Turn with me this morning to
the fourth chapter of the book of Leviticus. The book of Leviticus has to do with the blood, the
main emphasis of this third The gospel of Moses, Leviticus, emphasizes over and
above everything else the way of approach to God, and that approach is only through
the blood. laid upon the blood. In this fourth chapter, I'll
read a few verses, beginning there at verse one. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Well, if that's so, which we know that it is, the Lord did
speak to Moses. And it was recorded. These divine testimonies relayed,
revealed to this man Moses in some mysterious way was written
down and preserved unto this hour. And we know that it is
the Word of the living God. It's not the writings of some
wild nobody. It's the writings of Moses as revealed
unto his soul by God himself and the Lord, the Lord of heaven
and earth. The Word of God. This is an immeasurable
privilege that you and I have to read the Word of God. All that we need to know now
and forevermore is found in this holy book. The Word of God. The Word of God. The precious
Word of God. The sure and certain Word of
God. It comes from God who is immutable,
omniscient, and omnipresent. God who makes no mistakes. Speak. He spake unto Moses. This is what he said. He said,
"...Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through
ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning
things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any
of them, Sin of ignorance. If a soul shall sin through ignorance
concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do
against any of them. Sin of ignorance. If the priest that is anointed
do sin according to the sin of the people. Then let him bring
for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish
unto the Lord for sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the
Lord. and shall lay his hand upon the
bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the
Lord. And the priest that is anointed
shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle
of the congregation. And the priest shall dip his
finger in the and sprinkle of the blood seven
times before the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary. And
the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the
altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is the tabernacle
of the congregation, and shall pour all the blood of the bullock
at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. The emphasis is upon the sacrifice
and the shedding of the blood, as it concerns sin. Now, the atonement The atonement
is the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. The atonement is the
death of the Lord Jesus Christ. The atonement is God's gift to
man. In the New Testament, it says
it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. It says that that blood exclusively makes atonement for
sin. It says without the shedding
of the blood, there is no remission of sin. It says it was by the
death of Jesus Christ that the veil was rent. It says by the blood of Jesus
we have boldness to enter the holiest. It says that we have
redemption through the blood, even the forgiveness of sin. It says that the blood of Jesus
Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. It says in the
book of Revelation that they washed their robes and made them
white in the blood of the Lamb. It says that they overcome Him,
the devil, by the blood of the Lamb. It says that the blood
of Jesus Christ is the ground of God's righteousness in justifying
the ungodly sinner. Throughout the Bible it talks
about the blood. It talks about the atonement. It talks about the necessity
of the blood concerning our approach unto the Most Holy God. Now,
in thinking here this morning about the atonement or the sin
offering, let me try to emphasize that there is more there in the
atonement than merely making satisfaction for the conscience. Even though a man's conscience
might reach the highest point of refined sensibility. It is our privilege as the children
of God, by faith in Christ Jesus, who hath received the remission
of sins by and through his blood. It is our privilege, blessed
privilege, that we have. Not all have it. Not every member
of Adam's fallen race has this privilege. Not everyone who is
concerned about religion and has some type of religion has
the privilege to see what you and I can see. It's our privilege to see wherein
that which has fully satisfied all the claims of God's divine
holiness, God's divine justice, and God's divine majesty. The
holiness of God's dwelling place is the ground of His association
with His people. He can never have any other ground
of association and fellowship with his people apart from satisfaction
being made to his holiness. And this ground of satisfaction can never be regulated by the
standard of man's conscience. And I want to tell you why, in
order that you and I might, by the grace of God and by the sovereign
dispensation of that grace of Almighty God, come to a fuller understanding
of the atonement and how it affects us. I say that the holiness of
God's dwelling place and the ground of His association and
relationship with His people can never be regulated by the
standard of a man's conscience. And I'll try to give you a reason
why. Because there are many things
which might escape his full recognition, that is, man's full recognition. There are things which his heart might deem it to be
all right, but at the same time, these things
that his heart might think is all right, God could not tolerate. That's what I'm saying. And if
this takes place, the consequence or the result of his understanding,
or the result of his not recognizing things that God
would not tolerate, would result or would, in consequence, interfere
with a man's approach and to his worship and to his relationship
with God. Now, if the atonement of the
Lord Jesus Christ only or merely made provision for such sins
as come within the scope of man's apprehension or man's sight or
man's understanding, then we would find ourselves ten million
miles short of the true ground of the peace of God. Now, this
statement that I just made, let me make it again because this
is the basis of our contention here this morning. If the atonement
of the Lord Jesus Christ merely made provision for such sins
as come within the scope or the range of my and your apprehension,
then we would fall far short of the true peace of God Almighty
and the true ground of our peace. We need to understand, and I
think we do to a degree, but we need to lay hold of this.
