The Apostle Paul said, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto
the world. Let me talk to you a few minutes
before we turn to the Scriptures. When we read the Word of God
carefully and properly, not just systematically or because it's
something we ought to do, but when we study the Word of God,
we encounter several prominent persistent truths over and over
and over and over again. One is God. That's the way the
scripture begins, in the beginning, God. All the way through this
book, God, His eternality, I am that I am. His sovereignty, the
Lord thy God reigneth. His holiness, holy and reverent
is His name. holy temple, holy angels, holy
son, holy father, holy word. God is holy. He is justice. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? And he is love. God is love. He delights to show mercy. He
said, I will be merciful to whom I will be merciful. That's our
God. He's revealed in only two places
in his purpose and power to save, and that's in Christ, the Word,
and the Word, the Word of God. Then we meet with man, his creation,
his beginning. He had his beginning by the power
and Word of God. God created man in his own image. And then we see his fall, and
the judgments because of that fall, and how his fall affected
everything about him and in him. So that there's none righteous.
By one man's sin entered this world, and death by sin. So death
passed upon all men. So there's none righteous. There's
none that understandeth, there's none that doeth good, there's
none that seek God. They're all gone out of the way,
altogether unprofitable. When the Bible talks about our
God, it says he's altogether lovely when it talks about us. It says we're altogether unprofitable,
altogether. And sometimes if you read the
31st chapter of Deuteronomy, When Moses was departing from
Israel, he had led them for 40 years. And when he was departing,
he gathered all the people together, and he said, I know what you're
going to do. You're going to depart from God.
As his final words to him, I know, because I know you. And that's
just the consequences. If you know men, you know that
God said, you best stop them. or altogether vanity. In the
flesh dwelleth no good thing. Then we meet with sin and Satan.
Satan, sin is power, power, subtlety, deception, and curse. And when Paul in the book of
Romans wanted to describe sin, He couldn't find anything suitable
by which to compare it, so he just said, Oh, the exceeding
sinfulness of sin. Sinfulness. There's no man can explore the greatness and
glory of God, nor understand it. And no man can explore or
expose the wickedness of this flesh and understand it. I read in Reader's Digest about
a first grade teacher that was teaching her children to write,
picturesque writing, expressive writing. She said, write something
about what you saw on your vacation. The little boy said, we went
to England on our vacation and I saw a castle and it was big.
And she took his paper and looked at it and took it back to his
desk and she said, now I want you to be picturesque and descriptive
in explaining that castle. Now do it over. So he wrote,
we went to England on our vacation and I saw a castle and it was
big. And when I say big, I mean big. That explains it about as good
as I can. When I mean sin, I mean, Paul said, sin. Oh, exceeding
sinfulness of sin. It's sin against love. It's sin
against mercy. Sin against truth. And then we
meet Christ, our Lord, who is God. But He's the Word. He is the Word. He is the Word
of God. God who spake to our fathers
in various manners and times hath in these last days spoken
to us by son. He called him the Word of God.
He's the heart of Scripture. He's the life of Scripture. He's
why the Scriptures were written. He's the subject of Scripture.
Without him there's no reason for Scripture. There's no reason
for revelation. And that's the reason, and beginning
at Moses, at Moses' writings and all the prophets and the
Psalms, he expounded to his disciples in all the scripture the things
concerning himself. That's about the word. Christ
Jesus is the word. And then we meet the word blood. How many hundreds and hundreds
and hundreds of times do we meet with the blood of the Lamb, the
blood of the Lamb. I opened my concordance yesterday
and looked at the word blood in the scripture, page after
page, blood, the blood. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. Without the shedding of blood,
there's no remission of sins. So let the issue be settled. Let it be put to rest once for
all. If I have any apologies to make in reference to sermons
on the blood, the blood of Christ, most precious, if I have any
apologies to make to anybody in reference to sermons on the
blood, if we have any, Let that apology be that we don't preach
it as often as we should. That's our fault. Not preaching
it too much, preaching it too little. The blood of the Lamb,
Christ crucified. Well, that's the message of the
Old Testament. Turn to Exodus 12. That's the way this book
begins, with the blood of the Lamb. In Exodus chapter 12, let's
look at verse 12, 13 and 14, Exodus 12. God had given Israel instructions
to slay the Passover lamb. For he said in verse 12 of Exodus
12, I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and I will
smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast,
and against all the princes, the rulers of Egypt, I will execute
judgment. I am the Lord, and the blood
shall be to you. for a token upon the houses where
you are. And when I see the blood, I'll
pass over you when I see the blood. And the plague shall not
be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt." You
see, that was the sole purpose of Solomon building the temple.
