In Leviticus 23, verses 26 through
32, we have instructions given concerning the Feast of Atonement. That's my subject this morning.
The Feast of Atonement, Leviticus 23. For our scripture reading, we
read Leviticus 16. There we're given instructions
about how God would have the children of Israel during that
Old Testament dispensation of ceremonial carnal legal worship
to keep that solemn, solemn day, the Day of Atonement, once a
year, offering a sacrifice to God for the atonement of sin
ceremonially. Let me remind you of a few things
concerning that day that are important in the picture. First,
Aaron, God's high priest, and whichever of his sons succeeding
him became high priest. Only God's appointed high priest
was to do the work, to make atonement for the sins of the people. So
it is with regard to redemption by Jesus Christ our Lord. None
but Christ, the sacrifice God ordained, the sacrifice God provided,
the sacrifice God accepted. None but Christ, the priest who
is himself God, provided by God and accepted by God, none but
he could make atonement for sin. We hear much talk in our day
of silly stuff where folks use religious term to talk about
other things and they talk about making amends, making atonement,
redeeming themselves. None but the Son of God by his
death in our flesh could make atonement for sin. If you would
be saved, accepted of God, you must come to God with nothing
but the blood of Christ. The second thing It's obvious
as you read the scriptures, if people would bother to read scriptures
before they form an opinion about God, religion, and salvation.
Second thing that's very important is this. Atonement was made only
for the children of Israel. It was not made for anyone else.
Only for the children of Israel. In fact, other people never even
heard tell of it. God didn't even tell anybody
else about it. Atonement was made only for the children of
Israel. I stress this again and again
and again and again. I want you to understand it.
I want the world to hear it. The notion, the idea, the blasphemy,
the God-denying doctrine that Jesus Christ died for folks who
go to hell anyway is not even hinted at in the scripture. Not one word, not one type, not
one picture in any way indicates that Christ died for all men.
He died for folks who were actually redeemed. He died for his elect. He made atonement as a substitute
for his people. Here's the third thing. The sins
of the people were ceremonially transferred to the two goats,
the Lord's goat and the scapegoat. It was only a symbolic transfer. It was only a symbolic imputation. But our Lord Jesus Christ, our
great sacrifice, the Lamb of God, had our sins made his, and
he carried them away. Number four. The Lord's goat
was slain and his blood was sprinkled upon the mercy seat in the Holy
of Holies. And when our Lord Jesus Christ
died, he carried his blood into heaven. Not literally, not literally,
but he carried the merits of his sacrifice into heaven, into
the Holy of Holies. into the presence of God, the
very throne of God represented in the mercy seat and sprinkled
the heavens with his blood and with his own blood. Having died
in our stead, he obtained eternal redemption for us. The scapegoat
on the other hand, and this is the fifth thing, having those
sins transferred to him ceremonially, was carried by the hands of a
fit man out into no man's land, carried out into the wilderness,
and there let go in an uninhabited place, even as the Lord Jesus
Christ Our great scapegoat took all our sins away. With his own
blood, he put away our sins forever. Cast them behind the back of
God. Cast them into the sea of infinite
forgetfulness. He purged them away so that our
sins made his. Are gone. All our sins. sins of iniquity and transgression
and sin. What we are by birth, what we
are at heart, and what we do in our lives, all our sins, past,
present, and future, forever put away by Him. And number six,
all for whom atonement was made on that day by God's high priest. All for whom the Paschal Lamb
was sacrificed. All for whom the Lamb of God
was sacrificed. All of them were blessed of God. Blessed of God in exactly the
same way with the same blessing. All of them. So too all for whom
Jesus Christ died at Calvary have been and are and shall forever
be blessed of God. All of them blessed with all
spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ from eternity. All of them blessed with all
the fullness of the glory of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. All of them blessed of God with
all that blessedness which Jesus Christ as the God-man, our mediator,
earned by his obedience unto death on our behalf. That means,
Jimmy Bowman, everything that Christ earned as a man in the
perfection of his righteousness and in the fullness of his sacrifice,
God has given you forever. The glory which thou gavest me,
he said, I have given them. And let's look at our text in
Leviticus 23. Verse 26. And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month
there shall be a day of atonement. It shall be an holy convocation
unto you, and you shall afflict your souls. and offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord, and ye shall do no work in that same
day. For it is a day of atonement,
to make an atonement for you before the Lord your God. For
whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same
day, he shall be cut off from among his people. and whatsoever
soul it be that doeth any work in that same day. That same soul
will I destroy from among his people. You shall do no manner
of work. It shall be a statute forever
throughout your generations, in all your dwellings. It shall
be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict your souls.
