My subject this morning is fallen
man and unclean thing. Fallen man and unclean thing. That fact is set before us most
distinctly in the 12th chapter of the book of Leviticus. And
that will be our text this morning. I think there's nothing in the
world that's more delightful than the birth of a child. Nothing
more celebrated. A young lady looks forward to
becoming a mother from her earliest days. Sometime back when she
was a younger teenager, Shelby was talking to Audra Grace, asking
her what she wanted to do. She said, Nana, I really want
to be a housewife and a mother. And I just did Lady and Nana
and Pop both. Nothing gives a young lady greater
satisfaction and greater fulfillment as a woman than bearing her husband's
child. That's just the way things ought
to be. I ought to spend a little time
laboring that in this day of foolishness. And the politically
correct foolishness of this world is as ungodly as it is foolish. You young ladies, Cherish, cherish
what God's given you. You will never find greater delight,
satisfaction or honor than in being a wife and a mother. What a privilege, what an honor,
what a labor, what a delight. The young couple eagerly anticipates
the day when that child will be born with joy. I remember
it well. The grandparents are just as
anxious, maybe more so. In giving birth to a child, a
young mother has to endure great pain. Often the travail is great,
sometimes horribly great. And yet she's anxious to do it.
Her entire family, her friends rejoice as the day approaches
when she will endure such great travail. Our Savior said this,
A woman, when she is in travail, hath sorrow, because her hour
is come. But as soon as she is delivered
of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy
that a man is born into the world. As soon as the child's born,
she forgets the travail. She's given birth to a child.
And yet throughout the scriptures, sin, defilement, Uncleanness
are always associated with childbirth. This the most delightful of human
experiences. Sin, defilement, uncleanness
are always associated with it. We see this clearly in the eight
verses of this 12th chapter of Leviticus. What an instructive
passage it is. Let's read it together and then
we'll come back to it. Leviticus chapter 12, verse 8.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed, and born
a man child, then she shall be unclean seven days. According
to the days of the separation for her infirmity shall she be
unclean. And in the eighth day the flesh
of his foreskin shall be circumcised. and she shall then continue in
the blood of her purifying three and 30 days. She shall touch
no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days
of a purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid child,
then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation,
and she shall continue in the blood of her purifying three
score and six days. And when the days of her purifying
are fulfilled for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring a
lamb of the first year for a burnt offering, and a young pigeon
or a turtle dove for a sin offering unto the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation unto the priest, who shall offer it before
the Lord to make an atonement for her, and she shall be cleansed
from the issue of her blood. This is the law for her that
hath born a male or a female. And if she be not able to bring
a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles or two young pigeons,
the one for the burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for her and she shall
be clean. As I read these eight verses,
I can't help but to think that the prophet Isaiah must have
had this Levitical law in mind when he wrote his description
of the human race. We are all as an unclean thing. And all our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. That's how God describes humanity. An unclean thing. And the very
best that we do, noxious, dirty, filthy rags before God. Bildad asked God's servant Job,
how then can a man be justified with God? Or how can a man be
clean that is born of woman? The psalmist David, when he confessed
his sin, said, behold, I was shaped in iniquity, and in sin
did my mother conceive me. This whole thing called human
life begins with sin. The whole of humanity. begins
with sin. The 12th chapter of Leviticus
tells us that fallen man is an unclean thing, but it tells us
something else. It tells us that our great God
has provided for the cleansing of unclean, vile, filthy sinners
like you and me. I would be dishonest with you
and dishonest with God and dishonest with his word. If I in any way
sought to make you feel good about yourself. Noble, I'm not
a politician, I don't have to lie to you. And there's not something
good in you, but something evil. The fact is there's nothing good
in you. Not a good thought, not a noble
ambition, Only filth, only sin, only ungodliness, only unrighteousness,
filthy rags, as God calls it. That's the goodness of man. But
bless God. There is a fountain open to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. Bless God, there is a fountain
filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins and sinners
plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. These
eight verses of Leviticus 12 are both deeply humbling and
divinely comforting. The effect of all scripture,
when you read the book of God, when it is applied to our hearts
by the efficacious power and grace of God the Holy Ghost,
is to turn us from ourselves to Christ, to lead us out of
ourselves to the Lord Jesus. Whenever a man appears, wherever
he is, at whatever stage of his life, whether in conception or
at birth, Or at any point along the way, from the womb to the
tomb, the existence of humanity is uncleanness, sin. We're helpless and we're corrupt. What poor, helpless creatures
we are. So helpless that we can't do
anything to change our nature or to change our state. You cannot change what you are.
