Turn with me, if you would, back
to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10. The theme
of the book of Hebrews is how much better Christ actually is than everything
that pictured Him in the Old Testament. That's the theme of
Hebrews. All of these things pictured
Christ. But He Himself was so much better
than their picture. All the types, all the stories,
all of that was given to show us Christ. All of it. Everything that was in the Old
Testament scripture was given to show us who He was and what
He would do for us. So many people love the story
of Noah's Ark. That is such an amazing image
of Christ. That truly is, that is such a
glorious picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a picture
of how God's people are chosen to be in Him. And it's a picture
of how they bore their judgment from God in Him. Noah and his family bore the
same judgment that the rest of the world bore. They just bore it in the ark.
Oh, don't you know they were thanking God for the ark as they
heard that thunder and that rain and everything just beat against
that ark. Well, that ark is Christ. That
ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's such a
powerful and glorious picture. But if we think the picture is
glorious, just wait till we see the ark himself. If you've seen
the picture and you say, that's a glorious picture, just wait
till you see the ark himself. The one that bore that judgment
for you, the one that hid you in the secret of his tabernacle
while God poured all that out on you. The smitten rock is an
amazing picture of Christ. The Lord told Moses, they were
whining and complaining. The Lord told Moses to strike
the rock. That's an amazing picture of how the law struck Christ
because of the sin of his people, the sin that he bore. He was stricken, stricken, smitten
of God and afflicted. That's what Isaiah 53 says. And in God the Father, doing
that to Christ, the water of eternal life flowed out of him. That refreshing living water
of life flowed out to all of his people. That rock was a picture
of Christ. Picture of Christ. And if you
think the picture was amazing, just wait till you see the smitten
rock himself. Behold His hands, His feet, His
side. You'll see He was smitten, stricken. I heard a wonderful illustration
on this one time. If there is somebody that you
love, truly love, somebody you love, who you are currently away
from, but you have a picture of that
person. You love that picture. If you
love them, but you're not with them and you have a picture of
them, you love that picture. You do, that's a glorious picture
to you. You cherish that picture. You
keep that picture safe. You keep it close so you don't
lose it. You may look at it all the time.
You just keep looking at it over and over all the time. But when
the moment comes that you can finally be reunited with the
one you love, you let the picture go and you embrace the person. You don't stand there ignoring
the person because you just can't let go of the picture. The picture
is wonderful, but it's not the person. And you let go of that. It pales
greatly in comparison to the person. Well, the book of Hebrews
tells us that very thing concerning the law, everything written in
the old Testament. It tells us that the law was
given to us to be our picture of Christ. The perfectness of Christ, the
holiness of Christ. the purity, the justice, the
righteousness of Christ. And now that He came, why would
we want to hold on to the picture? Now that He came, why would we
want to do that? I want every soul who is still in the bondage
of false works of man religion, I want every soul to see that. I truly do. I want every soul
to see that and to hear that and to know that. Stop holding
on to the picture. Cling to the man. Well, that's what Hebrews 10
is telling us. If you look at verse 1, it says, For the law, having a shadow
of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never, with those sacrifices which they offered year by year
continually, make the comers thereunto perfect." The law exposed
man's sin. And the law said that the wages
of that sin, what a person was owed for sinning, was death.
But the law also said that the shedding of blood would atone
for that sin. It would cover and pay for that
sin. It said that forgiveness would
be found in the shedding of innocent blood. So to picture that, God
gave us the sacrifice of animals. As soon as Adam and Eve sinned
in the garden, what did the Lord God do? Sacrificed an animal. It was not the very atonement. It was not that very remission
of sins. It was a picture. It was a shadow. It was a type of the true atonement,
that true remission that would come. And verse 2 right here
says that should have been obvious to us. It should have been obvious
that the picture of remission was not the true remission itself.
Verse 2 says, For then would they not have ceased to be offered?
If it did put away sins, wouldn't they have stopped offering those
sacrifices? Because that the worshipers once
purged should have had no more conscience of sins. As a payment
for sin, this is what the law said, It said the blood of an
innocent spotless animal has to be shed. And had that blood
actually paid the debt for man's sin, wouldn't they have stopped
offering the sacrifices of blood had it paid for it? You know,
if you go to the store to buy something and it costs $10 and
you pay $10 and they give you the item, you don't put another
10 on the counter. You don't pay it again. And then
after that, you sure don't pay it again. And you don't come
back every day paying it again. Week by week, month by month,
year by year. Either you paid it or you didn't. Well, verse 1 says, The law,
having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image
of the things, can never, with those sacrifices which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect.
