Try to imagine the unimaginable. Suppose that God Almighty, in
one swift act of justice, suddenly took two of your grown
sons out of this world and swept them away into everlasting hell. And you knew they had perished
under the wrath of God. And then the Lord commanded you
plainly not to weep for them, not to let anyone see in you
any indication of sorrow or discontent with God's judgment. That's impossible. God would
never do that. No, it's not impossible, and
God did do it. Before I'm done this morning,
I'll show you in Leviticus chapter 10 how the God did exactly that
with Aaron's sons. Aaron had four sons and two of
them while they were in the tabernacle, ministering in the holy place,
perished under the wrath of God. And I'll hopefully so declare
that that you'll understand why they had to die and why Aaron
had to be silent when they did. We'll begin in chapter 9. Chapter
9. I want you to hold your Bibles
up for the year. Verse 1. It came to pass on the eighth
day, you'll recall at the close of chapter Eight, the Lord God
commanded Aaron and his sons to abide in the tabernacle for
seven days, so that the days of their consecration to God
might be ceremonially fulfilled. For now those days of ceremonial
consecration were ended. They were accepted as God's priests.
The Most High had made them to be his own, and had publicly
accepted them as such. Now being accepted as the priests
of God, they entered into the holy place before the Lord again
as the representatives of his people. Now, as such, these priests,
particularly Aaron, but Aaron and his sons as well, were types
of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great high priest, who
has been, by his obedience and consecration to God throughout
the days of his consecration, has been made perfect by the
things which he suffered, learning obedience He has been made perfect,
complete as a man and a high priest to represent us before
God. Moses and Aaron and Aaron's four sons and the elders of Israel
all stand here before the congregation of the Lord. And Moses and these
sons of Aaron and these elders of Israel seem to stand as particular
witnesses to Aaron's acceptance as God's priest. and to God's
acceptance of the sacrifice that he offered and God's acceptance
of the people by him. They declared to the people,
now you can approach God. Now you can come to God. Now
you can gather at the altar of God, not fearing wrath, but expecting
mercy because God has accepted your priest and the sacrifice
that he brings. In much the same way, the witnesses
of Christ's perfection, completion, and acceptance as our great high
priest assure us that we too are accepted of God. The apostle
speaks in Hebrews 10 of us coming into the holy place, drawing
nigh to God with full assurance of faith. Now wait a minute,
no man can do that. Oh yes you can. Oh yes you can. We come to God confident that
he will accept us because he's accepted Christ. The Father bears
witness to it. He declared, even as our Lord
began his earthly ministry, when he came to John and was baptized
at the River Jordan, he said, John said, oh, I can't do that.
I need you to baptize me. And the master said, you wait
a minute now. Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becomes us
to fulfill all righteousness. And so by his burial in the waters
of baptism, Our master ceremonially pictured what it was to accomplish
righteousness by his death, his resurrection, and his acceptance
with the father. And when he came up out of the
water, he gave, the father poured out his spirit upon him. And
he said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. On
the Mount of Transfiguration, when Moses and Elijah appeared,
just as our Lord was ending his work of obedience as our representative
on this earth. Moses and Elijah appeared with
him and the father spoke from heaven and said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased. Here he is. And then when our
savior was crucified, when he died under the wrath of God,
was buried three days later, he was raised again by the power
of God. And thus the father again declares
his acceptance as our substitute, our mediator and our representative.
And he sat him down and his own right hand. And thus the Father
bears witness all these ways that God accepts sinners in Christ. Come now to God Almighty and
find acceptance with him by faith in the blood. Not only that,
but like the elders of Israel, save sinners on the earth. Turn
to any man or woman here who's experienced God's grace and listen
to the witness they give. We've come to God by faith in
Jesus Christ. We guilty, hell-bent, hell-deserving,
vile, vile, wretched, sinful men and women. I've come to God
through His Son and walked away with absolute pardon. Our brother
Ed Hale, who's now with God in glory, sang a song. I used to love to hear him sing
it. Called a pardon in my pocket. Got a pardon in my pocket. Pardon
in my pocket. Oh, what a cavalier way of speaking. Oh, what a blessed way of speaking.
