Leviticus 17 is perhaps one of the least understood, one of the most carelessly expounded
passages in the book of Leviticus, if not in the entire Old Testament. I read a lot preparing this message,
and most said nothing at all in this passage except those
things relating to dietary laws and such as that. Some even suggest
the chapter is talking about the sanctity of animal life. Well, Leviticus 17 has absolutely
nothing to do with the sanctity of animal life. It won't hurt
us too bad if we run out of alligators or snakes or It just won't hurt
too bad. It has nothing to do with the
health risk involved in eating red meat. You know the saying,
eat meat red, you'll soon be dead. Well, that may be so, but
it's not Leviticus 17. It doesn't even have anything
to do with eating red meat, rarely prepared. This chapter, these
16 verses, like all the rest of the Inspired volume, is all
about Christ. It is all about the gospel of
God's free grace in him. Now, there are two things in
this chapter we must learn. These two lessons we must learn. They're vital. If we do not understand
these two things as they are revealed in the scriptures, we
cannot possibly understand anything in this sacred body. I mean nothing. We cannot understand anything
in this book if we don't understand these two lessons. We cannot
possibly know the gospel of God. We cannot possibly know the glory
of God revealed in Christ. We cannot possibly know anything
at all about God's works or God's ways with men. All right, now
here are the lessons. Number one, all false worship. is idolatry. Now I'll elaborate on that a
little bit. Number two, atonement is in the blood. Get those two things and get
them well. Number one, all false worship
is idolatry. Now this is what I mean. All
worship except the worship of the Lord God Almighty through
the effectual sin-atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ is idolatry. I do not mean that it is a little
lesser understanding of divine truth. I do not mean that it
is a little bit different form of religion. I do not mean that
those who worship on altars of their own making really do worship
God, they just don't know things as clearly as we do. I can't
imagine the arrogance of men who would suggest that men and
women who worship at the altar of their own free will, who worship
at the altar of their own works, meaning women who worship themselves
really, they're really Christian, but they just don't know as much
as I do. What arrogance. I've studied
the scriptures now, I understand things better. I was once there.
I knew the Lord, but now I've studied and I've grown and I've
flexed my spiritual muscles and I've flexed the gray matter in
between my ears and now I've arrived. And if they'd studied
like I would, they'd come see these things like I had. Oh no.
All false worship, no matter what name it takes, no matter
what form it takes. All false worship is idolatry. Christ is the way, there is no
other. Christ is the truth, there is
no other. Christ is the life, there is
no other. Will we ever learn this? Christ
is the door. How simple, how profound. Anybody
tries to come to God any other way is a thief and a robber.
That's what the Lord said, isn't it? He's a thief and a robber. What do you mean, thief and a
robber? He's a thief who would, if he could, rob God of his right
to be God and of his glory in that in which he most reveals
his glory, the redemption and saving of his people. Look at
verses one through three. And the Lord spoke to Moses,
saying, Speak to Aaron and to his sons, and to all the children
of Israel, and say to them, This is the thing which the Lord has
commanded, saying, What man soever there be of the house of Israel
that kills an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp, or that kills
it out of the camp. Now this law is a law regarding
the worship of God. After giving the law with regard
to the Day of Atonement, the Lord gave commandment to the
children of Israel. It was a commandment which he
required that every Israelite observe as a statute forever. A commandment not only that the
Israelites were required to observe, But all sojourners who sojourned
with them, that is all the Gentiles who were brought as apostolites
into the camp, you observe this thing as well. Any who refused
to observe these things we're about to look at were to be cut
off from among the people of God, put out of the camp of Israel,
banished from the church. Indeed, as we'll see, if they
were guilty of this horrid crime, They were, if it was known to
men, they were to be put to death by the magistrates, by the congregation,
and if it was not known to men, God said, I'll take care of it,
I'll cut them off. Now remember the context in which
this is found. Back up to chapter 16 for a minute. Verse 29. The Lord had just finished declaring
to Israel that they were to observe a day of atonement once a year,
the seventh month of every year, the tenth day of the seventh
month. This was made an everlasting
statute in Israel. This shall be a statute forever
unto you, that in the seventh month on the tenth day of the
month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all,
whether it be of your own country or of a stranger that sojourns
among you, for on that day shall the priest make an atonement
for you to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your
sins before the Lord." What a statement. What would you give to be clean
from all your sins before the Lord? Clean before God. Clean before
God. Read on. It shall be a Sabbath
of rest unto you, and you shall afflict your souls by statute
forever. And the priest whom he shall
anoint and whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office
in his father's stead shall make the atonement and shall put on
the linen clothes, even the holy garments. And he shall make an
atonement, look at this now, for the holy sanctuary. And he
shall make an atonement for the tabernacle of the congregation.
