Sinners can never come to God
without a sacrifice. Now that fact stated so plainly
in the scriptures seems strange to many in this day and age who
hold the truth of God in unrighteousness. But it is a fact which every
human being on this earth knows. Sinners cannot come to God without
a sacrifice. This fact is stamped upon the
consciences of all men by creation. Every man in the world knows
that God is. I get so weary, so weary of listening
to people as well. He believes in God. Everybody
believes in God. Everybody. I know folks who are
atheists. No, you don't. You just know
folks who scream atheist. You don't know any atheist. There's
no such animal. Everybody knows that God is. Every man in the
world not only knows that God is, but every human being knows
that God who is, is the almighty, holy, just, and righteous God
who will punish sin in everlasting judgment somehow. Everybody does. Let's see if the book of God
says so. Turn to Romans chapter 1. Romans chapter 1. Verse 18. The wrath of God. Not His goodness,
but His wrath. Not His grace, but His justice.
Not His mercy, but His wrath. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, and
look at this word, who hold. That doesn't mean hold like I'm
holding that glass. That means to hold down, like
you try to, something's starting to spew out and you try to hold
it down, keep it from erupting. Who suppress. Who suppress the
truth. the truth which God has inscribed
on their consciences from which they cannot escape, who hold
down the truth in unrighteousness. How can you say that? Because
that which may be known of God, that which men might know by
nature is manifest in them, for God has shown it unto them. For the invisible things of him
from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood
by the things that are made, even God's eternal power and
Godhead. So that they're without excuse.
Every man knows that God is, and every man by nature knows
that God Almighty is holy and demands from them holiness, righteousness,
and satisfaction. Look at Romans chapter 2. Romans
2 verse 14. When the Gentiles, the heathen,
those to whom God had never spoken until after Christ came, those
from whom the gospel was hidden during all the days of the law,
the Gentiles, the pagan Gentile world from which all pagan religions
sprung, the Gentiles which have not the law, God never spoke
to them. God never gave His law to them.
God never gave His word to them. Do by nature the things contained
in the law. Now that doesn't mean they do
them perfectly. That doesn't mean they even come close to
doing them perfectly. It does mean they are in their lives
governed by law. The law of God. So they never
heard it. So they never saw it. So that
wherever you go in the world, wherever you go in the world,
men have a standard. Now they don't have a clear understanding
of God's law, but they have a standard of law inscribed on their hearts
which reflects the law of God given at Mount Sinai. They do
by nature the law. They are law unto themselves.
Look at verse 15. Look at this. Which show the
work of the law written in their hearts. their conscience also
bearing witness, and their thoughts, the meanwhile, accusing or else
excusing one another. By their perverted understanding
of the law of God written on their hearts, they either accuse
one another or they excuse one another in their actions. Yes,
every man knows by nature, because God Almighty has stamped it indelibly
upon his conscience, that sin demands blood atonement. It is
for this reason that throughout history in all parts of the world,
civilized and barbaric, men and women have attempted to appease
the wrath of God by blood sacrifice, even by the sacrifice of their
own sons and daughters. How come? Well, if I can save my whole family,
by sacrificing one of my boys, not much of a sacrifice. If I can save my soul by sacrificing
an animal, if somehow I can, if somehow I can possibly turn
away God's wrath by blood, I must give the blood. And that's the
reasoning of man's perverted conscience. Now this natural
God consciousness, from which no man in this world can ever
completely escape. And I'm stressing this because
I recognize that there are multitudes in our modern, educated, refined,
civilized society of barbarians who imagine that man really,
you know, well, you folks who believe in God, that's You're
not real smart. We're above that. You folks who
believe in that Adam and Eve fairy tale, you're not real smart. They're lying through their teeth.
I don't mean they're mistaken. I don't mean they're deceived.
