All right, if you wish to follow
along, turn to Leviticus chapter seven. Leviticus chapter seven. Now we will be in Leviticus,
Lord willing, this week, this Sunday, and Lord willing, next
Sunday, and then we'll just see how things go with the surgery.
We'll go from there, but at least this message and next message
and one more after that, whenever I'm able to return, will still
be in Leviticus chapters one through seven. But I want to
just read a couple verses to you. It's actually the last ending
verses of Leviticus chapter seven. And I hope that you have had
time to read over these chapters. Just read them over and over
and familiarize yourself with these offerings. But look at
what it actually says. Leviticus 7, verse 37. This is
the law of the burnt offering, of the meat offering, and of
the sin offering. When I first read that, and I'd
read through these chapters a few times, and you know, you see
some things right off, other things you don't see, but I'd
been looking at the order, and I thought, well, wait a minute. Moses left one out. But he ain't
left it out, look at it. This is the law of the burnt
offering, and the meat offering, and the sin offering, and the
trespass offering, and of the consecrations, which that's talking
about that part of the sacrifices that went to the high priest
and his sons, and of the sacrifice of the peace offering, which
the Lord commanded Moses in Mount Sinai. in the day that he commanded
the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord
in the wilderness of Sinai. So this took several days, if
not weeks or months, and I think it's probably close to a year,
some say. They were parked here at Sinai, and all these things
were being instituted, the tabernacles being erected, everything was
being established. That's my text, Leviticus 7,
verse 37 and 38. If we go back and briefly look
at this, we see that Leviticus begins in chapter one, it begins
with the burnt offering, the meat offering, and the peace
offering. Did it not? And that's what you'll
read. That's the order in which you'll read these things. It
begins with the burnt offering, the meat offering, and the peace
offering. These three, if we link them together, These three
things equal the Father's full pleasure with Christ from eternity
to Christ's condescension, including Christ's righteous human life,
even to Christ's submission to God the Father at the cross. These three things would summarize
from eternity all about Christ all the way up to the cross.
Then, in chapters one, two, three, four, five, six, then we have
mentioned the sin and the trespass offering. The sin offering is
declared to be the sin for sins of ignorance. And then there
is a trespass offering. These were known willing rebellions. But then we have the sin and
the trespass offerings. But what they do is they park.
at the cross. That's what they do. They park
at the cross. We're brought in the burnt, the
meat, the peace. We're brought from eternity right
up through everything concerning Christ to the cross, and including
the cross. But then the sin and the trespass
offerings park at the cross. They say to us in type, in figure,
or as shadow, behold Christ's one central work. Now every work Christ did pleased
the Father. But it all culminated in his
obedience at the cross. Culminated there. So these all
together would say behold Christ's one central thought. Now two
things leap out, they at least leap out to me in my mind concerning
these five offerings. Number one, just two things briefly,
These five offerings show God the Father's full delight in
the Son. No matter what aspect of Christ's
person and work you speak of, it shows God the Father's full
delight, his full satisfaction with the person and the work
of Jesus Christ. But the second thing was this.
Fallen man's only hope. Fallen man's only hope because
all of these are offerings to God. Now, we will look, Lord
willing, later that the people of God participate in the partaking
of some parts of these offerings. They have interaction with it. They join themselves to it. They
partake of certain parts. as seen in Aaron and his sons.
But the fallen man's only hope is this, God must move to save. God did not ask Moses. Now Moses,
go to the people and ask them what it'll take for them to be
right with me. Did he? Did he? I thank God he didn't
leave it up to me. I would have damned my soul forever,
now wouldn't you? No, God brings these things. into light. God ordains these
things. And of course we know these things
were showing forth Christ's death that was to come. But with God
the Father, he was as a lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. So Mason, this lets me know God wasn't making this
up as he goes along. This was already settled in the
mind and purpose of God in eternity. So that's the two thoughts that
leap out at me. God the Father's full delight in the Son, even
in the sin and the trespass offering, and in the peace offering, and
in the meal or meat offering, and in the burnt offering. But
then the question jumped out at me when I realized this, why
then the order of our text? Did you see what I'm saying?
Why then the order of our text? And if you also, as you read
through this, you will find, actually this is God speaking.