The Lord God has given us pardon by the blood of his darling son.
All right, now, we'll go on in our passage. Pick it up in verse
two. Let me show you five things here.
The first thing to which our attention is directed or some
sacrifices. You see, not only does God tell
us of Aaron's acceptance, he constantly tells us that Aaron
and the people would be accepted only on the basis of sacrifices
such as God himself prescribed, God himself required, and offered
in such a way as God himself commanded. As you read this passage,
You cannot avoid seeing. in all things while Aaron was
a picture of Christ. And he's set before us through
the scriptures as a picture of Christ. Not a perfect picture
by any means. He was just a sinful man. But
he was set before us as a picture of Christ and he is constantly
set before us in such a manner that those watching him go about
his priestly duties must be made to understand that this man represents
another man who's yet to come. Aaron's God's high priest. He has these gorgeous priestly
garments. He has the breastplate and the
effort and he has the mitre on his head and he has the golden
crown, holiness to the Lord. And yet this man must come to
God with a sacrifice for himself. Look at verse 2. He said to Aaron, take thee a
young calf for sin offering. I reckon why he specified that
for Aaron. Aaron's then offering was always
a young calf. I got a hunch I know. You remember
back in Exodus when Moses was up in the mountain and Aaron
and the children of Israel wondered what's become of Moses? What's
become of Moses? And the children of Israel said,
oh, oh, what are we going to do? And Aaron said, bring me
some gold. Bring me all your gold. And he
made them some calves. And he said, these be thy gods,
O Israel. In his unbelief, and in his idolatry,
led the children of Israel, dancing naked around a golden calf. Well,
God killed him for that. He's God's chosen, and God yet
has mercy on him. And the Lord God reminds him
of his sin, and points him to this calf, representing the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is indeed Israel's God, who is indeed our sacrifice,
who is indeed our propitiation. Take thee a young calf for a
sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering, without blemish, and
offer them before the Lord. You see, Aaron himself was a
sinner. As such, he had to bring a sin offering for himself. He
could not come to God but by blood. And thus he shows us that
there is one to come who's holy, harmless, undefiled, separate
from sinners. And he comes to God on his own
merit, but not me. And so God constantly held Aaron
out before Israel and reminds them that this man is no priest. There's no atonement for sin
in him. There's no acceptance with God
in him except ceremonially and representatively in type and
in picture. And yet I can't help but to think
there's another picture here. Aaron, when he went in to do
business before God, always had to do something for himself first. Before he could do anything for
Israel, he had to do something for himself. Before he could
put away anybody else's sins ceremonially, he had to put away
his own sins ceremonially. Before he offered sacrifice for
the people, he had to offer sacrifice for himself. Even on the great
day of atonement in Leviticus 16 verse 11, Aaron first made
atonement for his own soul and then for the people. And so our
Lord Jesus Christ, now listen to me, was so thoroughly made
to be sin for us that our sin became Jesus. And the atonement
he offered to God for our sins is atonement offered to God for
that sin which was imputed to him and made to be his. We'll
see this more fully in a moment. Look at verse 3. Then Aaron brings
the people sacrifices and the children of Israel. Unto the
children of Israel thou shalt speak, saying, Take a kid of
the goats for a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both of
the first year without blemish, for a burnt offering. and a bullock
and a ram for peace offerings, to sacrifice unto the Lord and
meet offerings mingled with oil, for today the Lord will appear
unto you. Now we've seen these offerings
throughout these first nine chapters of Leviticus. They are required
to bring all the offerings that were described in the first chapter.
All the offerings that are set forth in the daily worship and
constant worship of God by Israel except for one. They're not required
here to bring the trespass offering and there's a reason for that.