and for the altar, and he shall make an atonement for the priest
and for all the people of the congregation." Everything was
polluted. Everything they touched was polluted.
Everything was defiled. Everybody involved in the work
was defiled. They were simply representative
of him who is not defiled. And therefore, everything had
to have an atonement made in order to approach God. And this,
verse 34, This shall be an everlasting statute unto you to make an atonement
for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded
Moses. Now, of course, everything in
this statute portrayed our Lord Jesus Christ and the accomplishment
of redemption by him. First, we are told that on this
great and glorious day, the day of atonement, the holy sanctuary,
the tabernacle, the congregation, the altar, The priest himself,
all the priests, all the people were to have an atonement made
for them. That's a picture of particular and effectual redemption. Men and women were brought to
God and blessed by God through his high priest as a consequence
of the atonement that was made. And the atonement was made for
a specific people, for the congregation of the nation of Israel. Now
let no one misunderstand what I'm declaring to you. Either
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, effectually accomplished the
redemption of every soul for whom he died, or we are yet in
our sins. We have found false witnesses
of God because there's no redemption made. Jesus Christ did not try
to redeem folks who go to hell. He did not shed his blood for
a purpose he did not accomplish. He did not die at Calvary in
order to provide something that you could do. The Lord Jesus
Christ, by his one great sacrifice, made atonement for all the congregation
of God's Israel. Any denial of that is utter blasphemy. Secondly, we're told here that
those for whom the atonement was made were required to afflict
their souls by statute. And the way they afflict their
souls is to do no work. There's nothing more afflicting
to the soul of a man than to quit working for acceptance with
God. Nothing. And you won't do it unless God
causes you to. You're going to keep looking
to yourself. You're going to keep trying to improve yourself.
You're going to keep clinging to something you are, something
you've experienced, something you know, something you've done,
and you'll do it till you go to hell, unless God intervenes. Those who come to God, being
redeemed by the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord, afflict their
souls. They say no to the flesh and
deny it all, all even their righteousness as nothing but dumb. Read Philippians
chapter 3. Now you can't talk about our
good works that way. I wish I could get the ear of
every man and woman living in this generation and tell you
your good works are just dumb before God. That's all. That's all. All your morality,
all your tithing, all your church attendance, all your Bible reading,
all your prayers, all your scripture memorization, all your good works
are just dumb. And you must afflict your soul
by putting them down. Do no work. Nothing in my hands
I bring. Simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. Helpless look to thee for grace. All right, here's the third thing.
That day. That day when the children of
Israel saw atonement accomplished. The priest went in with the blood,
and he came back out, put on his holy garments, and blessed
the people. All of them kept the Sabbath
of rest, and they were required to do it by statute forever. The law still stands. This is an everlasting statute.
But preacher, Christ fulfilled the law. It stands. He's our
rest. And we keep this statute forever. Not only do we cease from our
works, but we rest in him. We rest in him. We lean upon
him. We've talked about the church
coming up in the bed of her beloved. There we are, resting in him. We will never begin now. to start doing works by which
to improve ourselves, by which to make ourselves more acceptable
with God, but rather we rest in him. Now, it is in this context
that God gives the commandment regarding blood. Again, he's
not talking about the sanctity of animals. He's talking about
worship, the sanctity of his throne. He's not talking about
diet, he's talking about worship. He specifically mentions the
killing of an ox, the killing of a goat, or the killing of
a lamb, because these were animals that were required to be sacrificed
at his altar by which Israel worshipped him and found acceptance
with him. Now look at verse 4. Man kills
an ox or a goat or a lamb, whether in the camp or outside the camp.
and brings it not to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation,
to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of
the Lord, blood shall be imputed unto that man." Wow, what a statement. All he did was kill an ox, or
a goat, or a lamb. Oh no, that's not all he did.