In the ninth day of the month at even, From even to even shall
you celebrate your Sabbath. Now listen very carefully. Whenever
you read in the scripture, in one portion of scripture, instruction
that's already been given in another portion of scripture,
it is a mistake to presume this is just a repetition. When instructions
are given about something more than once, there's a reason.
The passage before us here in Leviticus is a clear example
of that. In Leviticus 16, the Spirit of
God gave us a description of the Day of Atonement. The purpose
of that is to show us in type how the Lord Jesus accomplished
our redemption by the sacrifice of himself at Calvary. So that
our redemption, our salvation, our righteousness, our sanctification,
our holiness, our glorification, everything was accomplished outside
ourselves in the do and die resurrection and glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Leviticus 23 sets before us the Feast of Atonement. Actually,
the word is Feast of Expiation, or Feast of Expiations, plural. It is one of Israel's annual
holy convocations. This feast, remember, follows
those we've already looked at. It follows the Feast of Passover,
unleavened bread, first fruits, Pentecost, and trumpets. Those
were all feasts portraying not what Christ did at Calvary for
us and outside us, but they were all like this Feast of Atonement,
a portrayal of the believer's experience of grace and what
God does for us because of what Christ did at Calvary. The redemption
of our souls was outside ourselves. But that redemption guarantees
effectually that all for whom Christ died will experience God's
grace, experiencing redemption in the forgiveness of sins. That's
what we have here in Leviticus 26. It portrays the believer's
experience of grace in receiving the atonement. Sort of bookmark
or something here in Leviticus. And let's turn to a couple of
passages. We're gonna look at some scripture this morning. Romans
chapter five. Romans chapter five. Verse six. When we were yet without strength,
in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Christ died for the
ungodly. Find me an ungodly man, an ungodly
woman. Is there here an ungodly soul? Ungodly. Ungodly. I can't think of a more appropriate
word to describe man's depravity and corruption. Ungodly. Is there one here? Christ died
for the ungodly. Nobody else. But for all the
ungodly. In due time, Christ died for
the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous
man will one die. Yet peradventure for a good man,
some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward
us. This is how God shows us the
riches and the beauty and the glory and the magnitude of his
love. And that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Christ died for us. Much more
than being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from
wrath through him. For if when we were enemies,
we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, We were
his enemies when he died for us. We were reconciled to God
when he died for us. Much more being reconciled. Now,
we have been reconciled to God by faith in Christ. What Paul's
been talking about in the previous verses. We shall be saved then
by his life. And not only so, but we also
joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, watch this, by whom we
have now received the atonement. I'm fully aware that the word
used for atonement here is commonly translated reconciliation. And
most people object to the idea that it's atonement. Our translators
got it right. There is reconciliation and atonement. But there is no atonement without
that reconciliation. The reconciliation was done when
Christ died. And we, believing on him, receive
in the experience of grace all that atonement, the reconciliation
of our souls to God, being ourselves reconciled to God. Well, preacher,
the way you talk, people were saved before they ever believed. Well, if that's what you got
from me, then I'm talking pretty good. That's exactly right. Well, you
talk like we're saved from eternity. Well, let's see what the book
of God says, 2 Timothy chapter 1. Second Timothy 1. Paul is describing what the preaching
of the gospel is that he's committed to and to which he was called
by God. He says in verse 9, God hath
saved us and called us within holy calling, not according to
our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, get it
now, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. God saved us and called us before
the world began. Is that what the book says? Is
that what the book says? Well, I don't understand that.