We need to understand that sin has been atoned for. We need to understand that. Sin
has been atoned for. Now, listen to me. According
to God's measurement thereof, sin has been atoned for according
to God's estimate of sin. We need to understand that the
claims of His throne, have been perfectly answered. Every claim
of God's inflexible and holy justice has been answered. That sin as seen, not in the
light of my knowledge and understanding, but Sin as seen in the light
of His immaculate and inflexible unbending holiness has been divinely
judged. And that question of sin has
been settled once and forever. by God himself and by God's estimate
of sin, it's been said. Now, when we understand that,
that will give a fixed and settled, unaltered peace to a man's soul,
a full atonement. Full atonement, a complete atonement
has been made for the believer's sins of ignorance as well as
for his known sins. Full atonement, complete atonement,
a full covering has been made for the believer's sins or sin
of ignorance as well as for his known sin. If you have committed
adultery in the course of your lifetime, it's something that
you know. It's not a sin of ignorance. You know about it. You know about
it when you did it. and you knew about it afterwards. And your problem is this. You might partially believe that
God has provided a remedy or an atonement for that
sin, you might partially believe that or maybe fully believe it,
but you'll never forget it. See what I'm talking about? You'll
never forget. That'll haunt you all your life.
God will not remember your sin against you, but you'll remember
it. You'll never forget it. That
is not a sin of ignorance. You knew better at the time.
And I'm not just talking about a sin of adultery, but anything
in that scope or that nature. Well, a full atonement, this
is what I want us to see. I want us to see that a full
atonement has been made for the believers' sin of ignorance as
well as for his known sins. They are some sins that we've
committed in the course of our lifetime that are sins of ignorance. We didn't know. We didn't know. Are they taken care of? Well,
I believe they are. the sacrifice, the burnt offering,
the atonement of our Lord Jesus Christ lays the foundation of
His relationship and fellowship with God Himself. That is, what
He done is the ground of the sinner's fellowship and relationship
with God, what Christ did. It lays this foundation according to God's estimate of
the claims of His justice, of God's estimate of the claims
of justice. So, in light of that then, I
think that I know myself, I need a clear sense, of this unspeakable treasure,
because unless this feature of the atonement be laid hold of
by my poor soul, then there is no real fixed or settled peace
between God and myself. God knew what was needed. in order that man might be in
his presence without a single fault, without a single blemish,
without a single spot, without a single sin. Now, God made ample provision
in Jesus Christ on the tree for all of the sins of all of
the believers. God made provision according
to his thoughts in regard to sin and its penalty. God made
ample provision. So fellowship between God and
man is impossible if sin had not been put away according to
God's thoughts or according to God's estimate of sin. Well, it's true that we might
be doing things through ignorance, all of us. Many times that the human conscience
would approve of, but God wouldn't. These are sins of ignorance. But let me tell you this, and
this will help you. But this cannot alter the matter
before God inasmuch that all things are known by
God beforehand. So there may be sins of ignorance
on our part, and we need not think that God has not made ample
provision for the sins of ignorance in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ, because when God made this provision in Christ, He
knew all about before they happened, before they even thought of it. He knew all about those sins
of ignorance, and He made ample provision for them in Jesus Christ. So there's no need for us now
to look back and say, Is God really satisfied with
me? He never was satisfied with you. God's only satisfied with the
ample provision that He's made for the question of sin in the
person of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's how God's satisfied. And
the only way He'll ever be satisfied is in this provision that He
made. for our sins, not only sins known
by us, but sins unknown by us. That's how full this atonement
is. It's atonement for all of our
sins. You know how many times I've
said that Christ took upon Himself our sins. Our sins were laid
on Him. And I've always said, and it's
