Well, tonight we continue in
the 29th chapter of Exodus, so if you would turn there with
me, please. Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to go ahead and
stick your marker in the book of Hebrews. Several places we'll
go to there tonight, but just somewhere in the book of Hebrews,
so it'll be easy for you to quickly get there. I think the first
reference in Hebrews would be chapter seven, so somewhere around
there would be fine. Exodus 29 and Hebrews chapter
seven. Last study we saw that a sinner
whose righteousness before God is nothing but filthy rags. The
scripture's very clear about that. We have no righteousness
of our own. And what righteousness we do
have is self-righteousness and it's filthy rags before a thrice
holy God. But before a sinner can be made
a priest unto God, he's got to be made holy. He's got to be
sanctified and made pure in order to serve as priest. Yet, in order
for that to take place, we have to be made righteous before the
law. If we break the law, as you know,
in one point, the scripture says we're guilty of the whole law
and being guilty of God's holy law, we must face sin's wages,
which is death. You know, I'm convinced that
a lot of people don't give that much thought. I really wonder
if folks believe God's Word when it talks about hell and eternal
condemnation. It's a real thing. The wages
of sin is eternal death, and eternal death is complete separation
from God forever. And not only that, but complete
separation from God and torment and suffering. And yet I know
at the same time, there's never been anyone converted because
of the fear of hell. It's the goodness of God that
leads men and women to repentance. But thanks be to God that grace
reigns through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. God's grace will be the best
news you ever heard. If God has shown you that in
and of yourself, you can never keep the law and never satisfy
God's holy justice, that Christ did for you that which you could
never do for yourself and grace reigns unto eternal life. Just the opposite of eternal
death. Eternal bliss continually and
always, forever in the presence of Christ, your Savior. And I'm
convinced that we can't really grasp that either. That's the
most wonderful thing that our mortal minds just can't grab
a hold of. Jesus Christ and what He's done
for us is the gospel. Substitution, it's called, and
it's the heart of the gospel. Salvation is what Christ has
done for us. And theologians go to great lengths
to tell us that there's a distinction between sanctification and justification,
between being made holy, which is sanctification, and being
made just and righteous, which is justification. But in order
for us to be made either one, the law of God has to be perfectly
kept. And God's holy justice has to
be totally satisfied, which we can do neither. We must simply
believe that by a selfless act of mercy and grace by Christ
and our faith in what He's done for us, that we're saved. Therefore,
since sanctification and justification, they're so closely and vitally
connected, being made pure and holy and righteous before the
law of God go hand in hand. And we often do disservice to
both when we try to separate them. Some say that justification
is what God does for us, and that's certainly right, but then
they say sanctification is something that we must progressively do,
and that doesn't lead to anything but trouble. Before long, a man
and a woman is looking to their works instead of God's mercy
and grace in Christ. As we look at how God's people
are hallowed, made holy and pure, God gives us a picture here in
Exodus chapter 29 of Christ, the Lamb of God. He's the Lamb
of God that was slain before the foundation of the world.
And it was He alone who justified His people by the sacrifice of
Himself. And it's God alone, in and by
and through the Lord Jesus Christ, who by His mercy and His grace
set sinners apart. That's sanctification, sanctifying
them and making them holy. And it's Christ, the just one,
who justifies us by a perfect work of righteousness that we
could never do for ourselves. And the word again is substitution.
Now before us tonight, we have another beautiful picture of
how we are both justified and sanctified. Verse one here in
Exodus chapter 29 says, and this is the thing that thou shalt
do unto them to hallow them or to sanctify them, to make them
holy, so that they can minister unto me in the priest's office.
And then he says, take one young bullock. Now look down at verse
10. "'And thou shalt cause a bullock to be brought "'before the tabernacle
of the congregation. "'And Aaron and his son shall
put their hands "'upon the head of the bullock. "'And thou shalt
kill the bullock before the Lord "'by the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. "'And thou shalt take of the
blood of the bullock "'and put it upon the horns of the altar
with thy finger "'and pour all the blood beside the bottom of
the altar. and thou shalt take all the fat
that covereth the inwards and the call that is above the liver
and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them and burn them
upon the altar. But the flesh of the bullock
and his skin and his dung shalt thou burn with fire without the
camp. It is a sin offering." Now here
we see Christ, the picture of Christ as our sin offering. Christ Jesus is the sin offering
for his people, and it's by him that we're made holy and righteous.
