Rest & Redemption

Would you stand? I want to welcome you to Calvary Chapel this evening. Those of you who are live and those who are watching online, Facebook, where that device might be, source, we want to welcome you. Would you join me in prayer? Father, we thank you for this opportunity this evening that you've given us to come together to worship in song and to study your word, Lord.

Father, we need the study of your word so much, Lord. Lord, we need to know you, Lord, be able to trust you and know that you are in control, which we do know. So would you, Lord, just strengthen us tonight, encourage us, Lord. We need encouragement, I'm sure, each of us tonight in some way as we're facing life, Lord. There's various things that come up, and we go, whoa.

We have to stop and say, Lord, this isn't taking you by surprise. And we trust you, Lord. We look to you. The author and finisher of our faith. Thank you for coming down, walking among us, dying on that cross, Lord, and raising for the dead. Thank you for interceding for us up there at the right hand of the Father, Lord Jesus.

Receiving that forgiveness of sin, we're set free from the bondage of sin.

There'll be a day, either in rapture or death, we'll meet you and go past the way it was done. We pray your Holy Spirit to bring forth your word. We want listening ears. Lift up the kids. The other end of the hall, that you'd bless that time. The youth group, the nursery, all that's going on, and those teaching. Be glorified, Lord. We give you praise in Jesus' name.

I screwed up here. I left my note. Lewis, could you run on my desk and grab my notes for me real quick? Man, sorry, kids. I was looking over it before I got started, and I just opened my Bible and went, whoops. I didn't even double that up. So tonight, we're going to be in the book of Leviticus, chapter 25. Now, I do know this part before we get into it. So I've been watching a lot of basketball over the past week because it's the NCAA tournament,

or as I like to call it, the most wonderful time of the year, and where you can just watch sports all day long, and it's amazing, and there's all kinds of stories that go along with it. Lewis George, everyone. There he is, my hero. Well, there's this ad campaign on right now, and I think it's kind of an interesting ad campaign. The ad campaign is for PowerAid.

And this ad campaign for PowerAid has this slogan that goes with it. And the slogan is, the power of pause. And the whole idea is that you need to stop and take a break, refresh, before you can go back and continue to compete in the sport. It's interesting because one of the people that they have on there advertising for it is Simone Biles. Well, if you watched the Olympics last year, you know that Simone Biles had so much pressure put on her,

not only physically because of the things that she did, but she was even judged on a different scale. And she was even judged on a different scale than everybody else. And she hit a point in the middle of the Olympics where she had to say, I just can't do it. It's not physically or emotionally safe for me to continue on. She caught a great deal of flack for it.

But it's kind of interesting because now she's doing this commercial for PowerAid called The Power of Pause. And I think it's kind of an interesting thing for us to pay attention to because the Bible speaks a lot about rest. As a matter of fact, the Old Testament speaks a ton about rest. That's one of the things we're going to cover tonight in Chapter 25 of Leviticus.

We're actually going to look at rest and redemption. And so it was important not only for the people because God gave them one day out of every week to make sure that they rest, but it was also important for the land because they were to take one year out of every seven and completely rest the land. And so as we talk about this in this first half of the chapter tonight, I want you to think about the power of pause because I do think that there's something to be said in our culture for learning to just take a little time. To rest.

And so we pick up in Chapter 25, verse 1, and it says this. Then the Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land which I shall give you, then the land shall have a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop. But during the seventh year, the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord.

You shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Your harvests after growth you shall not reap, and your grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather. The land shall have a sabbatical year. All of you shall have the Sabbath products of the land for food, yourself, your male and female slaves, your hired men, your foreign resident, those who live as aliens with you.

Even your cattle and the animals. That are in your land shall have its crops to eat. Now the first thing that he's going to tell us about is this sabbatical rest that they were supposed to take every year. But, and I didn't come up with this on my own, I read it in a commentary. There's one thing I would like for us to pay attention to as we get into this chapter.

It says the Lord spoke to Moses at Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land. That's kind of an interesting phrase for the Lord to use. He doesn't say if you come. When you come into the land, he says, when you come into the land. Because the entering of the promised land, we know, carries with it the idea in the New Testament of entering into rest.

If you've read the book of Hebrews. And so when God speaks this, he says, when you come into the land, it's a statement of confident fact. It's a statement that God makes to Moses to let him know that in God's mind, the work that he was going to do with the nation of Israel is already a finished work. It's not an if they make it to the land. It's a when they get into the land.

