Lord may graciously help me,
I'll turn your prayerful attention to Leviticus chapter 16 and reading verse 30 for a text. I do want to go through this
chapter which speaks of the great day of atonement. Leviticus 16
verse 30. For on that day, shall the priest make an atonement
for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be cleansed clean from
all your sins before the Lord. Leviticus 16 verse 30. This chapter begins with a solemn
reminder of something that went on earlier in the book of Leviticus,
and that was the death of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron. And what we have at the beginning
here is a recollection of that and the fact that they died And so you could say, well, it
seems a very dangerous thing then to come to have any approach
to God. And there may be some conclusion,
therefore keep away. Keep away. But God has appointed
a means whereby there could be this coming to God. And God accepting
the sacrifice as we have in the Great Day of Atonement. And so
this is an instruction, firstly, to Aaron, you're not to go with
strange fire and, as it were, come at any time into the Holy
of Holies. But there was only to be a certain
time, once in a year, this Great Day of Atonement, that they were
to come, the high priest, once a year into the Holy of Holies. And this speaks of this a lot.
in the book of Hebrews, and speaks how much of this is true of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So in the Old Testament, we have
these ceremonial laws, these types and shadows. But as we
go through them, we can learn more aspects of the Christ's
work. And in some things, you see, we'll learn things in chapter
16 that the Lord Jesus did not need to do. So some things we'll
learn in the situation of it being different. And some of
them were learned in the situation of being similar, as it were. We have then at the beginning
of the account really in verse 3, thus shall Aaron come into
the holy place with a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram
for a burnt offering. So Aaron was first of all to
take this bullock for a sin offering and then a ram for a burnt offering.
Now there's these different offerings, there's five different offerings
gone through. in the beginning of Leviticus, Leviticus is numbers
one to five, that they go through these offerings, and really the
burnt offering was more of a total dedication to the Lord. And it
was a sweet savour offering, it was something beautiful to
the Lord, as Jesus presented himself, as it were, perfect
sacrifice to God. But the sin offering had a different
aspect. It was more dealing with the
sin and the obnoxiousness of it. You see, if you think of
the Lord Jesus and you think of the sacrifice at Calvary,
was God the Father, did he find that a precious thing, or shall
I say a beautiful thing, or did he find it an obnoxious thing? In some ways, he found it both.
And the offerings pick this out. There was an obnoxious nature
to Calvary. In the sense, what I mean by
that is, Christ was bearing the sin of his church, and sin is
obnoxious to Christ. And therefore, as Christ, bearing
our sin, he was something that was cursed. He was something
that was to be thrown out of the camp. It was something that
God could not look upon. And that is the aspect of the
sin offering. And you'll notice that the bodies of those beasts
were burned outside the camp. They were not offered on the
brazen altar. That was the sin offering. But
the burnt offering was much more looking at the the perfect life
of the Lord Jesus offered up perfectly, satisfying everything
that the requirements of the law gave. And that was a sweet
savour to God. You see, so there was something
that was beautiful, as it were, in the sacrifice to God, something
that smelled sweet in his nostrils, but there was an aspect that
was an abhorrent to him. Sin is abhorrent to God. And
as Christ was a sin-bearer, there's an aspect of his work that was
abhorrent. And that's why it's helpful to
see the different sacrifices, the different ways of looking
at the same thing that took place with our Lord Jesus Christ. Because,
I mean, if you take in John 10, it says, Jesus said, therefore
does my Father love me because I lay down my life for my sheep. But then why, when he was on
Calvary, when he was laying down his life for his sheep, does
God not look with approval and speak down from heaven and say,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased? Because he
was bearing the sin of his church. So the Holy One, the Beloved
One, as it were, became cursed because of sin. But that's just
a bit of a background really. So in verse 3 then, thus shall
Aaron come into the holy place with a young bullet for a sin
offering and a ram for the burnt offering and the burnt offerings
took place after the sin offerings. deal with sin first and then
the sweet savour of it. And he shall put on his holy
linen coat, this is verse 4, and he shall have the linen breeches
upon his flesh, and he shall be girded with linen girdle.