For then would they not have ceased to be offered, because
that the worshipers once purged should have had no more conscience
of sins. But in those sacrifices, there
is a remembrance again made of sins every year. The fact that
they kept paying those over and over again, that only proved
to them that they weren't making the payment for sin. That's all
it did. Every time they offered a sacrifice,
it reminded them that they were still sinners. Every time, once
again, still a sinner. Verse 4, it says, For it is not
possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away
sins. It's not possible that any work
from a sinful man's sinful hands could put away sin. It's not
possible. Not when all that he does is
sin. Even our own efforts to put away
sin is sin. It's mixed with everything that
we do. So that's why Christ came. If we wanna know why did Christ
come, this is the reason why. This
is the reason why everything in the law pointed to his coming. Verse 5 says, Wherefore, when
he cometh into the world, he said, Sacrifice and offering
thou wouldest not. When he came into the world,
he said, Father, you would not accept and you would not receive
all these sacrifices and offerings. God the Father will not ever
received the blood of bulls and goats, meaning the sacrifices
of man, the works of man, the efforts of man, any payment from
man as an acceptable sacrifice, sacrifice for sin. So he went
on to say, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body
hast thou prepared me. In burnt offerings and sacrifices
for sin thou hast had no pleasure." They were pictures of the satisfaction,
and they were not the very satisfaction themselves. Verse 7, then said
I, lo, I come, in the volume of the book it is written of
me to do thy will, O God. What will is he talking about?
He's talking about the shedding of blood for the remission of
the sin of his people. The father had a people who sinned
against him. Therefore His holy justice demanded
that they die. They had to die. But His will
was that innocent blood be shed to redeem them and spare them
and save them from that death. So Christ said, a body was prepared
for me. to accomplish that very thing. I came to do that very thing. Verse 8, Above, when he said,
Sacrifice, and offering, and burnt offerings, and offering
for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein, which
are offered by the law. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. What he was saying was, Verse
9, he taketh away the first that he may establish the second. He took away man's works that
he may establish God's works, God's grace. He took away man's
sacrifice that he might establish God's sacrifice. Verse 10, By
the witch will, we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. And he said in verse 11, every
priest standeth daily, ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sins. Never, never. Now let's see if we can get our
point across. Men are standing daily. Men are standing right
now. Doing what they believe is a
sacrifice to God. Exhorting others to do what they
believe are sacrifices to God. Doing their things, obeying their
commandments. And not one has ever taken away
one sin. And the book of Hebrews shows
us that and reveals that to us through the commandment of animals
being shed. You know, we go help our neighbor
mow his grass and we think that that's our good deed sacrifice
for God to have favor with us. They were slaying animals. Slaying animals. They were standing
daily, slaying animals, working, making their sacrifices, trying
as hard as they could to take away their sins. They were doing
it in sincerity, just like people are today. Trying as hard as
they can to do what was written there, to make God happy and
appease God, to cover their sins. Every old priest, every Old Testament
priest proved to us that it can't be done. Every priest that was
in the Old Testament proved to us that it cannot be done. Now,
here are some facts that I found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus,
and Numbers. concerning the sacrifices of
the priest, sacrifices that they were required to make according to the picture of the
law. I really sincerely pray that in seeing this, the Lord
opens this up to us. I pray we see the glory of our
atonement in the Lord Jesus Christ. When God gave the law to Moses,
He said that on behalf of the people, all of this would come because
of their sin. All of this is because of sin.
It's all because man ruined himself. Totally ruined himself. He said
that the priest had to offer two lambs, two animals, every
day. One in the morning, one in the
evening. Two animals every day. They had to be without spot.