I mean they're lying through their teeth trying to soothe
and silence their own condemning consciences. This natural God
consciousness, no man can escape from. It's never saving, no man's
ever been saved by it. It is not a saving knowledge
of God, but it's a condemning knowledge. It's a knowledge by
which man knows he is in himself condemned because he cannot meet
the demands that even his conscience place upon him. The depravity
of man's heart, his heart enmity against God perverts his judgment. so that he is always turning
away from light to darkness. He always, in obstinate rebellion,
holds down the truth to which he will not submit because he
will not have God be God. He always perverts the truth
of God and turns it into a lie. That's the way of man. That's
what the first chapter of Romans is all about. They changed the
glory of the incorruptible God and made light to the glory of
corruptible man. A few weeks ago when we were
in Mexico, Winna Groover and I were in a little shop just
while some of the other fellows were shopping and I saw some
little things looking for something to bring back to family and I
said, Winna, what's that? Some bookends. She said, oh,
it's some of their gods. Some of the gods of the ancient
Mayans, and we chatted a little bit, and she said, isn't it funny
how much their gods look like themselves? Oh, what a message. All men try
to make God like themselves. It doesn't matter whether they
whittle them out of God, they can set up on a mantle somewhere
on the fireplace, or a God they can carry around in their pocket,
or a God they carry around in their minds. They try to make
God like themselves. They change the glory of the
incorruptible God made like unto the glory of corruptible man. And still, these facts they know. The heathen know them, and you
know them. No matter how sternly you may
try to suppress them, you know these things are facts from which
you cannot escape. God Almighty is holy, just and
true. And this great Almighty God must
and will punish your sin. You're a sinner, guilty under
the curse of God. God commands and demands from
you both righteousness and satisfaction. He not only demands that you
obey Him, He demands that you make satisfaction for not obeying
Him in the past. And soon, oh God help you to
hear me, soon you're going to meet God in judgment. If you think about these things
they'll torment your soul. So you can try not to think about
it. You can be a climber and folks
scared to death spend any time alone they'll go crazy thinking
about real things. Folks scared to death spend any
time at all thinking about sober things they'll go crazy thinking
about them. They'll torment your soul and therefore you try to
put them out of your mind. Go ahead. But they keep gnawing at you,
don't they? I hope they do. But you'll never
be able to find an answer to the demands these things make
upon your conscience until you turn to the book of God and find
from God's own word what he says about his holiness, his justice,
his truth, and his righteousness. Are you interested? Would you
be interested in thinking? Would you be interested in being
able to go home in solitude, in solitude and think honestly
about yourself and your sin? I mean honestly. Think honestly about judgment
and eternity. Think honestly about meeting
God Almighty face to face without fear. Interested? Well, from the very
beginning, God Almighty has demanded satisfaction. And from the very
beginning, he has declared that he will get satisfaction by a
substitute, by blood atonement. And from the very beginning,
he has revealed to us that he will get the satisfaction because
he will make the satisfaction. Did you hear me? From the beginning,
God has demanded satisfaction. He has declared that he will
get satisfaction and he has revealed in the gospel from the very beginning
he'll provide the satisfaction. The Holy Lord God demands blood
atonement and he provides what he demands in the person of his
darling son. This is what all the typical
sacrifices in the Old Testament describe. Under the Mosaic law,
those things described in this first chapter of Leviticus talk
about these sacrifices. In verses 14 through 17, we have
the law of God with regard to the sacrifice of turtledoves
and pigeons. Now let me bring you up to date
and refresh your memories. The sacrifices of burnt offerings,
as they're described in this first chapter of Leviticus, could
be sacrifices chosen from the herds, chosen from the flocks,
or chosen from the fowls. There was no law which described
which man must choose which sacrifice. But the sacrifices could be made
from the herds, from the flocks, or from the fowls. If the sacrifice
was taken from among the herds, that is from the cattle, then
it must be a male, and it must be a male without blemish before
the Lord. If the sacrifice is taken from
the flock, from the sheep, or from the goats, then it could
be a male, either of the sheep or the goats, but it must be
a male. And it must be without spot, without blemish, because
these sacrifices represented the Lord Jesus Christ, our great
sin-atoning Savior, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate
from sinners. But if the sacrifice was taken
from the fowls, from the birds, The scripture doesn't say whether
it has to be a male or female, it could be either. It could be either. No commandment
given. Because the Lord Jesus Christ, though he is himself
a man, he is God's sacrifice and God's substitute for all
people, male and female. Bond and free, Jew and Gentile,
rich and poor, learned and unlearned, black and white, in all nations
of the earth. Not the sacrifice for all men
universally in the sense that he's a sacrifice for everybody
in the world. That is not so. But he is the one sacrifice for
men everywhere, in every part of the world, in every condition.
