Alright, let's turn to Luke's
chapter. As you're turning there, let me thank you. I'm so thankful for everybody
that contributed to the meetings this past week. And all the different ways that
you contributed. And it does my heart so good. It just blessed my heart to see
it, to see the Lord, how He's given you a cheerful heart. We
want to hear the gospel, we want to help one another, we want
to provide for each other and for our visitors so the gospel
could be preached. And that really, really, really
blesses my heart. I'm so thankful for you. I thank
God every day for you. And I really do. I thank you.
Let's look now here in Leviticus chapter 1. I thought I was going to preach
on the burnt offering tonight, but I didn't get past the first
two verses. Let's read these verses together.
Leviticus 1 verse 1, And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake
unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man
of you bring an offering unto the Lord, you shall bring your
offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock.
Now this message applies to you and I today because what it teaches
us is the only way to come to God is by the way that God prescribes. And that way is through faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what these verses are
teaching. Christ is God's way. Christ is
the sacrifice God has accepted. God's way is through faith in
Christ. God commands us to come to Him
believing on Christ, trusting Christ, apart from any works
that you and I have done to gain acceptance with God, solely through
faith in Christ. We must come trusting Christ.
Now in these first two verses, God makes a statement concerning
offering. And every aspect of these ceremonies
pictures Christ. Every aspect they picture Christ. And they picture the sinner's
way to God is only through Christ. They were given as pictures.
I asked Brother Robert to read Hebrews 9 and 10 because I wanted
you to see there that the Holy Spirit declares to us that God
never gave the law for sinners to find perfection before God
through the works of the law. He never gave the law for us
to be perfected by the law. God used the law to give figures,
to give types and shadows. Those were pictures of Christ. Pictures of Christ who by His
one offering perfected His people forever. That's what the law
is showing us a picture of Christ. Even under the Old Covenant,
sinners have always come to God one way, that's through faith
in Christ. Even under the Old Covenant, even while they were
bringing those ceremonies, believers were coming to God trusting Christ. They were coming to God seeing
Christ in those sacrifices. Even as we come to God today
through faith in Christ without those sacrifices. You see, the
whole book of God uses physical, earthly, natural things to show
us spiritual, heavenly things. That's what we see in the book.
God is spirit. John 4, 24 says, God is spirit
and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in
truth. The law is spiritual. Paul said,
we know that the law is spiritual, but I'm carnal, sold under sin.
The book is discerned spiritually. You can't discern this book if
you look at it and just take things literally and naturally.
This book will have no message for you. The book is to be discerned
spiritually. Paul said to the Corinthians,
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God,
for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. You see, earthly promises
that are made to natural men in this book are to show us pictures
of spiritual promises made to God's spiritual people. And if
you miss this, you're going to miss the fact that salvation
is by grace. You're going to miss the fact
that salvation is by Christ alone through faith in Christ alone.
Men will say, well, I believe in a literal interpretation of
the Bible. God says that the believer, we're trees of righteousness. Do you literally think we're
trees? It's a metaphor. It's spiritually discerned. We
are trees of righteousness. We are the planting of the Lord.
But it's a spiritual lesson. It's a spiritual instruction.
And so it is using the law. In Leviticus 1 here, in verses
1 and 2, we're going to take these first two verses and we're
going to see by way of a picture, of a figure, of a type, that
sinners can only come to God in God's prescribed way, and
that that way is through faith in Christ. I'm going to show
you two things here. I'm going to show you, first
of all, it's God who first initiates communication. How He will, where
He will, and to whom He will. And then secondly, I want you
to see that God is the one who prescribes the way that sinners
must come to Him. Now, first of all, God initiates
communication how He will, where He will, and to whom He will.
God is going to receive all the glory for teaching and calling
His people. We are sinners. We don't have
a desire to come to Christ. The Scripture says, there's none
that understandeth, there's none that seeketh after God. That's
you and I by nature. We don't seek God. But look at
what it says here. It's God who first must initiate
the work of grace. Look at verse 1. God called. You see that? God called. Who
started this? God did. God called. Look at
Romans chapter 9. Romans chapter 9. In eternity... I want you to hold your place
in Romans 9. We're going to come back here. In eternity, it was
God the Father who first called God the Son. Chose Him to be
His Messiah, the Christ, the Mediator. And it was God who
first chose His people in Christ. And in time, it's God who first
calls His people. God gets the glory for this.
