In Leviticus Chapter 4, the title
of our lesson is Christ the Offering for Sin. The book of Leviticus
gives us the law of the Levitical priesthood, the law about the
priest that would come from the tribe of Levi, the law that applied
to all of Aaron's sons. And the book of Leviticus in
great detail gives us all these various laws. But the subject
of the book of Leviticus is not the law. The subject of the book
of Leviticus is Christ, our great high priest. Except for what
happened to Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, when they
offered strange incense before the Lord. In chapter 24, there's
a count of a stoning of a man who had cursed. There isn't any
other history of Israel given in this book. It's all written
to give us a picture of Christ, our great high priest. his person
and his work as our high priest. And the book of Leviticus makes
it very clear to us, God requires holiness. And secondly, this
book makes clear to us that God gives his people what he demands
of us in Christ our high priest. There's gotta be a sacrifice
for sin. And not only is Christ the sacrifice, Christ is the
only high priest who can offer the sacrifice. So this morning,
I want us to look at the offering, the sin offering. Leviticus four,
verse one. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, speak unto the children of Israel, saying, if a soul
shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the
Lord, concerning things which ought not to be done, and should
do against any of them, and if the priest that is anointed do
sin according to the sin of the people, then let him bring for
his sin, which he has sinned, a young Bullock without blemish
under the Lord for a sin offering. Now here we begin to talk about
the sacrifice for the sins of ignorance. And as I began reading
through this book of Leviticus, that got my attention, sins of
ignorance. Because doesn't that describe
us in Adam? Ignorant. We're ignorant sinners. That's
the way we're born into this world. And there are several
things a natural man is ignorant of. First, we're ignorant of
original sin in Adam. Man is ignorant of how we became
guilty. We didn't become guilty the first
time we told a lie to our mother. We became guilty in Adam. We're
ignorant of how we received the sin nature that we had. It happened
in the fall of Adam. Secondly, man by nature is ignorant
of the nature of sin. Sin is not what we do. Sin is what we are. We do what
we do because of the sin nature that we are. And we're such sinners. We think of sin as a small thing.
We think there's such a thing as a little white lie. We're
ignorant of the nature of sin. We're ignorant of the truth that
all sin is evil and perversity. All sin is rebellion against
a holy God that makes the holy God rightfully angry with us. Third, by nature, all men are
ignorant of the wages of sin. We're ignorant of the truth of
God, the soul that sinneth, it must die. God must punish sin. We're ignorant of this. And fourth,
we're ignorant of how sin is put away. And that's why I want
us to see this morning. Sin's not put away by us straightening
up our act and doing better and doing, you know, a few different
religious ceremonies and activities that we've been given. Man is
by nature is ignorant that sins can only be put away one way.
It's through the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. And these
are sins of ignorance. Our fallen nature is so sinful. You know, we don't even realize
it most of the time we've sinned, do we? We don't even realize
it. We drink iniquity like water. We don't realize how full of
it we are. And there are even times we sin
and I think, I didn't mean to do that. Why do that? It's a
sin of ignorance. If you look over in chapter five,
now you might get hauled before A United States judge, you know,
and ignorance might be an excuse. Not before God. In chapter five,
verse 17. And if a soul sin and commit
any of these which are forbidden to be done by the commandment
of the Lord, though he wished it not, he didn't know it, he
didn't mean it, yet he's guilty and he shall bear his iniquity. See, ignorance is no excuse.
We're still guilty, we still must bear the guilt of that sin.
So there must be a sacrifice, verse 18. And he should bring
a ram without blemish out of the flock with thy estimation. for a trespass offering unto
the priest, and the priest shall make atonement for him concerning
his ignorance wherein he erred and wist it not, and it shall
be forgiven him. See, there's a way that sin can
be forgiven, and it's through the sacrifice. Now, this message
of how sin is put away is for all of us. This is a message
to all men, from the least to the greatest. From the heathen
to the most religious, all of us are sinners. You notice here,
God makes a provision for the sacrifice of ignorance for all
the children of Israel. And then God makes a provision
for the ignorance of the sin of the priest too. Because all
men, whether you're the priest or you're just any member of
the tribes of Israel, all men without exception are sinners.
