Well, good evening, everyone. If you would, open your Bibles with me to 1 Peter chapter 2. 1 Peter chapter 2, we'll begin reading in verse 11.

Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul. having your conversation honest among the Gentiles, that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, whether it be to the king, or supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well. For so is the will of God. that with well-doing you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free and not using your liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.

Honor all men, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king. Servants, be subject to your masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward, for this is thank-worth, If a man for conscience toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully, for what glory is it? If when you be buffeted for your faults, you shall take it patiently.

But if when you do well and suffer for it, you take it patiently. This is acceptable with God for even here unto where you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow in his steps who did no sin. neither was guile found in his mouth. Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.

Who his own self, bear our sins in his own body on the tree. That we, being dead to sins, should live under righteousness, by whose stripes ye were healed. For ye were a sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls.

All right, Sean, come lead us in our singing, if you would.

Okay, if you would, turn in your hymnal to song number 450. We'll sing Isn't the Love of Jesus Something Wonderful.

450. There will never be a sweeter story. Story of the Savior's love divine. Love that brought him from the realms of glory. Just to save a sinful soul like mine.

Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful, wonderful, wonderful? Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful it is to me. Boundless as the universe around me. Reaching to the farthest soul away. Saving, keeping love, it was that found me. That is why my heart can truly say,

Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful, wonderful, oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me. Love beyond our human comprehending. Love of God in Christ, how can it be? This will be my theme and never ending. Great redeeming love of Calvary.

Isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful. Wonderful. Oh, isn't the love of Jesus something wonderful? Wonderful it is to me. Okay, if you would now turn over to song number 477 at Calvary. And in my book, the third verse that has been changed there at the beginning to, now I owe to Jesus everything. So we'll sing it like that.

Years I spent in vanity and pride, Caring not my Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

By God's word at last my sin I learned. Then I trembled at the law I'd spurned. Till my guilty soul in ploring turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

Now I owe to Jesus everything. Now I gladly own Him as my King. Now my raptured soul can only sing of Calvary.

Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

O the love that drew salvation's plan, O the grace that brought it down to man, O the mighty gulf that God did span at Calvary.

Mercy there was great and grace was free. Pardon there was multiplied to me. There my burdened soul found liberty at Calvary.

Now if you would open your Bibles with me to Exodus chapter 29. Exodus chapter 29, my text is gonna begin in verse 10, but I wanna begin reading in verse one. It's been a few weeks since we looked at this and kind of refresh our minds and what leads up here to verse 10 that we'll begin looking at this evening.

And this is the thing that thou shalt do unto them to hollow them. to minister unto me in the priest's office. Take one young bullock and two rams without blemish, and unleavened bread, and cakes unleavened, tempered with oil, and wafers unleavened, anointed with oil. Of wheat and flour shalt thou make them. And thou shalt put them into one basket, and bring them in the basket with the bullock and the two rams. And Aaron and his sons thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. and shalt wash them with water. And thou shalt take the garments, and put upon Aaron the coat, and the robe of the ephod, and the ephod, and the breastplate, and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod. And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head, and put the holy crown upon the mitre. And thou shalt take the anointing oil, and pour it upon his head, and anoint him. And thou shalt bring his sons, and put coats upon them, and thou shalt gird them with girdles, Aaron and his sons, and put the bonnets on them. And the priest's office shall be theirs for a perpetual statute. And thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons. And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock. And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And thou shalt take of the blood of the bullock, and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the call that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp."

It is a sin offering. We'll end our reading there.

