDs, and tell them
both that they can only meet on the same ground. You tell that fella that he's
got his bank fund full of money. And that fella comes in here
and he just barely, barely can afford to pay his light bill
and keep the little food on the table. And I'm telling you what,
you tell that rich man and that poor man, it takes both of you
got to meet on the same playground. That gives offense to people. Donald Trump, ever senator, Every
congressman, every preacher, every man, I don't care where
he's at and who he is, we've got to meet on the same ground. And I'll stand on the ground
God put me on. Old Scott used to say that all
the time. I'm going to stand on the ground God put me on.
That's the ground of a sinner in need of a Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ. Put me on the ground of a man
in need of mercy. I'm going to stand on that ground.
Ain't you? I'm going to stand right where
God put me. I ain't moving a peg. Oh, there was a light for everybody. Ain't that wonderful? You know,
that's what folks do. Somebody comes in, you know,
and they think, boy, you know that Everybody all just fall
all over because they're special in some kind of a way. They're
special in some kind of a way. I remember, let me tell you a
story. I remember going down to Chattanooga,
oh my goodness, it's been 30 years ago, to hear a fella, John
Reisinger, some of y'all know John. John Reisinger preached. We went down there, and there's
a great big Presbyterian church. They had a gymnasium in it, and
they had all kinds of stuff for the kids to do and all that.
And the fellow that pastored this church, him and his wife,
owned the largest Christian bookstore in the Southeast. Real well educated,
nice. So we went down there, and after
service was over, You know, these folks were really somebody, you
know. Doctor this and doctor that.
And this preacher's wife, I know I told you this before, this
preacher's wife, said, now, you know, we was talking and met
this preacher and all that, and said, that's Mary, said, where
did your husband, now where did your husband go to? Who, uh,
where did he get his education at? Mary said, at Bush College. Oh, I never heard of that one.
Where's that at? In the bushes up behind the house. But that's, that's what we, listen,
when God teaches a man he's taught, I don't care how high he is or
how low he is. And I tell you, we love that gratitude. Huh? And I'm not proud of my age.
I'm not saying that I'm proud of my age because I'm not. I'm
really not. And let me tell you something
else about this. The ransom was the only ground
of acceptance. Ain't that what he says? The
rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less.
Every man shall get half a shekel. Here all men are on common ground. God's no respect of persons.
People say, well, He's not a respect of persons. He really isn't.
When they say that, that means that God won't save one at the
expense of another. But then when it says God's no
respect of persons, that means He's not like us. You know, we
respect people's offices. We respect people's authority.
I respect policemen. I respect I respect people that's
got power and authority and we defer to them because they've
got the power in them. But when he says no respect of
persons, that means that when you come in here, if you think
you're something special, God has to respect you and look at
you and have respect towards you because you've got something
to offer. But God's no respect of persons.
He don't care who you are. As far as He's concerned, you
was born in Adam. Raised in Adam will die in Adam
unless God gives you a new heart and a new nature and saves you
by His grace. People come in and say, you know
who I am? Yeah, I do. You're a sinner. Oh, I don't
know about that. I know about it. You may not
know it, but I know it. And if you ever find out you
are, you'll do just like everybody else that ever found out there's
a sinner. He don't look at anybody with
any merit, wealth or poverty. Nothing is accepted but a half
a shekel. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power to become the sons of God, which were born. not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, not the will of man, but of God." Oh, that's
the only hope for him. And I'll tell you why. That he
must bring the redemption prize, the half a shekel. Salvation
and acceptance is by redemption. And our Lord Jesus Christ Our Redeemer is our only ground
of acceptance, huh? Under Him that loved us and washed
us from our sins in His own blood, huh? The only ground that we
have of acceptance is the redemption of our Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? Just as being justified freely
by His grace, listen to it, through the redemption, through the payment
price, the bloodshed of the Lord Jesus Christ. Huh? And I tell you what, in this
price appointed, here's another thing about it, the price appointed
did effectually regain them. It atoned for them. And it was
accepted by the Father. And I tell you, this redemption
here was only for Israel. It wasn't for everybody. It was
for those in Israel. And that's this redemption through
God's elect. But it was accepted by the Father.