Notice that this bullock must be without blemish. Look at verse
one again. Take one young bullock and two
rams without blemish. Do you recall what John the Baptist
said at the River Jordan when the Lord Jesus came to him to
be baptized? It says in John 1 verse 29, that
John seeth Jesus coming unto him and he saith, behold the
Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Not meaning
everyone in the world, but all his people in the world. And
let me say again, before I go any further, you're not gonna
hear anything different tonight. You see our message, the gospel
message is always the same. We just confirm the gospel message
to be true from different passages of scripture in this book. In
the Old Testament scriptures, we see in picture and in type
what the New Testament scriptures confirm to have come to pass. The Old Testament tells us that
the seed of the woman, the savior of God's chosen people is coming. And then the New Testament and
the gospel narratives, they confirm that he came. Unto you a child
is born. We see that. And that child became
the savior of the world. The New Testament epistles tell
us that Christ is coming again. And then the book of Revelation
tells us what happens after he does. So in our study tonight,
we see that in order for Christ to be the sin offering for his
people, he had to first be a man without blemish, without sin,
without spot. He was certainly that. No such
man could be found among those born of women. So what did God
do in His eternal purpose? He Himself supernaturally planted
His seed in a virgin And the perfect God-man was born, and
he came into the world to save sinners. First and foremost,
because our substitute and our sacrifice had to be without spot
and without blemish. He had to be perfect. That's
all that God will accept. It must be perfect to be accepted.
And it's for that reason that no sinner can take the place
of another sinner because every man has sin of his own. Every
woman has sin of their own. I can't bear the sin of another
when I have sin of my own. I can't pay the sin debt of another
if I owe a debt that I cannot myself pay, and neither can you. The Old Testament law made men
priests, but they themselves had infirmities and sin. Aaron
and his sons were no better than anyone else in Israel. They were
chosen of God. They were set apart by God. They
were clothed by God. That was the only thing that
made them special, and it's the only thing that makes any child
of God special, what God does for them. But they had to first
make an offering for their own sin before they could ever make
an offering for the sins of the people of Israel. I think we've
made that quite clear and proven that from our past studies. But
our Lord Jesus Christ was born of a virgin by the seed of God.
He didn't have the blood of fallen sinful man flowing through his
veins. And he was born of a virgin by
the seed of God that he might be a man without sin. And there'll
never be another like him. God in the flesh came only once
and once was enough. And it was by the sacrifice of
himself that he perfected forever them that are sanctified. If
you're going to be set apart and made holy, it's going to
be through that man, that perfect man, the God man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now hold your place here in Exodus
and turn with me to Hebrews chapter seven. Look at verse 26. This
is a foundation of truth. This is something that we need
to get into our heart. Hebrews chapter seven, verse
26. For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sin, and made higher than the heavens. Who needeth
not daily as those high priests to offer up sacrifice, first
for his own sins, and then for the people's. For this he did
once when he offered up himself. Why only once? Because he was
perfect and God accepted his sacrifice. For the law maketh
men high priests which have infirmity. That's what we see in Aaron and
the high priest. But the word of the oath, God's
promise, which was since the law maketh the son who is consecrated
forevermore. Substitution, again, it's the
heart of the gospel. And the only reason that any
chosen sinner is saved is because of what Christ has done for them. There's no salvation apart from
Christ's substitution in our place. But what is substitution
really? What is it? It's the transference
of sin. It's the transfer of sin from
the sinner to the Savior. And again, verse 10, back in
Exodus 29. And thou shalt cause a bullock
to be brought before the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron
and his son shall put their hands upon the head of the bullock.
