of prayer, lost family standing
near the Panther family last week. How's Trish Temple doing? I'd say she's home. She's talking.
Okay, she's home in hospice. She's talking. What? She's talking. Oh, she's talking? Yeah, she
wasn't talking. I mean, you know. Is she loose
and talking or just? No, she's talking good. Well,
that's great. I know. That's great. Thank you
for that. Next Sunday, we'll observe the
Lord's table. That's, so we won't have the afternoon service next
Sunday. of the Lord's table after the morning message. Other than
that, I can't think of any announcements. Let's begin our worship service
with hymn number 39, This is My Father's Word. This is my Father's world and
to my listening ears all nature sings and round me rings the
music of the spheres. I rest me in the thought of rocks
and trees of splendid state. This is my father's world The
birds their carols sing The morning light, the healing wind He'll
hear their neighbors praise ? He's shining all that's fair
? ? In rustling grass I hear him pass ? ? He speaks to me
everywhere ? ? This is my father's land ? O'er the golden seas are so strong,
God is a river, yeah! This is my Father's world, the
battle is not done! Jesus, who does your status fight,
I'm going to read the entire chapter. Leviticus 16 And the Lord spake unto Moses,
after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before
the Lord a dine. The Lord said to Moses, Speak
unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into
the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat which is
upon the ark, that he die not, but I will appear in the cloud
upon the mercy seat. Thus shall Aaron come into the
holy place with a young bullet for a sin offering and a ram
for a burn offering. He shall put on the holy linen
coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and
he shall be girded with the linen girdle and with the linen mitre,
and he shall be attired. These are holy garments, and
therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.
He shall take of the congregation the children of Israel, two kids,
the goats, for a sin offering, and one ram for a burn offering.
And Aaron shall offer his bullock as a sin offering, which is for
himself. make an atonement for himself and for his house. He
shall thank the two goats and present them before the Lord
at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And there
he shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord,
the other for the scapegoat. And there he shall bring the
goat upon which the Lord's lot fell and offer him for a sin
offering. But the goat on which the lot fell for the scapegoat
shall be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement
with him and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness.
And then she'll bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is
for himself, and she'll make an atonement for himself, for
his house, and she'll kill the bullock of the sin offering,
which is for himself. She'll take a censer full of
burning coals of fire from off the altar before the Lord and
his hands full of sweet incense. beaten small, and bring it within
the veil. He shall put the incense upon
the fire before the Lord, that the cloud of the incense may
cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die
not. He shall take up the blood of the bullet and sprinkle it
with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward, before the mercy
seat shall he sprinkle the blood with his finger seven times.
Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, as for the
people, Bring his blood within the veil and do with that blood
as he did with the blood of the bullock and sprinkle it upon
the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. So 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 the tabernacle of congregation remaineth among them in the midst
of their uncleanness. There shall be no man in the
tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth in to make an atonement
in 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. He shall go out into the altar that is before the
Lord, and make an atonement for it. He shall take the blood of
the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it on the
horns of the altar round about. He shall sprinkle the blood upon
it with his fingers seven times, and cleanse it, and hallow from
the uncleanness of the children of Israel. When he hath made
the end of it, reconciling the holy place and the tabernacle
of the congregation, the altar he shall bring the live goat.
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 and all their sins, putting them
upon the head of the goat, and send him away by the hand of
a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon
him all their iniquities, to the land not inhabited. He shall
let go of the goat in the wilderness. And Aaron shall come into the
tabernacle of the congregation, shall put off the linen garments
which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall
leave them there. 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.
and the fat of the sin offering shall be burned upon the altar.
And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his
clothes and bathe his flesh in the water, and afterward come
into the camp. The bullet for sin offering and the goat for
sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make an atonement
for the holy place, shall one carry forth about the camp, and
shall burn in the fire their skins and their flesh and their
dung. He that burneth them shall wash his clothes and bathe his
flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.