Moses recorded these words for us. As one writer said, the book
of Leviticus has more direct statements. Zoe, you need to
be, okay. The book of Leviticus has more
direct statements from God Almighty than any other book in the Bible.
Now Moses was simply, God was speaking to Moses, tell Israel
this. And Moses recorded it at some
time and then gave it to the people. Other times we know that
God just spoke to someone and they wrote it down, but it was
not necessarily a direct statement from God, it's just here's what
you give the people. But be that as it may, Why the
order of the text? You read of historically, although
these seven chapters are not given in a historical context,
but they're mentioned, burnt offering, meat offering, peace
offering, sin offering, trespass offering. And then when you begin
to look at it, Moses goes into the law of the burnt offering,
the law of the meat offering, but then they skip the peace
offering and goes to the law of the sin offering and the law
of the trespass offering. Now when you think of this, don't
think, oh, there's some great mystery for me to see here. This
is no great mystery. You see, I think sometimes we
grasp for things that are not even out there. rather than just
taking a spirit-enabled look at what the book teaches. Because
all of these offerings together sum up what? Peace with God. All aspects, remember these are
little shadows. Christ didn't have five, there
are more offerings than this. We're just on one through seven
right now. There's the day of atonement, the scapegoat, there's
all these other offerings that will come into play later. But
here there are little shadows, and it takes all these things
to even shadow the one infinite sacrifice of Jesus Christ. So be careful in trying to break,
okay, that applied to this, this applies to that. It all has application. But when Moses sums it up, before
he goes into chapter eight, which is the first actual account of
a historical event in the book of Leviticus, he says, this is
the law of, and he's summarizing, right? That's what he's summarizing,
because he's already talked about the law of the burnt offering,
the law of the meat offering, but he skips the peace, and then
goes to the law of the sin offering, and the law of the trespass offering,
and then gives the law of the peace offering. But this is the
law of the burnt offering, the meat offering, the sin offering,
the trespass offering, and the consecrations, and the sacrifice
of the peace offering. Because in these sacrifices,
one thing is accomplished by all of them together. Peace with
God. Peace with God. See, there is one fundamental
reason. The peace offering welds it all together. the peace offering
welds it all together. In time, in time, all of the
eternal purpose of divine satisfaction of justice is declared in this. Peace is accomplished. You hear me? That's what God
is not getting at. That's what God's telling us.
Peace is accomplished, and that's the title of my message. Peace
is accomplished. You see, the peace offering joins
Christ's absolute perfection to his being made sin in one
display of divine mystery. Now, let me read that to you
again. We'll talk about this, God willing, next Sunday in more
detail. This is something that free will,
man-centered, works religion, can never and will never deal
with, and that is Christ being made sin. They may mention it,
but that's about all they'll ever do. They cannot delve into
the great mystery of it, even as just dipping your toe in the
waters. And honestly, I think that's
about all we really can do, even enabled by the Spirit, is just
kinda dip our feet into the waters. I'm not gonna be able to explain
all this. I've just got to declare it. But think about it. Let's
read it again. The peace offering joins Christ's
absolute perfection, which is seen in all the offerings, various
aspects of it. The peace offering joins Christ's
absolute perfection to his being made sin in one display of divine
mystery. Now look at chapter seven and
verse 11. And this is the law of the sacrifice
of the peace offering. In other words, the offerings
are mentioned in this order, burnt, meat, peace, sin, sacrifice. And then the law of these things,
but then the order is then changed. Now we have the law of the peace
offering given last, though it was mentioned third in the first
part. But look, this is the law, the
sacrifice of the peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the
Lord. If he offer it for a thanksgiving,
then he shall offer it with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened
cakes mingled with oil. Now what's that indicative of?
Christ's absolute perfection. Leaven almost always in the scripture,
when it's used, speaks of sin. Defilement. Something coming
into the mix that hurts the mix. You understand? You all know
this. Hopefully others out there may
hear me later. Understand that. Unleavened cakes mingled with
oil and unleavened wafers anointed with oil and cakes mingled with
oil and fine flour fried. All of these things have meaning.
