0:04 [Music]
0:06 let's read the word of god beginning at
0:09 verse 21 of luke chapter 2.
0:11 and when eight days were accomplished
0:14 for the circumcising of the child his
0:17 name was called jesus who was so named
0:19 by the angel before he was conceived in
0:21 the womb
0:23 and when the days of her purification
0:25 according to the law of moses were
0:27 accomplished they brought him to
0:30 jerusalem to present him to the lord as
0:32 it is written in the law of the lord
0:34 every male that openeth the womb shall
0:37 be called holy to the lord
0:39 and to offer a sacrifice according to
0:42 that which is said in the law of the lord
0:43 lord
0:45 a pair of turtle doves
0:48 or two young pigeons
0:50 now father as we open your word we do
0:52 need the guidance of your holy spirit
0:54 not only to understand it
0:56 but to receive it
0:58 to receive it into our hearts and then
1:01 to put it into practice so nourish us
1:02 from the word
1:04 and may we not just study the bible may
1:07 we instead see the lord jesus christ and
1:11 love him more and worship him more
1:14 i pray in jesus name amen
1:16 amen
1:18 now the background of this
1:20 series of events
1:23 is given to us in leviticus chapter 12 i
1:25 think we'd better turn there
1:27 leviticus chapter 12.
1:30 in those eight verses we are told what
1:33 the mother is supposed to do after she
1:35 gives birth to a child
1:37 leviticus chapter 12
1:39 and the lord spoke unto moses saying
1:41 speak unto the children of israel saying
1:44 if a woman have conceived seed and born
1:46 a male child
1:49 then she shall be unclean seven days
1:51 according to the days of the separation
1:54 for her infirmity shall she be unclean
1:56 and in the eighth day the flesh of his
1:59 foreskin shall be circumcised
2:01 and she shall then continue in the blood
2:04 of her purifying three and thirty days
2:06 she shall touch no hallowed thing nor
2:10 come into the sanctuary until the days
2:13 of her purification be fulfilled
2:15 verse six and when the days of her
2:18 purifying are fulfilled for a son or for
2:20 a daughter she shall bring a lamb of the
2:23 first year for a burnt offering and a
2:25 young pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin
2:28 offering unto the door of the tabernacle
2:30 of the congregation unto the priest who
2:33 shall offer it before the lord and make
2:35 an atonement for her
2:38 and she shall be cleansed from the issue
2:40 of her blood this is the law for her
2:44 that hath born a male or a female
2:47 and if she be not able to bring a lamb
2:50 then she shall bring two turtle doves or
2:52 two young pigeons the one for the burnt
2:54 offering and the other for a sin
2:56 offering and the priest shall make an
2:59 atonement for her and she shall be cleaned
3:00 cleaned
3:03 there are four important events that are
3:06 recorded in luke chapter 2 in connection
3:08 with this passage from leviticus chapter 12.
3:10 12.
3:12 the lord jesus was circumcised he was
3:16 named he was presented to the lord and
3:19 his mother was purified
3:21 now these events are important not only
3:23 to the lord jesus and to gospel history
3:26 but they are important to us today
3:28 because they tell us what the lord jesus
3:30 christ has done for us
3:34 they remind us of the price that he paid
3:37 that we might have the joy of salvation
3:40 these events are not past history they
3:43 are present reality if you know the lord
3:46 jesus christ as your savior
3:49 event number one our lord jesus on the
3:52 eighth day was circumcised
3:55 now this meant he became a son of the
3:59 law he became a child of the covenant
4:02 in fact five times in luke chapter 2
4:04 you're going to find this word law verse
4:06 22 the law of moses
4:09 verse 23 the law of the lord
4:12 verse 24 the law of the lord
4:16 up in verse 27 after the custom of the law
4:17 law
4:20 in verse 39 according to the law of the
4:22 lord the lord jesus christ
4:26 was made under the law
4:28 now circumcision began
4:32 with abraham in genesis chapter 17.
