The book of Exodus concluded
with setting up the tabernacle of God so that God might be worshiped
by men, so that men might come to God find acceptance with him
and hear from him, so that God might communicate with and reveal
himself to men from the tabernacle. He promised that he would meet
us on the mercy seat between the chariots. And then the book
of Leviticus opens, showing us how God Almighty in his great
holiness in his absolute, immutable justice and truth, can and will
receive guilty sinners and receive us as he receives his own Son,
holy and accepted. Leviticus gives us the prescribed
ordinances and ceremonies of divine worship by which Our Lord
Jesus Christ and the blessed work of God's grace in him is
portrayed and typified. This book was written, if you're
interested in dates, about 1500 years before Christ came into
the world. It was written about 2500 years
after the creation. Now, except for three specific
historic events, the book is all about laws and ceremonies
involved in the priesthood. There's nothing historical at
all in the book, except three things. And these three things
are very, very important, very instructive. First, there is
a historical record of the consecration of Aaron and his sons as the
priests of God in chapters 8 and 9. Now, there is a two-fold type
here. Aaron certainly and his priesthood
represents the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Specifically,
Aaron, the high that one who was the priest of Israel, who
made atonement for Israel, who came out from the place of blessing
and blessed the nation of Israel because of that atonement, foreshadowed
the Lord Jesus Christ, our great High Priest. He was a man specifically
chosen, ordained, and accepted of God. He was anointed with
the holy anointing oil. He was divinely approved, and
only he could represent the people in the holy place before God's
glorious holiness. And so he pictures the Lord Jesus
Christ, our great High Priest. Hold your hands here in Leviticus
and turn to Hebrews 7. Once a year, every year on the
Day of Atonement, Aaron took off his gorgeous costly priestly
garments and put on those white linen garments of the sacrificial
function, and went into the holy place with the blood of the Lamb.
and obtained atonement for the people of Israel. But it was
only a temporary ceremonial atonement. It had to be repeated every year.
The sacrifice was only a typical ceremonial sacrifice. It could
never put away sin. It could never make any man's
conscience free of guilt. It could never give any man acceptance
with God except in a ceremonial way. But our Lord Jesus Christ,
that one of whom Aaron was but a type, is an effectual, almighty
priest of God. Look here in Hebrews 7, verse
23. And they truly were many priests, because they were not
suffered to continue by reason of death. One fellow died, another
will take his place. He died, another will take his
place. And so it went, year after year after year. But this man,
this one man, who is himself God Almighty, because he continueth
ever, because he constantly lives before God, hath an unchangeable,
unbreakable, immutable, irrevocable priesthood. Wherefore, verse
25, since he lives forever, since he who died for us and rose again,
whose sacrifice forever stands in the presence of God accepted,
since he lives forever, he is able also to save them to the
uttermost that come to God by him, seeing he ever liveth to
make intercession for them." Now, read on. This is just the
kind of priest we need. For such a high priest became
us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners, and
higher than the heavens. He needs not daily, as those
priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then
for the people's. No need for him to do so, he
had no sins. For this he did once, when he offered up himself.
For the law maketh men high priests, which have an infirmity. But
the word of the oath, that is, the word of God's covenant oath,
which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for
evermore." Now, Aaron's priestly family also represents every
believing center in this world, the Church of God. We too are
made priests unto God. So effectual, so great, so glorious
is Jesus Christ in his merit and worth before God that as
he is received in the holy place continually to do business with
God, continually accepted of God, we too are received and
accepted of God in him. We are that holy priesthood,
that royal nation. chosen and ordained of God, like
the sons of Aaron. These priests are chosen of God,
and we were chosen of God. Like the sons of Aaron, they
were priests because of their relationship to Aaron. They were
his sons. And we are priests under God
in Jesus Christ because we are one with Christ. We are his sons.
We are made And as such, we wear the garments of the priesthood,
the garments of salvation, the imputed righteousness of Christ.
