Alright, Leviticus 16 verse 23. Now this is the day of atonement.
The high priest is a picture of Christ. He's gone in. He's
offered the offerings. He's offered the sin offering. And he's come forth and he's
let go the scapegoat. He'd been taken by a fit man
into the wilderness and let go. And now there's a couple of more
things that we're told here that took place on the Day of Atonement. Verse 23, And Aaron shall come
into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments
which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall
leave them there when our Lord Jesus finished His earthly ministry. He had that fleshly garment on
as this priest had the linen garment on. Now he's raised in
glorified flesh. He's raised a glorified man,
God and man. And he has on his royal high
priestly garments. And he shall wash his flesh with
water in the holy place and put on his garments and come forth
and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the
people, and make an atonement for himself and for the people,
and the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar."
Now, the burnt offering was offered on other days in addition to
this day of atonement. But here, as it was on those
other days, The high priest offering the burnt offering typifies Christ
Jesus, and the burnt offering typifies Christ Jesus. God requires
of His people absolutely perfect obedience, perfect faithfulness,
perfect thankfulness, perfect in giving all glory to God. Christ Jesus is... He is that
offering. He is... He's everything we're
not. He's the perfect believer. Christ is. And Scripture says,
through the eternal Spirit, He offered Himself without spot
to God. All we are is spots. All we are
in ourselves is spots. and God won't receive us. And
the fat of this sin offering that was offered here along with
this, you know fat when it's burned, it makes a sweet smell,
a very sweet smell. And the Scripture says of him,
you see here that this was an offering for the high priest,
that man, and for the people. And this offering that Christ
offered on behalf of His people as the perfect, faithful, and
holy believer is as important as Him being the sin offering
and making atonement. He's got to be perfect in every
regard. And the people here come with
this lamb, showing that when we come to God, we come one way. We come, our burnt offering is
the lamb. We come with the lamb God has
commanded us to come with. And turn over to Ephesians 5. We'll look at this and we'll
come back to Leviticus. Ephesians 5, verse 1, Be ye therefore followers
of God as dear children. That's how Christ followed God
as a dear child. as a dear child. He's the firstborn
among many brethren. He's the dearest of the children
of God. And walk in love. That's how
Christ walked. Perfection. Perfect. This burnt offering that offered
himself without spot to God. He says, and do it as Christ
also hath loved us. He did this toward God and toward
His brethren. He did it in love to God and
love to His brethren. That's what we're being told
here. "...and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor." God accepts His people in this
sweet-smelling savor that Christ offered to God. That's when we
come by faith in the Lamb, offering to God the very best we have
to offer. And the very best we have to
offer God is the offering He's pleased with. It's His Son. His
Son. And He teaches us by His example
how to walk, how to live in this world, loving God and loving
our brethren. laying down our lives for one
another as Christ laid down His life for His people, for us. And then the second thing we
see back in our text. Both of these are burnings. The
last two things we're looking at here are two burnings. These
are two burnings. This is the second burning. Leviticus
16, 27. And the bullock for the sin offering
and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to
make atonement in the holy place, shall one carry forth without
the count, and they shall burn in the fire their skins and their
flesh and their dung." Now turn over to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13. We have We have the exposition of this. We have the Hebrew writer tells
us what this is about. Verse 11. He says, well let's
begin in verse 9. Let's begin in verse 8. Jesus
Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. That's who we're
talking about. So we've seen in all these sacrifices,
all these offerings, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and
forever. We need an unchanging, unchangeable
God whose grace does not change. That's what we need. And he says, Be not carried about with divers
in strange doctrines, different, diverse and strange teachings. For it is a good thing that the
heart be established with grace. Grace. is happening as this gospel is
preached. The heart is established with
grace. It's established when we hear it. He settles us by
His grace. And the more we hear it, it's
repeated and repeated and repeated, and the more He establishes us
by His grace. That's why He sent this gospel,
that you be no more tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine,
but you be anchored in the anchor within the veil, established.
It's good that the heart be established with grace, not with meats, That's
what this world is preaching, how to be established by what
you do or don't do, how you act and don't act, what you say and
don't say, how you dress and don't dress. It's all about you. You won't ever be established
if you keep looking at you. You won't ever be established,
and I won't either, if we're trying to come to God by something
we've done and try to find some establishment, some ground and
some grounding We won't find it in ourselves. Not with meats
which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
There's actually no profit. It's a hurtful thing. We have
an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the
tabernacle. The Hebrews were being Brethren
were being turned back to that tabernacle, that earthy tabernacle.
They were being turned back to those earthly sacrifices. They
were being turned back to that form, that which was just the
shadow and the means. We saw last week that the Lord
said in Isaiah, He said, when I come and when I do this work,
He said, through the Spirit of God, you're going to let go of
your graven images of silver and gold. And we've looked at
this point. We think of those graven images
of silver and gold as some graven images that God never commanded
them to make. Well, there was a lot of silver
and gold images that God commanded them to make as a means to picture
Christ to come. and they worshiped the means
and made an idol of the means rather than bowing to Christ.