Solomon said that, and I read it to you just a few services
ago, over here in 2 Chronicles, in chapter 2, verse 4 through
6, when Solomon was talking about building the temple. It says
this, listen, 2 Chronicles 2, verse 5, And the house which
I build is great, for great is our God above all gods. But who
is able to build him a house, seeing the heaven of heavens
won't contain him? Who am I then that I should build
him a house? Now watch this last line. Except
only to burn sacrifices before him. That's the purpose of the
tabernacle. That's the purpose of the temple.
That's the purpose of this place. is that we meet and offer sacrifices
to our God. Not blood sacrifices, that's
been done, but sacrifices of praise, thanksgiving unto our
God. That's why we assemble here.
Now that's not only the blood is the message of the Old Testament,
but the blood is the message of the New Testament. Turn to
Luke chapter 22. Luke chapter 22, verse 19 and
20. Listen to this. speaking to his apostles before
he went to the cross, he instituted for them the Lord's table, and
he says here in Luke 22, verse 19, he took bread and gave thanks,
and break it, and gave it to them, saying, This is my body,
which is given for you, of this doing remembrance of me. Likewise
also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup, is a new covenant in
my blood, in my blood shed for you." Old Testament, God said
to Israel, in the most critical time of their history, the exodus
from Egypt, and Moses led them out, you go forth with this in
mind, when I see the blood, I pass over you. And here in the New
Testament, our Lord, speaking to His disciples before He went
to the cross and back to the Father, He said, you take this
wine, It's a symbol of my blood, the blood of the covenant, which
I shed for you. This do in remembrance of me.
John wrote, The blood of Jesus, Christ God's Son, cleanseth us
from all sin. And Acts, I want you to turn
with me to the book of Acts, chapter 20. Acts chapter 20. Now, the Apostle Paul is bidding
farewell to the elders at Ephesus. He brought all the elders together
and he's bidding them farewell. He's got some final words. He
said, you'll never see my face again. I'll never preach to you
again. Going to Rome to be martyred.
This is his final words. Verse 28, Acts 20. Take heed
therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the
Holy Ghost has made you pastors, shepherds, elders, overseers.
Feed the church of God. which he purchased with his own
blood. Peter said, We are not redeemed
with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, from our
vain conversation received by tradition from our fathers, but
with the precious blood of Jesus Christ, as a Lamb without spot
or blemish, foreordained from the foundation of the world.
But manifest and revealed in these last days, the blood maketh
atonement for the soul. In Revelation chapter 5, this
is the song of heaven. This is what goes on up there
in paradise, in heaven. This is the song of heaven. It's
the song of the blood. Blessed be the blood. Thank God
for the blood. Blessed be the fountain of blood.
Revelation 5 verse 9, listen. And they sung a new song, saying,
Thou art worthy to take the book, to open the seals thereof, for
thou was slain, and thou hast redeemed us to God by thy blood,
which he purchased with his own blood. By thy blood, out of every
kindred, tongue, people, and nation, there's nobody redeemed
except by blood. And all who are redeemed are
redeemed with blood, and thou hast made us unto our God kings
and priests. And we shall reign on the earth,
the new earth, the new heaven. Now I want you to turn to my
text, Leviticus 4, Leviticus chapter 4, and see what these
verses teach us about the blood of the Lamb. Leviticus chapter
4, I'm going to read the first seven verses. You look at it
with me while I read. It's the Old Testament pictures
of Christ, types of Christ. And the Lord spake to Moses,
saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, If a soul
sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the
Lord, concerning things which ought not to be done, as you
do against any of them, if the priest That's anointed through
sin, according to the sin of the people. Let him bring for
his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock, without blemish,
unto the Lord for sin offering. And he shall bring the bullock
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the
Lord, and shall lay his hand on the bullock's head, confessing
sin, and kill it, kill the bullock before the Lord. And the priest
that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood and bring
it to the tabernacle of the congregation. And the priest shall dip his
finger in the blood and sprinkle the blood seven times before
the Lord, before the veil, the veil of the sanctuary. This is
not on the mercy seat now, this is on the veil itself. And the
priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar
of sweet incense, that's outside the veil, before the Lord. Everything was sanctified by
blood. Back there when I read Hebrews
9, the book, the people, the tabernacle, the veil, the horns
of the altar, everything, without the shedding of blood, there's
no remission. It's got to be on you. I see the blood, I'll
