I suppose that there are very
few people in this world who have ever had any thought or
comment about Christianity, about God and the things of God who
hasn't asked the question, where did sin come from? Why? Why did God permit sin? Some even blasphemously challenge
if there is a God in heaven, why does sin exist? I'm not at
all interested in asking the cavils of men, nor in prying
into things that are not plainly revealed in Scripture. But understand
this, God did not just permit Satan's fall. He did not just
permit Adam's fall. We know that because we're told
in Romans chapter five, plainly, that Adam fell being a picture,
being himself a similitude of the Lord Jesus Christ, the last
Adam, in his great act of redemption. We know that Satan's fall was
not accidental. It did not take God by surprise
because we read when God speaks of Satan's fall, this is the
purpose that is purposed in the whole earth. These things came
to pass exactly according to the will and purpose of God. Now understand what I'm saying.
These things came to pass exactly according to the will and purpose
of God. Nothing in God's creation, nothing
is ever out of order. Nothing in God's creation ever
comes to pass except by God's decree and by God's order. Now I know folks, Raised a lot
of challenges about that. My answer is take it up with
God. God is God and he's plainly stated such in his word. Turn
with me if you will to Leviticus chapters five and six again.
My subject tonight is restitution made. If you read Exodus chapter
21, 22 and 23, you will see various laws given requiring restitution. These laws of restitution that
were made and those given in my text this evening here in
Leviticus 5 and 6. Restitution required by God for
any wrong done by any man against another. Sacrifices were required
for atonement And the restitution and the sacrifices were not intended
merely to teach a moral precept of restitution. There are a good
many who would say that you need to take these things and if you've
wronged somebody, you need to look them up and make restitution.
I've known folks even suggest that if a man who's committed
crimes, he needs to go confess his crime and make restitution.
That is not the purpose for the giving of these laws. Rather,
these things were written to teach by precept and by picture
that the Lord Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, would, by His great
work of redemption, turn the tables completely. He would make
a full restitution of all things to the everlasting praise of
the triune God. You find the word restitution
used in Acts chapter 3, where the scripture tells us there's
a day appointed, a day called the restitution of all things. What a day that shall be, when
everything restored as God in his law here pictures it to the
praise of his great glory. These sacrifices testify that
which we read of our Lord Jesus in Psalm 69 verse 4 when he said,
then I restored that which I took not away. Now let's look here
at Exodus chapters five and six, and I wanna talk to you about
restitution made, or the glory of the Lord revealed. Look at
verse 15, Exodus chapter five. If a soul commit a trespass and
sin through ignorance in the holy things of the Lord, then
he shall bring for his trespass unto the Lord a ram without blemish
out of the flocks, with thy estimation, by shackles of silver, after
the shackle of the sanctuary, for a trespass offering. And
he shall make amends for the harm that he hath done in the
holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give
it unto the priest. And the priest shall make an
atonement for him with the ram of the trespass offering, and
it shall be forgiven him. Chapter six, verse two. If a
soul sin and commit a trespass against the Lord, and lie unto
his neighbor in that which was delivered him to keep, or in
fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived
his neighbor, or hath found that which was lost, and lieth concerning
it, and sweareth falsely in any of all these that a man doeth,
sinning therein, Then shall it be, because he hath sinned and
is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently
away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which
was delivered to him to keep, or the lost thing which he found,
or all that about which he hath sworn falsely. He shall even
restore it in the principle and add the fifth part more thereto. and give it unto him to whom
it appertaineth in the day of his trespass offering. And he
shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord, a ram without
blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation for the trespass
offering unto the priest. And the priest shall make an
atonement for him before the Lord, and it shall be forgiven
him for anything of all that he hath done in trespassing therein. Now the law of God demanded,
the law of God demanded that anyone who wronged another repair,
not only repair, but also that the one wronged be benefited
and made to gain by the injury that was done to him. That's
what the law of restitution requires. He's to come and give back what
he took deceitfully and add a fifth part thereto. It is God primarily
who has been wronged in all his rights by sin. And yet man too
has been wronged, but the Lord God in his infinite wisdom has
fixed it so that both he and his people shall be made gainers
by the injury done. When I think of that, I'm utterly
overwhelmed. the fall of Israel has been overruled
by our Heavenly Father for the riches of the world and the glory
of his own great name as it tells us plainly it has in Romans chapter
11. So the fall of Satan and the
entrance of sin into the world by the fall of our father Adam
has been, is being, and shall be made to redound to the everlasting
riches of God's elect and the glory of his own great name.
