Leviticus chapter 16. Leviticus
chapter 16. Leviticus chapter number 16. I'm going to begin reading at
verse 15 as we continue our thoughts on the day of atonement, the
day of expiation, or the day of reconciliation. Leviticus chapter 16 verse 15. And then he shall kill the goat,
that is Aaron, shall 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
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. There shall be no man, notice
that, no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when Aaron
goes in to make an atonement in the holy place until he comes
out. And after he's made an atonement
for himself and for his household, and for all the congregation
of Israel. Here we have Aaron entering into
the very presence of God. What a solemn, awesome thought. And I've wondered as I've studied
this and read this, You wonder how Aaron must have thought. What did he feel? What were his
emotions as he entered into the very presence of God? This is not into the presence
of a God or a man-made idol. But he's going into the Holy
of Holies And that's where Jehovah reveals himself. That's where
God's glory is. That bright Shekinah glory in
between the cherubims. That bright glory of God that
gives life and also removes life. He's going in to do business
with God. I wonder how he felt. Don't you imagine he was so very,
very solemn, and so serious, and so reverent, and so much
in awe of the one he was going to meet with. We meet with our God today in
the Lord Jesus. Let's meet Him with worship and
with reverence. I'm given to be a little humorous
every once in a while, and that's just, that's my own personality. And you can like it or not. That's just the way I am. I just
do use humor, but I know this. When we're doing business with
God, When we're in the presence of God Almighty, He who spoke
the heaven and the earth into existence, He who charges His
angels with folly, this One before whom the heavens itself aren't
even pure. If we're going to do business
with God today, we better do it in a serious way from our
hearts according to truth. Isn't that right? in a serious
way from our hearts according to the truth. God is spirit. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. It's not enough to be sincere. It's not enough to have good
intentions. There must be sincerity, there
must be good intentions according to the very truth of God's Word.
And we worship God as He's revealed Himself in the Scriptures. God
has not kept silent about who He is or what He's like. Now
know this, a silent God is an unknowable God. If God doesn't
speak, if God doesn't make Himself known, we'll never know Him. But the Lord has spoken. In old
times He spoke by the prophets. But now in these last days, He's
spoken unto us through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
Himself the living Word. God has made Himself known. He's made Himself manifested
through the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's listen to what He says
and let's worship in solemnness and in seriousness. If you're
going to do business with God today, and I want to, don't you? I want to do business with God.
I want to fall before God, prostrate at His feet. I want to render
to Him the honor and the glory and the awe and the reverence
that He deserves. And if I'm going to do that,
I've got to have the enablement of the Spirit of God. And I've
got to do it in truth. I've got to approach God in the
only way that He can ever be approached. That's in, through,
and by a worthy substitute, the Lord Jesus Christ. Our God is
a consuming fire. Aaron enters in within the veil. God, who is a consuming fire,
there's His Shekinah glory. And we ask, what is it that keeps
Aaron alive? He's in the presence of the majesty. He's in the presence of the Lord.
There's that flame of fire going up through the tabernacle, making
a fire by night that illuminated all the camp of Israel. And this
man lives. How can he live? The blood. The blood. He goes in with the
blood of an innocent victim that was sacrificed on the behalf
of Israel's transgressions. He goes in with the blood. And
if you want to do business with God today, be serious, be reverent,
you're coming into His presence, but don't you dare come without
the blood. Don't dare try to draw near to God apart from the
only mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Aaron meets with God on the behalf
of Israel. Now God said this is where he
would meet them. Go back to that passage. that
our brother read to us in Exodus chapter 25. This is exactly what
God said. Now look at this, Exodus chapter
25. He says in the 8th verse, Exodus
25 and verse 8, God says, let them make me a sanctuary that
I may dwell among them. Now go over to verse 21. And
thou shalt put the mercy seat above the ark, the ark of the
covenant or the ark of the testimony. That's because the very testimony
of God was in there, the law of God. That's what he put in
there. Thou shalt put the mercy seat of solid gold, that's the
lid above the ark of the covenant, and in the ark thou shalt put
the testimony or the law that I shall give thee. Now look at
verse 22. And there I will meet with thee,
verse 22, there I will meet with thee and I will commune with
thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims
which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things which
I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel."