The priest is just as guilty as a common man. The preacher
is just as guilty as any other church member. I am a guilty
sinner, and I must have a sacrifice for my sin, and you do too. But now we can't offer the sacrifice
for our sin. There's gotta be a priest to
offer the sacrifice for us. You and I can't do anything to
atone for our sin. See, we've got this problem of
sin, but we can't do anything to atone for it. Only Christ,
our high priest, can make an atonement for sin. Christ is
the perfect priest who offers the perfect sacrifice. So here's
the first thing I want us to see about this sacrifice for
sin. The sacrifice has got to be perfect. This young bullock
that's to be brought is to be without blemish, just like the
Passover lamb. Remember how the Passover lamb
had to be without spot, without blemish. You put it up for four
days and watch it. Because whatever you're going
to sacrifice to the Lord's got to be perfect, without blemish.
And the reason for that is both the Passover lamb and this bullet.
They're both pictures of Christ, who was the perfect man. Here's
a man who was perfectly righteous, never committed a sin. He never
knowingly committed a sin, and he never committed a sin of ignorance.
He's perfect. He's without ignorance. He can't
do anything ignorantly. He's perfect. Peter said Christ
did no sin. Neither was any guile found in
his mouth. He knew no sin. The writer to
the Hebrew says Christ is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners. This is Christ, the perfect sacrifice. But I'll show you another way.
This bullock is a picture type of Christ. This bullock brought
for a sacrifice, valuable. He's valuable. A bull is valuable
because that bull can produce a lot more cattle and a young
bull is even better. He got longer to live. He's going
to produce more cattle than an old bull. This is a young bull. The Lord Jesus Christ is God's
prize bull. He gives life to millions. He's
eternally young. He's got eternally the strength
of youth. And just like this young bullet,
the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, was a man, crucified in the prime
and strength of life, because Christ, our sacrifice, has got
the strength to save, the power to save, because he's perfect.
And unto you, therefore, which believe, he is precious. You think this young bullet is
gonna cost you something? Unto you, therefore, which believe,
he is preciousness itself. Second, the sacrifice has got
to be perfect, and then the sacrifice must die. Look at verse four,
Leviticus four. And he shall bring the bullock
under the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the
Lord, and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head and kill
the bullock before the Lord. Now why did that priest lay his
hand on the bullock's head? He did that to symbolically transfer
the guilt of his sin to that bullock. God the Father took his precious
son and laid his hand on him. He imputed the sin of his people
to his son. Now, he did not impute the sin
of the whole world, every son of Adam, to his son, to give
every son of Adam a chance to be saved. This sacrifice, this
bullet, is for a specific person in it, just for one, just for
the priest, That's our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for a specific
people. He died for God's elect. The
sin of God's elect was imputed to Christ. Christ was made guilty
of their sin. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ never
sinned, did he? Never sinned. Yet the Father
made him to be guilty of the sin of his people. It's not like
he's guilty. The Father made him actually
guilty. Now, sin deserves death. Where
there's sin, there must be death. And where there is no sin, there
cannot be death. The wages of sin is death. Conversely,
the wages of righteousness is life. Why did Christ die? Because the Father made him guilty,
and the wages of sin is death. That's the only way the perfect
sacrifice could have died. Now, I don't understand that. I mean, I don't begin to understand
how God could do that. But Roy, I don't have to understand.
God said in his word, we're to believe it. God said, believe.
The father who is holy never could have done something unjust.
He never could have put an innocent man to death. He made his son
guilty. And this is how God provides
for his people what he requires of us. God took the sin of his
people away from us and put it on his son. And Christ, our substitute,
put it away. Look at 1 Peter 3. Christ, our
substitute, died the death that his people deserve. So we live,
we go free, because Christ died for us. He's the sacrifice who
died. 1 Peter 3, verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sin, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God,
being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.