But then, beside the cakes, he shall offer for his offering,
what's that next word? Leavened bread. And this is,
I haven't checked it all, so don't hold me to it, but this
is the only one I've ever heard so far that I'm aware of. Maybe
there, if it is, it has its reason. Mac, this is the only one they're
told to put leaven with. The peace offering. What can
that mean? other than for he, that is God
the Father, hath made him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin,
he is the unleavened cake. But in the peace offering, you
put an 11 with it. And isn't that what that says? And folks, I can't explain that. but I thank God and rejoice in
it. Here's why, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew
no sin, that, this gives us a reason for this mysterious thing happening,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And Joe has adequately preached
that to us in the words of completion just previously. Isn't that amazing? It's the peace offering that
has this leaven with it. Beside the cakes he shall offer
for his offering leaven bread with the sacrifices of thanksgiving
of his peace offerings. You see folks, when Jesus Christ
died as our substitute, he really died as our substitute. He hung there and experienced
the shame and the guilt and the punishment of what I should have
went through. He bore, whoever's sins he bore,
he bore our sins, not just on him, though that's certainly
appropriate from scripture. Our sins were laid on him. And
even the word there is more impinged Like the crown of thorns, they
didn't just lay it on his head, they stuck it down on his head.
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Yes, it says,
that's true, but it's more than that. He bore our sins in his
own body on the tree. God literally actually dealt
with our sins in him on that tree. God's holiness, his law
has been satisfied. Bless God, it's a peace offering. Peace is accomplished. It's accomplished. You see, the peace offering is
the summary of the eternal purpose of God come to fruition. And
you know this is nothing new. Galatians chapter four, and you
probably already know going or that of which I will mention,
but Galatians chapter four, for the sake of time, I'm just gonna
read a couple verses. Galatians four, but when the
fullness of time was come. You see that? In other words,
this was it. Jack Meadows, this happened at
exactly the exact second God Almighty ordained for it to happen.
It didn't just kinda roll around for a while and just come into
being. But when the fullness of thee
time was come, God sent forth his son. You see that? God sent forth his, this is like
we read in Isaiah. A child should be born, yes,
but what? A son is given. But when the
fullness of thee time was come, God sent forth his Son, made
of a woman, made under the law, but for what reason? He came
to actually do something. He didn't come to make something
possible. He came to do the will of the
Father. To redeem them that were under
the law that we might receive what? the adoption of sons. That screams peace to me, don't
it to you? Look, and because you are sons,
God has sent forth the spirit of his son into your hearts,
and we don't, we're not just enabled to cry father, that would
be a blessing. But it's even papa, father. Like a little one that runs to
his father, but doesn't call him father, he calls him what? You know, do you not get a peaceful
thing when you think about that kind of thing? Papa, father,
and listen, this is not what we were by nature. In ourselves,
we were the enemies of our father, Papa. But he, because of what
Christ did at Calvary, sent forth the spirit of his son into our
hearts. This is why Paul said to the Galatians when he began
the epistle, God revealed his son not just to me. That's certainly
appropriate. It's certainly true. But it's
more than that. He revealed his son where? In
me. You say Jesus was in Saul before? Yeah, before. I don't have to
explain that. That's God's eternal truth. It's
just so. And Christ will never be revealed
to you if he don't first come into you. This is all an act of God. It's
all an act of God, so the peace offering summarizes the eternal
purpose of God come to fruition. Remember, it takes all these
offerings, and then much more, because these are just five of
others we're going to see throughout the book of Leviticus. It takes
all these offerings to merely shadow, just to shadow Christ's
one infinite, infinite, and when we say that, that really don't
describe it, does it? I mean, we think of infinite
and finite, we know there's a difference, but we can't really comprehend
the difference that there is, that vast difference. It takes
all, just the shadow of Christ, one infinite person and work.