Let's bow before our Lord together in prayer. Our Father, we bow before you this evening. We bow humbly and reverently. Father, we bow thankfully, so thankful for your mercy and grace that you have so freely poured upon your people because of the Lord Jesus Christ, because of his obedience as our representative because of his death as our substitute. Father, we are so thankful. And Father, I pray that tonight you would, in a special way, send your spirit upon us. Father, that you might be pleased to give us a special hour of worship, where we can leave here tonight as the disciples of old, saying how our hearts burned within us, the word of God was open to us as Christ has preached to us out of your word. Father, I pray that you would, through the preaching of your word, glorify your son, that your people might see him high and lifted up and that we would worship from the heart, that we would see him in his glory, believe him, trust him, that we run to him to be our all and in all and father and seeing Christ exalted that we might see ourselves abased in our sin and our depravity and our spiritual death. That we might see that your son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is everything that we need. And while we pray for ourselves, Father, we pray for your people everywhere they're meeting together tonight. Father, bless your word for the glory of your name, and for the good, the edification, the comfort, the salvation of your people, wherever they might be found tonight. And Father, I thank you especially for this place, this family of believers that you have called out. Father, I thank you and ask that you would bless each one, that you'd bless each home with your presence and your leadership. And Father, enable us to continue with one heart with one accord and unity of the Spirit, continue to meet together to worship you, to preach Christ to our generation. And Father, that you might bless your word as it's preached to call out your sheep, to call them to Christ and enable us to worship together with them. And Father, all these things we ask and we give thanks in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's for His sake and His glory we pray. Amen.

I've titled the message tonight, Christ, Our Sin Offering. Now this is still part of the whole ceremony the Lord is giving, how the priests will be consecrated. They will be hallowed to serve the Lord in the office of the priest. You know, first they came to the door of the tabernacle, the congregation, and Moses would wash them with water. He dressed them with the different garments that they're supposed to be wearing, and they're consecrated. He poured the oil upon them. But now, the ceremony is not done. In order for the priest to be consecrated, hollowed to the Lord, sacrifices must be offered. Blood must be shed. And this is given to us as a picture of Christ our sin offering. And it pictures how sinners, like you and me, are made priests. Peter calls us kings and priests. How we're made priests unto God and how sinners like us are made fit to serve the Lord, to serve Him and to worship Him.

