You get these deathbed donations. These things are documented. Deathbed donations trying to get a healing. Then you drop dead and stand before Jesus and have to give an account for that. expecting a specific Answer to health or wealth or romance.
People like Kenneth Copeland, TD fakes. Jakes, really. Benny Hinn, Joel Olstein, Joyce Myers. These people. Um They're not preaching a Jesus of the Bible.
They are counterfeits. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Leviticus. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross-reference radio.
specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. And now here's Pastor Rick with the conclusion of his study called To the Lord. In Leviticus chapter 27. Verse 15. If he who dedicated it wants to redeem his house, Then he must add one-fifth of the money.
of your valuation to it, and it shall be his. And so once the house or the land passed through the priesthood. They could do with it as they wish. If they sold a house. Then it could not be redeemed, and we'll get to that at some point.
If a man gave the house and then came back, or if he said, I want to dedicate my house. Same as the other ones. Here's what it's worth. You've given it to the church. Church, it's ours now.
If you want it back, 20% more. And again, everybody knew this going in. With no loan shocking going on here. It was the idea. As the title is It's to the Lord.
The whole motivation behind the whole thing. And if you can't stand the heat, don't go down there with your vow. Don't make the vow.
So if you were somebody who Well, the Joneses made a vow I'm going to top them.
Well I don't think your vow would be accepted in heaven. It might be accepted at the tabernacle and would help pay it, but. That's carnality. This is one of the reasons why we want our youth or anyone to be baptized, water baptized, of their own volition, their own free will. Because they love the Lord, not because their buddies are getting, their friends are getting baptized.
Let's get baptized together.
Well, okay, that's fine if. You both have your heart in it. But if you're just doing it because your friends did it, that cheapens the whole thing. The integrity of the whole thing is gone. And so integrity still means something.
Well, verse 16: if a man dedicates to Yahweh part of a field, of his possession, then your valuation shall be according to the seed for it. A homer of barley seed shall be valued. at fifty shekels of silver.
Well, we don't know what the value of a homer is because we don't know how many people are on bass. That was a good one. All right. The land calculating the value based on how much seed it's going to require to work it, they had their system of calculation.
Now we come back to that seed offering scam. giving money directly to the minister. Or the church. And the higher the value of what you give, that seed offering, The more likely God's going to answer your prayer. Chi-Ching.
to the church and to that pastor.
So you get these deathbed donations. These things are documented. Deathbed donations trying to get a healing. And you drop dead and stand before Jesus and have to give an account for that. Expecting a specific Answer to health or wealth or romance.
People like Kenneth Copeland, T D fakes. Jake's really. Benny Hinn, Joel Olstein, Joyce Myers. These people Um They're not preaching a Jesus of the Bible. They are counterfeits.
and they live high up on the hog. And it is the proverbial carrot. before the cart, And they're all about, you know, in the old days, it used to be when you went into a bank, a bank. spoke money. When I grew up, they all had marble floors and marble columns and just everything.
I used to love to go to the bank on Fridays with my dad because it was like there was no place like this. maybe Grand Central Station, but It was so nice. And the banks wanted to sell people, we have money. Therefore Your money is safe with us. We know what to do with it.
We are the money brokers.
Well, that Prosperity movement does the same thing. And so you can see them. boasting about their money. changing their name to dollar. Because they're saying psychological games If you want to know how I got rich, Then you need to give me money.
to plant these seeds, and you too can be rich. That's how the whole scam works. It's a pyramid scheme. And they go following after it. Why?
Because they put Jesus' name on it. Oh, well, let me just sign up then. All right, verse 17. If he dedicates his field from the year of Jubilee according to your valuation, it shall stand. But if he dedicates his field After the Jubilee.
Then the priest shall reckon to him the money due according to the years that remain till the year of Jubilee, and it shall be deducted. from your valuation.
Well, the Jubilee, we covered it in chapter 25. It impacted real estate transactions.
So, if I'm going to obtain your property, and it's all leasing, well, if I do it in the 49th year, the property value is higher because I get to have 50 years of that. But if I do it right before the Jubilee, market's low. and proportionally lower value and the priest would calculate that. And it was a very good system. For them.