And rebellious Christianity, I meant to say, there is a rebellious
Christianity, and put that in quotes. There's that which professes
to be Christianity, but it does not bow to the person and work
of Jesus Christ as revealed in this word. It is Christian in
name only, it is not Christian in heart. Rebellious Christianity makes
Christ's actual work to be an attempt. Now am I, am I, building
a straw man and beating on him. Does not most of professed Christianity
today say Jesus Christ came to make salvation possible? Jesus
Christ came to make peace possible. Now yeah, he did it, but he just
made it possible. That's what they teach. Some
of them will actually say it in those words. There are all
kinds of, God's done all he can do. Now it's up to you. That's the lie of the devil. That's the lie of depraved humanity
that puts man on the throne rather than God on the throne. Rebellious Christianity makes
Christ's actual work to be an attempt or a possibility maker. No, no. Let me, wait a minute,
let me reword that. Rebellious Christianity makes
Christ's actual work to be an attempt or a possibility maker. No! No! That's the only change I'm
gonna make in it. No. Christ came and actually
accomplished peace. He came and actually accomplished
peace. You may see it on a bumper sticker,
a sign, you'll make your peace with God. You are not the Christ
of God. Only the Christ of God, only
the peace offering can make peace with God. And he is the peace
offering, not us. Not me, not you. He is the peace offering. God's
Christ equals this, Isaiah 42. Now I know these are familiar
things to probably everyone here. But there are some who hear,
maybe this is not familiar. Because there are men out there
who will withhold the truth of God from some people. Because
they don't like it. It don't fit their idea of who
God's supposed to be. Look at Isaiah 42. And this is
clearly about, speaking of Christ, Christ said so in the New Testament.
But here's the one verse I want you to look at. Here's Christ.
He shall not fail. nor be discouraged. And that's
enough. That's enough. That's enough. Now, if the will of God the Father
was that Jesus Christ come to make it possible that all men
be saved, why did God just not say that? God never says that
anywhere. Men say that was God's will. God says, I got a will. And what
I've willed to do, I will accomplish it. I will place salvation in
Zion for Israel by glory. I'll call a ravenous bird out
of the east and he'll execute my counsel, a man from a far
country. When I tell someone to do something,
bless God they'll do it if that's what he's willed for them to
do. Now he commands men to do many things and we rebel. But
when God Almighty, when seeing that God has willed certain things
to come to pass, bless God, Mason, they're gonna come to pass. They're
gonna come to pass. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. Now how could God not be discouraged?
If he loves everybody, everybody without exception, enough to
send his son into this world so that they can be saved, and
then even one is not ultimately saved. How could God not be discouraged? if that's God's true intent.
Now, let me tell you something. They'll tell you, well, God knew
all these people were going to go to hell. The Bible even says
so. Their God is a jokester. He's a trickster. He's underhanded. He is facetious. Our God tells
us exactly what he's purposed to do. Christ said, I came to
save my sheep. He said, I lay down my life for
who? The sheep. And then he turned right around
at the same moment, within just a few sentences more, he looked
at a group of men and said, you are not my sheep. Now in any
honest court of law, that would be Christ telling them, I am
not going to die for you. Paul said that Jesus Christ,
God, purchased the church. The church. Now even if you look
at that from a local standpoint, how many thousands of people
are never gonna set foot in a church? Huh? Oh, but I believe God loves me.
You got no right to say that. The book of Acts is full of gospel
messages, is it not? Several of them, I've never counted
how many, but there's several gospel messages. Not once, not
once did any man sent of God preach to congregations or to
people in general, God loves you. And God sent his son to
make salvation possible for you. They merely preached the facts,
the truth, and men either believed it or they didn't. Is that not
what you read about in the book of Acts? And also in the book
of Acts, we find out it takes the power of God for men to believe
that. No, Jesus Christ said, these
are his own words, I know, men can say, well, that Pendleton,
he's just a fanatic. That's all right, I understand
that. Years ago, if I would have heard me preaching as I am now,
I would say, that man's a nut. But I'm gonna tell you something,
I might be a nut, but the Christ I'm preaching is the Christ of
God. Now listen to what he said in John 6, 39, and this is the
Father's will. Now that's clear enough. Religion
loves to talk, what is God's will? What is God's will? We're waiting on a word from
God. What is God's will? This book tells us what God's
will is. Jesus is now going to specifically
tell us the will of the Father. And this is the Father's will,
which he has sent me, that of all which he hath given me, I
should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last
day. And this is the will of him that
sent me. Now this is not another will, it's just will be a further
defining of this one will. And this is the will of him that
sent me, that everyone would seeth the son and believeth on
him. That's how many has been given.
