Bring your Bibles with me tonight
to the 16th chapter of the book of Leviticus. Leviticus chapter
16. I had prepared and planned to
preach to you this evening from Isaiah 6 verse 13 until I started
to read the scriptures this morning during our scripture reading.
And as I read this 16th chapter, I knew I just had to come back
to it tonight for tonight's message. My subject this evening is the
subject of this chapter, the day of atonement, Leviticus 16
and verse 17. There shall be no man in the
tabernacle of the congregation when he, that is Aaron, God's
high priest, 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. Without
question, the most important the most instructive of all the
typical ceremonies of the Old Testament era was the Day of
Atonement. This Day of Atonement pictured,
foreshadowed, typified, and prophetically stated for us that which would
be the atoning work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our true
great High Priest, our substitutionary sacrifice for sin, God's Passover,
the scapegoat, our altar, our mercy seat, that one through
whom alone sinners have access to and find acceptance with the
Holy Lord God. Why did God institute this day
that He required the children of Israel throughout their generations
to observe once a year every year, all the days of Old Testament
history, from the giving of the law until Christ came into the
world. He did so for one specific reason. In order for the holy Lord God
to deal with sinful men and women like you and me, in mercy, in
grace, and in peace, without compromising His character, without
violating his own holy law, without compromising his holiness, his
justice, and his truth. There had to be a day of atonement. A holy, just, and true God could
never allow fallen man to live in his presence. God, in his
holiness, in his justice, in his truth, cannot allow sin to
go unpunished. The Lord God Almighty therefore
found a substitute, a ransom, a man who would make adequate,
sufficient, effectual atonement for his people, for their sins,
for their transgressions, for their iniquities, by which justice
would be satisfied and vindicated. Sin must be punished. else God
and man can never come together in peace. Sin must be punished,
else God and man can never come together in peace. When the Lord
God revealed his glory to Moses, he stated two things that seemed
to be contradictory. He said, I will by no means clear
the guilty. And then he said, I forgive iniquity,
transgression, and sin. How can both be done? Only by
God putting away sin, by a sacrifice that meets all the demands of
righteousness, justice, and truth. Therefore God ordained the Day
of Atonement to be observed in Israel once every year as a picture,
a prophecy, and a pledge of that great Day of Atonement to be
accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ through the sacrifice
of himself. God gave Moses meticulous, detailed
instructions about the Day of Atonement. Let me remind you
of just a few and then we'll look at the picture given in
these 34 verses. First, the Day of Atonement was
ordained, initiated, and established by God. This was not the invention
of man. The Day of Atonement was that
which God specifically established and gave to the children of Israel,
because before the world was, He found a ransom by which He
would deliver His people from going down to the pit. The Lord
God Almighty, before the world was made, set a day in which
Jesus Christ, His Son, would accomplish redemption for us.
Our Lord Jesus, when he came to that hour, when he came to
that day, he said in John chapter 12, now is the judgment of this
world. The word judgment in that passage
in John 12 is crisis. Now is the crisis of the world. Now is the hinge of history. Now is the day for which all
things were made. God Almighty created this world
for this day when He would reveal His glory in the saving of sinners
by the sacrifice of His Son. This is the issue of history,
this Day of Atonement which was pointed at in the type before
us here in Leviticus 16. Second, the day of atonement
was set for a specific time each year. We're told numerous times
in the Old Testament, three times in Leviticus 25, and we're told
here in verse 29, that it was to be observed on the seventh
month on the 10th day of the month. God's great day of atonement
was set. It was fixed at an appointed
determined time by himself. Our Lord Jesus spoke of it as
mine hour when the fullness of time was come. God sent forth
his son made of a woman, made under the law to redeem them
that were under the law. Our Lord Jesus finally came to
that appointed hour and he said, Father, the hour is come. This specific hour, God Almighty
sovereignly arranged, manipulated, controlled, and brought to pass
all the events of history to come to this point. at this specific
hour. And our Lord Jesus was crucified
at the time specifically of the evening sacrifice. And when he
died, the veil in the temple was rent into from top to bottom,
God declaring that the day of atonement has come and redemption
is accomplished. And then third, there was only
one day of atonement, just one, once a year. Aaron was ordered
by God to come into the Holy of Holies. One time, just one
time. No man but Aaron. And Aaron only
with the blood of the Passover lamb, once every year, because
the Lord Jesus Christ came to make one sacrifice for sin. And having made one sacrifice
for sin forever, he sat down on the right hand of the majesty
on high. Now once in the end of the world
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. We are about to observe the Lord's
Supper as we do every Lord's Day evening here. And this bread
and wine is given to us by our Savior as that by which we are
to remember his accomplishments for us, by which we are to remember
him. But never imagine, never imagine
that this is a repetition of the sacrifice. This was one of
the great issues during the time of Reformation. Papists actually
believed. that when some fellow stands
up here in a woman's garb and has his robe and his crosses
and does his mumbo-jumbo and blesses the bread and wine, suddenly
that bread becomes the body of Christ and that wine becomes
the blood of Christ. But preacher, doesn't the scripture
say, this is my body, this is my blood of the New Testament.
