Turn to Leviticus chapter two. My subject will be taken, I will
say from Leviticus chapter two, verse one, all the way through
chapter seven, verse 38. It's actually chapters two through
seven. Now that's just my subject. What
I have to say this morning encompasses, or I will mention most everything
there, but not in great detail. As some of you have probably
noticed, I did not begin this study in Leviticus by merely
going to each different sacrifice and speaking of how these things
point to our Lord Jesus Christ. That was intentional. God willing,
you won't have a whole lot of homework because we're gonna
park on chapters one through seven for a little while. And
we'll look at some of those sacrifices in detail, but I've been trying
to summarize these sacrifices in these first two or three messages.
So if you're at Leviticus chapter two, I want to read one verse
from chapter two and a few verses from chapter seven, so we can
get a little idea here. There's two things that stand
out. Now, there are other things that stand out, and I did not
say these stand out above everything else. I'm just saying there's
two things here that stand out in all of these sacrifices, all
of these offerings. Chapter two, verse 11. In both of these passages, 2-11,
And 7, 16 through 21, we're gonna find prohibition. Now, not prohibition
against alcohol, but prohibition against rebellion against God. Look at what it says, verse 11,
chapter two. No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the
Lord, shall be made with leaven. For ye shall burn no leaven,
nor any honey, in any offering of the Lord made by fire. That's a prohibition against
using leaven and honey in the meat or the meal offerings. Now
turn to chapter seven. Chapter seven. We'll begin in verse 16. Verse 16, but if the sacrifice
of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall
be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice, and on
the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten. So we see
here that in this sacrifice, there was certain portions that
actually could be eaten by the offerer. They were to actually
partake of the sacrifices. Now, let me say this, as we begin
to go through some of these things, Lord willing, by detail, we will
see. Many of these things shadow us as well. But remember, Christ
is preeminent in it all. Our only connection to these
things are in Christ Jesus. If I are you, If we are outside
of Christ, none of these things apply to us. And he's the paramount
picture in all of them. We only under him and in him. But let me move on. He's able
to eat it on the first day or the second day, right? We've
read that. But the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice
on the third day shall be burnt with fire. Now that's one thing
to tell us that. but then look at what else it
says. And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace
offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be
accepted. They've went and properly offered
and partook of the sacrifice for two days. But if you eat
it on the third day, What? It's of no avail whatsoever.
And that just struck my mind as I was reading through this.
Neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it. It shall
be, this is a strong word, an abomination. But that's one of
the strongest words used in the KJV. An abomination. And remember what our Lord said
about man's righteousness, man justifying himself before other
men? He says that's an abomination in God's sight. That's along
the lines of what we're talking about here. Some things are called
abomination. It shall be an abomination. And
the soul that eateth of it, that's on the third day, Even though
they've ate it correctly for the first two days, if they eat
it on the third day, he shall what? Bear his iniquity. It is the sacrifice is of no
value to that person. And the flesh that touches any
unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burnt with fire.
And as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof. But
the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace
offerings that pertain to the Lord, having his uncleanness
upon him, even that soul shall be what? Cut off from his people
and it goes on for a few more verses with this great prohibition
Now having said that and read those two passages I want to
give you my title and I pray God this morning. He will enable
me to make good on Sharing with you what I mean by this title
my title is this complexity simplified Complexity simplified Again,
I will mention, don't get holy on me. You don't know what I
mean by holiness. Don't pretend like all of a sudden
when you begin reading the book of Leviticus, all of a sudden
everything just opened up to you. You read some of these things
and after a while your eyes glass over. You know what I mean? You
lose track of what your mind was even thinking when you're
reading the verse. Now maybe there's one or two
exceptions among this large group here. but I doubt it. You read the book of Leviticus
and it's just, it's almost like there's variation. It's like
this constant redundancy over, but then there's all these variations
and I'm trying to keep up with the variations because I know
they have meaning, right? All scripture is given by what
inspiration of God it is profitable. But think of the complexity of
what we've been reading about, all of these sacrifices. Yet
my title is Complexity Simplified. Now consider the Levitical offerings,
three burnt offerings, three meat offerings, three peace offerings. And some say there is certainly
great suggestion there, these three threes of the resurrection
of Christ. And I got no argument with that.
