Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleA Memorial of Atonement
Bible TextExodus 30:11-16
Synopsis It is by the gospel continually reminding the believer that we are ransomed from the fall by the blood of Christ, freely by God’s grace, by which God creates and continually renews the spirit of meekness in each of his people. Listen
Date31-May-2020
Series Exodus 2016
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: A Memorial of Atonement (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: A Memorial of Atonement (128 kbps)
Length 37 min.
 
Series: Exodus 
Title:  A Memorial of Atonement 
Text: Ex 30: 11-16 
Date: May 31, 2020 
Place: SGBC,NJ 
 
Exodus 30: 11: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 12: When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. 13: This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. 14: Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD. 15: The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. 16: And thou shalt take the atonement money of the children of Israel, and shalt appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of the congregation; that it may be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls.
  
Subject: A Memorial of Atonement 
  
Notice, the purpose was “for a memorial”—to put them in remembrance.  The silver was used for the foundation in the tabernacleIt constantly reminded each one personally that he was in bondage in Egypt with no way to free himself.  Reminded him that God alone had ransomed him from the bondage of Egypt through the blood of the Passover Lamb.  Reminded him that he was not his own but he belonged to God.
  
Today, we have the preaching of the gospel of Christ and the Lord’s table to keep us in remembrance. 
  
1 Timothy 4:6  If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ,… 
  
The gospel continually reminds God’s child that God chose me by grace, I did not choose him.  The gospel reminds me that God provided his Son to ransom me, personally, justifying me freely by his grace.  God’s gospel reminds me that I am not my own I am bought with a price—the price of Christ’s precious blood. 
  
Therefore, as we hear what God declares in this passage, let us each hear it for ourselves personally.  Remember what sinners we are, personally.  Remember that it is by free, unmerited grace to each of his people personally that Christ ransomed us.  Remember that for Christ’s sake God continually forgives us our sins. 
  
Proposition: It is by the gospel continually reminding the believer that we are ransomed from the fall by the blood of Christ, freely by God’s grace, by which God creates and continually renews the spirit of meekness in each of his people. 
  
THE AUTHORITY AND THE WAY
 
Exodus 30: 11: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 12: When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number…
 
God is the Authority and the way of salvation is of God.  God purposed and ordained everything taking place in this passage showing them the one way they could come to God.  Likewise everything concerning the salvation of sinners is of God.  As we see this beautiful picture of Christ’s accomplished redemption for a particular people we must remember, it is all of God: God purposed it, God provided it, God performed it.  The need—sin entering in is of God.  The Savior—God chose.  The price required—God demanded.  The people saved—God chose.  All is of God—Salvation is of the Lord 
  
God is THE Authority.  Salvation begins by God giving us “a fear of God.”  We have to be made to bow to God from the heart.  We have to be made to bowing to God’s way of salvation from the heart.  God is the Authority.  He made his messenger Moses the authority over Israel.  But when God has given us a heart to bow to God we won’t have a problem bowing to God’s word delivered through his messenger.  We won’t have a problem bowing to those God has put in authority. 
  
We have this civil unrest in America right now.  I heard two reporters quoting scripture last night.  One read from Ecclesiastes.  The other said, “This is a spiritual issue.  If I have a problem with a man God made then I have a problem with God who made him.  This is a spiritual issue.”  He is right.  God made Moses the leader in Israel.  They did not have a king.  It was not until they rejected God’s prophet Samuel that God gave a king.  But do you remember what God said, “They have not rejected thee, Samuel, they have rejected me.”  
  
When God has made us bow to him, to his way of salvation, then we will bow to those God has put in authority.  We don’t have to agree with everything those in authority do or say but we trust God who put them in authority and we bow to God and trust God to rule their hearts.  Sinners hear us declare the gospel and say, “I don’t like that!”  Then take it up with God.  But salvation is all of God!  Our first need is to be given a heart humble and contrite to bow to the Authority—and God is the Authority.    
  
RANSOM OF A PARTICULAR PEOPLE
  
Exodus 30: 11: And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 12: When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number,…
  
God provided a ransom only for the people he chose.  The ransom God provided was for “the sum of the children of Israel after their number.”  There were many nations outside of Israel but God did not ransom any of them.  God ransomed only the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt, none else.  And God provided a ransom for the total sum of the children of Israel after their number—meaning for each and every one that God chose. 
  
The bible teaches throughout: particular redemption.   God told Moses that it is God’s glory to “have mercy on whom he will have mercy and compassion on whom he will.”—that is the glory of God.  He will not share his glory with another.  It is God’s prerogative alone to choose who God will save.  That puts vile, rebels like you and me at the mercy of God.  We have to be made to see salvation is “not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that showeth mercy.”
  
