Let’s Get Leviticus

By Bobby Blakey on January 5, 2020

Leviticus 1:1-4

AUDIO

Let’s Get Leviticus

By Bobby Blakey on January 5, 2020

Leviticus 1:1-4

This is a rush transcript.

[00:00:02] I invite you to open the Bible and turn with me to the Book of Leviticus.

[00:00:09] Yes, it's on page 81. If you got one of our books and I was talking to our bass player, Dave Crew brother in the Lord, and I asked him if he'd ever heard a sermon on the book of Leviticus. And he's been going to church a long time. Let me ask you, if you've never heard a sermon on the is we raise your hand right now. Okay. This is gonna be the best sermon on the verdicts you've ever heard.

[00:00:33] OK, tell you that. Promise me that if you raise your hand, I can guarantee it. OK.

[00:00:41] So please turn there with me. I'm so excited for us to study this book together. And what we have done here is we want everybody to really read through the 27 chapters of this book with us. And so we've made a booklet here that takes you through the book of Leviticus. All right. So everybody gets one of these. And we really hope that you'll read through it, that you'll go through it. And people have been making jokes about what's going to be on the cover of the Leviticus book. Is it going to be clean and unclean animals? Is it going to be the skin disease of leprosy or what's going to be on here? Well, the book is Solid Gold Cover, you can see, because if you dig into the book of Leviticus, you're going to find a treasure that is greater than gold. That's what the scripture says. We're going through the law here at this church, and we want everybody at our church to be able to say, I love the law and we want you to know what it says. These books written by Moses, we want you to know what it says, how it reveals who God is, so that you can say what the psalmist says in Psalm 119, verse 97.

[00:01:51] Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation. All the day. And so we don't want you to just read Leviticus. We want you to get it to see what it means, that you would love it, that you would love God, and that that would be to you, a treasure greater than gold, a revival for your soul.

[00:02:15] Now, people are not reading Leviticus and loving it, and they are experiencing revival, at least not today in the Church of America. While I was studying for this series, I read this article that came out that said they had a pull of people's favorite books of the Bible. And I don't know why we're asking people to rank books of the Bible. OK. But guess what was the least favorite book out of people who go to church in America today? It was.

[00:02:47] A least favorite book of the Bible. Like, how messed up is that OK?

[00:02:53] Do we believe that all scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching? This is the word of God. OK. And in fact, just look with me at Leviticus, chapter one, verse one, and look at the opening line of the book.

[00:03:08] It says, The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying that's a first verse.

[00:03:16] All the first verse says is and God spoke to Moses from the Tabernacle. And here's what God said.

[00:03:24] OK, so it's especially messed up that people are saying the Book of Leviticus is their least favorite book when most of the book is God speaking. There are very few narratives that happen in this book.

[00:03:39] It all takes place at Mount Sinai and it's all God. Most of it, not all of it, but almost all of it is just God telling Moses or telling Aaron and his sons. Here's what I want you to do from the Tabernacle, God giving them instructions. And so God is speaking from his holy mountain. And we're here saying, yeah, that's my least favorite thing.

[00:04:05] That's my stop.

[00:04:06] Let me read for you the first few verses here of Leviticus.

[00:04:10] Here's what God is saying verse to speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. If his offering is a Bergert offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting that he may be accepted before the Lord.

[00:04:33] He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make a stone meant for him.

[00:04:44] What God wants to say from Mount Sinai, from the Tabernacle to his people is I want to tell you how to have atonement.

[00:04:55] I want to tell you how to be acceptable. I want to have a relationship with you. I'm a holy God, you're in unclean people yet I love you. And I want you to be my covenant people and I want to know you. So here's how you can come to me in this tabernacle.

[00:05:11] God wants to give people atonement. That's what this book is about. God telling us how to be right in a relationship with him. That's not ancient out of date. Old news. That's the most relevant, important question in your life. How does somebody like you get right with only God? Enter the book of Leviticus. It's God explaining it.

[00:05:35] And so that we I would if you could open up your solid gold booklet of Leviticus here, you'll see we've got Mount Sinai there on the first page, and then we're going to use this image here as an outline for the entire book. And you can see the verse there, Psalm 15, verse one. Oh, Lord, who may sojourned in your tent, who shall dwell on your Holy Hill. So that that idea is that question right there. Who can approach God in the Tabernacle gods on Mount Sinai as people are encamped around who can actually go into the presence of God? That's the question that the Book of Leviticus is meant to answer. The question you and I need to think through is why did God say this in the Book of Leviticus?