They have just begun in this thing of the tabernacle worship
of the Old Testament. And trespassing of the holy things
had not yet been committed. First and foremost, God requires
a sin offering. A kid of the goats, bearing their
sin by imputation. They also brought burnt offerings,
a calf, and a lamb, both of the first year without blemish, to
show their faith in Christ, who is represented in this sin offering,
and by his blood they are accepted, by his sacrifice they're accepted.
And then the peace offering in its fullest form was brought,
a bullock and a ram, showing us that God is reconciled in
Christ, showing us that God Almighty in Christ now draws near to sinners
and brings sinners near to himself in complete acceptance. And then
they brought the meat offering, mingled with all else, by which
they declared their utter consecration to God. Lord God, we've come
to you now, trusting your son, who has put away our sins, by
whom we have peace with God. And being bought with the price
of his precious blood, we're yours. And take this now, our
meat offering, our thank offering. testifying that we're yours.
This is what we do in our giving in all things. We come to God
not to bribe Him. We give to Him not to get Him
to do something for us. One of the greatest plagues of
our day, one of the greatest curses of our day is the religion
of this age. You send me some money and God
will send you twice as much. So you'll see faith in heaven
and God will give you a rich bank account on earth. Such men
ought to be shot. Put a bounty on them and shoot
them. If it was legal, put a bounty on their head and shoot them.
Oh, what horrid things. Oh, no, no, no. We bring our
gifts. The rich and the poor. Those
who have much and those who have little. The young and the old. We bring our gifts. And with
these insignificant gifts, now listen to me, listen to me, they're
insignificant in themselves. It doesn't matter if you've got
a dollar to give or $500,000 to give every week, it doesn't
matter. They're insignificant in themselves, except in this,
by our gifts. Locks, stocking barrel, yours. Thank offerings to God. Thank
offerings, that's all. And that's what the meat offering
was. Now look at God's promise. For today, the Lord will appear
to you. Oh, I've been praying God do
that now. Oh, don't let me stand up here
and beat the wind for nothing. Oh, God, speak through these
lips of clay by your word and by your spirit and appear unto
God's way to us and our way to him is exactly the same. How on earth can Merle Hart go
to God? Only by blood. How can God come
to you? Only through the blood. And the
declaration is, as we draw near to him, as we come to him, as
we present ourselves to him by the blood of his darling son,
he condescends to come down here and meet us in the person of
his son. Comes to us the same way. Today,
the Lord will appear unto you. Now then, look at verses five
and six. And they brought that which Moses
commanded before the tabernacle of the congregation and all the
people drew near, look at this now, and stood before the Lord. And Moses said, this is the thing
which the Lord commanded that you should do and the glory of
the Lord shall appear unto you. They gathered before the congregation
of the tabernacle and stood before the Lord. And then Moses said,
now let me give you a better reading. This thing which the
Lord commanded you to do, do. And in so doing, expect the glory
of the Lord. It'll appear to you. God commands
you to believe on his son. God commands you to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, preacher, I don't know whether
I can believe or not. God commands you to. I don't know whether
I can come to God or not. God commands you to come. If
God commands you to come, I expect to be all right if you come.
He commands you to believe on his son. This is his commandment
that we should believe on the name of his son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, come believe on him. Come
to him right now. Larry Chris, believe him right
now. Believe him. Expect him to do what he says. This is the thing the Lord commanded
you to do, do it! And stand before him, expecting
this, the glory of the Lord will appear unto you. Now look at verse 7. This great high priest, Aaron,
is accepted before God on the basis of blood atonement as a
sinless priest. He's again presented to us as
one who needs atonement, always reminding us, even those in the
earliest days of the Jewish religion, reminding them that he was but
a type of Christ. Moses said unto Aaron, go unto
the altar and offer thy sin offering and thy burnt offering and make
atonement for thyself. Thus, make yourself sinless before
God and for the people and offer the offering of the to make atonement
for them as the Lord commanded you. Now you can read verses
8 through 14 later, it talks about Aaron's sacrifices, his
offerings. Oh, but behold, a greater than
Aaron is he. He who is our great high priest before God must like
Aaron by atonement Like Aaron by sacrifice, like Aaron by the
work that he performed ceremonially, he who is our high priest before
God must be holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. He must
be without sin or he can't make atonement for sin. And so Aaron
must first make atonement for his sins. He must rid himself
of guilt or he cannot make atonement for the people. The Lord Jesus
had no sin except what was imputed to him. If he had had any sin
for which he had to make atonement for himself, he could never have
been a sacrifice for our sins. But the Lord Jesus, that holy
one, that righteous one, is our great high priest of infinite
merit because this man is himself God and he offers an atonement,
a sacrifice worthy of God's acceptance. And the fathers accepted him.
