Oh my. Well, turn if you would to Leviticus
chapter 16. I'll read verses 1 to 34. The
reason I picked these songs about the blood will become very evident
as we read this chapter. And the Lord spake unto Moses
after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before
the Lord and died. And the Lord said unto Moses,
speak unto Aaron, thy brother, that he come not at all times
into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which
is upon the ark, that he die not. For I will appear in the
cloud upon the mercy seat. Thus shall Aaron come into the
holy place with a young bullock for a sin offering and a ram
for a burn offering. He shall put on the holy linen
coat, and he shall have the linen britches upon his flesh, and
shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with a linen miter
shall he be attired. These are the holy garments,
wherewith shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on. And he shall take of the congregation
of the children of Israel two kids of the goat 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. And he shall take the two goats
and present them before the Lord at the tabernacle of the congregation. Now here's something important
I wanna bring forth. Both these goats had to be perfect. They
had to be spotless, both of them. One's gonna be the offering,
and one's gonna be the scapegoat. No one knows which. So they have
to be perfect and spotless. And Aaron shall, verse 8, 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.
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 let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. 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. Now, Christ is both the priest,
but he doesn't have to offer anything for himself because
he's sinless. Aaron has to offer an offering because he's a sinful
man. And then Christ is also the altar, we know that. Christ
is the scapegoat, and Christ is the offering. So all these
things here we're going to see. There's so many pictures of Christ
in this passage. It's just absolutely beautiful.
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. And he shall take of the blood
of the bullock 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. There's
the number of perfection. 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. So he's to do for the people
the same thing as what was done for himself because they're sinners
too and they need an atonement as well. And he shall make an atonement
for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel, verse 16, and because of their transgression 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.
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. And he shall go out
into the altar that is before the Lord and make an atonement
for it. And shall take the blood of the bullock and of the blood
of the goat and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. And remember again, the altar
represents Christ as well. And he shall sprinkle the blood
upon it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and hollow
it with the uncleanness of the children of Israel. 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, this shows us imputation, 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 into
a land not inhabited, that's the scapegoat, and he shall let
go of the goat in the wilderness. 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. 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 a sin offering and the goat for the sin offering whose blood
was bought in to make an 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. 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 so shall join us 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, who's our rest? Christ, he's our Sabbath, isn't
he? And you shall afflict your souls by a statute forever. And
the priest whom he shall anoint and whom he shall consecrate
to minister in the priest's office in 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, the congregation, and for the altar. and he shall
make an atonement for the priests 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. My, what a passage of scripture.
This speaks of the great day of atonement. The great day of
atonement. Now before Adam fell, He enjoyed
fellowship with God in the garden. He communed with God. He walked
and he talked with God. But when he fell, he broke a
covenant with God by taking the forbidden fruit. And that communion
with God was broken. Now in the days of the tabernacle,
in the days of the sacrifice when the high priest would offer
the blood atonement, once a year, He would do this once a year
on the great day of atonement. When God was pleased to dwell
amongst His people, He manifested His presence to them in the fact
that He led them out of Egypt, didn't He? He led them out of
Egypt. And He was with them no matter
what through all that wilderness. He was with them, wasn't He?
He never left them nor forsook them. And that's what He does
for us. He'd never leave us nor forsake
us no matter what. And He was a pillar of fire by
night and a cloud by day. He was also in the tabernacle.
Now the tabernacle was always erected in the middle of the
camp, in the middle of the camp. And during those days of separation, it was painfully revealed to the people of Israel that
there was a separation by their sin between them and God. So
this great day of atonement was to be done each year in recognition
of their sinfulness and the holiness of God. And they saw daily though, didn't
they? They saw daily the mercy of God. Daily they saw the mercy
of God. In the tabernacle, which again
was placed in the middle of the camp, God's presence would come, the
Shekinah glory, and dwell in the midst of the tabernacle.
But he dwelt in the holy of holies. He dwelt in a place where no
man could go except the high priest. And the high priest could
only go in there with an offering of blood. And first he had to
consecrate himself, didn't he, by offering one for himself and
his family. And then he had to go in with
a blood offering for all the people, which we saw in the text. And this so much pictures Christ,
except Christ doesn't have to offer anything for himself. He's
perfect. He's sinless. He's perfect and
sinless. He's spotless. He's spotless. And he is the offering and he's
the priest. He's everything. He's everything. Look at verse 14. And he shall
take of the blood of the bullock 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. So here
we have Israel in the wilderness. We have Israel in the wilderness.
