Were it not for blood atonement,
we could never come to God. Oh, thank God for blood atonement. Open your Bibles, if you will,
to Leviticus chapter 22. The words of my text this morning
ought to rivet you to your seats, and it ought to rivet your attention
the attention of your mind, of your heart, and of your life
to God Almighty. Leviticus 22, verse 21. Whoso offereth a sacrifice, a
peace offering unto the Lord, to accomplish his vow, or a freewill
offering in beeves or sheep. Now here's my text. It shall
be perfect. to be accepted. It shall be perfect to be accepted. It shall be perfect to be accepted. There should be no blemish therein. In all the days of the legal
dispensation, the days of legal ordinances under the Mosaic ceremonial
law, The children of Israel were taught to exercise great care
in coming to the house of God. The legal sacrifices, the ceremonies
associated with worship were meticulous and detailed. They
were designed to inspire the reverence of God, to inspire
the worshiper with a sense of God's greatness. and of his distinct
holiness as God. They were intended to turn sinners
away from themselves to Jesus Christ the Lord as the only way
of access by which we sinful men and women can come to God.
There were no religious games in the Old Testament worship.
No forms of religious entertainment. They didn't come together to
have a good time or to have a family gathering or to party. God demanded
the most solemn reverence in his house. Would the God this
generation would learn something about that? Nothing was to be
done thoughtlessly. In every detail, God showed himself
to be God and declared, I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God. I'm a jealous God. He said, I
will be sanctified and then to come nigh me. Profane not my
holy name. The glorious perfections of the
infinite thrice holy Jehovah demanded reverence. I try to
picture men and women coming to God in those days. No Israelite
would come to God's altar aright who didn't carefully consider
what he was doing. Did you think about that this
morning? We're coming to worship God. We're coming together with
God's people in God's house to sing God's praise. to approach
God's throne to hear God's word. What a word. What a word. We're coming to God's house. I'm sure the men and women in
those days came to the house of God with much fear. Fear of carelessly omitting something
God required. Fear of presumptuously bringing
something unacceptable to God. Fear of intruding where God didn't
permit one to intrude. Only the high priest could go
into the Holy of Holies. Only the priest of God could
do certain things. Other men, if they came in, would
be put to death. They came with a fear, put in
their hand where God told them to keep their hands away. If
we would worship God, the Israelite of old must exercise great care. And I'm here to tell you that
if you would worship God, if I would worship God, we must
exercise great care. It's not like going to a ball
game. It's not like going to a rock concert. It's not like
going to a theater. We've come to worship God. And
we will either exercise great care or we will not worship Him. Of every ceremony, of every sacrifice,
of every act, of every work, God said, it shall be perfect
to be accepted. It shall be perfect to be accepted. The holy, perfect Lord God cannot
and will not accept anything less than perfection. God won't
accept the best you can do. God won't accept a good effort.
God won't accept your leftovers. God won't accept something you
kind of just at the last minute decide you're gonna do for him
or give to him. It shall be perfect to be accepted. This is no easy lesson to learn,
but learn it we must. I fear that our worship today,
usually we're very thoughtless. How careless, how indifferent,
how hard-hearted we've become. How little we prepare to come
to God's house. How little we prepare. For most
people who profess Christianity, they just sort of fit it in.
And if it doesn't fit this week to worship, we won't worship.
If it doesn't fit to come back tonight, we won't come back tonight.
If it doesn't fit to come back Tuesday, we won't come back Tuesday.
It's just too much bother, too much trouble. How indifferent we are praying,
singing God's praise, reading and hearing His Word, how different,
indifferent, horribly indifferent men are in preaching His Word.
God forgive me. Oh, God forgive me for preparing
with indifference, coming here with indifference, trying to
preach with indifference. It'll never be done. How indifferent
We are commonly in seeking God's presence, God's power, and God's
blessing. Lindsay, if we'd learned that,
I could sit down and we'd go home and meditate a while. Indifference
is horrible. God says, I will be sanctified
in them that come nigh me. I know I get a lot of flack from
folks because I encourage people to dress like they're coming
to worship God. I would if I was going to meet
the president, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? If I were going
to go to some important function, I'd dress like I was going to
an important function. I wouldn't come in a t-shirt and sweatpants. I wouldn't come in my shorts
and sandals. I don't go out in public like that, let alone come
and ask God like that. How absurd, how horrible. We ought to treat the worship
of God with respect, with reverence. The glory of God, his grace toward
us and love for him ought to make us gladly give ourselves
wholeheartedly in the worship and service of God. When we come
to this place, We ought to come here with God's saints, with
the sense that we're coming into God's presence. We ought to act
like men and women who come into the immediate presence of God
Almighty. Can you imagine, I need you to
study the tabernacle teaching about it. Can you imagine Aaron
going on the day of atonement into the holy of holies with
earbuds in his ears, listening to whatever's on radio? What absurdity, what absurdity. The Lord God said through his
prophet Malachi, my name shall be great among the Gentiles.