I think even chapter seven of what I read, the resurrection
of Jesus Christ mainly was the honor of God Almighty. Now it was for our benefit, but
it's for God's glory. But that's not what I want to
deal with this morning. three burnt offerings, three
meat offerings, three peace offerings. Then there's five offerings for
sins of ignorance. Then there's multiple trespass
offerings, and I tried to start counting them, and some of them
blended together in my mind, and I thought, I'm not even gonna
give a number, because I don't wanna miss one or add one. But
you have multiple trespass offerings. And in all these offerings, they
vary even amongst the same offerings of what you're supposed to do.
Right? If you read through it, you see
that. And then, on top of that, you have the heave offerings
and the wave breasts that are among the peace offerings. That's
just Leviticus chapters one through seven. And I read through this
and I thought, what if I was a priest and I had to conform
to this after Nadab and Abihu practiced their folly and brought
strange fire? Don't you think a cold chill would run up your
back? I better get this right, or God may kill me in my boots.
I realize that's probably, no, that's not the God that is preached
by most so-called Christians today, but that is God. That
is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is Jesus
Christ. This is who he is. Holy, holy. The scripture, presents him as
good and gracious and merciful and compassionate towards sinners.
Christ was even called the friend of publicans and sinners. But he also prayed against his
enemies. Read the book of the Psalms. All of these things, all of these
offerings, these oblations, these gifts, or Christ, Christ, Christ,
Christ. Now yes, we are there. We're
seen in these things too, but only as we are in him. But then I thought, it's no marvel
that scripture declares this, great is the mystery of godliness. You see, it took all of these
sacrifices just to shadow That's just a shadow, that's just a
shadow, it's just an outline. Mason, there's not even any detail
in here in the middle, it's just a shadow. It took all these things
just to shadow the glory of the person and work of Jesus Christ.
And they're just shadow. So it's no marvel. Great, great
is the mystery of godliness. And then the first one, God manifest
in the flesh. Now go figure that one out. God
manifest in the flesh. Paul wrote to the Colossians,
in Colossians chapter two, verses one through three, and he said,
my heart and my eyes toward you, and the Laodiceans too, remember
the Laodiceans from the book of the Revelation? But there
were believers there, and Paul loved these people, even with
all the trouble that was going on in their local assembly. And
he said, concerning God the Father, and his son Jesus Christ, in
whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. And I am willing to say that
when by God's grace we make it to glory, we're not gonna be
up there just floating around on clouds and playing harps.
We're gonna be in a new heaven and a new earth and we'll be
with Christ forever. There are going to be things
revealed to us about the glory of the person and work of our
Lord that we could not handle right now. We just couldn't handle
it. Let me give you some examples
of this. Let me give you four. The eternal God was made flesh. If you just think about it on
the surface, it's not that amazing when you realize God is the creator.
He created this whole universe. Yesterday evening, took the dog
out, and I looked up, and there was some, thank God, some rain had
finally come through. Clouds began to move. I seen
the stars, and I'm thinking, some of those are maybe even
galaxies that look like one star, and that is millions of other
stars. My God created all that. And he could have just created
Jesus Christ in the flesh. Could he not? There are, as Joe
pointed out last Sunday, Christophides. That is, human appearances of
Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. But that was temporal. And that
was just a sovereign fiat of God. When Jesus Christ was made
flesh, he was made flesh by conception, conception of the Holy Ghost,
mind you, but conception in a virgin's womb. And by Nine months gestation. Yes, sir. And the actual agonies
and sweat and blood of all human births save the creation of Adam
and Eve. Yes, sir. Why did God not just
say flesh? Exactly. You see what I'm saying?
Yeah. You talk about a mystery. Why
did God not just say, Mason, flesh? And there Jesus Christ
stood. because God was going to show
that his son was joined to us in the most deepest aspects of
who we are. Actually conceived and gestated,
is that a word? I'll make one up, and actually
born into this world just like every one of us fallen sons and
daughters of Adam. That's amazing. That is complexity
beyond my mind's comprehension. Here's another one. Christ suffered
on the tree as absolutely just. Peter says so. He suffered the
just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. How? Being
put to death in the flesh. He suffered the just for the
unjust, yet at the same time, he was made sin. That's what this book says. At
the same time, it said in him is no sin. And yet, when he hung
on that tree, it says he bore our sins, not just up here or
on his back. Where did he bear our sins? If
he bore your sins, if he bore my sins, he bore them in his
own body on the tree. And he felt and owned the shame
and guilt of them. Look at the book of Psalms. And
yet at the same time, he was just. I cannot wrap my mind around
that complexity. There's a third thing. Christ
always did what pleased the Father. He even said it. I dare not say
that. You dare not say that. But he
said, I do always those things that please my Father. And yet
the book of Hebrews tells us this. Yet learn the obedience
by the thing which he suffered. Is that not complexity? Try to
try to splantify that one as old Art Neuenswander used to
say. Explain that one to me. Now sadly
some feel we have to have everything explained and they end up explaining
it away. Don't let us ever be guilty of
that. Here's a truth and here's a truth. They seem to oppose
only because we are so finite in our minds. They do not oppose. But they are complex. Here's
another one, number four. Christ said, I and my Father
are one. I'll give you this one for free.