[00:06:22] Why does this book exist in the Bible? When Moses writes the law and the law is broken into the five books, they are not just divided based on like we'll just take the whole thing and cut it into five sections here. No, Genesis is 50 chapters. Exodus is 40 chapters. Leviticus is 27 chapters. It's the shortest out of the books of the law. So they didn't just divide it to break it into chunks. No Leviticus as its own special purpose. There's a reason that God is saying all of these things. Why? What is God wanting you to know? What is he revealing to his people? In a lot of people, they just start reading through the offerings. This is what I think people have done with Leviticus. Look at Leviticus with me.

[00:07:10] Look at chapter one here. Here we got the burnt offerings. Well, OK. Looks like I'm not going to do one of those. How about a grain offering? OK. And then they go to Chapter three, peace offerings, sin offerings. Turn over to Chapter five gilt offerings. How many offerings do these people have? Right. And then you start looking at the priest. Well, yeah, we don't we don't have priests here at the church today. So I don't really need to read about that. And then you go over here, clean and unclean animals, Chapter 11. Yeah. I don't want to read about that. That doesn't sound like it applies to me. Leprosy. Well, I praise the Lord. I don't have that one. And we just keep moving through all commands about being holy. That doesn't sound very fun. Let's just keep going. Oh, what.

[00:07:49] What is numbers about? Let's just go to that one.

[00:07:52] I mean, that's the average experience in Leviticus right there. Just like I don't understand these details. They don't seem to apply to me. Let's just keep moving. Oh, why would I even investigate this book at all?

[00:08:03] Why? Because God is going to tell you how to have atonement, how to be acceptable, how you could have a relationship with God.

[00:08:12] That's what Leviticus is about.

[00:08:14] Now it picks up with this problem that happened at the end of Exodus that maybe we've overlooked. Look back at Exodus 40, verse 34. Look at this with me. Exodus 40, verse 34. What they were doing an exodus.

[00:08:28] If you read it all the way to the end is God gave them instructions for the Tabernacle and they contributed. They gave generously and then they constructed and built the tabernacle. And so the book ends. Exodus 40 34.

[00:08:43] Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. So those are two ways to say the same thing. Tentative meeting tabernacle. That's this structure that they have built. And now that they've built it.

[00:08:57] God's glory comes down like a cloud. And he fills the tabernacle. Remember, Moses was praying. God, we want to see your glory. We want you to go with us to the Promised Land. Well, God says build me this tabernacle. They do. Now they're seeing the glory of God come down in the cloud. God is with them. You would think this is a great thing.

[00:09:20] And then it says this verse 35. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the clouds settled on it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.

[00:09:33] Now, if you really think that through, that should be surprising to you, because earlier in Exodus we read that Moses walked right into the tent of meeting and the cloud descended on it and Moses spoke to God as a man speaks to his friend face to face, even all the people of Israel stood at their tents and they watched Moses walk out there to the tent to meeting and meet with God.

[00:09:57] But God, now that they've built this tabernacle exactly as he designed it, exactly as he instructed Moses now can't just walk into the presence of God anymore. And so God is going to give them in Leviticus. Here's how you as a people are going to come to me as your God. These are the instructions for people how to get right with God and experience atonement.

[00:10:25] That's what the book of Leviticus is. So let's fill out this chart. Let's get the big picture that you've got there in your book. Let it all takes place at Mount Sinai. We've just finished Exodus on one side and we've got this problem now that God's there in the Tabernacle, but the people can't go in. How are you going to solve that problem? And then what's coming next is numbers when God's going to march his people to the promised land. But this whole book of Leviticus, all 27 chapters happen right here at Mount Sinai, and it's God from the Tabernacle speaking to his people.

[00:11:01] OK. So this book, maybe more than any other book of the Bible, is God speaking. And let's just think about that for a second. It's our least favorite book.

[00:11:13] I mean, think about how in our culture it is so valued that everybody has a voice and everybody should be heard. And we have the the freedom of speech. That's a right that we have. And everybody should get to vote. And we really think it's important that everybody can express themselves. That's a big American virtue.

[00:11:34] In fact, these days, it's like you can have your own YouTube channel and tell the world who you are. You can go spew whatever thought you're thinking. You can go put it out on the Internet, on Twitter and what everybody thinks is valid and what everybody thinks is right.

[00:11:47] When really the one who it matters what he is saying, the god of heaven and earth is speaking from his only mountain, from his special tent, and nobody's listening to him.

[00:11:59] You want to talk about someone who has a voice, who needs to be heard.