Why is this important to understand? Look at Romans 9.11. He's speaking
here of Jacob and Esau. These were two boys who were
twins in their mother's womb of the same father with the same
mother. Neither one of them had done any good or evil. And yet
God said, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And He
tells us why. Look at Romans 9-11. For the
children being not yet born, neither having done any good
or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might
stand. Now here's God's purpose. Not
of works. It's not of our works at all. But of Him that calleth. Do you see that? Salvation is
of God that calls. Now look at Romans 9.16. It says there, So then, it's
not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, it's not
of man's works, running about doing all his work. It's of God
that shows mercy. You see, that just snatched all
the glory away from man and it gives all the glory to God. God
calls. He's the first to call. God does
the calling. Now, the Scripture says, there's
none that understandeth, none that seeketh after God. If you
understand that about yourself, you're going to delight that
God does the calling first. Because if He hadn't of, we would
have never come to God. John said, herein is love, not
that we love God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to
be the propitiation for our sin. Now, there's the glory of God. It's God that calls, salvations
of God. Also, look back now in Leviticus
1. We see here that God only communicates through a mediator.
Look at verse 1. God called unto Moses. And then
in verse 2, it says He told Moses, speak unto the children of Israel.
Moses stands here as a type of Christ. Christ stands between
God and God's people. 1 Timothy 2.5 says there is one
God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. I used to think, you know, when
I was in sin, dead in sin, I used to think, you know, that's sort
of prideful for folks to say there's just one God. Look at
all the gods in this world. How can you say there's one God?
How can you say your God's the true God? But then God showed
me that man by nature creates God in his mind. And all these
other gods were created by man. There's just one God. There's
just one God. And there's just one mediator
between God and man, and that's the man Christ Jesus. God's holy
and God is spirit. We're sinful and we're flesh. God only communicates to a sinner
through that one who is both God and man, holy God and sinless
man, the Redeemer, the Mediator, Christ Jesus. And neither is
there salvation in any other. There is none other name given
among men whereby we must be saved. Now, look at this too
in this text. Notice the particular place where
God spoke through the Mediator. Verse 1 says, He called out of
the tabernacle of the congregation. Moses had just He just erected
the tabernacle as God commanded. And God had said, I will meet
with you in the tabernacle of the congregation over the mercy
seat. That's what God promised. And
if you read the end of Exodus there, it says the cloud filled
the temple. It filled the tabernacle. And
so that Moses couldn't even go into it. And then God spoke.
out of the tabernacle of the congregation to Moses. The tabernacle
pictures two things. Number one, it pictures God's
heavenly abode. It pictures the holiest of holies
from where Christ, our mediator, our mercy seat, our high priest,
speaks to his people. Look back over there at Hebrews
8. Hebrews 8. I'm trying to show you these
things were given The law was given to show us spiritual things. Now look here. Hebrews is the
New Testament commentary on the Old Testament law. That's what
Hebrews is. It's telling us what all those
things meant. Now look here at Hebrews 8.1. Now of the things
which we've spoken, this is the sum. We have such a high priest
who sat on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in
the heavens. That's where our high priest
is. That earthly high priest pictured
Christ our high priest. Now where is Christ our high
priest? He's at the right hand of God in the heavens. Look at
verse 2. A minister of the sanctuary,
the holy place, and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched
and not man. Look back at Hebrews 9, look
at verse 24. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands. That's what the high priest did
on this earth. He said those were only figures of the truth.
They were pictures. They were pictures of the true
holy place. But Christ is entered into heaven
itself. That's the true holy of holies.
That's the true sanctuary. now to appear in the presence
of God for us. Now that's the first thing this
tabernacle of the congregation pictured. In that tabernacle
of the congregation was the mercy seat. Christ is the propitiation.