And I think that's an important thing for us to pay attention to. Because what we see right now in our own lives is we still see the unfinished product. When I look at me, Ryan Nichols, today, I still see the unfinished product. I still see all of the flaws. I still see all of the failures. I still see all of the rough edges that still need to be smoothed down.

I still see the fact that there's portions of my life that need put together. I see all of the things that still need to be done. But God doesn't. Because God. Has the ability to see the finished product. And God doesn't say if you make it to the promised land. He says when you make it to the promised land. Because God calls things as they will be, not as they currently are.

And though I see myself as an unfinished work, though I see myself as someone who is still so flawed in so many ways, God sees me as his masterpiece. And that's how God sees you as well. So when God's telling. Moses this, he tells him, when you get into the promised land. Now this carries even more weight when you realize that in Moses' mind, they're probably several months from the promised land.

It should be a pretty short journey. And when we get into the book of Numbers, we'll find that they really could have entered the promised land much earlier than they did. Moses had no idea that it was going to be a handful more months plus 40 more years. Just like you and I don't realize that our journey could be a few more months or it could be 40 more years.

But God knew. And God didn't let him know how long it was going to be. He confidently spoke and said, when you get into the land, these are the things that you're going to do. Well, that being said, we move on and we start talking about this Sabbath rest. Now he says, Six years you shall sow your field. Six years you shall prune your vineyard and gather in its crop.

But the seventh year, the land shall have a Sabbath rest, a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not sow your field. You shall not sow your field. You shall not sow your field nor prune your vineyard. Now I think this is kind of an interesting thing that God has the children of Israel do. And I'm not an overly agricultural human being. I have started my very first garden this year.

I feel really good about that so far. God is blessed with rain. I think it washed most of the dirt off of the top of my potatoes. So I'm going to have to cover them with dirt again. But I see little eyes poking out. So that's a good sign, right? So I'm not overly agricultural in my mind. But I have read a lot of things about this. And I wonder how much good it would do.

If farmers would actually follow this particular practice. Perhaps they do. Perhaps farmers do follow this practice of taking one year out of every seven. And just not doing anything. Just completely leaving the land rest. I know, I believe it was George Washington Carver, if I remember correctly. Who taught the people of the south that the best thing that they could do was to rotate their crops.

Because they were planting cotton every year. And that was depleting the soil of its nutrients. And because it depleted the soil of its nutrients, they kept having. Crops that were less and less. And he said, hey, let's try rotating the crops with something that will deplete the land of not the same kind of nutrients that the cotton does. So I know that there's been that aspect of rotating crops.

But here in Kansas, I wonder if you ask the farmer, have you ever just decided every seven years, you're just not going to do anything. You're just going to completely take the year off. Well, that sort of fights against our American way of life, does it not? Sort of fights against our American spirit. Spirit to say, listen, if I'm going to work, then I'm going to work harder.

I was watching an interview with Kid Rock the other day. If you ever want to find yourself thinking, wow, really anyone in the United States of America can end up making a fortune. You look at Kid Rock and you go, and there he is. Living the American dream as Kid Rock, right? But it was kind of interesting. Kid Rock, I said, well, you know, what is it that makes you so successful?

He goes, I work harder than you do. And I was like, isn't that the American spirit, right? Why are you successful? Because I work harder than you do. Don't get me wrong. I believe work is a gift from God, and we should work very hard at the things that we do. But isn't it interesting that in all of our hard work, God also says, you should take one day off a year, or one day off a week,

and you should take one year off every seven. That's an amazing thing to think about doing. But that's what God tells the children of Israel that they're supposed to do. And he says, in that seventh year. That you take off, you should not sow anything. And he makes sure that they understand it. Don't sow your field. Don't do anything to your vineyards. Anything that grows, listen, is free game for anyone to eat.

Notice what it says. Your harvest after growth you shall not reap, nor grapes of untrimmed vines you shall not gather. The land shall have a sabbatical year. All of you shall have the Sabbath products of the land for food for yourself, for your male and female slaves, your hired men, and your foreign residents. And those who live as aliens among you. In other words, what he says there is, there should be no wholesale harvesting that takes place that year.

Anyone can have anything that grows of its own. Anyone can have anything that grows of its own accord. I think they call those volunteers. My grandfather gardened a lot, and I helped him when I was a small child. And he said, those are volunteer tomatoes. I didn't plant those. Those just came up on their own. Essentially, that's the idea. Those that just come up on their own.

