I never will forget the first
time I went to preach at the Grace Baptist Church up in Dingus,
West Virginia. Brother Gary Vance, who is now
pastor of the church, read the scripture that night
and he prayed for me like this. I remember his words exactly. He said, Lord, Brother Don is
just a man. preaching. Oh, I keep praying that God will
do that when I stand here to preach to you, that God will
preach to you by me. Nothing in the world is more
delightful than the birth of a child, nothing more celebrated,
nothing more anxiously anticipated Every young lady, as she is taught
by her mother, if her mother is a lady, she's taught that
becoming a mother is such a delightful thing that even as a child she
anxiously looks forward to bearing her husband's children. That
is as it should be. The young couple anxiously anticipates
the day with great joy. And the grandparents, I suspect,
even more anxiously anticipate that day. When a woman is brought
into travail with a child, she is because of the sin and fall
of our mother Eve and the curse of God upon the human race, particularly
upon the woman because of her transgression. She is brought
into great travail, horrible pain. She brought nearer death
than at any other time. A woman, when she is in travail,
has sorrow because her hour has come, the scripture says. And
yet she, her family, her husband, her parents, her friends, all
rejoice when the hour comes. Isn't that amazing? And when
she's brought forth a child into the world, she forgets her sorrow. Still, throughout the scriptures,
there's one thing always connected with the birth of a child, one
thing always associated with it other than joy, and that one
thing is sin, defilement, corruption, uncleanness, curse. We see this most clearly in our
text this morning, Leviticus chapter 12. 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. 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 thirty
days. That is, seven days of her purification,
and now thirty-three more days, forty in all. She shall touch
no hallowed, no sacred, no sanctified, no holy thing, nor come into
the sanctuary until the days of her purifying be fulfilled. But if she bear a maid child,
if she has a daughter then she shall be unclean twice as long,
two weeks as in her separation, and she shall continue in the
blood of her purifying threescore 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, and shall make atonement
for her, and she shall be cleansed from the issue of her blood.
This is the law for her that hath borne a male or a female. And if she be not able to bring
a lamb, then she shall bring two turtles, or two young the
one for a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering.
And the priest shall make an atonement for her, and she shall
be clean." No doubt the Prophet Isaiah had this passage of scripture
in his mind when he writes, We are all as an unclean thing,
and our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade
as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away. Job is asked this question, how
then can a man be justified with God? Or how can he be clean that
is born of a woman? Because the law of God specifically
pronounces us unclean from birth. David said, behold, I was shapen
in iniquity. And in sin did my mother conceive
me, so that throughout the scriptures man is portrayed as a fallen
and an unclean thing from conception, so that we are by nature at the
very essence of our being sin and unclean before God. These
eight verses here in Leviticus 12 tell us that fallen man is
an unclean thing and that God, our great God, has provided for
the cleansing of the unclean, the vile, the filthy sinner such
as we are. God has provided cleansing through
the sacrifice of his own dear Son. There is a fountain open
in Zion for cleansing and for uncleanness. Yes, there is a
fountain filled with blood, drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners
plunge beneath that flood, lose all their guilty stains. Leviticus
12 has a message that's both humbling and comforting. It is
a passage that plainly describes the giving of the law with regard
to ruined man. And it also describes the giving
of the law pointing to God's remedy for man's ruin. From the
womb, every man is described as one who is unclean. As we
read the scriptures, we find things that We would prefer not
to acknowledge. We would prefer not to think
of. We do the best we can to hide it, to suppress it, to cover
it up, but it's something that cannot be escaped. We are unclean. If you, man, wherever you will,
in whatever circumstance, whether in the womb at conception or
breaking the womb at birth, or in the course of his life along
the way through this world, no matter what part of that course
you find him in, are leaving this world, we are unclean, unclean,
helpless, vile, and undone. We have lots of devices by which
we try to cover up what we are. We wear gaudy ornaments and gild
ourselves with gold and silver and precious stones. And we try
to put on the appearance of strength, beauty, importance, and glory.
I told Shelby the other night, I found, I've discovered, I've
flown enough that, you know, you get treated better when you
go to the airport if you're wearing a coat and tie. You just get
treated better because you look important. And we love importance. We love the appearance of power.