He's the mercy seat. God said, I'll meet with you
from the tabernacle of congregation, from over the mercy seat. That's
how I'm going to communicate to my people. that pictured Christ
in God's presence at God's right hand who is the mercy seat, the
propitiation, the high priest of his people through whom God
communicates to his people. So God's communicating through
Christ from heaven's tabernacle from the holiest of holies to
his people. Now the second thing the tabernacle
pictured is it pictured the congregation, the church that Christ himself
assembles. His church, his tabernacle. His
congregation. Look at Ephesians 2 and look
at verse 21. Galatians, Ephesians. Ephesians
2, verse 21. He says, You are built upon the
foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself
being the chief cornerstone, in whom, in Christ, all the building,
is fitly framed together and groweth unto a holy temple, a
holy tabernacle in the Lord. That's what His people are. In
whom ye also are builted together for a habitation of God through
the Spirit. We've seen in Ephesians 4 how
that when Christ ascended, He gave His preachers and He assembled
His church and through His gospel being preached from the holiest
of holies, God speaks through Christ, through His gospel, into
the tabernacle, into the church that Christ has assembled, into
the hearts of each individual sinner who is also His tabernacle. And so it's pictured here in
Leviticus. This is what's happening. God
is speaking through the mediator, out of the tabernacle of the
congregation, to the tabernacle that He's congregated there.
Moses is delivering the Word to the people. That's the picture
we have here. This past weekend, you heard God's faithful preachers
say, the most important thing in our lives is to assemble together
with God's saints. Because that's what's pictured
right here. God said that was the one place,
under the old covenant, that was the one place God promised
he would meet with his people. Was from that mercy seat, from
that holiest of holies, in the tabernacle of the congregation,
where he assembled his people. That's the place God said I'll
meet with you. And in this gospel age, it's in his church that
Christ is assembled, that he promises he will meet with his
people. And he will speak the word in
our hearts. And men will scoff at that. And men will say, well,
my experience says otherwise. Don't ever try to make God's
Word fit your so-called experience. Satan loves that. Because you're
sure to foul up God's Word when you do that. Make your so-called
experience submit to God's Word. And if it doesn't line up with
God's Word, throw it out the window as useless. As absolutely
useless. This is the truth of it. God
uses His written Word. God uses us as witnesses. He uses providence. He uses these
things. But He's going to use these things
to draw His people to His church where He's going to speak the
Word into the heart of His child through the Gospel. That's how
He's going to do it. The best witnessing you can do.
When you're talking to somebody, I've told you before, they're
thinking about what they're going to say to you next. But when
they're hearing the gospel preached, they got to sit and listen. It's
humbling. And that's what God does it this
way for. It's the way God gets the glory
and man gets none. And so the best witnessing you
can do is say, come to the house of the Lord and hear the gospel
preached. That's about the best witnessing you can do. Come see.
Just come here. That's right. All right. Look
at this, too. God only commanded, or He only
communicated to the children of Israel. Look back at Leviticus
1. And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the
tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel. Now do you know at this time
there were millions of people on the face of the earth? All
around Israel there were millions of people living on this earth
at this time. God didn't send Moses to them.
He sent Moses to the children of Israel only. That's the only
ones He sent them to. That's the only one. Go back
there to Romans 9. Why did God do that? Why did
God do that? What's He showing us by that?
That's a picture. You know, even these people that
He's using are a picture to show us spiritual things. The children
of Israel were a picture to show us spiritual things. The children
of Israel are a picture of God's elect people scattered all over
this world. Look at God's elect or God's
spiritual Israel. Now listen to me. I know this
goes contrary to what some of you may have been taught all
your life. God's elect or God's spiritual Israel. The Word of
God is crystal clear on that. I'll fix and show it to you.
Look at Romans 9 verse 6. Paul is speaking of those in
Israel who didn't believe on Christ. And he says this, verse
6. Not as though the word of God
had taken none effect. God's word never returns to him
void. It always accomplishes his purpose.
Look at this. For they are not all Israel which
are of Israel. They're not all God's true spiritual
Israel which are of that political nation Israel. Neither because
they are the seed of Abraham. Neither because they are the
natural sons of Abraham are they all children. But in Isaac shall
thy seed be God. Do you have some spiritual discernment?
Do you know what that means? It means in Christ shall thy
seed be God. Who was Isaac? He was the son
of promise. Christ is the son of promise. He was the son of
a miraculous birth. Christ is the son of a miraculous
birth. He's the son who came through Abraham's loins. Christ
is the son who came through Abraham's loins. He was a picture of Christ. In Christ shall thy seed be called. That is, now listen, they which
are the children of the flesh, natural children, these are not
the children of God. That can't be more clear. But
the children of the promise, God's elect, are counted for
the seed. So the natural children of Israel,
the natural sons of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, are not
all the true spiritual Israel of God, simply because they're
natural sons. That doesn't make them sons.