See, the sacrifice had to die because God is holy. God hates
sin. And the key phrase we see here
in chapter four, before the Lord. Before the Lord, it's twice in
that verse four, before the Lord. The sacrifice must be killed
before the Lord. This is a sacrifice to satisfy
God's holy justice. This phrase, before the Lord,
appears in the book of Leviticus 61 times. Now that tells me this
is important. Before the Lord. It's important
because God must be appeased. The offering for sin is not an
offering offered to you and me. It's before the Lord. It's offered
before the Lord because God's the offended party. We're the
one who have sinned against him. Just like the blood of the Passover
lamb, that lamb must die. Its blood must be shed and its
blood must be put on the outside of the door. It is put on the
outside of the door, not the inside, because it's not important
you not see the blood. It's important God sees the blood,
it's offered to the Lord. This blood of the bullock is
offered before the Lord to appease the holy anger of God. This ram,
the bullock, is the sin offering. It's the blood that makes atonement
for the soul. So the blood's offered before
the Lord. The sacrifice of Christ is never
offered to man to see if we'll accept it or reject it, never. The blood is always before the
Lord. And there is no doubt this sacrifice
will be accepted. Well, of course it'll be accepted.
It's perfect blood. The son of God was sent as the
lamb of God, the perfect lamb, the spotless lamb to take away
the sin of the world. Now, the sacrifice of Christ
didn't change the character of God. God never changes. The sacrifice of Christ didn't
make God change his mind. He never changes his mind. Christ
came as the atonement for sin because Christ already loved
his people. He loved them eternally. So of
course God's gonna accept the sacrifice. He's gonna accept
the sacrifice that he provided for the people that he loves.
The sacrifice of Christ didn't make God start loving his people.
God already loved his people. That's why he sent his son to
be the sin offering, the propitiation for our sin. The result of the
sacrifice was never in doubt. It was never in doubt because
the character of God, God's going to provide what he requires.
He's going to provide perfection. The sacrifice was never in doubt
because of the character of Christ, our high priest. And it was never
in doubt because of the character of Christ our sacrifice. The
sacrifice is perfect and it must die. His blood must be offered
before the Lord. Look in verse five at Leviticus
chapter four. And the priest that is anointed
shall take of the bullock's blood and bring it to the tabernacle
of the congregation. Now blood. We talk a lot about
blood, atonement for sins in the blood, the covering of sins
in the blood, there's forgiveness of sins in the blood. But you
know, when we talk about blood, we talk a whole lot more than
just talking about suffering. You know, I could get a big gash
somewhere and lose a lot of blood and, you know, a nurse could
be around or a doctor or a paramedic and, you know, I could be revived
even though I lost a lot of blood. When scripture talks about blood,
it means both suffering and death. The sacrifice must shed its blood
and die because the soul that sinneth, it shall die. The sacrifice
must die. And after that sacrifice is dead,
then the blood must be offered before the Lord. Now, the blood
of bulls and of goats, that's not gonna get the job done. It's
not gonna take away sin. All these sacrifices in the Old
Testament were given to us as a picture of Christ. I want to
give you four things, four things about the blood, the blood of
Christ. First look at Colossians chapter one. The blood of Christ
is sin atoning blood. His blood did what none of those
pictures could ever do. So first, the blood of Christ
is reconciling blood. Colossians one verse 22. Now verse 21, and you, they were
sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works.