according to the Bible, all of our sins, sins yesterday, sins
known by me, sins of ignorance that I didn't know about, all
those sins, all of them was laid on Him according to God's thoughts and
estimate of sin. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
Christ of His pure and perfect spotless soul made ample provision
for sins of ignorance and sins that I knew about. A full atonement! If that's so,
my God, I ought to be able to worship Him, oughtn't I? Huh? or to be able to worship God
in spirit and in truth. Oh, listen, has God been satisfied? If a man doesn't know that the
sins of ignorance is taken care of and all of our sins were laid
on him, Then there'll be some uneasiness about him from time
to time, uneasiness in his relationship to God. What about this? What about that? What about these
doubts that I have, this continual apprehension that I've got in
regard to myself, something done back there or something done
here? What about that? insist upon and cause my poor
heart to see and yours this morning, that all these things, sins of
ignorance and doubts and so forth, all these things have been met
by the fact that sin has been atoned for, not according to
my ignorance or according to your ignorance, but according
to God's poor knowledge. And if this is laid hold of,
Assurance, assurance of this gives rest and settled peace
to the heart, to the soul, and to the conscience. And then a
man can come before God and worship Him in spirit and truth. All, all, A-L-L, all of God's
claims, have been answered by His own work. There's nothing
left for you to do. God answered all the claims from
His holy throne by His own work. He Himself made the provision
to satisfy justice in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
of our sins, all of our shortcomings, all of our doubts and all of
our fears. Well, the infinite value of the
atonement, of the sin offering, has not only traveled beyond
the bounds of the human conscience, but it has also made absolute
perfection and inabsolute perfection. for
all the requirements of God himself. Now, in light of this sin of
ignorance, in light of this atonement, nothing can more forcibly show, express man's inability
man's incompetence to deal with sin. Why? Because of the fact of there
being such a thing as the sin of ignorance. He's unable to deal with his
sin because of the fact there is such a thing. as the sin of
ignorance. How can he deal with that which
he knows not? If it's a sin of ignorance and
you don't know about it, how are you going to deal with it?
So this shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that man in himself
can't do anything about his sins, known or unknown. He can't do
anything about them. He is forced. He's forced to
look to God in Christ for the answer, to have a good conscience
towards God. Well, how could he deal with
that which he knows not? He can't. It's impossible. How
can he dispose of that which has never come into the range
of his conscience? How can he do away with it? If
his conscience doesn't know anything about it, it's an impossibility
for him to do away with it or do anything about it. He's shut
up to some of the means then. Man's ignorance of sin proves
his total incompetence or inability to put it away. If he does not
know about it, what can he do about it? That's what I'm saying. I'm trying to emphasize here
this morning. I know I'm having a hard time of it. But I'm trying
to emphasize this morning that there is a full atonement out
there for every and any sinner that wants to have life and life
everlasting and wants to stand before God as though he never
sinned. There is a way of God's provision,
and that's in Christ. Just trust Him. Just trust Him
and Him alone. Well, if all this is so, we know
that a man in himself is as powerless to do anything about it as he
is ignorant of it. The fact of a sin of ignorance
shows clearly, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the uncertainty which
must attend upon every settlement of the question of sin, in which
no higher claims have been responded to than those put forth by the
most high and refined conscience. Never is there Or can there be
any settled peace on these grounds? Because always a man will think, there must
be something wrong with me. And he cannot have any fixed
or settled peace if he does not know that there's nothing against
him. All of his sins, known and unknown,
have been provided for according to God's foreknowledge of him
who knows the end from the beginning. God made ample provision for
our sins. You see that? ample provisions in His Son. Well, if I know that, then I
ought to have peace. I ought to be able to sleep.