But it's the elect who God counts as the seed, as the children
of Israel. That's true. Now, when he says
in Isaac shall thy seed be called, he's saying in Christ shall thy
seed be called. That was the promise God made to Abraham and
that was the promise God made to Christ. God made Christ that
promise. Look at Galatians 3. Galatians
chapter 3, verse 7. He's saying here that, let's
read verse 5, He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit
and worketh miracles among you, he's speaking of Christ, does
he do it by the works of the law or by the hearing of faith?
Even as Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith
the same are the children of Abraham. Look down the page there
at verse 15. Verse 16. He said, Now to Abraham
and his seed were the promises made. And he said, Not to seeds
as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ.
When he said to Abraham, In thy seed, in thy son Isaac, shall
all nations be blessed. He is saying, In Christ shall
all nations be blessed. And he made that same promise
to Christ. Now he says there, He says there,
This I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of
God in Christ The law which was 430 years later after the forming
of Israel and the law being given, it can't disannul that promise
that it should make the promise of none effect. For if the inheritance
be of the law, it's no more of promise but God gave it to Abraham
by promise. He's saying to us, brethren,
salvation's not of blood, it's not of the will of the flesh,
it's not of the will of man. If it is, salvation is by works
and not by promise, not by grace, not by God's grace given it to
those to whom He's given faith to believe on Christ. So then
He concludes in verse 29, If you be Christ, then are you Abraham,
see, and heirs according to what? The promise. The promise. The same promise He made to Abraham
and to Christ. See, the children of the promise
are the elect and they're called by God out of both Jew and Gentile. From among Jew and Gentile, the
elect are called out from every nation, every family, every kindred,
every tribe, every tongue and people on this earth. They're
a people chosen of God. That's why God said to Abraham,
In thee shall all nations be blessed. He didn't mean everybody
in every nation. He meant there's going to be
a people called out of every nation. These are the true spiritual
Israel of God. Brethren, listen to me. We must
not imagine that God is going to do something Something in
the future that's special for political, natural Israel, simply
because they're natural sons of Abraham. To do so is the same
as saying God's salvation is based on blood. It's based on
natural ancestry, rather than by the grace of God. And scriptures
clearly say, those that are born of God are born. John 1.13 says,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will
of man, but of God, but of God." Turn to Joshua 23. I want to
answer an objection. I know what men say when they
hear that. What about all the promises that God made to Israel,
to the natural sons of Abraham? Well, what about them? Every
good promise God promised to the natural seed were earthly
promises which God fulfilled. God fulfilled every one of them.
And so was every evil promise that God promised them. And God
fulfilled those as well. Look here, Joshua 23, 14. Joshua's speaking here. He's
about to die. He says, Behold, this day I'm going the way of
all the earth. And you know in all your hearts
and in all your souls that not one thing hath failed of all
the good things which the Lord your God spake concerning you. All are come to pass unto you
and not one thing hath failed thereof. They were in the promised
land, right where God said He'd put them. What did that promised
land picture though? It pictured the promised land
God's going to bring His spiritual Israel into. So that when God
shows us that He fulfilled that promise to natural Israel, He's
declaring to you and me, brethren, who are the elect of God, that
He shall fulfill the spiritual promise. We shall be delivered
to heaven's Canaan. We shall be delivered to heavenly
Mount Zion, to heavenly Jerusalem. And not one promise God has made
shall fail. Now look at this. There's another
part to this too. Verse 15, Therefore it shall
come to pass. He's not saying if or maybe.
Not anymore when God said to Adam, In the day you eat thereof
you shall die. God didn't say if. He said in
the day you do. And Joshua's speaking here prophetically. And he says, It shall come to
pass that as all good things are come upon you, which the
Lord your God promised you, so shall the Lord bring upon you
all evil things, until He hath destroyed you from off this good
land which the Lord your God hath given you. When you have
transgressed the covenant of the Lord your God, which He commanded
you, and have gone and served other gods and bowed yourselves
to them, then shall the anger of the Lord be kindled against
you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land which
He hath given unto you. Just as He fulfilled the good
thing to them, He fulfilled this thing too. Natural sons of Abraham
did what natural Gentiles do. They rejected Christ Jesus, the
salvation of God. And when they did, Christ stood
there in Jerusalem and looked at them and He said, Your house
is left unto you desolate. Because they forsook God for
their own idol gods. And He destroyed their land.