And he said, but when He introduces Himself in your heart and you
meet Him, you're going to turn. He said, when I send you pastors
that will feed you with knowledge and understanding, you'll no
more say the ark of the covenant. You'll no more look at the tabernacle,
at the ark, at those sacrifices, at any of those things. You'll
behold the substance then and you'll let go of your idols.
And men in our day are worshipping the memes, worshipping the church,
worshipping their faith, worshipping prayer meetings, worshipping
all the memes that God's given that believers use. But they're
worshipping those things, praising those things, speaking of those
things, promoting those things, attracting with those things.
It's good that the heart be established by grace. We have an altar, Christ is our
altar, whereof they have no right to eat what serve this earthy
tabernacle. For the bodies, now listen to
this, the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the
camp. That's what we just saw in Leviticus.
That's where they were burned, without that camp. Away from
that camp. Away from the people outside
of that camp. What's the application? Wherefore
Jesus also, that He, He, He might sanctify the people with His
own blood. This is how you sanctify. He
does it with His own blood. That He, with His own blood,
suffered where? Without the gate. He was a reproach. When he came, fellas, folks that
were worshipping the idols, the memes, the Ark of the Covenant,
worshipping the tabernacle, worshipping the temple, worshipping that
earthy city Jerusalem, all of which pictured heavenly spiritual
things. Christ our Lord, heavenly Jerusalem,
heavenly Mount Zion, His church, His people. When He came, He
was a reproach of men, despised by men that said, we don't want
you. Look what we got. We don't need
Christ. We got all this. And they were
worshipping those things and wasn't worshipping Him. And He
went without the camp. He was burned, hung on a tree,
crucified with no one to help outside of that camp. Now here's
what He says. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp bearing his reproach." It's not going
to be popular. You're not going to be received.
We're not going to be received by this world. This religious
world are not going to receive the believer. And the more people
see Christ in you, just like what we saw with Paul Thursday
night. He's at Jerusalem, or at Caesarea,
bound. And he told about how he was
under that authority, he was in that fleshly camp, he was
going by the authority of the chief priests, and he was giving
his voice to the Roman governors, and he was giving his voice to
have the saints stoned to death. He was doing all those things.
But Christ met him on the road to Damascus. and brought him
down, and taught him, and made him a minister unto God, made
him the servant of God, the servant of Christ, and sent him forth
with this gospel. And the first thing the Lord
told him was, I'm going to deliver you. I'll have to deliver you
from the very people I'm sending you to to preach. Why? Paul said, for these causes they
want to kill me. Because I'm not in that camp
anymore. I'm out of it. And I'm declaring
who the true and living God is. I'm declaring the glory of God
in the face of Christ Jesus. And for these causes, they want
to kill me, Paul said. But the Lord says, go without
the camp and bear his reproach. Let's see another verse on this.
2 Corinthians chapter 6. 2 Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14. This is exactly what Paul was
saying to the Hebrews. They were trying to be enticed
to come back into that lewdness, into that fornication, into that
adultery, into that murder of going back into the temple worship,
back into offering sacrifices, back into serving under all these
strange and various doctrines of men. That's adultery. That's murder. It's unlawful. And Paul says here to the Corinthians,
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with
darkness? What concord hath Christ with
Belial? What part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For you're the temple of the
living God. And that other is idolatry. It's idolatry. As God has said,
I will dwell in them. These are promises. These are
the precious promises of the Gospel. God's Gospel declares
to us this. You go without the camp. You
go without the camp and bear the reproach of Christ. It doesn't
matter. The Lord says to His people just
what He said to Paul. I will deliver you, Paul, in
the face of these enemies because I've made you a witness unto
Me. I'll deliver you from them. They won't harm you. They won't
harm you. What? He says, God hath said,
verse 16, I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be
their God and they shall be my people. If God dwells in you,
you're not going to be able to commune with falsehood anymore. You're not going to be able to
commune with darkness anymore. You're not going to have concord
with Balaal. He says, and I'll be their God
and they shall be my people. This is a fact. It's a fact. This is how we're separated. Wherefore, Paul says, come out
from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not
the unclean, and I'll receive you, and I'll be a father unto
you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord
Almighty. Having therefore, brethren, these promises. We've got these
promises of God. We believe them or we don't.
One of the two. Believe His Word or we don't.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. What
did He just say? Come out from among them. Go
without the camp. Go to Christ. Go unto Christ
without the camp. Just as Christ went without the
camp, bear His reproach. Perfecting holiness in the fear
of God. not perfecting holiness because
you fear men, and you're trying to come to some holiness that
men are telling you about, and you fear men, so you bow to men.
But this is holiness, being separate by the grace of God, by the blood
of Christ, by faith that is in me, Christ said, in the fear
of God. Because you believe Him. You
see who He is. You see what He's able to do.