We love the appearance of wealth. We love the appearance of importance,
but the sad fact is it's all a vain show, nothing else. The Lord speaks plainly by the
lips of his servant David, that which ought to be the cry of
our hearts. Lord, make me to know my end
and the measure of my days, what it is, that I may know how frail
I am. Behold, thou hath made my days
as an handprint, my ages as nothing before thee. Verily, every man
at his best estate is altogether a puff of weed. Vanity. No more. No more. The glory of
man is vanity. The pride of man is a hollow
reed. Lean on it and it'll pierce you
through your heart. We all enter into this world
All of us in exactly the same way. Doesn't matter whether your
blood's blue or whether you can't tell what color it is. It doesn't
matter. You came into this world just
like everybody else, buck naked. And you leave just like everybody
else in helplessness, corruption, and death. Oh, he was such a
great man. Oh, he had so much. He was so
mighty, so powerful. Look what he did. Leave him out
of the ground long enough, and let's see how long you want to
stand around and smell him. Nothing. Nothing. Man is but vanity, coming
from the dust, going back to the dust. Brother Scott Richardson
sometimes says things better than anybody I ever heard. He
described our lives sort of like this one day. He said, life in
this world ain't much. He said, it begins with a slap
on the bottom and ends with a shovel full of dirt in your face, and
there's nothing in between but bumps and bruises. And that's
just about right. They whose paths through this
world are brightened by what men call greatness and wealth,
leave the world just like everybody else in nakedness. Helplessly, they retreat like
all others amid disease and corruption. into death and eternal death. Not only does this passage describe
our helplessness, it clearly describes our corruption. We are as corrupt as we are helpless.
Our lives are defiled as they are empty. We are a sinful race. Our race, the whole human race,
Every man, woman, and child in this building and every man,
woman, and child in this world is described as an unclean thing. Like the leper, unclean. Like
the woman in the issue of her blood, unclean. Like those who
have been touching the dead, unclean, unclean, unclean. Separated
from God because of corruption. This 12th chapter of Leviticus.
The Holy Spirit shows us that the birth of a child, be it male
or female, is the birth of one so corrupt, so defiled, so unclean,
that the woman through whose womb the child comes into the
world is herself unclean, made ceremonially unclean by the law. In language that simply cannot
be misunderstood. The Holy Spirit teaches us man
is unclean. Oh, would to God we understand
this. We've got it in our heads, I
know you do. Would to God he'd teach it about ourselves in our
hearts. We are a people in need of atonement. We are a people in need of mercy. We are a people in need of cleansing
that cannot be performed by any except God himself. But blessed
be his name, the Lord God meets sinners at their point of need,
in mercy, in grace, in the saving provision of his Son and in the
saving power of his Spirit. Now let me show you three or
four things in these verses. First in verses one and two,
understand this. We are taught that we are all
sinners, every one of us, in need of grace. The Lord said
to Moses, speak, verse two, unto the children of Israel, saying,
if a woman hath conceived a son, hath conceived seed and born
a man-child, then she shall be unclean seven days, according
to the days of the separation of her infirmity, her monthly
cycle, by which she was continually pronounced unclean ceremonially
as well. So she shall be unclean at the
giving birth of a child. The woman under the law was made
ceremonially unclean for two reasons. First, she herself was
unclean. There is a tendency among the
commentators to suggest this woman was made unclean because
she gave birth to one who was unclean. Not so. Not so. Oh no. was required to keep the same
ceremonial laws of purification in her uncleanness after she
gave birth to the Son of God. You see, the Virgin Mary was
just as unclean as any other woman, and she was required to
maintain the same experiential ceremonial confession of her
uncleanness as any other. So the woman was made unclean
ceremonially to declare the natural uncleanness of the woman. And
also she was made unclean ceremonially to declare the uncleanness of
the child to whom she's given birth. She must remain in the
state of uncleanness for seven days as she gives birth to a
son, for two weeks as she gives birth to a daughter. This uncleanness
teaches us plainly that the Lord God holds us before him, away
from him, in separation from him, in uncleanness. It reminds
us continually, every time a child is born into the world, particularly
under the law, we are reminded by the ceremonial law that God
gave Moses, that man is a fallen, depraved, unclean creature separated
by reason of sin from God Almighty. Not only did our father Adam
sin in the garden, we sinned in him. And his sin was imputed
to us when he sinned. Not only was it imputed to us,
but it is transmitted to us by natural generation. The one thing
that every father gives his son. The one thing every father gives
his daughter. The one thing we give them. Oh,
we like to boast that we give them a good name. That's because
we cover up what's really in the family name. We like to boast
that we give them a good position. We like to boast that we give
them a good start in life. We like to boast that we give
them a good living. What we give to our sons, what we give to
our daughters is our nature. Just saying. If we had any real
sense of that, it would strip us of every speck of pride we
ever had. Just uncleanness. Every man tries hard to convince
himself that he's clean. We try hard to convince ourselves
that we can do that which is righteous and good, but at heart,
in the core of your being, at heart, in your conscience, you
know it's not so. You know you're unclean when
you have elated yourself with high thoughts, when your pride
swells with a sense of accomplishment. or when you're feeling particularly
humble because of some good thing you've done. And you say, now
I've arrived. Now I've done something good.