Yes, God, the God of glory, works all things. Every time you think
of that statement in Romans 8, 28, try to picture that word
all things in all bold face capital letters with an exclamation point,
all things, all things, nothing excepted. He works all things
together for the good of his people and the glory of his name. Satan will gain nothing by the
havoc he's wrought in God's creation. He will achieve absolutely nothing. There is nowhere, no place, no
time when Satan shall be victor over God. Here's the glory of
the cross. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. The trespass offering declares
this. Because sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Yes, I
chose my words deliberately. Both God and man have gained
more by the forgiveness of sin through the blood of Christ than
was lost by the sin and fall of our father Adam. The Lord
God has arranged things, all things, even the sin and fall
of our father Adam, for the everlasting good and happiness of his people. We in the end shall lose nothing,
but only gain by what happened in the garden. We in the end
shall lose nothing, but only gain by what happened in the
garden. The gain obtained is not by sin. Oh no, I don't suggest
that, think better imply that. The thing obtained is not by
sin, but by redemption. Indeed the sin and fall of Adam
itself was by divine purpose. And it was by divine purpose
to be a picture of our redemption in Christ. Martin Luther. understood
what I'm trying to say. He said with regard to Adam's
sin in the garden, oh, blessed fall. Oh, blessed fall. Had there been no fall, no sin,
no condemnation, you and I could never have known the wonders
of redemption. Had there been no fall, no sin, no condemnation,
we could never have known the glories of grace. Had there been
no fall, no sin, no condemnation, no death, we would never have
known what it is to be made partakers of Jesus Christ in the new life
of grace. Grace not only cuts up sin by
the roots and ultimately destroys it. Grace makes chosen sinners
to be the eternal beneficiaries of Satan's works. Still, there's
more. The Lord God himself has gained
more by redemption than ever he lost, if I can be permitted
to use such language. God himself has gained more by
redemption than ever he lost by the fall of man. God reaps
a richer harvest of glory in the fields of grace than could
ever have been reaped in the garden of innocence. The sons
of God raise a more lofty song of praise around the empty tomb
of our crucified Redeemer than we could ever have raised in
the Garden of Eden. The injury done by sin has not
only been perfectly atoned for and remedied by the blood of
Christ, but God has gained by the cross. What did he gain? He has gained the praise and
the glory of his grace. Surely the wrath of man shall
praise thee, and the remainder of wrath wilt thou restrain.
This is such a stupendous truth. God, the eternal, holy, triune
Lord God, has gotten himself great gain by the work accomplished
by our all-glorious Christ at Calvary. Who could ever have
conceived such a thing? When we see man and the creation
over which man once was Lord, laid in a heap of ruins at the
feet of Satan, how could we ever imagine that from amid the ruins
of the great fall, the God of glory would gather a crown for
his holy head, which could not be gotten any other way? Sometimes
men ask, sometimes we think ourselves, how can this be good? What good
can come of this? We can't even conceive good coming
of evil in our present circumstances, let alone from all evil from
its origin to the end, bringing honor to God at last in the restitution
of all things. It was ever the eternal purpose
of God, the all-wise God, to glorify himself and reveal his
glory to all creation by the accomplishment of redemption
through Jesus Christ at Calvary. Our Lord said in John 12, in
anticipation of his death, now is the judgment of this world. Now is the judgment of this world. He's saying this, this is the
crucial hour. This is the hour for which the
world was made. This is the hinge on which all
history turns. I created all things so that
I might die this death at Calvary and redeem my people. Now let's
see if I can make good on that. Turn over to Isaiah chapter 40,
Isaiah 40. God's giving his command to every
man who speaks in his name throughout history. He says, comfort ye,
comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to
Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished,
that her iniquity is pardoned. For she hath received of the
Lord's hand double for all her sins. The voice of him that crieth
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight
in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked
shall be made straight, and the rough places plain. That is,
I'm gonna level everything out. Make everything easy and smooth. And the glory of the Lord shall
be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it. The glory of the Lord shall be
revealed. That glory of the Lord is Jesus
Christ our Redeemer, the incarnate God-man, our mediator, our surety,
