of Leviticus today, Leviticus
chapter 16. Leviticus chapter 16. This is a chapter of Scripture that I'm
sure you've looked at before. And believe me, it will bear
looking at many times. This is about the Day of Atonement. And here's what I'm going to
do. If the Lord would bless us, if
He would enable me, I'm going to bring you four messages
from this chapter. And actually the two for today
will basically be like introductory messages and then we'll really
get into the body of the chapter, the Lord willing, next week. I would say that this great chapter, Leviticus
16, it is as vital and as important and as instructive a chapter
as there is in all of the Levitical era or dispensation. Because it deals with the events
on the day of atonement. the day of atonement, the day
of reconciliation, the day of the covering of sin. And really
it can only be understood in light of the New Testament, and
specifically in light of Hebrews chapter number 10. And we'll
have a section of that chapter read to us this evening. As we view Leviticus chapter
16, we will understand it only in the light of gospel illumination. It's only in the light of the
finished work of our Savior that we will see that we ought to
give our worthy attention, our serious attention to this great
chapter. Here we see Aaron. He's the high
priest of Israel. He foreshadows our Savior, the
Lord Jesus, who is himself the great high priest of his people. Thank God we have a high priest. And he sits in the heavens. He
sits at the right hand of the Father. He's exalted. because of the work that he finished
when he was on this earth. The work of redemption. The work
of reconciliation. That which is foreshadowed in
this great chapter, this work of atonement, our Savior has
finished it. He actually reconciled us to
God. We know that in Leviticus chapter
16, we know that the sins of Israel, and we'll get to the
section where Aaron lays his hands on the head of the scapegoat,
or there's a symbolic transference of the sins of Israel, and then
they're born away. We know all these things, the
killing of the other goat, and then the releasing of this goat
by the hand of a fit man, the taking of that goat onto a land
uninhabited. We know all of these things,
they didn't really put away sin. There's no way the blood of bulls
and goats could wash away the vileness, the evil, the wretchedness
of sin. There is only one thing that
can remove sin. There is only one thing that
can satisfy God's justice, that demands death for sin, and that
was the blood, the bloody death and the sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus. This didn't put any sin away. We'll find that Aaron offers
a sacrifice for himself. He was a sinful man. We'll find
that he offered a sacrifice for his family. His family were sinful
individuals. We'll find that Aaron offered
a sacrifice for all of Israel, for Israel was a sinful nation. Yes, the Lord cared for them,
and the Lord was leading them, and the Lord gave them directions
for these things, but they were a sinful people in need of a
sacrifice, but neither the sins of Aaron, nor the sins of his
family, nor the sins of all of Israel were ever put away by
the blood of bulls and goats and such animals. Look with me in Hebrews chapter
10. As I said, we'll have a good
section of this chapter read to us this evening, but let me
just show you a couple of things here, and you can mark there
in Leviticus chapter 16, we'll go back to it. We know that Aaron, and His work,
and the sacrifices that He offered, they were all by divine appointment. Right? They were by divine appointment. But they were just so many pictures. They were just so many shadows
of our Lord Jesus. Look at Hebrews chapter 10 verse
1. For the law, and specifically
that section of the law that dealt with the offerings and
the sacrifices. 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 thereto perfect. Look down in verse 4. For it
is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should
take away sins. Well, what were these things?
They were shadows. That's what the apostle says
in the first verse. For the law having a shadow of
good things to come. A shadow. Webster's Dictionary gives these
definitions of shadow. A reflected image. An imperfect and faint representation. That's good. That's good. Because all of these animals
that died And Aaron, who was the high priest, who was himself
a shadow of our Lord Jesus Christ, they were but reflected images. They were reflecting an image.
That is, they were an imperfect and a faint representation of
somebody, the Lord Jesus. In Strong's Concordance, he gives
this definition of shadow. An image that is cast by an object
and representing that form of that object. In other words,
a shadow isn't anything tangible. It's just an image of that which
is real. Of that which has substance. You see, only our Lord Jesus
is the substance. And He's the one who cast the
shadow. And Aaron the high priest, and
the animal sacrifices that he offered, and the scapegoat that
was released, that was taken out into the wilderness. These
things were just so many faint representations of our Lord Jesus. We know that in the Old Testament
it is full of pictures and a typology of our Lord Jesus. We know that.