Turn to Hebrews 7. Hold your hands there and turn
to Hebrews 7. I'll show you. We read earlier that our Lord
Jesus is a priest not after the order of Aaron, but rather after
the order of Melchizedek. You remember in the days of Eli,
God took the priesthood from Aaron's house and gave it to
another. And our Lord Jesus was not of
the order of Aaron, but rather of this mysterious man, Melchizedek,
who's described in Genesis 14. One who has no father by nature,
though God is his father from eternity. No father as a man,
and no mother, and is without beginning of days and without
end of years. Melchizedek, a priest forever.
Now here he's described, Hebrews 7, 24. This man, because he continues
ever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Wherefore, since he is an ever-living,
unchangeable, infinitely meritorious high priest, he is able also
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing
he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest
became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners,
and made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those
priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then
for the people's, For this he did once when he offered up himself. Our Lord Jesus, with one great
sacrifice, has put an end to the need for sacrifice. By the
offering of himself, he satisfied justice. By the offering of himself,
he's put away the sins of his people. For the law maketh men
high priests which have infirmity, but the word of the oath, which
was since the law, maketh the son who is consecrated forevermore. Look at verses 15 through 21
and see how the people are accepted by this priest, sanctified. Here is Aaron presenting the
people of Israel, bringing their sacrifices by which they were
sanctified and accepted as God's holy ones. If we would be accepted
of God, if we would come to God, David, we must stand before God
Almighty, sanctified, holy, without sin. You can't come any other
way. God will not receive any sinner
except that sinner cease to be a sinner. He will not receive
anyone except all sin be put away and no guilt can be found
upon him. thus made holy and righteous
by divine imputation. Oh, we don't cease to be sinners
in ourselves, no. You know better than that. Our
sins are a constant torment to us while we live in this world,
a constant enemy within us. Our greatest adversary is within,
it's our nature. But before God Almighty, when
we come to Him trusting His Son, because Christ has put away our
sins, God Almighty accepts us righteously and justly because
justice has been satisfied. All right, look at verse 15.
He brought the people's offering and took the goat which was the
sin offering for the people and slew it and offered it for sin
as at the first. And he brought the burnt offering
and offered it according to the manner. And he brought the meat
offering and took a handful thereof and burnt it upon the altar beside
the burnt sacrifice of the morning. He slew also the bullock and
the ram for a sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the
people. And Aaron's sons presented unto
him the blood, which he sprinkled upon the altar round about, and
the fat of the bullock and of the ram, the rump, and that which
covereth the inwards and the kidneys, and the call above the
liver. And they put the fat upon the
breast, and he burned the fat upon the altar. Verse 21. And
the breast and the right shoulder Aaron waved for a wave offering
before the Lord as Moses commanded. We've seen these sacrifices and
their significance. They speak of complete consecration
to God, complete reconciliation to God, complete devotion to
God because of the blood. But look at verse 15 particularly.
He brought the people's offering and took the goat which was the
sin offering for the people, and slew it, and offered it for
sin as the first." Those words, offered it for sin, are remarkable. They're remarkable. If you've
got a place in the margin of the Bible, you can write it down.