Thank God there is somewhere, there is somewhere that God will
meet with sinners and commune with sinners and sinners can
meet with and commune with God. But there is only one place.
Thank God there is somewhere, but there is only one somewhere.
You are not going to meet and commune with God anywhere you
want. There is a specific location,
God says, where I will meet you and I will commune with you.
The word meet conveys the idea of meeting acceptably. as in
companionship. There I will meet with you and
commune with you. I'll speak with you. I'll have
a conversation with you. But it's not just anywhere. Not
just anywhere. I'll speak with you and I'll
assemble with you at the mercy seat. That's what God said. Now
let me speak to you who are the children of God. You who washed
in the Savior's blood and you robed in his righteousness. The
love of God's been shed abroad in your heart. You're a child
of the King. You've been ransomed from the
fall. You've been brought by the Spirit of Grace to believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ as He's revealed Himself in the Book
of God. I say to you, by night on your
bed or by day in your various occupation, whether you're riding
in your car or working in your garden, Whether you're surrounded
by the ungodly or whether you're in the company of the saints,
you can meet with God and commune with God and God will meet with
you and commune with you at the mercy seat. No matter where you
are. No matter what you're doing.
And that mercy seat is Christ Jesus and Him crucified. God
says, I'll meet you and I'll commune with you. And when you speak with God,
it may not be a lengthy series of words. You know, sometimes
we speak with God just through a sigh. Isn't that right? Our God, He sees the broken heart. He hears the cry of a broken
and a contrite spirit, even though you may not utter up any words
at all. But if your mind and your thoughts
and your heart is on the mercy seat, is on the Lord Jesus Christ
and Him crucified, our God says, I'll meet with you and I'll commune
with you and you can meet with me and you can commune with me.
Think of that. Think of that. That this poor
wretched sinner, I drink iniquity like water. I am defiled from
the top of my curly hair to the bottom of my lily white feet. I am defiled thoroughly. And
yet God says, I'll meet with you and I'll commune with you
one place, Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And oh, how oft I
have met with Him and communed with Him and He has met with
me and He has communed with me. Haven't you found it to be true?
I know you have. No wonder we are admonished in
Hebrews, come boldly to the throne of grace. Come boldly. What's holding you back, child
of God? You say, I'm just too sinful
to God. I've heard people say, I'm not in the right frame of
mind to pray, to approach God. I've got to get my life straightened
out. Works, works, works. That's all
it is. That's just a bunch of self-righteousness. You come to God as you are. No
pretense. No hypocrisy. Don't you think
God knows? I walked in, knocked on the door,
and visited somebody. It's been a couple or three years
ago. And it took them a while to get to the door. And they
said we had to put some things away before the preacher got
here. And they said, afraid you might
tell God on us. He knows. He knows. And the preacher is not going
to tell on you. Because I wouldn't want you to tell on me. We're
all just a bunch of sinners. God receives sinners for Christ's
sake. I wish we'd learned that. And when we try to clean up and
straighten up, and I'm not saying live your life with no regard
for the glory of God or anything. I'm not saying that at all. But
what I am saying is, no matter what you've done, no matter what
you've said, You come to the mercy seat through Jesus Christ
the Lord and God says, that's where I'll meet with you, that's
where I'll commune with you. That's what he says. So with
all my guilt, with all my sin, with all my transgressions, I
come to God through Jesus Christ the Lord and I'm received. The Savior said, I'm the way,
I'm the truth, I'm the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Which says to me, if I come to
the Father through Jesus Christ the Lord, who's the way, the
truth, and the life, God will meet with me, and God will commune
with me. I got His word on that. We meet with Him with our guilt. He meets with us in His loving
kindness. We meet with Him and we commune
with Him though we're sinful. He meets with us and He communes
with us in the forgiveness of His grace. We meet with Him and
we commune with Him in our nakedness. He meets with us and He communes
with us by robing us in the righteousness of His darling Son. We meet Him in our neediness. He meets with us and He communes
with us out of His bounty. We meet with Him and we commune