And thou shalt kill the bullock before the Lord by the door of
the tabernacle of the congregation. Now by laying their hands on
the head of that bullock in type, in picture, and in ceremony,
It shows us two things in particular. First, it shows us that the center
was one with the bullock. That's important. And secondly,
it shows us that the bullock was made to bear that person's
sin. And God's elect are one with
Christ. All God's elect are in Christ,
just as all mankind was in Adam. You don't have to turn here,
but Hebrews chapter two, verse 11 says, for both he that sanctified
and they who are sanctified are all of one. They're one. For which cause he's not ashamed
to call them brethren. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. Was he? Did Paul physically hang
on the cross with Christ? Well, no, but the believers union. Oh, I wish we could get ahold
of this. I really do. The believers union is so with
Christ. It's so connected that when our
Lord was crucified, God's elect were crucified with him. That's
why Paul said that I'm crucified with Christ. That's the reason
that the apostle Paul in Romans chapter 6 verse 10 said, for
in that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth,
he liveth unto God. And then he said this, likewise,
listen to this, likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead
unto sin. How? by being crucified with
Christ. Reckon also yourselves to be
dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now, isn't that amazing? That's
substitution. Substitution is not just a word,
it means something. Being one with Christ, I died
in Him and with Him. And since He died, being that
perfect sacrifice without spot and blemish, He died only once. That's all it took. God was immediately
satisfied. Death couldn't hold Him. And
now He lives under God forever. And guess what? If you're in
Him, so do you. By that same union, I live with
Him. And you and I as believers are
forever alive in Him and with Him. and it's by substitution. And I'm convinced, I am convinced
that we'll never have any real peace or assurance until we realize
and we understand that we are by the justification and sanctification
that Christ wrought for us are truly made one with Him in every
way. in every way, we are one with
Christ. So much so that when God looks
at the child of God, the believer, he sees his beloved son in whom
he's well pleased. And if Christ died for me, don't
tell me that my salvation is dependent upon what I do and
by me progressively getting better and doing this and doing that
and not doing this and doing that. We're gonna have to quit
looking within and start looking to Christ alone, not at something
that we do. We must look to Christ, who's
our great high priest and mediator. That's where peace and assurance
comes. And yet only God can give us
that faith. We need to be praying that he
would. God made Jesus Christ a spotless lamb to bear the sins
of his elect people. And that's what these next two
familiar verses of scripture are talking about. Isaiah 53,
six, listen. All we like sheep have gone astray.
Every single one of us. We have turned everyone to his
own way. and the Lord, here's the gospel,
and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. That's
the only hope I have. 2 Corinthians 5, 21, I bet every
one of you can quote it. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin. He didn't know any sin, he's
the perfect God man. But he did so that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. And there again, that's
my hope, that's my comfort, that's my peace and my assurance. Now,
did you notice from our text there in Exodus 29 that the bullock
was not slain before the people's sin was laid or transferred to
it? That's very important. In this,
we see God's justice and righteousness typified. If the bullock had
been slain before the people's sin had been ceremonially transferred
to it, that would have declared God to be unjust. Under the righteous,
holy justice of God, the guilty can not be spared, but neither
can the innocent be condemned. God can only condemn one whose
sin is found upon. And he never condemns one where
sin is not found. The problem is there's none like
that, but Christ and those that are in him. Proverbs 17, 15. Listen very closely. That's a
scripture we ought to write down, and we ought to memorize it,
and we ought to read it often. Listen to it. He that justifies
the wicked, he that excuses the wicked, justifies the wicked,
and he that condemneth the just, that's what we're talking about.
Even they both are an abomination to the Lord. God will by no means
clear the guilty, and God will not by any means condemn the
innocent. He's too holy and just to do
so. And it wasn't until the sins of the people were ceremonially
laid on that bullock that the bullock was killed. And when
the Lord laid on Christ the iniquity of his people, it was then that
God poured out the justice of the law upon Christ instead of
upon his people. You know what it's called? I've
told you four or five times, substitution. God doing for me
what I couldn't do for myself. I want to engage you in thinking
for a moment. Have you ever considered how
Adam was made sin? Some will say because he broke
God's commandment. Well, that was the cause of him
being made sin. So let me ask it to you this
way. What made Adam see his nakedness? What made him hide from God?
Have you ever really thought about it? God removed his spirit
from Adam. He died spiritually. For the
first time ever, Adam saw his nakedness and he was ashamed.
Why? Because God removed the Holy
Spirit from him. Adam never had any knowledge
of evil until he sinned. That was one thing that Satan,
the serpent, told him that was true. He said, if you eat of
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you'll know good
from evil. I tell you, there's a significant
difference between the first Adam and the second. When Christ,
our perfect substitute and sacrifice, went to the garden of Gethsemane,
and then onto the cross of Calvary, He had the Spirit of God. He
had the Spirit of holiness upon Him, without measure, the scripture
said. And this was manifested and it
was proven by his resurrection. You see, being perfect, death
couldn't hold him. And Christ entered into the holiest
of holies as our great high priest. And he offered himself without
spot or without blemish. He knew no sin. He did no sin. The law and justice of God had
no claim on him. None. The Lord Jesus was without
sin. He knew no sin. He came into
this world holy and without sin. And he was not crucified until
all his people's sin was laid upon him, just like this bullet.