Yet now have he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death. And he shed his blood in his death to present you wholly
and unblameable and unapprovable in his sight. You're reconciled
by the blood of Christ. Next look in 1 John chapter one. The blood of Christ is cleansing
blood. cleanses us from our sin. 1 John 1. I've written down the wrong verse,
but the reference is it's the blood of Christ that cleanses
us from all sin. It's cleansing blood. Next, look
at John chapter six. The blood of Christ is quickening
blood. life-giving blood. Verse 53, then Jesus said unto
them, verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh
of the son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. The blood of Christ is life-giving blood. And then
last look at Hebrews chapter 10. The blood of Christ clears
the sinner's conscience. Hebrews 10 verse 22. Let us draw near with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. It's
that blood that had to be shed, reconciling blood, cleansing
blood, life-giving blood, and blood that clears the sinner's
conscience. Here's the third thing I want us to see about
Christ our sacrifice, our sin offering. It's the sacrifice
of Christ that enables us to worship. It's the sacrifice of
Christ enables us to come into God's presence and worship. Verse
six of Leviticus chapter four. And the priest shall dip his
finger in the blood and sprinkle of the blood seven times before
the Lord, before the veil of the sanctuary. It's the blood
of Christ. That blood had to be sprinkled
and it was sprinkled toward the veil. Now that veil was the veil
that separated, hung as a great divide, a separator between the
holy of holies, where God dwelt, above the mercy seat in his Shekinah
glory, and the holy place. Now the holy place is a place
where the high priest could come. He could do the various work
of the high priest, but he couldn't go behind that veil. Not just,
except one day a year. The day of atonement, and then,
only then he could come with just the blood. A sinner. could never come into the presence
of God, except for that one day of the year through the blood. Anytime he came, it was always
through the blood and in Christ, through the blood of his sacrifice.
God's people don't have to timidly sneak around that veil. You know,
the writers say on the day of atonement, the high priest would,
he'd put that censer in the smoke filled room, and he'd just sneak
in, keeping his back to the mercy seat. He's afraid he's gonna
die. You who believe in the coming
to God in the blood of Christ, you don't come in sneaking. You
don't come in full of fear. You come boldly. in the blood
of Christ. It's his blood that enables us
to come before God and worship. The blood was sprinkled seven
times. It's the number of perfection.
And God's people are made perfect in the blood of Christ. That's
what gives us boldness, not because of anything we've done, but because
in Christ we're made perfect. And it's his blood that enables
us to come before God and worship. If it wasn't for the blood of
Christ, we couldn't gather together this morning and worship. but
the blood's been shed, the blood's been applied, and we come worship.
Next, I want us to see this. It's the sacrifice of Christ
that gives power to the intercession of Christ. Look at verse seven. And the priest shall put some
of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before
the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation, And she'll
pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of
the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. This altar of sweet incense is
the altar, you might remember this in our study of the tabernacle,
is a picture of the intercession of Christ. This is incense that's
beaten small, and it's got a recipe that God gave. He had to use
the precise incense. Because when the priest put that
incense on those burning coals, smoke filled the room. And you
can read about that this afternoon if you want in Revelations 8
verse 3. That's a picture of the prayers
of Christ, the intercession of Christ for his people. And the
priest took the blood of the sacrifice and he put that blood
on the horns of this altar. Now horns are always in scripture
a picture of power. The priest put the blood of the
sacrifice on the horns of the altar, the power of the altar,
because it's the blood of Christ that gives power to his intercession
for his people. When Christ makes intercession
for his people with the Father, he praised his Father for his
people. He says, Father, forgive them. He is never asking his
Father for favor, ever. He's always praying for justice
because he's pleading his blood that's already been shed before
the Lord and anointed on the altar before the Lord. That's
why Christ gets what he prays for. It's his blood, the blood
of his sacrifice that gives power, that enables him to pray for
justice for his people. And the rest of the blood was
poured out before the brazen altar, poured out on the ground
at the bottom of the altar where the burnt offering was offered.
Now remember this, this blood is a type of the blood of Christ,
the Sanatoni blood of Christ. The blood of Christ was not spilled.
You know, we talk about his blood being spilled. That kind of makes
it sound like an accident, doesn't it? You know, if I spill my milk
when we're eating, that's spilled milk on the table. I didn't pour
it out on the table, I spilled it. It makes it sound like an
accident. The blood of Christ wasn't spilled. The blood of
Christ was poured out. poured out before the Lord. His
blood was shed on purpose to save a specific people. It was
voluntarily poured out. You know, if I knock my glass
over, I didn't mean to do that. I didn't do that voluntarily.