[00:12:03] It's God speaking to you through the book of Leviticus.

[00:12:07] And if you really study this book, you will see how God wants you to be and how you can be right with God. That's what this book is about. It's a book of God speaking to you. So as we go up the mountain, atonement is what the first half of this book is all about.

[00:12:26] Atonement here. OK, how about atonement? The ideas reconciled to God being right with God. Or sometimes theologians like to say you're at one with God. That's what the whole point. God is providing a way for his people to be right in a relationship with him. And it starts in chapters one to seven with these offerings. So you if you're filling in the blanks here in your booklet, if you're if you want to take some notes, chapters one to seven, that's what we're going to read this week, the first week, the details of all these different offerings. Well, the purpose of these offerings, these animal sacrifices we're gonna look at here in a minute is atonement that you would be right with God. In fact, it's so complicated for you as an unclean person to be right with God who is holy and clean, that you need priests. That's what we're gonna read about in Chapter eight to 10, at least the people of Israel here. They had from Aaron and his sons, from the tribe of Levi. They had to have priest mediating between God and the people. The people couldn't just even come to God. There had to be priests interceding on behalf of the people. And because the priests are the tribe of Levi, represented by Aaron and his sons. And that's why it's called Leviticus, because it's about the levitical priesthood that gets established here. And specifically, there are some chapters about these priests. And then chapters 11 to fifteen are about cleanliness. And that's what we're gonna see is so important to God that if we're gonna approach him, if we're gonna be in his presence, we have to be clean and God does not see us as clean. In fact, there's a lot of things that can happen even in our physical bodies that can make us unclean. And then we need to get clean to go into the presence of God. So four chapters, he's going to be explaining this concept of being unclean and clean before him. And then the climax, the high point of the entire book is Chapter 16, The Day of Atonement. So we're gonna set up offerings, we're gonna set up priests. We're going to establish this idea of clean or unclean. And then the high priest on the day of Atonement is gonna go into the holy place, this special place in the Tabernacle that is the presence of God. And he is going to, on behalf of the entire nation, have atonement between God and his people. That is the point of this book. God wants a relationship. He wants his people to be right with him. That's what Leviticus is about. Now, once God makes this right with him, he's going to say in this book several different times, I am the Lord, your God. You therefore shall be what holy as I see God saying, hey, this is how this is gonna have to work. I'm clean. You're not clean through atonement.

[00:15:30] I can make you clean. I can make you write with me. But if I'm gonna be your God and you're going to be my people, I'm holy. And so therefore, if you're going to be in relationship with me, you're going to be holy as well. And so as we come down the mountain, the theme is going to be holiness. How does God command his people to act? Because he is our God. Hey, there is nothing in Leviticus that says you have to be holy to be one of God's people. That is not what this book teaches. It says you should be holy because you are one of God's people. If he is your God, he is only God. Therefore, you should be holy because he's your God. You're one of his people.

[00:16:16] You need to have holiness in common. And so in Chapter 17 to 20, we're gonna see commandments of how God expects his people to conduct themselves, that he expects us to obey. So that we will be holy. And there's also going to be in chapters 21 to 25 feasts that God is going to tell his people. Days of rest, years of rest. A year of Jubilee. It God, he wants his people to come and worship him. He wants them to come and remember what he's done three weeks out of every year.

[00:16:51] They gathered together and like we're on vacation basically for the sole purpose of remembering God and worshiping him.

[00:16:59] Three weeks out of every year, they did the.

[00:17:02] One out of every seven days, they took the day off to rest to remember their creator and their savior. At one out of every seven years, they couldn't work on the land to give the land a rest. And every 50 years, they had a year of jubilee where every slave was set free. Every debt was paid and everyone could just rejoice. And what a great God they had.

[00:17:24] That's what God institutes in Leviticus is these fees. And then at the end of the book, he wants to reaffirm his covenant with his people. That's the end. He talks about being their God, then being his people. The promises that started with Abraham, how he delivered them out of Egypt. And if they all obey his commands, he will bless them in this land that he's going to give them. But if they disobey, he will come against them. And so there's a renewal of the covenant between God and his people.

[00:17:53] So hopefully, once you get the big picture of God speaking to his people from Mount Sinai, then as we go through the specific details, you won't get lost among the trees because you'll know what forest you're in. So hopefully see in that big picture will excite you to start looking at all the specific things that God is saying here in this book. And I am just going to tell you your presupposition that you approach Leviticus with if you're really going to read it and get into it with us this month here as we begin 2020. If you don't expect to get much out of Leviticus, that'll probably be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[00:18:33] But if you say, hey, I believe this is the word of God, I believe God is speaking and I believe there is treasure here to be found for my soul. And you dig in and you talk about it with your fellowship group and you go through that booklet and you really read it and don't just kind of go through it, but try to figure out what God is saying.