Days of the Tabernacle, one day a year again, called the Day
of Atonement. The high priest went into the
second apartment, which is called the Holy of Holies. It's the
most holy place on the earthly sanctuary here. It's where the
Ark of the Covenant is. It's where the Ark of the Covenant
is. And the Ark contains the Ten Commandments, God's covenant
with his people. And God's presence was there,
manifested in his Shekinah glory. In the Hebrew, annual feast day
was Day of Atonement, or Yom Kippur. If you ever hear Yom
Kippur, that's the Day of Atonement. When you hear it announced on,
sometimes you hear it on TV sometimes, or say it. The Jews are celebrating
the Yom Kippur, and that's the Day of Atonement. And this was
a most solemn day for Israel. It was a most solemn day for
Israel, because it was a day when they confessed their sins.
And the high priest only on this day of the year entered the Holy
of Holies. to sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat and on the
ark of the covenant. And it was a day of humiliation
for the Israelites. It was a day of humiliation.
It was an awful reminder of the holiness of God and the sinfulness
of man. And remember, when Christ died,
the veil between the holy of holies and the rest of the tabernacle was separated. It just was, it
was just torn asunder, wasn't it? And that veil was there to
separate the holy of holies from the rest of the tabernacle. But
when Christ died, that was just tore right asunder. You know
what that pictures? That pictures that we who are
believers have access into the holy of holies through Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Isn't that wonderful? Let us,
therefore, come boldly what? To the throne of grace, that
we may obtain grace to help in time of need. We have full access
to the Father through Christ, through Christ. Turn, if you
would, to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews chapter 10. Again, this
was the most important day on the Hebrew calendar because of
the significance as a special sacrifice for the sins of the
whole year. Atonement was made for the sins
of the entire nation now remember to Israel pictures the church
And remember this I want us to remember this to these sacrifices
on the Day of Atonement. They weren't for Egypt They weren't
for the Canaanites They weren't for the Persians
they weren't for the Greeks or the Romans Well the Greeks and Romans were
later on, but they weren't for all those other nations. They
were only for the nation of Israel, and Israel alone, which pictures
the atonement made by Christ is for his people. It pictures
limited atonement. That's the one thing, I'll be
honest with you, that's the one thing. I used to struggle with
limited atonement when the Lord was drawing me to himself. Limited
atonement I really struggled with, When someone, I heard someone
preaching on it, and they said, well, the sacrifices were only
for Israel. The light went on. I was like, oh my gosh. There
it is. It's so clear. But I never saw
it until the Lord decided to illuminate that. Isn't that amazing,
though, how that happens? It's incredible. Look at this
in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 1. 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 there unto perfect. They had to continue
to do this every year. You see, the Old Testament sacrifices,
they point to the one great sacrifice, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ,
the one who would take away the sins of his people. then would they not have ceased
to be offered. So if they could take away the
sins, if they could take away the sins of the offerers, then
they wouldn't have to offer it every year, would they? They
could have ceased right there in the first year. That's what
Paul's bringing forth here. Because that the worshipers once
purged should have no more conscience of sins. See, we've been purged
from our sins, haven't we, as believers? Now we still have
the presence of sin, but as far as the guilt of sin and the penalty
of sin, it's gone. It's wonderful, isn't it? We're
free. We're free, beloved. For then
would they not have ceased to be offered because that the worshipers
once purged should have no more conscience of sins. But in those
sacrifices, there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. For it is not possible that the
blood of The bulls and goats should take away sins. Look at
that. So if anyone ever tells you that
the Jews are saved by the sacrifices, take them right there. There's
no way that anyone can be saved by the blood of bulls and goats. There's no way. Because they
point to Christ. They point to the one who saved
us from our sins. Wherefore, when he cometh into
the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not,
but a body hast thou prepared me. This is speaking of Christ.
And burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book that is written
of me to do thy will, O God. He came to do the will of the
Father. What was the will of the Father? Save his people from
their sins. And he did it. Above, when he
said, sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering
for sin, thou wouldest not, neither had his pleasure therein, which
are offered by the law. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God, and take it away the first, that he may establish
the second. This is speaking of the covenants.
