If you will open your Bible to
the 16th chapter of Leviticus again and just hold your Bibles
open there, that will be my text this morning. Leviticus chapter
16. The most important and the most
instructive of all the typical ceremonies of the Old Testament
was the Day of Atonement. The Day of Atonement pictured,
foreshadowed, typified, and did so prophetically the sin-atoning
sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who is our Redeemer, our Savior,
is our great High Priest. our substitutionary sacrifice,
our scapegoat, our altar, and our mercy seat. Through him alone,
sinners have access to God and find acceptance with God. Brother
Lindsay in the previous hour brought a very good message pointing
to us that those things contain within the Ark of the Covenant
under the mercy seat, the golden pot that had manna, Aaron's rod
that budded and the tables of the covenant, the tables of the
law written by God. Those things being held perpetually
in the ark of the covenant under the mercy seat, proclaimed continually
to the children of Israel and to us in type, in picture, that
apart from the shed blood of Jesus Christ, there is no bread
for your souls. No bread to have by which you
live before God. There is no possibility of man
and God being one. That golden pot containing the
bread of life, representing Christ Jesus the Lord, both who is God
and who is himself, the bread sent down from heaven. Aaron's
rod, that butthead, was a piece of wood that had been long dead. but it brought forth life suddenly,
miraculously, and it's held in the Ark of the Covenant, telling
us that apart from the blood sacrifice of God's darling son,
there is no power and no life for your soul. Only through blood
atonement do sinners get life from God. and then the broken
law of the children of Israel. The law written by the finger
of God placed in the Ark of the Covenant under the Mercy Sea
proclaims continually there is no access to God. no law by which you can bring
yourself to God, no obedience acceptable to God, but by the
blood, the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. These
things were all portrayed on the Day of Atonement. In order
for the Holy Lord God to deal with sinful men and women like
you and me, in mercy and grace, The only way God can deal with
us in peace and reconciliation without compromising his character,
which he will not do, without violating his law, which he will
not do, is he must have a day of atonement. A holy, just, and
true God. A holy, just, and true God. God unbending. God holy, God
perfect, God just, God true. cannot receive man, fallen, sinful,
corrupt man, but by blood atonement. Sin must be punished, justice
must be satisfied, else God and man can never come together. Therefore the Lord God, early
in the history of the nation of Israel, established and ordained
a day of atonement. a day to be observed once every
year and only once a year, as a pledge and picture of one great
day, a day of atonement to be accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ in his once for all with finality death as our substitute
for the redemption of God's elect. The Lord God gave Moses meticulous,
detailed instructions about how the Day of Atonement was to be
observed in this 16th chapter of Leviticus. Now let me make
a few statements and then show you several things in this chapter.
Understand this first. The Day of Atonement was initiated
by God alone. This was no man's invention.
This is not something that Moses thought up or Abraham thought
up or a committee of men got together and decided this would
be a good way for us to worship God. This was altogether determined
by God alone. The Lord God and God alone devised
the means by which sinners could be brought to God. That which
is called the scheme of grace, the plan of redemption, was devised
by God. None but God ever devised such
a plan. None but God ever revealed such
a plan. God becomes a man. God takes his own son and Sacrifices
his own son in the place of men to satisfy the law and justice
of God that men had broken and violated God Comes to die in
the stead of man No other Trace of religious thought by any other
people in the world has ever indicated such a possibility. This is only the work of God. The Day of Atonement was set
for a specific time every year. We're told that it was kept in
the seventh month on the 10th day of the month. Every year in the seventh month
on the 10th day of the month, no other day, no other time,
no circumstances changing it. God said, this is the time when
the day of atonement will be kept. This is the time when the
sacrifice will be made. This is the time when God and
man will be symbolically ceremonially reconciled together. And the
Lord God before the world was said a day. A day in which the
Lord God our Savior said, I will remove the iniquity of the land
in one day. And in that one day, the Lord
Jesus Christ, having fulfilled all obedience as a man to God,
on that one appointed day, in the fullness of time, he who
was made of woman and made under the law, died under the curse
of the law by God's appointment alone. On that day, wicked men
with their wicked hands crucified the Lord of glory, who verily
was foreordained before the world was to be crucified on that day. Here's the third thing you need
to understand. There was only one day of atonement. Only one
day of atonement. Only one day in the year when
this ceremony could be observed. The Lord Jesus Christ, of whom
this day of atonement is a picture, came to die once. To make one sacrifice for sin. to make atonement one time, to
accomplish redemption one time. There remains no more sacrifice
for sin. The Papists in their idolatrous
heathen religion have been practicing a re-crucifixion of Christ in
their mass for years. But it's only a Papist superstitious
idolatrous practice. It's a papist, superstitious,
idolatrous practice. God's not anywhere around it.