And I ought to be overcome and filled with joy and thanksgiving
and praise and worship. And I certainly ought to be inspired
to tell the story to anyone that would give me the opportunity
to tell them about God's atonement, to tell them about God's Christ,
to tell them about the fullness of God's provision for poor,
hopeless sinners. If the heart be not led into
a settled or fixed rest, by the Scripture testimony of God concerning
His Atonement, that the inflexible, unbending, when I say inflexible,
I mean straight as a die, inflexible, unbending claims of justice has
been answered. If the heart is led to that truth
and sees it, and believes it, believes the testimony of God. If he believes that, he's fine. But if he doesn't believe it,
then there will be of necessity a barrier to worship because
of this uneasiness in reference to the question of sin. Lots of times you hear people
pray, and at the conclusion of their
prayer, they sometimes say, and in the end, God forgive us of
our sin. Well, I don't think a people
who makes a habit of talking like that to God has this understanding. I don't think that they have
been led by the Spirit of God to this blessed fact, according
to God's testimony, that a sacrifice has been provided that makes
ample provision for all of their sins. Now, I know that we sin. against God. And I know that sin ought to
be confessed unto God, not necessarily unto the congregation, but unto
God. If we go astray in our personal
prayers unto God, we need to confess that unto God, but not
with the idea that your confession will have anything to do with
satisfaction being made in regard to the penalty that's due you.
If you think that because you're confessing your sins, that's
going to enable God to do something, you're wrong. God has already
done something. That's what I'm trying to say.
God's already done something. He's made ample provision for
all of the believer's sins in His Son. and knowing sins. They're all. But if you confess
your sins unto God as you come before Him, it'll help you. It'll help you. It had nothing to do with whether
God made atonement for your sins or not. God made ample atonement
for all of our sins. But yet we sin. We sin. And we ought to confess it. But
do it. in your private prayer unto God,
in reference to the question of sin and sin, the heart and
the soul of a man must be at rest before God as to the perfect
remission of sin before we can worship Him in spirit and truth. If there be guilt on the conscience,
there must be terror and anxiousness in a man's heart. And a heart
filled with terror cannot be a happy and worshiping heart. If there's anxiety as to my relationship
with God in my heart, you can't worship God. You can't do it. It's only from a heart that's
filled with the sweet and sacred rest which the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ imparts to the believing soul. that true and acceptable
worship can ascend to the Father. Do you know this morning that
all your sins are forgiven according to the perfection of our Lord's
sacrifice? Do you know that? How can I know
it? believe. Just simply trust in the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who made satisfaction, who bore all
the penalty, due you against your sin. Just simply trust in
His name. Just simply receiving Just simply
say, He's mine and I'm His. Do you know that they're gone
and gone forever? If you think that you must wait
until eternity comes and all things are revealed as they are, and your sins will be brought
up before you, Some of these sins will be brought
up, and the question will be decided then. No, I'm talking
about simply believing in God's atonement, the Lord Jesus Christ,
that in Him the question of all your sins is settled once and
forever. and their sins are gone and they're
gone forever. Now that's it. I said all that
I've said thus far in order to get to this place. Do you know
that your sins are forgiven and they're all gone? Never to rise
up in judgment against you. Do you know that? If you don't
know it, you can't worship. in spirit and truth. Why don't
you believe the testimony of God in His Word that says that? Don't say, I'm afraid or I fear,
that I do not realize that. Did you know that there is no
such Word as realized in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ? We are not saved by realization. We're saved by Christ, whose
gods anointed and appointed ample provision for all of our sins. If you say, well, I do not realize,
I have some indication of what you're talking about, but now
I do not realize that all of my sins are gone and gone forever. I don't realize that. I tell
you, we are not saved by what we realize and what we do not
realize. We are saved by that sacrifice. We are saved by Jesus Christ. He's the only one that can save
us, and He's the only one that will save us and keep us saved,
because He is of God's ample provision. You might as well
say, when a man says, well, I wish I, I can't realize that, I fear
I've got some problems here. When a man begins to take, listen,
he might as well say that the work of creation was not complete
until Adam realized it. You see what I'm saying? You
might as well say that The perfection of creation was not realized
until Adam realized it. Oh, no. He did realize it. Adam did realize it. But what
did he realize? He realized a perfect work, a
perfect work. And that's what I want you to
realize, a perfect work. in Christ. Whatever God does,
He does forever. It's a perfect work. He made
ample provision for the sins of ignorance and the known sins. It's there in Christ. Complete
atonement. Cover you up from the top of
your head to the bottom of your feet. A perfect cover. Penalty has been endured by the
person of Christ. Righteousness has been established. Obedience to the law has been
fixed. All of God's requirements have
been met in God's provision in Christ. And I call upon men to
simply trust in Him whom God has provided for what God has
provided. God will accept. Let's stand,
we'll be dismissed and meet again soon.