Is not that I did choose thee? Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyberg. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com.
Now here's our pastor, Todd Niver. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15,
beginning in verse 1, the Apostle Paul said, Moreover, brethren,
I declare unto you the gospel. Now this is Paul's declaration
of the gospel, and he says in verse 3 of this chapter, during
this declaration of the gospel, He said, for I delivered unto
you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. If I say the gospel
is that Christ died for our sins, I'm misquoting that verse of
scripture. I'm failing to give the meaning
of that scripture, and in reality, I'm not preaching the gospel.
The scripture does not say that Christ died for our sins. It
says that how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. And when he says that, he's speaking
of the Old Testament scriptures. You can't just say Christ died
for our sins. That's just a general statement
that really is meaningless if I don't see how that he died
for our sins according to the scriptures. Now, in Leviticus
chapter 16, we have a beautiful picture of how that Christ died
for our sins according to the scriptures. It's called the great
day of atonement. This is when the high priest
went in once a year to make an atonement for the sins of the
children of Israel. Now, he wasn't representing everybody. He was only representing Israel. When we speak of the death of
Christ, how he died for our sins according to the scripture, the
hour is every believer, all of the elect of God, all the church
of God. He wasn't dying for everybody's
sins because if he died for everybody's sins, they'd all be saved. But
he was representing Israel at this time. And we're given this
beautiful picture of how sin is put away. in Leviticus chapter
16. Let me read verse 30 of this
chapter. from all your sins before the
Lord. Now do you find that attractive?
To have the priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, to cleanse you
from all your sins so that you have no sin before the Lord. Now that is the work of the high
priest on this great day of atonement. Now the word atonement is a word
that is still used today, particularly in sports. If a man gets up three
times and strikes out with men on base, yet he can atone for
that if he gets up the fourth time and gets a game-winning
hit. It is a word that we're familiar with. Another unusual
word found in this Leviticus chapter 16 regarding the day
of atonement is the word scapegoat and most people have heard the
word scapegoat. The scapegoat is the one who
gets thrown under the bus. The scapegoat is the one who
has to bear the blame or takes one for the team. He's the scapegoat. Most people don't know where
that word came from but it came from here in Leviticus chapter
16 on this great day of atonement. Now in verse 1 of Leviticus chapter
16 in the introduction to the Day of Atonement. It says, And
the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of
Aaron, when they offered before the Lord and died. Now what this
is a reference to is something that took place in Leviticus
chapter 10. I'd like to read it to you beginning in verse
1. We read And Nadab and Abihu, 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, which he commanded
them not. You see, the only way you could
burn incense is with the fire from off the altar. the altar
of sacrifice, the sacrifice that represents the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And they thought, well, it doesn't
really matter what kind of fire we use as long as we're sincere.
We'll just use this fire. It's more convenient for us to
get to it. So they offered strange fire before the Lord, which the
Lord commanded them not. And verse two says, and there
went out fire from the Lord and devoured them. And they died
before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This
is that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them
that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. He
knew that these men had practiced presumption in not using the
fire that came from the altar. They were bypassing Christ. They
were bypassing their need of this sacrifice. They weren't
viewing God as holy. You see, God is awesomely holy. And the only way He can be approached
It's through the sacrifice of his son. And woe to us if we
ever try to bypass that. So I can imagine how nervous
Aaron was when he was getting the instructions regarding this
great day of atonement. We read in verse 2, And the Lord
said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not
at all times in the holy place within the veil before the mercy
seat, which is upon the ark, that he die not. For I will appear
in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Now on this day of atonement,
there's only one calendar day a year that it took place. It
took place in the Holy of Holies. Now the tabernacle had a portable
building with two rooms in it. The holy place and the holy of
holies where the presence of God, the Shekinah glory dwelt. And no man was allowed to come
in to that holy of holies except one day a year. And that was
the great high priest. No one else could come, only
the great high priest. And he would come alone to do
this great work of atonement. Now, like I said, I can imagine
how nervous he was at this time. Now we read, thus shall Aaron
come into the holy place. And remember, this is all to
teach us how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. Oh, may God give us hearing ears because we're
going to hear how that Christ died for our sins according to
the scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures. You cannot understand
the New Testament without the Old Testament. I realize that
people just look at the Old Testament as character studies of different
individuals, but no, the gospel is founded in the Old Testament. How that Christ died for our
sins according to the Old Testament scriptures. And this is what's
going on. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place with a young
bullock for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. And
these were for himself. You see, Aaron was a sinner like
you and I are. And he had to have his sins atoned
for before he could represent Israel. He had to be without
sin himself because he was picturing the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ, who had no sin. You see, if Christ had sinned,
he couldn't represent us. He couldn't do anything for us.