And in every place incense shall be offered unto my name. A pure
offering for my name shall be great among the heathen. But
ye have profaned it. The table of the Lord is polluted. The fruit thereof, even his meat,
is contemptible. And folks say, well, how did
we do that? Because you said it's a weariness.
He snuffed at it. That's just too much bother.
It's just too much difficulty. He snuffed at it. The priest
who stood for the people of God, representing the Lord Jesus Christ,
must in his bodily presence be perfect. Perfect in his dress,
in his appearance, in his physical being. He could have no flaw
in him. When old age crept in upon him,
he must give way to someone younger in the fullness of manhood because
the priest represents Christ, our perfect priest. The sacrifices
they brought, Those sacrifices they brought for an offering,
representing the Lamb of God, must be without blemish, not
a spot. They must be sacrifices, not
of a stranger, but costly sacrifices. The sacrifices could not be castrated,
not by accident or purposefully, because they represent the whole
of a man. We see this throughout the book
of Leviticus. Every sacrifice offered to God
for atonement was rigidly examined before the blood was spilt. It
shall be perfect to be accepted. Under the law, the guilt of sin
and the need of atonement was constantly manifest. Anyone who drew near to the tabernacle
as he approached the tabernacle would see evidence of slaughter.
Blood was everywhere. Bowl fulls of blood poured on
the floor. Everything sprinkled with blood.
Almost all things, the linen, the table, the altar, everything
was purged with blood because Christ has come telling us throughout
the Old Testament scriptures in type and in picture, without
shedding of blood is no remission. God requires blood, blood atonement,
blood atonement by which sinners can come to Him. No one can approach the thrice
holy God without the remission of sin. And the remission of
sin can come only by blood atonement. There's much talk these days
about men saying, well, I believe in atonement. And what they mean
by that is if you get in trouble and you get caught at it, then
you can make an atonement. No need if you don't get caught
at it. But if you get caught at it, you have to make atonement.
And you can atone for yourself. You may atone for yourself before
men. You may atone for yourself before
a nation. But no man can atone for sin. The only thing that will atone
for sin is blood, the blood of a man, but more than that, the
blood of a man who has no sin for which atonement must be made.
Not only that, the blood of a man who is of infinite worth, only
the blood of the God-man, Christ Jesus, can make atonement for
sin. When men came worshiping God,
they saw the necessity in all these pictures and ceremonies
of a perfect sacrifice, declaring the perfection of God in his
holiness. God's holy law. constantly rang
in the ears of the worshipers. Those days of ceremonial worship,
it was not something they did once or twice or three times
a week. Every day they came with a sacrifice. Every day, they
came to God's house. Morning and evening, they came
to sacrifice to God, because God would be perpetually worshiped
by a people, a people recognizing that they must have atonement,
atonement that no mere man could make. Sacrifices and the law,
ringing in the ears of the worshiper, showed him his sin, constantly
exposed his sin. Constantly exposed to sin. I endeavor in preaching always to expose your sin to
you. It's my intention to stick my
finger right in your heart and rip it open to you so that you
cannot avoid knowing your sin. The Israelites, as they worshiped
God, was constantly made aware of guilt, guilt, guilt, guilt,
guilt, guilt, guilt. Every morning, every evening,
every Sabbath day, guilt, guilt, guilt rang in his mind. You,
my friends, are guilty before God. guilty of sin, criminals
against the God of heaven, criminals against the law of God, deserving
eternal damnation. And the man having his sin constantly
exposed, his guilt constantly exposed, constantly heard the
law of God, curse it, curse it, curse it. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law
to do them. The sacrifices, however, showed these sinners a door of
hope. A hope, however, that was altogether
outside themselves. They came to God and brought
a sacrifice. A perfect sacrifice. A sacrifice
of God's providing. A sacrifice God would look on
from heaven And see in that sacrifice no spot, no weakness, no defilement,
no corruption, no sin, no guilt, no reason for death. But God demanded the death of
the sacrifice. Once sin by the priest had been
laid on that sacrifice, it must be slain. Yes, we preach the
law as God intended the law to be preached, not as a rule of
life for believers, not as a code of conduct by which you measure
yourself, but rather as a message of condemnation, guilt, and judgment,
always making you know you've got to have a sacrifice. You've
got to have a substitute. You cannot come to God except
you come to God perfect with a perfect sacrifice. You cannot
come to God except you come to God perfect with a perfect sacrifice. That's the purpose of our text
this morning. It shall be perfect to be accepted. That unbending declaration shuts
you and me up to Christ alone. Now, I want to speak with all
the possible plainness and simplicity I can. I have no abilities of oratory,
rhetoric. If I did, I would do my best
to shove them aside and hide them. There's no more place in
the pulpit for auditory to impress men or rhetoric to impress men
than there is for blasphemy. This is a place for man to stand
in the name of God from the book of God and declare to you the
word of God. Declare it render with such simplicity
that you can't miss my meaning. with such clarity that you can't
misunderstand what I'm saying. That's the task of the man who
stands before you. Many, many years ago when I was
a young man, I had a preacher say something to me that shocked
me. He was a preacher I respected.