Look what I've done. Look at me. Now I have something
with which I can come to God. Your conscience screams unclear. And you know in your inmost being
you are not clean and you cannot do that which is clean. You are
not good and you cannot do what's good. You are not righteous and
you cannot do that which is right, not before God Almighty. Unclean. We're all as an unclean thing. Secondly, in verses three, four
and five, the Lord our God The God of all grace makes sinners
clean by the operation of his grace. Look back here in verse
3. 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 thirty days. She shall touch no holy thing,
no hallowed thing, nor come into the sanctuary until the days
of her purifying be fulfilled. In the ceremonial law by which
the child was made ceremonially clean and brought into a covenant
relationship with God by this work of circumcision, we're given
a picture. Now be sure you understand what
the picture represents, and I stress this because it is so commonly
perverted. Almost everyone in Protestant religion, almost everyone
in Protestant religion, commenting on this verse, take the Roman
Catholic interpretation of the passage in defense of their Roman
Catholic practice of sprinkling babies and calling it baptism.
And they tell us that the child is circumcised as a sign and
symbol of baptism by which children are brought into a covenant relationship
with God. But that is exactly orthodox
only according to Roman creeds. That is exactly orthodox only
according to the creeds written by men. The teaching of scripture
is something else altogether. I challenge folks all the time,
check up on doctrine by the word of God. It's amazing what light
the scripture sheds on men's commentaries. In the word of
God, Everywhere in the New Testament where circumcision is used. Everywhere
in the New Testament where circumcision is spoken of in some way other
than negatively, speaking of those who will be justified by
keeping the law. Everywhere it's held out as a
picture of something. It represents the work of God
the Holy Spirit in the performance of his grace in bringing life
to dead sinners in the circumcising of the heart. There are no exceptions.
Listen to this. We are the circumcision. We are. Who is? We who worship
God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence
in the flesh. In Colossians 2, look at it if
you will. Colossians chapter 2 verse 11. I'll give you a minute
to get there. Circumcision was a ceremonial
act of cleansing and purification, the cutting away of the filth
of the flesh, the cutting away of the foreskin of the male child.
Look here in Colossians 2 verse 11. In whom also you are circumcised. Now wait a minute. He's writing
to Gentile boys. Not many in those days were circumcised.
These Colossians, Greeks, Romans, these Gentiles. He says you are
circumcised. He's not talking about some carnal
ordinance, Ron. He's talking about something inside. He's
not talking about something done by the hands of men, but something
done by the hand of God. You are circumcised with a circumcision
made without hands and putting off the body of sins of the flesh
by the circumcision of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein
also you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God who hath raised him from the dead. Circumcision was a
sign and seal of the covenant. You remember God gave it to Abraham,
I believe it was back in Genesis 17, first time it's mentioned.
And God said to Abraham, said, now this shall be a sign of the
covenant. By this act, all who are gods
will be identified and separated from all other people. Circumcision
was a sign that I am yours in covenant relationship, and you
are mine in covenant relationship. That's what the new birth is.
When that child was circumcised, now he's in the covenant experimentally. He was in the covenant before.
He was in the covenant when he was in his daddy's lords. But
now he is experimentally brought into the covenant. And when a
man or woman is born of God's spirit, circumcised in the heart,
he is experimentally brought into covenant grace, sealed in
the covenant, so that now the Lord God speaks in his heart
and says, you're mine and I'm yours forever. Circumcision was
also a sign and seal of righteousness. Look in Romans chapter four,
verse 11. Let me show you this. Paul's talking about justification.