our substitute, our Savior. Jesus Christ is the embodiment
of the glory of God. More than that, Jesus Christ
himself is the Lord of glory. He is that one in whom dwells
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When Isaiah said the
glory of the Lord shall be revealed, he spoke prophetically with regard
to the incarnation of Christ. He was saying, God the Son shall
come in human flesh. God the Son shall come possessing
all the glory of the glorious God. And in him, God shall be
seen of all men. God shall be seen of all men
in his glory, for this man is God. God's glory was revealed
in our Savior when he was sent on a mission of mercy into this
world to redeem and save his people. But Isaiah's words are
more full of meaning than that. The glory of the Lord is displayed
in the attributes of his being. His glory is that which sets
him apart from all his creatures and identifies himself as God
over all blessed forever. Isaiah is telling us that the
glory of God, all the glory of God's attributes, all that which
sets him apart from all his creatures as God alone is revealed in Jesus
Christ crucified at Calvary. David said the heavens declare
the glory of God and they do, they do. I love to, just by myself,
sit on a hillside and look over God's creation. I love to sit
out on a clear night and look into the heavens. I love to sit
by the ocean and look at God's handiwork. And we see the wisdom
and power of God in creation. But the believer sees something
in redemption, something of the glory of God in redemption. causes the wisdom and power of
God's glory revealed in creation to pale into insignificance. We see God in His glory in the
crucified Christ, the glory of the cross, reveals the glory
of God in its fullness, in the saving of poor, fallen, helpless,
doomed, damned sinners. That's the glory of God revealed. Turn to 2 Corinthians chapter
5, 2 Corinthians 5. This glory, most people can never
see because it's hidden from them. Shelby and I were talking the
other day, I forgot where we were driving, but she was asking
about the disciples after the resurrection not knowing the
Lord because he hid himself from them. He hid himself from them. You
see, the only way, Bill, you can see him any time is if he
makes himself known. The only way you can hear him
is if he causes you to hear him. The only way you can know Him
is if He causes you to know Him. And to the unbelieving, He is
hidden, but He's revealed to the believing. Look here at 2
Corinthians chapter four, I'm sorry, not chapter five, verse
four. In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds
of them which believe not. That God, I remind you again,
is not rightly written in our English Bibles with a little
g. Satan is not the God of this world. He's talking about him
who alone is God. Our God, the God of this world,
hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should
shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves,
but Christ Jesus the Lord. and ourselves your servants for
Jesus' sake. For God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to do what? To give light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So that the
revealing of Christ crucified by the gospel is the revelation
of the glory of God. Would you see God's glory? Look to Christ. Would you see
God's glory at any time? Look to Christ. Would you see
God's glory in any circumstance? Look to Christ and behold in
Him the glory of God. And we behold it now in our text
this evening in the restitution of all things whereby the glory
of the Lord is revealed. Let me show you four aspects
of this revelation clearly set before us in the cross. First,
in the cross of Christ, I see the glory of God's wisdom and
knowledge and see it more fully than it can be seen in any other
way. Oh, the depth of both the wisdom
and knowledge of God. How unsearchable are his judgments
and his ways past finding out. Adam saw the wisdom of God in
creation more clearly than any man has seen it or could see
it since the fall. But Adam could not and did not
see the glory of God's wisdom in redemption until he experienced
it. I know caviling will worshipers
cry and I'll have folks probably write to me or call me or write
stuff about me when I hear this, but that's all right. They say,
if that's true, if God has ordained all things, then let us sin that
grace may abound. Let none be so foolish, though
it is the wisdom of God that ordained sin. It is the justice
of God that punishes sin. And in God's infinite wisdom,
he has so arranged things that the ungodly, the reprobate, earn
for themselves everlasting condemnation by their rebellion against the
light God gives them. Believing hearts don't challenge
God's wisdom. I'm not looking for something
to say, I want that to sink in. Believing hearts don't challenge God's
wisdom. If you read something in this
book that just knocks you on your backside, you bow, you bow. Believing hearts don't challenge
God's wisdom, we adore it. Here is the glory of God's wisdom.
