The Lord Jesus Christ is himself
God Almighty. Please understand, as you read
the scriptures, as you hear me and others speak of Christ from
this pulpit, understand that while he is a man and must be
a man in order to be our Savior, He is God and must be God. Sometimes we speak of the Lord
Jesus, I hope I have quit doing so, I have spoken of him as having
laid his Godhead aside as far as the revelation of it is concerned.
Having laid the glory of his divinity aside and assumed humanity. That just isn't so. Our Lord
Jesus never ceased to be God. He never hid his Godhead, he
veiled his Godhead in human flesh to make himself known as God
in the flesh. The word was made flesh and dwelt
among us. Jesus Christ, that man who was
in his humanity, that is his human body and his human soul,
formed in the womb of the Virgin, and conceived there by God the
Holy Spirit, who was brought forth from the Virgin's womb
at Bethlehem better than 2,000 years ago, is himself the eternal
God. He is God the eternal Son, one
with the Father in all things. But in order to redeem and save
his people, the Son of God assumed our nature. He took into union
with himself our holy nature. We saw this in the burnt offering. He wore those linen garments
and linen britches upon his flesh, on his body, as he went in to
minister in the holy place, as he took the offering and burned
the offering upon the altar and made the sacrifice unto the Lord
God. Those linen garments, we are
told plainly in Revelation 19, represent the righteousness of
the saints. It speaks of the righteous obedience
of our Lord Jesus Christ as a man in perfectly obeying the Father's
will in all things to bring in everlasting righteousness for
sinners who had no ability to perform righteousness. But it's
the righteousness of a man who is God. That makes it enough
for you and me both. That makes it sufficient for
all his people. That makes it so that his righteousness
is a righteousness God Almighty imputes to all his people and
declares all his people to be perfectly holy. His righteousness,
of course, includes his death, his blood atonement. The Lord
Jesus obeyed the law of God for us and satisfied the justice
of God in our room instead. And having done that in a most
public manner, again in the burnt offering we read about, the Lord
took that, the high priest took the ashes and laid them beside
the altar. And then he changed his linen
garments and put on his other garments. He took off the garments
that had been ceremonially soiled by sin contaminating them. And
he puts on linen garments again and carried that sacrifice out
into a clean place. Yonder he sits. There's a man
sitting in heaven's glory who is God in human flesh in perfect
righteousness, accepted of God. accepted of God on the basis
of what he has done in bringing in righteousness, in putting
away sin by the satisfaction of justice. And that's the only
way any sinner can ever find acceptance with God. Now we read
our text earlier. I want us now to just read five
verses from these two chapters in Leviticus 6 and 7. There's
one phrase in these five verses that speaks about our Lord Jesus
Christ and his accomplished redemption, which is repeated over and over
again in this chapter. Leviticus chapter six, verse
17. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it unto them for
their portion of my offerings made by fire. Now look at it. It is most holy. It is most holy. As is the sin offering and as
is the trespass offering. Verse 25. Speak unto Aaron and
his son, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the
place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering
be killed before the Lord. It is most holy. Verse 29. all the males among the priests
shall eat thereof. It is most holy. Verse 1 of chapter
7. Likewise, this is the law for
the trespass offering. It is most holy. Verse 6. Every male among the priests
shall eat thereof. It shall be eaten in the holy
place. It is most holy. Now that's our
subject for today. It is most holy. May God the
Holy Spirit be our teacher. In these first seven chapters
of Leviticus, we are given an inspired record of the law which
God gave to Moses on Mount Sinai with regard to the daily sacrifices
to be offered by the people before the Lord God. The first three
of these sacrifices were voluntary, free will offerings. There's
a sacrifice of burnt offering, which portrays our acceptance
with the God in Jesus Christ the Lord. We are accepted in
the beloved. The sacrifice of the meat offering, which portrays
our Lord's consecration to God for us and our consecration to
God by faith in Him. We belong to Him, we've been
redeemed. And then the sacrifice also of the peace offering, which
was a celebration of peace. Now these three offerings were
not required by God. God never demanded or forced
anyone against his will to keep these sacrifices or these ceremonies. They were all voluntary, free
will offerings. Now understand me. Please understand
me. If you worship God, you're going
to do so because you want to. You're going to do so because
you want to. There are no drafted soldiers in Christ's army. They're
all volunteers. He does not in any way compel
a man to do what he doesn't want to do insofar as his worship
and service is concerned. But preacher, you tell us we
have no free will. You're exactly right. It doesn't
matter what I tell you, that or not, is what the book says.