Christ is not anywhere around it. Salvation's not anywhere
around it. Grace is not anywhere around
it. It is just papist, superstitious, anti-Christ, idolatry. That's all it is. Well, don't
you respect that? Can I say it again? It is nothing
but papist, superstitious, anti-Christ, idolatry. So is every sacrifice
by which you attempt to make up to God. So is every sacrifice by which
you attempt to make up for sin to God. Christ offered one sacrifice,
one time for sins forever. That's the finality of the ceremonial
services. Understand that the sacrifices
offered on the Day of Atonement, like all the other sacrifices
of human beings, offering animal sacrifices, were only typical. They could not remove sin. They
could not purge the conscience. They could not take away guilt.
They were only typical. Only the blood of Jesus Christ. Accepted of God in heaven could
remove sin. And you know that. It's verified
in every one of you. You who do not know God and you
who do, it's verified in every one of you. In your conscience,
nothing else can take away guilt. Nothing else. You've tried. and
tried, and tried. A little religion, a little religious
activity, a little sacrifice, a little praying, a little Bible
reading, and your conscience still screams, guilty, guilty,
guilty! That won't do. But the blood
of Christ, once sprinkled on your heart by the Spirit of God,
giving you faith in Jesus Christ, eases your soul of guilt. Only this sacrifice, the blood
of God's Son, can put away sin. Number five, all these typical
ceremonial sacrifices, all of them, all the legal ceremonies,
all the legal sacrifices, were completely fulfilled by Jesus
Christ the Lord. and being completely fulfilled
by the Lord Jesus Christ, they no longer exist among God's people. God's people no longer observe
religious ceremonies and sacrifices by which they seek to make atonement,
establish righteousness, and find acceptance with God. Christ
is the E-N-D of the law. Christ is the end of the law,
the finishing point of the law, the accomplishment of the law,
the finality of the law, the ceremonies of the law, the commandments
of the law, and the requirements of the law. Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. There remaineth no more offering
for sin. One more statement and then we'll
look at the chapter. All that was done on the Day of Atonement
was done for a specific chosen people. All that was done on the Day
of Atonement was done for a specific chosen people and resulted in
God's blessing upon those chosen people. Now understand this. Everything done by Jesus Christ,
the God-man, our mediator, our redeemer, our substitute, was
done for a specific chosen people. Why do you keep insisting on
limited atonement, preacher? Because every other doctrine
of the atonement makes the blood of Christ vain, makes the death
of Christ a miscarriage. makes the Christ of God a failure. Men who assert that somehow the
blood of Christ was wasted, shed in vain, accomplished nothing
for many for whom he died because they go to hell anyway. Not so,
that's blasphemy. You may as well worship at the
altar of some papist and observe the daily mass of some papist
and confess your sins to some man wearing a skirt and say this
is salvation. No, sir. All that was done on
the Day of Atonement was done for a specific people. They're
called Israel. And it resulted in God's blessings
upon that specific people. And I'm here to tell you one
more time that everything done at Calvary by the Lord Jesus
Christ was done for a specific people. They're called the Israel
of God, God's elect. And it results in the everlasting
salvation of every sinner for whom the Lord Jesus Christ died
at Calvary. Now let's take a brief overview
of these 34 verses. I'll call your attention to these
five things. great high priest. The atonement
was made by a specifically appointed man, a man named Aaron, the great
high priest of Israel. Look at verse 3. Thus shall Aaron
come into the holy place. Israel's great high priest was
a divinely chosen man, only one man out of the nation. One man
set aside by God from all other men. One man portraying another
man, one man, Jesus Christ the Lord. Our great high priest is
that one who is the divinely chosen God-man. Thou has chosen
one out of the people. He says, I have laid help upon
one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. The Lord God says to us, behold
my servant whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. On the day of atonement, God's
high priest was robed in the garments of humility. Look at