That's how many has been given. That seeth the son and believeth
on him may have everlasting life and I will raise him up at the
last day. And then Isaiah, God comes along
in Isaiah 46, I've already mentioned it, and God basically says, whatever
I've willed, I've purposed to do, I'll do it. Now either God
is that kind of God or God is a liar. And this book tells me
God cannot lie. Consider, burnt offering. This
is quite Christ's sweet aroma to the Father. Remember, we looked at it, that's
from eternity all the way up to the cross. Now, it includes
more than that, but these are dealing with eternity all the
way up to the cross. The burnt offering is Christ's
sweet aroma to the Father. The meat offering is Christ's
human perfection before the Father. He was perfect in his humanity. You hear me? He was perfect in
his humanity. Yet his feet got dirty and stank. He had the aroma of human sweat
under his armpits. When he ate food, his breath
could smell foul, but he was still perfect humanity. He lived for around 30 years.
and only a handful of people seen how holy he really was. Now most people, most preachers
and churches think that holiness is some kind of outward, visible,
tangible thing. He lived perfectly for 30 years,
and as Tim James says, nobody called it. Nobody seen it. His brothers and sisters didn't
see it, did they? I mean, can you imagine? Here's
a guy, he never speaks. He never smells bad, he's never
got stuff stuck to any of his teeth, huh? He never gets dirty. His clothes are always clean
and white. No, that was not Jesus Christ. But he was still perfect humanity
before God. Before God. So you have the burnt
offering, Christ's aroma to the Father. The meat offering, Christ's
human perfection before the Father. The sin offering, and remember,
it's called sins of ignorance. You know what that means? These
sins come natural to us, and we don't even know about it.
You know what that is? That's cries out that we are
sin. You see, if we really were good
people, we would know, intuitively, some things are wrong, some things
are right, right? The sin offering, which is specifically
called sins of ignorance, declares what we are. The trespass offering
declares what we do because of what we are. Now, I could spend
months on those offerings, but all of these are summed up in
what? The peace offering. And that's why we see the peace
offering, it's law, being given last. Now turn to Colossians.
Joe, I thought when you said turn to Colossians, I thought
oh my, he's gonna, well I could preach halfway through this and
just stop, but he didn't get right on what I was going to
read. Colossians chapter one, listen to this. This is talking
about Jesus Christ. And having offered peace. Is that what it says? No. And
having made peace, okay. That's well, good enough, but
how did he make peace? Well, he made peace possible,
then if you'll add something to that, maybe it's faith, maybe
it's faith and repentance, maybe it's repentance and baptism,
maybe it's faith, repentance, baptism, church membership. That's
not what this says. All of those things have their
valid places. I'm not throwing down on those
things, but look at what it says. and having made peace through
the blood of his cross by him to reconcile all things unto
himself. Now, that's everything that he
made peace for. It's not everything without exception,
else everything without exception is at peace with God. and having
made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile
all things unto himself. By him I say whether they be
things in earth or things in heaven. So you see that I said
it don't matter whether they're already, it's something already
in glory or it's something still down here on the earth. You see
it? And you, and you that were sometime alienated and enemies,
ain't no peace there from their side. Right? From their side,
there wasn't no peace there. And you that were sometime alienated
and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled. That's a past tense thing, right?
That's clear in English. How? In the body of his flesh
through death. And there's a reason for that.
To present you holy and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. And let me tell ya, he says you
gotta be a believer and you gotta continue to be a believer if
you're really one of these people. You hear what I just said? I
said you got to be a believer and continue being a believer
if you're one of these people. If you continue in the faith,
grounded and settled. You see it? See, Jesus Christ
only died for believers. But he didn't die for believers
because they would believe. They believed because he died
for them. So that's confusing. Not once it happens to you. Not
once God gives you faith and you hear the gospel preached,
you say, I get that now. I get that now. Ephesians 2,
look at what Paul told the Ephesians. And the letter to the Ephesians
and the letter to the Colossians is very similar in many respects,
but look at what he says. Ephesians 2, verse 11. Writing
mainly to Gentile believers, people who were Gentiles by nature,
wherefore remember that ye being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh, who are called uncircumcised by that which is called the circumcision
in the flesh, now it is, Joe, made with hands. that at that
time he was without Christ, and we were. Without Christ, being
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the
covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the
world. But now, in Christ Jesus, ye
who sometimes were far off are made nigh hell by the blood of
Christ, for he What's that say? You see, peace is not just a
feeling. Although there is some feeling
that God gives us associated with this peace. Don't you thank
God that you get to feel a little bit of it? Now, we don't always
feel it, I know, so you don't rest on your feelings. But wouldn't
it be just miserable? Okay, I believe this truth. I gotta live through this life.