This is what they mean. He sinned it. You see what I mean? That is, he made it sin. The sin offering was that offering
that distinctly had sin imputed to it by the laying on of hands. The idea seems to be that Aaron
put the sins of the people on this innocent victim until he
had made the innocent victim to be sin. That's what substitution
is all about. That's exactly what happened
to Calvary. I have no doubt at all, this
is exactly what Isaiah and Paul had in mind when they later described
what took place at Calvary. Turn to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Verse 10. It pleased the Lord to Brucie. Now that word pleased, this is
what it means, Lindsay. Satisfied. God says I have no
pleasure in the death of the wicked. God sent the whole world
to hell. It never satisfied his justice.
That's what he's talking about. You can't satisfy God's justice.
It can't be done. But God Almighty found satisfaction
for his justice. He bruised his soul. And he said,
that's enough. It pleased the Lord to bruise
him, to crush him to death. He hath put him to grief when
thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. When thou shalt make him to be
sin. This will be the result. He'll
see his sin. He'll prolong his days. He'll
live again. and the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in his
hand. He shall see of the truth the ale of his soul, and shall
be satisfied." Now, this is what that means. Every sinner Bob
doth, for whom the Son of God died at Calvary, will be with
him in glory, because he's satisfied justice for him. Look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, verse 21. Our great sin offering the Lord
Jesus Christ when he was slain for us was treated as if he were
the very reservoir of sin. The great, great, huge, huge
reservoir of iniquity. The great indescribable reservoir
of transgression. All the curse that we deserve. All the curse that flows down
from God Almighty in countless waves upon fallen men fell on
Him and fell on Him at once because the Father made Him to be sin
for us. Look at it. For He hath made
Him to be sin for us. The long, long fingers of God's
holy justice gathered up all the sins of all his people and
heaped them on his son, and that's what he made his son to be. Who knew no sin? You know sin. Didn't have any. Couldn't do
any. He's holy, harmless, undefiled,
separate from sin. But he made to be sin by just
transfer. by imputation. And when God Almighty
took our sins off us and put them on His Son, justice would
not allow Him to look to us for satisfaction. Well, allow it. The sin is no longer against
me. The debt is no longer mine. It's His. And Father, God looked
to Him for satisfaction. that he, by the same great transfer
of grace, by the same great act of justice, might make us the
righteousness of God in him. The Lord God has taken our guilt. It's a poor illustration, but
it's the best I can do. This is the very illustration
used here I don't mean to suggest that our Lord Jesus just paid
our debt, but in a legal sense that's exactly what he did. Here's
the ledger. Don Fortner owes God Almighty
this debt for his sins. Justice demands the soul that
sinneth it shall die and the black lines of guilt are written
in the ledger and my name heads the page. And the Lord God Almighty
takes all my debt and transfers it to the ledger of his darling
son and required him to pay. And he paid. Well, Doug, what
do you owe now? Look at the ledger. Well, I don't
owe God anything. Not for my sin. Don't owe him
a thing. God won't require anything from
me. Jeremiah 50, 20 says so. He said, I locked and there's
no sin, there's no transgression, there's no iniquity. It won't
be found. God took all his holy righteous. all his right, all his perfect
obedience, all his indescribable perfect love to God, all his perfect love for man. And he put it right here on my
left hand. And Don Fortner stands before
God, righteous, with his spotless garments over I am as holy as
God's own Son. Can you get hold of that? That's
called substitution. Aaron presented the people and
God accepted them for his sake. Even so, the Lord Jesus Christ
has presented his people in the garments of his righteousness,
washed in his blood. And God accepts us for his sake. Now, Bobby, this is what the
whole picture describes. Two things. Two things. There
is forgiveness with God. Oh, behold the blood on the altar
and understand there is forgiveness with God. Behold the God man
in glory and understand there is forgiveness with God. And
understand this too. There isn't any without blood.
Without shedding of blood is no remission. God will never
forgive you for anything apart from blood atonement. Won't happen.
All right, here's the fourth thing. Verses 22 through 24. We see the justice of God satisfied. I won't keep entertaining you
with this, but look at it. Abram lifted up his hand toward
the people and blessed them and came down from the offering of
the sin offering and the burnt offering, the peace offering.
