us tonight to look at one of
my favorite Old Testament types. While you're turning to Leviticus
chapter 16 let me see if I can help you a little bit in understanding
types when you come across them in Scripture. Our Lord Jesus
told us plainly in Luke 24 that all the Law and the Prophets
and the Psalms speak of Him. understand when you read the
Old Testament Scriptures that everything given in the Law,
in the five books of Moses, Everything given in the historic books,
that is those books dealing with the history of Israel, everything
given in the prophecies, everything given in the Psalms was brought
to pass and stated specifically to show us something concerning
the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Israel was taken
down to Egypt. because God intended that their
time in Egyptian bondage be a picture of our bondage in sin and that
their deliverance out of Egyptian bondage be a picture of our deliverance
by the grace of God through the blood of Christ and the power
of God's omnipotent mercy out of sin and condemnation. Now
that does not mean And this is so important. That does not mean
that every little thing that transpired during those 400 years
has some deep, hidden, mysterious spiritual meaning. If you try
to find it, you will only confuse yourself and any others to whom
you try to show such pictures. The whole picture picture of
redemption, grace, and salvation by Christ. Types are like our
Lord's parables. You read in the New Testament
of our Lord speaking to His disciples and to others in parables. Parables
were earthly stories, stories with which people were just familiar. He talked about a shepherd and
his sheep, and everybody around him knew exactly what he was
talking about. He talked about sowing a field and everybody
around him knew exactly what he was talking about. The parables
were intended to teach a specific thing, not many things, a specific
thing. The same is true with regard
to types. All the types in the scriptures,
all the types in the Old Testament scriptures are intended to teach
us one specific thing, just one thing. If I tell you a story
to illustrate something, my intention is just to illustrate one point. That's the reason for the story.
They used that chair for an illustration this morning. There's not something
significant about the legs or the arms or the leather or the
beating around it. It'll just hold me up, that's
all. That's the only purpose of it.
That's the only purpose of it. So it is with types and parables. They're intended by God to show
us pictures of one thing. If you try to look into the details,
if you've got a map in the back of your Bible, If you got a map
in the back of your Bible do something open it up and look
at it like this I'm serious now look at it like
this and tell me what you see You don't see anything. You just
see a mess. Ah Now I see exactly how to get
from Samaria to Jerusalem You understand what I'm saying? The
type and the picture and the parable is intended to teach
a specific thing, not many things. Types usually, they usually stand
on just two legs. That is their natural historic
meaning and their spiritual allegorical meaning. They're bipeds, not
centipedes with 100 pairs of legs. Let me give you some examples. Adam was a type of Christ, our
covenant head and representative. Romans 5 shows us that clearly. That does not mean that there
was some hidden mystical spiritual significance to the size of Adam's
feet or the shape of his toes. I just don't care. I just don't
care. He was a picture and type of our Redeemer. Sarah and Hagar
were told in Galatians 4, and their sons Ishmael and Isaac
were an allegory about law and grace. A picture of law and grace. But that does not mean that everything
they said, did, and experienced was typical. David slew Goliath
with a sling and a stone. A clear picture of God's great
work of grace in Christ Jesus, conquering Satan and death and
hell and sin by the power of his grace, by the blood atonement
that he provided and accomplished at Calvary. But it's a mistake
to try to find something spiritual in the sling that David used.
Now let's look up the meaning of that word sling and study
that and we'll find something there. It's just a sling. Slingshot
would be all right. It's a little different. It'd
be all right to use that. Or the five smooth stones he carried
in his pocket. Or the way he took aid. David
slew Goliath with a stone and a sling. And Christ conquered
Satan, death, hell, and sin by the sacrifice of himself. If
you try to find more in the type than is intended by the Spirit
of God in giving the type, you make a mess and a confusion.
Now, two weeks ago, I tried to preach to you from this 16th
chapter of Leviticus about the Day of Atonement. Let's look
at this chapter again, and I wanna talk to you about the scapegoat,
a marvelous, beautiful picture of our Redeemer. We'll begin
in verse three, Leviticus 16, verse three. Thus shall Aaron
come into the holy place with a young bullock for a sin offering,
and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen
coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and
shall be girded with the linen girdle, and with the linen mitre
shall he be attired. These are holy garments. Therefore
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 goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.
