And Moses says there in verse
5 and 6 in Leviticus 9, and they brought that which Moses commanded
before the tabernacle of the congregation. And all the congregation
stood near, drew near and stood before the Lord. That's what
we've done this morning. We've drew near the congregation
of the Lord's people. come before God's great tabernacle,
our Lord Jesus Christ, one who tabernacled among men. And we're
standing here before the Lord. We're before God. What a blessed
place to be if you've been reconciled to
Him. And then Moses says, This is the thing which the Lord commanded
that you should do, and the glory of the Lord shall appear unto
you. The glory of the Lord shall appear unto you. And he said
down in verse 23 of this chapter, And Moses and Aaron went into
the tabernacle of the congregation and came out and blessed the
people, and the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people. He said he would, and he did. Very, very few in this world
have ever seen the glory of God, have ever seen the glory of the
Lord. Moses asked to see it after God had appeared to him in a
burning bush on the mountain, after He told him and sent him
down into Egypt. And yet he turned around before
he left Egypt and he went up before the Lord and he said,
Lord, if You're with me and You're going to go up with me, let me
see Your glory. And God gave him a glimpse of
His glory when He hid him in the cleft of the rock. Isaiah
saw the glory of the Lord. And when he saw it, and everybody's
ever saw the glory of the Lord. Didn't jump up and start shouting
hallelujah. No, they all fell down. Isaiah
cried, woe is me. I'm undone. I'm a man of unclean
lips. When John saw the Lord Jesus
Christ on the Isle of Patmos, he fell as a dead man. And when
the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham in Mesopotamia
before he called him to go out, O Moses, Abraham stood there
and kept his mouth shut. But here it says that the glory
of God, the whole congregation of Israel is going to see the
glory of the Lord, the whole congregation. And I want you
to notice when this is going to happen. It's in verse 1, it
says this, It came to pass on the eighth day, The eighth day,
wherever you find the word eighth in the scriptures, always a new
beginning. Our Lord Jesus Christ was raised again on that eighth
day as the first day of the week. And the eighth day, new beginning,
resurrection. Our Lord was resurrected. And
on the eighth day is always the beginning, a new beginning, the
first day of the week. It was the day of our Lord's
resurrection, the day that our Lord manifested His glory, when
He put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself, when He manifested
the glory of His power, when He cried out, It is finished,
after that great sacrifice had been made. But God made a glorious
promise to these people. Oh, what a promise He made. And
He says, The glory of the Lord shall appear unto you. the glory
of the Lord shall appear unto you. Now here and all the way
in the Old Testament, when the glory of God appeared unto these
people there, it always appeared in a cloud. The cloud was the
Shekinah glory of God. Moses went into that cloud, remember,
and the Shekinah glory of God would come down as a great cloud. And that cloud would come down
And that was the Shekinah glory of God, and people would stand
in fear. But now you know where God's glory is seen? God's glory
is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fullness of the Godhead dwells
bodily in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're going to see God's
glory now, If God's glory is going to appear to you now, He's
going to appear to you in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not going to be no clouds. Not
going to be no angels. Not going to be no voices. There's
going to be one person that you'll see. And it'll be a revelation
that God gives to you, and that person that you'll see is the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. When Christ came, that's the
reason He came. This is the purpose that He came.
God promised Him to come and to make Himself known in His
blessed Son. God is more known in Christ than
He is anyplace else. God's glory is more manifested
in His Son than it is anyplace else. Now let me show you that. Look with me. You keep Leviticus
and look at 2 Corinthians chapter 4. 2 Corinthians chapter 4. You know, our Lord Jesus Christ
says, Father, I've manifested you glory in this world. I gave your glory unto them that
you gave unto me. They've seen your glory. No man
has seen God at any time save the only begotten Son who came
and declared Him out. Declared Him out. You hear people
say all the time, there's other ways to get to God. There's other
ways to get to heaven. But our Lord Jesus Christ Himself
says, I am the way. No man comes unto the Father
but by me. And this is St. Patrick's Day,
a Catholic holiday. And here, they're going to drink
a lot of green beer, and people are going to wear a lot of green
clothes, and they're going to talk about four-leaf clovers,
they're going to talk about the Irish and all that. But beloved,
it's a Catholic holiday. It's got nothing to do with Christ. There's no glory in that. There
ain't no saint, beloved, but all of God's people are saints.
