Leviticus chapter 21. Leviticus
21. The title of my message tonight
is Restitution Required. Our text will be Leviticus 21
verse 7 through chapter 23 and verse 8. That's a rather lengthy
text. But in this lengthy series of
laws, statutes, and judgments, the Lord God sets before us His
wisdom and His justice, as well as His mercy, love, and grace. In these laws, the guilty are
required by divine justice either to make restitution or to suffer
punishment. God requires one or the other
from all offenders. either restitution or punishment. As we read the law, we cannot
avoid observing the fact that the law represents justice as
being blind to one's circumstances and condition. The law, as it's
given here, refuses to allow any mercy because of extenuating
circumstances. Look in verse 2 of chapter 23. After giving all these laws,
the Lord God says, thou shalt not follow a multitude to do
evil, neither shalt thou speak in a cause to decline after many
to rest or to mangle or to twist justice. Neither shalt thou countenance
a poor man in his cause. Oh, but the man's poor if he
stole something, either punish him are required to make restitution. If he's unable to make restitution,
he must be punished, though he be ever so poor. Restitution
or punishment. Verse 6, Thou shalt not rest
the judgment of the poor in his cause. He's not to be given mercy
because he's poor, nor is he to be oppressed because he's
poor. Now this is the long and short
of that. If one is poor, he's to be given no injustice and
no extenuated mercy. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. And by that same law, look at
chapter 23 again, verse 7, the Lord God requires and justice
requires that the guiltless and the innocent be protected. Exodus
23, 7. Keep thee far from a false matter,
and the innocent and the righteous slay thou not, for I will not
justify the wicked. Now that's the ultimate conclusion
God gives to this long list of statutes and judgments. He says
do not allow one's outward condition his outward circumstances to
cause any unjust oppression or any unjust mercy, and do not
punish the innocent and the guiltless. They're protected by justice. Now let me summarize the contents
of our lengthy text. In chapter 21, beginning at verse
7, the Lord speaks about a maid who is betrothed to her master.
And that maid who is betrothed to a master to be married to
him, if he pleases her not, or she pleases him not, he has dealt
with her deceitfully, and he is allowed to put her away. But
if he puts her away, he is to provide for her and to redeem
her. And then in the rest of this
21st chapter, we're given continual repetition of this fact. God
requires eye for eye, tooth for tooth, Ox for ox, ass for ass,
sheep for sheep, and life for life. God requires any wrong
done, restitution must be made, or the exact same wrong shall
be done to you. Now, let's read chapter 22, beginning
of verse 1. And if you don't mind marking
in your Bible, I want you to mark, underscore certain words. They're very, very, very important.
Exodus 22 verse 1. If a man shall steal an ox or
a sheep and kill it or sell it, he shall restore five oxen. Ox for ox. Only he restores five. Underscore the word restore.
And four sheep for a sheep. If a thief be found breaking
up and be smitten that he die, there shall be no blood shed
for him. If the sun be risen upon him,
there shall be blood shed for him, for he should make full
restitution. Underscore, full restitution. If he have nothing, then he shall
be sold for his theft. Verse 4, if the theft be certainly
found in his hand alive, Whether it be ox or ass or sheep, he
shall restore double. Underscore it again. Restore
double. If a man shall cause a field
or a vineyard to be eaten and shall put in his beast and shall
feed in another man's field of the best of his own field and
of the best of his own vineyard, shall he make restitution. Make
restitution. Underscore it. If fire break
out, and catch in thorns, so that the stacks of corn, or the
standing corn, or the field, be consumed therewith, he that
kindled the fire shall surely, there it is again, make restitution. If a man shall deliver unto his
neighbor money, or stuff to keep, and it shall be stolen out of
the man's house, if the thief be found, let him pay double,
underscore, pay double. If the thief be not found, then
the master of the house shall be brought unto the judges to
see whether he hath put his hand unto his neighbor's goods. For
all manner of trespass, whether it be for ox, for ass, for sheep,
for raiment, or for any manner of lost thing, which another
