Go with me again to Hebrews 13.
Hebrews 13. It's a monumental and a glorious
moment. It is a glorious moment. I had
the chance to think about this and enter into this. It is a
glorious, monumental moment. when God opens a sinner's eyes
to see that Christ is all. I had that happen to me. I grew up under the gospel, but
there came a point in my life when the Lord revealed to me
Christ is all. Isn't that glorious to see? The
fear and the Oh, the law convicts, the law
convicts, it convicts. It's a shocking thing to see
when you read something and it goes, that's me. Oh, that's me. But then when the Lord reveals
Christ is all, he's not just a big part of things. He's not
just the main focus of things. He's all of the things. He's
all of the things. When we worship Him, we worship
His allness. And I know that's not a word,
but I believe you'll see why I use it in just a minute. We
worship His allness. That's what we glory in and praise
Him for. Smart, responsible, level-headed,
accomplished people are constantly reading this book, scratching
their heads, wondering, what is it saying? What is this saying? What is
it getting at? What is the truth to believe? If it says this, why does it
say that? That's just a big one. We've
all experienced that. If it says this, why does it
say that? How do I make sense of it? How
does it all come together? When God's Spirit finally says,
Christ is all, the light comes on. The light
comes on. Christ is all. That's what we are hopefully
going to arrive at tonight through what is being said right here.
Christ is all. He's all. The commentary writer
named Matthew Henry, he wrote a book of commentaries on the
scripture. He pointed out that the early
New Testament church was being persecuted by the Jews who were
saying You can't be worshiping God. You don't even have an altar. And the writer to the Hebrews
said right here in Hebrews 13 verse 10. Oh, we have an altar. We have an altar. God said in order to worship
Him, you have to have an altar. God said that in His Word, in
His Law, in His Commandment. If you're going to worship Me,
you have to have an altar. We have an altar. Here at Kingsport
Sovereign Grace Church, we have an altar. Do y'all have an altar
down there? Yes, we sure do. Can you see it? Every time the Gospel goes out,
We give, in all capital letters, THE ALTAR CALL. Every single time the gospel
goes out. That's the title of this message.
The Altar Call. Come to the altar. Verse 10 says,
We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve
the tabernacle. That's a big verse. The priest
who served the tabernacle, all of those ceremonies and laws
and rituals, they were allowed to eat the animals they sacrificed. It's what they lived on. It's
how they lived. God allowed them to do that to
reveal something to us. He allowed that to happen so
we could come to know something. And that thing is this. Christ
is all. Christ is all. Christ is the
altar. Christ is the sacrifice on the
altar. But if we don't see that, if
we never see that, and if we don't cling to Him as our only
sacrifice to God for sin, and if we try to serve the tabernacle,
if we try to serve the tabernacle with all the ceremonies and the
laws and the rituals, the man-made sacrifices, man-made altars,
if that's what we offer to God for our sin, we'll have no right
to be a partaker of Christ. His sacrifice will not be offered
for us. Christ is all or nothing. All or nothing. Christ is not
one of our sacrifices. He's not a big part of our sacrifice. He is all of our sacrifice or
he's not our sacrifice at all. He's either all the sacrifice
or he's not our sacrifice at all. If we try to add any work
of our hand, we lose our right. We lose our privilege. to be
a partaker of him. Verse 10 says, we have an altar
where of they have no right to eat, which serve the tabernacle
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. What he's saying is everything
about that ritual ceremony. that God commanded the priest
to perform in that sin offering. He said it must be done this
way. It must be this particular way. Everything about it, everything
that was involved in it reveals to us that Christ is all. Everything. Christ is all. He did it all.
He's all we need because He's all that God requires. Now, I
want to take just a minute and look at what God commanded in
the sin offering. And I pray the Lord will let
us see how Christ is all in every piece of it. And then we'll come
right back to Hebrews 13, all right? Turn with me over to Leviticus
16. Leviticus 16. This is God's commandment
concerning the sin offering. The only way He said it would
be accepted. My heading at the top of my page
says, How Aaron shall come into the holy place. This is the way. Aaron, God's priest, represents
Christ. He represents Christ. And if
God would reveal this to men and women, he'd set them free.