He wasn't out hunting. That's not what he was doing.
He was somewhere besides at God's altar attempting to worship God
as he would. That's the significance of the
passage. Blood shall be imputed to that man. He has shed blood
and that man shall be cut off from among the people. This is
a prohibition against idolatry. Verse 4 is talking about the
offering of a sacrifice in the open field. Now, this is clearly
the intent of the passage. Look at the next verse. Verse
5. To the end. Now, this is why I'm giving the
command. To the end. That the children
of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open
field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest,
and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord, offer them for
offerings to the Lord. You see, all men naturally presume
that it is perfectly acceptable for us to worship God any way
we please. Surely, surely now, God will
not object to me taking my finest calf, or my fattest lamb, or
my most my most prized goat while I'm out in the field and offer
a sacrifice to him. Surely God wouldn't object to
that. Surely the Lord would not find any fault with that. What could be wrong? Just one
thing. God calls it idolatry. That's
all. That's all. It is, you see, despising
God's altar. despising God's priest, despising
God's sacrifice, despising God's word, despising God himself. To do such a thing is an act
of open defiance, revealing the arrogance of man who dares lift
himself up and say to God, I'll worship you like I want to and
you best accept it. I'll come to you and me coming
to you is enough. You accept me the way I come,
now I'm doing you a favor. And men have exactly that attitude
toward God in all their imaginary worship. Such an act is nothing
less than robbing the Lord Jehovah of his glory. It is nothing less
than ascribing to God Almighty or ascribing to Satan and giving
to Satan that which belongs to God and God alone. Man might
ask, but can't I offer a sacrifice in one place as well as another?
Can't I come to God any way I wish so long as I'm sincere? This
is God's answer. He has promised, Exodus 25 verse
22, I'll meet you on the mercy seat between the chairs. That's where I'll meet you. I'll
meet you there. I'll meet you there where blood
is sprinkled. I'll meet you there where atonement is made. I'll
meet you there where the law is satisfied. I'll meet you there
where righteousness is established. I'll meet you on the mercy seat,
between the cherubs. I'll meet you in my cellar. Nowhere else. Nowhere else. To offer sacrifice somewhere
else showed utter contempt for God. He calls it, in verse 7,
devil worship. an act of the worst form of adultery. It's whoring after other gods. Whoring after other gods. Well,
Pastor, what's the lesson for us? It's plain enough. There
is one place God has appointed at which you will meet the sinner.
The antitype of that one place, the brazen altar, is the cross
of our Lord Jesus Christ. There and there alone, God's
claim upon life has been recognized and honored. To reject this meeting
place, to reject Christ, is to bring down judgment upon ourselves.
For it is to trample underfoot the blood of Christ. It is to
do despite to the Spirit of grace, calling the blood of Christ a
common thing, something that just falls on the ground and
is same for everybody. It is to defy the claims of God,
arrogating to ourselves our right to life, life which we forfeited
by sin. Look at verse 6. Only the precious
blood of Christ is acceptable to God. Only his sin-atoning
blood is a sweet savor unto the Lord. And the priest shall sprinkle
the blood upon the altar of the Lord, at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savor unto
the Lord. The blood and the fat belong
to God. Our Savior recognized this fully.