So Aaron, who was a sinner, had to have these sacrifices first
made for himself before he was able to offer up the sacrifices
for the children of Israel. And it says in verse 4, he shall
put on the holy linen coat, He takes off his beautiful, gorgeous
royal apparel. And the high priest, he was decked
out in gold and silver and precious stones and what an impressive
figure he was. But when he went in for the Day
of Atonement, he took off his glorious apparel and he put on
the humble garb of white linen, which represents the incarnation
of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he left heaven and became
flesh. Oh, what a condescension. But
this is what Aaron did. Now, two kids of goats for this
sin offering. Two kids of goats. Wasn't enough. You had to have
two to represent what the Lord Jesus Christ was doing on the
cross. The goat that was sacrificed represented his payment for those
sins. He died for sins. And the scapegoat
tells us something about the transference of sin, my sin being
transferred to him, and him actually bearing it in his own body on
the tree. And the burnt offering, after
the sin offering, represents God's satisfaction with the sacrifice. The scripture says the first
time this is mentioned in Genesis chapter 8, when Noah offered
up burnt offerings, it arose as a sweet-smelling savor to
God. God said, I'm satisfied. When
Christ put away sin, God said, I'm satisfied with that sacrifice,
and I'm satisfied with everybody that he died for. I'm satisfied
with everybody he represented. So this is what was needed. First,
the priest had to offer a sacrifice for himself to make him fit to
offer up a sacrifice for the children of Israel, and then
two goats, one to be killed, one called the scapegoat, that
would teach us what Christ was actually doing on the cross.
He was making payment for sin, and he was making that sin to
be removed, separated from us as far as the east is from the
west. Now let's go on reading. Verse
6... And Aaron shall cast lots upon
the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the
scapegoat. Now I think this is interesting.
Aaron is not even allowed to make the choice of which goat
is which, the scapegoat or the sin offering. He was to cast
lots. And the scripture says, the lot
is cast into the lap, but the whole disposing thereof is of
the Lord. This is to let us know that human
will and human decision have nothing to do with atonement.
There's nothing human about it. This is the work of Christ alone. And the goat that was going to
be sacrificed as a sin offering is called the one who was for
the Lord. For the Lord to do something
for me or you, he first had to do something for himself. You
see, the blood of Christ is not so much for you, it's not offered
to you, it's not offered to me. He offered himself up to God.
The blood was for God. God could not accept me. God
could not accept you apart from the sacrifice. So that sacrifice
is for the Lord so his justice can be satisfied. And the other
goat was the scapegoat to show what happens to those sins. Now, he kills the bullock, the
sin offering and the burn offering for himself. He comes into the
tabernacle and he sprinkles blood everywhere. Almost all things
are by the law purged with blood. If human contact came into it,
it became defiled. We have such a hard time understanding
the holiness of God because we think, why all these strange
rituals? But this is to let us know that God is holy, He's unapproachable
apart from His Son. He can't have anything to do
with me or you apart from His Son because He's holy and we're
sinful. Something has to be done about
my sin. And that's what the great high
priest was doing. He was dealing with the sins
of Israel. became fit himself through the
sin offering and the burn offering to offer up a sacrifice unto
God. And then we read in verse 15,
then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that's for the
people. Oh, it's for God, but it's for the people too. You
see, something has to be done about my sin and I can't do anything
about it. I can't make it gone. I can't
atone for it. Something's gotta be done for
my sin, about my sin and my savior is gonna have to do something
for me. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that's
for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do
with the blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and
sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, before the mercy seat. And he
shall make an atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness
of the children of Israel, because of their transgressions and all
their sins. And so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation
that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness.
