And then if you have your copy of God's word, turn with me to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 30. Exodus chapter 30, verse 11, if you, or while you're turning there, let me just bring to you fraternal greetings from Trinity Baptist Church in Charlesworth and Trinity Grace Church in Manchester and a whole host of brothers and sisters in Holland and just sweet times to see what the Lord is doing and to lift up my head, to lift up our heads and see that this is not the only place where the Lord has a church and is working. and proclaiming his name. Exodus chapter 30, verses 11 through 16. Hear now the word of the living God. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, when you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord. When you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give. Half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary. A shekel is 20 geras. The half shekel shall be an offering to the Lord. Everyone included among those who are numbered from 20 years old and above shall give an offering to the Lord. The rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than half a shekel. When you give an offering to the Lord to make atonement for yourselves, You shall take the atonement money, the Children of Israel, and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the Children of Israel before the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. This is the word of the living God, and we say thanks be to God. Amen. Please be seated. Let's pray together. Now, O Lord, we ask that in this brief time of the preaching of the word, your saints may be strengthened in their faith and in their view of Christ. We pray that any who are here who are outside of Christ, who have yet to look on him, might see him in all of his beauty and savor him with the eye of faith implanted by your Holy Spirit. Help us, we pray. In Jesus' name, amen. It's very common in the day in which we live to be a part of various clubs and organizations. It's not always something we enjoy. Perhaps for some of us, it's harder than others. For some in this room, maybe paying the fee every year to be a part of that club, that sporting event, that organization, maybe nothing. But for others of you, you sacrifice, and whatever the fee is, well, a sacrifice is worth it. Clubs and organizations sometimes require a fee. A fee is used, really, to help to provide for the things that that organization does and provides. But really, that fee is also your entrance into this club. The Bible knows nothing now of paying to enter into the Christian faith except for one payment. In the Old Testament, we have a lot of pictures They catch you up if you're new to the Bible. We're in Exodus. God creates all things. Man falls into rebellion against God. God chooses a people and says, from that people, I'm going to send a Redeemer who's going to bring salvation. He chooses Abraham and makes a people out of him. We call them the Jews or the Hebrews. He frees them from slavery and brings them into a land and gives them a place where they're going to meet with him. Promises them a land so that eventually Jesus will come from them. And all of his work for this people, he provides pictures of things that are going to come. Most of you have been a part of this Exodus series, and you've seen picture after picture after picture. Something real, something literal, whether it's an animal, an altar, a building, a piece of food. It all points to the fact that one day, spiritually, Jesus is going to fulfill our every need. Well, here today, we see a picture of a payment. You're going to be a part of this people. You're going to have access to the worship of God. But there's going to be a ransom paid. This, like every other thing that we've seen, points us to Christ. You see, friend, maybe you're here today and you want to be right with God. It's not about your money. It's not about paying money. But here in Exodus, God is setting up a picture for us to understand that when you become a part of God's people, there is a payment made for your atonement. And so early in the Bible, the people of God are told, you're going to make this payment. This payment is going to point to a greater payment that will be made. And that payment will be made in the blood of my son. So I want us to look at this ransom money, this atonement fee, as it were, in three different ways. I think we can see at least three things about this picture. Before we do that, I just want to tell you, if you're a new Christian or you're interested in the things of Christianity, Exodus is not the final word. You need to understand that at the beginning of the Bible, these are pictures. Jesus will one day come and the pictures will go away. The feed to be a part of God's people, the building to meet with God, the altar to make sacrifices, the food that comes down from heaven to feed his people, all of it will go away. And Christ will be the substance. So don't get lost in the details. But here, these three different realities. So how do we think about this money that the people of God in Exodus chapter 30 are to pay? What is it about? What lessons can we learn? Well, the first lesson is this, and we've already alluded to it. God points to his ultimate purposes in Christ. This ransom tax, this ransom fee, was about God pointing to his ultimate purpose in Christ. This money