Well, those that were there at the Sunday school, I did show
a couple of different pictures of what the high priest looked
like. Normally, in his very splendid clothing, he looked like somebody
who was kingly, royal. He had gold on and he had precious
stones on. He looked an impressive character. He looked beautiful. We read
that his garments for glory and for beauty. The high priest here. does not
wear those garments at this point in the great day of atonement.
He laid aside those garments. He was now to be girded with
white linen, so it was holy. It was holy in that sense, but
it wasn't grand. It wasn't beautiful in the sense
of being very precious and very ornate. It was very plain and
very bland. And we think of that, you see,
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ when he came to this earth. Though he was Almighty God, yet
he took upon him the form of a servant. He was put aside his
great garments, as it were, of glory, as he was the great King
of kings and Lord of lords. He laid aside all that. He was
going to take part, this time, in the work of redemption. He
was going to do this work. And he was going to do it, as
it were, dressed in his humanity. Dressed, he laid aside his glory. Yes, he was going to take it
again. And if you remember, later on in this chapter we read that
the high priest put on his garments of glory again later. But you
might say, I thought Christ was a sacrifice. You're talking about
the high priest. Christ was a sacrifice, wasn't
he? So why are you talking about the high priest? Well, you see,
the work of the Lord Jesus was so involved in all the aspect.
So the Lord Jesus was the sacrifice, but he was also the high priest. That couldn't be pictured as
it were in the pictures in the ceremonial law. The priest was
somebody different than the sacrifice. The priest didn't go into the
Holy of Holies and kill himself. He didn't do that. the priest,
as it were, took a lamb, and it was the bulls and goats, as
it were, that died. But the Lord Jesus, you see,
he did not, he was the high priest as well as the offering. And
that's why all the types, as it were, are pointing to the
great anti-type. So in verse four we have him changing his
attire, so now he's got on his very plain garments, as I showed
in those pictures in the Sunday school, and he shall take And
verse 5, and he shall take of the congregation of the children
of Israel two kids of the goats. So there was to be two goats.
Now, these two goats, normally there was, as it were, just one
animal for the sin offering, but this time there was going
to be two. This was special, this offering. And this was going
to show the two aspects, two different aspects of Christ's
work. Again, multiple sacrifices to show multiple things that
are going on with our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ's
work is so wonderful and so multifaceted that we need many offerings to
point to that one offering, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. So
we have these two goats, one we read is for the Lord and one
the scapegoat. So in verse 6. and Aaron shall
offer his bullock of the sin offering which is for himself,
and make an atonement for himself and for his house. Now Jesus,
the Lord Jesus did not need to do this. He did not need to first
of all, Hebrews picks this up, Christ did not first need to
go and sacrifice for his own sins. He was the perfect sacrifice. He had no need to sacrifice for
himself. He was a perfect one, the only
perfect one. So this is a difference between
the great day of atonement and of our Lord Jesus Christ. So
in verse 6, and Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering,
which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and
for his house. And he shall take the two goats. And now, after
having offered the bullock as a sin offering, now he takes
his two goats. And now there's a lot cast, and
the lot is cast into the lap, and the whole disposing thereof
is of the Lord. This was God's choice as it were
as to which one would be the scapegoat and which one would
be the one that would die and be killed. And Aaron cast two
lots, this is verse 8, upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord
and the other for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat
upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin offering.
So Aaron is going to kill one of these goats, the one that
was said for the Lord, and he was going to die for a sin offering. Now, the sin offerings, as I
said before, if you go through and look at Leviticus chapter
4, It does the sin offerings and their bodies were not burnt
on the altar of burnt offering. If you remember I showed this
morning in Sunday school there was a big brazen altar in the
courtyard of the temple and that is where the burnt offerings
were wholly burnt. Their blood was put underneath,
but their main body was burnt on that altar. And it was to
be a sweet savour to God. There was something beautiful.