Verse 19. And remember, you cannot superimpose the Jewish economy on a capitalist economy. It won't work. This is for a theocracy. Verse 19, and if he He who dedicates the field ever wishes to redeem it, then he must add one-fifth of the money of your valuation to it.
and it shall belong to him. Love being our single motivation for dedicating anything to the Lord, whether it's time. Or property, whatever it is. Love is the motivation.
So, again, if I'm the mom and I want to dedicate my child to the Lord and I'm not a Levite. Then I go down to the temple with my five-year-old And knowing the value, I don't remember what it was, I think it was five shekels, ten shekels, whatever it was for him. And I say, I want to dedicate my child.
Well, they don't snatch the kid and put him, you know, your job is emptying dishwashers. It's like, we don't want the kid.
Okay. But Here's what you have to give.
So it was between you and God. Where the priests were just the middleman. The um The intercessors. And remember, the priests mainly worked, they represented the people to God, whereas the prophet represented God to the people primarily. There were some crossovers and they were all well balanced.
Well, there was never a material investment. If I just sow this seed for $10, I'll get back $50. Like that, keeping God in debt. What kind of nonsense is that?
Well, it works. for one lifetime. And then The judgment. Verse 20, and I don't want to sound like I'm gleeful about that. We do want to see justice.
But we know a lot about mercy too. But if, verse 20, but if he does not want to redeem the field, Or if he has sold a field to another man, it shall not be redeemed anymore.
So if that land passed to somebody else, there's no more redemption possible. I don't know how this. Really work. The antecedents would point to the man who. Donated the land to the sanctuary.
But it doesn't make as much sense if you see it that once he donated it to the sanctuary, the priests sell the land and take the money for the sanctuary. Then the man comes back and says, Okay, I want to redeem that land. You can't. It's been sold.
So there were risks involved in actually releasing. your property. And it does read as though If you wanted to redeem things, you had to do it with the exception of the land. And maybe the house, he had to do it then. Verse 21: But the field, when it is released in the Jubilee, shall be holy to Yahweh as a devoted field.
It shall be the possession of the priest. See, that's where it gets a little confusing because that just says the priest will own it. That will be part of their pay. But we know that there were other offerings, for example. The tithes of the nation And there were three, at least three, They went to the Levites.
The Levites then took a tenth of that tenth and gave it to the priest. This is how they did it.
So again, it looks like it passes to the priest. There was a benefit there. I don't know, you know. You know, was it the priest on duty? Did they have a A pool, and they would divide it out because you don't want the priest who's going to get.
the profit from your donation to put the value on it. How much do you say this land is that I want to donate to God? $50 million.
So, like anything else. There's going to have to be integrity or else everything falls apart. And I think, knowing what I know of the Jewish people, they would have rioted if those priests tried to abuse them. They just wouldn't stand for it. I have had quite a few Jewish friends and I miss all of them.
Just in passing, one of them was Dave the Jew. And that was his name. I'm Dave the Jew, and he drove a hearse. And Is this old beat up hears? He was just a great guy.
And yet he didn't know when to shut up. You know, when there was something to protest on the job site, it's like, Dave, would you shut up?
So you wouldn't stand for things that he felt he could, you know, protest.
So he borrowed from me The works of Josephus. I asked Yosefus about it. He was fine. Anyway, So we moved to Virginia living in those apartments, and Dave the Jew. You know, I don't remember how he got my address, and he mailed it back to me long time later.
But I just, you know, I just, and I've had other Jewish friends, I wish I had more. They're just a remarkable people.
Some of them can be a handful, but those aren't the ones that I'm talking about. Anyway. I hope they're saying some way, you know what? I wish I had a Gentile friend.
Some of them are a handful, but There are some out there that are just great. My whole point is, my experiences with them, and there have been quite a few, they are a different people. And that doesn't mean it's bad. Verse 22: And if a man dedicates to Yahweh a field which he has bought, which is not the field of his possession, then the priest shall reckon to him the worth. of your valuation up to the year of Jubilee, and he shall give your valuation on that day as a holy offering.
So if you have leased a land from somebody else, and you have it, you could donate it to the Lord. but it would revert back to the original owner in the Jubilee.
So, this was how their economy worked. Verse 24: In the year of Jubilee, the field shall return to him from whom it was born. What? To the one who owed the land as a possession. In verse 25, And all your valuations shall be according to the shekel of the sanctuary, twenty giras to the shekel.
Well coins. Discovered in Israel, marked a gira, have been found and they all weigh just over half a gram.