The Ethiopian cannot change his skin. The leopard cannot change
his spots. You and I, who by nature are
sinners and sin, can do nothing to change that. Make all the
resolutions you want to, all the efforts you want to, go to
church all you want to, read your Bible all you want to, say
your prayers as they put it all you want to, go through rosary
beads until your wear sets out year after year, do all you can. You can't change what you are
seeing. It pollutes you from the inside
out all the time. You're told you can't do anything
to change yourself, but you can decide to come to Jesus. No,
you can't. No man can come to me, our Savior said, except the
Father which has sent me draw him. I am here sent of God to
tell you and to tell the world and this generation, man by nature
is as helpless as he is corrupt. As helpless as he is corrupt. You are sin, you do sin, you
will continue to sin. So long as you draw breath in
this world, that's the nature of humanity. You and me, your
children and mine, your parents and mine, that's human nature. All have sinned and come short
of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death. As Brother Scott
Richardson used to put it, he said, life in this world begins
with a slap on the bottom and ends with a shovel full of dirt
in your face, and there's nothing between except bumps, bruises,
and sin. We are helpless and corrupt. The heart of man is a cesspool
of iniquity. a cesspool of iniquity. Men like to pretend that they're
strong and they like to pretend that they're good and they try
to act very good and noble and righteous. I was thinking just
a little bit ago about our politicians. They run for office and they,
They used to get in the gutter. They don't get in the gutter
anymore. They dive headlong into the cesspool and pull everybody
in they can. And they cuss and fuss and smear character and
malign folks. And then when they finally get
a nomination, I am truly humbled by the fact. What a pretense man is. You see,
the politicians are just like you and me. We put on a show. And we want the world to see
that we're good and noble and upright and humble and useful
and helpful and we're nothing but sin. Doesn't matter whether
you're rich or poor. Doesn't matter whether you're
well educated or uneducated. Doesn't matter whether you come
from a good family on the upper side of the city or the bad family
on the other side of the tracks. Doesn't matter, doesn't matter.
Doesn't matter who you are, you are sin. depravity, corruption. How do you define sin? How do you define evil? I mean utter evil. Complete ungodliness. Complete wickedness. Look in
the mirror. That's how you define it. Sin
is your name, sin is your gape, sin is what you are, nothing
but sin. But blessed be God, he found
a way to bring a clean thing out of an unclean. He found a way to make man that
is born of woman clean before himself. In this 12th chapter
of Leviticus, we're shown how he does it. We are given a word
of great comfort in this passage. While it exposes man's ruin,
it also declares God's remedy in four ways. Let me give them
to you. Number one, in verses one and
two, the prophet of God tells us that we are sinners in need
of grace. The Lord spake unto Moses saying,
speak unto the children of Israel saying, if a woman have conceived
seed and born a man child, then she shall be unclean seven days. According to the days of the
separation of her infirmity, shall she be unclean. The woman under the law was made
ceremonially unclean by the birth of a child. No matter whether
the child was a boy or a girl. Why? Because every child born
in this world, except he who was born of the Virgin, our Lord
Jesus, is born a sinner. Unclean before God. The wicked
are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they
are born, speaking lies. After giving birth to the unclean,
the unclean woman was to be separated from the congregation of Israel
seven days for a son, two weeks for a daughter. Now without question,
this law and the instructions here given concerning the birth
of a child were intended by God to teach us three specific things. By this law, preserved here in
the inspired word of God, the Lord God constantly holds before
his people the sin and fall of our father Adam. Wherefore, as
by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin,
and so death hath passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Every time a woman is in travail
with a child, every time a child comes forth from the mother's
womb, every time a newborn baby cries in the burst of new life,
we ought, like those Jewish women of old, while in the days of
their separation, hear the Lord God say, thy first father hath
sinned. Thy first father God created Adam, set him in
the garden. And God commanded Adam, of every
tree in the garden, you may freely eat. I'll give you the whole
thing. Every piece of vegetation, every animal, every fish, every
bird, the whole thing is yours. Just one specific thing. You continually acknowledge that
I'm God. Of this tree, you cannot eat. In the day that you eat thereof,
you shall surely die. He didn't say that to Eve, he
said it to Adam, because Adam was the representative man. And
Eve, being beguiled of the serpent, took the forbidden fruit and
gave it to the man. And Adam said, God, you've got
no right to be God. You don't have the right to take
Eve from me. I will be my God. And he took
the fruit and ate it in anger and wrath and malice against
God Almighty, declaring God has no right to be God. And that's
what the sons of Adam had been doing ever since. Because that's
the second thing, not only did our father Adam sin in the garden,
When he sinned, we sinned in him. I know folks, I don't like
that. You haven't done any better on
your own. When Adam sinned, we sinned in him. Thank God we sinned
in him. Thank God that we sinned by a
substitute. We sinned by a representative.