Sort of free game. Free game for the community. Other than that, you just take the year off. I think about six months into the year, I would be going, is it time to work yet? And you know what? God's probably like, and that's exactly why we do it. So that you are ready to go back to work. Now, this was not just a rule for the land owners. It was a rule for everyone.

It was a rule for the land. It was a rule for the owner of the land. It was a rule for all of the services. It was a rule for the servants in the land. And it was even a rule for the animals. This was what they were supposed to do. Now, unfortunately, what we find is that the children of Israel never did this. They never obeyed God in this way. We're told that in the book of Jeremiah.

We're told that when they went into captivity in Babylon, they would know exactly how long they were going to be there. Because for 490 years of them being in the land, they never once took one of their sabbatical years. Therefore, they would remain in captivity, according to the book of Jeremiah, for 70 years. That way the land could have its Sabbath. It's kind of interesting, isn't it?

Oftentimes, what we don't do in obedience, God does in judgment. And so, they never did this. It would be amazing to know how great their crops would have been had they done it, but they never did this. Now, according to some of the things that I read, or according to what it says, in the book of Deuteronomy, one of the things that was supposed to take place in this sabbatical year is that during the Feast of Tabernacles, they were supposed to once again read back through the law. So this was not only a time of

refreshment for the people, a refreshment for the land, but it was a time of spiritual renewal because they would read back through all of the law, at least everything written in the book of Deuteronomy, so they could be reminded of not only who brought them into the land, who was keeping them in the land, but how they were supposed to obey God to continue to be blessed in the land. Now, the question occurred to me, why? Why did God have them do this? Well, I think there's three reasons why, according to what I've read in some of my studying.

Number one was a very practical reason. It was good for the people and it was good for the land. Physically speaking, this was a really important thing for the people to do because by the time that year was up, you know as well as I do, they were probably chomping. They were probably chomping at the bit to work because, my gosh, there's only so much sitting around you can do, right? We learned that during the pandemic year, right? There's only so many series

on Netflix to watch. There's only so much scrolling through social media to do. Really, you get tired of reading books after a while, right? Eventually, you're ready to get back to work. So it was really good for the people, but it was also really good for the land because as the rain would come down, it would wash all the nutrients back into the land. The soil could be restored. Everything could be ready to be planted

and harvested again. It had a very practical purpose to it. But the second reason why I think it's important is that it would keep the people from covetousness. It would keep the people from covetousness. Why do we have a hard time taking a day off? Because do you know how much more money I could make on that seventh day? Do you know how much more I could get done if I just didn't take that day off?

Do you know how much money I could make if I did not take that year off? I could make so much more money. As a matter of fact, I could get ahead of everybody else. I could get ahead of the curve. I could make a lot more in my retirement account. My 401k would look so much better if I just didn't take that time off. If I just worked a little bit of extra overtime.

Wait, that sounds more like today, doesn't it? Right, but this was to keep the people from covetousness. Because if they decided that they were going to obey God in this way, it meant that they put obeying God above their pocketbook. They put obeying God above their material needs. And it protected them from covetousness. And we know from the New Testament that what is covetousness the same as?

Idolatry. And so this was to keep them from that. But the third thing that I think is interesting is that it would teach the people to rest in the Lord's provision. It would teach the people to rest in the Lord's provision. Because as much as we like to work extra to make sure that we can get a little bit ahead in life, why do we really work extra? Because we have a hard time trusting that the Lord's going to be the one that provides for me.

The hardest thing about taking a day off is trusting that God will still take care of my needs. And this was to be the way that they would trust in the fact that their provision was not because of their wisdom. Their provision was not because of their hard work. Their provision was not because of how shrewd they were in the way that they handled their finances or the way that they handled their land.

Their provision came from the Lord and the Lord only. Because He would be the one that would provide for them. So He gives them this wonderful sabbatical year that they were to take. As I said before, unfortunately, they never took this Sabbath year. And so God had to force them to take it in the Babylonian captivity. Now the second thing that we'll look at tonight is what's called the year of Jubilee.

Notice what it says. Verse 8. To count off seven Sabbaths of years for yourself. Seven times seven years. So that you have the time of the seven Sabbaths of years. Namely, for those of us that can't do math, 49 years. Moses knew some of us were here. So, you shall then sound a ram's horn abroad on the tenth day of the seventh month on the day of atonement. You shall sound a horn all through your land.

You shall thus consecrate. The fiftieth year and proclaim a release through the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you. And each of you shall return to his own property. And each of you shall return to his family. You shall have the fiftieth year as a Jubilee. You shall not sow nor reap its aftergrowth nor gather in from its untrimmed vines.