It was showing complete dedication to God. But the sin offering,
the blood was put on that altar, but the bodies were always taken
outside the camp. There was something, you see,
was obnoxious. It was obnoxious to God. And
you see the holy, harmless Son of God, when he was made sin
for us, was made, as it were, obnoxious to God, and he was
put out of the camp. And therefore it says in Hebrews,
let us therefore go forth unto him without the camp, bearing
his reproach. So the Lord Jesus was was so
precious in these things. So we have these two goats and
one of them we read in verse 9, An Aaron shall bring the goat
unto the Lord and offer him for a sin offering, but the goat
on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented
alive before the Lord. So he wasn't going to be killed.
So in verse 11, and Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin
offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for
himself. So here, again, we have something that Aaron needed to
do as the high priest because he himself was a sinner and his
family was. And we see that Aaron, you see,
had sin in his most holy things. And as we go through, you'll
see that it talks about cleansing the most holy places and things
like that. And you think, well, you might
think, well, We sin in breaking the Ten Commandments and we can
see that stealing something is a sin that we can understand.
But sin in our most holy things, why is that? I always used to
remember when I was young and the minister sometimes would
say, well, may the Lord forgive us for everything that we've
done wrong in the service. And I used to think, well, I
didn't sin, do anything particularly wrong. And I thought, well, what's
he doing wrong? Couldn't sin do anything wrong?
But, you see, when we start to realise that sin is mixed with
all that we do, in our most holy things sin is mixed, and so there's
so much need for this cleansing, you see, that they had, and that
we need. So, in verse 11, and Aaron shall
bring the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself,
and make an atonement for himself and for his house, and shall
kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself. And he
shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar,
so that's off the brazen altar. It was to put a censer which
is like a pan, a way of holding hot coals without getting burnt
yourself. And he was to then put sweet incense onto that,
which meant as it burnt, as the incense went on the hot coals,
it gave a big smoke cloud. And it was a very sweet smelling
smoke cloud, and it was that that he went first into the Holy
of Holies. So he went through that veil
that he was only allowed to do once a year, and only the high
priest, and then he went with this censer full of smoke that
was smoking and creating this sweet savour. And of course it
would have meant that you couldn't really see so much. And we read
that in verse 13, and he shall put the incense upon the fire
before the Lord. and the cloud of the incense
may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony that he
die not. You see, there's so much realization
of the holiness of God. We cannot come to God, you see,
just as we want. There is no way that we can approach
the God in our own righteousness. heir and sons as they came, and
put strange fire before the Lord and thought that would be acceptable.
They were killed straight away by the Lord. There was a way
that they could come, and there was only one way they could come,
and that was in the appointed way. And this you see is a picture
of the New Testament today. There is one way to God through
the Lord Jesus Christ. through his finished work. It
wasn't, well, we could use a different sensor and make some different
fire, and wouldn't that be acceptable to God? No, there was one way,
and death was what was accompanied with any other way. So the high
priest, first of all, comes in. You see, he actually enters three
times into the Holy of Holies on this day. The first time he
enters with this censer with burning coals, and then he puts
the incense on just as he goes into the veil, so the whole place
is filled with the smoke. And as we saw on that, those
of you in Sunday school, I showed a diagram of the temple layout,
and we read here that he goes against the east side. Verse
14, and he shall take of the blood of the bullock and sprinkle
it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward and before the
mercy seat. And you see, if you look at the
layout of the temple, Aaron would have gone through the veil, as
it were, and the veil was on the east side of the Holy of
Holies. So he went to the closest part. He didn't go right round the
Ark of the Covenant. He went to the closest bit, and
that was covered with all this incense smoke. So he first of
all went there. And he shall take the blood of
the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat
eastward, and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the
blood with the finger seven times. So he first of all went in there
with the incense, then he went in there with the blood of the
bullock, which was for his own sin. And then he goes again in
verse 15, and he shall kill the goat of the sin offering. So
this is on behalf of the people. That is for the people and bring
his blood within the veil and do with that blood as he did
with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it upon the mercy
seat and before the mercy seat. You see, inside the ark was the
law of God, the holiness of God. Our God is a consuming fire.