But they're all faint and imperfect representations of Him. And all
of them put together There are lots of typologies in the Old
Testament of our Savior. There are lots of shadows of
our Lord Jesus in the Old Testament. Lots of pictures of our Lord
Jesus in the Old Testament. But all of them together are
not really sufficient to set forth the glory and the wonders
and the perfections and the majesty of our Lord Jesus Christ. And so the apostle uses this
word, shadow. You see, our Lord Jesus is the
shadow, or is the substance who cast the shadow. His work of
salvation on the cross is the substance that actually accomplished
God's will of redemption. The events which happened on
the day of atonement, they were shadows. Shadows. Go back to Leviticus 16. Aaron foreshadowed the work of
our high priest, our great high priest, even as the deaths of
these animals foreshadowed the death of the Son of God. Now understand this, there was
made by Aaron a sacrifice or an atonement once a year, and
it had to do with the sins of Israel. As I said, he had to
offer a sacrifice for his own sins. Thank God we have a sinless
sacrifice in the Lord Jesus. But he had to offer a sacrifice
for his own sins. He had to offer a sacrifice for
his family members. He had to offer a sacrifice for
all the nation of Israel. Because you see, unless the sins
of Israel were atoned for, that nation could not be at peace
with God and God could not dwell with them. There had to be a
day of atonement every year. Or as we read in Hebrews chapter
10, year by year. God is holy. God is righteous. He would never
allow this chosen nation to have His abiding presence in the holy
of holies apart from their sins being typically put away and
punished in a suitable substitute of His choosing. Now I want you to notice First
of all, a vital connection between something that has already happened
and this great chapter. And I know that we tend to read
over some words sometimes in the Scriptures, and that's a
mistake. Look at chapter 16, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto
Moses, and this of course is concerning the instructions about
what's going to happen on the Day of Atonement. So he says, these are words for
you Moses, and you give them to Aaron, your brother. But look
at this, and the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the
two sons of Aaron when they offered before the Lord, and they died. So you're really not going to
understand how vital this chapter is. You are not going to understand
how important this chapter is unless you realize the connection
between this and what happened with Aaron's two sons. Go back to chapter 9 then of
Leviticus. Chapter 9 of Leviticus. Aaron's two sons that are mentioned
are Nadab and Abihu. They have been ceremonially consecrated
as God's priests in chapters 8 and 9. To each of them was
given the garments of a priest. These brothers participated in
the worship of the Lord. They assisted their father in
offering the sin offering, and they helped their father with
the burnt offering unto the Lord. These two men watched in chapter
9 as Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle to appear before
the Lord. They were there when the blessings
of the Lord were pronounced upon the people. Look at chapter 9
in verse 23. And Moses and Aaron went into
the tabernacle of the congregation and came out and blessed the
people and those two sons were there. And the glory of the Lord
appeared unto all the people. These two sons saw the glory
of the Lord. The bright Shekinah glory of
God. They were there in verse 24.
There came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the
altar the burnt offering and the fat, which when all the people
saw, they shouted and fell on their faces, and included in
that number of those who shouted and fell on their faces were
Nadab and Abihu. They were there. They saw all
of this. They shouted. They fell on their
faces. But look at chapter 10, verse
1 begins, And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, they took
either of them his censer, they put fire in it, And they put
incense thereon, and offered unto the Lord strange fire, strange
fire before the Lord, which He commanded them not. They brought
strange fire. And there went out a fire from
the Lord, verse 2, and devoured them, and they died before the
Lord. And we're told in Leviticus chapter
16 that the instructions about the Day of Atonement that were
given to Moses, and Moses was to give those instructions to
Aaron. All of this about the Day of
Atonement immediately followed these two men being killed by
the Lord. What's the connection then? What's
the connection? Let me make about two or three
comments here. And there's so much to say. I
mean, this is a message in itself, but we want to see how does this
tie over to the Day of Atonement? Because the Scripture says it
does. Well, let me show you this. First of all, doesn't this show
us that grace doesn't run in the bloodline? Grace doesn't
run in the bloodline. Here are two of the sons of Aaron.