Look over here in Leviticus 8, verse 2. We won't look at all of these
things, but here Aaron's sons are described. God told Moses,
Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the
anointing oil, and the bullock for a sin offering, and two rams,
and a basket of unleavened bread. These priests were accepted as
priests because of a slain sacrifice. They were anointed with the holy
anointing oil, again a picture of the Holy Spirit being given
to us in the new birth. These were men who deliberately
and voluntarily consecrated themselves to God, offering sacrifices of
consecration. And they lived continually upon
the sacrifices that God accepted for his people and from his people.
You and I who are God's live continually by faith upon the
Lord Jesus Christ. We are made indeed to feed upon
him, and feeding upon him are given all that we want, sitting
at his feet, feasting on him. They live continually upon God's
sacrifice, and they were characterized by these two things specifically.
They lived continually for the service of God Almighty. They
were his servants and never went out of his house. That is, they
never departed from their function. They never laid down their function
as God's priest. And serving God continually,
they served God's people continually. That's what God's priests do.
They serve Him continually, and they serve His people continually.
Now, the second thing is over in Leviticus chapter 10. Here's the second historic event.
It is the death of Nadab and Abihu by the hand of God, because
they went into the holy place and offered strange fire before
the Lord. Now, let all who would worship
God hear the lesson that God gives. You have it in verse 3. And Moses said to Alan, This
is that the Lord spoke, saying, I will be sanctified. I will
be honored, I will be hallowed, I will be held high in them that
come nigh me, before all the people, I will be glorified."
And Abraham said, That's right, he held his peace. God Almighty
demands as we come to him, that we come to him in a way that
honors him and that sets forth his glory, that honors his name,
that sanctifies him before men. He requires that we come to him
not mixing anything of our own as strange fire with the sacrifice
of Christ, but rather come to him holding nothing in our hands
but Jesus Christ the Lord, trusting him and him alone. Now, look
in chapter 24. In verses 10-16, there was a
fellow whose name we do not know. His mother was called Shelomith. She was a Jew, a Hebrew, but
she was married to an Egyptian. And her son, this unnamed son,
went out one day and fought with an Israelite, and as he did,
he blasphemed the God of Israel and cursed him. The Lord God
required that the people who saw him and heard him take up
stones and stone him to death. And by their hand he was executed
because he had blasphemed God. Now this is the lesson. All who
curse the name of our God, denying him to be God, deserve his wrath
and shall experience it. And we will say amen to it. Judgment
is just. This man whose father was an
Egyptian and his mother an Israelite chose the gods of Egypt and the
ways of Egypt and the people of Egypt against the God of glory
and his people and his way. And for that he was punished
on the spot, justly punished with death. Now hear me, hear
me. You and I will either worship
at God's throne, acknowledging him alone as God, or we will
forever perish in his wrath in hell, and everybody, when he
gets done, will say that's what we deserve, including us. Everybody. There will be none
of the things that Preachers like to tell and jerk heartstrings
with and get folks all emotionally stirred as though somehow in
heaven's glory we're going to weep because of the damned in
hell. It's not so. It's not so. We weep now. We
weep for your souls now. We plead with God for your souls
now. But men and women who choose
the gods of their imaginations and their own way and their father's
gods and curse the God of glory shall perish under the wrath
of God, and all will say, Amen." That's right. Now, all the rest
of the book of Leviticus is taken up with ceremonies and sacrifice
and priests and functions, and these ceremonies and types, the
priests, the sacrifices, all of the functions described here,
show us plainly the work of God's priest. That's the reason it's
called Leviticus. It's all about the Levitical
priesthood. But the essence of the book, the message of the
book, you'll find in chapter 20 and verse 26. Leviticus 20
and verse 26. In fact, you can find this same
thing in many places throughout the book. I just chose this passage
because it's right about the middle of the book. Leviticus
20, verse 26. This is the dominant message
of the book. The Lord God says, You shall be holy unto me. For I, the Lord, am holy, and
have severed you." I love that word. I have severed you from
other people, and you shall be mine. You shall be holy. I've severed you from other people.