By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. Look at that. Look at that. Look
at that marvelous verse, verse 10. Look at that. That's wonderful.
Remember, they had to come every year? They had to come every
year and offer those sacrifices? Look at how marvelous this is. By the witch will, we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
We're at one, one time sacrifice of Christ, who is our prophet,
priest, and king, who is the sacrifice, who is the altar.
We're sanctified. That means made holy, sanctified. Through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all, that's for all his people. It's
done. And every priest stand at daily
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices which could
never take away sins. Look at that. They were pointing
all those sacrifices on the day of atonement and all those sacrifices
in the Old Testament were pointing to the one. the one great sacrifice,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinless one who gave his life for sinners.
Look at this. But this man, after he'd offered
one sacrifice, and that's himself, that's himself, for sins forever,
sat down at the right hand of God, henceforth expecting until
his enemies be made his footstool. Look at that. He offered himself
once, and it's finished. Isn't that what he cried? He
cried, it's finished. God himself, God himself is the
great sacrifice. The Lord Jesus Christ, God incarnate
in the flesh, is the great sacrifice. And what he has accomplished
is so perfect that it never needs to be repeated. It's finished. And God's people, we say hallelujah,
don't we? Praise be to God. Oh, my. Is it no wonder we can
sing, I'm only a sinner saved by grace? We are. We're only sinners saved by grace,
aren't we? So in the Old Testament, in what
we read, the high priest had to make an offering first for
himself and for his family and for the priest. And then two
goats as a sin offering were sacrificed for the people. And
again, Aaron, washed and put his regular high priest clothing
on and offered his own in the people's burnt offering for sin
offering. And the remains of the animals were carried outside
the camp and burned. Now let's look at Hebrews chapter
9. Let's look at verses 6 to 10. They all pointed to Christ. All that was done every year
and it pointed right to our Savior. Hebrews chapter 9 verses 6 to
10. Now when these things were thus ordained, the priests went
always into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of
God. But into the second, which is the Holy of Holies, went the
high priest alone. Once every year, not without
blood. Look at that. Not without blood. What was Cain's offering? It
had no blood. Remember? Remember Cain offered
vegetables and the fruit of his hands? And what did Abel offer? Well, Abel offered a blood sacrifice,
didn't he? Not without blood. Oh, there
must be blood shed, because it pictures Christ, who is the great
Lamb of God. Yeah. Not without blood, which he offered
for himself and for the errors of the people, the sins of the
people. The Holy Ghost, this signifying that the way and the
holiest of all was not yet made manifest. Look at that. Remember,
there's shadows in Christ as a substance. So the substance
had not yet been manifest. These were but shadows in the
Old Testament. It's amazing. Well, as the first tabernacle
was yet standing, which was a figure for the time then present in
which were offered both gifts and sacrifices that could not
make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience, which stood only in meats and drinks and divers
washing and carnal ordinances imposed on them until the time
of reformation. They could never make the commerce
perfect. Let's turn to Leviticus chapter
23. Leviticus chapter 23. This is spoken of in verses 26
to 28. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
also on the tenth day of this seventh month, Leviticus 23,
26 to 28. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall
be a day of atonement. It shall be in holy convocation
unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. And ye shall do no work in the
same day, for it is the day of atonement, to make atonement
for you before the Lord your God. Now let's turn over to Leviticus
16 again. Leviticus 16, look at here, starting
in verses 7 to 10. Now Aaron's going to bring two
goats, as I said earlier, two goats. One will be the sacrifice,
and one will be the scapegoat. Both represent Christ. Both represent
Christ. Christ is the sin offering, but
he's also the scapegoat that took our sins away where God
remembers them no more. Oh, there's such beautiful pictures
in this portion of Scripture. Look at this. Leviticus chapter
6, verses 7 to 10. And he shall take the two goats
and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. Now, again, both of these goats
had to be spotless because no one knew, no one knew, no one
knew. That's a funny one. I thought I made this thing silent,
so I'm going to put it in here for a little bit. No one knew,
no one knew, I know that's a good one. No one knew which goat the
lot was going to fall on. No one knew. But they both had
to be perfect. They both had to be sinless. Look at what it says here. An
errand shall cast the lots upon the goats. One lot for the Lord
and the other lot for the scapegoat. Well, we know in scripture that
the cast of the lots is determined by the Lord, right? We know that. Even the rolling of a dice is
determined by the Lord. And Aaron shall cast lots upon
the two goats, one lot for the Lord, that's to be the sacrifice,
and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall know, and Aaron
shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer
him for a sin offering. So there's the one that the lot
falls on, he becomes the sin offering. 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. Now, here's something I want
us to notice right away. Both of these goats are innocent victims, aren't they? They're both innocent victims.