And when they were, that was when he sweat, as it were, great
drops of blood in Gethsemane's garden. It began right then. And while in Gethsemane's garden,
we're told that an angel strengthened him. You know, I thought about
that today and never really had thought about it much before.
Not the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit didn't strengthen
him. An angel did. You know why not the Holy Spirit?
Because he must tread the winepress alone. That's what the justice
of God demanded. Hell, an eternal separation from
God is the punishment for sin. And I know that's not a popular
message and people don't preach it much today, but there is a
consequence to sin. And we can skip along in this
life and act like it's not so if we want to, but I'm telling
you, it's true. There's a consequence for sin.
The wages of sin is death. The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. It's what the justice of God
demands, hell and separation from God. Punishment, sin, is
the removal of God's presence and God's power from us. The
apostle Paul said to those who know not God and don't obey the
gospel of Christ, in 2 Thessalonians 1 9, Paul wrote, who shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power. Can't say it any plainer than
that. That's what eternal death is. Separation from God's presence
and separation from God's power. I can show you that in the Old
Testament. Look at Psalm chapter 22. Psalm chapter 22. In verse one, the Lord Jesus Christ
here says, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art
thou so far from helping me? And from the words of my roaring,
O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in
the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O
thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel." Friends, this is
very important to understand. When the spirit of God was removed
from Adam, his nature was corrupt. It was corrupted and he died
spiritually. But Christ, our substitute, oh,
he's far, far superior to Adam. He wasn't merely a man, he was
the God man. Christ's glory is seen in the
fact that even when he was forsaken of God, he remained holy. He never ceased to faithfully
trust his father from his holy heart. And Psalm chapter 22 shows
us that very thing. Matter of fact, look down at
verse seven. It says, all they that see me
laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they
shake the head, saying, he trusted on the Lord that he would deliver
him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighted in him. But thou art he that took me
out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when
I was upon my mother's breast, and I was cast upon thee from
the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's
belly. Be not far from me. for trouble
is near, for there is none to help." Why is that important? Because one of two things had
to be accomplished on the cross in order for the law to be fulfilled.
First, the offender of the law had to die. When we say the wages
of sin is death and the soul that sins it shall die, that's
what we mean. The one who offended the law has to die. God's justice
demands it. Wages of sin. is dead. And then
secondly, the law had to be perfectly kept and obeyed in every single
point in order for one to escape the judgment and the wrath of
God. One or the other had to be accomplished in order to honor
the law of God. Christ did both. He did both. He died the just for the unjust,
making himself a just God and a savior. And he also perfectly
kept the law and every jot and tittle, accomplishing a perfect
righteousness for those that God gave him. And as I think
about that, I think maybe that's what God meant when he threw
the prophet Isaiah said, speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and
cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished. that her iniquity
is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for
all her sins." Maybe that's what he meant by double for all her
sins. Christ has done both. And this
is why our Lord could say, for thou will not leave my soul in
hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Christ is the just one that died for the unjust. And that's what
this bullet here in Exodus 29 pictures and typifies. Christ
satisfied and upheld God's justice, removing the sins of his people
by his own blood. The blood that was poured out
for his people. Are you in Exodus 29 or if I
got you some back, I've got you still in Psalm, don't I? Look
back at our text. I'll begin to finish up verse
12. Exodus 29, and thou shalt take up the blood of the bullock
and put it upon the horns of the altar with thy finger and
pour all the blood beside the bottom of the altar. Friends,
our strength of justification before the law is Christ our
altar. Without the shedding of the blood
of Christ as our sacrifice, there is no remission for sin, no remission
of sin. Speaking of our substitute in
Hebrews 1 verse 3, it says, who being in the brightness of his
glory and the express image of his person and upholding all
things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged
our sins, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty on
high. The work's finished. You're as
perfect as Christ if you're trusting in him. And that's why Paul said,