And this shall be a statute forever unto you, that in the seventh
month of the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your
souls and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own
country or a stranger that sojourneth among you. For on that day the
priest shall make an atonement for you and cleanse you, that
you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord. and shall
be a sabbath of rest unto you, and you shall afflict your souls
by the statute forever. And the priest whom he shall
anoint, whom he shall consecrate to minister in the priest's office
in his father's stead, shall make the atonement, and shall
put on the linen clothes and the holy garments. He shall make
an atonement for the holy sanctuary, and shall make an atonement for
the tabernacle of the congregation, and for the altar. He shall make
an atonement for the priest, and for all the people of the
congregation, This shall be an everlasting statute unto you
to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their
sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded
Moses. Now Father, we bless you and
thank you for the glory that is set forth in your word. In this great Old Testament,
it speaks of the glory to be atonement. that David referred
to in Psalm 18, that if the will of the Lord is made, we will
rejoice and be glad in it. We are thankful, Father, that
this tells us a great deal about the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus
Christ and what was accomplished on Calvary's tree. We thank you
that in this old book, the types and shadows and pictures of our
Lord Jesus Christ from page to page, We're thankful that as
the church went into this world, in the acts of the apostles,
what they had in their hands was this Old Testament. And therein
they preached Christ and Him crucified wherever they went.
Help us, Lord, to love this book. Make it a part of our life. Look
in it. Find therein the glories of our
Savior. Father, we pray today for those who are sick and those
who have lost a loved one. We're glad to hear that Patrice
Trapp is speaking now. We continue to pray for those who have lost loved ones.
We pray for her latest mom, the others who are infirmed. I know it's a different case.
You fathered a great position. We ask, Lord, for us, we ask
that they might be healed and brought to a good measure of
health. We know that we value your wisdom
in these things. As for your children, sickness
is as much a part of their life as health is. Help us to appreciate
all of the things you do for us. We know that you do nothing
that is bad for us. For all things work together
for good, to live with love of God, and to live with a cause
according to his purpose. Help us this day to glorify you.
Bring honor to your name. Cast us down in the dust where
we belong. Lift our eyes to see our Savior. We pray in his name. Amen. Hymn number 42. All hail the power of Jesus. Oh, hear the bower of Jesus'
name! Let angels' prosp'ry fall! Ring forth the royal iodine and
brass! Ring forth the royal diadem,
and crown him Lord of all. I am. Oh, oh, oh. Ringing, ringing, can we try
on this terrestrial ball? To Him, O Majesty, us cry, and
crown Him Lord of all! To Him, O Majesty, us cry, We'll join the everlasting song and crown Him Lord of all. We'll join the everlasting song Lord of all. Stephen and Malcolm, would you
sit up? Malcolm, would you come up? You like being king, don't
you? Let's pray. Father, give me approach
in the name, the blessed name of Jesus Christ, the Lord. because that name meant that
he would save his people from their sins. We're thankful for
that sacrifice that put away our sin, that answers the law's
justice and demand, and fix it forever that we stand before
a holy, a thrice holy God that's righteous and accepted in him. Thank you for the opportunity
to render unto you that which you've given us. for the purpose
of preaching the gospel here and in other places. We thank
you. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay. In Psalm 118, our blessed sweet
psalmist of Israel spoke of what our Lord has set forth Verse 21, I will praise thee.
Thou hast heard me and art become my salvation. The stone which
the builders refused has become the head of the corner. This
is the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the Lord hath made. We will rejoice and
be glad in it. What I read to you this morning and a record of the Word of God
given to Moses that was to be given to Abraham, the high priest, of the ceremonies and rituals
that would be carried out on what is known as the Day of Atonement. And there is no more clear representation
and presentation of the Gospel as it pertains to the cross of
the Lord Jesus Christ in all of the Old Testament than here
in Leviticus chapter 16. Paul spoke of it when he spoke
of refusing to preach anything else but Jesus Christ and Him
crucified. Beginning with verse 2, after the sons of Aaron were
declared to be dead because they were built against God. We see
this is about what our Lord did as a great high priest on Calvary.