And this, the sacrifice that we'll look at tonight of the bullock is a sin offering. The Lord says specifically at the end of verse 14, it is a sin offering. Now the sin offering, there are many different offerings given in the law. The sin offering is specifically to make an atonement for sin. It's the putting away of sin. The burnt offering that we'll look at, Lord willing, next week is a picture of sanctification, making God's people holy. And I point out, we're going to look at these two in two consecutive weeks. Because where there is one, there's always the other. Always. Where there is a sin offering, there's always a burnt offering. Where there is justification, there is always sanctification. They're just the two sides of the same coin. And Christ is both of them. He's both our justification and our sanctification. And that's important, I point that out, because don't ever fall for this thing that someone says, oh, of course we're justified by Christ. Of course Christ has put away our sin, we're saved, we're justified by the blood of Christ. But now if you wanna be sanctified and made holy, you gotta do that yourself. You gotta grow in holiness and grow in sanctification, because sanctification is progressive. That's hogwash. Actually, that's blasphemy, because Christ is our sanctification. We don't have anything to do with it. He is our sanctification, but I might get ahead of myself a little bit there, but those two, justification and sanctification always have to go together. But tonight, the sin offering, I got a few points on that. Number one is this, atonement for sin requires the transfer of sin. If you and I would be made sinless, it requires a transfer of sin. We see a picture of that in verse 10. And that should cause a Bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron, his son, so put their hands upon the head of the Bullock. Now the reason they would lay their hand on the, on the head of the Bullock, it's a picture of substitution. It's a picture of the very heart of the gospel. They put their hands on, on the head of that, that Bullock and confess their sins and their sin is symbolically transferred to that Bullock. But you know, this transfer is not a one way transfer. We're not just talking about the transfer of sin to the sacrifice. It's a two way transfer where there is transfer of sin to the sacrifice. There is a transfer of righteousness from the sacrifice to the center. That is the heart of the gospel. Now hold your finger there. Look over Hebrews chapter six and I'll show you that. Hebrews chapter six. Verse one. Therefore, leaving the principles, the beginning, the ABCs of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on into perfection, not laying again the foundation. These are the foundation stones of the gospel, of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God. of the doctrine of baptism, and of laying on of hands, and of the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment." Now when the writer talks about the laying on of hands as being one of those foundation stones of the gospel, he's not talking about us laying our hands on one another and transferring some sort of blessing or something to one another. That's what Brother Henry said, there's no point in us putting our empty hands on your empty head. That's not what this is talking about at all. He's talking about salvation. This is the foundation stones of salvation. It's the transfer of sin to sacrifice, to Christ our sacrifice and the transfer of his righteousness to us. That's one of those foundation stones, the ABCs of the gospel. That's what 2 Corinthians 5, 21 is all about. It's a two-way transfer, isn't it? He hath made him sin for us. Him who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Our sin transferred to Christ, and his righteousness transferred to us. And this is just a main pillar of the gospel. You can't preach the gospel without this transfer, this two-way transfer. Because the only way sinners like you and me could ever be made righteous is Christ has got to give us his righteousness. We can't do anything to make ourselves righteous. We can't do anything to make ourselves less sinful. We can't do anything to contribute to this matter of righteousness in any way. Christ must give us his righteousness. And our sin, if we would be accepted of the father, must be transferred to Christ. He must bear our sins in his own body upon the tree. And that's really obvious if you just think about it for two seconds. The only way the father could put his son to death, the only way the father could thrust the sword of justice into the heart of his fellow and do it in justice, is if Christ had been made guilty of the sin of God's elect. If Christ was innocent, the father would be unjust to kill him, wouldn't he? The only way the father could put him to death in justice and justice really be satisfied is if Christ was truly made sin for his people. Sin truly must be taken away from us before God could ever be merciful to us. It has to be. And it's done very publicly so that you can't miss it unless you want to. You know, this whole ceremony is going on at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. All Israel could see it if they wanted to. I mean, you really had to avert your eyes to miss it. Is anything in the history of the world more public than the death of Christ on the cross? I mean, it was done at the most public time outside the walls of Jerusalem, at one of the high holy days when most people would be in Jerusalem, most people would be passing by. And the story has been told and has not diminished one bit in 2,000 years. Has anything been more public than the death of Christ on the cross? Brother, if we missed it, I'm telling you, it's our own fault. It's been set so evidently clear before our eyes. And I hate to give this any press, In today's world, this is such a touchstone. People want to argue about this. And for the life of me, I don't know why. I mean, I really don't, unless they're just trying to find some nitpicky thing to argue about, make them feel like, oh, I'm smarter than you because I see this and you don't. Don't get drawn into it. Just don't get drawn in. The doctrine of the transfer of sin and righteousness, the doctrine of Christ I mean a true substitute. It's gracious, it's loving, and it's glorious, and it should be something we rejoice together about. You think about how glorious this thing of substitution is, where Christ is truly our substitute, where our sin is transferred to him, and he suffered and died for it. That's so glorious. God is able to do something. Here's a news flash. God's able to do something we can't understand. God did this for his glory, for his purpose, and he did something that we can't understand, but he did it to enable him to be both just and justifier of the ungodly. That's so glorious. It's so gracious. God did this for sinners who have sinned against him, who joined in Adam's rebellion against God, And God transferred their sin away from them and made his darling son to be guilty of it. And then killed his son in our place. Can you think of anything more gracious than that? And it's so loving. The love of God is seen at Calvary more clearly than it's seen anywhere else. The father must really love his people. We talk about God's electing love. And that's what it is. When God chose a people out of Adam's fallen race to redeem, that was an act of such love. And the father must truly love those people. Because in order to save those people he chose to save, he had to make his son what he hates. He made his son sin so that his people could be redeemed. Now he must really love those people. And the son must really love those people, that he would willingly be made what he hates. He's holy too, just like the father is. He willingly was made what he hates, what his father hates, knowing how he would suffer for it, so that he could redeem the people that he loves. Now I'm telling you, that's love. That's love. And that's cause for, it should be cause for rejoicing, isn't it?

And it should be cause for rejoicing because this gives such confidence and peace of heart to the sinner. If Christ took my sin away from me, I can never be condemned for it. That gives you such peace of heart. I thought about on the way over, driving over here tonight to the chorus, my sins are all taken away. We sing that hymn, that chorus, That's a joyful thing. My sins are all taken away. We just sang it. Shawn just let us sing it. My burdened soul found liberty. Where? At Calvary. At Calvary where my sin was made Christ and his righteousness was made mine.