You won't even have to write me a check for it. He didn't
say I and my Father is one. because there is no such thing
as the Jesus-only movement. Now you know there's some Jesus-only
people out there. God manifests himself as the Father, then he
manifests himself as the Son, then he manifests himself as
the Holy Spirit. I don't know what they do when we get to the
eternal state, but that don't matter. He said, I and my Father
are one. If you wanna talk about, go get
a message by Henry Mahan, the doctrine of the Trinity. Excellent,
excellent message, but think about it. I, my father, are one. Yet this same Jesus Christ said,
my father is greater than I. Did he not? That's what he said. That's complex. Some say that's
contradiction. Oh no. Oh no, it's contradiction
only because I can't wrap my puny little mind around the complexity
of the God of all glory. Think about it, these offerings
in shadow deal with such mysteries and complexities, don't they?
And there'll be some things I won't be able to give you because I'm
not gonna force things. If I see certain things here
and God's revealed them to me, now, I can show up by the word
of God, that's fine, but I'm not going to try to force certain
things. But other things will be quite
evident, but let it, remember, it's all complex. That's the reason for this. It's
not just God wanting to make things tough on these Jews. These
things were shadows of Christ. And just as shadows, They must
be complex to even get close to shadowing the glories and
the beauties of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ. And yet,
the Apostle Paul declares something else as well. In 2 Corinthians,
and let's turn to that, 2 Corinthians chapter 11, listen to what he
says. Some of you probably already
know what I'm going to read. 2 Corinthians chapter 11. And I'm just gonna, and I know
I'm not gonna give you a lot of the context here, but there's
one phrase I wanna get to. Look at verse three, 2 Corinthians
chapter 11. You ready? But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in
Christ. You see that statement? Isn't
that amazing? And anybody who says, well, God's
not all that complex, they don't know God. I don't care how much
religion they got, how many times they've been baptized, how many
church roles there, I don't care. Excuse me. God is above our comprehension. We cannot fathom all that God
is. And yet Paul comes along and
talks about the simplicity that is in Christ. Think about it. Simplicity. The
word means singleness. It's another way you could try
singleness, but that still don't help me a whole lot. But here's
a part of the root word from the Greek. It means God folding
many things together as one. Here you got this massive sheet
before you. with writings on it, and it's hundreds of feet
tall, and hundreds of feet long, and the writings on all of this
are so small and minuscule, and you look at even the size of
the document itself, and you think, that's beyond me. But
yet, if somebody takes that thing and folds it down, page after
page, and then hands me something that's about that size, my mind
at least says maybe. just maybe I can get a hold of
a little bit of this. And yet, Mason, if I'm holding
that document in my hand and it's been all folded together
as one and it's right there, then I've got the grasp of that
whole document. Even if I don't understand all
the complexities of the document. Think about it. God folded all
the glories of himself into one person. Into one person. Now, we can get to know one person. By his grace, we can get to know
one person. Can't we? Can't we? Scripture
declares the simplicity, the singleness in Christ. But how
can all these offerings declare any kind of singleness? Because
God folded them all into one person. How could the infinite,
complex, eternal God-made flesh said to be simplicity or singleness?
Because of two things. All that God is is embodied in
one person. Colossians 2, verses eight and
nine. I'm not gonna read them. Colossians 2, eight and nine.