In 70 A.D. He destroyed it. He destroyed
it. And he scattered his elect into the four winds of the earth.
In this day, brethren, I'm telling you, God doesn't regard Israel
as that nation. When he finished that work, when
Christ came, that work was finished with them. They were done. He
finished the work. He didn't need that picture anymore.
That's why that veil was rent in two from top to bottom. He's
the end of the law. As Robert read, he established
everything that was pictured in that old covenant so that
now he's established the second, the everlasting covenant of grace.
So now, as Romans 11 says, he's calling his elect out of the
Gentile nations. And Israel is one of those Gentile
nations that's counted in that. because they're no different
from anybody else. And I'm going to tell you something. If God
calls out somebody out of the nation of Israel, It'll be because
God from eternity chose them in Christ Jesus by His grace,
not according to any good or evil in them, but simply by His
good pleasure and redeemed them by Christ just like it will be
if He calls them out of some Gentile country. He sure will. So that when all at the elect
have been gathered in then, Then shall all God's Israel be saved. Every one of them. That's what
Paul is saying in Romans 11. Now that's declaring salvation is
by grace. That's saying salvation is not
by blood, it's not by works, it's not by your genealogy. Paul
in Philippians 3 said, I put a whole bunch of confidence in
the fact that I was of the tribe of Benjamin. I was a Hebrew of
Hebrews. I put stock in that. He said,
but when God saved me, those things that I thought were gain,
I count on the dawn that I might win Christ to be found in Him.
Now, do you understand what I'm saying? What's the purpose of
this? The purpose of this is that Christ is our mediator.
He's not sent to all men and women on the face of this earth.
He's sent to His lost sheep, to His elect spiritual Israel.
That's who He's calling out. And the reason that God declares
this to us, that just makes sinners mad. They're going to have to
get mad. He declares this to us because when He's wrote this
in your heart and shown you this in your heart, He brings you
down. He brings you to see we don't
have any spirit, any rights to God. We lost them in the garden
when we sent in Adam. He brings us to see God as God
has the right to do with us whatsoever He's pleased. And the man who
doesn't like this, he'll say, that's not fair. Let me ask you
this. Is it fair that men who've been
tried in the court of law and found guilty are on death row
waiting to be executed on death row? They've been before a just
judge, a just jury, sentenced to death, found guilty, sentenced
to death, and there they sit. There's nothing unjust about
it. That's being you. That's what happened to every
one of us in the garden in Adam. What's unfair about God looking
at a bunch of death row criminals and deciding he's going to save
some of them. And he's going to do it in a way that's just.
He's going to send his son to bear the sentence of death, to
be crucified in their room instead. And then he's going to send the
spirit of his son into their dead carcasses and give them
spiritual life to lay hold of him and come to him through faith
in Christ. What's unfair about that? Justice
and mercy have met together in harmony. The justice of God is
satisfied and now He can be just to His people in a way that's...
and to be merciful to His people in a way that's just. There's
nothing unjust about that. God can do with His own what
He will. And that's what we have to be taught, brethren. You see,
men change this thing. It used to be men preach the
gospel and they declared God's the judge. Christ is the one
who has got a case against you and you're the criminal. You're
the one that's on trial. You've got to beg mercy from
God. And now men preach as if Christ is the one on trial and
we're the judges. And they're just saying now,
just pretty please have mercy on Christ and let Him save you.
This thing's backwards, men are preaching. God is God. He can
do with us what He wants to. And if He chooses to save some,
it's His prerogative to do so. That is something that is reason
to rejoice, not reason to get mad. That's reason to rejoice. We wouldn't be saved if it wasn't
for God saving whom He will. All right, so we see there first
of all, brethren, God speaks first. God speaks how He will
in a mediator. He speaks to whom He will. He
speaks to His people. He speaks in the tabernacle of
the congregation. Now, secondly, God prescribes
the way in which God will be approached by a sinner. Verse 2, He says, Leviticus 1
verse 2, He says, Now you say unto them, If any man of you
Bring an offering unto the Lord. You shall bring your offering
of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock. Now first notice
this applies to all of God's elect alike. He says if any man
of you bring an offering unto the Lord. The reason all God's
people must come to God with an offering is because we all
sin. The reason this applies to all
of us is we all sin. You can't come to God without
a sacrifice. We all sin. We all have sinned and come short
of the glory of God. Now then note this. God declares
where the offering must come from. He says, you shall bring
your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock.