There's no special saint in this world. There's no special saint
made by anybody. The Scriptures tells us that
all of God's people are saints. To the saints that are in Christ
Jesus. To the call of Christ. To them
that are set apart by Christ. We're all made holy in Christ. And, beloved, if we're going
to see the glory of God, we're going to see it in the Son of
God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And bless His holy name. Look
what it said here. 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse
6. Well, Paul said in verse 5, first
of all, he said, we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the
Lord. We got nothing to say about ourselves. What have we ever
accomplished that God didn't promise? What do we know that
God didn't teach us? What do we have that Christ didn't give
us? What are we going to get except
what He gives for us? So why in the world can we say
about ourselves, Lord, I need you, I want you, I'll fall to
your prostate before you. I need you for your salvation
today as much as I needed you yesterday when I first started.
I cannot attribute and contribute anything to my salvation today
no more than I could 25 years ago. I'm still utterly and absolutely
dependent upon the Lord Jesus Christ and what He did. And who
He is. And so that's why we don't preach
ourselves. And then look what he says. But
we preach ourselves your service for Jesus' sake. Now listen to
this. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
in the creation, He said, let there be light, and there was
light. God commanded. Now watch this. And so, He has
shined in our hearts. He commanded the light to shine
in our hearts. To give the light. Turn on the
light. Give the revelation. of the knowledge
of the glory of God, God's knowledge of His blessed glory. Where's
it at? In the face of Jesus Christ. In the person. And when he says
face, that means the person. And oh, beloved, the glory of
all of God is seen in our Lord Jesus Christ. What glory was
revealed in our Lord's coming. Love was revealed in our Lord's
coming. God so loved the world that He
gave. Mercy was revealed in our Lord's
coming. The power of God was revealed. His glory when our Lord Jesus
Christ come into this world. Power to raise the dead. Power
to cleanse the lepers. Power to make the lame to eat.
Power to give sight to the blind. Power to give death to the hearing.
Power to cleanse men of all their sins. Power! Only God can forgive
sins. And all the compassion. If you
look at people and say, oh, He's moved with compassion. They were
His sheep, not having a shepherd. And the power of His words. They
said, this never man speak like this man. This man speaks with
authority. He don't speak like the scribes
and the Pharisees. Oh, and His words, the power
of His words. Do you imagine what the power
of His words were when He'd speak to some people? And His words
would reach the heart, and His words would reach the soul, and
His words would reach the very depths of a man's heart, and
expose him, and make him glad that he was exposed. His words
had power when He said, get up and follow Me. They got up and
went after Him. In all of Beloved's works, look
at the works that He did. This man, he's done things that
nobody ever had before and nobody will ever do again. In fact,
his works are continuing today. If you're saved, it'll be his
work that'll save you. It'll be his work, sin and the
Holy Spirit, to save you. If you're saved, it'll be Christ
and His power coming to do it for you. It'll be because Christ
put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself that'll save you.
It's His righteousness that'll clothe you. It's His death that
satisfies God for you. There's no hope for anybody apart
from Christ doing the work for you and in you. Is that not right? I believe that with all my heart
and soul. And oh, listen, beloved. Now, let me go back over here
to Leviticus, and let's look at this just a minute. So we've seen that the glory
of God came down in a cloud. They said that God made a promise,
the glory of the Lord is going to appear to you. And He kept
His promise. God's glory appeared to us in
Christ. Do you see His glory? I see His glory. I see His glory
every day, don't you, Ruby? I see His glory. I see the glory
of His blessed person in power. I seize glory in saving sinners. I seize glory in his precious
word. I seize glory when I call on
him and he meets my needs. I seize glory when he saves people
here. I seize glory in you as he's
brought you to believe the gospel of the grace of God. I seize
glory. And look what he says now. There's
some things that had to be done before our Lord would appear.
And some sacrifices had to be made before God could ever manifest
Himself and manifest His glory to these people. They needed
some things. The first thing they needed in
verse 7. Moses said unto Aaron, Go unto
the altar, and offer thy sin offering and thy burnt offering,
and make an atonement for yourself and for the people. and offer
the offering of the people and make an atonement for them. First
off, you've got to have a mediator. You've got to have somebody else
go and make an offering for you. You can't go on your own. You
ain't got nothing to bring. In my head, no cross I bring.