He's talking about the accomplishment of justification. We're justified
freely by God's grace through the redemption that's in Christ
Jesus. This justification, this righteousness is received by
faith. And he uses, for an example, Abraham. He says in verse 11,
And Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of righteousness. Look at it, our faith. A seal
of righteousness which he had, yet being uncircumcised. Wait
a minute, you mean he was made righteous before he was circumcised? You got it. You got it. Righteousness
was accomplished for us. Redemption was accomplished for
us. We have been made just before
God, long before ever we experienced righteousness and received the
circumcision of our hearts in grace. It was accomplished at
Calvary. When Jesus Christ died in our
room instead, justice was satisfied, righteousness brought in, sin
put away. We were justified before God
and made righteous. And now, when God the Holy Spirit
comes, and sprinkles the heart with the blood of Christ in the
new birth, giving us life and faith in Christ. Now we receive
the sign of righteousness. How do you know that Christ died
for you? Because I believe him. Because I trust him. Because
the blood's been sprinkled on my heart. God's given me life
by the power of his spirit. Circumcision was performed upon
a child by the hands of another. It was not something he did to
himself. And it was not something he volunteered for. His mama
and daddy volunteered it. His mama and daddy brought him
to the temple. I'll guarantee you, if you would ever see the
procedure and hear the child squall, you'd understand the
child didn't volunteer. He was volunteered by somebody
else. The child didn't do it to himself. It was done to him.
In all these things, circumcision typified the new birth. The work
of God the Holy Spirit in the hearts of chosen redeemed sinners.
Like circumcision, the new birth is a painful process. It's a painful process. I mean painful. A preacher, that
sure seems contrary to everything I've ever heard anybody say about
religion, everything I've ever seen. We watch Billy Graham on
TV, and people walk down in front of the stadium, and they get
born again all the time, and they're just popping their gums,
smiling, laughing, and singing, telling jokes. They walk down
the aisle. That's because Billy Graham and his doctrine teaches
everything except that which is taught in this book. The new birth is a painful thing.
No man is ever brought to life until he's been in the throes
of death. Like circumcision, the new birth is distinguishing.
Circumcision separates this boy from the rest of the world. This
is Abraham's son. Look, he'd been circumcised.
Look here, look here, look here. These are Abraham's sons and
daughters. They'd been circumcised by the
hand of God. Like circumcision, the new birth
is a permanent thing. There's no retreating or no correcting
this thing. There's no going back after this
is done. This is permanent. The work of
God's grace is forever. Like circumcision, the new birth
seals us in the covenant and seals all covenant blessedness
to us. Like circumcision, the new birth
is a sign of righteousness. Like circumcision, the new birth
is a work of cleansing. Look how it's described in Titus
chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. Verse 3. So we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers' lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. That's
a pretty good description of the best of us. That's a pretty good description
of how we are, how we live, what we are. Verse four, but, thank
God, he steps in. After that, the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness, which we have done. I can almost hear Paul
laughing while he's writing. Works of righteousness. No, no,
no, no. But according to his mercy, he
saved us. by the washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior, that being justified by his grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Like circumcision, the new birth is something done to us by somebody
else. It's the work of God the Holy
Spirit, an operation performed within, not made with hands,
but made by the hand of God. like circumcision, the new birth,
is something for which we are volunteered by our Father, not
something for which we volunteer. Isn't it amazing how directly
opposite the revelation of God is to the opinions of religion?
Isn't it amazing how directly opposite the revelation of Holy
Scripture is to the teachings of religion? Isn't it amazing
how directly contrary the religion of man and the faith of Christ
are to one another. The new birth, the work of grace,
salvation, is not something you do. It's something God does in
you, to you, and for you by the power of his grace. Circumcision was always performed
on the eighth day. Hmm. Recognize what that means? Never on the ninth day. Never
on the seventh day. Never on the first day. Only
on the eighth day. Only after everything's complete. Only after grace has been fulfilled. Only after the fullness of time
has come. Only at the appointed time of
life is circumcision wrought in the child. And so it is that
every sinner Chosen in eternity, loved in eternity, redeemed at
Calvary, is born again by God's Spirit in the fullness of time. In exactly the time, at exactly
the time, in exactly the place, at exactly the place, ordained
and purposed of God from eternity. I talked to Sister Darlene Thompson
this week. She's bubbling over, just bubbling
over. She said, she said, I can't imagine. I was 71 years before I ever
believed God. 71 years. 71 years. When I was 16 years
old, God saved me by his grace. Do you know how come? God saved
me, called me by his grace, circumcised my heart by his spirit when I
was 16 years old. Because that's the right time. That's the right time. You know
how come God called that dear lady, circumcised her heart by
his grace when she was 71 years old? Because that's the right
time. God's never late and God's never
early. He does everything right on time.