Then second, an atonement for sin requires the death of the sacrifice. Verse 11 says, and thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Now you can't just intend to kill the sacrifice. You can't just transfer the sin from the sinner to the sacrifice and be done with it and say, well, my sin's been transferred away from me, so I don't have to worry about it anymore. No, something else has to happen. There must be death for sin. There's got to be a sacrifice for sin. The sacrifice must die if the sinner's gonna live.

Now Christ is the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Before God created anything, the purpose of God was to save his elect, to redeem his elect by the sacrifice of Christ, to put away their sin by his precious sinless blood. And even before God created anything, it was done. God's people were justified. At that time, God's never seen his people as any way but justified under the blood of Christ. Because the will of God, the purpose of God, the promise of God, it's just as sure as a past act of God, isn't it? Because God can't change. God can't lie. Whatever he willed in eternity, it's done.

But yet, the sacrifice must die in time. That was the purpose of God. It will be done. And that's what Christ was doing when he went to Calvary's tree and sacrificed himself. He went there to fulfill the eternal purpose of God. He went to the cross because the cross is the hour. It is the event for which the whole world was created. The reason God ever said, let there be light and let the dry land appear. Let the, Grass appear, and the trees appear, and the plants appear, and the animals appear. And the reason God formed Adam out of the dust of the earth was all for this purpose. That Christ would go to the cross and redeem his people from their sin. That he would be their sin offering upon Calvary's tree.

Now the only reason Christ could go to the cross and die, go back to our first point, sin must have been transferred to him. He must have been made guilty of the sin of his people. And he truly died. The Son of God in human flesh truly died for the sin of his people. I think it was Sunday maybe I talked about this. I can't understand that. I mean, I cannot, how can life himself die? I mean, life persona, I can't understand that. But by God's grace, I believe it. And even though I believe many things, I do not understand because God said them, because God did them. And this thrills my heart because if Christ died for my sin, I can never die the second death. It's impossible. I can never do it. And the death of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ is so all encompassing. I mean, this tells you something about how sinful we are and what it takes to pay for our sin. It required not just the suffering and death of the body of Christ. He had to offer his whole self to God. His whole self had to suffer. He made his soul an offering for sin, Isaiah said. He offered himself. He offered all that he is. as a sacrifice for the sin of his people. All of himself. And that's what's pictured here in verse 13.

And I shall take all the fat that covereth the inwards, and the call that is above the liver and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar. Now this fat that covereth the inwards and the call that's above the liver, this is, refers to what, this is the best parts of the meat. This is the choicest part of the meat of the animal. And God said it's to be all of it burned up upon the altar. Now there are some sacrifices that they would offer upon the altar and then the priest would take them. And that meat would be meat for his family. You know, that's how they were provided for. But not the sin offering. The sin offering was never eaten by the priest. It was always completely burned up. upon the altar. And that's a picture of the inward suffering of Christ, the soul sufferings of Christ.

I don't even know if you could say it this way, because you can't say there's the most choice parts of Christ, because he's all choice. He's all perfect. But the perfection of Christ, maybe that's a better way to say it, isn't it? It was the perfection of Christ that was offered and suffered under the fiery wrath of God. That was where business was done between the son and the father. And that's where salvation was accomplished. And by the sacrifice that satisfied the father was the total suffering of Christ, body and soul.