challengeth to be his, the cause of both parties shall come before
the judges, and whom the judges shall condemn He shall pay double
unto his neighbor, underscore it, pay double. If a man deliver
unto his neighbor an ass, or an ox, or a sheep, or any beast
to keep, and it die, or be hurt, or driven away, no man seeing
it, then shall an oath of the Lord be between them both, that
he hath not put his hand unto his neighbor's goods, and the
owner of it shall accept thereof, accept the oath, And he shall
not make it good. And if it be stolen from him,
he shall make restitution. There it is again. Underscore
it. He shall make restitution unto the owner thereof. If it
be torn in pieces, then let him bring it for a witness. And he
shall not make good that which was torn. And if a man borrow
aught of his neighbor, and it be hurt or die, the owner thereof
being not with it, he shall surely make it good. Underscore it,
make it good. But if the owner thereof be with
it, he shall not make it good. If it be an hired thing, it came
for his hire. And if the man entice a maid
that is not betrothed, and lie with her, he shall surely endow
her to be his wife. If her father utterly refused
to give her unto him, he shall pay money according to the dowry
of virgins. What is that, 14, 15 times? God says, restore, make it good,
pay double, make restitution. Those are four different English
translations, all given for exactly the same Hebrew word. Reckon
why, in the course of 17 verses, actually in the course of 14
verses, God gives four different translations, our English translators
give four different translations for the same Hebrew word used
in the original text. It is because the word is one
of those words with such a wide range of meaning, such depth
of meaning, that it's really impossible to translate it by
merely giving one word to translate it. This word means restore,
obviously. It means make good. It means
pay double. It means make restitution. And it also means make safe,
make complete, make amends, make recompense, make perfect, make
an end, finish full, and make peaceable by performing restitution. I take it then, the passage is
obviously talking about reconciliation. Atonement. Restitution. Atonement is the word that we
use referring to God and man being made one, at one with. Restitution is that which has
been wronged being restored. Only God requires that that which
has been wronged, the offense, be given restitution double. Double payment be made. The restitution
has to do with these crimes that are listed. And then he specifically
calls our attention to some crimes for which no restitution could
be made under the law. Look at verse 18. Thou shalt
not suffer a witch to live. Not that witches have supernatural
power. They don't. They're in league
with hell and pretend to have supernatural power. Whosoever
lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death. And he that
sacrificeth unto any God save unto the Lord Jehovah only, he
shall be utterly destroyed. Now the very fact that these
laws were made gives a hint at the utter depravity of the human
heart. God makes laws here dealing with
crimes that are hardly imaginable. Witchcraft, bestiality. These are things that are evils
that almost always historically go hand in hand with homosexuality. Idolatry. All these things run
along the same line and they have historically. They were
common in Egypt and they were common among the Canaanites,
among whom the children of Israel would dwell in the land of Canaan.
One commentator made this observation. There are crimes here forbidden
which would seem to place man as regards his habits and tendencies
below the level of a dog. Yet do those very statutes prove
beyond all question that the most refined and cultivated member
of the human family carries in his bosom the seeds of these
evils. You and me. Next, in verses 21
through 27, the Lord God demands by law that His people be not
oppressive or severe, but merciful. And He gives a good reason. Look
at the last statement in verse 27. Don't be oppressive, be merciful. You've got a fellow who's covering,
don't keep it, he needs it tonight. You loan some money, don't take
usury for it. Don't be oppressive, be merciful. For I am gracious. And then in verse 28, we are
explicitly told that we are never to speak evil of our civil magistrates,
whom the Lord here calls gods over us. Thou shalt not revile
the gods. nor curse the ruler of thy people.
Doesn't matter whether you like President Bush or not, he's your
president. Speak reverently of him. He's God's representative. And the next one will be, too.