And Aaron shall offer his bullock for 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 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. Now try to get the picture of
what transpired on this greatest of all days in the history of
Israel. First, Aaron had to sacrifice
a bullock. and make atonement for himself
and his household. He had to purge all the holy
things in the tabernacle. all the furnishings, everything
with blood. And Aaron himself must make atonement
with the blood of that bullock provided by God for himself and
for his household. Aaron must wash himself, cleanse
himself, and sanctify himself. Second, he was to sacrifice the
Lord's goat to make atonement for Israel. He slit the throat
of that goat on which the lot fell and made it the Lord's goat.
And he took the blood of that goat into the Holy of Holies
with the incense, and he sprinkled the blood upon the mercy seat,
covering the Ark of the Covenant, which had in it the broken law
of God, and thereby making atonement. And God said concerning that
mercy seat, I will meet you upon the mercy seat between the cherubs.
What a picture of our Redeemer and redemption by Him. This is
where God meets sinners in Jesus Christ the Lord. And then third,
God's priest was required to symbolically impute the sins
of Israel to the scapegoat. Look at verse 20, Leviticus 16,
20. 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 in all their sins. I had never really noticed
the wording that is used here in detail until reading Hawker
on it this week. And he made a great deal of the
fact that the Lord says Aaron here will confess over this live
goat, this scapegoat, all the iniquities of the children of
Israel and all their transgressions in all their sins. He uses all
three words that describe sin, iniquity, transgression, and
sin, but he mixes them together. He says, his aim is to confess
over this live goat all the sins of the people and all their iniquities
in all their transgressions, in all their sins. That is to
give emphasis to the fact that this is a complete transfer of
sin symbolically. Everything involved in sin completely
transferred from Israel to this scapegoat. Read on. And their
transgressions and all their sins putting them upon the head
of the goat 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 unto a land not inhabited, and he
shall let the goat go in the wilderness. Now this scapegoat,
like the lamb sacrificed, is a beautiful picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Redeemer. As the slain goat
portrays him as the Lamb of God sacrificed for our sins. This
scapegoat portrays him as the sacrifice accepted of God. Oh, bless his name. God has accepted the sacrifice. As it's written by the Apostle
Paul in the scriptures, as it's written throughout the New Testament
scriptures, our Lord's sacrifice is frequently declared to be
once. one time in the end of the world,
once in the end of the world, once with finality, the Lord
Jesus sacrificed himself. Because this one sacrifice is
all that satisfies the justice of God, and this one sacrifice
is accepted, so that there's nothing else to be offered to
God except this one sacrifice. And this scapegoat pictures the
acceptance of the sacrifice. The first goat, the Lord's goat,
the slain victim, gave us a picture of atonement. The scapegoat,
this living goat, gives us a picture of the result of atonement. And
let me call your attention to three things briefly, and I'll
not be very long doing so. First, let's look at this lost
scapegoat. In verse 21, we see the transfer. That is the imputation of our
sins to Christ. Aaron shall lay both of 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
in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat and
shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. Isaiah puts it this way. The
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah describes for
us in the revelation of the gospel what is portrayed here in the
sacrifice of the lamb and of this scapegoat having sin imputed
to it. Our Lord Jesus gives us by inspiration
of the Spirit in 2 Corinthians 5, 21, an explanation of the
whole. 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. Sin was transferred
from Israel to the scapegoat. It was imputed symbolically as
the transfer was made. Aaron confessed over the head
of that live goat all the iniquity, transgression, and sin of all
the people of God, and it is symbolically laid on that goat. You have often read, I have in
the past said, our Lord Jesus was made sin by imputation. That just is not correct. That
just is not correct. Justice will not impute sin where
there is none. Law cannot impute sin where there
is none. Our Lord Jesus was made sin for
us. And when he was made sin for
us, our sins were justly imputed to him. Aaron laid on this goat
the sins of the people. But as he did, he confessed over
this goat their sins that were transferred symbolically from
Israel to the goat. The Lord God Almighty did not
symbolically transfer our sins to our Savior. He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us. He made Him who knew no sin to
be sin for us. He anticipated this as he is
going to Calvary. He said, now is my soul exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. What shall I say? Father, save
me for this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour.