It would set them free. Our Lord said, you shall know
the truth and the truth shall make you free. And I pray the
Lord will reveal that to people. I do. I pray he will reveal to
them that Christ is all. Christ is all and in all. All right, Leviticus 16, verse
three, thus shall Aaron come into the holy place with a young
bullet for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He
shall put on the holy linen coat and he shall have the linen breeches
or pants upon his flesh and shall be girded with a linen girdle
And with a linen miter shall he be attired. These are holy
garments, therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and
so put them on." He must be holy. He must be holy. Now, men read
this, and they go get them some linen, and they sew them some
clothes, and they put that silly hat on their head, and they think
that they're being holy by copying what we read here. But Aaron
represents Christ. Those linen clothes are Christ. That is His righteousness, His
holiness. The sin offerings He's bringing,
they're Christ. Everything about it. He must
be holy. If this sacrifice is going to
be made, He must come in holy. Perfect, spotless, sinless, head
to toe. Verse five, he shall take of
the congregation of the children of Israel, two kids of the goats
for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron
shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself
and make an atonement for himself and for his house. Christ united
himself to his people. He made their sin his own. Didn't he say mine iniquities? He completely became one with
his people. Verse 7, And he shall take the
two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots upon
the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the
scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat
upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. That's Christ, the Lamb slain. So the priest is Christ, the
linen is Christ, the lamb, the sacrifice is Christ. Verse 10
says, But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat,
shall be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement
with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. We're about to see that's Christ
too. Verse 11, and Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin
offering which is for himself and shall 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 before the Lord."
Those burning coals from the altar, that's Christ. That's
the Holy Spirit of Christ. Don't you love that story, those
two on the road to Emmaus? Every time I just think about
that, that sentence, those two on the road to Emmaus, it just
blesses my heart. The Lord came to them. He united
Himself to them. He communed with them. He asked
them, why are you sad? And this is what they said, we're
sad because we thought the One who was going to save us from
our sins had come, but He died. He was slain. He died on the
tree. And we're sad. And at that moment,
Oh, can you imagine how the Spirit flowed? Can you imagine how God
sent the Spirit from heaven to earth? At that moment, He opened
the Scriptures to them, and He started at Moses, what we're
reading right here. beginning at Moses, and all through
the prophets, and all through the Psalms, he expounded the
things concerning himself. He went through it and he said,
that's Christ, and that's Christ, and that's Christ, and that's
Christ, and this over here is Christ, and this is Christ, and
this is Christ. And then when he finally left
him, they said, did not our heart burn within us? That's fires
from the altar. That's coals from the altar.
Christ. Verse 12 says, And he shall take
a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before
the Lord, and his hands full of sweet incense, beaten small,
and bring it within the veil. And he shall put the incense
upon the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense
may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he
die not. Christ is that incense. on the fiery coals of the altar.
He's that sweet smell and savor to God that goes up right on
top of the mercy seat. That smoke that rises up, that's
Christ. His sweet intercession to God
on the behalf of His people. The prayers of Christ going up. Verse 14, He shall take of the
blood of the bullet and sprinkle it with His finger upon the mercy
seat eastward And before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle
of the blood with his finger seven times. That blood is Christ. We read in our text, with his
own blood. And we've already said Aaron
is Christ. Perfectly applying seven times. The number of perfection, that
perfect application of the blood of Christ. Verse 15, Then shall
he kill the goat of the sin offering 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. And he shall make an atonement
for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel, and because of their transgressions and all their
sins. And so shall he do for the tabernacle
of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their
uncleanness. And there shall be no man in
the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement
in the holy place until he come out and have made an atonement
for himself and for his household and for all the congregation
of Israel. That atonement for the sin of
his people, that payment, that appeasement was something he
had to accomplish alone. He had to do it alone. Everybody
else has to leave. He by himself purged our sins. No one else
took part in it. No one. Accomplished it alone. 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 of the blood of the goat, and put it upon
the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle
of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and cleanse
it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel." Christ
is that altar. takes that blood out to the altar
and he puts that blood all over the horns of that altar and sprinkles
that blood on the altar. Christ is the altar. Christ is
the foundation on which the sacrifice is made. He is what upholds the
sacrifice. Verse 20, And when he hath made
an end of reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle of the
congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat And
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat,
and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of
Israel, and all their transgressions, and all their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand
of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited. And he
shall let go the goat in the wilderness. Christ is that scapegoat. The father laid on him the iniquity
of all of his people. He bore our sins in his own body. Christ is the fit man who took
him away. Let it all away. He took him
to a place that no man can inhabit. the grave. He took him all the
way to the grave. No man can live there. Never to return again. He was the only one able and
the only one worthy to accomplish it. In Revelation 5, I love this. It says that John,
the Lord spoke to John and told John to write, and everything
that John saw, he said, I wept much. That's always really struck
me. John said, I wept much. Because
no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither
to look thereon. Can't you see him weeping? No
man worthy. No man able. And one of the elders
said unto me, weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book
and to loose the seven seals thereof. The only fit man for
the job, he took care of it. He took care of it. Verse 23
says, 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. 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. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He said
He has to take those linen garments off in the holy place and come
out to burn that sacrifice. Our Lord Jesus Christ laid His
glory aside. He laid all of His glory aside
and He accomplished this in human flesh. Philippians 2 says he
humbled himself, he made himself of no reputation and took upon
him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men,
the likeness of sinful flesh. Verse 25, and the fat of the
sin offering shall he burn upon the altar and he that let go
the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes and bathe his
flesh in water and afterward 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, and they shall burn
in the fire their skins and their flesh and their dung. And he
that burneth them shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh
in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp." All of it
must be consumed. All of it must be consumed. Christ
endured the fire of God's wrath to put all of the sin of his
people away. All of it. And that fit man who
accomplished it all, when it was all finished, he washed his
clothes, he bathed his flesh, he was clean. He was clean and
he entered right back into the camp. When our Lord arose from
the grave, after the sacrifice was finished, the reason He arose
is because the sins were gone. Everything was gone. The grave
could not hold Him anymore. And He arose, and He ascended
right back where He came from. Seated. on the throne of God. Hebrews 9 28 says so Christ was
offered once offered to bear the sins of many and unto them
that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation no more no more sin. Verse 29 and this shall be a
statute forever unto you that 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. For on that day shall the priest
make an atonement for you to cleanse you that you may be clean
from all your sins before the Lord. It shall be a Sabbath of
rest unto you, and you shall afflict your souls by statute
forever. Don't try to take part in it.
