There's absolutely nothing I
admire more in men than faithfulness. Just flat out dogged dependability. I want to be a faithful man. Faithful to you, faithful to
God, faithful to the gospel. faithful to the work God's given
me, doggedly dependable. And there's nothing that I admire
in God more than his great faithfulness. Oh, how he proves himself faithful. faithful to his word, faithful
to his purpose, faithful to his son, faithful to his people. Great is thy faithfulness. Thank you so much. If there's any one thing this
generation needs to hear, must hear, and must learn, it is this. There is one way, only one way,
God Almighty, sin, just one way. There's only one way that God
can maintain His honor and the honor of His law and still forgive
sin. There's only one way that God
can both refuse to clear the guilty and yet forgive sin. Only one way that he can refuse
to clear the guilty and yet forgive iniquity, transgression, and
sin. Only one way by which the holy
Lord God can be what he declares himself to be, a just God and
a savior. Justice must be satisfied by
a sacrifice. not by just any sacrifice, but
an innocent sacrifice. not just an innocent sacrifice,
but a sacrifice of infinite worth, a sacrifice worthy of God's acceptance,
capable of satisfying God's justice, God's righteousness, and God's
truth. The sacrifice, the only sacrifice
by which God Almighty can ever forgive sin is the sacrifice
of a man, because man has sinned. The sacrifice of a man who is
God. That sacrifice is Jesus Christ,
our Lord and redeemer, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
for sin. that he might be just and justify
those who believe on his son. He did this all to declare his
righteousness, his righteousness in the forgiveness of sin. God
Almighty must be just. He must be righteous, even in
the exercise of mercy and grace, it is written. Christ died the
just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. With his stripes,
we are healed. The Lord of glory, the Son of
God, by his life's blood being poured out at Calvary, died to
redeem us from the curse of the law and give us eternal life. Why? For these two reasons. Number one, justice must be satisfied. There's no other way God can
forgive sin. Number two, because of his great
love with which he loved us. Because the Lord Jesus, the God-man,
our Savior, loved God with all his heart, soul, mind, and being,
and loved us as himself. He freely laid down his life
for us on Calvary's cursed tree. That's the message of the entire
book of Leviticus. The title of my message tonight
is The Sacrifices of the Poor. You'll find my text in Leviticus
chapter one, verses 10 through 17. The Sacrifices of the Poor. I want us to look again at our
Lord's great sacrifice as it is typically set before us in
the ceremonial sacrifices of the poor described in this portion
of Leviticus 1. May God, the Holy Ghost, make
his word and our Savior's work effectual to our hearts as we
look at this portion of scripture. In the first part of this chapter,
verses one through nine, Moses describes for us by divine inspiration
what the law was that God gave him concerning the sacrifices
of burnt offerings by which sinners drew near to God in the typical
ceremonial worship of the legal dispensation. I had a note from
someone last week, a friend of mine who had been listening to
these messages on Leviticus and he said, did I understand you
correctly? The sacrifices offered under
the law were not themselves a means by which God forgives sin. That's
exactly right. Those sacrifices never made atonement
for any sin. And the worshipers of God, those
who came to the altar, those who came to the tabernacle, those
who came to the temple, with sacrifices prescribed by the
law, those who believed God. came looking upon those sacrifices
as being typical, representative, pictures of one who is to come,
the seed of woman, who is God in the flesh, the Messiah, the
Redeemer, who alone could take away sin. In the first nine verses
of the chapter, the Lord God gave instruction concerning the
burnt offerings, the sacrifices of bullocks. In verses 10 through
17, we read about the sacrifices of flocks and fowls, the sacrifices
of the poor. These burnt offerings, like all
the sacrifices of the Old Testament, typified our blessed Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ, God's one effectual sin-atoning sacrifice
by whose blood we have been redeemed. Now, I can't stress this adequately. It can't be stressed with enough