Christ voluntarily poured out His blood for His people. It
was a voluntary offering before the Lord. And that blood gives
Him power when He intercedes for His people with the Father.
Next, I want us to see this. The sacrifice of Christ, our
sin offering, was the suffering of a real man. Look at verse
eight, Leviticus four. And he shall take off from it
all the fat of the bullet for the sin offering, the fat that
covereth the inwards and all the fat that is upon the inwards.
and the two kidneys and the fat that is upon them, which is by
the flanks and the call above the liver with the kidneys, it
shall he take away. Now salvation did not come because
of the physical sufferings of Christ. Now those sufferings
were horrible and believe me, I'm not making light of them.
And they had to happen for our salvation or it wouldn't have
happened. But those sufferings All they did was give us a picture
of the soul suffering of Christ. Those sufferings were before
men, weren't they? But these verses eight and nine
give us a picture of the inward sufferings of Christ. His soul
suffering, he poured out his soul, an offering to God. And
the suffering of Christ, that was before the Lord. Now this
is what's important, right? 61 times in the book of Leviticus,
before the Lord. The suffering of Christ before
the Lord was the suffering of his soul. He made his soul an
offering for sin. And when they take all these
inwards and all these things they do with it, it's a picture
of the soul suffering of Christ. It's the soul suffering of a
man. This is the soul suffering that
saves the souls of God's elect. It wasn't just the physical sufferings
of Christ, There's no help for this flesh. This flesh cannot
be saved. Atonement must be made for the
soul. And atonement was made for the
soul because of the soul sufferings of the man, Christ Jesus. And
here's the last thing I want us to see about Christ, our sacrifice,
the sin offering. The sacrifice of Christ completely
removed the sin of his people. The sacrifice of Christ took
the sin of God's elect out of the sight of God. Verse 10, as
it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings,
and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering,
and the skin of the bullock and all his flesh with his head and
with his legs, his inwards and his dung, even the whole bullock
shall he carry forth without the can into a clean place where
the ashes are poured out and burn him on the wood with fire.
Where the ashes are poured out, shall he be burned. Now what
is this a picture of? It's a picture of Christ our
Savior. He suffered outside the gate, didn't he? Outside of the
gate of the city. Why'd he do that? Because he
was made to be unclean. He was made guilty of the sin
of God's people. And as a result, he had to suffer
outside the camp. He had to suffer outside the
presence of God in a place of separation. Now look at Hebrews
chapter 13. Now this is the sacrifice for
sin. Sacrifice offered before the Lord. The blood offered before
the Lord. Sacrifice of Christ has completely
removed the sin of his people out of the sight of his father.
All right, what does that have to do with me? What does that
have to do with you and me? This sacrifice offered before
the Lord, it appeased the holy anger of the Father. The sacrifice
of Christ appeased the justice of God's Father, of God our Father. The Father was pleased with the
sacrifice, the sufferings of Christ. What does that have to
do with you and me? It's this same sacrifice that
draws us to Christ. When you read in scripture, Christ died for your sins. He took your sins in his body
on the tree and he suffered and he died The blood, his precious
blood was offered before the Lord. What's the reaction of your heart? Oh, it breaks your heart, doesn't
it? Doesn't it humble you? Doesn't it make you thankful?
Does that draw you to Christ? If that draws you to Christ,
Christ died for you. Look here at Hebrews 13 verse
11. The same sacrifice which pleased the Father draws the
elect to Christ. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin, those bodies are burned without the camp. Wherefore,
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood,
suffered without the gate. Now what's that have to do with
you and me? Let us go forth, therefore, unto him, without
the camp, bearing his reproach. For here we have no continuing
city, but we seek one to come. By him, therefore, let us offer
the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit
of our lips, giving thanks to his name. If Christ died for
you and you hear of his sacrifice, you'll give thanks. You'll be
drawn to him, you'll be irresistibly drawn to him. because of his
sacrifice. Alright, I hope the Lord will
bless that too.