As a man, the God-man, our mediator, surrendered his life to God the
Father. He voluntarily walked deliberately,
marching every step to the place of sacrifice. He set his face
like a fit to go up to Jerusalem. And there he laid down his life
unto the Lord God as a faithful servant, giving up his life to
God. That's what's implied in the
blood. He gave his life. The fragrant,
sweet incense of his infinitely excellent sacrifice ascends up
to God. It has satisfied his infinite
justice and his sacrifice will never cease to be a fragrant
incense meritorious and accepted with God. Therefore, we sing,
dear dying lamb, thy precious blood shall never lose its power
till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more. God required that the blood of
the sacrifice offered anywhere except upon his altar be imputed
to the man who shed it. Would God kill a man for killing
an ox? No. No. No. Would God kill a man for
killing a lamb out in his field? No. No, no, no, no, no. Would
God kill a man because he stepped outside his back porch and killed
a goat? Oh no! No! A thousand times no! Unless
that ox, that lamb, or that goat represented the worship of God. Now, God says I'll impute the
blood of that goat to you. Why? Because that goat that lamb,
that ox, represented Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, who was slain
for our sins. And for that representation to
be poured out in any commonplace was utter contempt, trampling
underfoot the blood of Christ. God Almighty required that men
worship him at his appointed place. through his appointed
sacrifice, offered at his appointed time, upon his appointed altar,
by the hands of his appointed priest. God requires that you
and I come to him by faith in Jesus Christ, who is his priest,
his sacrifice, his altar, his place of mercy. And to come to
him any other way, mixing anything with him, is to trample underfoot
the blood of Jesus Christ. Doesn't matter what you mix with
him. Turn to Isaiah 66, I'll show you. Anyone who defied God's sacrifice
was to be punished as a murderer because in God's sight, idolatry
is equally licentious and equally heinous as murder itself. More
than that, it is equally heinous to the murder of God's own son. What does it mean for a man to
come to God? Say, I believe in Jesus, and
I trust Jesus. I believe Jesus is my Savior,
but now in order for Him to save me, I know I have to do something. I know I can't save myself, but
the Lord's done His part, now I've got to do my part. I know the salvations of the
Lord, but really it's up to me. It's up to you. What's wrong
with that? What could possibly be wrong
with that? It is to despise the Son of God
and declare that he is breathless. That's what's wrong with it.
Look here in Isaiah 66 verse 3. He that kills an ox is as
if he killed a man, as if he slew a man. He that sacrifices
a lamb as if he cut off a dog's neck. Just as well offer God
a dog as offer him your righteousness. Just as well offer God a dog
on his altar, on his mercy seat, as offer him your goodness. Just
as well offer God a dog as offer him your will. As if he cut off
a dog's neck. He that offers an oblation as
if he offered a hog's blood. He that burns incense is if he
blessed an idol. I've come to burn incense to
God, but the incense I'm burning is the mingled incense of Christ's
blood and my goodness, Christ's blood and my will, Christ's blood
and my works. You may as well go worship a
stump and burn your incense on the stump. Yea, they have chosen
their own ways. Their soul delights in their
abomination. All false worship is idolatry. Will we ever learn this? God
will not be worshipped except upon his altar, through his priest,
by the merits of his sacrifice, and that's Christ. All right,
now look at verse 8. And thou shalt say unto them,
Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers
which sojourn among you, that offers a burnt offering or a
sacrifice, and brings it not unto the Lord, or to the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord, even
that man shall be cut off from among his people. And whatsoever
man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that
sojourn among you, that eats any manner of blood, I will even
set my face against that soul that eats blood, and I'll cut
him off from among his people." was to be cut off from the congregation.
Now that doesn't just mean he was to be banished from the camp
of Israel, exiled from the church. No, no, no, no. It's not just
talking about excommunication. We're going to put him out and
call the doctors back. That's not it. If it was known to the
congregation that this man had offered his sacrifice somewhere
besides on God's altar, the congregation with united hand is to put him
to death. If he had done it secretly, God
said, I'll take care of him. I'll cut him off. The blood shall
be imputed to that name. The blood of God's own son. What a solemn statement. All the religious world, all
the religious world surrounding us, we live in the most religious
age topside of God's earth. And we live in the most reprobate
age, topside of God's earth. All the religious world around
us, all of it, that mingles in any way, man's works, man's worth,
or man's will, with Christ's sacrifice, is guilty of crying
with the Pharisees, crucify him. He deserves to die. His blood
shall be imputed to that name. The application to us in this
gospel age is clear. No. We would not, if we had legal
authority to do so, we would not kill the offender. No sir. No sir. Thank God he doesn't
require any more than in civil law every rebellious son bestowed
by his daddy. I wouldn't be here. Most of you
wouldn't either. Well, how does it apply to us?
We must worship God in the way he has prescribed, and we must
cut ourselves off from all false worship and all false religion. Turn to chapter 6 of 2 Corinthians. Now, this is why God gave this
law. Remember, to the end that the children of Israel may bring
their sacrifices to the Lord. Quit worshipping me in the way
you think I ought to be worshipped. Quit worshipping me the way you
thought, and come to my altar, at my tabernacle, with my priest,
with my congregation, and worship me through the blood of my own
Son. Look at 2 Corinthians 6, verse
14. Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. Now that passage
of Scripture we're reading here is commonly used to teach that
we ought not have day-by-day association with unbelievers.