emphasis. It can't be stressed frequently
enough. This generation needs to learn
that God Almighty forgives sin only by the blood of Jesus Christ,
the Lord. All right, let's read the verses
10 through 13 first, and then we'll get to verses 14 through
17. And we'll look at just two things in this portion of scripture.
First, the sacrifices of the flocks, and then the sacrifices
of the turtle doves and pigeons. First in verses 10 through 13,
the Spirit of God tells us what God's law was concerning the
sacrifices of the flocks. These are sacrifices taken from
either the sheep or the goats. Look at verse 10. If his offering
be of the flocks, namely of the sheep or of the goats, for a
burnt sacrifice, he shall bring it a male without blemish, and
he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before
the Lord. And the priest, Aaron's sons,
shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. and he
shall cut it into pieces with his head and his fat and the
priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire
which is upon the altar. But he shall wash the inwards
and the legs with water and the priest shall bring it all and
burn it upon the altar. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering
made by fire of sweet savor unto the Lord. The worship of God
is not a spectator sport. The worshiper was actively involved
in everything connected with this sacrifice. So it is with
life and faith in Christ. The believer, the child of God,
the one who comes to God by faith in Christ is alive and worships
God in spirit and in truth with willing heart, trusting the Lord
Jesus Christ. The victims offered from the
flocks were required to be either from the sheep or from the goats. And you can't help noticing,
that as we read through the book of Leviticus, as we've already
read in chapter 1, there were many, many sacrifices, many sacrifices
given, different kinds of sacrifices in the Old Testament, all of
them representing the Lord Jesus. There were sacrifices of bullocks,
sheep, goats, turtle doves, and pigeons, all named in this first
chapter. Why so many different sacrifices? Because no one sacrifice and
no one thing can adequately portray the person and work of our Lord
Jesus Christ. All the various furnishings in
the tabernacle, all of them are given. Not one of them can adequately
portray the person and work of our Savior. In fact, nothing
can adequately portray Him. All things together cannot adequately
portray Him. The Scriptures constantly give
this challenge. Who is like unto thee? The Lord God says, there is none
else beside me. There is no God like me. Nothing in heaven, nothing in
earth, nothing under the earth that compares to me. Don't try
to compare God to anybody or anything. No such comparison
is to be made. God is represented in Scripture
by many things, and those many things represent various aspects
of the person and work of the triune God, Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost. Yet, as John Gill points out,
each of these sacrifices were themselves very good and fit
emblems of the Lord Jesus, our blessed substitute, in their
own way. The bullocks, or the young ox,
portrayed both our Redeemer's strength and his labor. He is a mighty Savior who labored
in his life, throughout his life, and labored in soul travail to
give us life. The sheep, like our Lord Jesus,
is harmless, innocent, patient, a mild sheep. The goat, the goat
is also a proper type of Christ, both because it's stronger than
the sheep and because the goat is commonly looked upon as something
dirty. Something unclean. If you've
ever been where there are many goats, you'll understand that.
Nobody wants to be around goats. They're dirty. They're just not
stuff you wanna have in the house. Though our Lord Jesus had no
sin and did no sin, he was thought to be a sinner and accused by
wicked men of horrid deeds. They accused him of being a glutton,
a winebibber, the friend of publicans, harlots, and sinners. And they,
in making that accusation, were saying he's not just friendly
to publicans, harlots, and sinners, that's the kind of fella he is.
That's the kind of fella he is. His own kinsman once said he's
beside himself, he's lost his mind. Indeed, our Lord Jesus
came here in the likeness of sinful flesh and was made sin
for us, having all the sins of God's elect imputed to him because
he was made sin and thus deserved the wrath of God poured out upon
him. The turtle dove is here set before
us and the pigeon Beautifully portraying our Savior's meekness,
humility, and grace, as well as the peace he brings to his
people. The offering from the flocks
could either be of the sheep or the goats. Those who were
wealthier in Israel, the princes of Israel, offered bullocks,
oxen. You find that spoken of clearly
in number seven. Those who were poorer, offered
sheep or goats, and the very poorest of the people offered
turtle doves or pigeons. You see, God is no respecter
of persons. If you've ever tried to speak
to someone about election or particular redemption, and they
have been indoctrinated, brainwashed with
religious ignorance. They will say, but God's no respecter
of persons. And that's what the scripture
says. But election and predestination is exactly the opposite of the
idea of God being a respecter of persons. You see, election
is free. Predestination is sovereign.
It's not done because of something in you. When the scriptures speak
of God being no respecter of persons, that means that God
doesn't pay any attention to anything you are, or anything
you do, or anything you have. In Christ, there is no such thing
of importance as male or female, white or black, bond or free,
learned or unlearned. In Christ, all God's people are
accepted only because of Christ, and Christ is all and in all. That means when the scripture
speaks of God being no respecter of persons, he won't give you
his grace. because of something in you,
and he won't deny you his grace because of something in you.