For. It is a Jubilee. It shall be holy to you. You shall eat its crops out of the field. On this year of Jubilee, each of you shall return to his own property. If you make a sale, moreover, to your friend or buy from your friend's hand, you shall not wrong one another. Corresponding to the number of years after the Jubilee, you shall buy from your friend. He is to sell to you according to the number of years of crops.

In proportion to the extent of years, you shall increase its price. And in proportion to the fewness of years, you shall diminish its price. For it is a number of crops he is selling you. You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the Lord your God. You shall thus observe my statutes and my judgments so as to carry them out that you may live securely on the land.

Then the land will. Produce or excuse me, the land will yield its produce so that you can eat your fill and live securely on it. Now, the second thing that he tells us about is what's known as the year of Jubilee. The word Jubilee literally means the blast of a horn. Kind of interesting, isn't it? My daughter has a little friend named Jubilee, and I thought it makes sense.

But that's exactly what it means. The blowing of a horn, the blast of a horn. Actually, nor is the louder one in that relationship, but it's fun to say anyway. And this was the principle of it. They were to count off seven sets of years. And again, for those of us that can't do math, God was sure to include the fact that that means 49 years. At the end of 49 years, they would first of all take their Sabbath year.

That was the 49th year. But then in the 50th year, they were to consecrate that year, and they were to take another sabbatical year. This year was called the year of Jubilee. Now, if I understand this correctly, and most of the commentators that I read agreed, they were to take two years off in a row for this year of Jubilee. And this year of Jubilee, notice what it says, was to be a sacred or consecrated year

because it was a year of release. During this year of release, anyone that would have had to sell their property because they couldn't afford to pay it could return to their property. Anybody that had to sell themselves as an indentured slave in order to pay their bills was set free during this time of the year. This year was to be a year of release. This year was to be a year of release.

This year was to be a year of release. This year was to be a year of celebration, and it was to be a year of freedom. It was, first of all, a Sabbath because it was an extra rest that they were to take. It was, second of all, a year of restoration because during this year, all of their land that was taken because of a debt, if you will, bondage that they found themselves in, was restored back to them.

Their freedom, if was taken because of bondage, was restored back to them. And so not only was it a year of restoration, but it was a year of freedom. All property that was bought and sold was based upon this particular year. If you knew that your crops yielded X amount of dollars, and you were 35 years from the year of Jubilee, and you were in debt, you would sell your land to somebody for X amount of dollars times 35 years, and that's what they could charge you for it.

Now, God was very specific about one thing in all of this when it came to the way that they dealt with each other on the year of Jubilee. Did you take note of it? He repeated it. He said, verse 14, you shall not wrong one another. Verse 17, you shall not wrong one another. Isn't it kind of interesting that God, in this process of knowing that this year of Jubilee was to take place,

made sure to include this twice in the instructions of the year of Jubilee? Why do you suppose God had to include that twice? Because He knows how we are as human beings. That it is our tendency to want to take advantage of each other, no matter how well we know each other. No matter how close of friends we are with each other. Whether or not we're family. Sometimes we, as humans, still look for the way that we can take advantage of each other.

So God says, even in this year of Jubilee, you should make sure that you do not take advantage of one another. You should not wrong one another. Why? Because I am the Lord, your God. So this year of Jubilee was a wonderful year. A wonderful time for the people. It started with the blowing of the ram's horn, and everybody knew, all of my past debts are paid.

All of my past debts are settled. I suppose you probably know about where I'm going to go with this. Because, ultimately, the fulfillment of the year of Jubilee is found in Christ. As a matter of fact, do you remember that portion in the Gospels, where Jesus is in the synagogue, and they ask him to get up and speak, and he takes a portion from the book of Isaiah, and he speaks about what the Messiah is going to do, the recovery of sight to the blind, the lame walking, all those kinds of things.

And then he says, and to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. He said, this is now fulfilled in your hearing. Well, what's that acceptable year of the Lord? The year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee. The year of freedom. The year of the declaration of freedom. That idea of the blasting of the horn, or the trumpet sounding, if you will, when you carry that into the Greek, the Greek word for that is also called proclaim.

And what are we to do with the Gospel? We proclaim the Gospel message. And so, of course, we see that Jesus fulfilled this, because, number one, we were set free from the bondage of sin. We were set free from the bondage of sin. Number two, we were restored to our former state of fellowship with God. We were restored to that former state of fellowship with God.