One day I'm gonna die and get to go to heaven. Wouldn't that be
a miserable existence? But it's not just a feeling.
It's not just a legal state. Although it is a legal state,
we're at peace with God. God has removed all the barriers. Injustice. Injustice. No injustice ever occurred in
this transaction. But look at what he says. For
he is our God. Peace. You see, when my feelings
fail me, God does remind me. He's still seated at the right
hand of God the Father, making intercession for me. Bless God. He is praying for me, that my
faith fail not. And that's important. Just like
he prayed for Peter, that Peter's faith fail not. And do you think
Peter's faith could have failed? Impossible. Do you think Peter
could have denied him four times? Impossible. But do you think
Peter could have only denied him two times? Impossible. Why? Because it's all God's ordained
purpose. But don't get your eyes on his
denial. Keep your eyes on the interceder
who was praying for Peter that his faith fail not. Peter fail miserably. But bless God his faith didn't
because his faith is there because it's the power of God. Faith
is a divine mystery. And oh, it's a blessing of grace.
I believe God in spite of myself. Is that the way you feel about
it? Oh, I know I'm filled with a lot of unbelief, but I believe
God. And God says that is what I require. And that's what I
give. And that's what I sustain in
you. His people. What a thing, what
a thing. You see, no one can believe to
make peace effectual. You can't believe enough to make
peace effectual. Peace has been wrought. Peace
is accomplished. It's accomplished. Men truly
believe. They believe unto salvation when
they believe peace is accomplished. Now, you hear what I just said?
True gospel-wrought faith believes that God is able to do what God's
promised to do. Now, what Paul calls true faith,
that Abraham strong in faith, he believed that what God had
promised he's able to perform. Now, here's how faith manifests
itself. Now, we believe God has done. what he's promised to do. And he said, now yes, there's
more to be done. There will be more things occur. But we know
that when he died on that tree, he made peace and he reconciled
us to God back then. Now that's a big difference between
what most so-called Christians are preaching today. And that's
the difference between the gospel of Christ and this perverted
gospel that still continues amongst men today. hear God's declaration about
this kind of peace. And you're gonna hear it in three
passages. Let me move quickly, turn to Psalm 55. I'll just give you
three passages. Just three things about this
peace. Remember, this peace is a person. A person. Think about it, Psalm 55. Peace is the mode of salvation. Peace as the mode of salvation
is actual gospel conversion. It's not the result. You don't
get peace because you believe. You believe because peace has
already been made. Now look at it. Psalm 55 and
verse 18. He hath delivered my soul, not
to peace, but in peace. Do you see the difference? Now
that's a big difference. He didn't deliver me to peace.
Joe, he delivered me in peace. Do you see it? I like that. When
I read that, I thought, that is a glory. That's what I've been
trying to preach for 30 some years. He hath delivered my soul
in peace. Peace from the battle that was
against me. For there were many, where's
that? Now don't sell, my problems are
out here. For there are many where? With me. See, my problem
was down in here. And God conquered that too. You
see what I'm saying? I was, yes, Christ made peace,
but I was still out here fighting against God, fighting against
God, fighting against God. And God came into my citadel,
knocked my walls down, and spoiled me. And took me captive. And said, you will now love and
believe my son. And I do. I do. Look at another one. Again, I
say peace is a person. And you know this when I mentioned
it. Isaiah chapter nine. Peace is a person. I understand when a person's been
living in the dregs of ungodliness and unrighteousness, been under
the bondage of false religion. I understand the joy, the experience
of God delivering you out of that. I'm not belittling that.