You shall be mine. The message, then, of the book
is just this. God demands holiness. And that which God demands, he
gives to his people. He demands it, and he gives it.
All the types and ceremonies and laws All the priests and
holy days and holy things spoken of in these 27 chapters show
us that our only way of access to God, the only way we can come
behind the veil into that place called the Holy of Holies where
God in His glory resides, is through Jesus Christ the Lord.
We have no other access to God. Nothing will rend that veil and
open the way except the blood of Christ. Oh, but blessed be
His name. We have access to God by which
we may draw near to him in his absolute glorious holiness and
perfection with full assurance of faith that we shall not be
turned away. And that way is Jesus Christ
the Lord. Turn to Hebrews 10. It's very
familiar to you, but turn there and look at it. This is the essence of what we're
being told in the book of Leviticus. Hebrews 10, verse 14. after telling us that the sacrifices
of the Jews could never put away sin, telling us how Christ came
and by his obedience unto death accomplished the will of God
and put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. The Apostle says
in verse 14, For by one offering he hath perfected, he hath made
whole, he hath made complete, he hath made holy forever them
that are sanctified. whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us. For after that he had said before,
This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts, and in their minds will I write them, and their sins
and iniquities will I remember no more." Now, where remission
of these is, where sin is gone, does never mean for any other
sacrifice, not even a penny. where remission of these is,
there is no more offering for sin. Now, since there's no more
requirement, since God in his glorious holiness cannot, cannot
require any more than God himself has given in the sacrifice of
his son. Now, having therefore, brethren,
this boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
by a new and living way which he has consecrated for us through
the veil, that is, go right through that which separated us from
God, right through that which stands as a symbol of his holy
law we could never fulfill, his holy law we could never pass
through. Now we go right through the veil, that is to say, his
flesh. And having an high priest over
the house of God, let us draw near, draw near to God. Come sinner, come to God. Come
with all your ugliness, all your personal violence. Come now,
watch this, draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith. How can I do that? Oh, if God
the Holy Spirit will graciously sprinkle your heart from an evil
conscience with the precious blood of Christ, if he will ever
wash you in his matchless grace, you'll come to him and be glad
to God. Come with full assurance. Now,
let me talk to you a little bit about holiness. The Lord says, you shall be holy. Back here in verse 26 of chapter
20. You shall be holy. That's his command, and that's
his promise. In fact, in chapter 19, you have
the same thing. The Lord spoke to Moses, verse 1, saying, Speak
to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say unto
them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. The apostle Paul picks up on
this same thing. You don't need to look at it. Hebrews 12 and
verse 14. He says, Follow peace with all
men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Holiness. without which no man shall see
the Lord." Now, the Lord is here declaring to chosen covenant
people that they shall be a holy people, not partially holy, not
mostly holy, but entirely holy. What on earth does he mean? Now,
there's no question this word holy has two distinct meanings.