Here's the third thing about this sin offering. There's an atonement for sin because of the blood, because of the power of the blood. Verse 12 says, and thou shalt take the blood of the bullock and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger, and pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. Now, when they killed this bullock, they would catch its blood, and Moses was to dip his finger in that blood and put it on the horns of the altar. Now, horns in scripture are always given to us as pictures of power. And here's when Moses put the blood on those four horns, it was a picture. The power of the sacrifice that was offered on that altar, it's the blood. The power of the sacrifice to redeem comes from the blood. It's the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

And not just animal blood, it's got to be the precious blood of Christ. Christ suffered and died. The blood doesn't just mean, well, you drain some of the blood out of, you know, The blood means death. I mean, you could go give a pint of blood, go on the rest of your day, and you'd be fine. We're not talking about just some blood. The blood means there has been death. There's been death for sin. And it's the blood of Christ that gives him the power to save. The reason Christ could save his people from their sins is even though he was made sin, He remained the holy sacrifice. He was made sin, but it didn't change his holy nature, did it? His blood remained sinless. And if you think about it, you remember this transfer is a two-way transfer. Being made the righteousness of God in Christ, that doesn't change our sinful nature either, does it? Our sinful nature remains the same. When we're given the righteousness of Christ, we're given a new nature. in the new birth, a nature that's righteous. So we're forced to live out the rest of our days on earth with this old man, who's nothing but sin, and the new man who's nothing but righteousness. And when Christ was made sin, like I say, that didn't defile him. Again, how can you explain that? I just know it so. He remained the sinless sacrifice. And because his blood remained sinless, that's his power. to save his people from their sin. I wanna read you a few scriptures. Romans 3 verse 25 tells us that propitiation for sin comes through faith in his blood. There's a propitiation. There's a covering for sin in the blood of Christ. So powerful that it covers the sin of God's elect so God doesn't see it. John said in 1 John, 1 verse 7, that the blood of Christ is so powerful that it cleanses us from all sin. It doesn't leave a drop of sin, not a stain of sin. It's gone. Paul said in Romans 5 verse 9, that we're justified. We're made sinless. How? By the blood of Christ. Ephesians 1 verse 7 says we have redemption and the forgiveness of sins. through his blood, what Peter called his precious blood. That's what bought our redemption. That's what enables God to forgive our sins. The blood of Christ removed the sin of God's elect. There's no sin left to charge us with. We're forgiven because of the blood of Christ. You and I and Adam, a long time ago, declared war on God. We declared war on God. The blood of Christ is so powerful. Paul said in Colossians 1 verse 20, that Christ made peace, peace with God, peace between God and his people through the blood of his cross, through the blood of his sacrifice. Life, eternal spiritual life can only come through the blood, through the blood that Christ shed in his death as a substitute for his people. The power of Christ's blood fully and completely saves his people from all of their sin. And then that's what happened when the blood was, you know, a picture of when the blood was applied to those four horns. But then the rest of the blood, you know, it wasn't wasted either. It was poured out on the ground in front of the altar. Now I don't know how many sin offerings would be made in a day or a week or a month, but I'm telling you, That altar was a bloody place, wasn't it? So much blood was shed there. So much blood was poured out on that altar. And if you would go to that altar, you would bring your sacrifice to the priest. And you'd go up to the altar with the priest, and the priest is going to offer this sacrifice for you. You're going to have to walk to the altar through the blood. A bloody place. It's all been poured out on the ground. And that's a picture. Sinners can only approach God through the blood, through the blood of Christ. And that is very, very, very restrictive. There's no other option. You can only come to God one way. It's through the blood of Christ. It's so restrictive. But at the same time, this restrictive commandment, this restrictive truth, you can only come to God through the blood, Throws the door wide open to sinners. If you come to God through the blood of Christ, you'll always be accepted, because the Father is pleased with the blood. And then lastly, atonement for sin requires suffering outside the camp. Verse 14 says, but the flesh of the bullock and his skin and his dun, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp. It is a sin offering. went through this ceremony. They symbolically transferred their sin to the head of the bullock. They killed the bullock. They roasted its body, the parts of the body that were supposed to be roasted with fire on the altar before the Lord. But then there's stuff left. There's the flesh and the skin and the dung, the leftovers, you know, out of this bullock. Well, something's got to be done with that. Because remember, sin's been symbolically transferred to that bullock, the skin and the dung and the flesh. There's still sin in that. Sin's been transferred to that, so it has to be taken outside of the camp. And you can't just take it outside of the camp and throw it into the dump and just leave it there. Sin's got to be destroyed. If God's gonna accept his people, sin must be destroyed. So they had to take the remains of that bullock, take it outside the camp, and burn it to ash, symbolically showing sin has been completely destroyed. Sin has been taken out of the camp and has been burned to ash, completely destroyed. That's the only way God could be pleased with the people, if their sin has been destroyed. And in that case, it was symbolic. But what Christ did for his people is literal, didn't it? The only way God could be pleased with you and me is if Christ completely destroyed our sin. It's no accident that Christ suffered and was crucified outside the camp. He didn't suffer inside the walls of Jerusalem. He suffered outside the walls of Jerusalem. He suffered outside the camp. And when he suffered and died, he completely removed the sin of his people so that it cannot be found anymore. Even God, who sees everything, doesn't see it. Because of the sacrifice of his son, I want you to think about this, and if you trust Christ, let this just thrill your heart. Because of the sacrifice of Christ, God says, their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. You know, I'm a sinful man. I'm so sinful, I don't even know most of my sin. I don't even recognize most of my sin. But some of them I remember. Some of them I remember. And I ain't gonna tell you, because I'm so ashamed. I don't want you to know them. But they cause, I remember them. They cause me, I don't know what the right word for it is, regret, sadness, you know, whatever. But to think that God says their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. That makes me so thankful for Christ the Savior. Oh, it makes me so thankful for not just His power to save, but His love to save, His willingness to save, that He would save a sinner like me. And that picture's something else, isn't it? That they would take that, the remains of that bullock out and burn it to ash. I mean, you know, that probably took a while, didn't it? But Christ is always so much better than the picture. Here's what I know about little kids. I know about stinking little boys, because I was one of them. And I can just imagine what me and my other stinking little boyfriends would have done if we lived in the camp of Israel. At some point, we'd have gone outside the camp, and you know what we'd have gone looking for? Those ashes. And we'd see those ashes. Now, I know that the Bullock is completely destroyed, but the ashes are there. kind of as a reminder of what happened. This is a reminder of sin. Sin was transferred to that bullock, and here's the ashes that's left of him. Go outside the camp, anywhere you want, and go looking for the sin of God's elect. You won't find even the ashes. They're gone. Christ was raised from the dead in glorified flesh, in perfection. because the sin of his people was gone. You can't find a hint of it anywhere.