And I strongly suggest that you do as little as you can, or do
as much as you can, to prevent that. Folks say, well, that's
just talking about believers marrying an unbeliever. Well,
you're a fool if you do that. But that's not what this passage
is talking about. That's not what it's talking about. It's
talking about worship. It's talking about worship. Be
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship
hath righteousness with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with
darkness? What concord hath Christ with
Belial? What part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? What agreement hath the temple
of God with idols? For you are the temple of the
living God. As God said, I will dwell in
them and walk with them, or walk in them, and I'll be their God,
and they shall be my people. Wherefore, come out from among
them." A little over a year ago, I got a call from this fellow
sitting right here. About two years ago now, he had
worked. God had laid him flat on his
back, and he was kindly forced to do nothing but watch me on
TV whenever I came on. He said, uh, is this Brother
Fortner? I said, yes. I'll get it close
to right. He said, uh, I've been all my
life in these religious things around this town. taught Sunday
school for 25 years. And I was wondering if I could
come out there and sit down and learn something about this gospel. What'd you do? Light came out
of darkness, that's what it did. Christ came out of hell, that's
what it did. Truth came out of a lie, that's
what it did. What do you do? You come out and break all ties.
Burn your bridges behind you. That, that was idolatry. By which I dishonored my God. And I now burn every prediction! I come out. Well, I'll stay here
and we'll see if we can't do some good. God never commanded
anybody to stay there and see if you couldn't do any good.
Well, I'm teaching the Sunday School down here. You ain't teaching
nothing. You're lying through your teeth. You ain't teaching
nothing. I know better. It just ain't so. These will
come out. And be ye separate, saith the
Lord. And touch not the unclean things. Don't touch that altar.
And I'll receive you. And I'll be a father to you.
And you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse
ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. All filthiness
of real worship. That's what it's talking about.
Perfecting holiness in the spirit of God. This is how men come
to God through Christ alone. Look at Revelation 18 verse 4. Babylon's fallen. And the Lord God said just before
the fall of Babylon, I heard another voice from heaven saying,
come out of her, my people. Why? that you be not partaker
of her sins. You go down and worship at Baal's
altar, you're a partaker of Baal's sin. You go down and worship
at the altar of free will, you're a partaker of the sin of those
who do. You go down and worship at the altar of your good works,
you're a partaker of their sins. And if you're a partaker of their
sins, you'll receive their plagues. That you receive not of her plagues.
Come out. Come out. All right, here's the
second thing. atonement is in the blood. Verse
11, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given
it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls,
for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. Therefore
I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood,
neither shall any stranger that sojourns among you eat blood.
And whatsoever man there be of the children of Israel, or of
the strangers that sojourn among you, which hunts and touches
any beast or fowl, that may be eaten. He shall even pour out
the blood thereof, and cover it with the dust. For it is the
life of all flesh. the blood of it is for the life
thereof. Therefore I said unto the children
of Israel, since the life is in the blood, therefore I said
you shall eat the blood of no manner of flesh, for the life
of all flesh is in the blood. Do you see that? He said it three
times. Whosoever eateth of it shall be cut off. And every soul
that eats that which died of itself, or that which was torn
with beasts, whether it be of your own country or a stranger,
he shall both wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and
be unclean until the evening. Then shall he be clean. But if
he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh, then he shall bear his
iniquity. All right, now let's look at
verse 11 for just a minute. That'll give clear understanding
to the rest of the passage. The life of the flesh is in the
blood. Wonder what that means. What
profound faith can we find there? Let's look up these words. Find
out what they say in Hebrew. They say the same thing in Hebrew
as they do in English. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist
to figure out what it says. No blood, no life. No blood, no life. Blood nourishes
and sustains the whole of our physical structure. When an animal
was sacrificed upon the altar of God, a life was sacrificed. When the Lord Jesus Christ poured
out his life's blood unto death upon the cursed tree, he gave
himself for us. Babi Estes, he laid down his
life. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless,
I live. Yet not I, but Christ lives in
me. And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself
for me. These blood sacrifices in the
Old Testament signified much, much more than most ever imagined.