All men sinned by the sin of one man. All men died by the
death of one man. That gives hope. Maybe there's
another man coming. by whom men will live and by
whom men will be made righteous. And that man is Jesus Christ,
the last Adam. Adam's sin was imputed to our
entire race. And being imputed to the race,
it is imparted to all men by nature, by natural generation,
so that it's transmitted from one generation to the other through
the seed of a man. Every man Tries to convince himself
he's clean, but sin. Sin of our father Adam. That
sin being our sin, thirdly, is sin that separates us from God. When Adam and Eve sinned against
God, God drove them out of the garden. He drove them out of the garden.
drove them away from his immediate presence, drove them away from
blessedness, drove them away from the tree of life, drove
them away in darkness, drove them away in judgment, the cause
of sin. Every man tries to convince himself
that he's righteous and good, but at heart, in the core of
your being, you know you're unclean. You have high elated thoughts
of yourself. Man is proud. Oh, how proud, how vain, how
he lifts himself up. But if your son or your daughter
or your wife or your husband could just hear what you said
inside since you got up this morning. There wouldn't be much
pride left in you. You'd run somewhere to hide because
you know in your heart you're nothing but evil. It doesn't
matter what you say. It doesn't matter how you act
on the outside. Inside there's murder. and rage,
and hatred, and wrath, and adultery, and fornication, and witchcraft,
and superstition, and idolatry, and adultery, and variants of
every kind showing a rebel's hearts. We are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are just filthy rags. I remind
you who are gods, that's where God found us. Jimmy Bowman, that's where God
found you. Shelby Thornton, that's where
God found you. In the pit of corruption and
vileness and filth and sin, He comes to deliver the filthy from
their filth, the ungodly from their ungodliness, the corrupt
from their corruption, and bring us into the glorious liberty
of the sons of God by His grace. Now second, look at verses three,
four, and five. The Lord our God, the God of
all grace, makes sinners clean. by the operation of his mighty
grace. And in the eighth day, the flesh
of his foreskin shall be circumcised, and she shall then continue in
the blood of her purifying three and 30 days. She shall touch
no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days
of her purifying are fulfilled. But if she bear a maid child,
then she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation,
and she shall continue in the blood of a purifying threescore
in six days. Altogether, the time of purifying,
40 days for a boy, 80 days for a girl. In the ceremonial law
by which the child was ceremonially made clean, and brought into
a covenant relationship with God by circumcision. We're given
a picture of what the new birth is, a picture of God's regenerating
grace, a picture of God's saving operations upon the hearts of
men and women when it comes to save. Now when you read in the
scriptures about circumcision in the Old Testament, I know
that papist and Protestants around the world will tell you that
circumcision was a Old Testament picture of baptism. That's what
baptism in the Old Testament was. Nothing like it. You will
search the Scriptures in vain to find ever the slightest comparison
between circumcision in the Old Testament and baptism in the
New Testament. Infant baptism is but a system
of works religion by which men and women bring their children,
presumably saying, we will raise this child in the fear of God,
and sprinkling a little water on his face, that child is given
a foot up toward God. Such work, such practices are
not only not good, they're positively evil. They're positively evil. Most folks I have met, I can't
speak for other people. Some of you have family and friends
greatly involved in such religion. Most people I have met in my
lifetime, who had a little water sloshed on their face as a baby
and were brought up members of the church, have presumed until
their death that they are born of God, because they presume
that baptism is salvation. Circumcision in the Old Testament
did not portray baptism. Baptism is the burial of a man
or of a woman who is a believer, confessing his faith in Christ
Jesus and rising up symbolically out of the watery grave, walking
with God in the newness of life. That's what's pictured in baptism.