4:35 the mark on the body was the indication
4:38 that the person was a child of the
4:40 covenant he belonged to the covenant of
4:43 god it was one of god's covenant people
4:46 now it's unfortunate that this uh
4:49 right of circumcision degenerated
4:52 into something it was never meant to be
4:54 in deuteronomy chapter 10
4:57 verse 16 moses pointed out that
5:00 circumcision was not something external
5:04 it was internal deuteronomy 10 16
5:06 circumcise there for the foreskin of
5:07 your heart
5:10 and be no more stiff-necked for the lord
5:13 your god is god of gods and lord of
5:16 lords a great god a mighty and a
5:20 terrible which regardeth not persons nor
5:22 taketh reward their circumcision
5:25 externally was to be an indication of an
5:29 internal change of heart
5:31 paul had the same thing to say in romans
5:32 chapter 2
5:35 and in verse 28
5:38 romans chapter 2 and verse 28
5:40 for he is not a jew which is one outwardly
5:42 outwardly
5:44 neither is that circumcision which is
5:46 outward in the flesh but he is a jew
5:49 which is one inwardly
5:52 and circumcision is that of the heart in
5:53 the spirit
5:57 and not in the letter whose praise is
5:59 not of men but of god
6:02 and so even the old testament
6:05 taught that this ritual was a sign of
6:08 something spiritual that should take
6:10 place within by the way people make that
6:12 same mistake today don't they
6:14 i've witnessed the people and i've said
6:16 well now do you know jesus is your
6:17 savior do you know you're going to
6:19 heaven oh i've been baptized well that
6:22 doesn't save us or i went to the
6:24 eucharist or i participated in the
6:27 communion well that's not what saves us
6:30 these things are outward evidences of an
6:34 inward faith an inward change
6:36 and it's unfortunate that these internal
6:40 and eternal realities are replaced by
6:43 external formalities
6:46 now the lord jesus was made under the
6:48 law galatians 4 4 tells us that made
6:50 under the law when he came into this
6:53 world as a little baby
6:56 he identified with the covenant and with
7:00 the law of moses he perfectly obeyed the
7:02 law when he was here on earth nobody
7:04 ever could accuse him of breaking the law
7:05 law
7:07 in fact when they indicted him at that
7:10 so-called trial they had to hire false
7:13 witnesses to bring a charge against him
7:15 not only was he made under the law but
7:18 he was under the curse of the law in
7:22 galatians chapter 3 and verse 13
7:25 paul tells us that the law involves a curse
7:26 curse
7:30 galatians chapter 3 and verse 13.
7:32 christ hath redeemed us from the curse
7:33 of the law
7:35 being made a curse for us for it is
7:38 written cursed is everyone that hangeth
7:41 on a tree did you get that
7:43 when the lord jesus christ identified
7:45 himself with the law
7:49 when his first blood was shed eight days
7:50 after he was born
7:53 he was saying to the world one day i
7:55 will bear the curse of this law
7:58 and i will be hanged on a tree
8:01 our lord jesus was circumcised he was
8:03 made a curse for us
8:06 he bore the curse of the law that we
8:09 might be set free oh how our hearts
8:11 ought to be lifted in praise and
8:15 adoration for what jesus did for us
8:18 secondly the lord jesus was named
8:20 and when eight days were accomplished
8:22 for the circumcising of the child his
8:24 name was called jesus
8:26 and of course this was a very special
8:29 name because he was named by the angel
8:32 before he was even conceived in mary's
8:34 womb it's interesting to note the people
8:37 in the bible who were named before they
8:40 were conceived it's an interesting study
8:43 i recommend it to you isaac was named
8:45 and so was ishmael and there are several
8:48 others in the word of god the angel came
8:51 and told mary that you shall call his
8:52 name jesus
8:55 we find that in luke chapter 1 verse 31
8:57 thou shalt call his name jesus and then
9:00 when joseph was told about this miracle
9:02 the angel said to him
9:04 thou shalt call his name jesus for he
9:07 shall save his people from their sins he
9:09 was circumcised and made a child of the
9:12 covenant under the law he was made a
9:15 curse for us he was named jesus he was
9:17 made sin for us
9:20 in order to bear that name he had to go
9:23 to the cross and die made sin for you
9:25 and me
9:27 just take all of the sin you read about
9:29 in the paper all the sin
9:30 you see
9:32 announced on television all the
9:34 wickedness in this world and imagine
9:37 what it would be like to place that on
9:40 the lord jesus but he did it
9:43 call his name jesus he's the savior he
9:46 is the one who has died for us and like
9:48 joshua of the old testament that's what
9:51 the name jesus is jehoshaphat
9:53 jehovah is salvation
9:56 like joshua in the old testament jesus
9:58 has conquered and claimed the
10:00 inheritance for us
10:02 now the third event is given here he was
10:05 presented to the lord verse 22 to
10:08 present him to the lord this goes back
10:11 to exodus chapter 13.