So he could be either male or female. This dove could be, or
this turtle dove. This pigeon. But the sacrifice
must be taken only from the turtle doves or the pigeons. No other
bird to be offered. And there's something interesting
here. There's no requirement that the turtle dove or the pigeon
be without blemish. No requirement at all. None at
all. And that's not by accident. God
didn't just slip up and leave something out. It's on purpose. You see, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God's darling son, who is himself without sin, who came into this
world without a sinful nature, seed of woman, not the seed of
man, that one who is our substitute, who came here to put away sin,
in order to put away sin. must be made himself unclean
and guilty by the imputation of sin. Our sins were made to
be his sins. For he, God the Father, hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the very righteousness of God in him. God declares that it is an abomination. It is an abomination for anyone
to declare a guilty man just. To declare a guilty man righteous.
And it is an abomination for anyone to declare a righteous
man guilty. It's an abomination. You find
it in the book of Deuteronomy, you find it again in the book
of Proverbs. It's an abomination. He said, well, that's what we
preach in the gospel. Oh, no, we don't. No, we don't. No, sir. No, sir. God Almighty did not declare
His Holy Son to be guilty, but rather God Almighty put our sins
upon His Son so that His Son was made to bear the guilt of
our sins. And God declared Him condemned. God doesn't declare guilty sinners
to be righteous. No, sir. No, sir. The Lord God
of heaven has taken our sins and put them on his son. And
by that same mighty transfer of grace, he's taken his righteousness
and made it to be ours so that we stand before God, the very
righteousness of God in him. And now he justifies us because
we're righteous. We're righteous. God saves sinners
only on the grounds of righteousness and justice. Now this is what's portrayed
in all the sacrifices. Adam and Eve at the gate of Eden
had an animal killed in their stead. And God clothed them with
the skin of the animal. And Adam taught his sons. He
told him, well, Cain didn't pay any attention, but Abel did.
Abel didn't just get this out of the air. He didn't, well,
I'll go offer God a sheep. No. That wouldn't have made any
sense, except he'd been instructed of God. Cain came to him and
he said, I'm going to bring God the very best I can do. Ah, God
will be pleased with me. Look here, Lord. Look what I've
done for you. Look what I've brought you, the
very best I've got. And God turned his nose at it.
Abel brought him a flock, a sacrifice from the flocks, a lamb. And
God said, yeah, that's what I want. Blood. Life for life. Justice satisfied. Atonement
made. We read in Genesis 15 how Abraham
was called of God to make sacrifices. And the sacrifices he made before
God were the very sacrifices described here in Leviticus chapter
1. When Noah came off the ark, he built an altar and made a
sacrifice to God, and God smelled it. Carter's sweet smelling savor. Abraham prophesied concerning
the Lord Jesus, my son, God will provide himself a lamb for a
burnt offering. And the paschal lamb, which was
preeminently set forth in Exodus 12, was a picture of our Lord
Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, Christ our Passover, who has
sacrificed for us. And the Lord God says concerning
him, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. Without shedding
of blood is no remission. Now here to understand what I'm
saying. If you would find atonement and righteousness, you must find
acceptance with God. You must, like these ancient
believers, look to Jesus Christ. You must believe on the Son of
God. Would you go home today without
condemnation? Without condemnation, none from
God, none from your conscience, none forever. Then this is what
the scripture declares. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation. Who is he that
condemns? It's God that justifies. It's
Christ that died. No condemnation to them who walk
not after the flesh but after the spirit. We're so much influenced by false
religion we just can't get it out of our head. We read that
and our automatic thoughts are, well that means, that means there's
no condemnation if we're in Christ and we really do good. If we
just keep working and working and working until at last we're
no longer influenced by anything corrupt, don't walk in the flesh
anymore. This is what that means. That means Bill Riley If you
and Don Fortner have learned by God's grace not to walk after
the way of Cain, but after the way of Abel. That's what it is
to walk in the spirit. To walk, believe in God. Trust
in God's Son. There's no condemnation to them
that are in Christ Jesus, to those who believe here, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law and the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law
of sin and death. For what the law could not do,
never could, in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending
His own Son in likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned
sin in the flesh. that the righteousness of the
law might be fulfilled in us who believe on his side, who
walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. All right,
now let's see how the gospel is proclaimed in Leviticus chapter
1, verse 14. I want to show you four things. I'll
give it to you as we go along. These sacrifices, the turtle
dove and the pigeon, are distinct, imminent types of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And if the burnt sacrifice for
his offering to the Lord be of the fowls, then he shall bring