The Savior of the world is equally within the reach of sinners among
all people. Our Lord Jesus Christ, our great
high priest, welcomes sinners with the broad, wide name, Him
that cometh unto me. No sound is sweeter in the ears
of our mighty Aaron than the sound of a sinner coming to him. These sacrifices of the flocks
point to our Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God. The Lamb stands
out in scripture as an imminent type and picture of the Lord
Jesus. Every morning and every evening,
God's priest offered a lamb on the altar of God. every week
and every month and every year. The priest of God came with the
blood of the lamb to the altar of God. And once a year, they
brought the blood of a lamb into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled
it on the mercy seat. They're making atonement for
the children of Israel. He was led, our Savior was, as
a lamb to the slaughter. That's the declaration of all
those sacrifices. All of them do the same thing
as all the prophets, right up to John the Baptist, and all
preachers since John the Baptist, they point away to Christ and
say, behold, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of
the world. Now look at verse 11. The place of the sacrifice
for the lambs is distinctly specified. He shall kill it on the side
of the altar northward before the Lord. And the priest, Aaron's
sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. Why is it specified here that
the blood is to be sprinkled on the side of the altar northward? What's the significance of that?
Turn over to Psalm 48 and you'll see. Psalm 48. Great is the Lord and greatly
to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his
holiness. Beautiful for situation. The
joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. Now watch this. On the
sides of the north, the city of the great king. God is known
in her palaces for a refuge. I want to do everything I can
to inspire in my own heart and in yours a sense of awe, a sense
of awe at the precise revelation of God in Holy Scripture. Our Lord Jesus Christ was here
typified in His sacrifice with the altar being sprinkled or
with the blood being sprinkled on the north side of the altar. Specifically, our Lord Jesus
died on Mount Calvary, which is on the northwest side of Jerusalem. I find it interesting that the
children of Israel every day had a sacrifice called the evening
oblation. Three o'clock in the afternoon,
every day, offered a sacrifice, every day, every day, every day,
every day. And the blood sprinkled on the
north side of the altar, portraying for us that which would come
to pass precisely in the place and precisely at the time that
was typified and prophesied. At the time of the evening oblation,
the Lord Jesus Christ died on the north side of Jerusalem. Now, those who seek to look upon
the scriptures and tell folks this is a myth or the Bible is
just written by men or it's not verbally inspired, by their willful,
deliberate folly, declare themselves utter rebels. refusing to bow
to God and divine revelation, preferring to reject obvious
facts than bow to God and acknowledge who he is. Let us ever cherish
the book of God, this book written by divine inspiration, by which
God not only prophesied with specific detail of events concerning
the person and work of His Son, but then goes on to give us in
the New Testament clear explanation of what all these things mean. And He does so with perfection. With perfection. So when you
read the Word of God, you're not reading just the word of
Moses, or the word of David, or the word of Paul, or the word
of Peter, or of James, you're reading the words of men who
wrote as they were moved by the Spirit of God. Remarkable with
His sovereignty, the Lord God not only inspired every word
in Scripture and calls men to write Just like you would take
a pen and make the mark. So God moved men to write the
scripture. And still he put their personality
in the word written. So that each man spoke the word
of God and wrote the word of God by perfect inspiration and
God using men that make it obvious they wrote as men. And each man's
writing clearly identified with his own personality. I said something
to you Sunday morning about this when we were talking about the
Paul's aside comments. These things that just seem to
be characteristic of Paul. He just, he's writing about something,
oh, wait, wait, I gotta tell you this. but he wrote by inspiration
of God. So every detail given is given
by God with specific purpose and for precise purpose with
precise inspiration. The Bible does not just contain
the Word of God, it is the Word of God. Unlike the bullock in
verse six, There was no requirement that the sheep and the goats
should be flayed. The word flayed is skinned. The flaying, the skinning of
the bullock portrayed the helplessness of the sinner stripped naked
without strength before God and without covering before God.
But the sheep and the goat are naturally helpless. defenseless
animals, a good picture of us. So our attention is called on
the slaughter of the victim, called to pay attention to the
slaughter of the victim, the slaughter by knife. The victim
is hewn, slain in pieces, making it ready for the fire. And so
when the Lord God cried, awake, O sword, against the man that
is my fellow, smite and slay the shepherd, our Lord Jesus
was pierced in his very soul, smitten by the rod of God and
pierced by the sword of justice as the Almighty poured out the
fire of his holy wrath upon our surety. Now look at verse 12.