Don't try to add anything to it. Rest in the finished work
of the priest. and the sacrifice, and the altar,
and the incense, and the blood, and the scapegoat, and the fit
man, all of it being Christ. Rest in the finished work of
Christ. Verse 32, and the priest whom he shall anoint, and whom
he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office of his
father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the
linen clothes, even the holy garments, And he shall make an
atonement for the holy sanctuary. And he shall make an atonement
for the tabernacle of the congregation and for the altar. And he shall
make an atonement for the priest and for all the people of the
congregation. And this shall be an everlasting statute unto
you to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all
their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded
Moses. He said, do it once a year. so
that every generation can know. You keep telling every generation,
every generation. You make sure every generation
knows that by the one sacrifice of Himself, Christ perfected
forever them that are sanctified. All right, now, go back with
me to Hebrews 13, and we'll see the altar call. Hebrews 13 verse 10 says we have
an altar. Whereof they have no right to
eat which serve the tabernacle for the bodies of those beast
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. Now here it is. Let us go forth
therefore unto him. Without the camp, bearing his
reproach. That's the key to it all. Unto
him. unto him. Men give altar calls. They stand up and after their
message they give an altar call wanting people to come down front. That's not where we come. They
want people to go to the mourner's bench or go to the prayer bench
or whatever it's called. That's not where we go. verse 13 says let us go therefore
unto him christ our all there my prayer is that our children
will learn when they grow up in the lord deems them old enough
to understand these things. I pray they will know that Christ
is all and we go to Him. We go to Him. We run to Him. We worship a person. We worship
a real person seated on a real throne. And we do go to Him. Don't we? We go to Him. Without the camp, it says in
verse 13, we come to the place of His suffering. When everything
is beginning to consume us, the sin is starting to consume us,
we run to Him, don't we? We run to the place where He
suffered. That's our relief. The coals
of God's fiery wrath on Him, that's always our relief. Always. Eternity awaits because of that
moment. Wherever He is, that's where
His people want to be. Verse 13 says, Let us go forth
therefore unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. Thank God, not our own. His people
don't bear their own reproach. They bear His. They bear His. This is the only true altar call
there is. This is the only true altar call
there is. Come to the Lord Jesus Christ
in the heart. Don't move a muscle. Do not get
out of our seats and come to Christ. Come to Him. Bow before Him. Don't bow before
a bench. Don't bow before a pulpit. Don't
bow before a man. Bow before Him. Come to Him. That's the call
of the gospel. Come to Him. Bow before Him. Cast your all on Him. Come to the only sacrifice for
sin that there is. The only sacrifice God will accept. Christ our all. Christ our all. You know what
God's people say in response to that? Let us go. Let us go. There's nowhere else
we want to go. Is there anywhere else you want
to go? Where else can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. I don't know where I got this.
I found this in a folder that I have. And I don't know who
to credit with it, but it doesn't matter. It's so good. It was
titled, Christ My All and In All. There is a holy God that I cannot
please, but Christ did. The Father said, this is my beloved
Son in whom I'm well pleased. There is a holy law that I can't
keep, but Christ did. He said, I have finished the
work which thou gavest me to do. There is a perfect righteousness
that I can't earn, But Christ did. He is the end of the law
for righteousness. There is a convicting record
of sin that I cannot erase. But Christ did. He made Him to
be sin for us who knew no sin that we might be the righteousness
of God in Him. There is a great judgment that
I cannot endure. But Christ did. He said, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And finally, there is an
eternal death that I cannot rise from. But Christ did. And if he is my all and in all,
he will raise me up at the last day. Let us go, therefore, unto
him. Let's go to him. Let's go to
Christ, our all. We have an altar. We have an
altar. Let's go to him. May the Lord
bless that word. All right, let's all stand together.