Doesn't matter whether you like them or not. Don't revile those
whom God has placed over you. They are God's servants for your
good. Otherwise, they would not be
there. We're to honor those who are in authority God's servants
to us. We wonder why we have such rebels
in our homes, why we have such so much trouble getting our sons
and daughters to treat those in authority with respect. It
may just be because we treat those in authority with such
disrespect. Don't revile those whom God has
placed over you. All right, now look at verses
29 and 30. Here our God reminds us again
that the firstfruits and the firstborn are His, and they must
not be withheld from Him. Then in verse 31, He gives us
a reason for giving all these laws, and you shall be holy men
unto me. You shall be separated from all
other people. You shall be sanctified unto
me. You shall be made hallow unto
me. Now people have the notion. I had a fellow stop by the house
Sunday afternoon after conference. He wanted to talk to me because
he had observed some things he didn't think were tasteful for
Christians. And he was talking about how
Christians are different. Christians are different. I said,
exactly how you talking about? Well, you've got to look different
and talk different and act different than other folks. And by these
things, you separate yourselves from the world. We separate ourselves
in the world, not by determining whether we wear buttons or zippers,
but by worshiping God Almighty as he set forth in this book.
And the separation God's doing and not ours. Did you hear me? The separation is God's doing,
not ours. I told my family, Doug and Faith
and Shelby after this is over, I said I've been, now the thing
I told somebody, Darvin, somebody was visiting with me the next
day, I've been pastoring for almost 40 years. Do you know
what I have never had happen in 40 years? I've never had this
happen. I've been asked lots of questions.
I've had folks ask me whether or not the Temple Mount has been
re-erected and the Temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, and when it's going
to happen that the Lord's going to come again into the Temple.
I've had folks ask me to tell them when the Lord's coming again.
I've had folks to ask me about pre-millennialism, post-millennialism,
and all-millennialism, and I've had them get upset over my answer
on all of them. But I've never had anybody, not
one time, ask me, Do you think a Christian should, with reference
to himself? Not one time. I mean never. I've never had anybody come off
the street, come to me after I got done preaching, say, Brother
Don, you know I kind of like to have gravy with breakfast
in the mornings. You think a Christian ought to have gravy with his
eggs? Or I like to wear shorts. Do you think a Christian ought
to wear shorts? Or I tend to like to wear my hair a little
longer than most men. Do you think a Christian ought to wear
long hair? I've never had it happen. Not in 40 years. What they do ask me, do you think
a Christian ought to do what I saw Bobby Estes doing? Do you
think a Christian ought to do what I saw Carol Brown doing?
Do you think a Christian woman ought to dress like Shelby Fortner
dresses? You think they really should? They always ask about
somebody else. And you know what I always tell
them? Ain't none of your business. And that's when I'm being real
nice. None of your business. None of your business. God Almighty
did not make you the judge of your brother or of your sister. And it sure didn't make me that.
We have enough to do to determine what we should do. Well, what's
he talking about here? He says, you shall be holy men
unto me. How is it that we're made holy?
How can sinners be separated from sinners and sanctified to
the Lord God? The answer is in that which we
just read. We shall be made holy by a complete
restitution made for all offenses. God requires restitution, and
by that restitution that God performs, he makes us a holy
people by his omnipotent grace. I remind you, this long list
of laws, these laws of restitution, is introduced by the law of the
bond slave, verses 1 through 6 of chapter 21. The Lord God
has made us holy by the obedience of Jesus Christ, his son, his
voluntary bond-slave, Jehovah's righteous servant, our blessed
Lord Jesus, because of his love for his father and his love to
his captive wife and children, cheerfully bowed himself to our
God as Jehovah's servant. and cheerfully gave his ear to
be bored through with it all, publicly avowing himself to be
bond slave for life. And he came here, and he said,
as he came into this world, he said, I gave my back to the smiters
and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, for the Lord God