In him, it's in Christ, dwells, think about, all the fullness. So that's a redundancy, is it
not? But yet the Spirit of God, because we know sometimes we
just got to be told by the same word over and over with all this
resplendent redundancy, the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. And all of it is, in Him dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead, how? Bodily. Bodily. The second thing is this, all
that pleases God. Colossians 1 verses 15 through
19. All that pleases God is embodied
in one person. Let's read that, Colossians chapter
one. And listen to what it says. Colossians chapter one. Let's
begin in verse 15. Who is the image of the invisible
God? Now this is all about Christ
now. He's the actual image of a God that cannot be seen. Joe
mentioned it, when the disciples said, well, show us the Father,
that'll be good enough. He said, you've already seen
the Father. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. Who is
the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,
for by him, that is this Christ, this Jesus, this one human person. For by him, all things were created. So now we see he is creator God
himself. By Him, all things were created
that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible or invisible,
whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers,
all things were created by Him and for Him. And I don't care
if it's stuff. most vile, deceptive, demonic
force that exists in this world, or whether it's the most vile,
vile, depraved, human person that dwells in this world, or
if it be of the unfallen angelic hosts themselves, Jesus Christ
is in sovereign control of every bit of this. Because he says,
and he is before all things, And by him all things are held
together. By him they all consist. As I
mentioned at my wife's father's burial service, the devil can't
spit lest God gives him say so. That's our God. And that's all
folded down in one person. Isn't that amazing? That's all
folded down in one person. Now you're talking about complexity
simplified. That's what God did for you and
me. Fallen, finite sinners. Men and women bathed in sinful
corruption. We drink up iniquity like a thirsty
man drinks up water. And that's still true of me today. today, even after being converted
and having tried to preach the Gospels for some 34, 35 years. Mason, I'm steel in myself, from
the top of my head to the soles of my feet. In God's sight, I'm
nothing but wounds and bruises and stinking, putrefying, rotting
sores. And you folks still come back
to hear me say things like that over, and over, and over, and
over. You know, that's a testimony
to God's grace. Because most places you go today
are not going to be honest enough with men and women to constantly
remind, oh, tell them every once in a while, but don't get on
that subject too hard. After all, I'm saved now. God saves sinners. God saves
sinners, and he only saves sinners. God the Son said, I didn't even
come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Now, so think of it. Here it is, simplicity, singleness,
all that God is folded up in that one person before us. Think
about it, we need no rights. We need no ceremonies. We need
no catechisms. We need no owl walkings. We need
no altars. We need no processions. We need
no on and on and on and on. We've got the fullness of the
Godhead bodily if God Almighty's called us by his gospel. I can by the eye of faith see
him who is to see him. Joe, it's to see all things.
You know, remember John said you know all things? Now come
on, John. Isn't that what John wrote? He said, you know all
things. I don't know all things, yes
I do, if I know the Son. I know him whom to know is to
know all things. But there's still a danger here.
There's still a danger. There are imposter Christ's and
perverted messages that men call the gospel. You hear me? And the devil has folded up his
big sheet too. And he'll present you a Jesus.
It's all folded up in a neat little package. God loves you. Jesus died for you. Now all you
got to do is, and then the other pages will tell you all the things
you're supposed to do. That's an imposter Christ. And remember,
Christ himself warned about imposter Christ. Matthew chapter 24, verses
four and five. I know most people, when they
go to Matthew 24, they're thinking about, oh, eschatological events. And there are eschatological
events there. But I don't think any of us understand
them really like we ought to understand them. But I know this,
all of that chapter, 24 and 25, still talks about who? Christ.
Even 25 starts out with who? The bridegroom. Behold! What? the bridegroom comes, God's
Christ, God's Messiah, God's promised one. And Paul said,
there are people who pervert the gospel of Christ and let
them go to hell. That's what he said. He said,
let them be accursed. That's hard. No, but we're talking
about the holiness of God's son and his Christ only. They're
imposter Christ. Here's another thing. Today's
predominant message by professed Christianity is imposter, imposter,
imposter. They're forcing down the throats
of men and women an imposter Christ. An imposter Christ. How do I know that? Because they
continue to eat of that sacrifice on the third day. Now what am I talking about?
See if I can bring this, as Don Fortner says often, bring this
down into shoe leather. Today's predominant message by
professed Christianity is imposter and it's perversion. And such
never saves anyone. I was under that for about 22,
23 years. I made numerous professions.