We're told in the Psalms that he drank of the brook, by the
way, the brook Kidron. That brook Kidron was the place
where all the filth, all the corruption, the sacrifices
offered in the temple was dumped in that brook. Everything dumped
in that brook. And our Lord Jesus, as he went
to Gethsemane, crossed over the brook, Hedron, and he dipped,
as it were, in the brook, and took in himself all our transgressions,
our iniquities, our sins, and the anticipation of being made
sin for us, crushed his heart in Gethsemane's garden. And then
he braced himself up And he said, father, glorify thy name. And that's what's portrayed in
the transfer of sin from the children of Israel by Aaron's
hand to this live goat. He took our sins away. Look at
verse 22. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited. shall let go the goat in the
wilderness. The Lord Jesus took away our
sins. He took them away. He took them
away. We are freed from sin. But pastor, you tell us all the
time how sinful we are. We know the iniquity and transgression
and sin in our own nature, in our own hearts, in our day-by-day
lives. We're fully aware of the corruption
that's in us. Yes, indeed. Don't forget that. Don't forget that. But insofar
as law and justice and God is concerned, Bill Rodley, your
sins are gone. Gone. Gone. He didn't just cover
them up, they're gone. He just didn't put a covering
over them so they're out of the sight of man's eye. They're gone,
blotted out, forgiven, cast behind his back, cast into the depths
of infinite forgetfulness. That means the punishment of
sin is gone. All possibility of sin being
punished is gone because the sin is gone. There is no guilt
where there is no sin. There is no demand of the law
where there is no transgression against the law. And the memory
of sin insofar as God's holy law and justice is concerned
is gone. Now I'm in water way over my
head. and I can't begin to explain
it, and I won't attempt to, but oh, my soul, how I love to drink
from this rich fountain of grace. God says their iniquities, their
sins, their transgressions will I remember no more. 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. Completely taken away by our
Savior. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven. Whose transgression is lifted
up and carried off. Whose sin is covered. Covered
as the mercy seat was covered with blood. Blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit
is no guile. Do you mean, Brother Don, God
will never, never, never charge me with sin? How can God not
charge you with sin? How can God in justice not charge
you with sin? because he has taken your sin
away. Christ has removed your transgressions
from you. As far as the East is from the
West, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. With
all the sins of Israel made his, the scapegoat was taken away
by a fit man. That fit man is Christ too. See,
our Lord Jesus cannot be fully portrayed. His work cannot be
fully portrayed by one man or one event or one thing. He is
the priest. He is the sacrifice. He is the
mercy seat. He is the altar. He is the tabernacle. He is everything portrayed here. This fit man is our Lord Jesus
Christ, just as truly as the scapegoat is the Lord Jesus Christ
in picture. He is God our Savior, the judge
of all the earth who must do right. He is the very justice
of God. The scapegoat is taken beyond
the camp, taken out of sight, beyond the track of man, to the
borders of far distant uninhabited land. And there he's released. The fit man unties him, slaps
him and sends him away. And he goes off into a thicket
or into the rocks. And he's not seen anymore. And
the man comes back unseen, unknown. He's forgotten. Forever gone
from mortal view. Buried in oblivion's land. That's a picture of full pardon. Full. and no brighter picture
of the full pardon of sin in Christ. Our Lord Jesus bore the
load of all my sin and guilt away as far as the east is from
the west. Far away, so very far away that
the omniscient, all-seeing eye of the infinite God can't find
it. God can't find it. And Oscar
Bailey, if God can't find it, that means it ain't around. It's
gone, it's gone. God the Spirit, by the testimony
of the gospel, proclaims this good news and confirms it in
the soul when he gives us life and faith in Christ. The Lord
God has cast our sins all our sins behind his back into the
abyss of forgetfulness, into the depths of the sea. He has
made an infinite separation. He has infinitely separated our
transgressions from us. I use the word infinite with
great caution. The only thing, if I can use
such language, that is infinite. The only one who is infinite
is God. And God, the infinite God, has
by an infinite separation removed our sins from us. Christ, our
scapegoat, has borne our iniquities away. Listen to this. Behold, for peace I had great
bitterness. but thou hast in love to my soul
delivered it from the pit of corruption. For thou has cast
all my sins behind thy back. Which of you can see what's behind
your back? Give it a shot. God has cast our sins behind
his back. He has cast our sins into the
depths of the sea so that our sins are buried. The scapegoat
drowned our sins in the infinite abyss of divine forgetfulness. Can that be seen to which the
eye of omniscience is blind? Are objects visible which are
behind your back our scapegoat? has done this for us. He's blotted
out as a thick cloud our transgressions so that God himself can never
find them. And God says, I will remember
them no more. Do you need comfort? Oh, wondrous grace. Oh, wondrous
mercy. Drink. Drink, drink, O my soul,
from this ever-springing fountain of grace. The scapegoat has taken
our sins away. Now, let's look at the people's
response. Turn over to the book of Numbers,
if you will. Numbers chapter six. I've given
this to you before, but I want you to get it. At the close of
the day, when the work of atonement was finished, Aaron took off
his linen garments and put on his glorious, gorgeous garments
again, the breastplate and the ephod, that plates his holiness
to the Lord. All those gorgeous, rich, rich
attire of the priesthood, he puts that back on. And on the
basis of atonement made, he comes out before the congregation.