The pouring out of Christ's blood displays the very same thing
these sacrifices did. The sacrifice of a life declares
that life belongs to God. It's His prerogative. And no
man is to feast upon that. If you kill an animal out in
the open field, go ahead and eat that beefsteak. Go ahead
and eat those lamb chops. Go ahead and have a little butt
and that's all right. But you pour the blood out on the ground,
giving it back to God and cover it with dust. The life is His.
and you've got no right to take it. Coming to God by faith in
Christ, this is the acknowledgement of faith. Oh my God, I've taken
my life that belongs to you. And I have all my days consumed
upon my lust. I've robbed you of your right
to be God. I've robbed you of your possession. I've robbed you of your rightful
dominion over me. Now, I've given my life to you. He that saves his life is going
to lose it. You keep robbing God. Take your life and consume
it on your lust. You can. You sure can, but you're
going to lose it. He that loses his life, I'm yours. He'll save it forever. The sacrifice
of life also declares the horrid enormity of our sin. Oh, what a horribly, infinitely
evil, hideous thing sin must be. If God Almighty, ever good,
ever gracious, ever merciful, ever willing to save, ever love. If God Almighty requires the
sacrifice of his son to put away sin, oh how horrid sin must be. And the sacrifice declares the
justice of God, the righteousness of God, the
equity, the truth of God. The soul that sins, it shall
die. God Almighty is not going to
let you get by. Ain't going to happen. Mama and
Daddy find every excuse in the world. Mama and Daddy... That is my son. My daughter. Mama and Daddy That's what mommas
and daddies do. But you see, mom and daddy just
like you, not God. You're not going to
get by. You're not going to get by. Either
you're going to suffer the wrath of God in hell, because of your
sin, or the wrath of God will satisfy in your room instead
of Calvary. And if the wrath of God was satisfied
in your room instead of Calvary, you'll look away to him, the
Lamb of God, and see his wrath taken away. Now look at this. Next slide. For the life of the
flesh is in the blood, and I have given it, look at this, I've
given it to you upon the altar. Oh, look away yonder to Calvary. and behold Christ, his life in
his blood on God's altar. The Lord Jesus gave his life's
blood to God for us, and God the Father has given his Son's
precious blood to us. By His blood, we're justified.
By His blood, wrath and justice have been satisfied. By His blood,
we're sanctified. By His blood, all the blessings
of life and grace flow down to us. By His blood, we are accepted. By His blood, we're purified.
By His blood, we shall stand one day perfectly pure before
God Almighty. By His blood, we'll triumph over
sin and death and hell in the grave. Now, turn back to Exodus
chapter 12. Let me show you something. This blood that God's given to
us, he says here he's given to us for a token. It's a token
he's given us by which he constantly speaks to us. Exodus 12, 13. Picture the Passover. And the blood shall be to you
for a token upon the houses where you are. And when I see the blood,
I'll pass over you and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy
you. when I smite the land of Egypt.
Oh, precious, precious blood of Christ. What a token. See it here? I've had that thing cut down
and expanded several times, but I've been wearing it for nearly
33 years. Ain't much. It really ain't much. Oh, but it's a token of everything. It's a token of that woman's
love, devotion, consecration to me and my wife. For you to get it, she didn't
have to be starving for you to have to cut that finger off,
one of the two. It's a token. God says, I'll
give you the blood for a token. A token by which I constantly
declare my willingness to save. by which I constantly declare
to you the free pardonsee, by which I constantly declare to
you the assurance of your acceptance with me, by which I constantly
declare to you my love, all-covering love, ancient everlasting love,
immutable love, free love, saving love. He says, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you as token. I'll pass over you. Now look at chapter 17, verse
11 again. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I've
given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls. Oh, you mean the blood of Christ
was shed at Calvary for a specific purpose? Sure was. It was shed
to make atonement for the souls of his people. Well, I wonder
If it got the job done, yes sir, look at the next line, it is
the blood that makes atonement for the soul. Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God,
by the sacrifice of himself, has made atonement for our souls. We were justified by his blood. Now we shall be saved by his
life because we, by faith in him, now receive atonement. Don't make atonement. We receive
it. We receive it because his blood
makes atonement. Amen.