with Him out of our emptiness. What do we have to bring to this
relationship? What can I give God that He doesn't
already have? He owns everything. We meet with
Him out of our emptiness. He meets with us and He communes
with us out of His fullness. We meet with Him and we commune
with Him out of our misery. He meets with us and He communes
with us out of His mercy. We meet with Him and we commune
with Him in our weakness. He meets with us and He communes
with us in His strength. We meet with Him and we commune
with Him in our darkness. He meets with us and He communes
with us in His light. We meet with Him and we commune
with Him in our confusion and bewilderment in this world. He
meets with us and He communes with us with guidance and with
direction. We meet with Him and we commune
with Him sometimes in sorrow. He meets with us and He communes
with us in great consolation. We meet Him and we commune with
Him in our poverty. And He meets us and He communes
with us out of His riches. We meet Him and we commune with
Him in our death. He meets us and He communes with
us who is life. We meet Him and we commune with
Him in our unworthiness. And He meets with us and He communes
with us in grace. In grace. God will meet with
sinners. God will commune with sinners
in, through, and by Jesus Christ and His work of redemption, His
blood of atonement. Go back to Leviticus chapter
16. Well then, when Aaron the high priest entered into the
Holy of Holies to sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat seven
times, and to sprinkle blood before the mercy seat seven times,
which speaks of perfection, because we have a perfect redemption
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a full redemption. It is
an absolutely finished redemption. When Aaron was in their meeting
with God on the behalf of Israel, note this, first of all, he was
laboring for Israel. He was there for Israel. Now,
He had already offered a sacrifice for Himself. He had already killed
a bullock, and He had already sprinkled the blood on the mercy
seat, the blood of the bullock. It was sprinkled on the mercy
seat seven times, and before the mercy seat seven times, for
His own sins, and for the sins of His priesthood family. But now Aaron goes in with the
blood of a goat. This is the goat that's the Lord's.
By lot, the Lord showed this was for him. The other goat was
the scapegoat. The goat of removal, which we
spoke about last Sunday night. Now Aaron is here sprinkling
the blood of the goat that was for the Lord. And he was doing
so for Israel. In other words, look again at
verse 17. Right at the last of the verse,
it says, And for all the congregation of Israel, Aaron is there in
the mercy seat to offer an atonement for a specific group of people. So then understand that this
atonement is limited in its scope, in its design, and in its purpose. Aaron was in the Holy of Holies
on the behalf of a specific group of people. He was there laboring
for Israel. Now their continued existence
as a nation depended upon Aaron diligently carrying out the duties
that God had given him to execute. And as he went about performing
those various responsibilities as the high priest, he was working
for Israel only. All that he did on the Day of
Atonement was for his household and the congregation of Israel.
And let me labor the point just a little bit. Aaron did nothing
on this day for the Egyptians, for the Assyrians, for the Moabites,
for the Romans, for the Edomites, for the Amorites, for the Canaanites,
or for any other nation on the earth. When He entered into the
Holy of Holies, He did so as the representative of one nation
only. The Day of Atonement was a day
of limited atonement. Now listen carefully. We believe
and we love And we unashamedly declare the biblical truth of
limited atonement or particular redemption. By which we mean
that when our Lord Jesus came into this world to do the work
of redemption, the work of atonement, the work of reconciliation, the
work of the removal of the sins that he had been charged with,
the work of bringing in everlasting righteousness. When he came to
do the work of satisfying the justice of God which demanded
death for sin, the work that he came to do was limited in
its design, in its purpose, in its scope and in its intention. It wasn't limited in its power. Oh, no. But it was limited in
its design. The Lord Jesus came into this
world not to try to save everybody in the world, but to save His
people from their sins. His name is Jesus. For He shall
save His people from their sins. Matthew 1.21. Well, who are His
people? Well, His people are those given
to Him in everlasting love in the covenant of grace. That covenant
made by the Godhead before the world was ever formed or fashioned. These were people God chose into
salvation in Jesus Christ before the foundation of the world.