And there shall no man in the tabernacle, There shall be no
man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth into
it to make an atonement for the holy place until he come out
and have made an atonement for himself and for his household
and for all the congregation of Israel. No man could aid him
in this. Do you know on this day there
were some 15 sacrifices? And there were many inferior
priests, but they were not allowed to help out. The high priest
did everything alone, and Christ Jesus did this alone. He had
no help. By one offering, he hath perfected
forever them that are sanctified, and he had no help. Oh, thank
God for the glorious high priest. So the goat is killed. Now, why is there death? There's
only one reason, sin. Sin is the reason for death. and the sins of God's people
were laid upon him, and that is why he died. He became guilty
of those sins. He didn't simply bear punishment,
he bore the guilt and the filth of those sins, and that is seen
in the scapegoat. Now, the goat is killed signifying
the divine payment for God to do something for mere you. He
first had to do something for himself. And then we read beginning
in verse 20 of Leviticus chapter 16. And when he hath made an
end of reconciling the holy place, the tabernacle of the congregation
and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. Notice this goat
is living. It's not dead, it's living. And
Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat,
and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of
Israel, and all their transgressions, in all their sins, putting them,
those sins, upon the head of the goat, and shall send him
away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. Now, the
goat being killed, represents Christ's payment for the sins
of his people. But the live goat gives us some
more light on what our Lord was doing on the cross. There we
have the actual transfer of sin. The high priest confessed all
the sins of Israel and laid his hand on the scapegoat. And they
were made to be on and in the scapegoat. And then we read in
verse 22, and the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities,
every single one of them. That means if Christ died for
me, he bore all my iniquities. And if he bears them, they're
not on me anymore. They're gone, they're separated
from me as far as the east is from the west. And the goat shall
bear upon him all their iniquities, and to a land not inhabited,
and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. Now, this
teaches us something about what it means when Christ was made
sin. Now the scripture says, for he
hath made him to be sin. Who knew no sin? That we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now sometime while
the Lord was still alive, He was made sin. He bore our sins
in His own body on the tree. He suffered for sins, the just
for the unjust. He was made to bear our sins. Now, there's darkness. over the
land while he's on Calvary Street. And I believe it's a darkness
that covered the whole earth for three hours. But it lets
us know that there's not a lot we can grasp about this because
this was a transaction between the father and the son. And I
don't know how to explain this, but everything about sin, he
experienced with the exception of the commission of it. because
he was made sin. The sins of God's people were
laid upon him. He felt the shame. He felt the
humiliation. He felt the guilt of sin. That's what the scapegoat tells
us. And the scripture says that scapegoat was led by the hand
of a fit man into the wilderness, the land of separation. And what
that lets me know is my sins that are ever before me have
been separated from me. They're cast behind God's back.
They're thrown into the depths of the sea. They're separated
from me as far as the east is from the west, which is infinite.
That means they'll never come back. My Lord paid for them,
and this is how that Christ died for our sins according to the
scriptures. a sin offering, a sin sacrifice,
a substitute. My sin, we see through the scapegoat,
was literally transferred to him, and his righteousness is
literally transferred to me, and I am declared righteous because
I am righteous, because Christ's righteousness really is mine,
just as my sin really became his. His righteousness really
becomes mine. That's how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. Now, let's go on reading. Now,
after the man returns and he shall wash his flesh with water
in the holy place and put on his garments and come forth and
offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people
and make an atonement for himself and for the people. This is speaking
of that burnt offering that would come up as a sweet smelling savor
to the father. And God said, I'm satisfied. I'm satisfied. Do you know what? If Christ died for you, God is
completely satisfied with you. He's not looking for anything
else. You have all that you need. The scripture says, in Him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body, and you are complete,
lacking nothing in Him. And then after this, they would
take the bodies of the beasts that had been slain. And the
scripture says they took them without the camp. Verse 27, and
the bullock of the sin offering and of the goat for the sin offering,
whose blood was brought to make an atonement in the holy place,
shall one carry forth without the camp, and they shall burn
in the fire their skins and their flesh and their dung, and he
that burneth them shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh
in water, and afterwards he shall come into the camp. You know,
Christ suffered without the camp. Hebrews chapter 13 tells us.