They're going to die for the guilty. Well, one's going to
die for the guilty, and the other one's going to be let loose into
the wilderness for the guilty. But they're both innocent. They didn't do anything that
deserved to die, did they? No. They're both spotless goats. No one knew which lot would fall
upon which one. No one knew which was going to
be the scapegoat. They're both innocent victims. Think upon
this, our Lord Jesus Christ had no sin, none, perfect, spotless. But he died for the sins of his
people, didn't he? He made an atonement for the sins of his
people. And he was presented perfect
and spotless. And he died the perfect, spotless
lamb of God in the room and place of his people. And then he arose
from the grave, didn't he? Well, where's our sins? They're
gone. As far as the east is from the
west. Why? Because the great scapegoat
carried them all the way into a place where God will remember
them no more. No more. First Peter says this. Says,
for even here unto where ye called, because Christ also suffered
for us, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. Who did no sin, neither was guile
found in his mouth. He's sinless, he's perfect. Who
when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered,
he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judges righteously.
Who his own self bare our sins in his own body. That's what
he did. He bore our sins in his own body, on the tree, that we,
being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness. By whose
stripes you were healed, for ye were as sheep going astray,
but are now returned unto the shepherd and bishop of your souls."
He died for our sins. That's what he came here to do.
He came here to die for the sins of his people. And you know what
he did? He finished that work, didn't he? He finished it. We know because he said it's
finished. Those are beautiful words, aren't they, for the believer.
It is finished. It means, in the Greek, it's
perfect. Perfect. Perfect. No one can pay for their
own sins, let alone anyone else's. I can't pay for my own sins,
and I can't pay for my kids' sins. You know, who would we
save? If we had the power to save,
we'd save our kids right off the bat, wouldn't we? We would,
but we don't have that power. We don't have that power. The
power belongs to the Lord. He's the one who can make will
in whomever he wills. And we as believers are so thankful
that he's made us willing in the day of his power. So not only were these two goats
innocent victims, now think of this too, not only were they
innocent victims, but they were divinely selected. You know how we know that? Who
determines the casting of the lot? The Lord does, doesn't he? They were divinely selected.
One was divinely selected to be the sacrifice, and one was
divinely selected to be the scapegoat. Well, Christ was sent by God,
the Father. We know he willingly came, This
is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." He spoke of Christ.
He's only pleased in Christ. Look at verses 8 to 10 again
in Leviticus 16. And Aaron shall cast lots upon
the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other for the scapegoat.
And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell
and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot
fell to be the scapegoat shall he So he'd be presented alive
before the Lord to make an atonement with him and to let him go for
a scapegoat into the wilderness. Now listen to what it says in
Proverbs here. Proverbs chapter 16 verse 33, the scripture declares
this. The lot is cast into the lap.
We see a lot spoken of there in chapter 16. Proverbs says
this, 1633. The lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. These were divinely selected
sacrifices, beloved. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ is
the chosen Lamb of God. He's God incarnate in the flesh. John the Baptist, what did John
the Baptist proclaim about Christ? Behold, the Lamb of God, the
chosen one, the one upon whom the wrath of God would fall in
our place, in the place of his people. the one who would redeem
his people with the shedding of his own precious blood. Behold,
the Lamb of what? God. God's Lamb. God's Lamb. Oh, it's wonderful,
isn't it? It's wonderful. In the sufferings
and death of Christ, we're all according to the determinate
counsel and foreknowledge of God. It was foretold in scripture,
and it came to pass according to God's appointment at the exact
time that God had appointed it to happen. Christ died. And he
rose from the dead at the exact time that God had appointed for
him to rise. And he ascended up into glory, which we looked
at a couple weeks back. He ascended up into glory at the exact point
in time. You know, we're here right now at the exact appointed
time of God. Isn't that amazing? You ask me, 30 years ago, if
I'd be sitting in the church or be preaching the gospel, I'd
have laughed you to scorn. But it's God's will. Praise be
to God. That's all I can say. Glory be
to God. Glory be to God for his mercy and his grace. It's incredible. And remember, that's so in your
life, too, as a believer. Isn't that amazing? That's absolutely
incredible. John chapter 10, the Lord says,
I'm the good shepherd. Turn there if you would. We'll
read these verses in John chapter 10. It'd be good for us to read
this here. So Christ's death, Christ's burial,
Christ's resurrection were all foretold from scripture. John chapter 10, verses 14 to