Circumcision portrayed the new birth. Circumcision was a picture
of what God calls a circumcision made without hands. The work
of God the Holy Spirit in you. We are the circumcision, Paul
says. We are God's covenant people.
We are those people to whom all the blessings of God belong.
We are God's choice, God's election. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. Worship God from the inside and
rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Circumcision was an act of ceremonial
cleansing and purification. The cutting away of the filth
of the foreskin of the flesh was a ceremonial purification. It was a sign and the seal of
God's covenant and all the blessings of the covenant. God told Abraham,
said, by this you will make your sons Heirs of the covenant. You circumcise him. The eighth
day, every male in your household, circumcise him. And that circumcision
in his flesh shall be a sign to him that he is God's. That's what the new birth is.
How can I know that I'm born again? How can you know that
you're redeemed by the blood of Christ? If he died only for
his elect, and he did. If God saves only his elect,
and he does. If only those who are called
of the Spirit are God's people, and they are. If only those whom
God loved with everlasting love are born again. How can I know
that I'm born again? if God circumcises you in your
heart. The seal of circumcision gives
you faith in Christ. You see, faith is not something
that is a sixth sense. Faith is not like seeing or smelling
or hearing or thinking. Faith is the gift of God. Faith is the operation of God. And only when God comes in by
His Spirit, Sprinkling your heart with the blood of Christ. What
does that mean? Sprinkle your heart, sprinkle your conscience.
He literally takes blood, sprinkles it on you. No, no. What did Moses
do when he sanctified the tabernacle and the furnishings of the tabernacle?
He sprinkled blood. He sprinkled blood. The sprinkling
of the blood said, this is God's, don't touch it. This is God's,
use it for holy things. This is God's, it's sanctified
to God. He took the blood and sprinkled
it. And the blood applied, said, there, that's God's. That's holy. How did he sprinkle the blood?
He gives you faith in Christ. Faith in Christ. I know that
my name is written in heaven, not because of anything I've
ever done, not because of any decision I've made, not because
of anything I have felt, not because of anything I've experienced,
not because of any learning I have. I know that I am loved of God
with everlasting love, that my name is written in the registry
of heaven, that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for me at
Calvary. I know that I've been called,
born again by God's irresistible grace for just one reason. I believe. on the Son of God,
do you? I have no other hope, no other
confidence, no other righteousness, no other atonement, no other
access to God, no other acceptance with God. I believe on the Son
of God. Sometimes believing is expressed
by coming to Christ. Sometimes believing is expressed
by looking to Christ. Sometimes believing is expressed
by laying hold on Christ. Sometimes believing is expressed
by running to Christ. Sometimes believing is expressed
by walking with Christ. Sometimes believing is expressed
by crying to Christ. Sometimes believing is expressed,
Merle, by a woman who's stooped over with an issue of blood for
12 long years, and she can't get up, and she, with a weak, trembling hand, just brushed one finger up against
the hem of his garment, and immediately made whole. You see, our redemption
Our atonement, our righteousness does not lie in our faith. Not the strength of our faith
or the measure of our faith, but in the object of our faith. Just sometimes, David, sometimes
I almost feel like I have strong faith. Sometimes, almost do,
but not usually. Not usually. Not usually. Most of the time it's like that. But the strength is not in the
faith, it's in the object of faith. Our salvation's not in
our believing, but in him in whom we believe. Circumcision. was something that no child volunteered for. No child volunteered for it.