10:13 when the first born in egypt were
10:15 delivered by the blood of the lamb god
10:18 said those firstborn belong to me
10:20 i'm not going to make them work for me
10:22 rather the levites are going to take
10:24 their place and so the levites took the
10:27 place of the firstborn in serving the
10:29 lord but said the lord
10:32 every firstborn of the cattle the flocks
10:34 the herds and every firstborn
10:37 of your family must be redeemed
10:39 and so they brought the lord jesus who
10:41 was the firstborn
10:43 and they had to redeem him down at the
10:45 temple you know how they did that they
10:47 brought five shekels
10:49 and they gave those five shekels in the
10:53 temple court and that redeemed the lord
10:57 jesus christ imagine now the law giver
10:59 put himself under the law
11:02 the sinless one was made sin
11:06 and the redeemer was redeemed this is an
11:07 amazing thing
11:09 now we know from our own study of the
11:12 word of god that we are not redeemed by
11:14 silver and gold in fact peter said that
11:16 didn't he let me read it to you first
11:18 peter chapter 1
11:21 and beginning at verse 18
11:23 for as much as you know that you were
11:25 not redeemed with corruptable things
11:28 with silver and gold from your vain conversation
11:30 conversation
11:33 but with the precious blood of christ as
11:36 of a lamb without blemish and without spot
11:38 spot
11:40 he was presented to the lord and they
11:42 brought the five shekels and they
11:44 redeemed him
11:46 he's our redeemer today and he shed his
11:48 blood to do that
11:50 the third event
11:53 mary was purified verse 22 and when the
11:56 days of her purification according to
11:58 the law of moses were accomplished this
12:02 meant that she had to wait 40 days after
12:04 the birth of the lord jesus
12:05 seven days
12:08 first of all and then 33 days
12:09 and then of course she was able to come
12:12 into the temple and to bring her sacrifice
12:14 sacrifice
12:17 now the mother was considered unclean
12:20 not because marriage is unclean not
12:22 because sex is unclean not because the
12:25 birth of a child is unclean but the
12:28 mother was considered unclean because in
12:30 the birth of the baby various bodily
12:33 fluids were released and of course
12:36 according to the old covenant law these
12:39 fluids brought uncleanness to her
12:41 also something else is involved it's a
12:43 good reminder to us
12:46 that all of us are conceived in sin even
12:49 david said that didn't he in psalm 51
12:52 verse 5 that he was conceived in sin and
12:54 it's just a reminder in leviticus
12:57 chapter 12 that even when a precious
13:00 little baby is born that baby is born a sinner
13:01 sinner
13:03 and so the mother has to come now to be
13:07 purified of her ceremonial uncleanness
13:09 let me make it very clear again that god
13:12 is not saying that birth is unclean or
13:14 that sex is unclean or marriage is unclean
13:15 unclean
13:18 he is simply saying because of the birth
13:21 process the mother now has to be made
13:24 clean well what did she do she brought
13:27 two sacrifices a burnt offering and a
13:30 sin offering the bird offering speaks of
13:33 total dedication to god the sin offering
13:36 of course speaks of atonement our sins
13:38 being cared for by the blood of the sacrifice
13:39 sacrifice
13:41 now we're told in leviticus chapter 12
13:43 that the mother is supposed to bring a lamb
13:44 lamb
13:47 and if she cannot bring a lamb she can
13:50 bring two turtle doves or two young
13:52 pigeons and of course that is what mary
13:55 and joseph brought verse 24 of luke
13:58 chapter 2 and to offer a sacrifice
14:00 according to that which is said in the
14:02 law of the lord a pair of turtle doves
14:05 or two young pigeons now follow our
14:08 reasoning he was circumcised made a
14:10 curse for us under the law
14:14 he was named jesus made sin for us
14:16 he was presented to the lord
14:19 he is our redeemer who has redeemed us
14:22 and mary was purified and the sacrifice
14:25 she brought was the poorest of the
14:28 sacrifices he was made poor for us
14:31 ii corinthians 8 9 for you know the
14:33 grace of our lord jesus christ that
14:37 though he was rich yet for your sakes he
14:39 became poor
14:41 that you through his poverty might be
14:43 rich here is the creator of the universe
14:45 the king of kings
14:47 and his parents are so poor they have to
14:50 bring the least expensive sacrifice he
14:54 was made a curse for you he was made sin
14:55 for you
14:58 he was made poor for you and yet he paid
14:59 the price
15:01 for your redemption
15:03 oh come
15:06 let us adore him
15:07 jesus christ
15:13 thank you for listening to back to the bible
15:14 bible
15:16 join us again tomorrow
15:19 god bless you [Music]