his offering of the turtle doves or young pigeons. our Lord Jesus
Christ in his manhood. Matter of fact, turn over there
to Luke chapter two for just a moment. Hold your hands here
in Genesis. In his manhood, our Lord always identified himself
with poor, needy sinners. Because he came here specifically
to redeem and save poor, needy, helpless, destitute, bankrupt
sinners. You remember he sent John the
Baptist's disciples back to John and said, go tell John the poor
have the gospel preached to them. Now, there's great emphasis laid
on this. Our Lord identifying with the
poor and walking with the poor, the despised, those that the
world looked down their nose on. Because in doing so, he not
only did what other men and other religions and other religious
leaders would never do, but our Lord Jesus set before us a declaration
of what he had come here to do. He came to save the poor. Not poor in pocket, but poor
in spirit. He came to save those who have
nothing with which to commend themselves to God. Those who
have nothing by which they can lift themselves up to God. Nothing
by which to distinguish them from other men. And he identifies
himself with them even in the sacrifice made here in Luke chapter
2. Look at verse 21. When the eight
days were accomplished for the circumcising of the Lord Jesus,
His name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel
before he was conceived in the womb. I shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And when the
days of Mary's purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished,
they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, as
it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth
the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. and to offer a sacrifice
according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, a pair
of turtle doves or two young pigeons. He comes and is presented
before God on the basis of the sacrifice of the poor. Turtle
doves or two young pigeons. And Simeon came in and saw what
was going on and picked him up. And he said, oh God, I've seen
your salvation. This is Christ the Redeemer. The turtle dove
and the pigeons are held out in scripture as excellent, imminent
types of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let me give you some pictures.
You're obviously aware that the turtle dove, the dove is represented and is indeed a meek,
quiet animal. Even the sound of its voice is
soothing, pleasant. Just delightful to hear. Ties
are spoken of in scripture as representing just calmness and
peace and humility. The dove is devoted to its mate
unlike other birds. It's just all those things portray
the dove as a picture of our Savior. The dove is a chaste
and clean bird portraying our Savior. But there's more than
that and more than that. The dove is that bird that brought
the olive branch back to Noah in the ark. And this is what
it said. Noah, judgment is over. God's not angry anymore. The
flood of his wrath is gone forever. And that's exactly how our Lord
Jesus is typified by the dove. Do you remember when he was baptized
as our substitute? The Holy Spirit descended upon
him like a dove. He was baptized to fulfill all
righteousness symbolically. And he showed us by his burial
how that our substitute must be put to death and buried and
rise again. And when again, the dove lighted
upon him and stayed right there, right there. That was what was
signified. When the Lord Jesus Christ had
finished redemption. When he had accomplished our
redemption. When he had put away our sins
by the sacrifice of himself. He arose from the dead, ascended
back to heaven, took his seat at the right hand of the majesty
on high. And what did he do? He poured out the dove of heaven
upon his church. And declared redemption accomplished.
And that was Peter's message when the Holy Spirit was poured
out in Acts chapter 2. And when the time of love has come. when
God will save a sinner. When the Lord Jesus Christ will
call out his elect. Oh, how I pray that time has
come for you. This is what he does. By the
preaching of the gospel, the Son of God sends the dove of
heaven to your heart and you hear him declare with a turtledove's
voice, peace. Peace. Judgment's over. Wrath is ended! The terror and
flood of God's wrath are clean, gone forever. Justice has been
satisfied. The turtle dove, the young pigeon,
spoke of Christ. And as the dove was slain by
the priest with one violent stroke, wringing off its neck, So the
Lord Jesus Christ, our all-glorious Savior, was slain by the violent
stroke of divine justice when God's holy wrath was poured upon
him who bore our sins in his own body on the tree. He died
the just for the unjust that he might bring us to God. He
has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Christ has redeemed
us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us, for
it is written, cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree. When it
pleased the Lord to bruise him, he put him to grief. He made
his soul an offering for sin, and the Lord Jesus now shall
see his seed. He shall prolong his days, and
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. This all
was done before the Lord. The dove was slain violently,
violently. And then the priest squeezed out his blood, but not
on the top of the altar, over the side of it, over the side of it, in view
of everybody. And it runs down to the ground.
And there from beneath the altar, like the prayers of God's saints
described in Revelation 6, from beneath the altar, the blood
cries out from the ground for pardon, for forgiveness, for
those for whom the blood was shed. Our Lord Jesus' blood,
we're told in Hebrews 13, speaks better things than that of Abel's.