You've got to have a mediator. Aaron, as a priest, must first
make an atonement for himself. He got atoned for his own sins. And, beloved, and then he goes
and appears, the one who appears to come between God and men,
he must be, first of all, accepted of God. If he's going to appear
in God on our behalf, he first and himself must be accepted
of God. He first himself must have his
sins put away. And beloved, and I, Lord Jesus
Christ, talking about a mediator, one mediator between God and
me of the Lord Jesus Christ, the man Jesus Christ. And this
one person appears before God for everybody else. And that's
why the scripture says, I'll read it to you. You don't have
to look at it. I'll read it to you. But in Hebrews chapter five,
verse one, look what it says here. Hebrews 5, verse 1, talking
about this priest, this one who goes into the presence of God
for us. First of all, you've got to have a mediator. And there ain't but one mediator,
and he's in glory. He sits at God's right hand.
One mediator between God and me and the man, Christ Jesus,
sat there on his throne. And I tell you, beloved, one
appears for all, one represents everybody before God. He must
be holy, he must be appointed by God, and he must be accepted
of God, or else he ain't worth nothing. That's why we don't
have priests on the earth today. I don't care how they dress.
I don't care how they wave their hand. I don't care how red their
garments is, how white their garments is, how gold their chains
are, how gold their heads are, and how many people come for
them, but I'm telling you something right now, there ain't no priest
on the face of this earth right now. There's only one priest,
and he sits in God's right hand. He's our great high priest that's
passed into the heavens. Jesus, the Son of God, let's
hold fast to our profession. Oh boy, bless his name. Now look
what it says here in Hebrews 5. For every priest taken from
among men is ordained for men. God takes them from among men,
ordains them for men, now watch this, in things pertaining to
God. That he may offer both gifts and sacrifices, watch this, for
sins. That's the first issue that has
to be settled, sins. Who can have him? This person
that's set apart by God, he can have compassion on the ignorant.
Boy, I tell you what, that's me. And on them that are out
of the way. Now listen to this, for that he himself is also compassed
with infirmity. And by reason hereof, he ought,
as also for the people, shall also offer sacrifices for sins
for himself. But now here's the difference.
You've got to first have a mediator. You've got to have somebody appointed
by God and make an atonement. And then look what else. They
brought these sacrifices. Look at the sacrifices they brought.
Look back up here in Leviticus, chapter 2 and 3. There were going
to be four special sacrifices. You've got to have a perfect
sacrifice. And there was four sacrifices going to be offered
before the Lord. And you know how they say that?
Moses said unto Aaron, Take thee a young calf, first of all, if
they had a sin offering. Then a ram for a burnt offering.
Now watch what he says about them, without blemish. And offer
them where? Before the Lord. You know, the Pharisees and scribes,
they loved to make loyal prayers and make all before men for to
be seen of men. But watch what else he goes on
to say here. And unto the children of Israel thou shalt speak, take
ye a kid and a goat for a sin offering, and a cat and a lamb,
both of the first year," now watch this, without blemish,
for a burnt offering. So you got a sin offering, you
got a burnt offering. And then in verse four it says
this, also a bullock and a ram for a peace offering. Peace offerings
that we might be reconciled. that the wrath of God may be
taken from us, and peace established between us and God. And that
meat offering, that meat offering means a meal offering. That's
bread mingled with oil that you're offering. For today will the
Lord appear unto you. So you see, they had these offerings. First of all, they all had to
be without blemish. Couldn't have no spots on them,
no blemish. And believe me, they went over them things with a
fine-tooth comb. They looked over from top to bottom. They
looked over them. The priest inspected them things.
I mean, they looked over them. And that's what God does for
men today. God Almighty, His eye looks right
out. His Word goes to the thoughts and intents of the heart. The
eyes of the Lord run to and fro, beholding everything that a man
does. But our Lord Jesus Christ, was
all these sacrifices and more. You talk about a sin offering?
He appeared by the sacrifice of himself to put away sin once
in the end of the world. Talking about a burnt offering?
When he was on that cross, the wrath of God fell on him. The fire of God fell on him. The judgment of God fell on him.
And God got all of the burnt offering. It was burnt. I mean,
God got every bit of it. And God got all of Christ. God got his heart. He got his
soul. He got his mind. His soul was
poured out as an offering. And I'll tell you, when our Lord
Jesus Christ, He made peace through the blood of His cross, He's
that bread, that heavenly bread that God gave us, mingled with
the blessed oil of the Holy Spirit. And none of those sacrifices
ever put away sin, they just put them away till the next time.