It says that not in the Old Testament, but in the New. Our God is a
consuming fire. But there is one way to come
to God, through the Lord Jesus Christ, through his finished
work, through the blood that the priest sprinkled. Of course,
that blood was the blood of an animal. It was a blood that could
not could not satisfy God. And we read that in the Hebrews,
that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sin. But you see, there was a way
that this was pointing to the one who could take away sin. So he shall make an atonement
in the holy places, verse 16, for the uncleanness of the children
of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins. And so shall he do for the tabernacle
of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their
uncleanness. So the Lord dwelt, as I showed
you this morning, in the midst of the camp. There was all the
tribes that were stationed round the outside, then the Levites,
then the tabernacle in the middle, and in the middle of the tabernacle,
then the holies and the holy of holies and the ark. There
was so much surrounding, as it were, this ark and this holy
place. But God was in the midst, and
God is holy, and Israel were unholy, and we are unholy. We
need to be made clean. Verse 18, and he shall go out
unto the altar that is before the Lord and make an atonement
for it, and shall take of the blood of the bullock and the
blood of the goat, so that's both for his own sins and for the
sins of the people, and put it upon the horns of the altar,
that's the brazen altar, round about. And he shall sprinkle
the blood upon it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and
hallow it for the uncleanness of the children of Israel. This
day was all about dealing with sin, you see. We need to deal
with sin in our lives. We're sinners, we come short,
we need cleansing. Verse 20, and when he shall made
an end of reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle of the
congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. So
we've got now to the end of the first part of the offering. The
goat has been, one goat has been killed. Remember there's two
goats form one offering really, the sin offering. And this is
showing one of it is the death of this goat, how the Lord died
at Calvary. And yet the second goat really,
the scapegoat, is indicating for all of Israel what the effect
was, you see. What the effect was. I think
I missed one point that I wanted to bring out actually. in verse 17, and there shall
be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth
in to make atonement in the holy place. No one else was allowed
to be there. And when we think of the work
of our Lord Jesus Christ, there was no other that could do it.
He had to be alone. We read he trod The wine press
alone. There was an aloneness of Christ. You think of it at the cross.
You might say, ah, there was lots of people around the cross.
That wasn't alone. Well, it was until midday. Then
when it went into that darkness, there was that aloneness. We
don't read of much going on and we don't read of people saying
things. He was alone. And he cried out, my God, my
God, why hast thou forsaken me? Aloneness. There was no man. But you see this great work,
a transaction that was going on inside the Holy of Holies,
the rest of Israel didn't see that. The rest of Israel didn't
really see what was going on. They couldn't have done. He was
alone. But that second goat, there was going to be something
much more visual about that second goat. Verse 21, and Aaron shall lay
both his hands upon the head of the live goat. I think this
was at the door of the tabernacle this took place. So this would
have been much more visible to many people. And Aaron shall
lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess
over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel and all
their transgressions in all their sins. Notice the allness about
it. everything needed to be confessed,
all their sins, all their shortcomings, putting them upon the head of
the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man
into the wilderness. Well, you think of this, this
goat, And we have the high priest speaking and confessing over
this head of the goat, with his hands pressed on top of this
goat's head, all his sins, all his own sins, but all the sins
of Israel in all their ways. And you see, is there not? Something
here you see that's precious for us. You see the blood of
Jesus Christ, God's Son. It cleanses us from all sin. All the sins were to be laid
on that goat in type. And then you see that goat was
not to be killed. That goat was to be taken by
a fit man and run, as it were, into the wilderness, and you
think of this camp, I showed you the pictures of it this morning,
a vast settlement, more than probably two million people,
all surrounding this tent of the congregation, and he had
to then run through it, and no doubt, past lots of people would
have seen this fit man running with this goat, and taking him
away, and that goat was then to go away, and as they looked
at that goat, And as he ran further and further and further away
from them, he got smaller and smaller in the distance. And
then he got to a point where he could not be seen any longer.