Now you know. You can drive home thinking about that one.
So that matches what was happening earlier when you wanted to give a shekel. Uh I think 20 giras to a shekel. Uh verse twenty-six. But the firstborn of animals which should be the Lord's firstborn. No man shall dedicate, whether it is an ox, a sheep, it is Yahweh.
So there you go, Exodus 13:2. Those have already been dedicated to the Lord. You're not going to re-dedicate them.
So we'd assume that so with the firstborn. of people. Verse 27. And I'll pause there a minute.
So a lot of times you just don't repeat. For example, The Bible does not come out and say. Cannibalism is prohibited. Does it have to?
So what are we to think? I can't eat pork, but I can eat a person. See the logic, the illogic of that. And so God still says: look, if you want me to put everything in print, you won't have a life. You spend all your time trying to read.
So just use your brains. And don't irritate me. And I think that's a lot of weight to that, because you get people that want to argue minutiae. And you can bought you know, some of the theologians They boil away a text to the point there's nothing left. And you just say, you big dummy, the answer's so simple.
It's right here. But you got so caught up in this verb and that noun that you don't even know what it means yourself. But I know what it means because it says it right there.
So yeah, we just have to guard against that. And I'm sure they would say, You're big dummy. If you'd studied more, you'd know what that one meant. It goes both ways. Verse 27.
And if it is an unclean animal, Then he shall redeem it according to your valuation and to one fifth of it Or if it is not redeemed, then it shall be sold according to your valuation.
So, again, you brought the donkey to the temple. The priest said, Do you want to redeem it for 20%? He said, No, you keep it.
Alright, that will be unto the Lord. You lose the donkey. The priest goes and sells the donkey, and that money would then either become the priest or the temple or a combination thereof. Verse 28: Nevertheless, no devoted offering that a man may devote to Yahweh of all that he has, both man and beast. Or the field of his possession shall be sold or redeemed.
Every devoted offering is most holy. to the Lord.
So Aline held by the Lord. The spoils of war would fit into this in Joshua chapters 6 and 7. They are Brought spoils of war and donated it to the house of the Lord. And what's being said here: every devoted offering is most holy to the Lord. Don't enter this with a black market.
I'm going to flip houses here. I'm going to make some deals through the offerings. Certainly, not what's going on. We're not permitted. Verse 29: no person under the ban.
who may become doomed to destruction among men, shall be redeemed, but shall surely be put to death.
Well, Achan could not buy his way out of the sentence. If you have a death sentence on you, You're going to be executed.
Somebody can't say, well, how much is it going to cost to get them off of death row? There's no. You can't do it. Verse 30, and all the tithe of the land, whether of the seed of the land or of the fruit of the tree. is Yahweh's, it is holy to the Lord.
This um Tithe here, this tenth, Ten percent. of what you uh harvest. is the only time mentioned in Leviticus explicitly said The Three obligated tithings that the Jew had to give To the temple was the general tithe, of course. That, as I mentioned, went to the Levites, Numbers 18. Verses 21 through 30.
Yeah. That 10% went to the Levites, and then in that same section, it tells us: then the Levites will tithe 10% of that to the priests. Then there was a special tithe for the Levites. who were not given land, and that's in Deuteronomy 14. And then a special tithe for the poor every three years.
That also is in Deuteronomy 14.
So again, the role of the Christian is not to try to become a Jew and learn their law. The role is to learn what God is doing. Through the law he gave them. And as I mentioned, we learn, we get a lesson on redemption. that redemption costs more Then sacrifice.
It's not a mere sacrifice. It's beyond that. And of course, it's incalculable with Christ, his offering is just, you can't measure it. But We get to walk away understanding. All right, I'm going to do this for the church.
I'm going to do it knowing it is a sacrifice of my time and my energy. And then you go to do it and you find out there's something more to do. You don't have to stay to do it, but you do it anyway because you want to give to the Lord. You know who you serve and who you love and who died for you. It's not the church, it's not the pastor.
But we're all part of the process, just like the priest. We're part of the process. You couldn't just say, well, I'm saying this is worth $10. The priest is the one that's going to be the one to tell you what it's worth. And it's not like not a pawnbroker or anything like that.
It uh Things have to be assessed. Know what things are worth. I don't know what anything is worth. As far as when I go to stores, I don't even look at the receipt. I bought like five gallons of ice cream last night.