Both the worshiper and the priest perform these ceremonial ritual
sacrifices and burnt offerings with great reverence, carefully
observing the order of God, carefully doing things as God prescribed. Now I could spend a while talking
about this and perhaps there's need. No, not perhaps, there is great
need. In this religious age, and it's
not much different than other religious ages, there is no place
where God is less reverenced than in church houses. No place
where God is less honored than in activity that's supposed to
be the worship of God. If we would worship God, Merle,
we'll worship God the way he says. And if we don't worship
the way God says worship, all our worship is just religious
activity. God gave specific order in the
Old Testament, and he still gives specific order in the New Testament. And the Lord God Almighty is
to be reverenced in his house. So long as God gives me wisdom
and grace, and so long as I stand before men and lead men in the
worship of God, We will not engage in the tomfoolery that goes on
in religious buildings, calling it worship. But it makes children
feel good, that's not what we're here for. But it makes people
feel important, that's dead sure not what we're here for. But
it entertains people, they'll get a crap, that's not what we're
here for. We're here to hear from God and
worship God, nothing else. Leviticus chapter one, verse
12. He shall cut it into his pieces
with his head and his fat. And the priest shall lay them
in order on the wood that is on the fire, which is upon the
altar. But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water. And the priest shall bring it
all and burn it upon the altar. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering
made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. The same honor
was given to the sacrifices of the poor as were given to the
sacrifices of the rich. Because the only thing that gave
either sacrifice significance, the only thing that made either
sacrifice important was not the sacrifice, but that one to whom
the sacrifice pointed, the antitype, our Lord Jesus Christ. Commenting
on this 12th verse, John Trapp made this observation. I thought
it was very good. He said, gospel preachers must
rightly divide the word of God and evidently set forth Christ
crucified. That is, as the priest divided
the sacrifice by the word of God, those who preach the word
of God faithfully rightly divide the scriptures, give a proper
understanding of scripture, proclaiming Jesus Christ crucified, setting
him forth evidently before those who hear them preach. When I
was in college, I theology professor, was a hyper-dispensationalist. Of course, if you're a dispensationalist,
you're a hyper-dispensationalist. They didn't believe anything
in the Old Testament had anything to do with the church. The only
thing that had to do with the church, it began in the Book
of Acts and went until you get to the Great Tribulation, then
nothing else has to do with us. So you just cut all that out
of Scripture. And he prayed like this almost every time he prayed. And usually I would look at him,
because I wouldn't pay any attention to the prayer. I didn't pretend
to engage in it. He'd say, Lord, help us to cut
up the Word of God. And that's what most folks do.
They cut it up, make it fit the way they want it to. We rightly
divide the word of truth when we show plainly from scripture
that this sets before us Jesus Christ crucified. The washing
of the inward parts and the washing of the legs. I looked at that
for a good while preparing this message today and yesterday. What's the significance here?
A good many have the idea it's talking about the washing of
regeneration by the washing of the water and Word, but that's
not it at all. This is talking about the sacrifice.
Why were the inward parts washed? Why were the legs washed? They
portray our Lord Jesus Christ so that the priest wash them
with water until they're thoroughly cleansed of anything that might
defile because they represent the purity, the holiness, the
righteousness of our blessed Savior inwardly and outwardly. So that when Satan came tempting
him, he found nothing in him. When Pilate examined him in his
behavior, he found nothing wrong with that just man. The sacrificial
laws were very simple. They were crystal clear. But
we must not allow ourselves to get taken up with the ceremony. It is not the ceremony that made
atonement, but the sacrifice. Now understand what I'm saying
here. Some folks get taken up with other things and miss Christ. It is not the meekness and humility
of Christ that saves, but rather the meek, humble Lamb of God,
the Lord Jesus. It is not the righteousness of
Christ that saves us, but it is Christ who is our righteousness. It is not even the doctrine of
substitution that saves us, but Christ, our substitute. It is
not the sovereignty of God that saves us, but Christ, our sovereign
God. No, we must not, we dare not,
we do not separate the doctrine of Christ from his person, but
multitudes, I fear, do. and they bat around doctrine
in an intellectual way, and it means nothing more to them than
whether they're Democrat or Republican, and they trust in doctrine and
trust in knowledge. Ours is a personal Savior, the
God-man, our Redeemer. Now, let's look at the fowls,
verses 14 through 17. And if the burnt sacrifice for
his offering to the Lord be of the fowls, "'Then he shall bring
his offering of turtle doves, "'or of young pigeons. "'And