But all who are called by his grace, Bobby, are made willing
in the day of his power. You're here today because you
want to be, aren't you? That's exactly right. We've come and
bring our sacrifices of praise to God. We bring our gifts to
Him. We bring our services to Him.
We attempt to live for Him because we want to. We've been made willing
in the day of His power. If ever you come to Christ, you'll
come because you want to. If ever you look to Him, you'll
look because you want to. If ever you walk with Him, you'll
walk with Him because you want to. If ever you serve Him, you'll
serve Him because you want to. Thank God you will acknowledge
gladly that your walk to is His work. But want to you will. These
are free will offerings. But then there are two offerings
described. The latter two offerings were
absolutely necessary. The sin offering, which was a
portrayal of Christ, I substitute. That one who was offered unto
God and who offered himself unto God to make satisfaction for
sin on our behalf, who died the just for the unjust that he might
bring us to God. and the trespass offering, which
is an offering which celebrates the effectual accomplishment
of redemption. Over and over, as the trespass
offering is described, and the trespasses against God are described,
which we have committed against Him. Every time the offering
is mentioned, and the work done, the scripture declares that when
the offering is made, The priest makes the sacrifice and it shall
be forgiven him. Oh, blessed be God. Every sinner
for whom Jesus Christ died is substituted Mount Calvary has
in him the everlasting forgiveness of sins. There's no possibility
of God imputing sin to those for whom Jesus Christ has died.
All right. Let's look at this passage we
read in Leviticus chapter 6, rather. I'm getting ahead of
myself. I'll preach in Luke 9 tonight, Lord willing. In the first five chapters, God
gave specific instructions, actually the first six chapters, to the
children of Israel, to the common people, to the rulers, to the
priests, to the individual man who sinned and told them how
they must come to worship God. If you worship God, he says,
this is where you'll worship him. If you come to me, you'll
come to me on the basis of blood atonement, my son, the Lord Jesus
Christ. But in chapter 6 and 7, actually
right on through to the end of chapter 7, beginning at verse
8 of chapter 6, the instructions about these same offerings are
repeated, but not quite exactly repeated. And here we have instructions
given specifically to Aaron and his sons. Now understand this. Understand this. Aaron, the high
priest, in his person, in his garments, in his sacrifices,
in his work, represents the God-man, Jesus Christ, our Mediator. We
too often think of the priest and Aaron and the Levitical priesthood
as being a picture of the manhood, the humanity of our Lord Jesus
Christ and his work as a man. But he represents one who is
the God-man mediator. Otherwise, he couldn't do anything
for us. Jesus Christ is not only a man
mediator between God and men. He could not be a mediator between
God and men if he were just a man. But he's the God-man. He is God-man. He's man-God wrapped up in one
person so that he can deal with God on the grounds of absolute
perfection in his holy character and deal with man on the grounds
of his manhood as well. He is one who is God and man. Totally God and totally man. As fully God as though he were
not man, as fully man as though he were not God. And now Aaron
represents him. in all his work. In these two
chapters, the priests stand before us preeminently as types and
pictures of our Lord Jesus. Our great high priest before
God, in his entire work, as they represented him in their entire
ceremony, in their entire sacrifice, the Lord Jesus in his entire
work, as well as his person, is represented in these ceremonies.
These words apply not to the sacrifice alone, but to everything
involved in sacrifice. It is a thing most holy. Now, I realize in preaching from
this passage of scripture, I'm just scratching the surface of
an unfathomable mind. I'm just scratching the surface.