It's true, and we know that because Paul, writing to the Hebrew children
in Hebrews chapter 9, spoke of the same thing, saying it had
applied to the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 11 of chapter 9 of Hebrews,
it said, But Christ, becoming a high priest of good things
to come, a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands,
that is to say, not of this building, Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered into once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. So this day
of atonement is a picture and a type and a shadow of the coming
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I said Hebrews 10 says they were
a shadow of good things to come, but they were not the very thing.
It goes on to say in Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 3 and 4 that
the day of atonement didn't put away sin, it atoned for sin for
one year. And rather than being the forgiveness
of sin, rather than being the propitiation to God, it was merely
a reminder every year that they were still sinners without hope
in this world. It's important to understand
that this day is only about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. That's what this chapter is about, the crucifixion of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Though there are numerous aspects
concerning what God has done for us and what he has done in
us, none of it applies in this passage of scripture. Our eyes
are made fixed on a singular event, a singular event, even
better, the singular event. It's the very hinge of all that
is. It's the crux of eternity and
time. And it is the only ground upon which we receive all that
God has for the elect. Everything that God has for his
people is found right here and comes from this moment in human
history. Everything has to do with this
hour. Everything. All that are in heaven
have to do with this hour. All that are in hell have to
do with this hour. All who are believers have to
do with this hour. All who are unbelievers have
to do with this hour. This is the crux. This is what the prophets called
a nail in a sure place. This glorious event is about
two characters, and only two. It's about God and his son, and
the hidden transaction that secured the redemption of the elect.
Nobody saw this happening except Abram and God. The high priest,
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great high priest,
and God between the chairwoman's wings on the mercy seat, his
Shekinah glory, hidden by the smoke, He didn't smell the smoke
because no man can see God and live. And this transaction was
made between these two. This is most clearly seen as
several things set forth for our understanding. First note,
the two offerings brought for the sin offering and the burn
offering. Both of these pictures, the sin offering and the burn
offering, in Leviticus, the burn offering was the first offering
mentioned in Leviticus. The first offering. And the reason
is the burn offering represents the finished work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. It represents that which satisfies
and honors God's law and His justice. That's the burnt offering. The sin offering is a picture
of the believer receiving the effects of the results of the
sin offering when he laid his hands upon the sin offering.
Not to confess his sins. Not to confess his sins. but
to show that he was identified with that offering. He was one
with that offering. When that offering died, it was
as if before God, he himself has died. The meat offering,
which represents the perfect righteousness of Christ, is not
mentioned here. The peace offering, which represents our thanksgiving
and praise for what Christ has done, is not mentioned here.
Know here God and His Son, the Lamb, the High Priest, the offering
is doing business. God and God who is the judge
in the business of sin and the penalty for sin, the day of atonement,
one man, one God, one day, once a year. Calvary, one man, one
God, one day, once and forever, and called in the Scripture the
acceptable year of the Lord. Secondly, the two goats reveal
the dual aspect of the redemption that Christ accomplished on Calvary. One goat answered the requirement
of God's holiness and justice in His law. That goat was slain.
The other answered the necessities of those for whom the sacrifice
was made. Thirdly, the fact that there
was only one individual that entered the holiest place teaches
us that the transaction was only between this man and God. Now
the others benefited. The whole congregation benefited
by this. But it's just one man and God
who do up above the mercy seat. The entire transaction declares
in no uncertain terms that our redemption is wholly and completely
and solely by Jesus Christ dying for God. He died for God. It was accomplished out of our
view and out of the view of the congregation. On the cross, it
was three hours of darkness. God shut off the light, shut
down the sun. It was accomplished out of hand. It was accomplished in the holiest
of all, not made with hands. It was accomplished without our
opinion, without our consent, without our input, without our
will, without our faith. This was an accomplishment. Something
was done and accomplished. The amazing event coincides fully
with the mysterious three hours of darkness that our Lord spent
on the cross where no human eye beheld God dealing with His Son
concerning His justice for sin. You want to know about sin. You want to understand sin, don't
look at the bars and the bordellos. Don't look at the halls of Congress.
Don't look at the slums. You want to know about sin, you
look at the cross. You want to find out what God thinks of sin.