is a type, it is a picture, It is a shadow for the blood of Christ that will one day come. How is a person made right with God? How is atonement made for them? How do they have access into the people of God? It's not through money. It's through atonement. Christ would shed his blood and he would be the payment for atonement. So this ransom money is a type of Christ's blood. It helps to see as if drawn by a pencil that a greater, more colorful substance is coming. Notice in verse 12, every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord. One commentator writes the reality that the nouns used for Ransom used here. Point to atonement, which involves both being ransomed and being purified. There's something going on here. God wants to give a picture for the reality that his people will have provided a ransom for their sins, a ransom for the idea that God owns them. John Gill, a preacher in the 1700s in England, writes these words of this ransom money. Quote, this was typical, a type of the ransom of souls by Christ, who are not all the world, for they are ransomed out of it. But Israelites, the whole mystical or spiritual Israel of God, and are a numbered people. Their names are written in the book of life. They are told into the hands of Christ. are exactly known by God and Christ, and these are many and even numberless to men." God is pointing to his ultimate purpose one day in Christ, that Christ would make a payment. Now, make no mistake, it's God and Christ who is going to make a payment for sins. But if you are one of God's people, if you believe yourself to be one of God's people, what payment have you provided to God? What fee have you paid for God? You may say, well, it's my good works. I'm a good person. I'm a moral person. I try not to do what all my co-workers are doing on the weekends. Maybe you think, you know, this year you're right, preacher. I've realized I owe God something. I've done some bad things and I need to kind of make atonement. So my fee is that in 2025, I'm going to get back into church. Maybe that's what you're thinking. Make no mistake, coming to church is a good thing if it's a solid Bible-proclaiming church. But that's not the money that God is after. Maybe for you it's religion, being more patient with your kids, trying to be a loving person, not really hating anyone. I mean, all these things may sound good, but God in Exodus 20 laid out a particular fee. Every person was to provide this fee. Do you know that the New Testament tells us that God has one fee that he expects of every last person who comes to him? And that is the blood of Christ. Are you here as a person because you have said, as it were, to God, I am offering the blood of Christ, which you have shed for me, that is my only hope. Or are you presenting some other kind of fee to God? I'll pay God what I've decided to pay God. Notice the amount was very clear. The rich and the poor. One fee. One standard amount. God is providing a picture that one day in Christ it would be the blood of his son that would be the payment for our sins. Now notice something interesting is happening in here. God says, When you take a census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall provide a ransom for himself to the Lord. When you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. What's happening there? Well, there's a time when this money was to be offered. This money was to be offered when a census was to be taken, and a census was only to be taken at particular times in the life of the Old Testament people. You remember David in Second Samuel 24 or First Chronicles 21 got into a little bit of trouble because he in his own prideful heart decided, I'm the king. It's time to number the people and see how great the kingdom is. Some scholars have pointed to the reality that. You were only to number God's people in the Old Testament, you were to only take a census when you were preparing for war. So for a king to say, I want to see how great my kingdom is, would be in a sense pridefully saying, we're going to do what we're going to do, whether God wants us to or not. David seems to draw God's displeasure. A census required a fee, a poll tax, as it were. There's a discouraging of doing it. unless war was upon the people of God. Christ's atoning blood is our protection from our own pride and from any spiritual plague. God is pointing to his ultimate purposes in Christ. Now, you may say, well, how is it that God is going to provide a ransom? Well, just listen to a few passages of Scripture. Matthew, chapter 20, verse 28, says that Jesus came to give his life as a ransom. The fee for the entrance into God's people, Christ is paying. First Timothy 2, 6 says that Jesus, quote, gave himself as a ransom for all men. Hebrews 9 15 says this, that Jesus has died as a ransom to set people free from the sins committed under the first covenant. Christ is now the ransom. Here in the Old Testament, just like every other section, every other paragraph, picture after picture for the reader of the Bible to see. Something physical, something literal is happening right now, but it points to something greater that is to come. Don't reach into your pocket, friend. Don't reach into your heart. Don't reach into your thoughts to try to find a fee, to try to find money in order that you might have the right standing with God. Christ has been given. God