But I pray that as I scratch the surface, God the Holy Spirit
will be our teacher and he'll cause you to see Christ in whom
are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Yes, even
the treasures of the very glory of God and that you will find
the grace of God flowing to your soul through him. Let me show
you three things in the passage we've read this morning. First,
the revelation of God's holiness. Second, the eating of the sacrifice. And then I'll wrap it up by showing
you the fulfillment of the time. First, the revelation of God's
holiness. Now, these days, men and women
everywhere talk about holiness and holy things. Most every church
in this country, most every one of them, that has anything like
a resemblance to saying they're Christian, sing the song we sing
right before the message, holy, holy, holy. It's sung in Baptist
churches and Patriotist churches, Adventist churches, Methodist
churches sung everywhere, sung everywhere. The word holy is
used by men to describe one another and to describe one another's
works and one another's services and one another's ceremonies
and one another's places of worship with such levity that there is
little more thought given to the throwing out of the word
holy than there is by a profane man speaking profanity. The fact
is, very few people have any idea of what holiness is. We
can get some grasp of it by understanding the meaning. It means hallowed. Our father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. It means sanctified, set apart. It means rare, rare, rare. It means pure. Holy. Holy. Now listen carefully. His name is holy. No man's. No man's. Don't call me reverend
and don't call me holy reverend. I ain't either one. God is. His name's holy. This is not
a holy desk. It's just a piece of wood I had
to stand behind. This building is not a sanctuary. It is not. Thank God we treat the place
where we worship God, where we gather in his name to worship
him, respectfully. We treat it with respect. We
dress with respect. We come with respect. But this
is not a sanctuary. It's just a place where folks
sit down and get comfortable. That's all. This is not a holy
building. We'll come together tonight and
eat the bread and wine. The bread's not holy bread and
the wine's not holy wine. We bought both at the store.
And I don't pronounce some kind of magical religious mumbo-jumbo
over it to make it holy. And I got news for you. You're
not holy either. You're not either. Except in
Christ. And everything referred to in
the Old Testament as holy, everything referred to as holy is referred
to as being holy only because it pointed to Christ or because
the person spoken of was one who is in Christ and accepted
in Christ. The priest was holy because that
priest is Christ. The sacrifice was holy because
that sacrifice was Christ. The tabernacle was holy because
that tabernacle was Christ. The mercy seat was holy because
that mercy seat was Christ. The holy of holies was holy because
that was Christ. And that's where the holy glory
of God's revealed. Holiness then. Holiness then
is something far beyond what men in this day imagine it to
be. In the book of God, men and women are described and declared
to be saints. sanctified, holy men and women,
only because we are in Christ, that one who is holiness, that
one who is the holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.
The Lord Jesus Christ is holy himself and we are holy in him,
but we are not holy because of our personal character or our
personal conduct before him. You understand that? Our only
holiness is Christ. Focus on these four words for
just a few minutes. It is most holy. Those four words
are used only ten times in the entire Bible. Only ten times. Now that means one of two things.
Either the brevity and slightness with which they are used implies
that they really don't mean a great deal or rather it implies they
mean a whole lot. They're used ten times and it
means a great deal. It is, listen now, not just holy,
most holy. Most told. Most told. Every time these words are used,
every time without exception. I looked them up again last night
and looked them up again this morning. Every time they're used
without exception. They refer to something that
points us to and speaks of and typifies the sin-atoning work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every time those words, it is
most holy are used, they point to the person and work of Christ,
our sacrifice, our mediator, our priest, our substitute. Without
question, God's holiness is displayed in many ways and in many things. Understand, certainly that's
the case. I'm not suggesting that God's
holiness is not seen elsewhere. We see God's holiness in the
garden. When God clothed Adam and Eve in the garden, when he
created them in his image. We see something of God's holiness
on Mount Sinai when the Lord God gave his holy law. We see
something of God's holiness when he pours out his wrath in the
flood upon the earth. We see something of God's holiness
as we see the smoke of the torments of Sodom and Gomorrah burning
under the wrath of God. The dying man sees something
of God's holiness when the cold sweat of death is on his brow
and he's slipping away off his bed into the grave into everlasting
hell. He knows something about God's
holiness and he's terrified in his soul. But if you want to
see God's holiness, go again to Mount Calvary. And standing
at the foot of the crucified Christ, behold holy Holy, holy,
Lord God Almighty. It is most holy. This is where
God makes known His holiness. Come with me to Mount Calvary.