He was gone. And you see, the teaching here
was that the Lord Jesus, this is what the effect of Calvary
was to the Church of God. The effect of Calvary was that
the sins of the church were removed, were gone into a land of forgetfulness. We read that in verse 22, and
the goat shall bear upon him all the iniquities into a land
not inhabited, and he shall be let go. He shall let go the goat. in the wilderness. So this scapegoat
was let go, let to wander as it were, into a land that was
never inhabited, a land that nobody knew him as it were, so
that they would be as good as gone. And you see in Psalm 103
it says, the Lord has put all our sins, as far as the east
is from the west, so far hath he removed our iniquities from
us. You see, this is the effect of
all that took place on the Great Day of Atonement. There was the
transaction, there was what was going on. the high priest, killing
that goat for a sin offering and then taking that blood, presenting
it, you see, in the Holy of Holies, presenting it, you see, this
is picturing what our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ did. But
he didn't need somebody else to do it, he did it himself.
He was the sacrifice, but then he went into glory and presented
the effects of that sacrifice. so that there is now no more
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. He entered once
for all. This was a sacrifice that was
done yearly. It had to be repeated year by
year because it never actually took away the sin, but it was
a picture, it was a type of the great antitype
that would take away sin. Well then we have an errand,
she'll come into the tabernacle of the congregation and she'll
put off the linen garments. Now we have the priest going
back from the simple white clothing that I showed you onto the more
colorful, the more kingly, the more grand. You see now he's
going to, you see one of our hymn writers picks this up, he
pleads as it were, but now with authority he asks. You see, he's
now got authority. He's now pleading with authority. He's now pleading to the Father
with authority. He's now, as it were, got those
kingly robes. If you think of what it says
in Philippians, beautiful words. I can just get hold of them.
who being in the form of God, this is Philippians 2 verse 6,
thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself
of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant. He
was in his humble clothing, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
than sinners. I'm not trying to say that he was sinful in
any way. He was clean, he was pure, but
he was not kingly, as it were. made in the likeness of men,
and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore
God also hath highly exhorted him. Now he can have back his
other clothing on. Now he can, as it were, have
his kingly robes back on. The work is done. It is finished. Wherefore God also hath highly
exhorted him, and given him a name which is above every name, that
at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow in things in heaven
and things under the heaven. So you see this great work on
the day of atonement. So in verse 24 in Leviticus 16,
And he shall wash his flesh, with water in the holy place
and put on his garments and come forth. And now he, as you see,
is to offer his burnt offering. That's the ram that was for Aaron
and also the ram that was for the people. His burnt offering,
a sweet savour, you see, and the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus
is a sweet savour to God. Yes, there was something that
was obnoxious about it, but there's something that's beautiful about
it. There were three of the offerings were sweet savour offerings.
The burnt offering and the meal offering or the meat offerings,
as it says in our Bible, which wasn't actually meat, it was
grain, it was flour. There was not a blood sacrifice,
as it were. And the other one was the peace
offering. Those three were sweet savour
offerings, but there was also the sin offering. and the trespass
offering. The sin offering fundamentally
dealing with the fact that we're sinners. It wasn't focusing on
a particular sin. It was all sin. That we sin because
the fountainhead is sinful. But then there was the trespass
offering for enactments of those sins, trespasses. And those were
not sweet savour offerings. They were not sweet to God. They
were vitally necessary, but they weren't sweet. And so now we have the offering
up of dedication to God at the offering of the burnt offering
and his offering. And make attainment for himself
and for his people. And the fat of the sin offering,
the only thing that was allowed to be offered on the burnt offering,
water, was the fat from the sin offering. And he shall burn upon
the altar. and the fat of the sin offering
and shall be burned upon the altar. That's verse 26. And he that let go the goat for
the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in
water and afterwards come into the camp. 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 camp." You see the body of this bullock
and the body of the goat that was for the sin offering, they
were not put onto the brazen altar. They were taken out and
of course Israel would have seen this too, they were carried away.
out of the camp, and you think the camp was big. You had all
these, well, two million people or more. It was a big camp, and
those bodies of those beasts had to be carried away. They
couldn't be left inside. They were, as it were, a detestable
thing. And he that burneth them shall
wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water, and afterwards
he shall come into the camp. So he was unclean. It was an
unclean thing, you see. And this shall be a statute for
ever. And there was a certain time it was to be done. It was
to be done in the seventh month and the tenth day of the month.