Right on time. Well, why is this circumcision
by which we receive a sign of righteousness performed in the
child before the sacrifice is made, which symbolizes the accomplishment
of righteousness? Oh, there's a good reason for
that. There's a good reason for that. Because in our experience, that's
how we come to know things. Nobody ever knows what Christ
has done for him until God does something in him. Nobody ever
knows the accomplishment of redemption by Christ for his soul until
God gives him life and faith in Christ by the operation of
his spirit. After the birth of her son, every
Jewish woman was required under the law to keep 40 days separation
from all holy things called the days of her purifying. Now I've looked at that. And
I looked at that and I thought, how come 40 days? How come 40
days? What's the significance? And
I tell you what I discovered, I don't know. But I got some
clues. Got some clues. God's wrath poured
down rain from heaven for 40 days. Genesis chapter 7. Moses was in Mount Sinai. having
sin identified and exposed and condemned for 40 days. Israel searched out the land
of Canaan for 40 days. Grace was revealed and grace
despised for 40 days. As a result, Israel wandered
in the wilderness for 40 days, one year for every day. according
to the Word of God, Numbers chapter 14. Our wilderness, you see,
our wanderings around in meaningless desperation, our wanderings through
this world with meaninglessness, our wanderings through this world
in frustration, our roamings in ignorance and in darkness
and in unbelief are exactly as long as the days of our unbelief. Goliath berated Israel for 40
days. While Israel trembled in unbelief
and sin and Satan, guilt and condemnation berate our souls
and make us tremble like the giant did Israel until our great
David appears with a sling of salvation in his hand. When Elijah
fled from Jezebel, Elijah found out something that just about
killed him. He found out something that just
about killed him. Remember, this happened in 1 Kings 19, just
after that man of God had arranged the slaughter of 400 prophets
of Baal. Just after he had said to Ahab,
you're the one who troubles Israel, not me. And then he heard Jezebel
was after him, and he ran for his life. And he said, Oh, God,
let me die. I'm no better than my father. And then the Lord came to him
in mercy and grace, the angel of the Lord, Jesus Christ, his
Savior, and came to this withered, strong man, this prophet who
knew himself now to be only as another man. And he said, All
right, Elijah, arise. And he gave him some bread and
water. And Elijah walked in the strength of that bread all the
way to Horeb, the Mount of God, for 40 days. 40 days. Ezekiel was commanded in Ezekiel
4 to lay on his right side and thereby to symbolically bear
the sins of Judah for 40 days. Nineveh was under the sentence
of death and brought to conviction and repentance under the sentence
of death for 40 days. Our Lord Jesus, we're told in
Matthew 4, was driven of the spirit into the wilderness and
tempted of Satan for 40 days. And after he rose from the dead,
there were 40 days between the resurrection and the ascension,
for 40 days after he had restored what he took not away. After
he had finished his work, after he had put away sin and brought
in everlasting righteousness, after he made an end to transgression
and made an end to the law, the Son of God, the second Adam,
walked on the earth for 40 days. 40 days as a man in perfect righteousness,
as our representative, as our surety, as our mediator, as our
substitute. Allow me to make just a little
speculation. I don't make speculation much, but it won't hurt as long
as it's not really significant, whether it's so or whether it
isn't. And it's a speculation. I'm not smart enough to have
come up with this. If I thought I could fool you, I might try
and make you think I had come up with it, but I'm not as smart.
I got it from Andrew Bonar, and I thought it was outstanding. He said, as our Lord Jesus, the
second Adam, was on the earth for 40 days after his resurrection. So it may have been that Adam
and Eve remained only 40 days in innocence before the fall.
Now that I don't know. I don't know. This I do know.