Abel's blood poured out on the ground cries for vengeance against
him and upon him who murdered me. The blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ cries out from the ground by the throne of God Almighty
for mercy and forgiveness and grace upon them and to them who
murdered him. Oh, what a picture then of redemption
and grace in Christ Jesus. The picture goes on. This turtle
dove, its entrails, the crop, were
ripped out by the hands of the worshipper. Its feathers plucked
off and thrown in the place of ashes discarded, cast off, forgotten,
put away. Why is it done by the hands of
the man himself? Look at it. And he, the sinner,
shall pluck away the crop with his feathers, verse 16, and cast
it beside the altar that's on the east part by the place of
ashes. Why is it? Picture that. The
entrails, the feathers describe, as I've told you, the man's corruption. His vile, the dung in the dove
describes what we are, the corruption of our natures. His feathers
portray a covering, our self-righteousness. And this God requires. The Lord
Jesus alone can put away sin. We have nothing to do with that.
And yet, Rex Bartley, if you and I find acceptance with God,
we must come before God and not only acknowledging our sin and
confessing the sinfulness of our righteousness, but we must
cast it all off and recognize it was cast off by the sacrifice
of God's Son. That's called faith. I have cast
off my righteousness. I have cast off my sin. Here
I stand, my God, with nothing but Christ. That's my acceptance. That's
my acceptance. And I'll look back no more to
my righteousness, nor will I look back anymore to my sin. No more. No more. My righteousness,
my goodness, I will never again bring to you. Never again. Nor will my sin ever again separate
me from you. No more. I've cast it away. One
more thing. Like this dove, the Lord Jesus
Christ was burned upon the altar of God precisely as God himself
required. Verse 17. He shall cleave it
with the wings thereof but shall not divide it asunder. And then
the priest takes over again. And the priest shall burn it
upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire. It is
a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire of sweet savor unto
the Lord. The man who offers the turtle
dove comes and cleaves it. Now, I have always in my mind
had a picture. No. That's what I do when I get
ready to split a chicken, put it on the grill. But rather he
slits it right down the middle, holding it in his hand, lays it open, but he doesn't
cut it in two. God said, don't you cut that
sacrifice in two. How come? When our Lord Jesus
Christ died in our place as our Savior, his soul was separated
from his body, but his humanity was not separated from his deity.
Though he was forsaken of the Father as our substitute, when
he was made to be sin for us, he was never divided from his
Father. The union of the Holy Trinity
could never be broken. And though our Redeemer died
for us and has been taken from us in his body for a season,
he is yet one with his church, and the head and the body can
never be separated, because we're the folders of him that fills
all in all. Then, after the man had split the dove, the priest
took it and burned it on the altar. Oh, blessed Son of God,
my Savior, Burn with the fires of hell for me. Let my heart
burn with love for thee. This slain dove, like our Lord
Jesus Christ, like our crucified Redeemer, is described here as
a burnt sacrifice, an offering made in fire for sweet savor
before the Lord. What does that mean? Since God has accepted the sacrifice, he's accepted the sacrificer. Since God has accepted my substitute,
he's accepted me for whom the substitute died. Since God Almighty
has accepted the sinner's substitute, He has forever and immutably
accepted every sinner who trusts His Son as their substitute. That's what he's called, isn't
it? You know what he calls you? My dove, my undefiled. Is the Lord Jesus called a lily?
Listen to what he says to his chosen. My lily. Is the Lord Jesus Christ described
like this by his people? Behold, thou art fair, my beloved. Listen to what he says, with
equal, yes, with infinitely greater delight, listen to what he says.
He looks on his people, and he says, Behold, thou art
fair, my love. We stand before him as described
in Revelation 14, as virgins. Chaste, undefiled, pure, clean,
upright, holy, spotless, without blemish, virgins made so by God
Himself. Is the Lord Jesus Christ the
Son of God? We are made the sons of God in
Him. Is the Lord Jesus Christ properly named the Lord our righteousness? This is what God says is the
name of his church, the Lord our righteousness. Oh, now may God grant you faith
in Jesus Christ this day and bring before him the sacrifice
of the poor, his own darling son, God and man in one undivided
person. And yet the God-man sacrificed
for sinners. Amen. Ron, you give us a hint,
please. Number 272.