pass over you, on your house. Now, what says carefully, verse
7, "...put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar,
sweet incense before the Lord," which is in the tabernacle of
the congregation, and shall pour all the blood of the bullock
at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." What do
you see in this? Let me show you some things simply
that I see. Number one, our sins deserve
death. Our sins deserve death. The lamb
died. The bullock died. The goat died. The heifer died. Every sacrifice
was death. That started back in the Garden
of Eden when God made coats of skin to cover the nakedness of
Adam and Eve, an animal died. See, the scripture says a soul
that sinnethes shall die. The wages of sin is death. Sin,
when it's finished, brings forth death. The sting of death is
sin. And when Adam sinned, death passed
upon all men. And our sin deserved death. That's
what this first lesson we learn, is sin deserves not suffering
only, but suffering unto death. Secondly, Christ, our Redeemer,
cannot redeem us with love, or with kindness, or with words. Our Redeemer, our substitute,
has got to suffer unto death. The only way that God can honor
his holy law is for the Redeemer to die. The only way that God
can satisfy his justice, which says the soul that sinned shall
die, is for our Redeemer to die. The only way God can put away
the curse of the law is for our substitute to die. The only way
that God can fulfill his righteous sentence is for Christ to die. The only way God can be just
and justify guilty sinners is for Christ to die. This is the
gospel. Christ died for our sins according
to the scriptures. He was buried and rose again
according to the scriptures. Now let's turn to 1 Peter chapter
3. Sin deserves death. If Christ redeems us, Christ
must die. In 1 Peter 3, verse 18. Listen. For Christ also hath
once suffered for sin, that just for the unjust that he might
bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened
by the Spirit. In Colossians 1. This is the
way we are redeemed. Listen. Colossians 1, verse 20. Colossians 1.20. And having made
peace, Colossians 1.20, through the blood of his cross, our peace
was purchased with the blood of his cross, the death of the
Son of God, by him to reconcile all things unto himself. By Christ,
I say, whether they are things in earth or things in heaven.
that were sometime, one time, alienated enemies in your mind
by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled to God, made friends,
perpetuated, how? In the body of his flesh through
death, to present you holy, unblameable, unreprovable in his sight. That
is the gospel. And that's what all these things
are teaching us. Our sins deserve death. Christ
to be our Savior, sinner's Savior, must die. Now the third thing
I noticed, all these animals, did you notice the bullock, the
lamb, the turtle dove, the different animals, all of them attained. No animal that died in the Old
Testament as a picture of Christ was a wild beast. Because for
a wild beast to be slain and to be sacrificed would take force. against his rebellion. He'd have
to be brought to the slaughter at the expense of a whole lot
of folks. But the Lamb was led meekly to the slaughter. That's
right. Our Lord Jesus Christ did not
lay down his life because he was forced to, but because he's
willing to. All of these animal types were
submissive. That's what the scripture says
here in Isaiah chapter 53, when it describes the death of our
Lord. It says in Isaiah 53, it's verse 7, he was oppressed. He was afflicted. He never resisted,
never opened his mouth. He's brought as a lamb to the
slaughters, as a sheep before her shearers is dumb. He opened
not his mouth. He said, no man takes my life
from me. I lay it down. Pilate said, well,
you don't answer me, I have power to crucify you or set you free.
He said, you don't have any power over me at all, except it be
given you of my Father. I lay down my life. No man takes
it from me. That's right. Let me read you
another scripture over here in 1 Peter 2. Listen to this. 1 Peter 2, verse 22. 1 Peter 2, verse 21. Listen. For even here unto what
you call, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an
example, we should follow his steps. He did no sin, neither
was guile found in his mouth, who when he was reviled, he reviled
not again. When he suffered, he threatened
not. He committed himself to him that
judgeth righteously, who his own selves bear our sins in his
own body on the tree, that we being dead to sin should live
unto righteousness by his stripes we are healed. Our sins deserve
death. Christ to redeem us must die.
Who is he that condemned him? Christ that died, was buried,
rose again, ever lived to make intercession. And Christ died
willingly. You see, the kinsman redeemer
who redeems us must have two things. He must be able and he
must be willing. All right, here's the fourth
thing I see. Turn back to Leviticus chapter 4. The fourth thing I
see about this sacrifice. It was before the Lord. I want
you to listen very carefully to me now. Listen carefully. In Leviticus 4, I want you to
read three times, it says, four times. First of all, verse 3,
the last line, a young bullet without blemish unto the Lord.