They had to be without blemish. On the Sabbath day, which came
once a week, they had to offer two additional lambs. Four animals
that day. This went on every day. Along with that, on the first
day of each month, it was called the beginning of months. They
had to offer two bullocks, which is a young bull, one ram, and seven lambs. That's ten. But before they offered
that, the priest had to offer one goat, for their own sins. Before the priest could offer
a blood sacrifice for the sin of the people, they had to offer
one for their own. On the 14th day of the first
month, that was the Passover, the 15th day started a seven-day
feast, and for seven days, they offered two bullocks, one ram,
seven lambs, and one goat, All that was in addition to the daily
sacrifices. They had certain requirements
all throughout the year. You can read them throughout
Leviticus. It's just requirement after requirement
after requirement. All right, let me give you the
requirements of one month in particular, just one month, the
seventh month. On that seventh month, there
was an additional, the first day was one bullet, one ram,
seven lambs, one goat. The second day was 12 bullets,
two rams, 14 lambs, one goat. The third day was 11 bullocks,
two rams, 14 lambs, one goat. The fourth day was 10 bullocks,
two rams, 14 lambs, one goat. Fifth day was nine bullocks,
two rams, 14 lambs, one goat. The sixth day was eight bullocks,
two rams, 14 lambs, one goat. Seventh day was seven bullocks,
two rams, 14 lambs, one goat. The eighth day was one bullock,
one ram, seven lambs, one goat. The 10th day was one bullock,
one ram, seven lambs, one goat. The 15th day was 13 bullocks,
two rams, 14 lambs, one goat. That's 219 animals. All of that is along with the
daily sacrifices, two every day, four on the Sabbath, which depending
on how big their month was is roughly 64 animals. That's 283
animals. All of that was in addition to
an offering called the trespass offering. That was an offering that the
people themselves individually brought to the priest if anybody
committed a sin. If anybody committed a sin. All
right, they had to bring a ram. As soon as you realized you committed
a sin, You had to bring a ram to the priest to be offered for
that sin. And then if you left and committed
another sin, you had to bring another ram to the priest to
be offered for that sin. They would also bring a ram for
the sins that they committed ignorantly, just in case they
committed one and didn't know about it. Now how many animals
do you think, just for the trespass offering, how many animals do
you think were brought to those braes? How many do you think,
how many rams do you think you would need to own? For every
time you felt like you had committed a sin against God, you had to
bring a ram to be slain. In addition to that, there was
an offering called the vow offering. The freewill offering, the burnt
offering, the meat offering, the drink offering, the peace
offering, and the thank offering. These offerings were much greater
in number offerings. Let me just show you a couple
of them. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians, I'm sorry, 2 Chronicles 29. 2 Chronicles 29. This is not pleasant
to talk about, but this is necessary for us to truly see what Christ
did for us. 2 Chronicles 29, verse 31. Then Hezekiah answered and said,
Now you have consecrated yourselves unto the Lord. Come near, and
bring sacrifices and thank-offerings into the house of the Lord. And
the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank-offerings, and as many
as were of a free heart, burnt offerings, And the number of
the burnt offerings which the congregation brought was 3 score
and 10 bullocks, that's 70 bullocks, and 100 rams, that's 170, 200
lambs, that's 370. All these were for a burnt offering to the Lord. And the consecrated things were
600 oxen and 3,000 sheep, 3,970 animals. Can you imagine that? Can you
imagine that? 3,970 animals. Verse 34, But
the priests were too few so that they could not flay all the burnt
offerings. Wherefore, their brethren, the
Levites, did help them till the work was ended, and until the
other priests had sanctified themselves. For the Levites were
more upright in heart to sanctify themselves than the priests.
And also the burnt offerings were in abundance with the fat
of the peace offerings and the drink offerings for every burnt
offering. So the service of the house of
the Lord was set in order and Hezekiah rejoiced and all the
people that God had prepared the people for the thing was
done suddenly. They just all of a sudden realized
we better sacrifice to God. Boom. Those priests were working. I mean working, working, working
according to the law. All that was in addition to the
trespass offering, the daily offerings, the monthlies, just
animal after animal after animal. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles
15. Right here, the favor of God
returned to Judah. They had sinned and lost His
favor, but God in mercy and grace brought it back to them. And
in 2 Chronicles 15 verse 10, it says, So they gathered themselves
together at Jerusalem in the third month, in the fifteenth
year of the reign of Asa. And they offered unto the Lord
the same time of the spoil which they had brought seven hundred
oxen, and 7,000 sheep, 7,700 animals in one day. That was
on top of everything else. And they entered into a covenant
to seek the Lord God of their fathers with all their heart
and with all their soul, that whosoever would not seek the
Lord God of Israel should be put to death, whether small or
great, whether man or woman. Those priests were working. Turn
with me to 2 Chronicles 7. This right here is where Solomon
dedicated the temple that had just been built. And it says
in verse 1, Now when Solomon had made an end of praying, the
fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and
the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.
And the priest could not enter into the house of the Lord, because
the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. And when all
the children of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory
of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces
to the ground upon the pavement, and worshiped and praised the
Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. Then the king and all the people
offered sacrifices before the Lord, and King Solomon offered
a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen. 22,000 oxen. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? The work that
was laid on those priests when they saw them lead a line of
22,000 oxen into the temple. They looked down that line. We
better start working. It's time to go to work. That's
not all that Solomon offered though. Verse five says, and
King Solomon offered a sacrifice of 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep.