That's a glorious thing. but that's only a reality. It has no validity if Jesus Christ
has not already accomplished peace, if he is not our peace
itself. Isaiah nine, verse six, for unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government,
that means the reigning empire, the government shall be upon
his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, I love to
hear about the personal work of Christ, don't you? That gives
me hope that I'm truly a believer, when that means more to me than
anything else in this world. There is no other place I'd rather
be right now today than right here with you all, hearing the
gospel preached. You know that? Other than in
Christ's presence itself. Counselor, mighty God, the everlasting
Father, but then what? Here's the summary of his names.
The Prince, of peace, the royal one of peace. Of the increase
of his government, that is the reigning empire and peace, no
end. Now bless God, Mason, if he died
for some people so that they could have peace but they never
had peace, then there was an end to that. But this says of
his government, Peace there shall be no end upon the throne of
David and upon his kingdom to order it and to establish it
with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. God's gonna do this. You see
my paraphrase? God's gonna do this. The zeal
of the Lord of hosts will perform this. Here's the last one. Here's
the last one. The actual glory of Christ our
peace is greater than even all the shadows. Now turn to Haggai.
I have that one marked, so I'm already there. Haggai's just
a few books back from the last book of the Old Testament. Turn
to Haggai. Haggai chapter two. Remember what I just said. The
actual glory of Christ our peace is greater than all these shadows.
These are just shadows. Now I realize, before I read
this, this one verse, before I read it, I realize that the
first immediate context is the new temple that's going to be
built, that's being built. But if you look at the context,
before I read this verse, you'll see that basically the people
are asked, does anybody remember the old temple? There was some
still elderly people alive. Come back from Babylon, they
had seen the first one. And they mourned, they cried,
didn't they? Remember Mason? Because this temple's nothing
compared to that one. Right? You remember the account.
And others were just so happy. Well they'd never even seen the
temple. But bless God, now we got one.
Right, you remember the account. But look at it, Hagoth chapter
two, verse nine. This is marvelous. This is, yes
it has, it has a historical application, but it is also messianic, it
is prophetic. Verse nine, the glory of this
latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord
of hosts. Do you see that? And in this
place will I give peace. saith the Lord of hosts. What did even that temple, which
in its physical glory did not match the first one, what was
it about? It was about Jesus Christ. Do you under, oh, we don't. Oh,
God, help us to even begin to understand what God has revealed
to us in this New Testament age. Our brothers and sisters back
yonder, they longed to see this happen, and it never did. They
kept waiting and waiting. It just, Ellen, it never did.
But they believed God. They died not having received
the promise. It didn't happen in their lifetime, but bless
God they died in faith. You know what? We're on this
side of it, and we've got a whole New Testament written that defines
to us the glory of this new temple. It's right here in black and
white. Now I know there's much more than we could handle even
in the book. We're still learning. Been doing
it for some of you 40, 50, maybe 60 years. Still got a lot to
learn, don't you? But don't you love learning?
God bound me to this piece, to this person, and that's where
I gotta leave it. Now, let me give you two things.
This, I was gonna give you first. I thought, no, if I give you
this, you'll be thinking about that rather than listen to me
and the message I preached. God willing, next week, 10-2019,
this is gonna be my title. My text will be Leviticus 7,
11 through 21. I've already tried to give you
a little taste of it. Leviticus 7, 11 through 21. So concentrate
on that this coming week, God willing. But here's my title
of this one. The Abomination of Universal
Redemption. You hear what I said? It's taught
right there in that peace offering. The abomination of universal
redemption. And then God willing, after that,
and that may be a few weeks when I recover, Lord willing, sometime
in November hopefully, here's another one. And it's gonna be
basically tidbits throughout chapters one through seven, the
believers' identification with Christ. Yes, these sacrifices
shadow Christ primarily. But Mason, they also shadow us,
too. They also show us some things about who we are as God's people
in this world, and it's a glorious thing. Aren't you glad God let
you associate with the sacrifice? Aren't you glad God let you?
Now, I know Christ laid his hands on us, but aren't you glad he
let you touch the sacrifice and say, I wanna be a part of that?
I want that sacrifice to be for me. Now, if that's a chore to you,
then God's not done anything for you yet. I'm not trying to
be mean. If that's a chore to you, but
I love being associated with the sacrifice of Jesus Christ,
don't you? It's the glory to my soul. Father,
oh God, teach us these things. Be with us, comfort us, guide
us, lead us, correct us where we need it, Lord. In Christ's
name, amen.