[00:18:50] You are going to experience a profound revival. I promise you this. The word of God will not disappoint you. It will not return void. It is living and active. It is powerful. And it will change your life if you come to it. And that's. So I want to take a moment right now to confess that this should have never been our least favorite book of the Bible. People like Dave Crew should have heard many sermons about this book throughout their entire life. This has been messed up the way we have treated this book before God. And so let's pray for our church right now that will listen to what God has to say. Let's pray. Father, we come to you. And God, it's so sad to think about the fact that you would be on your mountain. In the Holy Tabernacle, speaking to your people and your people today would say that that's our least favorite.

[00:19:42] Gabby confessed that to be sin, we confess that you're speaking and we are not listening to you in the Church of Jesus Christ here in America, even here in our church. God.

[00:19:53] And so we ask now that you would give us ears to hear.

[00:19:56] We ask now that you would open our eyes to see wondrous things from your word, and we ask that you would speak to us today from your mountain, from your holy place. And that we would be able to understand what you're saying, that we would be your people, that we would experience atonement, that we would be right with you.

[00:20:15] Even sinners like us could be right with you. All Holy God.

[00:20:20] Now, we could be holy is you are holy because we are your people. Can we pray that that would be true here at this church? So I pray on behalf of my brothers and sisters, all of us who need to repent of the wrong view of the book of Leviticus.

[00:20:34] I pray that you will change our minds right now.

[00:20:37] God, I pray for those who don't take your words seriously and don't seek you in your word that they will repent. And if there's one thing they're going to do in this new year that they will seek you with all their heart and they'll seek to hear what you say in the scripture to what, Scott? I pray that as we dig for the treasure of your word, that we will experience here in your perfect law, we will experience a revival for our souls as we rediscover your Bible as you intended it to be. So teach us God. From the book of Leviticus, let your Holy Spirit now open our eyes to understand it. Let him speak straight to our souls and let us really hear from you. We pray now in Jesus name.

[00:21:21] Amen. Let's dove into the details. Leviticus chapter one, verse two. Let's try to really think about the offerings. What is this picture of atonement that God has created for his people?

[00:21:35] Leviticus chapter one verse to speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when any of you brings in offering. OK, so that's the clear idea that this book begins with is Moses. You can't just walk in here anymore. You've got to bring an offering.

[00:21:51] And this offering is going to be an animal that's going to be of livestock from the herd or from the flock. Verse three, if his offering is a burnt offering, which we're gonna see is one of five different kinds of offerings described here.

[00:22:03] But let's start with this one, the burnt offering. He shall offer a male without blemish. He said, bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting that he may be accepted. That's it gets right to the point. The point of these offerings is that God could accept you. He showed the picture this he shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

[00:22:31] Here's that's our key word here right now. That's our question if you want to take notes on our handout from this passage here. The question is, do you want atonement? Do you want to be right with God?

[00:22:47] And I'm asking that question like it's a real question, because I have encountered now many people who are not interested in being right with God. There are more and more of our fellow Americans who think they're doing just fine by themselves. Thank you very much. And they don't need a holy God given them a bunch of commands or a way of atonement from some Mt. Sinai. They're going to live their own way and they are not interested in being right with God.

[00:23:17] There's a lot of people thinking that way today.

[00:23:20] Even here at church, I've been going to church all my life. I've been around Christian people my entire life. And even at church, I have become convinced that many people are not really that concerned about being right with God. They just want to be right.

[00:23:35] And there's a big difference between those two things.

[00:23:38] There are a lot of self-righteous people who go to church and feel like they're one of the good people.

[00:23:45] And they just want to know that if they were to die, they're going to heaven, that they're OK. Their families OK. They don't have a passion to know God. They're not waking up in the morning praying and reading the word that one thing in their heart is not to seek God with all of it. They just want to feel good about themselves as they go through this life.

[00:24:04] A lot of that going on atonement is you being right with God. Is that really your goal in your life? Is that your number one pursuit?

[00:24:13] Can you say that this New Year, 2020, this is about you? This is about God. The one thing you're doing is making sure you and God are solid in your relationship. That's what atonement is about.

[00:24:27] That's what God has a heart for. That's what God wants for you.

[00:24:31] That's what he's going to establish through his people, through these offerings. Hey, you can be right with me.