What He has done, what He is doing, what He's able to do.
And you go without the camp and you say, this is my camp now. I'm with Him. I'm with Him. Alright,
let's go back to Leviticus and we'll look at the last thing.
The last thing. Verse 29. I said to you before that they
were all sitting there and they, on this day of atonement, they
were waiting to see if God would accept them. That's what salvation
is. God accepting whom He will. And when they came out and it
was declared to them He had accepted them, they received the good
news. That's what they did. They didn't
do anything. They received the good news.
Now this is what he says. that will surely happen in the
season of His love when He makes you to behold that in Christ
God has accepted you. This is what will happen. This
shall be a statute forever unto you. You know what a statute,
it can't be moved. It's final. It's final. And when you behold by God's
grace you've been accepted of God in Christ, it's final. done
forever. This is the gospel to you forever. In the seventh month, on the
tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no
work at all Whether it be one of your own country or a stranger
that sojourneth among you, even here God's declaring He has an
elect people not only among the Israelites but also among the
Gentiles. Whether it's in your own country or a stranger that's
with you, for on that day shall the priest make an atonement
for you to cleanse you that you may be cleaned from all your
sins before the Lord. It shall be a Sabbath of rest
unto you and ye shall afflict your souls by a statute forever. This is the first thing that's
going to happen. You shall afflict your souls and do no work at
all. This is the first thing that's
going to happen. Repentance and faith. When the conscience is
purged from dead works to serve the living God, you're going
to stop. Your motives are different now.
You're not coming in dead works to be accepted. You repent, your
soul is afflicted, and you do no work at all. You rest in Him. Here's the next thing, verse
30. Here's why you do it. For on that day shall the priest
make an atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be cleaned
from all your sins before the Lord. Everything we've seen in
these offerings, that high priest in these offerings declares the
acceptance of his people, that it is complete, accomplished
by what God did for his people, what he did. Why is Christ the
believer's wisdom? Isaiah said, By His knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. He's our wisdom. Why is Christ the believer's
righteousness? God hath made Him to be sin who knew no sin,
that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He is our sanctification. Both he that sanctifies and they
that are sanctified are all of one. He went without the count
and bore the reproach and sanctified His people by His own blood. Christ is the full redemption
of His people. We are bought with a price. The
price of His precious blood. We are not our own anymore. We
are His now. Completely His. And it says here
in verse 31, And Christ Jesus shall be a Sabbath of rest unto
you forever. Hebrews 4 and 9 says, There remaineth
a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, into Christ's rest, He also hath ceased from his own
works, as God did from his." You know what's pictured on that
seventh day when God rested? What's pictured there is Him
who first trusted Christ. He gave the work into the hands
of His Son and He rested in His Son to accomplish the work of
salvation for His people. And you know what happens when
He comes forth and He announces in your heart this solid declaration
of victory accomplished, that atonement has been made. He makes
you to enter into His rest and rest from all your works. You
rest right where God's been resting from the foundation of the world.
That's right. Let's look at this together.
Hebrews 4, 9. I don't want to just quote this. I want you to
see it. Hebrews 4, verse 9. Look at verse 10. He that is
entered into His rest, He also hath ceased from His own works
as God did from His. As God did from His. The works
were finished from the foundation of the world. Look back at verse
3. As I have sworn in my wrath that they shall enter into my
rest, although the works were finished from the foundation
of the world. You rest as God did from His. Now, you want to
work? You want to be established? You
want to labor? This is what he said. Come to
God with the offering God is well pleased with. Go without
the camp, bear His reproach. Be separated from... You want
to be sanctified? Be cleansed? Perfect holiness? Trust Christ alone. Believe on Him alone and come
out and don't touch the unclean. Don't be apart with them anymore.
Here's what he says. Let us labor therefore to enter
into that rest. Are you sure we're talking about
faith here, Clay? Lest any man fall after the same
example of unbelief. Those who wouldn't go into Canaan,
he's talking about. There's an example. They came
to Canaan. They came to the rest. And they
wouldn't go in. They saw it just like God said
it would be. And they came back and said, but the men are too
mighty for us. They feared men instead of fearing
God. God said, I'll protect you. I'll
be a father to you. They came back and they feared
men more than they feared God. And they fell in the wilderness.
God said, you wouldn't believe me and enter in? You can't. You
can't. And they died in the wilderness.
Labor to enter into Christ. Oh, He's where you're going to
be established with grace. You can butt, butt, butt, butt,
butt, ask questions, ask questions, ask questions about that will
do nothing but eat like gangrene. And gender to more bondage is
all it'll do. Seek His face. Seek, better yet,
seek His feet. Seek His feet. And you be established. Be established. I pray God to
grant us repentance from working for acceptance with God and cause
us to rest perpetually, eternally in this Sabbath of rest. Christ
Jesus the Lord through faith in him. Atonement has been made. The work is finished. Amen.