18. Look what our Lord says here.
I am the good shepherd and know my sheep. Look at that. He knows
you. He knew you from eternity. That
word there in the Greek is ginoska. That's an intimate relationship. He knew us. That's why we always
say, you loved us before we loved you. He knew us. He knew us. And know my sheep. What comforting words there.
And I'm knowing of mine. Well, he reveals himself to us,
doesn't he? As a father knoweth me, even so know I the father.
And I lay down my life for who? The sheep. Look at that. Sheep. Another sheep I have,
that's us, which are not of this fold, that's the Gentiles. Them
also I must bring, and they shall hear my..." Look at that. Look
at how certain this is. Brother Travis and I were talking
about how certain the word shall is. Okay, it's not maybe. It's not if they make a decision.
It's not, well, you know, you have the right songs playing
and the right things are being said. It doesn't say that. No,
it says they shall. They shall hear my voice. It's
definite. They will. By the power of God,
they will. And there shall be one fold and
one shepherd. Therefore doth my father love
me, because I lay down my life that I might take it again. He's
laying down his life for his people. No man taketh it from
me, but I lay it down to myself. I have power to lay it down,
and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. He's the divinely selected one.
He's the perfect one. So we see in these two goats,
Christ is our representative. He died before God's justice
and wrath for us, which is the goat that died as the sin offering. The sinless one died for us.
He's bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh. He's fully God
and fully man. And he sacrificed for his people. And if you're one of his people,
you're among the number that God chose in eternity. All because of His mercy and
His grace. And if you're one of that number, then Christ is
your substitute. Christ is your redeemer. Christ
is your surety. Christ is our Savior. Our Savior. And that's why we
give Him all the glory. That's why we give him all the
praise. Listen to this in Romans. For what the law could not do,
and that it was weak through the flesh, God sent in his own
son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned
sin in the flesh. So the law could never save us.
The law condemns us. We see the law, and we just know
how guilty we are. But it could never save us. send his own son in likeness
of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemn sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the spirit. It's wonderful. We're fully forgiven
in Christ, freely and fully forgiven. And God the Father sent his son,
the word of God, the second person of the Trinity, the one of his
choosing, The one who is righteous, pure, holy, sinless. And he sent him, the perfect
spotless lamb of God, to die as our representative. To die
as our substitute. Why? Number one, because it pleased
him to do so. Number two, he's loved us with an everlasting,
unchanging love. And number three, because we're
Christ's bride. We're the bride of Christ. And
we must be made spotless, right? Because we're sinners. And he
makes us spotless. by his precious blood. Now you
see why we're going to see two songs in the blood. One we started
with, and we're going to finish with one on the blood of Christ.
It's so vital. Remember what it said in Hebrews,
not without blood? See how vital the blood is? There's
no redemption of our sins without blood. Without the shedding of
blood, there's no remission for sins, scripture says. None. So God sends his holy son, the
perfect spotless lamb of God to die in our place to satisfy
his law, to satisfy his justice. And that's why, again, and you're
going to hear me say it until as long as I've got breath, the
wrath of God fell upon Christ in our place. Because God's justice must be
satisfied. It must. It cannot go unsatisfied. In God's law and justice, they
both must be satisfied. And they will either be satisfied
in the sinner when the wrath falls upon them, or in Christ,
the great substitute. And all who are in Christ, the
wrath of God is being extinguished. by Christ and by his sacrifice.