They both died in their sin. They died in their rebellion
and they perished. And their father was the high
priest of Israel, the brother of Moses. But these two men were
without grace. They were without God. They were
without Christ. They were without hope in this
world. I hope that God will save your
children. I hope that God will save your
grandchildren. I hope that God will save my
children and my grandchildren. But grace doesn't run in the
bloodline. And just because you believe
the gospel of God's grace doesn't automatically mean that somehow
or another your children are sheltered and they will be alright
and they'll be brought into the fold of salvation. Doesn't run
in the bloodline. It runs in the grace line. Not
in the bloodline of man. John chapter 1 we read of those
who received the Lord Jesus, that they were born not of blood,
it's not a matter of heredity, it's not a matter of family association,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh. The will of the
natural man is dead set against God and is in bondage. nor of the will of man. The new
birth which goes before faith is not due to the efforts or
the wants or the desires of others, but of God. but of God. Those who are born are born of
God. The new birth is a work of God Himself. It takes a divine
energy to raise a dead soul and give a heart of faith. A divine
energy just like that energy. In fact, it's the same energy
that raised Christ Jesus from the grave has got to raise dead
sinners. I say to you moms and dads, I
say to you grandparents, raise your children and your grandchildren
in the nurture and the admonition of the Lord. Read the scriptures
to them. You lead them before the Lord
in prayer. You bring them to the house of
worship. The greatest thing you can do
for your children and for your grandchildren is to bring them
under the sound of the gospel of God's grace to sinners in
the Lord Jesus Christ. But know this, they cannot be
talked into the kingdom of God. You can't talk them into it.
I can't talk them into it. They've got to be born into the
kingdom of God and that's God's work. And I know we want to shield
our children and our grandchildren. We want to keep them safe from
the world. And I understand that. And we
have responsibilities as parents and as grandparents to do all
we can for them. But always remember this, the
world is already in their hearts. You can't keep them from the
world. The world is in their hearts. Death is already there.
Sin is already there. Perversion is already there.
Degradation is already there. You can't keep them from it.
Oh, I'm going to protect my children. I'm going to protect my grandchildren.
Well, then you've got to protect them from themselves. Because
they're vile. I know we love them. They're
sweet. As little babies, we caress them, we hold them, but I'm telling
you, they're just as vile as we are. They just haven't grown
up and learned how to give vent to their wretchedness yet. But
it's there. That's why you don't have to
teach your child to lie. Well, I don't understand why
my child would lie to me. Well, I do. I do. They're a human being. They're your offspring, that's
why. That's why you have to teach
them to be honest. Teach them to tell the truth.
Teach them to share. You don't have to teach them
to be stingy. You don't have to teach them to be covetous. Why, those things come natural.
Nobody has to give a class on desiring what other people have,
being a covetous person, and envying. No, it's not. The world's
in our hearts already. That which is not in the heart
is grace. And you can't give it to them.
And I can't give it to them. Only God can. You take these
sons of Aaron. You know Aaron led his sons in
worship, and they physically participated in the worship. He set before them an example
of a man who is committed to the cause of God, but they died
in their sins. You cannot raise Christian children. You cannot raise godly children. You cannot raise heaven-born
children. That's God's work. That's God's
work. Grace doesn't run in the bloodline. The second thing I want to show
you, it is possible to actively and actually be engaged in a
religious service and yet not know the God of the Bible. You know these men? These Nadab
and Abihu? They wore the garments of a priest. But they didn't know Him who
is the Great High Priest. They brought the blood that was
sprinkled on the altar, but the blood of the Son of God was never
sprinkled on their consciences and on their hearts. At their consecration, They were
washed hourly with the water of purification, but their hearts
were still filthy and defiled before God. They were active,
they participated in worship service, but they didn't know
the Lord. Look back in chapter 9. Look
at verse 9 of chapter 9. Chapter 9 and verse 9. And the sons of Aaron brought
the blood unto Him. They handled the blood. Look down in verse 12. He slew
the burnt offering, and Aaron's sons presented unto him the blood. They're still handling the blood.
Look at verse 13. They presented the burnt offering
unto him, with the pieces thereof in the head, and he burnt them
upon the altar. They handled the burnt offering.