Behold the crucified Son of God and learn something about God's
holiness. Here we stand like Moses before
the burning bush, which was burned and was not consumed with the
fire that burned it. We stand upon holy ground. So
take off your shoes of curiosity and bow down in worship as you
listen to God speak by his crucified son. Concerning the Lord Jesus
Christ, our great sacrifice for sin, the Lord God declares, it
is most holy. He is the priest. Christ is the
priest who offers the sacrifice. He is the sacrifice offered. He is the altar upon which the
sacrifice is offered. He is the God who receives the
sacrifice. He is the tabernacle in which
it's offered. He is most holy. You see, he who undertakes the
work of making atonement, he who undertakes the work of bringing
a sacrifice before God, by which a sinner who deserves God's wrath
can stand accepted before God and worship Him, he must himself
be holy. We read in verses 6 and 18, concerning
the offering of the Lord made by fire, everyone that toucheth
them shall be holy. The commandment is given throughout
the first five books of Moses, actually the Exodus through Deuteronomy. It is given repeatedly. No one
was to touch these holy things except a holy man. If you touch
the tabernacle, you better be holy. If you come and offer a
sacrifice, you better be holy. If you go into that holy place,
you better be holy. One anointed, set apart, and
sanctified by God Almighty as his priest, as Uzziah. You dare
not touch these things except you be holy. to do his father's will, came
not as the seed of man, but the seed of woman, without contamination,
the holy God and the holy man. Perfectly holy. The sacrifice
itself must be declared holy. Ceremonially holy. Now, there's
not much way to make a bull holy. There's not much way to make
a goat holy. There's not much way to make
a sheep holy. But it was holy. How can that
be? Ceremonially, that's all. God
said it was. God said it was. What does that
mean? That means it's holy. It may
still stink like a bull, a goat, or a sheep, but it's holy. It's
holy. God Almighty says concerning
you, his people in Christ, you're holy. but not just ceremonially. He's declared us legally holy
before him. The place where the sacrifice
is made, the place where it's accepted, is called the holy
place, the holy altar. The one to whom the sacrifice
is offered is the holy Lord God. And the one for whom it's made
is also holy. The book says here, everyone
who touches the sacrifice shall be holy. It doesn't just declare
he must be. That is, it is required that
if he touched the sacrifice, he must be holy. But it is declared
that if you come here and touch this sacrifice, you shall be
holy. Oh, I bid you come with a hand
of faith and touch the sacrifice and walk out of here before God
Almighty in your conscience made to know you're holy before him. Behold the wondrous mystery.
Here is the holy Lord God made to be sin, punishing sin, putting
away sin, forgiving sin, that sinners might ever live before
Him without sin in spotless holiness, that we might be made to be as
He purposed us to be, holy and without blame before Him, the
Holy One who is our substitute. is that holiness we must have. Turn to Hebrews chapter 12. I
want you to see this. Hebrews 12. In the pursuit of a life before
God of uprightness, godliness, and faith. The apostle here gives
us instruction about God's purpose in grace in chastising his children. That we might be made partakers
of his holiness. Now, obviously, obviously, you
and I don't get to be holy by God whipping us. That's Romish
doctrine, and Reformed doctrine, and Pentecostal doctrine, and
fundamentalist doctrine. It ain't Bible doctrine. You
don't get more holy by God whipping your back, or by you whipping
yourself. Oh no. When it says he chastens
us that we might be made partakers of his holiness, He's disciplining
us as his sons that we might at last stand before him in the
blessed enjoyment of that holiness which Christ has earned for us,
everlasting salvation. Here in verse 12, my verse 14
letter, he tells us, follow peace with all men. Live in this world. Man, don't fuss and fight. Try to live peaceably with men.