verse four. He shall put on the holy linen
coat and he shall have the linen breeches, the linen breeches
upon his flesh. And he shall be girded with a
linen girdle and with the linen mitre shall he be attired. These
are the holy garments. Therefore shall he wash his flesh
in water and so put them on. On this great day of atonement,
Aaron was required to lay aside his gorgeous priestly robes,
the breastplate and the effort and the holiness to the Lord
emblazoned across him. those gorgeous, gorgeous, costly
priestly robes, he laid them aside and put on plain, simple
linen garments. Just plain, simple linen garments. Why? Those linen garments represented
humility. And they spoke of the doing of
the Lord Jesus Christ as the God-man, our mediator. You see, linen was a material
woven by man. And the Lord Jesus came here
clothed with humility. and performed righteousness for
us as a man, fulfilling all the requirements of God's holy law
in our stead. God demands obedience. God demands obedience. Perfect obedience. It's called
righteousness. And the Lord Jesus Christ, walking
in our flesh as a man, clothed with humility as a man, subjected
himself willingly to all the law and fulfilled all the law
to the letter as a man. And thus he fulfilled everything
for us. Israel's high priest was a ceremonially
holy man. We're told in verses three and
four of this man's ceremonial holiness. Look at verse six.
And Aaron shall offer his bullock of a sin offering, which is for
himself and make an atonement for himself and for his house.
Verse 11. 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 kill the bullock
of the sin offering, which is for himself. 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. You see, Aaron was a sinner just
like us, but he had to be ceremonially holy. He had to be a ceremonially
clean man, a ceremonially perfect man if he would act as God's
high priest portraying the Lord Jesus. order to approach God
as the high priest of his people, Aaron had to have in type, in
picture, he had to have four things. And these four things,
the God-man, our mediator, if he would be our high priest,
our mediator, representing us before God, must have these four
things in reality. Aaron had to have a ceremonial
personal cleansing. Christ had to have a real personal
cleanness. So Aaron bathed his water, his
flesh in water. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world without sin, born of a virgin, born of a virgin. so that Adam's fallen human nature
was not transmitted to our Savior by natural generation as our
Father's fallen nature is. He was born of a virgin and he
walked on this earth with no sinful mind, no sinful heart,
no sinful inclination, but only in purity, in perfection, in
holiness, in righteousness. In him was no sin. He knew no sin. He did no sin. He who is our
mediator, our representative, our high priest, is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners. Secondly, he had to have holy
garments. Aaron's garments on the day of atonement were those
linen garments woven by the hands of a man. portraying, as I've
already hinted at, Christ's perfect obedience, Christ's perfect righteousness
as a man, having fulfilled all his father's will. Third, God's
priests must have divine approval. The incense smoke ascending at
the altar of God pictures Christ who is a sweet savor to God. incense smoke, accepted of God. Says the sacrifice of that one
represented in this sacrifice is meritorious with God, and
God accepts the sacrifice. We are accepted. You, sinner,
can be accepted of God only by the blood of Jesus Christ. only in union with the Son of
God. And fourth, Aaron had to come
to God with blood atonement, typical atonement. Our Lord Jesus
Christ, our great Aaron, that priest who is after the order
of Melchizedek, our great high priest, comes to God, but he
cannot come to God as our priest. He cannot come to God as our
representative without blood atonement. Sin must be paid for. The debt must be paid. Justice must be satisfied. Anger must be appeased. Righteousness
must be brought in. And it's only by the blood of
Christ that it's done. Without shedding of blood is
no remission. In all his work on the day of
atonement, Aaron acted alone, we're told in verse 17. There
shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he go
within to make atonement in the holy place. No man was with him. And when our Lord Jesus Christ made atonement for our sins,
by his death upon the tree, he was all together alone. Hold your hands in Leviticus