Look down at verse 18. He, that is Aaron, slew also
the bullock and the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings, which was
for the people. And Aaron's sons presented unto
him the blood which he sprinkled upon the altar round about. And
they also presented to him the fat of the bullock and of the
ram, the rump and that which covereth the inwards and the
kidneys and the call above the liver. And they put the fat upon
the breast, and then he burnt the fat upon the altar. They were very involved in this
religious service, but they didn't know God. It is possible. It is absolutely
possible to go through the outward motions of religion and yet have
a heart that is unbroken and full of sin and full of unbelief. Oh God, teach us the gospel in
the inner man, in the inner parts. I tell you, I don't want to perish
with a Bible in my hand swearing that I know the God of the Bible.
I want to know Him in reality. Like the Apostle Paul, I count
all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus,
my Lord. I want to know Him, don't you? I don't want to just go through
the motions. I don't want to just mouth the
words. Well, it's time to stand and sing. Then we sit down. We're
so programmed. One of these days I'm going to
switch things around here and you're going to be totally confused.
But I'm afraid it can become just a ritual to us. We don't even think about it.
You see, real worship involves the heart. Real faith involves
the heart. Real adoration of God involves
the heart. And only He can give a new heart,
a heart of faith to believe Him and love Him and trust Him and
adore Him. Oh God, don't let us just go
through the motions. Go through the motions. I want
to know Him and the power of His resurrection. Don't you?
I know you do. Well, let me ask you this. Here's
something else. Where did these men err? It says
they burn incense in their censers with fire. that the Lord said
is strange fire. Notice back in chapter 9 verse
24. Now let's focus on the fire. There came a fire out from before
the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and
the fat, which when all the people saw they shouted, and they fell
on their faces. The fire of God consumed the
sacrifice on the brazen altar. And then using those hot coals
off the altar, the men were to put those coals in the censer,
those coals off the brazen altar. What does the brazen altar speak
of? Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Every motion of worship, every
element of worship is based upon Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Isn't that right? Don't you dare
pray or ask God for anything or try to worship or do anything
pertaining to the Lord apart from the blaze and altar and
the sacrifice thereon. That is the Lord Jesus Christ
and His substitutionary sacrifice to God. Don't try to do anything,
otherwise you'll be rejected like these men were. They didn't
go to the brazen altar. They didn't take those hot coals
off the brazen altar with the tongues and put them in their
censers and then put incense upon that. They used strange
fire. I don't know where they got their
fire. Maybe from the seething pots, where the flesh of the
animals was seething, and there was a fire underneath it to keep
the water boiling. Maybe that's where they got their
coals from. It doesn't matter where they
got their coals from. They got them from the wrong
place. They got them from the wrong
place. Look at chapter 16, verse 12. Chapter 16, verse 12. Back to
this chapter about the day of atonement. Look at verse 12. 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,
deep and small, and bring it within the veil. The brazen altar,
that's the place of substitution. That's the place of satisfaction. Everything started right there.
Because that represented, that was a shadow, a faint representation
of the sacrificial death of our Savior. There was no washing
for a priest. There was no communion with God
by a priest. There was no eating of the showbread
inside the holy place by a priest. There was to be no burning of
the incense there inside the holy place. No presentation of
the sacrifice of thanksgiving to God. There could be no worship
whatsoever except first a man's stop out there at the brazen
altar. That's where the blood was shared.
That's where sin is put away. You've got to go to Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. Otherwise, all of your religious
efforts are for naught. They count for nothing. It's
all strange fire. If you don't come to God through
the blood and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, from the fire,
from off the brazen altar, you're coming on the basis of strange
fire. And that's what false religion
is. It's just strange fire. And it doesn't matter what the
fire is, it's like I said, whether it's come from underneath a pot
that's seething flesh, or came from their own campfire, what
difference does it make? It's all streams fired to God. I hear people talk about various
religions and various churches. Well, they come pretty close
to the truth over there. It either is the truth or it
isn't the truth. There is no in between. Well,
they get pretty close. You either got it or you don't
got it. Isn't that right? You either have the truth or
you don't have the truth. And if you don't have the truth,
you've got to lie. If you don't have God's fire,
you've got strange fire. Strange fire. You see, these men picture sinners
who try to come to God by some other means than the blood and
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And to do so is
to offer God strange fire. I'll tell you another mistake
they made. They dared to come before God without the high priest. Where is the high priest? Where's
Aaron? Hey man, I see you busy burning
incense here. Where's your high priest? He's not with us. He's not with
us. And I speak to all of you. I
speak to myself. I speak to those who are watching
or maybe listening to this later on the CD. Where's your high
priest? and all that you say you're doing
for God, where's your high priest? You can't come to God except
through Jesus Christ. You can't do anything for God
except through Jesus Christ. You say you pray to God, where's
your high priest? Where's the blood? Where's the
sacrifice? Or as Isaac said, where's my
lamb? You say you're worshiping God,
and all over this town today, They are what men call worship
services. Where is the Lamb? I can't do anything about those
other religious edifices out here. But in this place, we are
going to present the Lamb. We are going to talk about the
Lamb. We are going to lift the Lamb up. Because everything is
in association with the Lamb and His sacrifice. You can't
do anything for God. You can't worship God apart from
the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. You see, He is our sin offering. He alone is our Great High Priest.