It does indeed. And one great reason why our
Lord used those very words was to give papists rope with which
to hang themselves. Such nonsense is totally contrary
to Holy Scripture. Such nonsense is blasphemy and
it is idolatry. Our Lord's body is represented
in the bread. His blood is represented in the
wine. And when we eat the bread, We're
not eating his flesh literally. We're eating the bread in remembrance
of him. And when we drink the wine, we're
not drinking his blood literally. What could be more barbaric?
That sound like something that would come out of New Guinea
or some tribe in Africa years ago. That's barbaric. It's silly. It's absurd. It's only foolish
religion that thinks of such things. We're drinking the wine
in remembrance of him who shed his blood for us. Here's a fourth
fact. These sacrifices offered on the
day of atonement were only typical. They were only typical. No sacrifice
made by any human being could ever put away sin. No sacrifice
made by any man could ever make atonement for a single sin. sacrifices of the Old Testament,
all of the daily sacrifices, all the sacrifices that men offered
from the day that Abel came and offered his sacrifice to God
until the Lord Jesus finally accomplished redemption by the
sacrifice of himself were but pictures by which redemption
would be accomplished. Now this is stressed because
it needs stressing. Don't ever imagine that there's
something you can do to make up to God for sin. Don't ever
imagine that you can, by your acts or by your sacrifices, bribe
God and buy him off. It can't be done. But the blood
of Jesus Christ, God's darling son, God's one sacrifice, has
put away sin forever. And then understand this as well.
All these typical ceremonial sacrifices were fulfilled by
Christ. And because they were fulfilled
by Christ, they are forever ended. All that Christ fulfilled is
forever ended. There are no more prophecies
to be fulfilled concerning the work of redemption. There are
no more prophecies to be fulfilled concerning the incarnation of
the God-man. There are no more prophecies
to be fulfilled concerning the putting away of sin by the sacrifice
of Christ the mediator. No more prophecies to be fulfilled
concerning the crushing of the serpent's head by the woman's
seed. These things are fulfilled. And we must never expect any
other law ceremony to be established and respected by God. It is not
done. Christ fulfilled them all. And
as he fulfilled the ceremonies and the types and the rituals
and sacrifices of the Old Testament, so he fulfilled all the law so
that these things are forever ceased. We have nothing to do
with them. There is now no more offering
for sin, the scripture says. Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews 10
for a moment. Just hold your hands in Leviticus
16, I want you to see this. Hebrews the 10th chapter, look
at verse 1. 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 thereunto perfect. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered? Once sin is gone, there's no
more need for sacrifice. Once there's no more conscience
of sin, no more guilt, there's no more need for sacrifice. Verse
two, then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because
that the worshipers once purged should have had 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 bulls and of goats should take away sin. Look at verse
11. Then said he, lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh
away the first. All that had to do with all the
cardinal ordinances of the Old Testament. All that had to do
with legal law worship. which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all,
that is, once with finality. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man After he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Look at verse 18. Now where remission
of these is, there is no more offering for sin. Now all that
was done on the day of atonement was done for a specific chosen
people. And it resulted in God's blessing
upon those specific chosen people. Aaron, God's high priest, wore
his gorgeous priestly garments when he was doing public ministry. And he wore that breastplate.