and turn with me to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah chapter 64,
I want you to see this. The whole nation rested upon
the one representative man. The whole nation was entrusted
to one man. If that man succeeds, the nation
shall live. If that man fails, the nation
must die. So it is with our all-glorious
Christ. The triune Jehovah trusted to
him the whole nation of his elect. Everything rests on his shoulders. If he succeeds, the nation lives. If he fails, the nation dies. He said, reproach hath broken
mine heart. I'm full of heaviness. I look
for some to take pity, but there was none. For comforters, and
I found none. Look here in Isaiah 63, verse
three. I have trodden the winepress
alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will
tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and
their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will
stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in
mine heart. What strange language. What strange
language. Here is the one who is our substitute,
the one who suffers in our stead. And as he suffers in our stead,
He speaks of treading the winepress of the wrath of God alone and
says, I will trample them in my fury. I will sprinkle their
blood upon my garments. I will stain all my raiment. How come? For the day of vengeance
is in my heart. Vengeance. Revenge. Revenge. Holy, just vengeance of an angry
God against sin. That's what took place at Calvary. For the year of my redeemed is
come. All of this is done for my people. The year of my redeemed is come. And I looked, and there was none
to help. I wondered that there was none
to uphold, nobody with me. Therefore, mine own arm brought
salvation unto me. And my fury, The fury by which
I punish sin in the sacrifice of myself. My fury is with me
and it upheld me. In all things, Aaron the priest,
the high priest, typified our Lord Jesus Christ, our great
high priest. Now second, let's look at the
goat that was slain. Verse five. This goat represents
the Lord Jesus as the lamb of God. Our Lord Jesus Christ is
both our high priest and the sacrificial lamb. The victim
not of man's will, but of God's will and God's justice. Verse
five, he shall take of the congregation of the children of Israel two
kids of the goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering.
Verse seven. And he shall take of the two
goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. 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 lot on which
the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before
the Lord to make atonement with him. and to let him go for a
scapegoat into the wilderness. This sacrificial lamb had to
be a symbolically innocent lamb. No spot, no stain, no blemish,
no weakness of any kind upon him. Because no sinful man can
ever make atonement for sin. It's strange how that The political
world and the civil world, while despising the things of God,
adopts terms used speaking of the things of God. In recent
years, I have listened to news reporters talking about men who
have done terrible things. And they say, I believe in redemption.
I believe in redemption. A man can redeem himself. A man
redeem himself? What stupidity! What blasphemy! A man redeem himself? What are
you going to offer for redemption? What are you going to offer?
What are you going to offer for redemption? It can't be done.
Man can by no means redeem his own soul. It takes an innocent
victim, a holy victim, to be offered in sacrifice for sin.
That's the Lord Jesus Christ. The sacrifice was taken from
among the people. Go to the children of Israel
and take the goat, take the ram, among the children of Israel,
because divine justice must be avenged upon. Compensation must
be made by a man, one of the people, because it's man who
sinned. The sacrifice must be holy, but
it must be a man. And the Lord's sacrifice was
chosen and ordained by God himself. How would Aaron know which goat
is to be the scapegoat and which goat is to be the sacrifice goat?
Take some dice and roll them on the ground. Well, that sure
was lucky, wasn't it? Cast lots. Put some numbers in
a bottle and shake them and pour them out. Pour them out. Well,
that's just the throw of the dice. That's just the luck of
the draw. That's just the way things turned
out. Not at all. Not at all. The goat
was specifically chosen by God for the lot. is cast into the
lap, but the whole disposing is of the Lord. This was God's
means by which he says, I will determine who the sacrifice is. So it is with our Lord Jesus,
a lamb barely foreordained before the foundation of the world.