There are several things here in this. We as sinners can only
have our sins forgiven by God through the shedding of blood.
That blood is Christ's blood. You see, these animals best showed
Christ's blood in the remission of our sins by His blood. These
were animals who had blood. Look back over at Hebrews 9.
Hebrews 9. This New Testament is the everlasting
covenant. It's God's will and testament
for His children. It's the inheritance God's going
to give to His children. Now let me ask you something.
What is required before the testator's will can be put into execution
and you become an inheritor of it? The testator's got to die.
He's got to die. Alright, look here. Christ is
the mediator of that New Testament from God to His people. Now look
at this, Hebrews 9.15, For this cause Christ is the mediator
of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption
of the transgressions that were under the First Testament, they
which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. You see, God gave Christ the
glory of being the mediator to give the inheritance of God to
the children of promise Himself. And He's going to do it through
means of death. Whenever Christ died, God took the sins of a
particular people. He didn't just die for sins generic,
for sins random. He died for the sins of a particular
people. The Scripture says that everywhere.
It never says He just died for sins random. It says the Lord
has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. That's speaking of
all God's elect. How do I know that? It's because
it's speaking of all that shall be saved. It's speaking of all
Christ justified. It's speaking of all those that
are purged. All those that have been made righteous. All those
that must be given faith to believe on Christ. And that's who the
all is. Because that's what Christ accomplished
for them. Now look at this. For where a
testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of
the testator. You children won't get a thing
from your father till your father dies. All right? For a testament
is a force after men are dead. Otherwise, it's of no strength
at all while the testator liveth. Whereupon neither the first testament
was dedicated without blood. Now, what he's saying to us here
is God showed us this in a picture when he gave that old covenant,
when he gave that first testament through Moses, the mediator.
He showed us this then. Look at this. He says, for when
Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to
the law, who did Moses speak it to? The children of Israel. Did he speak it to the Gentiles?
No, the children of Israel. So Christ speaks this to His
elect. Now look, when He done that, He took the blood of calves
and of goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and He sprinkled
both the book and all the people, saying, This is the blood of
the testament which God hath enjoined unto you. Moreover,
he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle, all the vessels
of the ministry, and almost all things are by the law purged
with blood, and without shedding of blood is no remission." Now
he's going to tell us what all that means. It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in heaven Those things
were patterns, they were pictures. It was necessary that the patterns
of things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the
heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands,
which are the pictures of the true, but into heaven itself,
now to appear in the presence of God for us, nor yet that he
should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into
the holy place every year with the blood of others. For then
must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world.
But now once, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put
away sin by the sacrifice of himself." That's what Christ
accomplished. for those for whom He died. He
put away their sins. Hebrews 1.3 says, When He had
by Himself purged our sins, He sat down. And as it is appointed
unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ
was once offered to bear the sins of many. And unto them that
look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto
salvation. So that's the first thing, these
offerings. That's why God said they got to come from the animals.
Because a plant don't have blood in it. Why did God receive Abel's
offering and reject Cain's offering? Cain brought the finest vegetables
he could farm. Because he didn't come with blood. He didn't come acknowledging
he deserves to die. And that's why we have to come
through Christ. We're acknowledging by faith
in Christ, we deserve to die. But Christ died in our stead.
Alright, secondly, these animals best pictured Christ. The ox
and the bullock that was brought. You look at an ox and a bullock.
They're strong. They had some down in Australia
when we were down there. They're strong. Strong. And that
pictures Christ. God said, I've laid help on one
that is mighty. And then the sheep that was to
be brought. That sheep pictured Christ's
innocence. It pictured His patience. It
pictured His harmlessness. The Scripture says, he's brought
as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before his shearers
is done, so he openeth not his mouth. And then the goat, there
was a goat that was offered. That pictured Christ when He
made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might be made
the righteousness of God in Him. You see, just one animal couldn't
picture the glory of Christ and neither one sacrifice could picture
the glory of Christ. There's five different sacrifices
here that God commanded to be made and all of them with different
animals. Some of them with flour and bread
because you remember Christ is the bread as well. But all of
these things it took to show the glory of Christ in that one
offering He made at Calvary's Cross. And then thirdly, these
animals were to be taken from among the flock to picture that
Christ was made like unto his brethren, chosen from among us.