And when Christ died, this is the picture that he was fulfilling. Look with me over Hebrews chapter 13. This is the picture that he was fulfilling. The sin offering that by which the priests were sanctified to be able to serve the Lord in that office. Hebrews 13 verse 10. We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle. For those bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin were burned without the camp.

Now those high priests, remember I told you Christ is always better than the picture. And this is a good picture, isn't it? Of Christ putting away the sin of his people. But the high priest couldn't eat the body. They couldn't eat the flesh, the best parts of the meat of the sin offering. But believers do. Not only can you, believers do. We feed on Christ, don't we? Our souls feed on Christ. It's eating Christ, having union with Christ. That's what gives us spiritual life in the first place. And that life is sustained by feeding on Christ. That's why we continually just preach Christ over and over and over again, because that's the message. that will save anybody that doesn't know him. And that's the message that will bless, and feed, and edify, and strengthen, and encourage all those that believe him. We're feeding on Christ himself. Not the junk food of ceremony, but Christ himself.

So verse 10, or verse 12, wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, he suffered without the gate. By his death, Christ justified and sanctified his people. He took their sin away and made them holy. Now that's the picture of this sin offering.

Brother Henry used to say, preach for a decision. Preach for a decision. And you know he didn't mean a decision for somebody to walk the aisle, do something. Preach for a reaction. I believe that's what he was meaning. Preach for a reaction. What should our reaction be to this glorious truth of Christ our sin offering? Put away the sin of his people. What should our reaction to this be? It's believing. To hear this message of Christ our sin offering, and if you're a sinner, run to him to put your sin away. That's what the writer says in verse 13. Let us go forth therefore unto him, unto him without the camp bearing his reproach.