It means separate, distinct, peculiar, separated, Or as we
have it in the text we read earlier, severed from other people. And
it also means to be pure, to be undefiled. So what the Lord
is saying here is you shall be separate, distinct, a peculiar
people, separated and severed from all others, pure, purified,
undefiled before me. Now we know that from the way
this passage is referred to throughout the scriptures. God has not called
us to uncleanness, but unto holiness. The Lord God Almighty, by the
work of his sovereign grace, by his distinguishing operations
of mercy, takes such things as he finds in the dungheap of fallen
humanity, and he makes us holy before him. Now, this is how
he does it. First, by the sin-atoning blood
of his dear Son, by which he cancels our record and imputes
to us perfect righteousness. And then, by divine regeneration,
he puts in us a holy nature, the very nature of his Son. That's
what we have in 1 Peter 2, where it says we're made partakers
of the divine nature. And then, finally, in resurrection
glory. Turn over to 1 Corinthians 6. Here Paul appeals to us to live
for God's honor, and this is how he does it. 1 Corinthians
6, verse 9. And the beginning of the chapter,
someone read this just recently in one of our services, talking
about going to law, brother against brother, brothers squabbling
and fighting over material things. And now he says in verse 9, Know
ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
You can't come to God with unrighteousness. It's not going to happen. Oh,
who's he talking about? Be not deceived, neither fornicators,
nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate," that's Lindfrist
and fellows, we've got a bunch of them all over the place, "...nor
abusers of themselves of mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the
kingdom of God." Have I missed anybody? Anybody whose name I haven't
called in reading that passage, such were some of you. But, O
what grace, you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
Christ has made us now holy before him, and now, having his holiness
We come to God with full assurance of faith and find acceptance
with Him. But still, I can almost see you
scratching your head saying, well, Brother Don, that's all
well and good, but what on earth is this holiness? What is it? The fact is we're so universally
and constantly inundated with false freewill works religion
from our youth up, not just in churches, but in schools, in
society, all around us, we are constantly inundated with false
religion, so much so that we simply commonly think like the
reprobate around us. And we think that holiness, when
we think of holiness, what do you think of? You kind of think
about somebody who acts like they were weaned on a dill pickle
and soaked in embalming fluid. You think about holiness as something
that austere, a little mean, a little weird in behavior, some
kind of oddity, some kind of a distinct thing in the way a
person dresses, or the way they fix or don't fix their hair,
or the way they wear their beard or don't wear their beard, something
we can observe and put our hand on and a fellow can do and say,
now there, that's holy, that's holy. We're all a little bit
like that girl you've all heard about, the first time she'd gone
to the country. She'd never seen a mule before, and she saw a
mule looking over a fence at her, and she said, she said,
I don't know what you are, but you must be a Christian. You
look just like Grandpa. And that's what we think of as
holy. But holiness, commonly associated with grimness and
strangeness, odditiness, something ugly and unappealing, is nothing
like what's described in this book. You see, the holiness that
most folks think of is nothing on this earth but asceticism,
the idea that somehow if we could just cut ourselves off from physical
things, if we could just change our physical connection with
other things, then we will be holy. That's what the Corinthians
taught, 1 Corinthians chapter 7. They said, well, it'd be better
to, we'd be more holy if we didn't have a wife, if we didn't have
a husband. And Paul said, that's just not so. That's just not
so. That's what the pastors taught throughout their history and
teach to this day. That's the reason monks live
like they do, the reason nuns live like they do, or at least
pretend to, because by their separation from ungodly things
out yonder, they become holy, because you see, really, there's
not anything wrong with us inside, it's all outside us. The notion
of holiness is the very common Puritan error. Don't misunderstand
me, and I realize some folks are going to hear me say that
and just their hair stand up on the back of their necks in anger.
I profit greatly by many things Puritans taught, but the vast
majority of what the Puritans taught concerning holiness was
nothing on this earth but works, and it was altogether wrong,
totally wrong. It's the error of all works religion.
When the Word of God speaks of holiness, it's talking about
something different. Turn over to Psalm 29. We won't look at
all of these, The Bible speaks of holiness as a beautiful, delightful
thing. We are four times told to worship
the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Here in Psalm 29, verse 2, given
to the Lord the glory due unto his name. Worship the Lord in
the beauty of holiness. You know what? Of all the people I have heard
in my lifetime referred to as holy or holier, a real holy or
the holiest of people. I haven't seen one thing beautiful
about them. Not one thing. Not one thing.
Just talk about the beauty of holiness. What on earth is he
talking about? Four times we're told to worship
him in the beauty of holiness. It's something in which believing
men and women rejoice. It's not morbid. It's not austere.
David said, God has spoken in his holiness, I will rejoice.