These were taken from among the flock, just like Christ was taken
from among the flock. Look at Hebrews 2. Hebrews 2. And look at verse 17. Well, let
me read verse 1. Wherefore, and therefore... Let
me see here. Hold on one second. Hebrews... Hebrews 2, look at verse 14. As much as the children were
partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of the devil, that is of death, that is the devil,
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Why? Here's why. In all things it
behooved him to be made like unto his brethren that he might
be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to
God to make reconciliation for the sins of the people and also
for in that he himself had suffered being tempted he's able to succor
them that are tempted. It was for this twofold reason
that he might as our high priest offer to God and make reconciliation
for the sins of His people and also that because He was made
flesh and walked where we are and suffered what we suffered
and was tempted like we're tempted, He knows what we go through so
He can comfort us in all our trials and all our tribulations.
That was pictured in those animals being taken from among the flock.
God said, not only have I laid help on one that is mighty, He
said, I've exalted one chosen out of the people. Psalm 89,
19. All right, here's the fourth thing. This offering must be
of their own herds and their own flocks because the people
were most attached to those animals. They fed them, they watched them
grow up, and they had to take those animals and bring those
animals to God and kill them, and kill them. The offering was
to be dear to their hearts so that it was a real sacrifice
to them. It was to be an animal which
they needed and depended upon for life. You know what that
meant in that day? To take one of your herd. That
animal, if you don't sacrifice that animal to God, you know
what you're going to do? You're going to kill it and eat it. And you got to take
that animal and give it to God. Because it showed, this is an
animal I depend on for life. And I'm giving this to God. That
was the great offense. One of the great offenses, whenever
Christ cast those people out of the temple, who were selling
the animals for the folks that came to the temple, one of the
great offenses of it was it took all the heart out of the sacrifice.
They could come in there and buy an animal they never laid
eyes on, an animal they didn't feed, an animal they had no attachment
to, an animal that was just a surplus animal that they didn't need
for life, and just go in and make an offering. Wham, bam,
it's done. I had no attachment to it whatsoever. But to those given a new heart,
this is the picture. Christ, brethren, Christ is dear
to our hearts. Christ is needed for life. We depend upon Him for life.
And we see Christ laying down His life as a true sacrifice
for us. And we see Christ there by our
sins, by what our sins have done to Him. That's what makes us
mourn in our hearts. O daughter of my people, gird
thee with sackcloth. and wallow thyself in ashes. Make thee mourning as for an
only Son, most bitter lamentation. This is what God does in conversion
when He makes us behold Christ. When He makes us behold Christ
bearing our sin. When He makes us behold Christ
being crucified on that cross bearing the judgment, the justice
that we deserve to purge us of our sins. He said in Amos 8.10,
I'll turn your hearts into mourning and all your songs into lamentation."
We were going through our religious charade and false religion, hoop-de-doo
and clapping our hands, throwing our hands up in the air and everything
was happy. He says, when I speak in your
heart, I'm going to turn that into mourning. Why? He says, I'll bring up sackcloth
upon all loins. That's in the heart. That's repentance
in the heart. He says, and I'll bring baldness
upon every head. The head's where the wisdom is.
He makes us to see our so-called wisdom is nothing. He shaves
us of our wisdom like a bald head. He says, and I'll make
it as the morning of an only son and the end thereof as a
bitter day. God puts true morning in our
hearts for Christ. That's what he said. They'll
look upon me whom they've pierced, and they shall mourn for him
as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness
for him as one that's in bitterness for his firstborn. Can I give
you an evidence of that? Can I give you a picture of that
in Scripture? Remember what happened on the day of Pentecost? Peter
stood up and he preached the gospel. He said, you men, you
men, with wicked hands. You took the Prince of Life that
God sent from Heaven's glory and you crucified Him with your
own hands. You crucified Him. But let it
be known unto you that God has made that same Jesus both Lord
and Christ. He's raised Him. He's satisfied
in Him. He's pleased in Him. He's redeemed
His people from all iniquity. And when the Spirit of God worked
in their heart, you know what happened to them immediately?
It says they were pricked in their hearts. And it says, And
they said to Peter and to the rest, Men and brethren, what
shall we do? What will God have us to do?
We've sinned against God. That's what God has to bring.
We saw that. He continues to work repentance.