Christ went to the cross and redeemed each of God’s particular people.  His name is “Jesus for he shall save his people from our sins.”  He said, 
  
John 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep….15: As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 
  
Why do we preach particular redemption?  One, it is the word of God our Savior.  But also it is Christ’s glory by Christ successfully ransoming all for whom he died our Savior is glorified.  It is Christ’s glory that he did not fail but accomplished ransoming each chosen child God sent him to save. 
  
John 17: 1: These words spake Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee: 2: As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him…9  I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine. 10: And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them. 
  
Salvation is for the glory of God the Father and his Son, Christ Jesus.  Christ is glorified in that Christ successful ransomed, made atonement for, made reconciliation for each of God’s elect.  Christ is glorified in that he successfully put away the sin of his people by the sacrifice of himself.  Christ is glorified in that he successfully made us the righteousness of God in him. 
  
Now, believer, hear this as what God the Father and Christ his Son did for you personally.  God chose you, not based on anything in you, but by his own free and sovereign grace.  Nothing in you made God choose you, therefore, nothing in you will cause God to reject you.  Christ ransomed you by his own precious blood!  By God’s effectual grace that make us gracious toward one another.  If God will not reject me because of nothing in me, then let me do not reject my brethren because of something in their flesh. 
  
2 Corinthians 5: 16: Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more. 
  
What is it to know our brethren after the spirit rather than after the flesh.  To know a brother after the spirit is to remember, 
  
2 Corinthians 2: 17: Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 
  
If a brother is overtaken in a fault then we can do one of three things.  One, we can say guilty as charged and condemn him and treat him like a sinner; but later we may find out that he is not guilty; later we may discover the witness had a motive for charging the brother—that is knowing our brother after the flesh.  Two, we can say he is innocent and exalt our brother and condemn those who charge him; but later we may find out he is guilty—that is knowing a brother after the flesh.  Three, we can treat our brother like a sinner saved by grace, who in his flesh will sin like any other sinner, yet in Christ is a new creation righteous and holy before God; therefore we restore him in the spirit of meekness, being merciful, forgiving and loving—that is knowing a brother after the Spirit.  
  
If we know a brother after the flesh then when our brother is charged we will stand in the tent door with Ham crying to everyone who will listen saying, “Look, look, he is a sinner!”  But if we know our brother after the Spirit then we will do as the other two sons of Noah by turning our back on his sin while we walk backwards to cover our brother’s nakedness.  Hearing this continual reminder of the gospel which reminds us that we are vile sinners in ourselves, yet for Christ’s sake, God continues to show us mercy, grace, forgiveness, longsuffering and loves us as his new creations, righteous in Christ, then how can we know our brethren after the flesh rather than after the Spirit? 
  
But at times we all are overtaken by our sinful flesh so that we know our brethren after the flesh.  But when that happens the apostle Paul said to those not overtaken, “Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.  Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” (Ga 6:2-3) 
  
A CONFESSION of FAITH AND SIN
  
Exodus 30: 12…then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them. 13: This they shall give, every one that passeth among them that are numbered, half a shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary: (a shekel is twenty gerahs:) an half shekel shall be the offering of the LORD. 14: Every one that passeth among them that are numbered, from twenty years old and above, shall give an offering unto the LORD.
  
Notice, God required this of every man personally.  Over and over God says “every man” must give a ransom, “every one” that is numbered must come to God with this ransom money.  They had to do so that “there be no plague among them”—that God not kill them.  It is the “offering unto the LORD” which means it is what God requires.  Therefore, in this we see a confession of faith in Christ accompanied with a confession of our personal unworthiness. 
  
This was to acknowledge something that God had already accomplished for them.  God had already paid the ransom in the Passover Lamb when God brought them out of Egypt.  So here God declares what he required.  God will have each one acknowledge that they are God’s.  He will have them acknowledge personally that God ransomed them through the blood of the Passover lamb.
  
Be sure to get this.  God required each and every ransomed child of Israel that was numbered, to personally bring the ransom price which God required—that there be no plague (death) among them.  God requires his elect must come to him acknowledging God has saved us, not we ourselves.  God has ransomed us with the blood of his Son, not we ourselves.  We belong to God, we are not our own. 
  
Remember, years later David numbered Israel but he did not require they bring the ransom price.  By doing so, David took the glory rather than giving it to God.  David counted them his people rather than acknowledged it was God who ransomed them.  It would be like me numbering each of you and boasting that this is the work of my hand.  God sent pestilence and killed 70,000 Israelites because of David’s sin. 
  