Sin is so horrible, so vile, so wicked, that when Jesus Christ
was made to be sin, when all the sins of all His people were
laid upon Him, God poured out His entire wrath upon Him. He
drew that sword spoken of in Zechariah, and slew his fellow,
slew his fellow, and all the sheep were scattered. These are
types in the Old Testament, shadows and pictures of the real thing,
and no single type is capable of representing the fullness
of Christ. So our Lord is presented by the sin offering, by the burn
offering, by Aaron, by his garments, by the requirement charged to
him, by the incense, by the two ghosts, by God. It takes all
that just to tell them about the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus
Christ. First of all, Aaron was to wash himself and put on the
garment of the priest, take the bullock and offer it as a sin
offering for himself and his household. Now, Paul makes it
clear in Hebrews that Jesus Christ, our great high priest, didn't
have to offer sin for himself because he had no sin. He knew
no sin. He was not a sinner. He used to take the bullock and
offer it as a sin offering to himself and his household. He
did this to sanctify himself for the task on hand on behalf
of his household, the priesthood, and the church. The Lord said
in John 17, 19, and for their sakes I sanctify myself that
they might be sanctified through the truth. You see, what's the
beauty of the sinless life of the Lord Jesus Christ was he
was made a perfect sacrifice. a perfect sacrifice before God.
Aaron then took a censer full of coal from off the altar of
the burnt offering and put it on a finely beaten incense and
put it under the veil of the holiest of all before the mercies. He didn't fill the room with
smoke. He did this, according to scripture, that he dined on.
that he die not, because no man can see God and live. Typically,
the incense represents the intercessory sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the sweet-smelling savor of the God, being perfect worth
and satisfying to God. This type is fulfilled in the
high priesthood prayer. John 17, as our Lord prayed for
God to glorify Him, for He had glorified God in the salvation
of His people, and finish the work which God gave him to do.
That was that censer and smoke under that curtain. That was
that censer. Then Aaron would take the two
goats and present them before God and cast lots upon them. By some signature of the lots,
one goat was designated as the Lord's lot. The Lord's lot. The other was designated as the He is His people. Our Lord was delivered by the
eternal counsel and foreknowledge of God. He has answered the dual
aspect of redemption, these two ghosts, brought by God and His
Son. When our Lord said, She has received
at the Lord's hand double for all her sin, there cannot be
a clearer picture of Christ's work Godward than conveyed by
these words of the Lord's lot. The goat was the Lord's lot.
He was killed for God. He was offered to God. He died
for God. The blood of this goat was sprinkled
before God. It was offered to God. This was
God's lot. It was His sacrifice. When our
Lord went to the cross and made His soul an offering for sin,
this offering was not to appease man. It was to appease God. to propitiate God. One man said,
before God can do anything for you, He must do something for
Himself. And that's a fact. I cringe when
I hear men speak of God offering Christ to men on Calvary. Nowhere
in Scripture, nowhere from Genesis to Revelation, nowhere in this
book is Christ ever offered to anybody. Nowhere. You won't find it. Men
talk about it. This is an offering. No, it's
not. This offering was made in darkness, out of our sight, out
of our capability of having anything to do with it. It was offered
to God Almighty. That was the Lord's law. Christ
was not offered to men then and is not offered to men now. When
I preach the gospel, Many years ago, I preached at a church.
After I finished preaching, a lady come up in tears. And I mean,
she was swallowing. And I figured, well, maybe the
Lord's done something for her. I said, can I help you, ma'am?
She says, you didn't give an invitation. You didn't give an invitation.
And she was just so upset. How can anybody be saved without
getting an invitation? Men aren't saved by an invitation.