has provided the payment. And he says to you, I want you by faith to present to me the very payment that I've provided for you. I want you to come to me through Christ alone. May he be your ransom. Notice in verse 16, the text says this. And you shall take the atonement money of the children of Israel, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord. That's interesting. You could read that in two ways. And I think both are appropriate. This reminds the people that they belong to God. God, as one of your people, you own my life. So this money is a memorial. This money is a memorial that I belong to you. But it's also potentially a reminder or a memorial to God. Now, you may say, God knows everything. He doesn't need to be reminded. I forget things every day. Maybe that's where you are in life. You have to write it down or you'll forget. But that's not our God. So this isn't saying that God is going to forget. So this money kind of reminds him, oh yeah, I've got a people and I'm supposed to care for them. No, it's a way for the people to know God remembers us. We are on the mind of God. God doesn't forget. It's a statement to us. God remembers us. Imagine taking. This shekel. Specific times in the life of God's people. Presenting it. that your very life may be ransomed before God. Brothers and sisters, don't forget that Christ has laid down his life as a ransom. He's provided the entrance fee to the greatest of all organizations, the Church of Jesus Christ. So one thing that's happening in our text is that God is pointing to his ultimate purposes in Christ. But there's another thing that we need to see in our text, and that is this. God makes no difference in his people. He makes no difference in his people. Notice in this text, we're told that everyone of a particular age, when they reach the age where this is to be offered, everyone is to pay the same. The rich is not to pay more. And the poor person is not to pay less. Now, you might think, OK, this is just Old Testament kind of accounting, everybody's got to pay the fee. But again, this is not just about what's happening here, there's a lesson here for us, a greater lesson, which this text points to. You remember Proverbs 22 to perhaps the rich and the poor have this in common. The Lord is the maker of them all. Among God's people, the ransom is the same. Some aren't getting in because of their good looks, their great wealth, their many deeds of service, and others barely skating by. No, everyone pays the same. Matthew Poole, the Puritan, writes this, quote, This was partly to teach them that all souls are of equal worth in themselves and price with God, that there is no respect of persons with God and in God's worship and service. But all gospel graces, ordinances and privileges are common and equal to all, that all persons are alike, obnoxious to divine justice and are redeemed by one and the same price. Maybe your view is that God has a kind of system. And some people will get to God in this way. Some people will get to God in this way. Maybe you think, maybe you've heard people say, I know that person is in heaven. Look at their good deeds. I know my grandmother is in heaven. Maybe you'll use words like this. She was a saint. Well, only saints go to heaven. But the Bible actually defines what a saint is for us. A saint is someone who is trusted in Christ. Maybe your thought is God has a balancing scale. There are different ways to get to God. Surely God will respect me. Look at all the things that I've done for my friends, for my neighbors. Look at all the ways that I've served in his church. God is no respecter of persons. Not only is he teaching in this text that the ultimate ransom is the blood of his son, he's also teaching us that that ransom is the same. Now, here's where Christianity is critiqued by the world. And maybe you're new to the things of Christianity, or maybe you're just overwhelmed by all of the things that the world says negatively about Christianity. One of the main things that we're charged with is that we're exclusive to exclusivist, quite frankly. God is a God of love. Surely he wouldn't damn a person to hell. There are many roads that lead to the top of the mountain. Surely God will honor some of them, if not all of them. Then you get into perhaps some strange kinds of mixing. Oh, I know Jesus is the only way. But then suddenly you'll add a person that you know has to be in heaven. But I know this Buddhist has to be there. I mean, look at his work. I know that this Hindu has to be there. Look at all the sacrifices that she made. God points us to the one ransom. That is the same for every person. But, you know, there's a secondary lesson for us in this theme, isn't there, that when we say God makes no difference in his people in the Church of Jesus Christ, it might be tempting to think that some are of more value than others. I mean, the preacher, if he's good, the missionary, if she sacrifices, Certainly they're of greater value. Maybe you think of people throughout church history that have been known as proclaiming the gospel to millions. Maybe you have sort of a Billy Graham understanding of the value of the kingdom. Not that he held this, but that so many look to Billy Graham and say, well, he's got to be the greatest. I mean, look, he preached to so many millions. As if. God is impressed with some because of their deeds and not