Sacrifice has been made. the scapegoat has carried the
sins of the people off into an uninhabited land. And the man
who carried him off has come back again. And Aaron on the
basis of all this has transpired, lifts up his hands of the children
of Israel. Look at verse 24 and number six and says, the Lord
bless thee and keep thee. The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. I say to you, children of God,
on the basis of who Christ is and what he has done, this is
God's promise to you. The Lord will bless you and keep
you. The Lord will make his face to
shine upon you. The Lord will be gracious to
you. The Lord will lift up his countenance upon you and give
you peace. And then God says, they shall
put my name upon the children of Israel and I will bless them. Now look at that back in Leviticus
16 again. Let's see what these people did,
how they responded to this great work of grace and God's blessing
upon them. In verse 29, they repented. The Lord said, you shall afflict
your souls. They turned to God confess their
sin. And then they rested. He says,
Ye shall do no work at all. If ever the Lord God is pleased
to cause you to believe on His Son, you will rest in Him. This is the whole law of the
Sabbath. It was given to portray rest in Christ, the blessed rest
of faith. They rested when the work of
atonement was done. And then we're told in chapter
25, turn over there a minute. Here's another picture of the
day of atonement, this time in the year Jubilee. We're told
in chapter 25 in verse 9, these who repented and rested, believing
on the Lord Jesus, rejoiced. Look at verse 9 in Leviticus
25. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of jubilee, that is the
gospel of God's grace, 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, and you shall hallow the 50th year
and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof. It shall be jubilee unto you,
a time of partying and celebration and rejoicing. And you shall
return every man unto his possession and shall return every man unto
his family. Jubilee. Jubilee is the preaching
of the Gospel. And this is what it proclaims,
liberty, liberty. Every soul for whom the Lamb
was slain is free. It proclaims the clearing of
all debts. You owe nothing anymore. Every debt you owe is gone. Every debt you owed had been
fully paid. And it proclaims complete restoration. What you lost, here it is again. What you gave up, here, I bring
it back. Our Savior said, then I restored
that which I took not away. Now let's look at verses 21 and
22 again. Here Aaron, lays his hands upon the head
of the goat and confesses over this goat the sins of the children
of Israel, giving us a beautiful picture of the act of faith in
the soul of every believer. I call upon you to join me in
this act of faith symbolized on the Day of Atonement. Oh,
come now, soul, and lay your head, your hands upon the head
of God's darling son, and confess your sin. Confess your sin, and watch them
be taken away, completely taken away. never to be remembered
by God again, never to be brought up again, never to be held against
you again, completely forgiven by God's free grace through Christ,
the Lamb of God, our blessed scapegoat, the one who was chosen
of God to bear the blame. We often hear about men who are
scapegoats for somebody else's crimes or offenses. And we look
at them and think about the corruption and the evil of it. Here is a
scapegoat. where there's nothing but holiness,
justice, and truth. This scapegoat was ordained of
God. This scapegoat took all the blame,
all the guilt of all the transgressions, iniquities, and sins of all the
people chosen of God before the world began away forever, forever,
forever. sinner who trusts this scapegoat, every sinner who believes on
the Son of God has restored to him all the perfection of life
in Jesus Christ the Lord and set free, forever free. Oh, may God make the Savior yours
for Christ's sake. Amen.