But our Lord Jesus Christ actually, actually put it away. Our Lord
Jesus Christ actually satisfied justice. Our Lord Jesus Christ
actually bore the wrath of God in His own body on that tree,
bore our sins in His own body on that tree. And all the glory,
the glory, the glory we see in His precious death. for sinners,
wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. And I tell you what, His death
was for sinners. He didn't die to make men savable. He didn't die to open a door
so folks could walk through it. He didn't die to give men a chance
to be saved. When He died, beloved, He actually
put away the sins of all His people once and for all. If all He does is make us saveable,
we'd be no better off than we was before we died. Ain't that
right? If He doesn't put away all of
our sins, who's going to put them away? Me? You? I can't even
control my own mind. I sit down to pick up a Bible,
my mind will go, phew! But I sit and watch television,
it don't go, phew! I can pick up a magazine and
read it, Newspaper, read it. But when I just squeeze, you
pick up a Bible, something happens to your brain. Bless you, sis. The minute you go pray, unless
you pray spontaneously, and God bless you to pray spontaneously.
If you say, I'm going to pray, and let's pray now, just as quick
as you start praying. So who in the world is going
to atone for all our sins? When we don't read the Word of
God, and we read it, and our mind runs here, yonder, and everywhere,
and pray it, our mind has to struggle to keep it. Who's going
to atone for them sins? I can't. See what I'm talking
about? Oh, bless His holy name. He died
for sinners. Listen to me now. Now, let's
look at the results of these offerings back over here in Leviticus.
Look what happened now. Christ actually put it away.
These sacrifices, Christ our Lord, was that one final sacrifice
for sin. That last lamb that was ever
offered, the Lamb of God, Christ our Passover, sacrificed for
us. Now look what happens down here
in verse 22. The results of this offering, the results of the
mediator going and making these offerings, down in verse 22. And Aaron lifted up his hands
toward the people, and he blessed them. When did he bless them? After
the offerings were made. After God was satisfied. After
sin had been put away. After peace had been established. After Aaron had done made atonement. That's when he lifted up his
hands and he blessed the people. Ain't that what our Lord Jesus
Christ did when he was getting ready to leave this world? Lifted
up his hands and blessed his people. Oh, the offerings have
been given. Sand's been put away. Forgiveness is now theirs. Peace
has been established. Now, now the people can be blessed
by the great high priest. Now, And oh, beloved, I tell
you. And then look what happens down
in verse 23. And Moses and Aaron went into
the tabernacle of the congregation and came
out and blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared
unto all the people. Well, who did the glory of the
Lord appear to? to all the people, every one for whom an offering
was made. That was the only ones the Lord
appeared to. Huh? All for whom the offerings was
made. You know, and that's the only
ones the Lord Jesus Christ appears to now, in the glory of the Lord
Jesus Christ now, is the only ones that He made a sacrifice
for, made an atonement for. And when we see that His sacrificial
substitutionary death was for us, that His glory will appear. We see it. We see the glory of
our great high priest. He came and blessed us after
He went up and made an offering, after He went up and put away
sin by the sacrifice of Himself. And one of these days, one of
these days, we're going to see Him as He is. We're going to
see Him as He is. And we'll all be glorified together
when Christ, who is our life, shall appear. Then shall we also
appear with Him." Crack in glory. Christ will appear in glory,
and we'll appear with Him. We'll appear with Him. And let
me show you something else here in Leviticus 24. And the glory
of the Lord appeared unto all the people. Now listen, I want
you to understand this. His glory only appears to those
in whom the atonement was made, who the offering was made, whose
sin was put away. That's the only people. You know,
this idea, you know, that's jumping us down and hollering and screaming
and carrying on, you know, I see the Lord, I see the Lord. I'll
tell you something. Boy, if you ever see Him, your heart will
melt. Your heart will just rejoice.
Your heart will be so thankful. Now look what happened. In verse
24. And the glory of the Lord appeared
unto all the people. You'd think the first thing that
would happen, you know, is everybody would just be so thankful. But
then there came fire out from before the Lord. We've seen God's
glory in that fire coming down. What do you mean? And consumed
upon the halls of the burnt offering and the fat. Oh, you see what
I'm saying? Not only is sin put away, but
judgments must fall. You see, that judgment has failed.
There came fire out from the Lord. And Hebrews 12, 29 says
that our Lord, our God, is a consuming fire. And this fire didn't fall
on the people, it fell upon the sacrifice. It fell upon the sacrifice. It fell upon the burnt offering.
And beloved, it fell on the sinner outside. Instead of falling on
the people, it fell on the sacrifice. Because the sacrifice was what
was putting away sin. And so when God's judgment fell,
it fell on our Lord Jesus Christ. Now let me tell you the difference.