I said, what do I care? The girl will be gone before I get home. I did look at the receipt. Till later, but anyhow. And yet, I know you ladies out there, you are like right on it.
Oh wait a minute. Those beans don't cost that much. You that's my son. Yeah. All right, verse 31.
If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithe, Hold on a second.
Now I have noticed when men buy ammunition, They search for bargains. I'm not paying that for the nine millimeter, no way So anyway. If a man wants at all to redeem any of his tithes, He shall add one fifth to it.
So uh There again. If you wanted to go above You were going to go above. It's like the Lord saying, You want to make an offering sacrifice, do you? All right, let's see if you mean it. Verse 32: And concerning the tithe of the herd of the flock, or whatever passes under the rod, the tenth shall be holy to Yahweh Well, of course, how did you know you were going to give a tenth of your livestock?
Well, you counted them. I've got a hundred of them. I give ten of them to the Lord for every hundred that I have. This is the last of 21 times in Leviticus we read the phrase, be holy. Probably why Warren Weersby named his commentary on Leviticus be holy.
Not probably, that is exactly why he did it. And it's appropriate. It shows up. Six times in this chapter. Be holy.
Unto the Lord. It's not just, you know, we're not holy to some God we created, we're holy to the God that created us. The word holy appears more in Leviticus than any other book in the Bible.
Now, we covered this in the introduction, but it's worth In the conclusion, going over it, 95 times the word holy shows up. In Leviticus, be holy 21 times, holy.
So, by contrast, Exodus 66 times the word holy shows up, not once in Genesis. In Isaiah 59 times. Ezekiel fifty two. Psalms You would think Psalms would be the leader. forty three times.
The book of Numbers thirty five times. I think all of that has a significance to it, not to diminish one from the other, but tells us about what's going on in those books. And why those words are so prominent. Those dominant words, those superior words, are used as they are and omitted from other places.
Well, um we'll just take Phi Lehman, for example. It doesn't show up there. For this I don't think. Don't fact check me now. But anyway, let's just say it doesn't show up, and I don't think the word holy shows up in Philemon.
The lives were holy. The word love doesn't show up in the book of Acts. The love's all over everything they did in book of Acts.
So we don't get caught up on that. We just try to learn, all right, God, what are you pointing out? What is the highlight here? As it goes into my Rock sack. Verse thirty-three And he shall not inquire whether it is good or bad, Nor shall he exchange it.
And if he exchanges it at all, then both it and the one exchanged for it shall be holy. It shall not be redeemed. There's no haggling there. You brought what you brought, that's going to be the offering from your heart. These cannot be free will sacrifices.
Because again, of the blemishes, if they were blood sacrifices, then the the priest would have to have a big say-so. You can't bring that to the temple. But if you're just selling it, Oh, no, that's not right. But it's ideas. close but not accurate.
If you're just giving it or determining its value and giving that money, then that's fine.
So these were offerings where the offering was either given away or Redeemed. Or even more. Verse 34: These are the commandments which Yahweh commanded Moses. for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. The Scots like to say sinei, Some of the old preachers.
Anyway, this sums up the entire book, this last one: the commandments of Yahweh. given to Moses, Given to the people. And the lesson of this book is: holiness requires cost and commitment. And if you lack those two, As a Christian, you probably need to reevaluate your personal Christianity. Samuel said to Saul, Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice.
and to heed than the fat of rams. Saul, it's not about What you give outwardly. It's about what's going on in your relationship with God. And I'll close with this verse from Titus chapter 2. These verses from Titus 2, verses 11 through 14.
For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men. teaching us. that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly. righteously and godly in this present age. Looking Will the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour?
Jesus Christ. who gave himself for us That he might Redeem us. From every lawless deed, Purify for himself. his own special people, zealous for good works.
Well a summary of Christianity. Let's pray. How father? We thank you. Exciting for me to go through this book of Leviticus.
And um We just pray you find us busy about conforming to the image of your Son. Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is currently going through the book of Leviticus. We're glad you joined us. We trust that you're gaining some valuable insights into God's Word as we go through this Old Testament book.
Cross-reference radio comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast, you can do so by going to your favorite app store and downloading from there. For any additional information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, Crossreference Radio.com. Make sure to come back again for the upcoming edition in the book of Leviticus, as Pastor Rick has much more to share. We thank you for being with us right here on Cross Reference Radio.