Limited atonement, it doesn't mean that the power of Christ's
atonement is limited. It doesn't mean that the merits
of the atonement is limited. It doesn't mean that the efficacy
of the atonement is limited. But what we mean is, it is limited
in its design, in its purpose, and in its direction. It's offered
for, a specific group of people. God's elect. Limited atonement means Christ
died for, and He effectually redeemed a limited number of
sinners by His blood atonement. But this limited number is a
number which no man can number. Of every nation, kindred, tribe,
and tongue. They're God's elect. And our
Lord Jesus redeemed them all. Now, I want to be clearly understood. By the blood of the cross of
our Savior, the Lamb of God actually, He actually delivered all those
for whom He died from the curse of the law. No curse remains
for those for whom Jesus Christ died. There is therefore now
no condemnation to them who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. The Lord of glory came
down here in human flesh to remove sin by satisfying divine justice
as our substitute. The law of God demanded death
for sin. Christ Jesus had the sins of
all of His elect charged to Him, imputed to Him, and He went to
the cross, and He died under the wrath of God, and He paid
the debt that we owe, He removed our sin, He took our transgressions
like the scapegoat did into a land that's uninhabited, He put our
sins away, and the redemption was accomplished to God's full
satisfaction. Limited atonement. In no way whatsoever did the
Son of God die for all of the sins of all of the people of
the world. They are universal redemption.
It isn't merely, well, we've got a little difference in doctrine
here. No, universal redemption, bless
your heart, universal redemption is heresy. Because it would rob
the Lord Jesus Christ of the glory of what He did. And universal
redemption essentially makes man his own Savior. That's what
it does. Because it says Jesus Christ
died for everybody just alike. And the reason some go to heaven
and some go to hell is because some accept what Jesus Christ
did for them and some don't. Well, that means the crown of
glory for the salvation of those who believe goes to those who
believe and not to the Savior Himself. That means salvation
is by works. Now listen to me. Whatever our
Savior did on the cross, you know He couldn't fail in doing
what He did. That's what Isaiah said, He shall
not fail. Whatever He set out to accomplish,
He accomplished. You ask any child whose mind
has been polluted by free will Arminian heresy. Ask him, you
know, can the Lord fail in doing anything? Will the Lord always
be successful? Say, well, yeah, He'll do whatever
He wants to do. Well, He did what He wanted to
do when He came into this world. He saved His people from their
sins. He said, I am the good shepherd,
the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. He giveth
his life for the sheep. In that same chapter, John chapter
10, which is where that verse is taken from, our Lord said
to his enemies, he said to those who despised him, those who conspired
against him for his death, he said, you're not of my sheep.
Well now, think a minute. Put your thinking caps on. My
fourth grade teacher taught me two things I've never forgot.
Don't put your elbows on the table when you eat, and put your
thinking caps on. Well, every once in a while I put my elbows
on the table, and every once in a while I put my thinking
cap on. Put your thinking cap on. If the Lord Jesus, if the
Son of God said, I lay down my life for the sheep, and He's
very specific, And then he says to another group of people, you
believe not because you're not of my sheep. Well, it seems to
me that therefore he didn't lay down his life for those who aren't
his sheep. Does that compute with you? Get the wheels turning a little
bit. Whosever debt he paid, the debt
is fully paid. Whoever he bought, he gets. When you go to the store, you
go to Kroger's or Food Fair or wherever you go, Walmart, whatever. I don't want to leave anybody
out. Name every store that there is. When you go and you put an
item and they scan it, boop, and they got the number comes
up, the charge figure comes up, and you pay them. Don't you expect
for that whoever it is behind the counter to say, here it is?