He said something to me that shocked me, disappointed me,
talking about preaching what's called the Five Points of Calvinism,
Doctors of Grace. He said, Brother Don, son, there's
ways to preach that so folks don't know what you're saying. And I looked at him and said,
what's the point in preaching? What's the point in preaching?
If folks don't know what you're saying, I intend for everybody
who hears my voice to know exactly what I've said. And if it offends
you, I don't mind defending you. And if it helps you, I'm delighted
to help you, but I intend to be heard and understood. So listen
carefully. I wanna say just two things with
regard to this statement. It shall be perfect to be accepted. God demands perfection. God demands perfection. Nothing else will do. You take
your refuge, whatever it is, Whatever it is you're seeking
refuge in from God and His wrath and justice, I suggest you do
something. Like a builder would take a plumb
line, drop it down here, and let's see if it hangs perfectly
straight. If it doesn't, your refuge is
a false refuge. And God said, I'm gonna lay the
line to the plummet, and I'll sweep away your refuge of lies.
It must be perfect to be accepted. That fact shuts out all possibility
of you and I coming to God with our faulty offerings, coming
to God with our hope of attaining God's acceptance by something
we do or something we feel or something we've experienced.
Salvation cannot be attained by good works. Salvation cannot be attained
by good works. Oh preacher, we know that. I
wonder if you do. I wonder if you do. Salvation
cannot be attained by good works, not by a decision, Not by a choice,
not by walking an aisle, not by sacrifices, not by obeying
the law, not by reforming your life, not by ceasing to be a
drunk and quit cussing, quit doing this, quit doing that.
Salvation cannot be attained by good works. It can't be done,
not by a man. There was a rich young ruler
who came to the Lord Jesus. And he said, good master, what
good things shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And the
Lord Jesus answered him exactly the question he asked. He said,
keep the commandments. That's what we gotta do. He said,
what are the two great commandments? And the man said, love God with
all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself. The Lord
said, you do that, you'll be all right. And he said, I've
done that all my life. He said, all right, let's see.
Go sell what you have. Give it to the poor. Come follow
me. And that fellow looked at his
bank account, and he looked at the Savior, and he looked at
the folks who were gonna get his money, and he said, I don't
think so. I don't think so. And the disciples
looked at that rich young ruler. Such a good man. Such a good
man. He'd been nice all his life.
Nobody ever saw him out drunk on Saturday night. Nobody ever
heard him use the word of profanity. Nobody knew him to cheat or steal.
He was a good man. He went to church every Sunday.