You don't have to understand it, but you've been about to
it. That's what the book says. Well, what happens when a sinner
is saved by God's grace and experiences that? But now is made manifest
by the appearing of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who hath abolished
death and brought life and immortality to light by the gospel, through
the gospel. When the gospel is preached and
God causes you to believe, he has, by the gospel, birthed you
into his kingdom, born again, not a corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible by the word of God, which lives and abides forever.
And now being born of God, when you believe on him, God shines
in your heart. to give the light of the knowledge
of Jesus Christ, our Lord. He lets you in on what he'd been
doing for you since before you were born. He causes you to experience
in your soul that which he's accomplished for you from eternity
and accomplished for you at Calvary. When God the Holy Ghost comes
in saving grace, giving sinners faith in Christ, he sprinkles
your conscience. It sprinkles your heart from
dead works, purges your conscience of guilt, purges your conscience
of guilt, so that believing on Christ, guilt flees away. Guilt is gone. You have no reason
to be guilty because you have God's testimony in you, exactly
as Enoch had God's testimony in him. And it's the same testimony. It's the same testimony. Let
me see if I can put in shoe leather. I said, Bill Augustine, you believe
on God. And believing on God, God says
to Bill Augustine, you're righteous. That's the testimony in his hand.
It wasn't a testimony before me. I want to live and have good
testimony for folks who hate God, despise God. I don't care
what they think. I want to live blamelessly for the honor of
God. It doesn't encourage me one bit
in the world for a fellow over yonder or a woman over there
or somebody back down here to say, oh, he's such a godly man.
If he doesn't know God, how does he know? Oh, but to have a testimony
from God in my soul that I please God all the time. even when I don't please myself,
all the time, even when I displease you, all the time, because God
accepts us not by our doing, but by the doing and dying of
his son. That's what happens when sinners
are born again by his grace. The Feast of Tabernacle, or Feast
of Atonement, was Israel's annual day of repentance. Portraying
God's gift of repentance wrought in our souls by Almighty Grace. Now let me talk to you for a
minute about repentance and then I'll get to our text. I've read
countless sermons and articles about repentance. I've read a
good many books about repentance. But almost everybody has this
notion, and preachers who ought to know better, Beat folks over
the head with repentance all the time. Well, repentance is
turning from sin. The book doesn't say that. The
book doesn't say that. How are you going to turn from
sin? Would you please tell me? How are you going to turn from
sin? Now, you can turn from drunkenness, and you can turn from adultery,
and you can turn from murder, and you can turn from being a
robber, but it's all still in you. How are you going to turn
from it? How are you going to turn from it? Let me tell you
what the word repentance means as it is used in scripture. You
can get a concordance and look it up for yourself. The Feast
of Atonement was intended to show us the character of true
repentance. Now in the Old Testament and
in the New, there are several different words translated repent
and repentance. There are two in the Old Testament
translated repent. The one means to sigh. to be
sorry, to regret bitterly. The other means to retreat, to
turn back, to return. There are also two different
words used in the Greek New Testament translating repent. The one means
think differently, reconsider, change your mind. The other means
regret. The one time the word repentance
is used in the Old Testament, in Hosea 13, the word means to
deeply regret. In the New Testament, the word
repentance also means to deeply regret. So from those usages
of those words, in this book, this is what repentance means.
Repentance is sorrow, contrition before God because of sin. Repentance is sorrow, contrition
before God because of sin. Repentance is returning to God. It's not turning from your sins,
but rather it is turning to God from whom you've been running
all your life. It is returning to God by faith in Christ. It is being reconciled to God. It is ceasing your rebellion
against God. And repentance is a change of
mind. It's a reconsidering of all things
concerning yourself and God. Sin and righteousness. Redemption
and grace. Repentance, to use the words
of inspiration, is having the mind of Christ. You have the
mind of Christ if you've been born of God. You think about
these things as God thinks about these things. Now repeat, the
Feast of Atonement was Israel's annual day of repentance, portraying
God's gift of repentance brought in our souls by the Spirit of
God. Now let me say just a little
bit about the use of numbers or numerals in scripture. Those
who have studied this out, and I don't place much emphasis on
it, but the numbers used in scripture do have greater meaning, I'm
certain, than we've yet seen. Those who study these things
out suggest, with good reason, the number one signifies or represents
unity. One Lord, one faith, one baptism.