Well, yeah, because you expect to get what you pay for. Right? You buy something, it's your
money, your hard earned money. You go buy a new fishing pole
or you buy a gallon of milk, whatever it is. You pay for it,
it's yours. Our Lord Jesus Christ, He came
into this world and He bought and paid for a people. He didn't
buy heaven for us. He didn't buy salvation for us.
He didn't buy mercy for us. No, we have all spiritual blessings
in Christ Jesus before the world began. He didn't buy the blessings
for us. He bought us for the blessings.
And He will have that which He bought and paid for. And His
resurrection is the seal, it's the receipt that he successfully did the
work that God gave him to do. And on that day of atonement,
after Aaron had sprinkled the blood, he brought it before the
Lord on the mercy seat, he went out before the people and then
he laid his hands on the scapegoat, signifying a transference of
guilt. There wasn't a literal transference,
of course, because the goat was just an animal. And the blood
of bulls and goats, the death of those animals could never
put away sin. But this live goat pictured the
result of the substitutionary death of our Lord Jesus. What
did that goat do? Aaron confessed the sins. A fit
man was selected from the congregation. A man who was ready, anxious,
and willing to do the work. And able to do the work. A fit
man. He's worthy for the work. Our
Lord Jesus is the fit man. He's worthy And He was anxious
to save His people from our sins. And our Lord Jesus took our sins
like that scapegoat took the sins of Israel out in the wilderness
led by that fit man. And that goat stayed out there
and that symbolized what happened to our sins when Jesus Christ
died. They were taken away into a land
uninhabited and nobody will ever see them or hear from them ever
again. Our sins are gone. Now that is
cause for happiness. That is cause for joy. We thank
God for that. You see atonement? is reconciliation
and redemption. And let me give you this, and
I'll quit. And I want you to remember this.
This matter of atonement, of reconciliation, of redemption,
this great atonement by our Lord Jesus, it's as much a matter
of God's justice as it is a matter of God's grace. You see, as atonement
or redemption is the greatest expression of God's love and
God's mercy in that He gave us His Son to die in the stead of
the guilty, it is also the greatest expression of the Lord's justice. The sacrifice of Christ Jesus,
the shedding of His blood was the ransom price paid to the
law and justice of God. Justice has been satisfied. God
said to Aaron, or He said to Moses, and then
Moses told this to Aaron, go in the mercy seat with the blood. That's where I'll meet you. That's
where I'll commune with you. And we meet with and we commune
with God today. through the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And God says, that's where I'll
meet you. That's where I'll commune with
you. And I say to sinners who are troubled with your sin, troubled
by your guilt, Spirit of God working in your heart, listen.
There's one place to meet with God and commune with God. Christ
Jesus. And God said, that's where I'll
meet you. That's where I'll commune with you. Nowhere else. You think about this for a while.
It's a great big world. But I have a whole world. One
place. God said to Israel there in Exodus
chapter 25. One place. He said, that's where
I'll meet with you. That's where I'll commune with you. One place. And I know there are a lot of
different religions, there are people watching by internet this
morning, and these folks here know, and you know, there are
a lot of religions out there. There are a lot of different
ways. God said there's one way. There's
one place I'll meet you. One place I'll commune with you.
And I tell you, He's given us His Word. You come to the right
place, He'll beat with you there now. And He'll commune with you. That's Jesus Christ and Him crucified
who died that God might be a just God and a Savior of vile sinners
like you and me. I'll meet you at the mercy seat.
Let's sing that song, 355. It's a song we're going to sing
now.