As much as is possible, live peaceably with all men. A man
wants to argue with you about something, don't argue. Just
don't do it. I don't know why we can't learn this. Our Lord
told us plainly, he said, if you got a neighbor and he wants
you to go with him, I'll go with him too. What's a mile? What's
a mile? You got a neighbor and you got
two coats and he doesn't have any, give him one of them. What's
a coat? If a man would take your coat, let him have it. You can
go get another one. It doesn't matter. Now, I didn't say to
take your house. That's important. You can't go
get another one and seize it. But things that don't matter,
don't matter. The world wants to fuss about politics, and I
want to fuss about this, I want to fuss about that, I want to
fuss about religion. And, oh, you gun whore. I'm going to defend
my rights. I know I'm right now. I'm right. I'm going to have my rights.
Oh, that piece of blood. You must have been right. I'm
sure I was wrong. I'm sure I was wrong. You had to be right. Live
peaceably. That's so contrary to nature,
isn't it? But you want to walk before God? Live peaceably. Things
that don't matter ought not matter to us. Things that don't matter
ought not matter to us. Live peaceably. I'm not going
to. That's pride. I'm going to assert
myself. That's pride. I'm going to demand
my rights. That's pride. That's pride. That's
what all men do, not God's people. And holiness. Oh, now this is
important. Follow, pursue to your dying
day, Jesus Christ, the Lord. That's what's said right there.
Holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Christ is
made of God, and to us, righteousness, sanctification, redemption, everything
involved in holiness, Christ is, because he's our Redeemer. Therefore the believer can say,
bold shall I stand in that great day, for who ought to my charge
shall lay, while through Christ's blood absolved I am from sin's
tremendous curse and blame. For with his spotless garments
on, I am as holy as God's own Son. Holy, holy. All right, now secondly, the
text speaks of eating the sacrifice. Let me just read one of the verses
with you. Leviticus chapter six, or chapter seven, let's go there,
verse six. With regard to these sacrifices,
this is five times, let me see, four times repeated in these
two chapters. I must write the first time,
five times. Leviticus chapter seven, verse six. Every male among the priests,
you can read it in chapter six, verse 16, verse 18, verse 26,
verse 29, chapter seven, verse six. Every male among the priests
shall eat thereof. It shall be eaten in the holy
place, it is most holy. Two or three things here. The
sacrifice had to be eaten. The sacrifice made by fire unto
the Lord was to be completely eaten. Remember, the sacrifice
had sin imputed to it. The man brought his burnt offering,
he brought his sin offering, he brought his trespass offering,
and ceremonially he laid his hands on the head of the victim
and it was made to be sin. And now the priest must take
that sacrifice, contaminated, defiled, corrupt, sin, and eat
it. He must eat it. What does that
mean? It speaks of our Savior's complete
Total perfect identification with sin. He was made to be sin. Watch
this here. Watch now. This is deep theology. Watch. You just try to get it. That's mine Lindsay. I drank
it. It's mine. Everything worth anything
in that cup is mine. And you can't get it. You can't
even get it if you destroy me. It's mine. It's mine. I'll go home a little bit and
have some macaroni and cheese and meatloaf and have some cornbread
and green beans. And when I stick it in my mouth
and swallow it, you can't get it. It's mine. The priest ate
the sacrifice. Will you hear me? The Lord Jesus
Christ ate our sin. He made it his before God Almighty. And the sacrifice had to be completely
eaten in one day. In one day. Listen to this, Zechariah
chapter 3 verse 9. by the sacrifice of himself purged
away our sin. He consumed it. The sacrifice
must be eaten by Aaron and his sons. This is repeated five times
in the verses we've read. Five times. It is specifically
said by the males. Every male of the priest shall
eat it. But what about the daughters
of Aaron? They couldn't eat it. We're told in Numbers 18 they
could eat the sacrifice of the wave offering. That's perfectly
fine. But not these sacrifices that had to do with sin and the
putting away of sin. How come? Because, now ladies,
you ladies won't, but the other ladies who may hear this tape
in this politically incorrect society of ours, they'll call
me and don't bother to call. Just don't bother. are the weaker vessels. That's
what the book says. The weaker vessel needs someone
to provide for her, protect her, keep her, watch over her, hold
her, comfort her, sustain her. That's what husbands are. That's
what husbands are. I don't want anything like it.