They remained not long in their first estate. This I know. And I do know this. Every time
the words 40 days, every time without They are used in the
New Testament and in the Old Testament, no exceptions. They
sound like a ringing of a loud bell declaring paradise lost,
paradise regained. Sin exposed, salvation done. Bondage, bondage, cruel bondage,
liberty, liberty, blessed liberty, death. Every time they're used, they're
used in just that context. When the Jewish mother gave birth
to a daughter, the days of her purification were doubled. Verse
5 tells us she was to be in the days of her purification for
80 days. How come, I don't really know. Perhaps because Eve was
the first transgressor and she led Adam in transgression. because
the woman is the weaker vessel and needs to be reminded of it
frequently. Perhaps because she and we need
constantly to be reminded of the fall, lest we be over much consumed
with the elations of this temporary existence. In sorrow, shalt thou
bring forth children. And yet, even in the curse, God
made a promise. Even to the daughters of Eve
and to the sons of Adam, the Lord God has promised to those
who believe, she shall be saved in shall be. Now that's not talking
about, you can read it in 2nd Tim, or 1st Timothy That's not
talking about the nonsense that folks practice. You know, sometimes
I run into religious idiots around the country, and a woman's pregnant. She's having a tough time, and
it looks like there's no possibility of her giving birth safely. She needs some help. Well, my
husband and I, we believe God. Would you believe she'll be saved
in childbearing, so we're not going to call the doctors. Wonder where folks ever got the
idea that when God saved somebody, he took the brains out. That's
not what we're talking about. That's not what we're talking
about. It is saying this, though through this experience, a woman
is brought to the very jaws of death. Her soul is all right,
she believes God. Are you brought to the jaws of
death by your uncleanness? All is well if you believe God. I'll write thirdly, look at verses
6, 7, and 8. The Lord our God condescends to meet sinners in
grace right where they are. Grace doesn't wait for us to
rise. Grace comes down to us. God doesn't
wait for us to come to him. God comes to us. In these verses,
the woman is told for her uncleanness to bring a lamb for a burnt offering
and then to bring two turtles, that is turtle doves, or two
young pigeons for sin offering. The woman's uncleanness at last
brought her to God's altar, brought her at the appointed time. She
brought a burnt offering and a sin offering, an offering for
atonement and an offering of consecration. She brought the
sacrifice that God required. The sacrifice that God provided
to the altar of God to be sacrificed by the hands of the priest that
God had accepted. Every Jewish mother was required
to do this. The rich and the poor. Now watch
this. The Lord graciously condescended
in magnificent mercy and love to the needs of the sinner. If
the woman was too poor, that's all right. That's all right.
But I don't have a land. I don't have any money. I don't
have any flocks or herds. I can't get a land. That's all
right. You can bring two turtle doves.
You can pick those up anywhere for nothing. Or two young pigeons. You can get them anywhere for
nothing, for nothing. Bring what's within reach to
make sure it's my sacrifice, my provision, brought to my altar
by my priests. You see, it is not the apprehension
of our faith that saves us, but the object of our faith. We may
have but feeble faith. Our faith's experience may be
very shallow. It may be nothing but the touching
of a shaking finger, touching the hem of his garment. This
experience of faith may be terribly unstable and shaky. The strength of our apprehension
and our understanding and our knowledge will never give us
acceptance with God, but rather our acceptance, our atonement,
our cleansing, our forgiveness lies all together in the merit,
value, and efficacy of Jesus Christ, our sacrifice, of whom
these sacrifices were the pictures. The sacrifice is the same for
all God's people. It's exactly the same, exactly
the same. Rich or poor, young or old, male
or female, Christ is the only sacrifice, and he's within the
reach of faith. Reach out and touch the Lord
as he passes by. You'll find he's not too busy
to hear your hearts cry. He's passing by this moment.
Your needs and your supplies, reach out. and touch the Lord
as he goes by. There's a similar thing over
in chapter 14 concerning the leper. You don't need to turn
there. We'll look at it later, but listen. The Lord says, if he
be poor and cannot get so much, then he shall take and he shall
offer the one of the turtle doves or the young pigeons such as
he can get. Such as you. Oh, I'd like to
have a clearer vision of Christ, wouldn't you? I'd like to have
a stronger grip of faith, wouldn't you? I'd like to be able to,
I'd like to be able to stand firm in strong faith. But I haven't arrived at that
yet. I'll take such as I can get. If I can just touch the
human One who thinks he's good and
righteous and can bring himself to God. But for the poor in spirit,
he emptied himself that you might be filled with his grace. Amen.