Let's look at Leviticus chapter 6, 16 again. And we'll read a
little bit here. And Aaron shall bring, verse
11, and Aaron shall bring the bolak of the sin offering, which
is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself and
for his house, and shall kill the bolak of the sin offering,
which is for himself. And he shall take a censer full
of burning coals of fire off the altar before the Lord, and
his hands full of the 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. He shall take of the blood of
the bullock and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat
eastward, and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle the blood
with his finger seven times, 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. Now notice it's the same way,
right? You know why? Because salvation's only in Christ. Now if he did it different for
himself and different for the people, then there'd be two ways
there, wouldn't there? No. Salvation's only, there's
only one way. have our sins forgiven, and that's through Christ and
Christ alone. So it has to be done the same way, beloved. It
has to be done the same way. Sprinkled upon the mercy seat
and before the mercy seat, he shall make an atonement for the
holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, 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. One man. One man. That picture's Christ,
isn't it? He's the only sacrifice. So he's
not only the sacrifice, he's the only high priest who can
go into the holy of holies for us. Wonderful. So many pictures
of Christ in here. So many pictures of him. And he shall go out into the
altar that is before the Lord and make an atonement for it
and shall take the blood of the bullock and the blood of the
goat and put it on the horns of the altar round about. And he shall sprinkle
the blood upon it with his finger seven times and cleanse it and
hollow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. Look
at this. And when he hath made an end
of what? Reconciling. Reconciling what's God's preachers
given them the ministry of reconciliation? the ministry of reconciliation
And when he had made an end of reconciling the holy place in
the tabernacle the congregation congregation in the altar he
shall bring the live goat here comes the scapegoat and Aaron
shall take shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live
goat confess over him all the iniquities the children of Israel
and their transgression and all their sins putting them upon
the head of the goat, and shall send them away by the hand of
a fit man." Now look at that, fit man. A chosen fit man. Well, there's only one fit man
that ever walked upon this world. See, that's a picture of Christ
too. He's the fit man as well. He's the perfect, sinless, spotless
Lamb of God. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities into a land not inhabited, and he
shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 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 leave
them there And then look at a little further down On verse 30 for on that day shall
the priests make atonement for you to cleanse you That ye may
be clean from all your sins before the Lord Look at that You may
be clean from all your sins before the Lord The high priest took the blood
of the slain goat into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled it on
the mercy seat. This symbolized the perfect acceptance
with God through the sprinkle of blood. Perfect. It pictured
the work of Christ. Remember, they could never take
away sins, but they were pointing to the one who could take away
sins, the perfect one. The mercy seat symbolized Christ.
The sacrifice symbolized Christ. And then he's supposed to sprinkle
the blood seven times before the Ark of the Covenant. And
that signaled a perfect standing before God. A perfect standing
before God. By how? Again, by the means of
shed blood. Not without blood. Remember from
Hebrews? Not without blood. Gotta have the blood. Gotta have
the blood. So we see a wonderful picture
of what Christ has done for his people here before us. His sacrifice,
Christ's sacrifice, was perfect. Perfect. And what does He give
us as a people of God? We don't feel this, do we, in
our everyday life, but now we have a perfect standard before
God, you know that? We're clothed in the perfect, sinless, spotless
righteousness of Christ, and when God looks upon us, He sees
Christ. Isn't that amazing? That's incredible, that He could
take a sinner like me and like you, and God can give us a perfect
standing before God, not without blood. Right back to Christ, doesn't
it? Goes right back to our great God and King. Oh, we stand before
God clothed in the perfect spotless righteousness of Christ. We who
are his people stand before God clothed in the perfect spotless
righteousness of Christ. Now unsaved people, When they
die, they stand before the Lord in their own righteousness. Oh,
my. I was a good person, Lord. Depart
from me, you cursed, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you.
Religious people, I did all these things for you, Lord. I did all
this stuff. I did all this stuff for you. Remember in Matthew
7? Depart from me, you workers of iniquity. You're cursed, for
I never knew you. And that word new there is gnoska. I did not know you intimately.