I went forward over and over again because I never, ever,
ever had any real peace. Why? Because I've been offered
and received as my own personal savior a false Christ, a false
Jesus, and a false gospel. But when God Almighty opened
my eyes and my heart and my ears to hear of His Christ, Joe, I've never doubted Him since. I doubt myself a lot in a lot
of things, but I never doubted Him since God opened my blind
eyes. You see, our Leviticus text heightens
this danger in three ways. Don't mix leaven with the meat
offering. Now listen to me. Truth and error
can never be mixed. Men try to mix them, but the
truth always suffers. Truth never sanctifies error. Do you hear what I'm saying?
Truth never sanctifies error. Even the blood offerings declare
this. We read that too. Leviticus 7, 16 through 21. Think
about it, some orthodoxy, equals no orthodoxy. You hear what I
said? I said some orthodoxy equals
no orthodoxy. You could eat that sacrifice,
it's the right sacrifice. It's even the right sacrifice.
You eat it two days, God says after two days, stop. but men
won't stop with the sacrifice of Christ. They gotta keep adding
in and adding in and adding in. Listen again, I hope God opens
all of our hearts and minds. Some orthodoxy equals no orthodoxy
because it is not submission to Jesus Christ. You got men
today that preach the virgin birth, that Jesus Christ lived
a perfect life, that he died, buried, and raised, and went
back to glory. but they don't believe he's the
sovereign king of heaven and earth. That's eating the sacrifice
on the third day. You see, it is Christ exalted that gave
us forgiveness of sins. And turn to Colossians chapter
two again. It's Christ exalted. Let me rephrase
that. It is Christ who is exalted I
stated that wrong, thank God I caught that. It is Christ who
is exalted that gave us forgiveness of sins back there 2,000 years
ago. Now this is the same chapter
where Paul said in verse 10, or verse nine, for in him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. And you're complete,
where? In him. You see, don't you see? Oh, God help us, if I'm in him,
I've got all there is to have. You see it? And you're complete
in Him, which is the head of all principality and power, in
whom also you're circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands. This is a work of God inside
a man or a woman. This is the regenerating power
of the Spirit of God who when He passes by you, if He's seen
you in eternity and loved you in eternity, in time He will
breathe life into your soul. And then he's gonna send you
his gospel. And you're gonna hear his gospel. Look, in whom
also you're circumcised with a circumcision made without hands
in the putting off of the body of sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ. Who did that? This is not something
we do. This is something God does. You see it? Buried with him in
baptism, wherein also you are risen with him through the faith
of the operation, not your faith, God's faith. Now yes, we believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ, but that's only a result of the faithfulness
of God the Father and God the Son. And we believe according
to the working of God's mighty power in us. buried with him
in baptism where also you're risen with him through the faith
of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead and
you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh.
Now do you see it? When is he talking about us now?
Before God even regenerated us, right? Before we ever even converted. And you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh hath he quickened together
with Christ having Forgiving you all trespasses. When did that happen? When he
died on that tree. Because notice the sentence goes
on. There's not a period there blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way. Where? He nailed it to his cross. You see, when Jesus Christ suffered,
he suffered for some men's sins. and he suffered for all of those
some men's sins. And when he did, he put them
away. What does Leviticus keep telling
us? Chapters one through seven, over and over again, on multiple
offerings or oblations. If the offering is offered, if
the offering is offered, and the offering is offered to who?
God. that sin shall be forgiven him. That's it. That sin shall be
forgiven him. Having, look at this, go on.
Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. How do we know that?
Because he was raised on the third day. And on the day, just
before Pentecost, Joe, He rose up in his bodily, in his body. And he rose up and sat down at
the right hand of God the Father, and he's there interceding for
everyone for whom he died. Now let me show you that. Let
me show you that. You see, according to our text,
if you look at Leviticus 3 verse 17, Leviticus 7, 22 through 27,
you will see that man never shares God's glory. Go back and read it, I'll give
it to you. Leviticus 3.17 and chapter seven, 22 through 27.
And this is heightened when later Isaiah comes along and Isaiah
quotes God in Isaiah 42 and eight. God said, my glory will I not
give to another. God gets all the glory. Now which
Jesus are you believing in? One that shares the glory with
you or one that gets all the glory? Another thing you'll have noticed
in Leviticus 1 through 7, there must always be identification
with the sacrifice. You see what I'm saying? Unless it was a meal or a grain
offering, because it had no head, but all these other things, all
these other sacrifices had heads. They were living beings. And
what was the offerer to do? Lay his hands upon the head of
the sacrifice. That is identification with.