Proverbs 16, six, by mercy and truth, iniquity is purged. No other way. By mercy and truth. Iniquity could never be purged
and truth maintained unless some way known only to infinite wisdom
is found to do it. Unless some infinitely wise arrangement
could be made to both satisfy the infinite rigid requirements
of truth while exercising absolute mercy. And that comes only in
the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Righteousness and peace could
never meet together in any other place. The glory of God's wisdom
could not be revealed in any other way except by substitution. By the substitution of an infinite
meritorious substitute. who is able to satisfy all the
justice of God. And now in Christ, by his death
at Calvary, mercy and truth are met together. Turn to that 89th
Psalm. Somebody read this just recently
here. Psalm 89, or Psalm 85 rather, verse nine. Surely, His salvation is come nigh them
that fear him. That glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Now watch
this. Truth shall spring out of the earth. Now I'm confident
that's talking about the resurrection of our Lord. And righteousness
shall look down from heaven. Our Lord Jesus, sitting upon
the throne of glory, reigns in righteousness to the saving of
his people. Creation's open volume stands
and speaks God's praise abroad, and everything made by his hands
declares that he is God. But in the grace that rescued
man, God's brightest glory shines. For on the cross, how wise the
plan, it's drawn in crimson lines. Behold the wonders of the cross,
where God our Savior died, my spirit life eternal draws from
Jesus' bleeding side. I shall forever praise the name
of God all wise alone, whose glory is seen in Christ the Lamb,
whose blood for sin atoned. Here's the second thing. In the
cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, I see the glory of God's mercy,
love, and grace clearly revealed. as it could not be known in any
other way. I don't suggest that the love
of God is not revealed in other ways, in other acts of his goodness,
or in other places. It certainly is. I'm certain
that in the garden, Adam knew the love of God in sweet communion. He knew the love of God in benevolence. He knew the love of God in providing
all his needs. But he could not know the love
of God as he knows it in redemption, and as we know it in redemption.
He knew the love of God only as the holy angels of heaven
know the love of God, only in communion with him, only in his
benefits given to them, but not in redemption. The glory of God's
love, the glory of it, could not be known had there been no
fall. It is revealed only in the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read of God's everlasting
electing love and rejoice. We give thanks to our God for
his eternal adopting love. Behold, what manner of love the
Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the sons
of God. But the glory of the love of God is revealed only
at Calvary. Listen to the scriptures. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life. For when we were yet without
strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely
would a righteous man For scarcely for a righteous man will one
die, yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die,
but God commendeth his love toward us. God takes out his love and
shows it to us like this. And that while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us, hereby perceive we the love of God. Because he
laid down his life for us. Here in his love, here it is,
not that we love God, but he loved us and gave his son to
be the propitiation for our sins. One of the hymn writers put it
this way, could we with ink the ocean still? And were the skies
of parchment made, were every stalk on earth the quill, and
every man a scribe by trade, to write the love of God above
would drain the oceans dry, nor could the scroll contain the
whole, though stretched from sky to sky. Love is known by
its deeds, but love is also known by comparison. Those who vainly imagine that
they are wiser than God, and most people do, tell us that
God loves all men. Others among them would have
us believe that the love of God would have been more greatly
revealed had there been no entrance of sin into the world. But the
wisdom of God ordained the entrance of sin into the world. And that
wisdom is displayed here. By the sin and fall of our father
Adam, By the ruin of the whole human
race in that fall, the Lord God shows the glory of his love in
saving some. The Son of God loved me and gave
himself for me. The Son of God loved me and gave
himself for me. I love you, I really do, I really
do. But I can't tell you with honesty,
I love you like I do her. I should, but I can't tell you
that with honesty. I wouldn't be honest to say that.