The number two speaks of division. The Lord divided the waters above
the firmament from the waters below the firmament on the second
day. The number three commonly represents God, the Trinity,
and the resurrection. The number four speaks of God's
creation, the four corners of the earth, the four winds. The
number five speaks of grace. Grace represented in those five
burnt offerings that God required. The number six represents man. Man was created on the sixth
day. The number of the beast is six,
six, six. Now, they're prophecy idiots,
and that's what they are. Get all bent out of shape with
that. Oh, I can't use number 666. I've told you many times
about the house right two doors down from Brother Maurice Montgomery,
where he and Sue lived for many years. That fella had it up for
sale, right? Nice house. But the address was
666 Choctaw Drive. Wouldn't even an Indian buy that
house. 666, that's the mark of the beast.
The fella changed the address number. He had to go to court,
got the address changed, and the house sold in a week. Why are you afraid of that? That's
the number of man. The number of the beast is failure
and frustration. Frustration and failure. That's
a good representation of man. The number seven represents completeness. Our Lord finished his work of
creation on the seventh day. He sends out the seven spirits
or the seven angels to the seven churches. Perfection, completion. The number eight speaks of a
new beginning, the new birth. The number nine speaks of fruitfulness.
The fruit of the spirit is ninefold. There are nine gifts of the spirit
and nine beatitudes. Fruitfulness. And the number
10 speaks about it. The word translated 10 is the
same word translated riches in the scriptures. As I look at
these numbers, I want us to know how much weight to be placed
on them and how little to be placed on them. But this much
I know. When God gives sinners faith
in Christ, he gives us all the fullness. All the completion,
all the perfection of all his grace, all the fullness of his
spirit, all the treasure of heaven, it is written, all things are
yours for ye are Christ. All things are yours for ye are
Christ. All right, now let's go back
to Leviticus 23. I'll call your attention briefly
to six things here portraying repentance. Number one, worship. Leviticus
23, 27. It shall be an holy convocation
unto you, a holy assembly. The Feast of Atonement was a
holy assembly for worship, the worship of God. The very first
characteristic of true repentance toward God. The very first characteristic
of true faith in Christ is worship. Saved sinners worship God as
He is. Saved sinners worship God as
He is. Now all the time I hear folks
say, do you think I'm saved? Do you think he's saved? Do you
think he's saved? I don't have the right to think
that one way or the other. Do you think you're saved? I'll
tell you something about saved sinners. Every saved sinner walking
on God's earth worships God as he is. Not as you think he is,
as he is. as He reveals Himself in His
Son. We worship toward His holy hill
of Zion. We gather as His people gathered
with the General Assembly and Church of the Firstborn. We are
the circumcision. We are God's covenant people.
We are God's elect. We have the seal of God's blessings
on us who worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ
Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. To call upon the name of the
Lord is to worship God as He is. Hold your hands here in Leviticus,
turn over to Romans 10. In Genesis chapter 4 and verse
26, we read that men began to call upon the name of the Lord. About everybody has the notion,
who's involved with religion in any way, that if you go to
the hospital and get somebody to say, I believe in Jesus, that's
salvation. Or if you can talk somebody into
saying a prayer and tacking Jesus' name onto it, that's calling
on the name of the Lord. That's called deceiving immortal
souls. That's not what it is to call
on the name of the Lord. To call on the name of the Lord
is to worship the triune Jehovah as he is, as he reveals himself
in Jesus Christ, his son. Romans 10, verse 8. The word
is nigh thee, even in thy mouth and in thy heart. That is the
word of faith which we preach. Well, what is it, Paul? that
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt
believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,
thou shalt be saved. But preacher, what's that mean?