who can condemn you? Who can condemn you? No one can. No one. And it was with and from
a holy heart that Christ gave the law of God everything it
demanded. Everything it demanded. And he
did so in righteous obedience. We see that by the inward parts
of the sacrifice that were burned up on the altar. Look at verse
13, and thou shall take all the fat that covered the inwards
and the call that is above the liver and the two kidneys and
the fat that is upon them and burn them upon the altar. Oh,
what a picture that is of Christ giving all. Isaiah 42, 21, the
Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake. He has magnified
the law and made it honorable. Our Lord has given himself for
us and offering a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling safer,
Ephesians 5, 2. You remember what Abraham told
Isaac? I often think about Isaac laying there on that altar. He
said, I see the wood, see the fire, but where's the sacrifice? God. will provide himself a lamb
for burnt offering. And God did. And he himself was
the sacrifice. Aaron and his sons offered not
themselves, but they offered animals that could never take
away sin. That's why their sacrifices had
to be offered over and over and over again. But the beauty of
our sanctification and our redemption and sanctification is this. Christ
our Lord satisfied God's justice. He fulfilled the law. He took
away and put away our sin and he brought in complete righteousness
so that now every child of God for whom Christ died is made
perfect, P-E-R-F-E-C-T, perfect by the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. One last time to the book of
Hebrews and I'll stop. Hebrews 10, look at this. Hebrews
10, verse 11 and close. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, Who? The Lord Jesus, our great high
priest. After he had offered one sacrifice
for sins forever, sat down, his works finished. He sat down on
the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be
made his footstool for by one offering he has perfected forever
them that are sanctified. I love that. And this is why
we must believe on Christ. He's the very righteousness of
God to everyone that believes. That's why we look to Him and
not within, not by works of righteousness that we've done. He didn't make
salvation possible. He made it certain. Believe on
Him and keep believing on Him till the end. Those that endure
till the end shall be saved. I tell you, there are some that
don't seem to need a Savior. They seem to be able to take
Christ or leave Him. How do I know that? Well, first
of all, those that have a need don't forsake the assembling
of themselves together. Let's just be honest about it.
They come to hear more about Jesus Christ. Those that love
Him have an interest in Him. Those that have an interest in
Him desire to hear Him preached. And nothing will keep them from
hearing. I'm telling you it won't. Nothing. What we're truly saying
when we don't come and hear the gospel is this. We're saying
that we don't need it. And you can excuse it any way
you want to, but it doesn't change the fact that when it comes right
down to it, people do what they want to do. There are some that
are in for a rude awakening, I'm afraid. Do we really think
that God won't forsake those that have forsaken Him? The disciples
forsook the Lord, but it wasn't permanently. And yes, I know
once saved, always saved, but a saved man or woman is going
to have an interest in their redeemer. And like Rebecca, they're
gonna say to the servant of God, tell me again about your master's
son. Tell me again about him. Tell
me about his father. There's one thing that God won't
forgive. There's one thing that God won't tolerate, and that's
unbelief. A form of unbelief is not seeking
help where it can be found. And those who are well, well
in their own sight, well in their own mind, I know they have no
need of a physician. That ought to be very alarming
to some. But those that are truly sick,
you can't keep them away. You can't keep them away from
the great physician. They have a great need. And this
is all I'm saying. If our Lord gave his life for
us, can we not give him two or three hours a week to worship
him? to honor Him, to act as though
we believe what He says? Come on now. That's what worship
is. Hearing the gospel of Christ
preached, worshiping God for who He is and worship Him for
what He's done. How can we expect our children,
our family, our friends to see the necessity of the gospel if
we don't ourself have an interest in it? How do we expect the gospel
to ever mean anything to anyone that we love if it doesn't mean
anything to us? I know this much. Those that
came to hear Christ preach the kingdom of heaven, they didn't
get sick with a virus or a disease. They came to Christ to be healed
of their sickness and their disease. And they were. That's why I come. You see, I got leprosy. It's
called sin. I know I do. I don't need a test. I've got heart trouble, bad heart
trouble. It's deceitful above all things
and desperately wicked. I'm naturally deaf, I can't hear
well. I'm naturally blind, I don't
see clearly. And if Christ doesn't save me,
if my great physician don't do something for me, I'm gonna die.
Lord help us. Help thou our unbelief.