In Isaiah 35, the way of faith is called the way of holiness
in which wayfaring men shall walk. The way of holiness. Those men who are even fools
shall not fail therein. Well, holiness then. has something
to do with something altogether different from what most folks
think. If you would take, as you read the scriptures, and
every time you read the word holiness, every time you read
it, practice this, every time you read it, think wholeness. And you get real close to what
it's talking about. Wholeness. Wholeness. You see, Leviticus
is telling us, or God is telling us in Leviticus, you shall be
whole, for I am whole, whole, entire, complete, perfect, lacking
nothing, whole. Now, I don't deny, I don't suggest
or imply in any way that holiness does not involve Separation,
distinctness, peculiarity, it does. I've already said that.
But what I'm saying is this. Wholeness, wholeness, completeness,
perfection, entirety is that which separates God's elect from
the ruined race around us. That wholeness which he gives
us in Jesus Christ is that by which he severs us from all other
people. The Lord Jesus Christ gave himself
for us, that he might redeem us to himself, and purify us
to himself, as to kill your people, a whole people, zealous of good
works. Now what on this earth is more
desirable to a man who is broken than wholeness? Wholeness. Rogers Bond, I.N., got cancer. I guarantee you she'll give anything
she can give, go through any torture she has to go through,
make any sacrifice necessary to be made, just to be made whole
in body. Now if you ever discover that
you're broken in your soul, broken in your character, broken in
your being, wrecked, ruined, destroyed, with no soundness
in you. There's nothing you would desire
like being made whole. Whole. And this is what God promises. He demands wholeness, and He
gives it. In fact, our Lord's redeeming
work is described in just these terms, with His stripes. We are
healed. As I talk about healing of your
body, my soul, one of these days his body is going to the grave.
That's God's intention. That's all about the healing of your
soul. We are made whole by the hand of his grace. Now in this
book of Leviticus, let me wrap this up and I'll give you five
things. I'm just about convinced God gave us five things so we
remember five things in every sermon. Five things. Five things
in these 27 chapters. by which God makes his people
whole, complete, perfect, entire, wanting nothing. That's what
salvation is. Number one, sacrifice. In verses
1-7, The Lord speaks of sacrifices.
Sacrifices by which his people were required to draw nigh unto
him. Sacrifices which typify everything
we need. Sacrifices which typify Jesus
Christ our Lord and all the fullness of grace and salvation in him.
The burnt offering shows us the way to Christ, or the way to
God. It is Christ Jesus our Lord, that burnt offering. offered
upon God's altar, by whom the fire of God's wrath was consumed. The meat offering portrays the
character of the Lord Jesus Christ as our God-man, that holy substitute,
that one who is fully, fully perfect, absolutely whole before
God. And it speaks of our consecration
to God in him as we've come to him, worshiping him. The peace
offering in chapter 3. speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ
who is our peace. He doesn't just give peace, He
is peace. He doesn't just give us a way of peace, He is peace.
You get Him and I get Him, we're at peace with one another. God
has Him and I have Him, that means God and I are at peace.
He is our peace. The sin offering in chapter 4
speaks, of course, of our Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute,
that one who was made to be sin for us. that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. And the trespass offering in
chapter 5 describes our Lord Jesus Christ as the atoning sacrifice
for our sins. As the hymn writer put it, I
hear the Savior say, Thy strength indeed is small. Child of weakness,
watch and pray, find in me your all in all. Jesus paid it all,
all the debt I owed. Sin had left a crimson stain.
He washed it white as snow. Number 2, verses 8, 9, and 10
speak of a priesthood. I've already talked about it
a little bit, but a sacrifice would be of no use whatsoever
if there wasn't a priest who could bring the sacrifice to
God. And Jesus Christ is that priest. who is himself God Almighty,
a daysman, a mediator, an advocate, the only one there is, who thinks
it not robbery to be equal with God, because he is. That means,
Lindsay, he can take hold of God Almighty in all his glorious
being. And he became one of us. And
he can take hold of his fallen, depraved, corrupt people. And
by the merit of the sacrifice he's offered on God's altar,
bring us together in perfect unity. He's our priest. He's our priest. Oh, near, so
very near to God, nearer I cannot be. For in the person of God's
dear Son, I'm as near as he is. He is our advocate, our priest,
our daisman. And then in chapters 11 through
16, the scripture speaks of atonement. Particularly we come to the day
of atonement, when Abram, God's high priest, goes in and makes
atonement for the people. He made atonement for himself.