Read the next verse and you'll find out. For with the heart
men believeth unto righteousness. Does that mean that as soon as
you say, I believe in Jesus, all of a sudden you're made righteous? If you think like that, you've
been bewitched. Somebody's cast a spell on you.
What's it mean? With the heart, man believeth
with reference to righteousness. That's exactly how the text properly
reads. With the heart, men believeth
with reference to righteousness. I believe God's testimony of
righteousness accomplished by His Son. Righteousness freely
given by His grace. Righteousness I can't produce. And with the mouth, confession
is made unto salvation. With the mouth. Confession is
made with reference to salvation. What do you believe salvation
is? Salvation is mine by the doing and dying of the Son of
God. Salvation is mine by what God has done, nothing I've done.
Well, what about your works? I count those but dung. I count
those but dung. Not the kind of dung that you
use to spread fields that's good fertilizer. The kind of dung
you'd throw away that's useful for nothing. I count mine all
by righteousness and goodness, but dumb. With the heart, man
believes on that man seated in glory with reference to righteousness. And with the mouth, confession
says he is all by selfish wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. Now religion says, religion says,
I remember when I went to church as a small boy, or as an old
man, and we had a whoopee humdinger preacher in there. There was
lots of folks who got saved. And I came down the aisle, and
I said this, and I knelt, and I prayed that. Let me tell you
something. If that's what you call salvation, you just as well
worship a stump in New Guinea or go to a papist confessional
booth and rub your rosary beads and call that salvation. There's
nothing like salvation, isn't it? Salvation has to do not with
you, but with Christ. Not with what you do, but with
what God has done in you and what God has done for you in
Jesus Christ, his son. Number two, what is repentance? It involves affliction. Leviticus
23, 27. You shall afflict your soul.
The Feast of Atonement was a time of affliction. And as soon as
a sinner has Christ revealed in him, He's broken, contrite,
and afflicted. He's broken, contrite, and afflicted. To this man will I look, even
to the poor and contrite, and trembles at my word. Let me look
at one text in this regard, Zechariah chapter 12. Zechariah chapter
12. Verse 10. I will pour upon the house of
David, that is God's Israel, God's elect, all his chosen,
and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, his church, I will pour upon
them the Spirit, the Holy Spirit of grace and supplication. I'll pour on them the Spirit
that brings my grace and causes them to pray. And when God pours
his spirit on you, they shall look upon me whom they have pierced. And they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn. Oh, the sweet bitterness. the joyful sorrow of repentance. It comes by the revelation of
the crucified Christ as your substitute. Looking on him whom
you pierced, your heart's broken because of the cost of your atonement
by the sacrifice of God's Son. and your heart's broken for having
pierced him and broken over the sin for which he must die to
make atonement. And as soon as that happens,
look at verse one of chapter 13. In that day, in that day, in
the day I pour out my spirit of grace on you, in the day that
I put a prayer in your heart toward me, in that day, In that
day, there shall be a fountain open
to the house of David, those upon whom I pour my spirit of
grace and supplication. And to the house of the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, all my elect, all of my chosen church, I'll open
a fountain for cleansing, for sin and uncleanness. As soon as God reveals Christ
in you, you find the fountain open for sin and uncleanness. No wonder our Savior said, blessed
are the poor in spirit. For theirs is the kingdom of
heaven. Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted. Back in Leviticus 23 verse 27. You shall afflict your souls
and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord. Repentance
involves worship. Repentance involves a brokenness,
a change of mind about everything. A change of mind about God, salvation,
grace, repentance, eternal life, righteousness, forgiveness, about
Christ, about all those things, and repentance involves consecration. True repentance, true faith. That repentance and faith that
arises from the revelation and knowledge of Christ compels every
saved sinner to consecrate himself to God. when Paul had finished the instructive
doctrinal portion of his letter to the Romans, and he's told
us all about God's grace, all about God's purpose, all about
God's providence, all about God's redemption, all about God's forgiveness,
all about the Spirit's call and the Spirit's seal, all about
the struggles of our flesh with flesh and spirit, and all of
the work of God's Spirit in us, and all the promises of grace
awaiting us. He said, oh, the depth of the riches, the wisdom
and knowledge of God, how unsearchable are His ways, the past binding
out of Him, through Him, to Him are all things. To Him be glory