Now, I said this down there the other day. I don't know if this
is right, but this is what I think. When our Lord Jesus Christ, with
that three hours of darkness on the cross, our Lord Jesus
Christ, by His Spirit, I think the Scripture says that He went
in to the holy place, not with the blood of bulls, not with
the blood of goats, not with the blood of heifers, but with
His own blood. He entered in once. And he took
his blood into that holy place, just like the holiest of holies,
where that mercy seat was, he took his blood into that holy
place, put it on God's holy altar up there, and God accepted that
blood, God accepted that offering, and our Lord Jesus Christ came
back out And, beloved, He obtained right then and there eternal
redemption for us, and that redemption went back from the beginning
of time to the end of time, and everything in between time. Oh, my. And that's what happened. And I'll tell you what, Christ's
redemption wasn't for everyone alike. No, no. I'll tell you,
did He die for Judas? Did He redeem Judas? The same
way He did Peter? No, no, no. It did effectually
redeem them. That atonement money was extracted. And beloved, redemption by our
Lord Jesus Christ is effectual. It's effectual. I've said this
time and time and time again. If Christ died for you and shed
His blood for you, and there may be people coming here that
we don't know, never met, And I may be gone and another preacher
be up here, but I do know this if somebody comes in here and
hears that gospel and Christ died for them, that redemption
that Christ gave for them on the cross, I'm telling you, it
will be effectual for them. Morning. Yeah. And this redemption,
Mommy, I'm going to show you this last thing. Look with me
over here in Exodus 38. Look at this. Oh, this is something. This is something. Exodus 38, verse 25. You know,
T.D. posters out here. Those things
sit on that Redemption money. What they've done is they took
that Redemption money, and there were so many towers, and they
took that Redemption money and they molded it and it had a,
you know, a board would sit down inside that. Sit down inside
that. have these two boards and one
of them sockets of silver. They'd make a socket of silver
and it'd be like this here and then they'd set those two boards
in that one of them sockets of silver. That's where that money,
that's why it's called eternity. Because it ended up being this
foundation for the tabernacle. And that's our foundation. It's
based upon the eternal blood and redemption of the Lord Jesus
Christ. So now look here. The tabernacle
stood on this redemption money. Look what it says now. Verse
25, And the silver of them that were numbered of the congregation
was a hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred, and three score
and fifteen shekels after the shekel of the sanctuary. Now
watch it. A becker for every man that is
half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary. For every one
that went to be numbered from twenty years old and upward,
for six hundred thousand, three thousand, and five hundred and
fifty men, and of the hundred talents of silver were cast the
sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil, a hundred
sockets of a hundred talents, a talent for a socket." So all that money, that tabernacle,
that dwelling place where God was, where that brazen altar
was, where that mercy seat was, she was built on that atonement,
mother. And our foundation, our foundation
is built upon the Lord Jesus Christ. No other foundation can
be laid than that which is laid for the Lord Jesus Christ. I'll
tell you, the church, the house of God, the pillar and ground
of the truth is built upon a foundation, beloved, that can't be shaken,
cannot be moved. And there was one exception,
one exception. This foundation is eternal, built
on the eternal blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, just like this
silver line. There's one exception. That door into that tabernacle,
those posts, had brass under them. Why did they have brass
under them? For the same reason there was
no blood on the threshold at the Passover. is not counted
a common or an unholy thing. So there was no silver when they
walked through that gate. There's no silver when they went
in to that. They're not going to walk on
the blood. And it's like the Passover. I'm telling you what,
they didn't walk on the token of redemption. And that Passover
blood was on the lentils and on the doorposts. Nobody ever
walks on the blood. Paul said, you know if they count
the blood of Christ a common thing, and what that means is
they count it as no more than anybody else's. And that's why
there was no redemption, no silver sockets for them to set on. Because you don't walk on the
blood of Christ. And so there's the redemption
money, atonement money. It's the same for everybody.
We point it to our blessed Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, in the blessed name of
our Lord Jesus, we humble our hearts here in your presence. Lord, I thank you for the truth
as it is in our Lord Jesus Christ. And I thank you and bless you
that you and your sovereign mercy taught me something about myself,
taught me of my needs. And Lord, I still have the need. And Lord, I know that only You
can meet that need. So I just keep coming, and keep
coming, and keep coming. And may those that are here just
keep coming, keep coming, keep coming to Christ. He alone is
our acceptance before you. And I'm thankful for that, because
I certainly could never be accepted of myself in any way. God have
mercy on me, and God bless these dear saints of God. Remember
those that are sick among us, who are frail among us. We call
their names this morning and we call them again this evening.
We know who they are. God bless them. Lord strengthen
and encourage them. For Christ's sake. Amen. He's the Savior of my soul. Jesus, my Jesus, He's the Savior
of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, He's
the Savior of my soul. He's the Savior of my soul.