We saw that in the Corinthians. Remember that? We looked at those
gifts of repentance that God gave to them. And Paul said,
Godly sorrow works. Repentance to salvation not to
be repented of. That's what God works in our
heart. That's what was pictured here in those lambs that they
brought. They're dear to their heart.
They're dependent on them for life. Now, let's bring this home
to where we are. What have we seen here, Brethren?
What have we seen? Just in these two verses. I want
to go through Leviticus. I want us to look at these pictures
and these types all the way through. But what have we seen just right
here in this? Here's the first thing. God initiates communication
with His people. God's going to receive all the
glory. And let me tell you this, me and you are not going to receive
any glory. We have nothing to glory in.
We've sinned. That's all we have done. We've
sinned. We've sinned against God. We've
sinned against mercy. We've sinned against grace. We've
sinned against Christ. We've sinned against God's people.
We've sinned against the gospel. We've sinned, sinned, sinned. We have no room to glory in anything. So God must first communicate
to us. And He does this one way, through
a mediator. And He does this through the
tabernacle of the congregation, from heaven's glory into the
hearts of His people, His tabernacle, through His church, through His
gospel. And He does this to His elect people. Everybody sitting
here hearing this message now, and I pray, I pray, Maybe He'll
bless this. Stop looking at election as you
against us. And take your side with us and
say, well, if God has done all this for me, if He chose me,
and He sent His Son for me, and He redeemed me, and He's made
me perfect in Him, oh, what a blessing He's blessed me with. Then you'll
understand the blessing. You'll understand the rejoicing.
But as long as you want to stand on the outside saying, election
is not fair, election is not fair, well, come on in and join
us. I don't want to come in, you
say. Well, then quit complaining about election. Quit complaining. This is the
greatest blessing of God. And then secondly, we see here,
God prescribes the way you've got to come. This animal, this
herd out of the flock pictures Christ, Christ, Christ, Christ,
whose blood purged His people of our sin. It pictures Christ
who is, He's the ox, the mighty one. He's the sheep, the innocent
lamb. He's the goat, the one who was
made sin for His people and put away our sin. This pictures Christ
who is the one who is dear to the hearts of His people, who
His people depend on entirely for life. There's no other way
to come to God but faith in His Son. He's pleased with His Son,
He accepts His Son, and that's the only way to come. Now every
bit of this is to humble us, brethren. You know, a rich man
can't enter into heaven. He's got too much baggage. He's
got too much baggage. He'd sooner enter into this narrow
way as a rich, as a camel would enter in through the eye of a
needle. He can't enter into heaven through this way. All that baggage,
all that pride, all that goodness that you think you got, all those
religious works you think you've done, all that righteousness
you think you got, all that's got to be stripped off of you.
You ever hold a little branch in your hand, it's got all those
leaves on it and you just wrap your finger around it and you
just strip it like that of all its leaves? That's got to be
you by the hand of God. And all your goodness and all
your so-called righteous got to be stripped away from you.
And you come in this one narrow single way. Christ Jesus the
Lord through faith in Him. Through faith in Him. Submit
to God. Repent from your way. Believe
on Christ. Trust His blood to be remission
of your sins. Confess Him publicly and God
will receive you. God will receive you. No other
way. And don't move an inch from Him. Once you've come to Christ,
don't move an inch from Him. Don't go back to the law. Don't
go back to your works. Don't go back to your will and
your way. Stay at Christ's feet. Jump into Christ's arms and depend
entirely upon Christ to carry you right into the presence of
the Father. That's what He's going to do for His people. He's
got big arms, brethren, big arms. He's not going to lose one. I
pray God will make you bow to Him and believe on Him today. Amen. Let's stand together. God our Father, thank you for
showing us, us ignorant, blind sinners, such clear pictures
of your grace. For showing us a picture, then
showing us, telling us what the picture means. Lord, your word
is so clear because you've given us discernment to understand.
Thank you for that. We pray you'll do that for some
lost, elect child here now. Lord, we pray that you'll honor
and glorify Christ. Make us leave here today remembering
these things, remembering that in every offering we make unto
you and every work that we do, every Every song we sing, every
sermon we preach, every sermon we hear, every offering we make,
the only way you'll receive it is through faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Thank you for Christ our righteousness, Christ our
sanctification, Christ our redemption and our wisdom. It's in His precious
name we pray these things, Lord. Amen.