He made atonement for the holy things. He made atonement for
the people. As he represented the people
of God, he wears the names of the children of Israel on his
breastplate. He wears a mitre with this golden plate, glazing
out holiness to the Lord. But he's a sinful man, and he's
going about the business of holy things, but the holy things he
performs are but sinful deeds. And so he makes atonement for
everything, and then at last he takes the blood of that Paschal
Lamb. and sprinkles God's mercy seat, and covers God's broken
law, and the sins of all his people, represented by him, are
covered, blotted out, hidden from God's
eyes. You mean, preacher, that blood
and that golden lid, God couldn't see through that? Don't be an
idiot. It's symbolic. the blood of Christ,
God's mercy seat, the penetrating eye of God's holy justice, can't
see any sin through that, because it didn't just cover it, it blotted
it out. And then chapters 17 through
24 speak of the certain, absolute, inevitable, effectual, irresistible. Can I find another word? You
understand what I'm talking about? This is dead sure fact. This
is what's going to happen as the result of Christ's atonement.
Restoration. God and his people are brought
together as one. And throughout these chapters,
we see how that we come and worship God. And we're accepted of Him. We call on Him and He blesses
us. We walk with Him and He blesses us. We err from Him and He chastens
us. But we're accepted, restored
to God Almighty. Made whole. Made whole. I can come to God in his wholeness. How can I say this? And never apologize for coming,
and never defend myself for coming, and never excuse myself for coming.
Now, I do apologize. And I do defend myself, and I
do excuse myself in the awareness of my personal sin and unfitness. But I don't ever need to, because
in Christ, will you hear me? I am as whole as he is. With his spotless garments on,
I am as holy as God's own Son. Made to be what? The very righteousness
of whom? The very righteousness of God
in him. Now, I've said a heap slight
more than I understand, but not more than I can rejoice in. If
I had the thought that God in his holiness, in his wholeness,
observed in me the fractured bone of this eye, the busted
shoulder here, the busted arm here, the broken hand here, I'd
be terrified to call his name. But he made me whole, complete
in Christ. You got that? Whole, whole, nothing
lacking, nothing missing. no shortcoming, nothing broken,
no weakness, no infirmity, whole, whole in his Son. And then chapters
25 through 27 speak of that which Paul longed for when he cried,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? Chapter 25 opens with the blowing
of the jubilee trumpet. And blessed be God one day soon,
Christ is coming, and jubilee forever shall be ours, perfect
liberty, the glorious liberty of the sons of God. I read a
story today that I'll tell you this and you can take it home
with you. True story, I'm told. A little
boy, very poor family, in a rescue mission in one of the Midwestern
towns, Chicago, I think, I don't recall. And the rescue mission
was having a skit for the children, just a time to entertain them,
something for them to do. And this little boy, he had never
attempted to speak in public. He was just six or eight years
old. And you see the boy was a humpback fella, poor ragged. But he had a part in the skit
where he was to come and go out on the stage and make just a
brief recitation. And there was some older boys
in the back who'd come in and they decided to have some fun
at the expense of these kids and they hollered at him. One of them said, hey boy, where
you going with that big load on your back? And the kid was
just devastated, just devastated. he just fell to the floor and
a man walked over to the stage he said it takes a mighty little
cruel person to do what you boys just did he said it's true this
boy has a big load on his back he has a deformity that he has
to carry the rest of his life but I want you to know something
he's my boy just like he is, and I love him just like he is. Now will you hear me? Our Heavenly
Father says you're mine. I've severed you from everybody
else in the world with all that ugly hump of sin on you. I love you just like you are,
and when I get done You're going to be just like I am, whole. You shall be whole, for I, the
Lord your God, am whole.