Two things. Christ identified with some. He identified with some. Turn
to Psalm 40. Now this is the book of God.
I know that the so-called Christianity of our day does not deal with
these things, but it's because, as Joe said, they are liars.
They are liars. Now, Psalm 40 is clearly a messianic
psalm, and not just the messianic psalm, but the direct heart and
mind of Jesus Christ. That's proved in verse seven.
Then said I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written
of me. I delight to do thy will, O God, yea, thy law is within
my heart. And Hebrews lets us know that was Jesus Christ. Now,
look at what it says. Verse 12, for innumerable evils
have compassed me about, mine iniquities. What? Jesus Christ
is crying about my, not his own personal iniquities, not what
he had committed, but what we had committed, who we were, and
it was all laid upon him and in him. For noble evils have
come past me, about mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that
I'm not able to look up. There are more than the hairs
of mine head, therefore my heart, it relinquishes up. Be pleased,
O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. Now look, let them be ashamed
and confounded together that seek my soul to destroy it. Now this is the words of Jesus
Christ when he hung on that cross. He did pray, Father forgive them
for they know not what they do. Who was he talking about? His
people. Because had he cried out for the forgiveness of all
humanity, God the Father would have forgiven all humanity. But he didn't die for the sins
of all humanity because he did not put all humanity's sins away.
You see he put away our sin don't you realize in God's sight if
you're in Christ your sins are gone They don't exist I Know
they exist in your sight and God still remembers your frame
And he knows that your dust, but he has not imputed your iniquity
Look at it. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for a reward of their shame that's saying to me, aha, aha. This is Jesus Christ, folks,
when he hung on that tree. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually. And there was one that was dying
with him right then at that very time. And was in rebellion against
him almost right up to his dying breaths. But something happened. We know what that is. The sacrifice
was dying for his sins hanging right there beside him. And the
sacrificer and sacrifice had laid his hands on this man. And
all of a sudden, he quits railing like the other thief was doing
and said, Lord, no, first of all, he said, we're getting what
we deserve. You know what he said? Until
God brings you down and you know, I deserve hell. I got no right
to say God had to send his son to die for me. God don't owe
me that. I deserve hell. But look what
he says. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad. As love thy salvation say continually,
let who be magnified? The Lord. The Lord. But I am
poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my
help and my deliverer. Make no tarrying, O my God. Now that's why Paul said when
he come out of that grave, we come out of that grave with him.
Why? Because we were in him then. Then. You see, Christ identified
the sum. And then Christ teaches us in
Matthew 10, 32 through 42, those sum will identify with him in
everything that appertains to him. Over family members? That's
right. Over family members? Christ said,
don't think I've come to see him in peace. Now how many people
do you know, go to these, no don't go to these. But if you
did go to these other places, and you heard them preach, you
will rarely, rarely ever hear them preach from Matthew 10,
32 through 42, and deal with what Christ actually said. I
ain't come to bring peace, I come to split families. Now that's
a paraphrase, but that's what he said. I'm come to set a man
at variance against his mother and his father. A brother, a
sister. Do you see it? Because God Almighty
made distinction among Adam's fallen race. He's got the right
to do so. He says, is it not lawful for
me to do with my own as I will? And folks, if he wants to damn
me right now today, I will have no reprieve. Do you hear me? Oh, but you love me, God. God
will say, no, I didn't. That's why you are where you
are. By His grace, I awaken His likeness. I will not be able to share His
glory, not one jot or tittle. We will all, as represented in
the 24 elders, who have crowns on their head, may say, but what
do they do? They bow down to Christ's feet and they take those
crowns off and they cast them at His feet. Why? Because He
gets all the glory. Why? Because He's doing all the
work. I want to be one of those people that identify with Christ.
Don't you? Well, I just preach, I can't
say anything. You better, because he says you
deny me before men. What's he say? Oh, I believe
in once saved, always saved. You eat that sacrifice the third
day, you can say all you want. Your orthodoxy will count for
squat. He said you deny me before men, you know what I'm gonna
do? I will deny you before my Father in heaven. Now, is that
what he said or not? But he said, if you confess me
before me, now me, the real me, the real Jesus, the Christ of
God, you confess me before men, I'll confess you. Oh, glory. I'll confess you before
my Father. I want to be one of that second
group. Don't you? Don't you? All right,
let's stand and sing. What was it, 138, isn't it, Joe?
Yes, 138.