If you ever find one, you'll want it. If you ever find such a husband,
you'll want him. If you ever find such a woman,
you'll want her. That's exactly right. The woman's
the weaker vessel. Eve was deceived in the fall,
not Adam. The woman's the weaker vessel. She cannot provide for
herself, protect herself, keep herself, comfort herself. And
all the sacrifices That which represented the work of God in
all the sacrifices, that which represented the work of God was
done by the male, done by the male of Aaron's sons, the priest. And this work of redemption is
the work of God, our Savior for us. the male of the priest. And though we are ourselves sons
and daughters of God, made to be priests of God unto him, he
did it for us, his bride, his church, to provide for us, to
purify us, to protect us, to keep us, to comfort us, to hold
us. He did everything for us. Everything. Oh, wondrous, wondrous
grace. The Lord Jesus Christ thoroughly,
completely, fully identifies himself with us and with our
sin. He consumes our sin in himself
that we might know with full, blessed certainty and confidence
that this matter is settled forever. Forever. But preachers, sometimes
I don't feel like it is. Me too. Sometimes I'm bothered by things,
me too. Sometimes I'm troubled, me too.
Sometimes I just can't see clearly, me
too. Sometimes I tremble, me too. Because very often I keep looking
in here for something. and mentioned that nothing there
but sin. But this matter is forever settled.
You see him yonder in that change of apparel, sitting in his holy
linen garments, glorified. He who put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself, who ate I see it. Consumed, I see it. Stands accepted
before God Almighty and does Him. He's our righteousness. He is our holiness. He's our
redemption. It is done. The great transaction
is done. I am my Lord and He is mine. And my thoughts and failures
and feelings and weaknesses aren't going to change a thing. Not
going to change a thing. And I'm not going to doubt Him
because I ain't in the camp. I'm not going to question Him because
I can't be dependent on Him. I'm not going to question Him
because of what I do. He is our holiness. Now, turn to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5, and I'll show you the fulfillment of the time. It is written, it is most holy. And this is
what it's talking about. Verse 21. I know you can quote
it, most likely read it, will you? He, the holy Lord God, hath
made him his darling son to be seen for us. the people whose names he wore
on his breastplate. How come? He who knew no sin was made to
be sin for us. How come? For this purpose, to
this end, that we might be. Now that doesn't
mean maybe be. That means that we might on this
grounds be. because there's no other way
we could be, that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. Never was the Lord Jesus Christ
more fully seen as the Holy One of God. Never was the holiness
of God more fully revealed as when God's own darling Son was
made to be sin for us at Mount Calvary. The vileness and blackness
of our sin, which the Son of God took into union with and
took to be his own, that with which he identified himself intimately
on the cross, showed him to be most holy. Though he was the
sin bearer, he was sinless. Though he endured all the horror
of God's holy wrath, He was still the father's delight, though
he was forsaken of God when he was made to be seen. He is that
one of whom it is written, he dwelleth in the bosom of the
father. Oh, preacher. That's a mystery, you got that
right. A mystery no man can explain.
But it's called the great mystery of godliness. Without controversy,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, raised up from the dead. He who bare
our sins in his body on the tree, bared them, and God justified
him when he raised him up from the dead. He was seen of angels, preached
to the Gentiles, believed on in the world. and received up
into glory. Now, come to the sacrifice. Come on
to the sacrifice. Look here, look here, every one
of you, every one of you, needy, needy sinners. Come with a hand
of faith. poor, trembling, bleeding soul,
if I could just touch you. If I could just touch you. I know I'd be made whole. Come,
touch the sacrifice by faith. And whatever your need is now,
I'm telling you, you walk up those doors holy. Holy before God. He that toucheth
the sacrifice shall be holy. Holy. Walk before me and be ye holy,
for I am holy. I can't do that. Yes, I can. I'm touching the sacrifice. I
stand then before God and His Son, holy, unflavorable, unreprovable. because of Christ's righteousness,
obedience, and death as my substitute. Amen.