Crucified and slain, yes, by the hands of wicked men, according
to the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God our Father. The goat was slain by divine
order as a sacrifice for sin. In verse 15, then shall he kill
the goat of the sin offering. Understand this, nothing about the death of the
Son of God Nothing about the death of Christ was left to the
hands of men, the will of men, or the power of men, nothing,
nothing. People argued, did the Jews crucify
the Lord or the Romans? What difference does that make?
What difference does that make? Who did this, who did, what difference
does that make? You read the four gospels when
you get to the suffering and death of our Savior, and read
what men said and what they did, and you'd think they'd turn back
in the scriptures and say, now, what are we supposed to do next?
What are we supposed to do? Everything they did, every word
they spoke, every act was written in the prophets of God. Everything. How come? Because the Lord Jesus
Christ died by the hand of God and by the will of God. His blood
was spilt at Calvary. I've known a few folks over the
years who object to that first verse of the hymn we sang before
I got up here to preach and talk about the blood of Christ being
spilt as if it was an accident, somehow just you spill a glass
of water. No, no, no, no. It's talking about violence.
violence. If you go to spill blood, you
act violently. And God, the Holy Lord God, Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost, with the sword of justice, spilled Emmanuel's
blood at Calvary's tree. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd,
against the man that is my fellow. Smite the shepherd, says the
Lord of hosts. Thus the Lord Jesus Christ, our
substitute, the Lamb of God, was sacrificed for us. A sacrifice
of infinite marriage, a sacrifice for a particular people, a sacrifice
that actually made atonement that actually put away sin. The
Lord Jesus Christ put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself. And then the blood of this sacrifice,
slain on God's altar, was sprinkled upon the mercy seat seven times. covers the whole mercy seat seven
times. Seven, the number of grace. Seven, the number of completion. Seven, the number of perfection,
by grace. The blood of the Lamb sprinkled
on the mercy seat, covering the Ark of the Covenant. wherein
there was the golden pot that had manna, Aaron's rod that budded,
and the law that was broken, and that blood sprinkled seven
times on the mercy seat is sprinkled for a covering to hide sin. Atonement speaks of a covering,
the hiding of sin. Some folks object to the use
of the word. They think they're smarter than the old theologians
or smarter than the translators and don't use the word atonement.
That's all right. I'm not much smarter than the
rest of those other fellas. Atonement is a good word. Covering. Under the blood of Jesus, sin's
covered from the eye of God. The blood sprinkled speaks of
propitiation. The sin's covered under the blood
of Christ because the sin is cancelled under the blood of
Christ. That's what propitiation is.
It's the cancelling of sin. I haven't had any debts in a
long time. I don't like debts. Oh, I hate debts. I hate to be
in debt. I hate to be in debt. But we
charge things on Discover Card every month. I don't spend much
cash to write checks. I just charge a Discover Card
and give Shelby the receipt, whatever I get. If it costs more
than a dollar or two, I put it on credit card. But every month,
the debt is canceled. Canceled. Go. That's what the blood of Christ
does with our sins. The word, mercy seat, atonement,
the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat, covering the
broken law, speaks of reconciliation. Uniting. In Christ, by the blood
of Christ, God and man are united. God and sinners are brought together. God opens a way of acceptance
for sinners to come into the holy place. Having died in our
place, the Lord Jesus entered immediately into heaven itself
and offered the Holy Lord God the merits of his blood, obtaining
eternal redemption for us. And he, by his blood, opened
heaven for me. He, by his blood, opened heaven
for sinners. The Lord Jesus, by his infinite
perpetual merit, by the infinite perpetual efficacy of his sacrifice,
continually makes intercession for his people according to the
will of God. Now, look at verses 20, 21, and
22. Look briefly at the scapegoat. When he's made an end of reconciling
the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation in 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. Now notice all three words used
throughout the Old Testament, throughout the entire Bible for
sin, iniquity, transgression, sin. Confess over them all. What's
that mean? putting them upon the head of
the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man
in the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and he
shall let go the goat in the wilderness." That scapegoat is
also a picture of our Redeemer. It's a picture of the complete
removal of our sins by Christ. The Lord hath laid on him the
iniquity of us all. What does that mean? When thou
shalt make his soul an offering for sin. What does that mean? The Lord God has made him who
knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. It portrays the removal of our
sins by Christ. When the sin was put on the goat,
put on the goat, it became his. and he is led by the hands of
a fit man into a land not inhabited, out into the wilderness. Did
you hear what Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. Your sins are pardoned and you
are free. They're all taken away. Gone, gone. Cast behind Jehovah's
back. cast by him into the depths of
the sea, never to be seen by him again. The guilt of sin is
gone. The punishment of sin is gone.