And on the breastplate were inscribed the 12 names of the tribes of
the children of Israel. He didn't represent anyone else. What he did was not done for
anyone else. What he did had no bearing upon
anyone else. He was the representative of
God's chosen people. Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, has
the names of God's elect written on His hands, inscribed on His
heart, and everything He has done, is doing, and shall hereafter
do, is for His elect, and all for whom He performs His work
reap the benefits of His work. All right, now let's go back
to Leviticus 16, and I want to call your attention to five things
in these 34 verses. First, the great day of atonement
was made by a specifically appointed man, Aaron, the high priest of
Israel. It was made to be a day of atonement
by this one man. by this one great high priest. Look at 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. Now, as we read through
this chapter, you're gonna see those words, sin offering. I went back again today and looked
it up again. Everywhere you find those words,
In your mind, if not in some note in the margin of your Bible,
you ought to write out sin. There is no such word in the
Old Testament scriptures that should be translated sin offering. Our translators translated it
that way because it is talking about a ceremonial offering. but it's given specifically for
a reason, because Christ was made sin for us. When Paul quotes
from Isaiah chapter 53 and verse 10, when thou shalt make his
soul an offering for sin, he quotes it exactly right. Christ
was made sin for us. Thus shall Aaron come into the
holy place with a young bullock for sin. and a ram for a burnt
offering. This one who came as God's priest
was a man chosen of God. The Lord God says he's laid help
upon one that is mighty, one that is chosen out of the people. In Isaiah 42, you don't need
to turn there, I've written it out. He says, behold my servant
whom I uphold, mine elect in whom my soul delighteth. He shall
not fail. This is my servant. This is my
high priest. This is the one I've chosen. He is my representative. He deals with me and I deal with
you through him. He deals with me and you deal
with me through him. Only through this mediator man.
Look at verse four of Leviticus 16. This high priest was robed
with garments of humility. On the day of atonement, he was
required, 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 holy garments. Therefore shall he wash his flesh
in water, and so put them on. On this great day. when Aaron
is about to do his great work. When Aaron is about to take the
blood and go into the Holy of Holies and make atonement, he
took off that gorgeous, costly, rich, royal attire of the priesthood. He took off the miter and the
breastplate and the robe and all the things interwoven with
gold. He took them off and he put on just plain white linen
garments. There were no bells and pomegranates. I've heard preachers talk about
the day of atonement. He had pomegranates and bells
on the hem of his garment so that when he went in to make
atonement, if they couldn't hear the bells and pomegranates ring,
then that meant that Aaron wasn't accepted and he died and they'd
send somebody in with a long stick and drag him out of the
holy place. No, there was no possibility
he was gonna die in there. He came as God's representative. He came with God's sacrifice. He came the way God required
on the day God required. And God said, I'll meet you on
the mercy seat. And Aaron was always accepted. And the people of God always
accepted in him. He came in with those garments
of humility. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ? How that though he was rich,
yet for your sakes, He became poor that you through his poverty
might be made rich. The Apostle Paul wrote to the
Philippians, said he emptied himself. He made himself of no
reputation. Our Lord Jesus, rich with all
the glory of everlasting Godhead, came into this world in our humanity
and he came here as a man who was to be a servant and being
a servant he made himself the servant of men as well as the
servant of God in the lowest humility. Our Savior said, he
that is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than John
the Baptist. And he who is our Savior made
himself least in the kingdom of heaven. He who is the greatest
made himself the least. Look at verses three and four
together. Israel's great high priest, was a ceremonially holy
man. Thus shall Aaron come into the
holy place with a young bullock for sin offering, a young bullock
for sin, and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the
holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen britches 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,
verse six. And Aaron shall offer his bullock
of the sin, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for
himself and for his house. He shall make atonement for himself,
for he was a sinner. And no sinner can be accepted
with God. He must make atonement for himself and for his house.
Verse 11. And Aaron shall bring the bullock
of the sea, which is for himself. And he shall make an atonement
for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of
the sea. 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 them within the veil. Though Aaron was a
sinner like us, he had to be ceremonially holy to act as God's
high priest, picturing the Lord Jesus. You see, in order to approach
God as the high priest of his people, Aaron had to have, typically,
and Christ had to have, in reality, these four things. He could not
come to God. He could not make sacrifice to
God. He could not be accepted of God without these four things.