In fact, the gospel is not an invitation. It's a command. Because
it says it can be disobeyed. You can't disobey them in that
fashion. You can disregard them, but you can't disobey them. When
God speaks, it's a command. He's commanded all men everywhere
to believe on Jesus Christ. He's commanded all men everywhere
to repent. This is a command from the Lord of glory, who holds
your soul in his hand. Jesus Christ offered himself
to God once. That is the only time that He has been or ever
will be offered. Where it says clearly in Romans,
Hebrews chapter 10, that where remission is made, there is no
more offering for sin. No more offering for sin. especially
in Roman Catholicism and all the reformed churches that came
out of it, still believe that that wine that we will have next
Sunday and that bread actually becomes either spiritually or
physically the body and blood of Jesus Christ, transubstantiation,
or consubstantiation. They believe that that actually,
and that's another sacrifice. It's another sacrifice. Every time they have mass, they
sacrifice the Lord Jesus Christ. Ain't no more sacrifices. He
died once for his people. When he had purged our sins,
by himself, when he had by himself, once, purged our sins, he sat
down on the right hand of the Father. Once, that's why there's
one day of atonement. Not 365 days of atonement, just
one. Just one. God is gracious to us because
of that sacrifice. This sacrifice, the Lord's law
affords the only ground upon which God can act in grace toward
us. Before grace and mercy flow, justice must be satisfied. If
God is to be gracious toward us, he must do so without any
issue of sin between us. God cannot deal with us as he
sees us as sinners. Now we know we're sinners. We
know we still have the flesh in us and we know it's a combat
every day of our lives once we come to know Christ. We know
that. But if God sees sin in us, he
cannot deal with us except in wrath. The soul that sinneth,
it shall die. He may only justify us if he
is perfectly just to do so. Paul said he was because of the
prehistoric work of the Lord Jesus Christ, Romans chapter
3. Romans chapter 3, verse 24, being
justified freely by His grace through the redemption, that
is the blood-bought redemption, as in Jesus Christ whom God set
forth to be a propitiation. And that's the word that takes
the place of the old word atonement in Scripture, in the Old Testament. The word atonement means to cover.
That's what it means. When Noah built the ark, he pitched
the ark within and without. That word pitch is translated
atonement throughout the Old Testament. It covered the ark,
inside and out. In the New Testament, the only
time you see the word atonement is Romans chapter 5, verse 10. And there, the word is everywhere
else in scripture. In the New Testament, it's translated
reconciliation, atonement. The Old Testament principle.
And that's what happened. The sins were covered for a year.
Something altogether different happened on Calvary. There was
a propitiation. What does that mean? It wasn't
a covering for sin. It was a satisfying God for sin.
Appeasing God for sin. When God set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in His blood to declare His righteousness For
the remissions of sins that are past due before parents of God,
to declare, I say it this time, his righteousness, that he might
be just, because that's what he has to be. He might be just
and it justified him to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. He
must be just to justify. And the only way he's just is
if he's satisfied and appreciated. It's important to know that equally
important to not misunderstand that the Day of Atonement had
nothing to do with the forgiveness of sins. That happens some other time.
Some other time. Forgiveness of sin is involved
in the realm of faith. Involved in the realm of faith. That don't mean our faith causes
us to be forgiven. Our faith understands that we have been
forgiven. The ground of forgiveness is
that God is just to do so. That forgiveness is not addressed
on Calvary. The issue of sin is dealt with. The fact is that our salvation,
our forgiveness is secondary. Secondary, if you will, a subsequent
application of the redemption of our soul. You see, when this
took place, we didn't have anything to do with it. Our faith didn't
have anything to do with it. Our confessing our sins, our
asking for forgiveness didn't have anything to do with that.