Then what must we bring?  God declared the offering they must bring—“a half shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary…the offering of the LORD.”  It could not be a half shekel in circulation between men—it had to be the exact weight and measure that God demanded.  The Lord Jesus Christ—his precious blood—is the exact price God required.  God’s holy justice demanded the exact price be paid for each of his elect to be justified.  God required the blood—the life—of his Son in place of each of his elect to ransom his elect from the demands of holy justice which was death.  Be sure to get this.  Christ is the half Shekel; he redeemed his people by paying the exact ransom price. 
 
Matthew 20: 28  …the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. 
  
1 Peter 1: 18  Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; 19  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot: 
  
Like as God sent Moses with his word, God sends his preacher and declares to us through the gospel that Christ has ransomed his people from the fall through his own blood.  God declares the ransom he will receive is Christ alone.  God requires we come confessing that by his blood Christ ransomed all God’s elect, me personally.  It is finished!  “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Cor 5:21).  God declares he will receive those Christ redeemed ONLY as we bring to God the ransom he requires—his own Son!  So God gives us faith and we come to God with his Son alone. 
  
When the child of Israel came he did so acknowledging he was a sinner—that there be no plague (death) among them.  Coming to God in Christ we come confessing that we are sinners with no good thing in us; we eat, sleep and breathe sin  Thomas Brooks said, “Till men have faith in Christ their best services are but glorious sins.”  God says, 
  
 Micah 6: 11:  Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights? 
  
Brethren, all our so called righteousnesses are deceitful weights.  It is only by Christ’s precious blood that we are spared the condemnation we deserve.  Now, have you come to God with the one offering of the Lord which he requires—have you come through faith in his Son alone?  God gets the glory for drawing us.  Therefore, we come acknowledging we are not our own, we are bought with a price; we are Christ’s purchased possession; purchased by his own blood.  Therefore, let us glorify God in our body and in our spirit.  We do so by showing mercy and grace and forgiveness to one another for Christ’s sake. 
 
NO MORE, NO LESS THAN CHRIST
 
Exodus 30: 15: The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel, when they give an offering unto the LORD, to make an atonement for your souls. 
 
Sinners are burning down cities in America right now over inequality.  There is one place sinners are equal—in Christ.  The rich shall not add to Christ, the poor shall not give less.  It declares that every child of God, rich or poor, has been PURCHASED with the same exact price.  Christ’s precious blood and each are equally ransomed and equally righteous 
  
Galatians 3: 28: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. (Ga 3:28) 
  
Colossians 3:11: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. 
  
Teaching sinners that they are justified by Christ but they sanctify themselves is to add to Christ.   Teaching sinners that if they do a good enough job they get a better reward in heaven is to add to the work of Christ and to teach the sinner that he by his works puts a difference between he and another.  
  
The foundation of the tabernacle was made of silver sockets from this ransom silver.   Everything the priests did in the service of God in the tabernacle was upon the foundation already complete.  Every work we do as Christ’s priests in Christ’s church is not to add to Christ nor to diminish but is on the footing of the complete, finished foundation of redemption accomplished by the blood of Christ! It is done.  Each of God’s saints are equally righteous and equally holy in Christ our Righteousness, in Christ our Sanctification. 
  
Now again, the purpose of this offering was to make that foundation to be a memorial unto the children of Israel before the LORD,   This gospel is to constantly remind each believer, personally, that in ourselves, we are sinners with no way of saving ourselves.  We are vile sinners.  Through the gospel we are reminded, personally, that God saved us by his grace, mercy, longsuffering—and continues to forgive us rather than giving us the condemnation we deserve. 
  
Lamentations 3: 19: Remembering mine affliction and my misery, the wormwood and the gall. 20: My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 21: This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22: It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 
  
The continual remembrance of my personal sin and unworthiness and of God’s free grace and forgiveness in Christ is how God creates and continually renews “the spirit of meekness” in his child.  It is how we are continually constrained by the love of Christ to know no brother after the flesh (to not find fault and be hardhearted toward our brethren) but to know our brethren after the spirit (remember he is righteous in Christ) so that we are gracious and merciful and forgiving to one another. 
  
If we take our eye off Christ, we cease to remember “I am the chief of sinners” then we cease esteeming our brethren better than ourselves.”  We become fruit inspectors, finding faults in others, and overtaken with a hard, condemning heart, and we will attempt to justify it using the sin of others.  But the issue is we have ceased remembering what sinners we personally are and ceased to recall that God has freely, undeservingly, continually shown us grace and mercy and forgiveness in Christ. (Ga 6:1-3 AV).  Therefore, through the gospel God continually reminds us of his grace in the face of our sins and that is how God makes merciful saints. 

Amen!