the priest shall bring it to the altar, "'and wring off his
head and burn it on the altar. "'And the blood thereof shall
be wrung out "'at the side of the altar. "'And he shall pluck
away his crop with his feathers, "'and cast it beside the altar
on the east part, "'by the place of the ashes. "'And he shall
cleave it with the wings thereof. but shall not divide it asunder,
and the priests shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood
that is upon the fire. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering
made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And Lord willing,
I'll come back to this next week. I don't wanna wear you with it
tonight, but let me give you the highlights of this. The dove
is set before us in scripture as a marvelous, beautiful portrayal
of our Savior. His voice is called in the Song
of Solomon, the voice of the turtle. His eyes are described
as eyes of doves by the rivers of water washed with milk and
fitly set. The dove. Inoffensive, quiet, chaste, pure,
tender, peaceful, the dove. What a blessed picture of our
Savior. It was the dove, you'll remember, that brought the olive
branch back to Noah in the ark. And by bringing the olive branch
back to Noah, the dove declared to Noah, judgment's over. The floods go! Everything's all
right. Man and God are at peace again. And it's the voice of Christ
who comes in the gospel in the springtime of grace declaring
peace to guilty sinners because justice has been satisfied. The
turtle doves, pigeons, were so bountiful in the land of Egypt,
or the land of Israel, that no man, no matter how poor, had
any excuse for not bringing one. They could be gotten by anyone
so that anybody in the land, if he didn't have a penny in
his pocket, could catch hold of a dove and bring it as a sacrifice. The doves were free for the taking. That's God's salvation. That's God's savior. Oh, would
to God I could convince everybody who hears my voice. Jesus Christ
is free for the taking. You can have him if you want
him. He's free for the taking. But you believe in election,
take Him. I know you're one of God's elect.
But you preach limited atonement, take Him. I know He redeemed
you. But you preach predestination,
take Him. And understand that God before
the world was predestined you to life everlasting. Lay hold
of Christ the Lord and bring to God the very sacrifice He
requires. Though we have nothing to offer
God, he bids us come and buy without money and without price. Like the dove in Israel, our
Savior is free for the taking. Here's another thing about this
turtle dove. It was slaughtered violently. The priest took it, pinched off his neck, wrung it
out. cut it in pieces, burned it in
fire. Even so, the Lord of glory, the
Son of God, was violently slaughtered by the hands of wicked men and
by the hand of divine justice. Violently slaughtered. all the idolatrous pictures and
scenes portraying the death of Christ, even those that have
him hanging on a cross with a little bit of blood trickling down from
a crown of thorns, everything looks so peaceful, so tranquil,
so quiet. There was nothing peaceful, tranquil,
or quiet about it. His visage was so marred, more
than the sons of men. so that if you could see him
hanging on the tree, if you could see him, your stomach
would be turned and you'd turn away from him. Oh God, get that
sight out of my eyes. I can't stand to look upon such
a repulsive thing. So it was that the Lamb of God
was violently slaughtered under the wrath of God by the purpose
of God as our sacrifice. The sacrificing sinner took the
turtle dove and plucked off his crop. That is, he reached and
as he plucked off his crop, he grabbed his entrails and pulls
them out with his feathers. Cast all upon the ground by the
altar, the place of ashes, as if out of God's sights. The crop
refers to the entrails, the waste, the dung, the filth of the animal. It's not washed, it's grabbed
and taken and thrown in the ash pile. That's our sin. The feathers are the dove's beautiful
covering. Oh, the thing that sets it apart
is a dove. The thing that distinguishes
it from other birds, that's our righteousness. Both forever cast
away. God, by the sacrifice of his
Son, has cast away our sins, buried them in the sea of infinite
forgetfulness, cast them behind his back and swears that he will
remember them against us no more again forever. And the sinner
coming to Christ, believing on the Lord Jesus, cast away his
righteousness. You men lead us in prayer. Listen
as we pray in public. And as you pray in private, I'm
sure. Hardly ever come to God but what we don't acknowledge
our sin and cast off our righteousness. And it's something we just have
to keep doing because it's like cobwebs, it just sticks on us. Just gotta keep casting it off.
God cast away our sins and we cast off our righteousness. One
more thing. like the bullock, the lamb, the
sacrifice of the dove, is a sweet-smelling savor to God. The Lord Jesus,
our Savior, is a sweet-smelling sacrifice to God. And you and
I, believing on Him, are a sweet-smelling savor to God. Imagine that. God now accepteth thee. God now accepteth thy works. Accepted with Jesus Christ the
Lord. Accepted as he is accepted. Accepted for the same reason
he is accepted. accepted with the same immutability
with which He is accepted, one with our Savior. We bring God
this sacrifice that is a sweet smelling savor to God and God says you who are His are accepted
in the beloved. That's the message of the sacrifices
of the poor. Amen.