If you had come into the land, and God said, this is your portion of land, but you didn't manage your money properly, or you didn't manage your land properly, and you found yourself saying, I can't pay my bills, so I need some help. I'm going to go to my neighbor and say, would you purchase my land from me in order to pay my bills, and I will be your servant. I will be in bondage to you until my debt is paid off. And then all of a sudden, that year of Jubilee comes, and the trumpet sounds, and you realize, no longer am I in bondage to that debt any longer.

I'm now restored to my land as I formerly was. Boy, it really lends a lot of beauty to what the Gospel message is, isn't it? Because when God created us, what did He create us for? What did He create us to do? He created us for fellowship. He created us to know Him. What separated us from that fellowship? What separated us from that fellowship was sin. Right? Remember in the garden?

God showed up to walk with Him in the cool of the day like He always did. And He said, Adam, where are you? You see, Adam was separated from God, not because God didn't know where he was, but because sin and God can't dwell together. So Jesus restored us to that former state of fellowship with Him. And then, of course, the third thing we pay attention to is that the final fulfillment of this

will be in the millennium, when the nation of Israel truly experiences that year of Jubilee. And so, it's a beautiful time that was to take place within the nation of Israel, a beautiful thing that was to happen. But there's a question. And I love this question. I love this question because God deals with the what-ifs. Notice what it says in verse 20. He says,

But if you say, where or what are we going to eat on the seventh year if we do not sow or gather in our crops? And may I say, the first time I ever read this as a young man, I was like, that is exactly my question. What are they supposed to do about that? Well, God, of course, has an answer. He says, Then I will so order my blessing for you in the sixth year,

that it will bring forth the crop for three years. When you are sowing the eighth year, you can still eat the old things from the crop, eating the old until the ninth year when its crops come in. Whoa. Talk about a bumper crop. Talk about an amazing crop that came in on the sixth year. Can you imagine? Now, again, the children of Israel never got to experience this.

I think that's the most unfortunate thing. More than even the fact that they had to go into bondage over this, I think the most unfortunate thing is that they never got to see what God was actually able to do. They never got to see the fullness of God's blessing in their life. And I think the unrealized fullness of God's blessing in our lives is oftentimes one of the most tragic things that happens to us as Christians.

Is that God says, If you will obey me in this, if you will test me in this, then I will bless you more than you can even imagine. Now, brothers and sisters, that may not mean that I have more money than anybody else in the world. I'm not gonna go Joel Osteen on you right now, okay? That doesn't mean you'll live in the most fabulous house in the world and you'll have the most beautiful vehicles in the world or any of those kinds of things.

But it does mean that God will bless you more than you can ever imagine. And he will do it in very spiritual ways. And I think sometimes the tragedy of the church in the 21st century is that none of us are experiencing the fullness of the blessing that God wants to put into our lives. Because God has so much more for us than we take in as the 21st century church.

Because we're too distracted with all of the things that we have. And so God knows that the natural question is gonna come up for them. So what are we going to eat during this year? If we just take a year off completely, then how are we supposed to be able to feed our families? A valid question and one that should be asked. And God knew that. And so he had an answer.

He said, don't worry about it. He said, in the sixth year, you will bring in so much that you won't even need to worry about it until the ninth year. That means that when they bring in the crop for the sixth year, they'll eat the produce of that in the seventh year, the year that they take off. And then in the eighth year, when they begin farming again, they still won't have to eat the produce of that year because they'll have enough left over from the sixth year.

And then all of a sudden, when the ninth year comes, they've actually gotten the produce from it. From that eighth year, all of a sudden, now they go, hey, look, now it's time to eat the produce of what we're now producing because God sustained us all of this time. You see, brothers and sisters, I think we forget that while God doesn't need us to obey him, there is great blessings in obeying him. My salvation is not dependent upon how good I do.

My salvation is not dependent on whether or not I obey God perfectly. He took care of it. I put my faith in it. It settled in that. But now the blessing that comes into my life comes from my obeying God. I'll always quote Wes Bentley on this. He says, obedience is the safety net of the believer because it's the most important thing that we can do in our walk with him.

God says, I've got so much for you if you will simply obey me that you don't even know. It's not come into your heart and in your mind what I want to do for you. As a matter of fact, we're told in the book of Ephesians that he is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we can ever ask or think. But let me put it into another New Testament verse that Jesus gave us in the book of Matthew chapter 6.