When this fire come down, it consumed the sacrifice. I mean consumed it all. The difference
is now when the fire fell on Christ, Christ consumed all the
fire. He consumed that judgment. He
consumed that wrath. Now when the judgment comes,
I'm not afraid of God as a consuming fire. Christ done consumed that
fire. He's done more than judgment. Oh, the wrath of God was spent
on him. Oh my, the God of glory, the
God between whom we have to do is also a consuming fire. And
oh, look with me in Isaiah 63. You've got to see this. I love
this. This morning I was looking at it again. Isaiah 63, talking
about our Lord Jesus Christ. He consumed. When the wrath fell
on Christ, He didn't consume him. He consumed the fire. He
consumed the judgment. It's appointed unto men once
to die, and after this, the judgment. But our Lord Jesus Christ, He
faced the judgment, and then He died. So you see, we've done
faced the judgment in Christ. And when we leave this world,
we're going into His presence just like that. But I'll tell
you something, for those who don't know Christ, God's a consuming
fire. Look what he says here, Isaiah
63, talking about Christ now. Who is this that cometh from
Eden, with dyed garments from Basra, this glorious in his apparel,
traveling in the greatness of his strength? He tells us who
it is. I that speak in righteousness,
mighty to save. Where are your red and your apparel? Why is your garments red and
your garments like him that treads the wine fat? Listen to what
our Savior says. I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people nobody was with me. I did this by myself. For I will tread them in mine
anger, and tremble them in my fury, and their blood shall be
sprinkled upon my garments. And I'll stain all my raiment,
and I'll get into the judgment of God, and I'll bear all this,
everything that's due against Him. For the day of vengeance
is in my heart." God's vengeance to judgment fell on Christ, and
listen what happened, and that happened. The year of my redeem
has come. And I looked, who's going to
help me? Nobody. I wondered, nobody's
going to uphold me. Therefore my own arm brought
salvation unto me, and my fury it upheld me. And I'll tread
them down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in
my fury, and bring down their strength to the earth. I'll just
make them to understand that they have nothing. And then look,
and that is why I'm going to do that for my people. I'll mention
the lovingkindnesses of the Lord, and the praises of the Lord according
to all that the Lord hath bestowed upon us, and the great goodness
toward the house of Israel. which he hath bestowed on them
according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of
his lovingkindness." Now listen, surely they are my people. Children that will not lie. We're going to lie on God. We're going to lie to ourselves.
We're going to come clean. Children that will not lie. So
He was their Savior. In all their affliction, He was
afflicted. And the angel of His presence
saved them. And in His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them. And listen, and He bared them
and carried them all the days of the year. Oh my, that's the judgment that
Christ bore for us. Now look back over here, and
I'll wind this thing up for you. Look in verse 24. It says again
over here in Leviticus 9.24. Look what happened now. After the
sacrifice had been made, after the fire had failed, when the
glory of God, the glory of the Lord had appeared unto all the
people for whom the offerings were made. And then look in the
last part of the verse. And the fire came out from before
the Lord to soon to pull them all to the burnt offering in
the fast. When all the people saw it, they shouted, and listen
to this, and fell on their faces. Fell on their faces. This is the response of everybody
who sees His glory. All who sees glory as the Lamb
slain, All who see His glory as the substitute for sin, all
who see Him as our great High Priest. When our Lord manifests
His power and His glory, all we do is bow and worship. Oh, the glory of His grace, the
glory of His justice leads us to shout in our heart and souls
and praise Him and bowing down before Him. And, oh, beloved,
I tell you, to worship Him, to bow before Him, to bless His
name, there's nothing like it in this world. I'll read this
to you, and I'm done. When Solomon laid an end of praying,
the fire came down from heaven, consumed the burnt offerings
and the sacrifices. And listen, and the glory of
the Lord filled the house. And the priest could not enter
into the house of the Lord because of the glory of the Lord, and
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, for He
is good, for His mercy endures forever. Amen. The glory of the Lord appeared.
Have you ever seen it? Have you seen the glory of God
in Jesus Christ? Have you seen God's glory and
how He saves sinners through Jesus Christ? Have you seen Christ's
glory in putting away sin by the sacrifice of Himself? If you haven't, may God do it
to you today. May you see His glory. Our Father, in the precious,
glorious name of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, we bless
Your holy name for allowing us to meet here today, for allowing
us to call on Your name, mention Your name, to speak well of You
today, we pray, to magnify You, to honor You. And Lord bless it to the hearts
and the minds hearing of those gathered together in the pious.
For only you can. We ask this in Christ's name.
Amen.