is near that will help me. And he gave himself to be Jehovah's
servant, fully accomplishing all that was required for the
liberty of his wife and his sons, whom he loved dearly, and he
would not go out free until he had obtained that which he sought,
his wife and his children. The righteous obedience of Christ
in his life is that which is imputed to us in the full restitution
he has made. God requires that a double payment,
however, be made, a double restoration be made. What's he talking about? How is it that double restitution
is made? The requirement is for atonement
of the offense as well as righteousness. Not only must that which is lost
be restored, but the equal of it restored. We are made righteous
before God by Christ's obedience in life imputed to us, and by
Christ's sacrifice in death by which he satisfied the justice
of God, he put away our sins. He who is the firstfruits has
given himself to God. He who is the firstborn, the
only truly firstborn one, is Jesus Christ the Lord, and he
gives himself as our substitute. Chapter 23, verse 7, look at
it again. The Lord tells us plainly that
in order for any sinner to be justified before Him, he must
be made holy, righteous, and just. Keep thee far from a false
matter, and the innocent and the righteous slay thou not. looks to me like the law demands
that only the innocent and the righteous go free. Nobody else. Not someone who's sort of innocent. Not someone who is mostly righteous. But only those who are innocent
and righteous. What does that mean? Those who
are just. For I will not justify the wicked. God says, I will not declare
a wicked man just. And I will not declare a just
man wicked. He won't do it. The Lord Jesus
Christ, God's darling son, the righteous one, he made sin for
us. And when He made Him sin for
us, He punished His Son to the full extremity of His holy justice
until justice was satisfied. And now He has made us the righteousness
of God in His Son, giving us that perfect righteousness which
Christ Jesus is and Christ Jesus has performed, declaring us just. How come God declares James Jordan
just? Cause he is. Cause he is. God does not declare
things true that are not true. Just. If you take out your bulletin
from Sunday, I don't know of a better illustration of what
I'm trying to say. Used to be, just look at the
back page of it. Used to be, years ago, when we
made bulletins, I'd write the articles and Shelby would type
them up. And then you'd have these things, lines going in
this way and that way and this way and that way. Nothing came
out even. Seldom would you have two come
out the same. And she'd take a ruler and mark the shortest
line. And then she'd count the spaces.
And then she'd type it again. And space out the words. to make
them come out even. It's called justifying the right-hand
margin. These days, if you have a computer
or a word processor, you put that thing on justify, and this
side over here comes out exactly like this side over here. That's
called justified. Will you listen to me? God's
law requires perfection. There it is. Drop the plummet! There's righteousness. There's
perfection. There's holiness. There's innocence. There's no guilt. No sin. God's law. That's what it requires.
Come over here and drop the plummet again. There it is. That's what he made
us. Just exactly what his law requires. Do you see that? restitution
is required. Only by the sacrifice of Christ
can this restitution be made. Only by the sacrifice of God's
darling Son can the wicked be made innocent, righteous, and
just before Him. It is a sad, sad fact, but fact
it is. Most people read the Old Testament. Most who preach from it most
who write about it and see nothing but historic facts, legal precepts,
carnal ceremonies, and moral ethics. To the vast majority
of the religious people I meet, the Old Testament is a sealed
book. It has absolutely no meaning
for them and no message for them. They simply cannot unlock it
because they don't have the key. The key to the book is Jesus
Christ crucified. Get that if you don't get anything
else. When you read this book, look for the Redeemer. Look for
the Redeemer. It's all about Him. What a great
blessing it is to have the key. But that's because God gave it
to us. No reason to boast. Our Lord
said, blessed are your eyes for they see. and your ears for they
hear. He has come and given us understanding
that we might understand the Scriptures by His Spirit. The
law of God requiring restitution for my wrong, for any wrong done
by one person to another, was not intended merely to teach
us the moral precept of making restitution. In fact, sometimes
Trying to follow that moral precept will get you in a peck of trouble.