others. Of course, I mean, no disrespect to Billy Graham, certainly the Lord used him. I mean, disrespect to the way that we view in our own system the value of individuals. God makes no difference in his people. They're all atoned for with the blood of Christ. There's a third lesson in our text, brothers and sisters, and that is this. God's people provide for the work of their gathering place. Notice what this money was actually used for. Verse 16, and you shall take the money of the children of Israel and shall appoint it for the service of the tabernacle of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the children of Israel before the Lord to make atonement for yourselves. We've talked about the atonement piece. I belong to the Lord. There's a ransom paid for my soul. But notice the purpose of this money was that there might be provision for the tabernacle. For the ongoing service of the priests there. In addition to God saying, you don't enter without a ransom. There's the sense in which God's chosen people of the Old Testament provided for the means of the tabernacle. Now that ought to ask us a question. We don't have a tabernacle anymore. Jesus is the tabernacle. We don't have a temple building anymore. We're not looking for a temple to be built one day as if Christ needs a new building in order for the Bible to have fulfillment. No, he is the temple, he is the tabernacle, he is the place where God dwells with men. So, what lesson do we draw from this? And yet, as we begin to read the pages of the New Testament, the letters of the apostles after the ascension of Christ, what do we see? But slowly, over time, in a variety of ways, through various pens of Peter and Paul and John and James, we see what? Ransomed people are providing for the work of the church. How do we see this? Well, just a couple of examples in the New Covenant, for instance, First Corinthians 16. What are we told to do? We actually do give money, but it's not for our ransom. It's not for our standing with God, but it's for the what the ongoing work of the church. This is not that point in the service where the preacher says we have a tithing problem here. It's not the point in the service where I say, hey, church, we're not giving. We need to be giving more. Thankfully, it seems by all account, our church is full of at least many cheerful givers. But there is a sense in which whether you have a lot of money or not a lot of money at all, if you're a part of Christ's church, In a New Covenant sense, you ought to be supporting the work of the ministry here. Money which goes to missionaries. Money which provides for the ministry of this local church. But it's not just our dollars, our New Testament shekels, so to speak. We also see what? Pictures of ransomed people providing in ways of service. One text which Lord willing, we'll look at this evening together, and that's Romans chapter 12, Romans chapter 12. Turn there with me. There, Paul is writing to ransomed people, people for whom atonement has been provided, and what are they told to do in this sense, not give their money? To give something else. How are we to provide for the gathering place of God's people? Romans chapter 12, verse six. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them. Now, Lord willing, again, we will look at this verse in context this evening. But notice what we're told. We don't just have gifts of money by God's hand, we also have gifts that he gives to his people. And we are to use them. We are to use them. Christians are to be giving of their gifts to the body of Christ. These gifts, very infrequently in this list, will have anything to do with money. But spiritual gifts that the Lord gives us teaching. Exhortation. Giving mercy, leadership. Service. You see, one of the pictures that we learn from Exodus 30. Is that there's going to be a ransom paid and offered for every one of God's people. That God makes no distinction. Among his people, there aren't differences. So some of us are men. Some of us are women. Some of us are black. Some of us are white. Some of us are rich. Some of us are poor. Some of us have a lot. Some of us have a little. There are differences. When it comes to God bringing in his people, providing atonement for them, it's the same. He doesn't distinguish. And the third lesson we learn is that We are as God's people now in his new covenant temple to provide for the work of the meeting place of God, which is most chiefly his local church. Let's take a moment then before we close and consider this reality. You would have individuals they will one day hear Moses' discussion. This is what God told me on the mountain. And so a tradition begins to develop. That is, at least at this time, when there's a census, we are to pay this. And it's a memorial, it reminds us of certain things. It has a purpose, it's used for certain things. We actually see the religious leaders of Jesus's day, pressing Jesus on this through one of his disciples. This ransom money, this census tax will go through some changes in the history between Exodus 30 and the time in which Jesus lives. But it seems by all account in Matthew chapter 17, a discussion happens surrounding this text. Turn over to Matthew chapter 17. Just four verses, Matthew chapter 17. Matthew chapter 17, beginning in verse 24. We fast forward a lot of time. The Son of God has come. He's assumed our flesh. He's