He must be personally clean. Therefore, he washed his body
in holy water. And our Lord Jesus Christ came
into this world made of a woman, made under the law, holy with
no sin, righteous with no sin, perfect. That man who came into
this world to redeem us was without sin, did no sin and knew no sin,
else he could not make atonement for sin. Second, he had to have
holy garments, linen garments. Garments woven by the hands of
a man. I wonder why not wool garments? The wool garments are garments
made by God's hand from sheep. The linen garments are garments
that must be woven by the hands of a man. Our Lord Jesus Christ,
by his obedience to God as our representative, wrought out a
perfect righteousness with which he stood, accepted of God as
Jehovah's righteous servant, and we accepted in him. Third,
this man must have divine approval. He comes in to the Holy of Holies,
and he brings with him a sweet-smelling savor to God, incense. And he waved that incense before
God, and the smoke arose, picturing the sweet-smelling savor of Christ's
sacrifice, accepted of God. Our mediator was meritorious
and the incense portrays our savior's intercession for us. We are accepted because God approves
of him. If we're accepted of God, Merlehart,
we're accepted because God approves of him. Mark just read scripture
and prayed for us. Alan just sang for us. Back in
the back, Rex, read scripture and prayed for us. And if God hears the reading
and accepts it, and God hears the prayer and accepts it, if
God hears the song and accepts it, we sang three hymns of praise
to our God. If God accepts us, We must be
accepted only in Christ the Lord. He can't look our way except
by Christ. And then fourth, he must have
blood atonement. Aaron could not come into the
Holy of Holies without blood. And the Lord Jesus Christ could
not, I chose my words deliberately, could not He could not, he could
not obtain eternal redemption for us without the shedding of
his blood. Our Lord Jesus did not die for
nothing. Now look at verse 17. In all
his work on the day of atonement, Aaron acted alone. 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. No one else was present. No one was allowed to follow
Aaron into the holy of holies. Aaron must go in alone with God
to make atonement for the people. The whole nation was trusted
to the hands of one man. The revelation of God's glory,
the nation of Israel, all their welfare, all God's honor, trusted
to the hands of one man. So it is with our Redeemer. He
said, I looked for some to help and found none. Therefore my
own arm brought salvation. All God's glory, all God's elect,
all that which honors God was trusted by our God, the triune
Jehovah into the hands of a man, Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, the
Son of God. He said, reproach hath broken
mine heart. I'm full of heaviness. I looked
for some to take pity, but there was none for comforters, but
I found none. If that man who was trusted with
everything should fail, then the nation must die. But if he's
successful, the nation must live. And the Lord Jesus Christ, God
said, shall not fail. that which he came here to do,
he has accomplished, and the nation of Israel, God's elect,
lives with him and in him. In all things Aaron, the high
priest, typified our great sin-atoning high priest, the Lord Jesus.
Now second, look at verse five. And let me give you some thoughts
concerning the slain goats. the goat that was to be slain
as a victim, a sin offering to God. This goat represents our
savior as the lamb of God. Christ is both our high priest
and our sacrificial lamb. He is the victim not of man's
will. the victim not of the Jews conniving,
the victim not of Judas' betrayal, the victim not of Herod, the
victim not of Pilate, but the victim of divine justice. Look at verse five. And he shall
take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of
the goats for sin, for sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering,
verse seven. 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, remember these two goats
were both perfect. They were both spotless. They
had both been shut up and inspected. There was no blemish in them.
Why didn't Aaron just pick one and leave the other? There's
a reason. Let's read on. 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 to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. The goat
that was sacrificed was an innocent victim. Christ Jesus did no sin. He had no sin. He could not sin. This goat was taken from among
the people. He must be taken not from outside
the camp of Israel. They didn't go out and buy the
best goat they could find in the Gentile world. No, he must
come from among the people. Divine justice must be avenged
upon and compensation must be made by man because man had sinned. And these children of Israel
must themselves bring the sacrifice to God. Our Lord Jesus Christ
came here to be one of us, that he as a man might make sacrifice
for sin. And the goat was chosen and ordained
of God. Aaron cast lots and the lot fell
on this goat. Aaron took him and sacrificed
him to God. How come? Because the lot is
cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of the Lord. Our Lord Jesus was the sacrifice
God ordained. The sacrifice God chose, the
sacrifice God predestined, the sacrifice that God provided.
And this goat, look at verse 15, was slain by divine order
as God's sacrifice for sin. Then shall he kill the goat of
the sin, 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. The Lord God said, Awake, O sword,
against my shepherd, against the man that is my fellow. Smite
and slay the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered, and
I'll turn my hands upon the little ones. Thus the Lord Jesus substitute,
the Lamb of God, was sacrificed for us, a sacrifice of infinite
merit, a sacrifice for a particular people, a sacrifice that actually
made atonement and actually put away our sins. Now look at verses
14 and 15, the blood of this slaying goat was to be sprinkled
upon the mercy seat seven times. And he shall take 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. He shall 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. The goats were sacrificed. And the blood brought in to the
mercy seat that covered the Ark of the Covenant with God's broken
law. And he sprinkled the blood. Seven times to make a covering,
a complete covering, a propitiation. a reconciliation to hide, to
counsel our sins, to unite God and man. And as he sprinkled
the blood on the mercy seat, God's glory fills the house.