I've seen it happen. Best to leave past things past. Best to leave them alone. Well,
what's this talking about then? These laws of restitution were
written to teach us by precept and by picture that the Lord
Jesus Christ, by his great work of redemption, would turn the
tables and make a full restitution of all things to the everlasting
praise and glory of the triune God. Turn to Isaiah chapter 40. Let's see if I can make good
on that. Our Lord says, then I restored
that which I took not away. The law of God demanded that
anyone wronged by another not only have that given back to
him which was taken, but that the thing not only be repaired,
but that he be made to benefit by the wrong done to him. Is that what we read in this
chapter? Not only if I take your shirt, Not only am I to give
the shirt back, I'm to give you another one with it. If I steal
your goods, I don't pay you back dollar for dollar, I pay you
two for one. If I steal your sheep, not sheep for sheep, four
for one. Steal your ox, not one ox for
one, five oxen for one. What? You mean the man who has
been injured by another man, God required that that man who
was injured to be made to gain by the injury done to him? That's
what he required. Because God Almighty ordained
before ever the world was that his injured glory be made to
gain by the sin and fall of our father Adam and by the rebellion
of Satan and the demons of hell and that his people be made to
gain as well. Isaiah chapter 40 verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem. 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. Do you remember what Elisha asked
of Elijah? Elijah said, all right, Elisha,
what is it you want? He said, my master, that I receive a double
portion of your spirit. Now, Elisha wasn't saying, Elijah,
I want to be twice as famous as you are. I want to have twice
as much power as you have. I want to be twice as well-known
as you are. No. Do you remember what a double
portion is? A double portion is the portion the law gave to
the firstborn. A double portion is the portion
the law gave to the firstborn son. Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, our Redeemer, is the firstborn who openeth the womb, the firstborn
among many brethren. Not only has the Lord God through
redemption restored to us what we lost in our father Adam. He's
given us everything Christ the firstborn possesses. Everything. We're heirs of God and joint
heirs with Jesus Christ. Not co-heirs, joint heirs with
Christ. Our Lord Jesus said, Father,
The hour has come, glorify thy son, that thy son also may glorify
thee. Restore unto me the glory that I had with thee before the
world was. And then he says, the glory which you've given
me, I've given them. Double for all their sins. There
are wonders of grace that we could never have known apart
from the sin and fall of our father Adam. Adam in the garden
knew something about the love of God. Adam in the garden knew
something about the wisdom of God. Adam in the garden knew
something about the goodness of God. But Adam could not know
the glory of God's grace except he experienced it. And that could
only happen by the fall. Martin Luther understood what
I'm trying to preach to you. He said, oh, blessed fall. Oh, blessed fall. By this means
God in his infinite wisdom ordained that we should experience his
grace and be made to see his glory. And if I can use such
language, not only has he doubled for us the blessedness that we
lost in our father Adam, The Lord God has made himself the
gainer as well by Satan's rage and by Adam's fall. He made himself
the gainer. Read Ephesians chapter 1. The
Lord God says three times that he's purposed all these things
that at last shall come to pass when all things have been gathered
together in one under Christ that all should be to the praise
of the glory of His grace, everything. Here in Isaiah chapter 40, look
at verse 5, 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. Obviously Isaiah is talking about
the coming of Christ in human flesh and the accomplishment
of redemption by him. I often preach a whole lot bigger
than I understand. Sunday evening in Ecclesiastes
8, 17, 9, 1, Solomon tells us that no man can discover God's
work, his work of redemption. And no man can see in this world
either love or hatred, except as he beholds God's glorious
work of redemption. What lovingness, Jacob, have
I loved, but Esau have I hated? You see, love is revealed primarily
by two things, by deeds and by comparison. Deeds and comparison. You cannot really know love except
by its deeds. Herein is love, not that we loved
God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation
for our sins. Hereby perceive we the love of
God because he laid down his life for us. By our Savior's
great sacrifice, we see and understand something of the infinite, matchless,
incomprehensible love of God for our souls. The Son of God
loved man and gave himself for man. But still I could not grasp
anything of that love. If I had nothing to which to
compare it, if he loved all men and gave himself for all men,
wherein do I see any distinct love at all? Oh, no. The love of God is seen in the
special distinguishing mercy by which he identifies us as
his own, as the objects of his love. Jacob have I loved, but
Esau have I hated. We come to know something of
God's love when we experience it in redemption by Jesus Christ
the Lord. And we're made to see that God
Almighty set his heart on us. the most base and vile and useless
of creatures, and passed by multitudes far more noble and useful, far
more appealing to the eye of the flesh. But God's love and
God's mercy does not and cannot be in any way moved by what is
in man. but the children being not yet
born, having done neither good nor evil, that the purpose of
God according to free, sovereign election might stand, not of
him that willeth, but of God that showeth mercy. Jacob have
I loved, but Esau have I hated. And to eternity, as the God of glory causes us to see
and to know as we ought. Being aware of the everlasting
torments of the damned and the everlasting goodness of our God,
we shall be made to know and experience restitution performed by God. for me. Amen.