now walking on the earth, living a perfect life. He's gathered his disciples. bumbling step by step, which is a reminder to me of what it's like to so often miss the things of the Lord. But he's teaching them because through these disciples, at least most of them, he's going to lay the foundation for his church. But shortly before he goes to the cross, this story occurs in Matthew 17, verse 24. When they had come to Capernaum, those who received the temple tax came to Peter and said, Does your teacher not pay the temple tax? He said, yes. As an aside here, you know, sometimes when we have issues with someone, we'll so often go to someone else, right? They go to Peter. They feel comfortable going to him. We don't want to go to Jesus. Maybe we want to trick you because we can ensnare you, but we can't ensnare him. Human nature doesn't really change, does it? Does your teacher not pay the temple tax? He said, yes. And when he had come into the house, Jesus anticipated him, saying, what do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes, from their sons or from strangers? Peter said to him, from strangers. Jesus said to him, then the sons are free. Nevertheless, lest we offend them, Go to the sea, cast in a hook, and take the fish that comes up first. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money. Take that and give it to them for me and you." Some scholars think when Jesus says, the sons are free, that he's referring to himself. He, as the son of God, doesn't really have to pay this, but you might take a variety of views there on what Jesus means. The point is, Jesus actually chooses to perform a rather outstanding miracle. Boys and girls, think about this. Jesus is actually gonna send Peter out with a fishing hook. Take your pole, Peter. Go out there, cast it in. When the fish comes up, open it up, and you're gonna find money. Rather intriguing miracle. And that, you will present to them. So as to not cause an offense, And Jesus is living a life in keeping with the things that we see even in our text in the Old Testament. This text helpfully points us to several lessons. I want to press home one of these lessons one final time and then offer a prayer to the Lord. Exodus is money. Its tents, its altars, its furniture, its food, it's all going to go away. A lot of stories are going to happen between Exodus and the book of Matthew, but Jesus will come. And the pictures of Exodus are given to us as just that, pictures which point to the coming of the Son. But statistically speaking, in a room this size, it's very likely that there are those here today who know I owe God something. I mean, I've come to believe that there's just no way that there's not a God. There must be a God. The God of the Bible seems to be the most likely of sources. I know that I'm not a perfect person. In fact, I kind of think that I've done some things that are pretty bad. So I just need to find a way. To kind of pay for these things. Maybe if I work really hard. You know, rich and work. Maybe if I serve really well or actually give a lot of money. God will accept me. One of the pictures that we see early on in the Old Testament. Is that God and God alone determines the actual payment fee to be one of his people. And the Bible tells us what that is. The New Testament says there is no other name under heaven or on earth by which men can be saved. It tells us elsewhere that it's the blood of Jesus that is the gift of God. So this day, as we look at this Old Testament text and we see another kind of picture. I want you, nonbeliever, you interested person in the things of Christianity, to see that it's actually a picture pointing to the reality that one day God would provide his son's blood and that it's only that that you can present to God. Outside of that, You're seeking to make a distinction where God doesn't make one. Christ has died for sinners, and until you die, as long as you have life and breath and ears to hear, the message for you is that Christ will save you, but you must come to him by faith. Turn from your sins and embrace the Son of God. But you, O believer, you who are amening this, you're thinking, yes, this is it. The unbeliever needs to hear it. May we be reminded this very day that the only reason that we're in this club, this organization at all, it's not because we're rich. In beauty and wealth and service, good works. It's not because we have a history of being rich, church time, the number of hours we've served. Because we've come by the payment of the blood of Christ. It might be tempting for us to take a census like David and say, now's a good time for me to count my kingdom. Come to this very Old Testament passage and see that for everyone alike, there is one ransom paid. So delight that even now in the very temple of God, there is a payment. that has been presented on your behalf to God and glory in this reality. Let's pray together. Living God, we ask your blessing as we walk through this Old Testament book and see all of the pictures of animal sacrifices, of tents, buildings, furniture, tax money paid, bread falling from the sky. We pray that in it all, we would see again and again the beauty of the Christ who would come, live a perfect life, and die as a ransom, and offer himself completely and freely to any who would receive him by faith. Help us, we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.