She knows my love in a way you can never know my love, don't
you? and believers, saved sinners,
redeemed by the blood of Christ, know the love of God for them
by comparison as well. What multitudes, what multitudes,
what multitudes, nobler, wiser, better, more useful, more advantageous,
indescribably more attractive than I, he has passed by and
he said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. And Esau Lindsay
could never know that love. He could never know it. Only
Jacob could know it. If the Lord had kept all from
sinning, if he had saved all, How could we know the intensity,
the devotion, the freeness? Let me coin a word, the sowness. God so loved the world. Isn't that a great word? God
so loved the world of his elect. His elect scattered through every
corner of the earth. God so loved us that no word
can be fetched from human language that describes that love. He so loved us. He so loved us that he gave himself
for us. Love displayed by these things,
self-sacrifice, and this self-sacrifice and this comparison. God sacrificing
himself for us and God loving us distinctly is the revelation
of the glory of our Savior's love. We see the glory of God's
love in the fact that his love is discriminating love. And we
love him because he first loved us. His love has won us. His love has conquered us. His
love has prevailed over us. His love has caused us to love
him as he makes his love known to us. Horatius Bonar wrote these
words. I thought they were outstanding.
Oh, love of God, how strong and true. eternal and yet ever new,
uncomprehended and unbought, beyond all knowledge and all
thought. We read thee best in him who
came to bear for us the cross of shame sent by the Father from
on high, our life to live, our death to die. Oh, love of God,
our shield and stay through all the perils of our way, eternal
love, In thee we rest forever safe, forever blessed. Here's the third thing. As I
behold the Son of God hanging upon the curse tree, made to
be sin, bearing all the terror of God's holy wrath, forsaken
of God and slain in his fury, I see in that crucified Redeemer
the glory of God's absolute truth, His infinite inflexible justice,
and His infinite immaculate holiness. Here is justice. Christ is made
sin. What can God, the holy God, do
with him who's made sin? How can God God who is truth,
deal with him who's made sin. God who said, the soul that sinneth,
it shall die. What shall become of him who's
made sin? Justice says, destroy him, kill
him, slay him, pour out the hail of God's fury upon him. And justice
slaughtered God's darling son when he was made sin for us. We see the glory of God's justice
in the face of his darling son when we recognize that we are
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that's
in Christ Jesus. When the holy Lord God looks
on the shed blood of Christ, he looks on him in justice, in
holiness, in truth. And this is what he says, beholding
the sacrifice of his son, concerning all the trespasses of his people. Concerning all our sins, concerning
all our iniquities, enough. Enough. I require no more! No other sacrifice can be given. This is enough. Oh, how holy,
how just, how true the God of glory must be. When he found
sin on his son, his own beloved son, he spared not his son, but
delivered him up for us all. When God the Son bore the wrath
of God in his own body, in his own soul, in his own heart on
the cursed tree, he satisfied the justice of God. And now the
Lord God Almighty forgives sin freely through the sacrifice
of his Son. One more thing. I'll wrap this
up quickly. I won't say much about this,
but that doesn't mean it's insignificant, it's not. In the cross of Christ,
I see the glory of God's absolute universal sovereignty and his
absolute goodness to his people. I see his sovereignty and his
goodness in the crucified Christ as it cannot be seen anywhere
else. When Moses said to the Lord, show me thy glory, he said,
I will make all my goodness pass before thee. and I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. Now here is the glory of God's
sovereign goodness, the glory of his grace. God is gracious. God is gracious. He delights
in mercy. He delights to forgive sin. God
is gracious. and God will be gracious to whom
he will be gracious. He is sovereignly gracious. God
makes even the wrath of man to praise him and work for the good
of his chosen. So the Satan, who dared imagine
that he could thwart the purpose of God and led a rebellion in
heaven and leads the rebellion of men and demons on the earth
in hell. He is but the servant of God
to accomplish his purpose of grace toward his elect. Our Lord Jesus, when he said
on the cross, it is finished, declared that he had restored
that which he took not away and made restitution. Restitution
according to the commandment of God's law. Not only did he
overturn what happened in the garden, he made fallen sinners,
heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ, one with him, loved
with him, accepted in him, delightful to God in him, forever blessed
in him. And when God gets done, Ephesians
2, 7 tells us he will spread his people, all his ransomed
out before wandering worlds. And say, look here, what grace
has done. To the praise of the glory of
his grace, who has done, is doing, and shall forever do all things
well. Amen.