forevermore. And then He says, I beseech you therefore, brethren,
because of all this, I beseech you that you present your bodies
a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. I caught Michelle's eye. You got your babies here, and
they're growing up quick. Make it your delight if God should
give that girl a faithful preacher, go down there and preach in New
Guinea. You can't expect that. Oh, yes, I can. Oh, expect me
to willingly give up my daughter for that? What's that? It's called
reasonable service. Christ redeemed you. Just reasonable service. And
it's not just something done today or yesterday. Every day. Every day. I keep praying, Lord
God, consecrate me to you as you're consecrated to me. consecrate me in the totality
of my being, in all my life, this day, to you, as you are
consecrated in the totality of your being to me. And Merle and
Charlotte Hart, and Claus and Ruth Peterson, and you young
couples and young people, That's just as necessary today,
Merle, as it was when I first met you 40 years ago. A continual
consecration to God. A continual consecration to God. If ye then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection, singular.
Set your affection. Set your, let the devotion of
your heart be here on things above, not on things on the earth. How come? For you're dead and
your life is hid with Christ in God. What do you expect from
us, preacher? Well, if God's made himself known
to you, if you worship God, If you believe on the Son of God,
if you've been made new creatures in Christ, I expect you to devote
yourself to Him. I just expect that. I just expect
that. How can you expect that? It's
just your reasonable service. Nothing else makes any sense.
Here's the fourth thing. Look at verse 28. It is a day
of atonement, of expiation. literally in the plural, a day
of atonements, of expiations, to make atonement for you before
the Lord your God. When God gives faith in Christ,
it is, for the saved sinner, a day of atonements, expiations. What is that talking about? It
is the day of full, free, everlasting forgiveness of all sin. Full, free, everlasting forgiveness
of all sin by the blood of Christ. Before God granted me faith in
Christ, before Christ revealed to me and in me I tried and tried and tried and
tried and tried to find some way of acceptance with God. Bill,
I tried to find some way to ease my conscience of guilt. To shut
up that screaming conscience. That terrifying accusation in
my soul. The terrifying accusation of
my own conscience. of my own heart, that thing that
kept me up at night, sometimes, nearly all night long, scared
to death of God. I even, a couple of times, let
somebody talk me into rededicating my life to Jesus. I'd been dedicated
a long time before. And nothing worked. Nothing worked
until one day, I heard a man preaching about the Redeemer's
work at Calvary. And God revealed Christ in me
and spoke peace to my soul. And today, today, Jerry, I know
more about my sin than I've ever known about it. I know a heapsight more what
I am now than I did when I was 17 years old. And it's a lot
uglier and dirtier now than it was 53 years ago. But this is a day of atonements.
I have complete, free, full forgiveness of all my sin by atonement. By atonement. By the atonement
of God's Son. The Lord God says, I, even I
am he that blotted out thy transgressions for mine own sake. Now listen
to this next word. And will not remember thy sins. Will not remember thy sins. I can't forget them and God can't
remember them. That's a wonderful shape to be
in. I will not remember thy sins. All right, let's read our text
again. Leviticus 23, 28. And ye shall do no work in that
same day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement
for you before the Lord your God. For whatsoever soul it be
that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut
off from among his people. And whatsoever soul it be that
doeth any work in that same day, that same soul shall I destroy
from among the people. Verse 31, you shall do no manner
of work in it. No manner of work. Don't even
pick up sticks. Don't even move a rock. No manner
of work. It shall be a statute forever
throughout your generations and all your dwellings. It shall
be unto you a Sabbath of rest. And you shall afflict your souls
in the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening. Shall you celebrate your Sabbath? Here's the fifth characteristic
of true repentance. Rest. Rest. A total, complete cessation of
work. A total, complete stopping of
work. Oscar Baylor, that's called an
affliction of soul here. An affliction of soul. Now, you
fellas look forward to retirement so you can rest. And I've never
known a man sitting on the side of a river bank with a fishing
pole in his hand who caught an affliction. I've never known
that to happen. I've never known a fellow retire from a stressful
job, and oh, it's a hard affliction. Sometimes I say that, but they
smile real big. It's not an affliction. But for
you to quit working, to find acceptance with God, is the most
afflicting thing to human flesh that's ever been. You can't do
it. You can't do it. You won't quit
trying to earn your way to heaven. You'll hang on to something.