Now God knows everybody, right, because he created us. But that's
the intimate knowledge that he has for his people spoken of
there. I never knew you. Oh, my. So we see in the Lord
Jesus Christ the perfect fulfillment of all that was written in the
law. Hebrews 7, verse 19, the scripture declares, for the law
made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope
did, by the which we draw nigh unto God. Christ is the perfect
hope. If you're a sinner here and you
do not know Christ, and I don't say sinner like that
lightly, because I'm just a safe sinner, But if you're a lost
sinner with no hope, flee to Christ. May God make you willing. Flee to Him. He's the only hope.
He's the perfect hope. Now, if we hope in one another,
we're going to let each other down, aren't we? One way or another, and down
the road, we're going to let each other down. But Christ is
a perfect hope. You can trust your eternal soul
to Him and Him alone. I pray God make you willing.
I really do. Oh. And in Hebrew 719 it says this
again, for the law made nothing perfect but the bringing in of
a better hope did by the which we draw nigh unto God, Hebrew
719. The better hope spoken of there
is Christ, again, whose sacrifice on Calvary's cross is pictured
by the death of the goat who died for the sins of Israel.
but he's also pictured in the scapegoat who carried away the
sins of God's people. The Lord Jesus Christ in the
New Testament is the unlocking of all the mysteries contained
in the Old Testament. He is the key. All those sacrifices
were but types and shadows, and he is the great substance, and
in the person, and sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus Christ
on the cross, shadows, pictures, and types have given way to that
which is perfection. That which is reality. That which
is the substance. All those types and shadows were
just that, shadows and types and pictures. And he is the one
who they all pointed to. Let no man, therefore, judge
you in meat or drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new
moon, or the sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come,
but the body is of Christ." Colossians chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. Turn, if you would, to Hebrews
chapter 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Christ is the great high priest. the great high priest, the only
acceptable sacrifice before God. Hebrews chapter 9 verses 11 to
16, but Christ being come a high priest of good
things to come by a greater and more perfect tabernacle not made
with hands that is to say not of this building neither by the
blood of goats and calves but by his own blood entered in once
into the holy place remember the high priest had to go in
with blood christ goes in with his own blood Neither by the blood of bulls
and goats or goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered
in once into the holy place. Look at this. Having. Having. It's already done. When is it
done? At the cross. It's finished. Having obtained
eternal redemption for us. Cease from your labors. Trust
Christ in him alone. Don't trust in your prayers or
your scripture reading. I mentioned this a few weeks
ago. Somebody said that, oh, I don't read enough, and I don't,
don't trust in that. I pray God give you understanding
if you read five verses. Right? Read with, pray that God
will give you understanding just a little bit, but don't put your
hope in things you do. Put your hope in Christ. Put
your hope in Christ and him alone. He's obtained eternal redemption
for us. Paul wrote that. Look at that. Look at this. Without
spot. He's perfect. He's sinless. He's spotless. He offered himself
up without spot. Remember those two goats? Right?
One's going to be the offering and one's going to be the scapegoat. So the lot falls. Here's the
offering and here's the scapegoat. They both had to be perfect.
They both had to be spotless before they were even presented.
Look at what it says there. Offered himself without spot
to God. That's when he's dying on the cross. Purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God. And for this cause, He is the
mediator of the New Testament. Look at that. Christ is our mediator. And oh, how we need a mediator
between God and ourselves. Why? Because that fellowship
was broken. Remember, when Adam fell, we fell. Now it's restored for God's people
in Christ. And we're born again of the Holy
Spirit of God. We're regenerated, we have a new spirit within us. Now we have communion with God
through Christ, who is our great mediator. The mediator of the
New Testament, that by the means of death, that's his death, for
the redemption of the transgressions that were under the First Testament,
they which are called might receive the promise of what? Eternal
inheritance. Bruce Crabtree and I were talking
one time and we got so excited because we realized we cannot
mess up our salvation. Because it's eternal. It says
that right there. An eternal inheritance. Why?
Because it's in Christ. It's not of our doing. Now that
doesn't give us a license to go out the door and go crazy,
does it? No, it doesn't at all. And God's people won't do that.
Now look at what it says here too, at the last verse, verse
16. For where a testament is, speaking
of the New Testament in verse 15, there must also of necessity
be the death of the testator. We wouldn't have an eternal inheritance
unless Christ died. Because you only get an inheritance
after the testator dies. When we make up our last will
and testament, We're the testators. And we decide who it goes to.