It's out of verse 33 where he says, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these other things will be added unto you. What does that mean? It means all of the things of this world, I don't need to set my heart and my mind on how I'm going to take care of all of those things. Don't get me wrong. There's wisdom in making sure I do things well.

There's wisdom in making sure that I am storing up. But ultimately, that's not my worry. It's not my job to worry about whether or not I can provide for my family. Ryan, you're a man. That is your job. No, that's God's job. God's job is to make sure that I'm taken care of because he is Jehovah Jireh, my provider. That's one of his names. And he proves that over and over and over again.

I've watched him be so faithful. And I can now at this stage of my life look and say, I know that God's going to take care of me. And we're in a place right now where that's getting a little bit tested, right? Where we're going to have to say, Lord, are you really going to provide for me? But you know what? We're told in the Psalms, I was young and now I'm old.

And I've never seen the descendants of God begging for bread. And you know what? I think that that's an absolutely true statement. We can rest in God being our provider. And so he tells them of this beauty, this joy that comes through obedience. Well, the last thing that he'll talk about is the law of redemption. Notice what he says in verse 23. He says,

Or in case a man has no kinsmen, but so recovers his means as to find sufficient for its redemption, then he shall calculate the years since its sale, and refund the balance to the man to whom he sold it, and so return to his property. But if he has not found sufficient means to get it back for himself, then what he has sold shall remain in the hands of the purchaser until the year of Jubilee. But at the Jubilee it shall revert, that he may return to his property. Now as God begins this aspect of the law of redemption, it has first of all to do with the land.

But I like this. I like what God starts with here in verse 23. He says the land shall not be sold permanently. In other words, there were to be no permanent transactions where that land is no longer yours. We'll find when we get to the book of Joshua that when they enter the land, each of the tribe has their own allotted territory that they're to take. And what he's saying is that should always be your allotted territory.

You don't have the right to sell the land permanently. Why? Because God says the land is mine. The land belongs to God. And you know what I know right now about the nation of Israel? Everybody's fighting over the nation of Israel. Everybody's fighting over who actually gets that land. And you know what God's not stressed about? Who's going to win? You know why?

Because he's sitting back and he's going, but it's my land. I don't know why you guys are fighting right now. I'm still going to decide who gets the land, right? It's kind of like if my daughters are arguing over like the TV, and I look at them and I say, but it's my TV. I'm watching the game, right? Because eventually I'm just going to step in and say, but I'm the one that makes the rules because it's my TV.

And it's the same with God with the land of Israel. Eventually God's going to step in and say, but the land is mine, and I'm going to choose who gets it. He says, here's what you need to understand. You are but aliens and sojourners with me. Now this is an interesting statement for God to make to the children of Israel, to whom he has promised the land. Because what does he tell them about this land that they're moving into?

You are a bunch of aliens and sojourners. Why? Because this land, while they're in their physical bodies, was never their permanent place to be. Just like you and I, when we look at this earth right now, this land, this earth is not our home. Because we are pilgrims and sojourners in it. That's what we're told in the book of 1 Peter, right? So we hold our land,

we hold our home, we hold this earth very loosely. Because it's not ours anyway. Because this place isn't really my home. We're waiting for something much more eternal than that. So he says, the land should not be sold permanently, but there should be a provision for those who can't afford their land, those who are having a hard time. And he gives three ways that they're to do it.

Number one, verse 25. If a fellow countryman of yours becomes so poor that he has to sell his property, his nearest kinsman is to come and buy back what his relatives have sold. This is the law of what we would call the kinsman redeemer. Now there's one particular book that spends a lot of time talking about the law of the kinsman redeemer, and that's the book of Ruth.

The book of Ruth is my wife's absolute favorite book for me to teach. As a matter of fact, when I was leading youth and college, she would say, every time I'd finish a book, I'd say, what should I do next? And she'd say, you should do Ruth. And every time I would say, okay, she would get so happy about it. Because the book, the story of Ruth is just amazing.

If you don't know the story of Ruth, I would recommend that you read it. I'll run through the basics of it with you real quick. Naomi and her husband and her sons, it was during the time of the judges and there was a great famine in the land. And so they decided what they would do is they would go to the land of Moab, a land they should have never gone to, but a land they decided to go to anyway.

While they were there, Naomi's sons, Malone and Chilione, both took wives for themselves. One's name meant gazelle. I can't remember her name. But the other one's name was Ruth. Well, in the process of time, Naomi's husband dies. And then both of Naomi's sons die. Now, when they moved to Moab, they sold their land, just like what it's talking about here. They sold their land.