Was in church all his life. Professed faith all his life
long. He was a good man. And they said, Lord, who then
can be saved? And our master said, with men,
it's impossible. He says, it's easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter
the kingdom of God. Now I know the common folks say
that's talking about going through the eye of a needle is a needle's
eye. You can get into the gates of the city if a camel would
stoop down, get rid of his load and crawl through that. If our
Lord intended to say it's easier for a camel to get through a
hole in the wall, he'd have said it's easier for a camel to get
through a hole in the wall. He said, it's easier for a camel
to get through the eye of that needle you can't get your thread
in, than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
Easier. And he wasn't talking about material
wealth. That may be included, but that's not what he's talking
about. So long as you've got one rag of goodness to which
you cling. one thread of superiority to
which you claim. One work, one experience, one
deed by which that, that's it, that's the reason I know I'm
saved. As long as you got that, you can't get through the needle's
eye. With men it's impossible, but
with God, God can take a rich young ruler,
so full of good works that everybody's sure he's going to heaven, and
strip him naked, empty him, break him, bury him, lay him in the
dust, and bring him into his kingdom. You see, God will not
cast away a perfect man, neither will he help evildoers. If I justify myself, Job said,
my own mouth shall condemn me. If I say I'm perfect, my mouth
shall prove me perverse. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Nobody but God. Isaiah spoke to the self-righteous,
the men who cling to their good works, to their goodness, to
their religion. And I'm talking to some right
here, I know I am. Some of you still cling to an experience,
a profession of faith, something that you look back on and say,
that's the thing that changed, or some work you performed. Isaiah
said, your bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself
on it. And the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself
in it. Every night we go to bed and last thing I do before I
turn over after kissing Shelby goodnight is I tuck her in good
because she can feel the cold air on her shoulders. And I wrap
the covers around her and get her all tucked in so she's nice
and warm and can't feel any cold air. Your bed, your bed, if it includes anything
but Christ the Lord, anything but His blood and righteousness,
you've got coverings that just won't quite get the job done. You can't wrap yourself up so
that there's no chill of condemnation, no chill of judgment. and the
bed's too short. You can't stretch yourself on
it. You can't relax. You can't get comfortable. I
recall some years ago in the hospital, and the bed itself
in those days was too short for me. And then they put a footboard
on there. I know they did that because they said that's what
I needed, but it was so miserable. I kicked and kicked and kicked
and kicked. They finally gave up and took
it off because I couldn't stretch out on the bed. If you got some
hope other than Christ's blood and his righteousness, something
which you claim, I'll tell you how to test it, stretch out on
it. Stretch out on it tonight before
God. As you anticipate meeting God with your next breath, stretch
out on it and find out how comfortable you are. Your bed's too short
if you include something of your works, your worth, your merit,
your will. Only Jesus Christ crucified is
a bed strong enough and long enough and wide enough to stretch
out on him Only Christ and Him crucified
is covering broad enough to wrap yourself from head to foot and
feel no danger of the cold wind of God's judgment. Your imaginary
good works can no more commend you to God or give you acceptance
with God than murder, adultery, or blasphemy. Read what God says
in Isaiah 62. That's exactly what it says.
He said, you may as well bring me a man's blood. You may as
well drink the broth of hogs. Call it worshiping God. Religious
goodness, God will not accept. You'll go into church, your prayers,
your sacrifices. Isaiah chapter one, God said,
who required this at your hands? If you stretch out your hands
and call it prayer, I'm not gonna hear it. You bring your sacrifices,
I won't receive it. I won't do it. You may as well
bring me the blood of a man. I won't accept it. God only accepts
perfection. God says, with all regard to
all your devout, holy righteousness. Your righteousness is. are just
filthy rags. Just filthy rags. That's the best you can do. That's
the best you can do. And God demands perfection. It shall be perfect to be accepted,
but I can't give it. You can't give it. We can't perform
it. So look at this second thing.
This word from God, it shall be perfect to be accepted, does
not block up the door of hope, but it points us to a door of
hope. Christ Jesus, the Lord. God says,
come now, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. Turn to Isaiah 45. See what God
says here. Isaiah 45. Verse 20. Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together. ye that are
escaped of the nations. Now, this is what he says. This
is God speaking. They have no knowledge that set up the wood
of their graven image and pray unto a God that cannot save. I don't care where you go in
Danville, Kentucky this morning. Don't care where else you go.
I don't care where else you go. So far as I know, you'll hear
men praying to a God who cannot save. Now he wants to, he tries
to, he offers, he will if you let him, but he cannot save. The Lord God says, they have
no knowledge that pray unto a God that cannot save. That doesn't
mean they're not scientists, or nuclear physicists, or doctors,
or lawyers, or brilliant men. That means they don't know God
from a billy goat. They have no knowledge who pray
to a God that cannot say. Verse 21. Tell ye, and bring
them near. Yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that
time? Have not I the Lord? and there
is no God else beside me. They pray to a God that cannot
save. Now listen to me. There's no God else beside me.