You'll say, I believe in Jesus, and you'll go to the missionary
field, but you'll hang on to something, a decision, a profession,
experience, a knowledge, a works. I've got this! I can't let it
go! I remember Brother Bruce Crabtree
telling me about going down to witness his dad, a Church of
God preacher, his dad was dying. And he said to his dad, he said,
Dad, You've got to let go of your works. You've got to give
up all your righteousness. And his dad looked him square
in the eye and he said, son, I can't do that. I can't do that. You'll let your works go or you'll
go to hell. You'll let your works go or you'll
go to hell. The scriptures are very plain.
Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free. Be
not entangled again with yoke of bondage. If you be circumcised,
if you read your Bible or say your prayers or go to the missionary
field or become a preacher, preacher's wife, or you give all your money
to take care of the poor, if you be circumcised to find acceptance
with God, Christ amounts to nothing to you. Christ shall profit you
nothing. For I testify to every man that
is circumcised, he's a debtor to the whole law. Christ has
become of no effect unto you. Whosoever are justified by the
law, you've fallen from grace. Here's the sixth thing, a sixth
characteristic of true repentance. Verse 32, you shall celebrate
your Sabbath. What strange language. This affliction
of soul during the feast of atonement was a time of celebration. And
true repentance is a time of celebration. It's a time of celebration. Believers celebrate. I know here the word has the
connotation of keeping the ceremony, but life in Christ, Faith in
Christ, believing on Christ, causes celebration in the soul. We will come together tonight.
We'll be on the road, but you folks will come together and
have the Lord's table and celebrate redemption. Churches all over the country
of every kind, they teach you to come to the Lord's table, The Lord's Table is a celebration.
A celebration of redemption. Let me tell you something I celebrate.
In my soul, I celebrate the character of God. Brother Gene, we talked
about that last night right before you left. He's God! I'm tickled to death. I celebrate
the character of God. Next election, they would elect
somebody like Mr. Obama again. Don't misunderstand
me, I wouldn't like it, but I'd sure celebrate. I celebrate the
character of God. God puts him on his throne. Celebrate
the character of God. Celebrate God's purpose. Celebrate
God's providence. Celebrate God's sovereignty.
I celebrate God's salvation, free for a gift. Perfect righteousness. Complete
satisfaction. Unceasing acceptance with God. What would you give? What would
you give? Listen to me. I'll quit just
a minute. I gotta talk to you a little bit. What would you
give to go home tonight with no good feelings, and no reason in yourself to
think maybe God would hear your prayer. Aware of your sin, suddenly,
through the day, all the evil actions of the past come leaping
on you and Satan roars at you and your heart, oh, the cesspool
of iniquity bubbles up in you. and your heart's as cold as ice
and as hard as steel. And still be able to lay down
and go to sleep in peace, knowing that even when you can't see
his face, God smiles at you. That's called peace. Peace that
only God can give. What would you give to have it?
Oh, preach, I'd give anything. Let me try something better.
Would you give everything? All your righteousness? All your
goodness? All your knowledge? All your
experience? All your resolutions? All your
feelings? Give it all up! And believe on
the Son of God. If God will reveal His Son in
you now, you will be reconciled to God. and for the rest of your
life, keep the feast of atonement. Amen.