And God and man are united in the sacrifice. Having died in
our place, the Lord Jesus Christ entered immediately into heaven.
with the merit of his blood and offered his merit, his blood
atonement, obtaining eternal redemption for us. His sacrifice
was perfect and complete. It was final and accepted. And
his one sacrifice for sin opened a way of access for sinners to
come into God. He cried, it is finished. And
when he did, the veil in the temple split in two. from top
to bottom. Scriptures are specific. It didn't
split from the bottom to the top, unless somebody should say,
well, it was just worn out over all those years. No, it split
from the top to the bottom. And God says now to sinners,
come and welcome. Come and welcome! Sinners are
welcome to approach God through the merits of Christ and his
obedience unto death as our substitute. The sacrifice of our Savior is
a sacrifice of infinite perpetual merit and efficacy before God. God has accepted him. God accepts him. God has accepted
us in him and God accepts us in him perpetually. Now, look
at verse 20. Let me say a little something
about the scapegoat. The scapegoat is brought before
the Lord. And we read in verse 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 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. Aaron takes that live goat and
lays his hands on the head of that live goat and confesses
all the sins of Israel, all the transgressions of Israel. all
the iniquities of Israel, everything. And the scripture says he put
their sins on that goat. And when he did, he sent him
away. The Lord Jesus carrying our sins away forever. 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. Taken away never to be imputed
to me again. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin. Now, what was the response of
the people? I'll just hurriedly tell you. First, they repented. They afflicted their souls. a
picture of repentance. When God comes and turns the
sinner to himself, the sinner turns to God and confesses his
sin. Ah, what sweet bitterness, what
bitter sweetness it is to turn to God and confess your sin,
to confess your sin. It's a poor illustration, A poor
example, I realize that. But a child gets in trouble.
Well, I don't reckon you ever got in trouble, did you? Did
something you wasn't supposed to do and you hide it. And you
hide it. But you know dad's gonna find
out. And you hide it. And you're scared
to death he's gonna find out. And then finally you come to
him with a broken heart and you tell him what you've done. Face
the consequences. And as painful as that is, oh,
it's wonderful to get it done. Wonderful to get it off your
chest. Come to God. trusting the Son
of God and get it off your chest. And when you confess your sin,
He's faithful and just to forgive your sin and cleanse you from
all unrighteousness. And then the children of Israel
rejoiced. They rejoiced in the Lord and
His goodness. And then they rested. They kept
the Sabbath day. They ceased to work. In this
place, I insist that we recognize that believers don't attempt
to keep a Sabbath day. I personally like the fact that
we have one day called the Lord's Day in which we set aside a time
to worship God. I remember when I was a boy growing
up, we had blue laws in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. You couldn't
buy anything on Sunday except to go out to eat somewhere. Somehow
the restaurants always managed to get around them, but everything
else was closed up tight as a drum. You couldn't get anything. I
wish we still had them. I'd like to have that, but not
a Sabbath day, not a Sabbath day. How come? Because we observe
no holy days of any kind. Christ is our holy day. Christ
is our Sabbath. Believers rest in him. As long as you find some comfort
in keeping a physical Sabbath day, you will never rest in Christ. But when you cease from your
works and rest in him, salvation is yours. And these men and women, performed an act of faith representatively. They brought this goat to the
Lord and they gave him in the hands of a man who took their
sins off of them and put them on that goat. And that goat,
who experienced the transfer of sin, their sins in His body
and died in their stead. That's what Christ has done for
us. That's what Christ has done for
us. Now turn over to the book of
Numbers chapter 26. I'll show you the result of all
this. Numbers 26, I'm sorry, number six, excuse
me, number chapter six. Aaron got done with his work
in the holy place, and he took off those linen garments, and
he washed himself, and he put back on the royal garments, those
gorgeous, gorgeous garments of his royal kingly priesthood. And he came out on the basis
of the sacrifice accepted. and he lifted up his hands over
the congregation of Israel. And he said, verse 24, number
six, the Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his
face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord
lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel. and I will bless them. God Almighty, through the mediation
of our Lord Jesus Christ, by the merits of his sin atoning
death, by the power of his resurrection ascended glory, gives his people
all the blessings of His grace, His salvation forever in Christ
Jesus. Oh, may God speak the blessing
of grace to your heart for Christ's sake. Amen.