Now there's a lot in that verse. We're to go to Christ without the camp, without the camp of man's religion, certainly. Just like John the Baptist was not found in the heart of man's religion. Christ is not found in the heart of the world's religion, what they call religion today. We're going to have to go outside the camp. And we're going to have to go outside the camp of the world, Adam's nature. We're going to have to go outside that camp. But this thing about bearing his reproach, it's not like, well, we're going outside the camp and we're seeking to bear the reproach so that the world will hate us. Let me tell you something. If you're a believer, the world's gonna naturally hate you. They're not gonna understand you. They're gonna be 180 degrees opposite of everything that you believe about salvation and righteousness and forgiveness and Christ and God. They're naturally gonna hate you. And if you're an unbeliever, they're gonna find some reason to hate you anyway. I mean, this world, it's filled with that. That's not primarily the reproach the writer's talking about here.

Going to Christ, bearing his reproach means this. Go to Christ bearing, believing, claiming the reproach of Christ, of Christ crucified, the reproach of the cross. What Christ's death on the cross as the sin offering for his people, what does that say about you and me? It says we're sinners. It says all we can do is sin. It's impossible for us to establish righteousness for our own selves because all we do is sin. When we try to establish righteousness for ourself, that's the worst sin you can do. I mean, if you can categorize sin, that's the worst sin that you can do because it's saying, I don't need Christ to be my righteousness.

You and I are such horrible sinners. We are such lost cases that the one and only way Our sin could be put away is the blood of God, the blood of God himself. That's what Christ crucified, Christ suffering outside the camp means. We are such awful sinners. The only way we could be saved is if our substitute is the son of God himself who died in our place. That's what it says about us. And it says that by his death on the cross, Christ completely took away the sin of his people.

By God's grace, I can make this statement as a true statement. I lay claim to that reproach. I lay claim to that reproach that what the death of Christ on the cross as a sin offering says about me is all I am is a sinner. That's all I ever claim to be before God is a sinner. Because if I'm a sinner, I'm someone Christ came to save. And if he came to save me, he put my sin away by his death on Calvary's tree. As long as he gives me breath and gives me the ability, I'm going to worship him. I'm going to praise his name. I want to tell others about Him. I want to be with those so we can just all be together and brag on Christ, one back and forth, one to another. I just want to brag on Him. That's what Rex Bartley always says there at Danville, come brag on Christ.

And when the Lord is finally done with me here on this earth, oh, what a day that will be to finally see Him face to face. And it'll all be because of this sin offering, that he put my sin away, enabled me to go into his presence. Now, that's cause for rejoicing. I hope we can all go home tonight rejoicing in Christ our sin offering.

All right, let's bow together. Our Father, how can we with the human tongue give thanks for Christ our sin offering? That you would send your own darling son to suffer and die as a substitute for sinners to put our sin away and to hollow us, to consecrate us, to make us holy and fit to be in your family. That you'd make us fit, Father, to serve thee. How we thank you. Father, I pray that you would keep our eyes and our hearts and our attention fixed on Christ, crucified Christ, our sin offering, and that we would together with one heart, with one accord, with one motive, serve our Lord together by preaching him to our generation and by worshiping him together. Father, bless us for Christ's sake, we pray. See us and hear us only in our Lord Jesus Christ. It's in his blessed name, for his glory we pray, amen.

All right, Sean. Okay, if you would, turn in your hymnal to song number 304, and stand as we sing,

Savior, more than life to me. 304. Savior more than life to me,
I am clinging, clinging close to thee.
Let thy precious blood apply.
Keep me ever, ever near thy side.
Every day, every hour,
Let me feel thy cleansing power.

May thy tender love to me bind me closer
Closer, Lord, to Thee.

Through this changing world below,
lead me gently, gently as I go.
Trusting thee, I cannot stay.
I can never, never lose my way.
Every day, every hour,
Let me feel Thy cleansing power.
May Thy tender love to me bind me closer,
closer, Lord, to Thee.

Let me love thee more and more
till this fleeting, fleeting life is o'er.
Till my soul is lost in love
in a brighter, Brighter world above,
every day.
Every hour let me feel thy cleansing power. May thy tender love to thee bind me closer,
closer, Lord, to thee.