Bring that bullet unto the Lord. Verse 4, bring the bullet to
the door of the congregation before the Lord. And upon that bullet's head,
kill the bullet before the Lord. And verse 6, and the priest shall
dip the finger in the blood, sprinkle the blood seven times
before the Lord. Verse 7, and the priest shall
put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense
before the Lord. The blood on the door in Egypt,
was it on the outside or the inside? It didn't matter whether they
saw it or not. He said, when I see the blood, every one of
these lambs and bullocks were brought before the Lord, sacrificed
unto the Lord. When the high priest once a year
brought the blood of the lamb into the tabernacle, there wasn't
a soul on this earth watching him. There wasn't a person even
in the place or on the whole lot alone once a year before
the Lord. The sufferings and death of our
Lord Jesus Christ are not toward us, they're for us. But He's
not trying to win your sympathy or your approval or your acceptance
by His death. His death was unto the Lord,
it was before the Lord. It wasn't but two people went
up on that Mount Moriah, that was Abraham and his son. And
it wasn't but two at that cross, the father and the son. And it
pleased the Father to bruise him, for us, for us, for our
sins. You see that? But the blood was
offered to the Lord to atone for our sins, to reconcile him,
to gain peace with him, to be a perpetuation, to expiate our
sins, to put them away in the eyes of the Lord. Now listen
to me. Listen. The sufferings of Christ
were unto the Lord God. to declare his righteousness,
to honor his law, to satisfy his justice, to glorify his character,
to enable him to be just. Listen, the death of Christ is
not the cause of God's love. It's the result of it. The death
of Christ didn't make God love us. Christ died because God loved
us. For God so loved, He gave. He loved us before Christ ever
walked to that cross. The death of Christ is not the
cause of the love of God, it's the result of it. The death of
Jesus Christ. God Almighty is not merciful
because Christ died. Christ died because God is merciful. Is that clear what I'm saying? The death of Christ didn't change
the character of God. It revealed the character of
God. It didn't make God love us. He died because God loved
us. Those whom God loved, he loved
with an everlasting love in Christ. God made an everlasting covenant
with Jesus Christ, our Lord, who came into this world on behalf
of those covenant people. to fulfill every jot and tittle
unto the Lord, and make them accepted in him." Before the Lord. That's where
the sacrifice was presented. You see, in verse 4, they shall
bring the bullock to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before the Lord, and he lay his hand on the bullock's head. Why
did he do that? Why did the priest lay his hand
on that bullock's head? Well, you read other scriptures
that tell us he's confessing the sins of Israel. Not only
confessing them, but in picture, in type, he's transferring. When the bullock who was to be
slain, before he was offered, before he died, they confessed
the sins of Israel, transferred him. When the scapegoat was brought
before the priest, he confessed the sins of Israel, and they
led the goat out into the wilderness, never to be seen again, transferred
him. And the scripture tells us that
our sins were laid on Christ. In 2 Corinthians, I'll just quote
it. He who knew no sin was made sin for us, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in Him. He was wounded for our
transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon Him by stripes we're
healed. Our sins by God were laid on Christ. And that's what
this picture is, transference of guilt from the guilty to the
innocent. And he was made sin. He was numbered
with the transgressors and died for our sins. They're gone. The
next thing I see is in verse 5. And the priest that is anointed
shall take the bullock's blood and bring it to the tabernacle.
The blood was brought into the holy place. That lamb didn't
die in that tabernacle. He died out there on the altar.
The Lamb was not slain in the tabernacle, he was slain on the
outside. Christ took our sins without the gate. I'll show you
that in Hebrews 13. Christ didn't die in the temple.
He died outside in Hebrews chapter 13. Outside the city walls in
Hebrews 13 verse 10. Listen, we have an altar. Yeah, Christ is our altar. Well,
they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle, for the
bodies of those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary
by the high priest for sin, they're burned without the camp. Wherefore
Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his blood, suffered
without the gate. That's what this is showing us,
that he was despised and rejected. suffered without the gate. Even
the Father turned his back on him. He suffered alone, died,
his body roasted beneath the justice of God. And then his
blood, the blood of that lamb was brought into the Holy of
Holies, into the presence of God, sprinkled on the mercy seat. What did Christ do? All right,
Hebrews 9. All right, watch this now. This
is, oh my, I get so excited when I read this. I just, I don't
know why the whole I started to say cotton-picking world.
You can't see this. That lamb was slain out yonder,
and the priest, the high priest, brought his blood into the presence
of God, into the sanctuary, into the holy place. Now listen, Hebrews
9, verse 21. I read it a while ago. Moses,
verse 21, sprinkled with blood the tabernacle, the vessels,
everything, almost all things. of the law purged with blood,
without the shedding of blood no remission. So it was necessary
that these pictures be done with blood, that the patterns of things
in the heavens should be purified with blood. But the heavenly
things with better blood, better sacrifice. For Christ, our high
priest, is entered not into the holy place made with hands, he
didn't go down to the temple, tabernacle, which are just figures
I saw, but into heaven itself. I lay him down on that cross.