Aaron has gone in, made sacrifice, made atonement, and he comes
out and he lifts up his hands and blesses the people. You know
where there's a parallel to that? Luke 24. The Lord Jesus, after
he had walked with his disciples on the road to Emmaus and made
himself known to them, Just before he ascended up into glory, as
he led them out to Bethany, the scripture says he lifted up his
hands and blessed them. The last thing he said, my peace
I give unto you. You've not chosen me, but I've
chosen you. And he was received up in that.
Look at the next line, verse 23. And Moses and Aaron went
into the tabernacle of the congregation. Aaron's offered sacrifice and
he comes out and blesses the people and now the law and the
priest go back into seclusion, go back into the tabernacle.
And here's people waiting, waiting, waiting, waiting. Christ being
come and high priest over good things to come by a greater more
perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is to say, not of
this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having
obtained eternal redemption for us. He has not entered into holy
places made with hands, which are figures of the truth, but
into heaven itself, and there he appears in the presence of
God for us. And then the next line, and they came out and blessed
the people. unto them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. Now look at this. You remember
what God promised way back at the beginning of the day? At
the beginning of this eighth day, he said, you come now. You
come to me by the blood of Tobit. You come to me by faith in Christ
and the glory of the Lord is going to appear to you. Look
at this. And the glory of the Lord appears. Let me show you
how it appeared. It appeared in a most remarkable
way. There came out a fire before
the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and
the bath. The fire of God's justice is
holiness. The fire of God's infinite, infinite
demand. Came out and just gobbled up
the sacrifice. Just consumed the sacrifice. Because that's what God requires.
That's what God requires. God says, by this, here's my
glory. Justice and truth have met together. Mercy and truth have met together.
Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Justice and
mercy now are revealed in the sacrifice of my son. And when the glory of the Lord
appeared and the fire came down from heaven, consumed the sacrifice,
we learned that our God is indeed a consuming fire. He'll either
consume the sinner or he'll consume the sin offering. He'll either
consume you in his wrath or he consumed Christ in his wrath
for you. And when the people saw it, they
fell on their faces and shouted. Worthy is the Lamb. Glory to
God. Justice is satisfied. Now, there's one more thing. Here's a solemn, solemn picture. Verse 10, or verse 1, chapter
10. Nadab and Bayou, the sons of Aaron, took either of them
his censer. and put fire therein, and put
incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord.
I don't have any idea what it was, neither does anybody else,
but I know what it was. It wasn't what God required.
They're in the tabernacle of God now. They're wearing priesthood
garments now. These are Aaron's sons. These
fellows have been taught well. But they came to God with a mixture of free grace
and free will. They came to God with a mixture
of Christ and themselves. They came to God with a mixture
of their works and God's works. They came to God with a mixture
of their goodness and his goodness. They came to God with something
other than Christ. And what happened? Budded the
very same fire that consumed that burnt offering. consumed
them. Read on. And there went out a
fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the
Lord. How come? Because they prayed
underfoot. God's sacrifice. Because they
willfully, deliberately said, no, we can come to God however
we please, and he dead sure better accept us. Don't tell me God
won't receive me. Don't tell me I can't come to
God with my works. Don't tell me I'm not good enough
for God's acceptance. I'll show you! And in their utter
unbelief, they dared put their head and their fire with God's
sacrifice. God killed them. And it's right. Now you listen
to me. Listen to me. If God saves you, If God saves
me, it'll be right. It'll be right. It'll be because
justice demands it. It'll be because justice has
been satisfied. It'll be because God has, in
the person of his son, satisfied his justice and put away our
sins. Come to him, believing on his son, and he'll receive
you. That's not presumption, that's
just fact. But if you refuse to trust his
son, and you go to hell, there'll be no tears shed for you in eternity. There won't even be any sorrow.
It'll just be right. It'll just be right. Come trust
this high priest. All children of God, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, And
he's the propitiation for our sins. Also, come to God Almighty,
trusting his son, his sacrifice, his priest, his atonement, his
righteousness, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you
in the free pardon of sin for Christ's sake.