He is the sacrifice which by the fire of God's wrath and justice, law was satisfied. You know where this fire that
destroyed them came from? It says a fire went out from
before the Lord. It's the same fire as in chapter
9 verse 24. The fire that consumed the sacrifice
consumed them. Our Lord Jesus, charged with
the sins of His people, died on a cross. Divine justice struck
out against him. If I may say so, the fire of
God's wrath was directed toward him. But it didn't consume him. It didn't consume him like consumed
the sacrifices on the altar here. He consumed the fire. He drank the cup of God's wrath
down to its last bitter dregs and he emptied it. No fire left
for God's people. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ Jesus. The fire of God's wrath, of God's
vengeance against sin, smote the Savior and was satisfied. It exhausted itself on Him. Isn't that wonderful? It exhausted
itself in Him. That same fire is going to destroy
every sinner who dies without the Savior. But it'll never be satisfied.
Never will be satisfied. Six or seven things that never
say it's enough. The fire that burneth. It'll
never say, well, that's enough. That's enough. It won't ever
say that. I'll give you this, Aaron held
his peace. You see that? Look back in chapter
10. In chapter 10 verse 3, Moses
said unto Aaron, This it is that the Lord spake, saying, I will
be sanctified, I will be regarded as holy in them that come nigh
me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron
held his peace. He had no argument with God's
judgment. No argument. Because what God
did was right. What God did was fair. And Aaron
knew it. So go back to chapter 16. You
say, okay preacher, what is your point? What is your point? Right after the deaths of these
two men, from chapter 11 through 15, God gives various laws. Then we get to chapter 16 and
God gives these instructions about error and offering unto
God and atonement for the sins of Israel once a year. After
God killed Nadab and Abihu, after those rebels had died, this question,
I would say, was very much on the mind of Aaron and others. Can anybody worship the Lord
without having to worry about being struck down dead? Tell
you, if I was Aaron, I'd be a little apprehensive about going in and
burning incense. Can anyone enter into the presence
of Jehovah without being consumed by the fire of his righteous
indignation? Or to put it this way, is it
possible for a sinner to draw near to God, to approach to the
Lord, and do business with God without fear of being devoured
by the Lord? Chapter 16 answers that question. Yes, there is a way. That's what chapter 16 is all
about. There's a way! There's a way to come to God!
You don't have to worry about being killed, about God's fire
striking you dead. You come through the blood of
a substitute. You come to the sacrifice. The
Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 16, we'll see that
God will accept Aaron's worship. He will approach the Lord. He
will be accepted by the Lord so long as he approaches the
right way. And I'm telling you, there's
a right way to come to God. There's a million wrong ways,
but bless God, there is one right way. There is one way you will
be accepted. And our Lord Jesus said, I am
the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. He said, no man
cometh unto the Father. Bless His name. He didn't stop
there. It doesn't stop there. He didn't
say, no man cometh to the Father. Period. He said, no man cometh
unto the Father but by Man, whoo, that's good news. Good news for
sinners. You see, Leviticus chapter 16
is good news for sinners. Good news for sinners. Oh now
listen, Leviticus chapter 10, bad news for sinners. You come
the wrong way, you come with strange fire, you're going to
die. You're going to die. You can
do whatever you want to in religion, you're going to die. But you
come the right way. The right way is the way of life
everlasting in Christ Jesus. Okay, we're going to edge you
a little further tonight. Let's sing.