Well, Christ is the testator of the New Testament. The New
Testament. Beloved, our sins and the sins
of all the elect of all the ages were imputed to Christ. And he
is the sinless, spotless Lamb of God pictured in Leviticus
16. And again, note the sacrifice
was for all of Israel, which pictures the sacrifice of Christ
was for all the elect of all the ages. He came to save his people from
their sins. And he did it. And the slain
goat is a beautiful type of Christ's death as a covering for sin.
The wages of sin is what? Death. So what's Christ do? He dies in the place of his people,
the sinless one, the Lamb of God. Jesus paid it all, beloved. There's nothing left to pay.
He paid it all. He paid it all. He died in our place, and his
sacrifice in our place vindicates God's holiness and God's justice
and God's love. Isn't it wonderful? It's absolutely
wonderful. For he hath made him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. Wonderful. Wonderful. All of God's people's sins were
imputed to Christ. A vast number that no man could
ever think of that. Probably the millions of our
own. They were all imputed to him.
They were all imputed to Christ. And they all demanded satisfaction,
right? God's law demanded satisfaction
for all those sins, all, every one of my sins, and if you're
a believer, every one of your sins. God's law and justice demanded
satisfaction. And Christ satisfied the law
and justice of God. He gave himself a ransom for
us. I found a ransom, have you? I wasn't even looking for it,
and I found it, because he revealed himself to me. Have you found
the ransom of God? I pray that he reveals himself
to you. And you could say, I've found a ransom. Just like Job
did, right? Job said, I've found a ransom.
Oh, it's Christ. And Job was looking to Christ.
Job was looking to Christ, beloved. And note that our sins were transferred
by the priest with confession. With confession. They were acknowledged
as the people's sins. And what do we do when we cry
out to Christ? We acknowledge our sinfulness, don't we? When
we're coming to Christ, we acknowledge our sinfulness. We say, Lord,
I'm a sinner, and I need to be saved. Save me, Lord. Please save me. And then we never
stop crying out to him, do we? Oh, my. We confess our sins to
him. We acknowledge our sin. Psalm
32, verse 5 says this, I acknowledge my sin unto thee. And that's
what we do, we acknowledge our sin unto God. In mine iniquity
have I not hid. I said I will confess my transgression
unto the Lord, and thou forgivest the iniquity of my sin. Remember
the proud Pharisee said, well I'm thankful I'm not like that
Republican over there. Oh my, I do this and I do that. I do all these things. Pride. And here we are as believers. We can't even so much as lift
our head up, can we? And I'll tell you what, do you
not cry this all the time? God, be merciful to me, a sinner. We cry that all the time, don't
we? Oh my. And we're gonna keep crying it
until we see him face to face, because we're sinners, stuck
in this sinful body for now. But I want us to go away. with
these one thoughts here, these few thoughts here. We're almost
finished. This deliverance is the greatest deliverance of all
time. The deliverance of Christ's people from their sins is the
greatest deliverance of all time. It's a deliverance from our sin.
It's a deliverance, and this deliverance is eternal. It's
an eternal deliverance, and it's only in and through the Lord
Jesus Christ. So think of the joy that this would bring to
the people of Israel. Think of the joy that we who
believe have knowing that all our sins are forgiven. They're
all forgiven in Christ. As far as the east is from the
west, the scripture declares, so far have you removed our transgressions
from us. And you know what? You know what?
God remembers them no more. No more. They're gone. They're bought and paid for.
Praise his mighty name. Oh my, tonight we'll look at
the scapegoat and the fit man. Scapegoat and the fit man. Heavenly
Father, we thank you for letting us gather together today. Look
at this wonderful portion of scripture and oh how we see your
finished perfect work. Oh Lord, you are the great sacrifice
for the sins of your people. And Lord, you went to Calvary's
cross, you set your face like a flint to Jerusalem, knowing
that you must die in the room and place of your people. Praise
your name, Lord, for your goodness and mercy and grace to us. May
we, who are your people, leave here rejoicing over this wonderful,
perfect hope that we have in you. And may we live in the joy
of knowing that all our sins are forgiven, past, present,
and future, oh, Lord, all forgiven in thee, washed clean by thy
precious, precious blood. Oh, Lord, we love you again because
you first loved us. In Jesus' name, amen.