The memory of sin is gone. Sin is gone. How can that be? In him is no sin. In him. is no sin. Plenty in me and plenty in you. In Him is no sin. Now listen
to me, hang on. I'm in Him. that new man created
in Christ Jesus, holy and righteous. That new man, Christ in you,
the hope of glory is in him. In him is no sin, no sin. So that the Lord God will not
and cannot in righteousness charge with sin those for whom Christ
has died. Now, just briefly look at the
response of the people. When they saw what God did for
them, they repented. Verse 29, you shall afflict your
souls. If ever you see Christ crucified,
you will repent. You'll confess your sin. You
won't need me to tell you how to do it either. You'll confess
your sin. And then in verse 29 again, they
rested. You shall do no work at all.
If ever you believe on the Son of God, you will quit trying
to make yourself good. You will quit trying to make
yourself righteous and rest. You'll rest. Rest is to keep
the Sabbath. You'll enter into His rest. who
finished all has entered into his rest. And now we labor to
enter into his rest. What a strange word, labor to
rest. Lindsay, I've been doing it now
for 52 years, laboring to rest because my flesh keeps wanting
to do. Satan keeps saying, do! And God says, rest. Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. And something else they did,
they rejoiced. Turn over to chapter 25, look
at verse nine. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet
of the jubilee to sound on the 10th day of the seventh month.
In the day of atonement shall you make the trumpet sound throughout
all your land. The jubilee trumpet blew in the
year of jubilee when the day of atonement was finished, the
10th day of the seventh month. And when men heard the jubilee
trumpet sound, everybody in Israel, they never heard the sound of
it before. If anybody who heard this jubilee
trumpet sound, they had never heard it before. They had never
heard it before. But immediately they understood
every note. Isn't that amazing? Immediately. How's that? God told them what
it meant. God told them what it meant. Some of you have never
heard the gospel before. If today you hear it, you'll
know exactly what it means. It's no great mystery. It's no
great profound thing. It's as simple as it can be.
Hear the gospel. Believe on the Son of God and
hear liberty. Oh, thank God I'm free. Hear debt canceled. That's what
the Jubilee Trumpet meant. All your debts have been paid.
They're gone. Canceled. Removed forever. And
complete restoration. Everything you lost is restored
to you again. Everything lost in the sin and
followed by Father Adam is restored again. One more thing and I'll
be done. I call on you with me to perform
the act of faith symbolized in verses 21 and 22. Come, my brother, come, my sister,
with all your sin. Come, you who yet are without
God, without life, without faith. Come and lay your hands on the head
of God's sacrifice. Lay the hand of faith on Christ
Jesus the Lord. As Aaron symbolically laid the
sins of Israel on the Lamb. You put your hand to faith where
God put his hand of justice. Lay your hand on the head of
Christ the Lord. And watch it. Carry your sins away. That's what he did when he died
at Calvary. And that's the message of the
Day of Atonement. If you don't mind, let's try
to sing the hymn and the bulletin again for our closing hymn.