22,000 oxen and 120,000, that's 144,000 animals in one day. That was along with the daily
sacrifices, they had to be done. sin offering for the priest,
the trespass offerings, every other offering that had to be
made. Verse 7 says, Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that
was before the house of the Lord. For there he offered burnt offerings
and the fat of the peace offerings, because the brazen altar which
Solomon had made was not able to receive the burnt offerings
and the meat offerings. They just couldn't, they just
didn't have enough room. They couldn't receive it all.
So he hallowed other areas. Verse 8 says, Also at the same
time Solomon kept the feast seven days, all Israel with him. Everything that had to be done
was done, no matter how great the task. If it had to be done,
it was done. It is reported in the history
of Jerusalem. John Gill, you may
know of a man named John Gill, he is a commentary writer and
he's constantly quoting Josephus, a historian. He was around during
the time of the apostles and he just wrote factual things.
The historians, there is on record in Jerusalem an account of 1,200,000
animals being slain in one day. On that account, it says the
priests were waiting up to their knees in it. One more. Turn with me to 2 Chronicles
5. Solomon here is bringing up the
Ark of the Covenant out of the city of David. 2 Chronicles 5, verse 5, it says,
and they brought up the ark and the tabernacle of the congregation
and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle. These
did the priest and the Levites bring up. Also King Solomon and
all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him
before the ark, sacrificed sheep and oxen, which could not be
told nor numbered for multitude." They said there's no way we could
number how many they slay. Those priests sacrificed over
and over and over and over. This thing of sacrifice was not
a token ceremony that they did every now and then. You know,
as often as you do it, sacrifice an animal. Oh, no, no, no. They
slayed and they slayed and they slayed. Inside that tabernacle,
they slayed and they slayed. In that tabernacle, there was
the Ark of the Covenant. There was a table of showbread. There was an altar of incense.
There was an altar of burnt offering. There was a candlestick. There
was a washbasin and there was a veil to cover it all up. But
there was no chair in there. God never said put a chair in
there. There was no rest in there. No rest. The priest, the high
priest wore bells on the bottom of his garment so the people
could know he was still alive, that God hadn't killed him yet.
He never stopped moving. Never stopped working. For thousands
of years, they slayed continually, continually, continually. And after all of that blood was
shed, Not one white lie was ever put away. Not one sin. Not one sin. It was only a picture. It was
only a type pointing to the blood that would come. Look back at
Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 11 says, every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins over and over and over,
ram after ram after ram, never take away sins. Verse 12 says,
but this man, Oh, but this man, this one man,
the one who John the Baptist prepared the way for, crying,
Behold the Lamb of God. Not the Lamb of men, not the
sacrifice that man continually tried to make for his sin. Behold
the Lamb of God, the sacrifice that God made for sin. Jesus Christ the Lord. The picture
was great. It pointed us to what the picture
could not do. It pointed us to what we could
not do. It pointed us to what we could
never ever accomplish for ourselves. Verse 12 says, but this man,
after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, one sacrifice, after this one
lamb was slain, after the precious blood of the spotless holy lamb
was slain, God the Father said, no more sacrificing. I'm satisfied. I am satisfied. The sin is paid in full. It's over. There will be no more
bloodshed. Never again. Never again. Verse 12 says, This man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on
the right hand of God. He's the only priest who ever
sat down. A man titled his message that
a long time ago, I've never forgotten it. The only priest who ever
sat down. Why'd he sit down? He was finished. The work was done. All the slaying,
all the bloodshed, it was done. And I'm not going to turn to
the references here, but Hebrews 9 tells us that the blood of
bulls and goats couldn't do it. That's why He offered His own
blood and He obtained eternal redemption for us. Obtained it.
Hebrews 7 says that He is a high priest forever and He's able
to save to the uttermost. He needeth not daily as those
high priests to offer up sacrifice first for His own sins and then
for the people's. He did this once when He offered
up Himself. Hebrews 4 verse 9 says, There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that
is entered into His rest has also ceased from His own works
as God did from His. The moment He rested, all of
His people rested. And it goes on to say, seeing
then that we have a great high priest that's passed into the
heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession,
for we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with
the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted
like as we are, yet without sin, let us therefore come boldly
unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need. The only priest who ever sat
down Where did he sit? On his throne. Seated on the
throne. Seated in the place of honor.
And forever now it's finished. That's where he'll remain. We're
redeemed and everything is settled. If
a sinner ever truly gets a hold of that, he will let go of the
picture You know that? If God ever brings a soul in
here, a poor soul that's been holding to the picture all his
life, God ever opens his eyes to see that, he'll let go of
the picture, cling to the man. May God help us to do that. Alright,
let's all stand together.