We didn't exist. This was an isolated, tightly
little, singular fisted thing between God and His Son. God
and His Son. We confess our sins, we do. And God is just to forgive us
our sins and cleanse us of all unrighteousness if we're His. He forgives us on the fact that
He doesn't see our sin. The Day of Atonement is about
the Lord's lot, His justice being satisfied, His name being glorified,
His law being honored, His holiness being vindicated. This is the
Lord's lot. This is the Lord's line. Why
do we confess our sin? Because we are sinners. Does
our confession of sin cause our forgiveness? No. We confess our sin because that's
the way out of our sins. It's for us. God doesn't remember
our sins. He's just to forgive us. Why? Because He's just. He's just to forgive us, not
because we confess, but because He's just, because of what Christ
did on Calvary 3. The Day of Atonement is about
that. The second aspect of our redemption is seen in this other
goat, the first goat slain. The second goat is called the
scapegoat. And that goat pictures not forgiveness,
but expiation. There's pretty no way to see
it. The first goat was slain. Now Aaron placed his hands on
the head of the scapegoat and confessed all the sins of the
chosen people. That's what it says in verse
21. Because God was glorified, what follows is that the sins
are carried away. The first goat is slain. God
is propitiated. Atonement is made. Propitiation
is made at Calvary. What happens next? The second
goat represents the second aspect of what Christ did when He rose
from the grave. Our sins were put away, put away
before God. They were released in the wilderness. One of the meanings of the word
wilderness is a barren land, a land without inhabitants. Well,
if there's nothing there and nobody there, there's no one
to accuse. No one can bring a charge against
him if nobody is there. This goat, our sins are put somewhere
where nobody can even find them. Like Moses' grave. Nobody knows
where Moses was buried but God. And our sins are said to be put
behind God's back. Where is that? All things are
before God. Everything. What's back there? If everything is before Him,
what's back there? behind God's back, as far as
the east is from the west. He separated our cities from
ours. He's buried them at the bottom of the sea. Our sea is
deep. Nobody can find them there. They
don't make a boat strong enough to go to the bottom yet. And
they never will. God is glorifying what happens
then. The high priest has put all our
sins on that scapegoat. Jesus Christ is the scapegoat.
He's put our sins away. That fit man, after the sins
of people confessed, the scapegoat was led away by a fit man into
a land not inhabited. The fit man released the scapegoat
into the wilderness. Where are our sins? To me, that's one of the most
astounding verses in all the scriptures. Because I can't forget
any of them. I can't forget my sin. I remember
it every day. Every time I bow my head in prayer,
I'm confessing my sin before God. It's ever present with me. It's
ever present with whoever saint in me is. Remember what Paul
said. He said, before I was a persecutor, now I'm a sinner. I'm the chief
of them, as a saint. He said he's a sinner. Rahab
the harlot, the great saint, is called Rahab the harlot all
the way through scripture, even though she was in the lineage
of our Lord Jesus Christ, his great-grandmother. She's still
referred to as Rahab the harlot. She's honored as a woman of faith,
held down that crimson cord, saved those men, lied for God. Yes, indeed. You despise being
in here. Ain't nobody been in here. Too
loud for God. God honored her for it. God honored
her for it. But she'll always be known to
have a heart. Why? Because that's what we are.
We're whore sinners. You know, we're saints. That's
what we are. Our sins, however, are for God. And what He does is right. And
what He sees is what is. Our sins are put away. There's
no ground upon which anyone, anyone can accuse us. God can't. God cannot accuse
a man of sin for who he is officiating. He cannot. Only a few things
God cannot do. That's one of the things he cannot
do. He can't take somebody to hell for whom Christ died. He
can't do it. He can't lie. People say, well,
I don't know whether the Bible is true. I just ask them, I always
ask the same question. Have you ever told a lie? Everybody, I say, yeah. I say,
God ever told a lie? No. Who am I going to believe?
Who am I going to leave? God can't accuse you. So if you're
accused, it's not God doing it. It's probably your own conscience. Satan can't accuse you. The law,
the holy, impeccable law of God cannot lay an accusation against
the child of God. Why? Because the law operates
in the realm of sin. God says your sin is gone. And
the law has nothing to say. The holy, inflexible law of God,
where there is no grace, and there is no mercy, scans you
from top to bottom like a searchlight. It has to say, he must go free,
because there's no sin in him. guilty before God. Satan and
his minions, ministers of righteousness who stand in pulpits all the
time accusing people, or even conscience cannot accuse you
because a perfect sacrifice has been made and conscience has
to shut its mouth. It's a screaming banshee at every
one of our bosoms. But the blood of Christ is shut
up. You have nothing to say in the matter. Look yonder on the
horizon. Here comes the fit man. He's
coming back. All by himself. The scapegoat
bearing our sin is no more. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God today? It is God that just affirmed.