They buried his body, and he went straight to the presence
of God. Now to appear in the presence of God for us, with
his own blood. His own blood. Let me give you
these three or four things here. Turn back to Leviticus, chapter
4. Three important words in verse
6 and 7. And the priest should dip his
finger in the blood, sprinkle the blood seven times before
the Lord. It wouldn't once be sufficient. Numbers, and I don't
know how to handle this, and I wouldn't want people to get
taken up with numbers, but I do know some numbers are important.
Forty days, forty years, so forth, three days, three nights. But
the number seven, seven spirits of God. So forth, that's the
Holy Spirit. Seven is the number of completeness,
completeness, completeness, fulfilled, perfection. So that blood was
sprinkled seven times before the Lord. That's completion. In Christ we're complete, perfected. Now the next word, the next word, it says he sprinkled
it seven times before the Lord and before the value. That priest
sprinkled the veil with the blood. And that shows this, the veil
of Christ's flesh. He opened for us, through the
veil, into the holiness, presence of God, an entrance through the
veil, that is to say, his flesh. And so our entrance, that which
gives us boldness to enter into the presence of God, is the blood
of Christ. His blood is perfect, his sacrifice
perfect. His blood opened the way for
us, not just the high priesthood, but us too in the presence of
God. And then verse 7, and the priest put some of the blood
on the horns of the altar of incense. That's that incense
that burned all the time. That's the prayers of Christ. Before the veil, that incense
burned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, every year. Burning. And the priest took some of the
blood and put it on the horns of the altar, showing the power
of his intercession is because of his blood. Our Lord must have somewhat to
offer. He prays for us, but you know
the power of his prayer is his blood. He intercedes for us,
but the power of his intercession is because he died. because he
died. Seven times it is a complete
fulfillment, opening for us through his blood the way into the presence
of God. And on the horns of the sweet
incense is the power of his intercession, which proceeds from his blood.
Now one more point. Now then, verse 7, after this
is all over, And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the
horns of the altar, sweet incense before the Lord, which is in
the tabernacle of the congregation, and then pour all of the blood
of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering,
which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." The priest
has this blood. The lamb has been swain, burned,
roasted. He brought this blood and he
sprinkled it. on the veil, on the horns of the altar, and then
into the Holy of Holies on the mercy seat. Now he's got blood
left over. What does he do with it? What's he going to do with it?
Pour it at the base of the altar. Pour every bit of it out. It
says that four times. Verse 7, look at verse 18. He shall put some of the blood
upon the horns of the altar, which is before the Lord, which
is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and pour out all the blood at
the bottom of the altar of burnt offerings. Verse 29, the priest
shall take the blood with his finger, put it upon the horns
of the altar of burnt offerings, and pour out all the blood at
the bottom of the altar. Verse 34, the priest shall take
the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the
horns of the altar, and pour out all the blood, don't save
a drop of it. Pour it out. Boy, I looked at
that a long time. I think I've got some life. The
priest had done all God commanded him as a picture of Christ's
work. And he holds a vessel in his
hand with that blood remaining of that holy sacrifice that until
Christ come has appeased God, has satisfied. God's never satisfied
with that, but he's satisfied with Christ's blood. But it's
held back the wrath of God. And that blood's holy. And that
blood holds back that judgment to Christ's tongue. What would
the natural man do with that blood? Save it. Take it to his house, build him
a little shrine. That's exactly what he'd do.
And use it. He'd use it as a symbol of religion,
as a good luck charm, before his wife went to have a baby,
sprinkle some on her. Before his son went to war, he
sprinkled some on. That's human nature. That's human
nature. Take it home, build a shrine,
have in your hands a visual aid to worship. That's what they
did with the brazen serpent that lifted up on a pole. You remember
when Israel was bitten with a serpent and they were dying? And God
said, Moses, make a brazen serpent, put it on a pole, and everybody
looks to its heal. Everybody was healed that day
that looked to the serpent. What did they do with it? They
took it down and made them a box. You can read about it in 2 Kings
18. They made them a box, put a velvet,
black velvet bottom in it, laid that brazen serpent, and worshipped
him. That's human nature. So God said
to that priest four times in one chapter, pour out that blood
at the bottom base of the altar. Christ said, it's finished, and
brother, it's finished. I don't need any crosses. I don't
need to make any signs. I don't need any uniforms. I don't need any visual aids.
I don't need to carry this good luck charm around my pocket.
I need to do one thing, look to Him. and rest in him and him only. That's it. That's it. It's just a tendency of the human
heart to want something we can see, feel, hear, smell, or taste,
sense it. It needs to go one, believe it. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath everlasting life.