I've known a few men who did, but they regretted it. No child
ever volunteered for it. No child. They were volunteered by their
father. And so it is with all God's children. No son of Adam will ever choose
to believe on the Son of God. It will not happen. Our Savior
tells us plainly, you cannot come to me that you might have
life. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. But preacher, I've always heard
all my life that you've gotta do your part. You've always heard
wrong. You've just always heard wrong. The fellow who told you
that line to you. God doesn't say that, but rather
of his own will begat he us with the word of truth. Those who
are born again are not born again because of the will of man, nor
the will of the flesh, but because of the will of God. John chapter
one. Men and women, who are gods,
are volunteered of God for this circumcision, made not with hands,
in the heart. And it portrays our experience
of grace. Like circumcision, the new birth
is a painful thing. It's a painful thing. You talk
to somebody who's experienced it. I know the whole religious
world. You'll go to work tomorrow and
somebody's sure not going to meet you. So I went to church
last night and got saved. And that's just about how they'll
say it. I suggest you look them square in the eye and say, no,
you didn't. You just got duped. You just got duped. The new birth
involves pain. It's called conviction. Like
circumcision, the new birth is distinguishing. It distinguishes
the sons of God from all other men. Like circumcision, the new
birth is permanent. Circumcision could not be reversed. It's permanent. And God's grace
cannot be reversed. That which God does, he does
forever. Circumcision, like the new birth,
is the seal of the covenant. in whom also ye were sealed after
that ye believed. Sealed, God seals the covenant
to us. Seals to us all the blessings
of the covenant and declares that we are his. After the birth
of her son, every Jewish woman was required under Mosaic law
to keep 40 days of separation from the holy things. Days of
her purifying. Now, I don't begin to pretend
that I know everything those words imply, but I'm equally
certain that those words were not given accidentally. I don't
know that it's true and I don't suggest that it is, but Andrew
Bonar suggested just a thought. He said, perhaps, perhaps these
40 days, of her purifying gives an indication that there was
40 days between the time of Adam's creation as a man and the fall
of man in the garden. But this I know 40 days in scripture
is always connected with something concerning redemption and salvation. It's always connected with something
concerning the loss of sin and the gain of grace. Something
concerning paradise lost and paradise regained. God's wrath
was poured out in judgment upon the earth for 40 days. It rained
40 days and 40 nights. Moses went up into the mount
for 40 days and there sin was identified. God named what it
is. Sin was there cursed. Sin was
there judged. Israel searched out the land
of Canaan for 40 days where God revealed the picture of his grace
and his grace was despised. Israel wandered in the wilderness
for 40 years, one year for every day when they spied out the land.
Goliath berated Israel for 40 days while Israel trembled in
unbelief. Satan and sin, guilt and condemnation
berate our souls and make us tremble as the giant made Israel
tremble until our mighty David steps forth who conquered the
giant for us. When Elijah fled from Jezebel
like a scared rabbit, he was made to see that he was no better
than his fathers, and he sat down under a juniper tree and
wished to die. And when he saw his nothingness,
when he saw his weakness, his sin, the angel of the Lord, the
Lord Jesus Christ appeared to him and fed him with bread and
water. And the prophet of God walked
in the strength of that bread and water for 40 days all the
way to the mount of God at Horeb. Ezekiel was to lay on his side
for 40 days bearing the sins of Judah. Nineveh was under the
curse of God, under the sentence of death for 40 days, bringing
them to conviction and repentance. Our Lord Jesus was driven into
the wilderness to be tempted of the devil 40 days. And then after he was raised
from the dead, 40 days passed between that time and the time
that our Redeemer ascended into glory. Look at verse five. When
a Jewish mother gave birth to a daughter, the days of her purification
were doubled. If she bear a maid child, then
she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her separation, and she
shall continue in the blood of her purifying three score and
six days. I don't know why, we're not told.
Perhaps because the woman was first in transgression. Perhaps
because, as the scripture says, the woman is the weaker vessel. Again, I could spend a little
time there, but our politically correct, insane society that
tells us no. As a matter of fact, I saw some
idiotic legislator, congress lady, something out in California,
gotta come from California, that she has passed some kind of judgment,
some kind of laws you're trying to enforce that you can't use
male and female personal pronouns anymore to speak of people. You
can't say he or her. I guess you say it and it. You
can't do it because that's gender specific is discriminatory. Ladies, be delighted that you're
the weaker vessel. and expect the man in your life
to treat you as such. If you don't get that kind of
gentlemanly treatment from a man, Molly, don't ever even think
about going out with one who won't treat you as a lady. Don't
even think about it. Don't even think about it. You
only court trouble. The woman, the weaker vessel.