My sins are gone. That just makes me want to cry. because of what Christ did on
Calvary. Then the fit man and Aaron put off the clothes of
sacrifice and washed themselves and had to burn off them for
themselves. The burn off of them signifies that God is satisfied
and that sin has been put away. This teaches that Christ came
forth from the grave glorified, came forth without our sin. Christ
was delivered for our transgression and raised for our justification
and manifest to take away our sin. And in him is no sin, saith
the scripture. finally verse thirty-one it shall
be a sabbath rest unto you and you shall afflict your soul by
the statute forever I know it sounds pleasant doesn't it? afflict
your soul I saw recently some people standing on a bridge in
the UK, England, Britain they were standing on a bridge whips, flogging them, suffering
for the cause. Saw people during Easter carrying
wooden gibbets around, parading themselves as acts of righteousness. And it does say you're supposed
to afflict your soul, that's what it says. But it says it's in
a Sabbath rest. Sabbath rest, you shall afflict
your soul. Sabbath rest. It's almost just
kind of a self-flagellation, a brow-beating yourself for all
you are and do, and meritoriously suffering to undo it, but that's
not it. Difficult to reconcile with the
resting at the same time, because here you are resting. That's
what Shabbat means, you're resting. Because there's nothing to do,
because everything necessary for your salvation has been done,
you rest. and you afflict your soul at
the same time. Could it be that this rest is the affliction of
the soul? Could it be? It's difficult to
reconcile unless the true affliction of the soul is about not working. The true affliction of the soul
is about not working. Every one of the eight Sabbaths
mentioned in the Scripture, there are eight of them, different
feast days called Shabbat or Sabbath. There's one thing that's
said in every one of them. You can go from Leviticus 23
through to Leviticus 25, find all eight Sabbaths. All eight
Sabbaths have one thing said in every one of them. There shall be no servile work
on this day or in this Sabbath. So how is rest the affliction
of our souls? Because we're busybodies. We actually believe that the
things we do count. They have to count, they have
to mean something. Experience tells us the most
difficult thing in the world is to regard our salvation as
to rest solely in the redemption of God, Jesus Christ, to rest. So we'll work till Jesus comes.
I'm going to rest till he comes. I'm going to rest. I like sleeping.
I can nap every day. I like resting. My mom used to
get on my case all the time. I tell her, Mom, if it's nothing
to do, don't do nothing. Relax. But she had me doing something
all the time. Bless her heart. Rest. Lay down. Lay your weary
head on the soft pillow of grace. The word afflict comes from an
ancient word that means to answer, to humble yourself by an answer. We rest by answering our self
accusations with the unimpeachable fact that our salvation is grounded
upon what Christ did on Calvary and nothing else. The wondrous
work accomplished by Him and His Father. That's why it says
we are to reckon the old man to have died. We know He's still
working on us and in us. Contrary to the Spirit is the
flesh. So that we cannot do what we
would, it says in Galatians chapter 5. It's always there. So what do
we have to do? We have to look at the cross.
what was accomplished on the cross. And reckon, I reckon,
I reckon he's dead. I reckon he died when Christ
died in our room instead. Do so, we don't look to ourselves,
but answer ourselves with the gospel. John said it this way
in John chapter 3. If our heart condemns us, you
know how it does. There is one greater than our
hearts. 1 John chapter 3, 20 and 21. He was made to be sin for us,
and ye know sin. We might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. On that day of atonement, salvation
was pictured for an accomplice, but it was pictured for that
which was to come. The good thing, the good news,
the glad tidings that was to come when Jesus Christ went on
that cross and paid for our sins. Now listen to me very carefully.
I must say this. If your sins are paid for, nobody
can ever ask you to pay for them again. The world is full of preachers
standing up and telling people, for your sin, you're going to
believe. Bank it, because he's out seeking his sheep every day,
and he'll find every one of them. Justice cannot twice demand payment
at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine, and then
again at mine. Not all about you, that just
makes me wanna lay down and cry.