A just God and a Savior. A just God and a Savior. God
who saves sinners only in a just and righteous way. A just God
and a Savior. There's no other God except He
who demands satisfaction. He who makes satisfaction and
he who gives satisfaction by his own work, a just God and
a Savior. Verse 22, look unto me, the only
true God, this just God who came into this world and lived in
perfect obedience to God, giving God what God requires, perfection. perfection. Jesus Christ, God's
Son, came into this world. He said, Lo, I come to do thy
will, O my God. And He said, this is it. He has, by one offering, perfected
them to be sanctified. Perfected him. Perfected him. He made him perfect. Perfect
before God. Not perfect before men, perfect
before God. But he don't. Look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. The Lord Jesus came here as a
man and he's perfect in his nature. He had no sin, did no sin, could
not sin. His motive in all things was
perfect. He came to do the will of God.
He said, not my will, thy will be done. In all things, he submitted
himself to and gladly obeyed God's will. Perfect in his nature,
perfect in his motive, in his spirit, he was perfect. Our Savior,
Never knew an unholy anger. He never felt the coldness of
malice and hated. Our savior was perfect in spirit. Gladly gave his back to the spiders.
Gladly took a towel and girded himself and served his people.
He said the son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to
minister and to give his life a ransom for many. On Saturday morning, Shelby and
I, like normal, have our coffee in bed and chat for a little
while. And normally when we turn on the news to see if there's
anything worth seeing, for some reason the TV's first on one
of those channels, inspiration channels or something, I don't
remember what it is, but they got that fella from out in Texas
who talked about being so rich and all that stuff, and he's
begging for money, telling you how you can get rich by giving
him more money. And these days, preachers, they expect people
to serve them, not our Savior, not his servants. He said, I
came not to be ministered unto. I didn't come here for you to
serve me. I came here to serve you, and to serve you by giving
my life a ransom for many. That's our Savior. In his sacrifice,
he's perfect. He who knew no sin was made sin. And when he was made sin, he
was made a curse. And he gave to the thrice holy
God a sacrifice of infinite worth, of infinite merit, of infinite
efficacy, by which, with his one offering, he forever put
away sin. He forever satisfied the justice
of God. Our Lord Jesus at Calvary, when
he cried, it is finished, he was telling us, it is finished. Salvation is finished. Redemption is finished. Justice
is finished. My people are redeemed. And now, the Lord God, our Savior, by His matchless free grace,
through the blood and righteousness of His dear Son. Take sinners
like you and me, and Mark he makes us perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Perfect before God. He gives us his perfect righteousness
in free justification. He imparts to us his perfect
nature in the new birth. And he accepts our sacrifices. Our sacrifices, our gifts. You gave him your gifts today.
Our songs of praise. Our prayers, that's perfect. Which of you,
which of you ever did anything? Now, forget about doing, that's
too big. Which of you ever thought about
doing anything perfect for God? I mean, just thought it perfectly.
I preach that's not possible. None of us are perfect. Nobody's
perfect, that's not an excuse. That's true, nobody's perfect,
that's not an excuse. God says it shall be perfect to be accepted. We read in Revelation that none
shall enter in except he that is holy, he that is undefiled,
he that is just. None shall enter in. It shall
be perfect to be accepted. The Lord God, our Savior, giving
us His Son, makes His people perfect. Perfect. Perfect. Fit to be partakers
of the inheritance of the saints in life. And now, being perfect
in Christ, He accepts us. Skip not as though we were perfect.
No, no, no, no. He accepts us because we're perfect.
And he accepts our gifts. Read Ecclesiastes chapter nine,
verses seven through 10 again. He said, enjoy life with your
wife. Enjoy it. He said, God accepts
it. God accepts it. I know I don't
have to believe what I'm telling you, and I do believe it with
all my heart. I don't have to believe it, but I do believe
it with all my heart. God Almighty looks on me in His
Son all the time and smiles. God Almighty looks on me in His
Son 24-7 and smiles. Smiles. Rex came up to me this
morning, right before services started, telling me a little
bit about Alexis's work. And I said to him, Grandpa, feel
great, doesn't it? And he just smiled. He smiled
like I'd given him $100 to go out to dinner today. He just
smiled. That's how God Almighty looks on me all the time. Come now to his Son and go home
with the smile of God on you. And if you live under Jehovah's
smile, nobody else's scorn will matter too much. If you live
under Jehovah's smile, accepted and perfect in his Son, Nothing
too much is going to disturb you. It shall be perfect to be
accepted. My God, here I am in your Son,
trusting your Son, believing your Son. In all the perfection of your
darling Son, I thank you. Oh, my God. I thank you for free
grace in Christ the Lord. Amen.