Well, in the process of time, the famine had ended. And so Naomi decides, my husband is gone. My sons are gone. I may as well go back to my homeland and try to make a life for myself there. Her two daughters-in-law say, we'll go with you. And she says, no, no, no, no. You need to go back. You're young enough. Find husbands for yourselves and go back. Well, the one whose name meant gazelle

or athletic, basically, she decides to go back because there was surely someone at the 24-hour fitness waiting for her. And so, but Ruth says, no, no, I'm going with you. Your people will be my people and your God will be my God. So they come back to the land and while they're there, they need to make a little bit of money. They need to provide for themselves.

And so Ruth goes to glean in the field. Remember, we talked about that. They were not to reap the corners of their field or to go back a second time because the poor needed to be able to take some of the grain. And so Ruth went back and she gleaned the field. Well, while she gleaned the field, she ended up gleaning the field for a guy who was actually a kinsman redeemer for her,

whose name I'm completely blanking on right now. Boaz, thank you very much. She was gleaning in the field of Boaz. And so Boaz decides he wants to be the kinsman redeemer for them, not because he needs a field, but because he likes Ruth. Well, it turned out that there was a nearer kinsman redeemer. And so Boaz went to him and said, hey, listen, Naomi's come back

and her field's come up for sale. Would you like to redeem it? Just like it says right here, a fellow countryman of yours becomes poor, sells part of his property. His nearest kinsman can buy back what his relative had sold. But in order for him to buy the land, he also had to take Ruth so that he could continue on the line of the family. Well, the nearest kinsman said,

well, here's the thing. I've already got a wife. I can't really redeem the field. And so Boaz says, perfect. I'll do it. And so Boaz redeems the field. And he does so not because he needs another field, but because he wanted a bride, because he loved Ruth. And that, of course, gives us the perfect picture of Jesus, our kinsman redeemer, the one who looked at us and said,

I don't need to buy the earth, but in order for me to have the bride, I have to purchase the field. And so when he came and gave his life on the cross, he did so not because he cared as much about the earth, but because he cared about the bride. And he purchased us for himself as that kinsman redeemer. And that's a beautiful picture that's given to us there in the book of Ruth.

I just gave you the sad cliff notes of Ruth. You should go back and read it for yourself and get the full story. Now, that was one way that they could redeem themselves or redeem their land. The second was, says that in the case that there's no kinsman, but the guy recovers his money, in other words, he gets to a place where he has enough money, then he can basically purchase the field back for himself.

And of course, the third way is if there's no kinsman redeemer and no sufficient funds, that's where that beautiful year of Jubilee comes in and he can wait until the boop-boop, right, the blowing of the horn. That was my sad ram's horn. And he can have the field back because it's restored at the year of Jubilee. Now, likewise, verse 29, if a man sells a dwelling house in a walled city, then his redemption rights remain valid until a year from its sale.

His right of redemption lasts a full year. But if it is not bought back for him within the space of a full year, then the house that is in the walled city passes permanently to its purchaser throughout his generation, it does not revert in the year of Jubilee. The houses of the villages, however, which have no surrounding wall, shall be considered as open fields. They have redemption rights and revert in the year of Jubilee.

The one exception to this is if it was a house within a walled city because it didn't contain a field which was part of your livelihood. Therefore, if you couldn't redeem it within a year, the one who purchased it from you, it went to them. But then there's another exception, verse 32, as for the cities of the Levites, the Levites have a permanent right of redemption for the houses of the city, which are their possession. What therefore belongs to the Levites may be redeemed and a house sale in the city of his possession reverts in the year of Jubilee.

For the house of the cities of Levites are their possession among the sons of Israel. Pasture fields of their cities shall not be sold, for that is their possession. Of course, the Levites don't get an allotment within the land except some cities. Their inheritance is God. So the rules are a little bit different for them. Now, we move on from there, dealing more with this law of redemption.

It says now, in the case of a countryman of yours who becomes poor and his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him like a stranger or a sojourner that he may live with you. Do not take you serious interest from him, but revere your God that your countrymen may live with you. You shall not give him your silver at interest, nor your food for gain. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to give you the land of Canaan and to be your God.

If a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to you that he sells himself to you, you shall not subject him to a slave's service. He shall be with you as a hired man, as if he were a sojourner. He shall serve with you until the year of Jubilee. He shall then go out from you, he and his sons with him, and he shall go back to his family, that he may return to the property of his forefathers." Now, I believe verse 35 is not only a key for this section, but perhaps a key for the entire chapter because it says, in the case of a countryman, if he becomes poor in his means with regard to you falter, then you are to sustain him.