Ye shall afflict your souls. There was to be confession. This
was to be done with a realization of a need to confess our sins
and to do no work at all. It was to be kept as a Sabbath.
And coming then to our text, for on that day shall the priests
make an atonement for you to cleanse you that ye may be clean
from all your sins before the Lord. This was the effect. This
was what it was pointing to. This is why it was so precious. If we just turn to Hebrews now,
I just want to read a few words from Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 9. Hebrews 9 verse 23. It was therefore
necessary that the patterns of things in the heavens, so what
goes on in heaven should be purified with these, but the heavenly
things themselves with better sacrifices than these. So the
picture that went on, that I've gone through on the great day
of atonement, was a picture of something that was far more grand,
far greater. In verse 24, for Christ is not
entered into the holy places made with hands. He didn't go
into a temple that had goatskins and so on, coverings which were
made by Basile and so on. He didn't do that. Christ is
not entered into the holy place made with hands, which were figures
of the true, but into heaven itself. So what we have in Leviticus
16 is a picture of what really takes place in glory, what did
take place in glory, but into heaven itself, now to appear
in the presence of God for us. This is vital. You see, if this
is only about what happened to the high priest back so many
years ago, then what does it have to do with us at Red Hill
on this Lord's Day morning? But it's a picture of what Christ
is doing for his beloved church. but into heaven itself, now to
appear in the presence of God for us. He's gone and taken his
own blood, not the blood of a goat, not the blood of a bull, but
the blood of his own blood, and he's presenting it to the Father
on behalf of his sinful church. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest entering into the holy place
every year with the blood of others. He doesn't need to do
this every year. The Lord Jesus did it once and
it was done. 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. You see, this is the work of
the Lord Jesus. And this is why Leviticus 16
is helpful in helping us to understand what took place then and how
Christ has similarities to that but is far, far better. and yet
the similarities, and we can see from the similarities the
differences, and yet we can have a better picture of what is really
going on by faith with our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I want to just also mention Hebrews
13. Hebrews 13 and verse 11. Hebrews 13 verse 11, for the
bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary,
that's the bullock on behalf of the high priest himself, and
also the goat for the people, the one that wasn't the scapegoat,
for the bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the
sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned without the
camp. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without
the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp, bearing his reproach, for here have we
no continuing city, but we seek one to come. And why do we seek
one to come? Because we have a great high
priest, which is entered into glory. I go to prepare a place
for you. He said also, just before he
died on Calvary, that night before, that high priestly prayer, Father,
I will that these also be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory. We have then this great work
of the Lord Jesus, for on that day shall the priests make an
atonement, a coming together of a holy God and a sinful people. And there was only one way they
could do it. Aaron's sons tried another way and they perished,
they were killed. And Aaron wasn't even allowed
to mourn for them. But there was this one way that
God has made, that is one way to be saved. to believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ, to trust his righteousness, he has entered,
he has satisfied the law. His offering was in one sense
obnoxious to God, outside the camp, in another sense it was
beautiful to God, it was the sweet savour offering. So he can show the beauty of
what he has done. that ye may be clean from all
your sins before the Lord. Is that of any interest to you?
Is being clean from your sins of any interest to you? It is
if you realise you're a sinner. It is if you realise that you
cannot cease from sin and you're heading on for a never-ending
eternity. And if you cease from sin now, you've still got all
the sins of the past. This chapter is relevant to us
all. We need such a high priest. We
need one that's gone before us. One that has laid down his life,
a ransom for many. And to you, therefore, which
believe, he is precious. May the Lord have his blessing.