Perhaps this separation was more specific. It was intended to
remind every woman who observed the ordinance of God of the fall
and of God's promise that she shall be saved in childbearing,
portraying God's promise to all his elect. In spite of the fall, in spite
of the ruin, in spite of sin, in spite of your weakness, in
spite of your corruption, God's elect shall live by God's power. Third, and oh, how I want you
to see this. The Lord our God condescends
to meet sinners in grace where they are. Grace doesn't wait
for us to rise up and come to God. God comes down to us in
grace. Verse six, and when the days
of her purifying are fulfilled for a son or for a daughter,
she shall bring a lamb of the first year for a burnt offering
and a young pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering unto
the door of the tabernacle of the congregation unto the priest.
who shall offer it before the Lord and make an atonement for
her and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood.
This is the law for her that hath born a male or a female. The woman's uncleanness brought
her to the altar of God with the sacrifice that God required
and God provided to God's priest at God's appointed time. You
see, the Lord God graciously condescended in magnificent mercy
and love to meet the needs of the sinner here portrayed in
the law. If the woman was too poor to
bring a lamb, she could bring a pair of turtle doves or a pair
of pigeons. Why is that? First, the value
of the sacrifice was insignificant. It was he to whom the sacrifice
pointed and his value that was significant. If she was poor,
she could bring two turtles, and that's the kind that crawled
around as turtle doves, or two pigeons, or she could bring a
lamb. The blood of Christ, that alone
is effectual to wash away my sin. And the sacrifice was the
same, no matter who came, rich or poor. No matter who came,
rich or poor, it was a sacrifice accessible to everybody. It was everywhere. You can go
out anywhere and catch a couple of turtle doves. You can go anywhere
and get a couple of pigeons. They were everywhere. Not everybody
could afford a lamb. Anybody could get a turtle dove.
Anybody could get a pigeon, anybody. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
is the sacrifice for sinners, accessible to everybody by faith. accessible to everybody by faith. But preacher, you just spent
a good bit of time telling us we couldn't come to Him, and
it's not by our will. That's exactly right. But it's
your responsibility. It's your responsibility. Well,
that's just not fair. Argue that with God if you want
to, that's the way it is. Bill, God demands you to be holy.
You can't do that either. God demands you to love God with
all your heart, soul, mind, and being. You can't do that either.
God requires you to love me just like you love yourself. You can't
do that either, but it's your responsibility. Inability doesn't
change responsibility. Jesus Christ is a sacrifice accessible
to the fallen sons and daughters of Adam everywhere. He's as close
as a look, as close as a touch. The word is nigh thee, even in
thy heart and in thy mouth. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. Salvation is nearer to you than
the person sitting next door to you. Salvation is in the omnipotent,
omnipresent Christ. Who is the Savior of all who
believe Him? Oh, God give you grace to believe
Him. One last thing, in verse eight,
we see the picture of this fact. Compare the eighth verse with
Luke chapter two and verse 24. And you will see that the Lord
Jesus Christ is particularly and distinctly the Savior of
the poor. If she be not able to bring a
lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young pigeons,
the one for the burnt offering and the other for sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall
be clean. When Mary and Joseph brought
the Lord Jesus into the temple to be circumcised, after the
time of her purifying was over, on the eighth day, the day of
new beginning, They brought him in, and you remember what they
brought? Turtle doves. They brought the
sacrifice of the poor. The sacrifice of the poor. Jesus
Christ, the Son of God, our Redeemer, is particularly and distinctly
the sacrifice of the poor. Not the poor in purse, the poor
in spirit. Not the poor in pocket, the poor
in heart. Listen to me now. Are you listening? He will never save a rich man. He will never save one who thinks
he's rich toward God. like the rich young ruler. One
who thinks he's good. One who thinks he's superior
to others. One who thinks he has a foot
up toward God. One who thinks he's got something
to offer God. But there's no such thing as
a poor sinner. A poor, empty-handed, needy beggar. One who will die but for a crumb
of bread from his table. There's no such thing as a poor
sinner whom he will turn away. Every poor sinner coming to him
is accepted of God, justified, righteous, and clean. Clean. On the day you believe
him, on that day, You are circumcised in your hearts and made clean. It's called the eighth day, the
day of new beginning, the day of new life. Oh God, do that
for you, for Christ's sake, amen.