Now, if you're reading in the New King James, I prefer that translation of this verse because it says, you shall help him. I believe that that's kind of the key to this entire chapter because the key to this chapter is love for your fellow countrymen or love for your brother because that's what God is intending in all of these things, which is why God said, you shall not wrong one another because I am the Lord your God. He said, hey, if your brother falls on hard times, help him. Don't take interest from him.

Don't charge him a great deal of interest. Don't treat him like a slave. Treat him as a hired man that has a job to do. Leave him his dignity. Show him some kindness. Help him out a little bit. I love what he says here when he says, you shall not, verse 37, give him your silver at interest nor your food for gain because I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt.

Remember what Jesus said at the end of the Sermon on the Mount when he said how we should care for each other, that you should love those even if they don't like you, he said you should lend and not expect anything in return. See, that's kind of what he was talking about right here is that caring for our brother in their state of greatest need. Well, he goes on from there to say, verse 42, for they are my servants who I brought out from the land of Egypt. They are not to be sold in a slave sale.

You shall not rule over them with severity, but you are to revere your God. As for your male and female slaves, whom you have, you may acquire male and female slaves from the pagan nations that are around you. Then, too, it is out of the sons of sojourners who live as aliens among you that you may gain acquisition, and out of their families who are with you, whom they will have produced in your land, they also may become your possession. You may even bequeath them to your sons after you.

To receive as a possession, you can use them as permanent slaves, but in respect to your countrymen, the sons of Israel, you shall not rule with severity. Over one another. Now, this is a pretty controversial section of Scripture because this is usually the one that people use to say, see, God sanctioned slavery. No, God limited the slavery that was already going on.

You see, slavery has been around since, well, sin came into the world, right? Because when was the first slave made? The day that Adam ate of the fruit because he became a slave to sin. And now, since then, men have been enslaving each other in different ways. And so, God put limits on what was already going on knowing that the gospel would change the heart of man

and ultimately take that away. So, we go on from there in verse 47. He says, Now, if the means of a stranger or of a sojourner with you becomes sufficient, and a countryman of yours becomes so poor with regard to him as to sell himself to a stranger who is sojourning with you, or to the descendants of a stranger's family, then he shall have the redemption right after he has been sold. One of his brothers may redeem him, or his uncle or his uncle's sons may redeem him, or one of his blood relatives from his family may redeem him, or if he prospers, he may redeem himself.

Similar to the land was the same with the individual. He then with his purchaser shall calculate the year when he sold himself to him up to the year of Jubilee, and the price of his sale shall correspond to the number of years. It is like the days of a hired man that he shall be with him. If there are still many years, he shall refund part of the purchase price in proportion to them for his own redemption.

And if years and a few years remain until the year of Jubilee, he shall so calculate with him in proportion to his years, he is to refund the amount for his redemption like a hired man. Year by year he shall be with him. He shall not rule over him with severity, even if he is not redeemed by him, but by these means he shall still go out in the year of Jubilee, he and his sons with him." And of course what's being spoken of here is what we would call indentured servanthood. Someone owes a debt.

They say, I promise to work for you for so many years in order to pay off that debt. Again, he could either redeem himself, the kinsman redeemer could redeem him, or he would be set free in the year of Jubilee. So we finish up with verse 55. He says, For the sons of Israel are my servants. They are my servants who I brought out from the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Now verse 55, along with verse 35, give us this key. Because remember I said verse 35 is the key to the whole thing because you were to help your fellow countrymen. You were to show love and kindness to your fellow countrymen. Why? Because ultimately, we are all God's servants. Ultimately, all those of the nation of Israel belong to the Lord. And we should treat each other

like we belong to the Lord. And I think that's a really good word for us in the world we're living in right now. We've all been created in the image of God. And we should treat our fellow man like they have been created in the image of God. Even though sometimes you may not agree with them, even though sometimes their sin may be in the face of God, they are still one who's been created.

They are still one who Jesus died for. Amen. Father, we come before you and Lord, I thank you for the beautiful picture of Jesus once again out of the book of Leviticus. Lord, the beautiful picture of this redemption and rest that we have in you. And so Lord, continue to do your work in our hearts in this way. And Lord, as sometimes we truly just need to rest

in the provision that you have for us, do this. Do this. Do this. Do that work in our hearts. Father, help us to find that in you. And we just thank you and praise you, Father. In Jesus' name. Amen. Be blessed.