He had to go outside of Jerusalem to suffer. Now outside of the
camp, You would see a leper colony. You would see the bodies of those
beasts. And you would see, according
to Hebrews 13, all of God's people coming to him without the gate.
You see, salvation is outside of the Levitical system. Salvation
is outside this law. This is simply given to illustrate
what Christ was doing on Calvary Street. Now, the people were
to give a three-fold response to this atonement. Read with
me. Verse 29. And 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 on this great day of atonement. You shall afflict your souls
and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country
or of a stranger that sojourneth 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. It shall
be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and you shall afflict your souls
by a statute forever. Now in those verses I read, we
see three things that we're called upon to do in response to the
atonement that our great high priest has made to us. Afflict
our souls, do no work at all, and rest. Now in light of the
atonement of Christ, we're called upon first to afflict our souls. Now, as long as I have sin, I'm
going to afflict my soul. My days of affliction will not
be over till I die because my sin is ever before me. And when
I see what my Lord had to do in order to save me, how he had
to bear my sin, and I think of the sinfulness of my sin, I think
of the filth of my sin, I think of him being made to be sin,
I afflict my soul. Listen to this from Ezekiel chapter
36, this is a part of the new covenant. He says, then, this
is when he said, I'll give you a clean heart, I'll wash you
with pure water, all these things he's gonna do in the new covenant
for us when he gives us a new nature. It says, then shall you
remember your own evil ways and your doings that were not good
and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities
and for your abominations. Not for your sakes do I this,
saith the Lord. Be it known unto you, be ashamed
and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. Now that is
the way I'm always to view my sin. Sin's never okay. Even if Christ died for my sins
and put them away, what a burden it is to be sinful. You know, when the Lord gave
the Beatitudes, the second Beatitude is blessed are they that mourn.
What do you mourn over? You mourn over your sin, your
sin against Him. My sin is ever before me. And I see it so clearly how evil
it is in light of the great day of atonement. But secondly, we're
told to do no work at all. Don't try to make up for your
sins. Don't try to atone for your sins. Don't try to come
into God's presence making promises, I'll do this and I'll stop doing
that. No, I'm to do no work at all. Why? Because the work has
already been done. The priest, the Lord Jesus Christ
has made atonement for my sin and he's put it away. And what
an insult it would be to God for me to try to present to him
my works to atone for my sins. The great high priest did it
all Hebrews 1 3 says when he had by himself purged our sins
put him away he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on
high from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool no I can't be saved by my works and I'm not going
to try to be saved by my works I look to Christ only, what he
accomplished for me in my behalf as all that's needed to make
me perfect before God. That's how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. And the last thing he says with
regard to our response to the great day of atonement, When
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, he says it shall be a Sabbath of rest. Now, what's this thing
of the Sabbath all about? I know it's fulfilled in Christ
and there's no such thing as a Christian Sabbath. It was on
Saturday anyway, the last day of the week, but when God created
the earth, He looked at what he did, his work of creation,
and he said, behold, it's very good. And on the seventh day,
he rested because there wasn't anything left to do. Now you
rest in Christ when you cease from your own works, as God did
from his, and you rest in a perfect work, the work of the Lord Jesus
Christ, you rest in him not looking to yourself for anything, but
looking to Him for everything, and you rest. Now this is how
that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.
To simply say that Christ died for our sins is not preaching
the gospel. It's how that Christ died for
our sins according to the scriptures. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer.
Amen. To request a copy of the sermon
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