[00:24:38] Now, let's not write this off as something old that we don't do. Let's think this through. What is God teaching, OK? They've built this tabernacle, there's a tentative meeting and it says, hey, if you want to have right a relationship with me, if you want to be acceptable, you've got to come up to the entrance of the tent of meeting. And when you come to the entrance of the tent to meeting, you got to bring an animal with you. And as you go through the offerings, you're going to see that they call for different animals. Sometimes they might call for a bowl to be offered.

[00:25:10] Sometimes it might be a lamb or a goat. And then sometimes you might even be just like two turtle doves or two pigeons in. A lot of that is based on the person's financial status, what they can afford. If you can't afford to offer a bowl, well, maybe you'll bring then two birds. But everybody's walking up to the entrance of the tent of meeting and they're bringing an animal with them. And then they stand there at the entrance of the tent and the altar there where we're going to burn up all these burn offerings, all these animals. There's this altar right there. And then behind the altar, you can see there the tent that is the tent of meeting. And then within that tent is the holy place behind the curtain where the ark of the Covenant is, where God's presence is. And you walk up to the beginning of all of that. You've got an animal with you. And you put your hand on the animal's head.

[00:26:04] And then you kill the animal. And what you're saying in that moment is that the wages of sin is what they you deserve to die before God.

[00:26:16] You don't deserve to come into the presence of God that you have sin before a holy God. And therefore, this animal that you put your hand on and you're doing this out in the open, you're doing this in public. The tent of meeting is right there in all of Israel can see what's going on.

[00:26:32] And here's you now coming with an animal, putting your hand on it and saying this animal is now my substitute. This animal is now my offering.

[00:26:45] I deserve to die because of my sin.

[00:26:49] But this animal is going to die in my place. And then you, after you lay your hand on the animal to symbolize that you actually kill the animal.

[00:27:01] And so if you want atonement, point number one, you need a substitute if you want to be right with got something or someone still has to die because of your sin.

[00:27:13] God is not giving everybody get out of jail free cards. We've got to understand this. We have a holy God. He is righteous. And just in everything he does, God will by no means clear the guilty. God has to judge sin. Can I get a man from anybody on that?

[00:27:31] Because that's a point that's getting lost in our culture.

[00:27:35] God, he asked, forbearance. He has patience. He'll overlook sin for a while, but make no mistake. Every single sin will be judged in the payment of sin is death.

[00:27:49] And so these animals have to die so that these people can be acceptable with God, so that there can be a tournament between the people and got picture. Picture, what a profound thing that must have been for you to get that animal, for you to walk up there like you're walking towards the presence of God, to even be aware that people can see what you're doing, to see the priest approaching you as you approach the tent of meeting, and then you put your hand on the head of that animal.

[00:28:18] And you're saying I'm a sinner.

[00:28:20] And I'm unclean and I can't come here before the holy presence of God. And you have to kill the animal so that you can be right with God.

[00:28:32] And it goes on to say, look at verse five, this is Leviticus one, verse five.

[00:28:37] Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord. So you're the the person makes that move to kill the substitute, the sacrifice. And then it says Aaron Sons. The priest shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar. That is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. So you're walking up with the animal. You're putting your hand on the animal. You kill the animal. And the priest is meeting you there. And he's now collecting the blood that is spilling out of the animal. So this is graphic. What's going on here? Blood is being spilled. The pulley, the priest there, he has a way to collect the blood. And he takes it up to the altar. And he is bringing the blood of the animal up to the altar.

[00:29:22] There it says he's throwing the blood against the side of the altar.

[00:29:28] So here you see how the seriousness that people would have immediately taken if I want to be right with God. Praise God. There's a way of atonement, but that means for me to be right with God. Something has to die. This animal has to die. And then I can't even just me. Even killing the animal isn't enough. I need a priest to intercede between God and me and take the blood of the animal up to the altar there of God. And so that's why God is giving these offerings is because it is a profound thing for a holy God to have a relationship with a sinful people.

[00:30:09] If you're going to understand Leviticus, you're going to have to learn two things. One is that God is way more holy than you think he is.

[00:30:17] You have never experienced anything like God.

[00:30:20] This, the purity, the cleanliness that God has in his character is something that we cannot relate to. We like to learn by experience. We like to feel things and relate to things. We cannot relate to the holiness of God. It's unlike anything we've ever experienced. And the second thing you're going to have to see if you're going to get Leviticus is I am way more sinful than I realize I am. I'm compare myself to other people. I'm thinking I'm a pretty good person. When I come before a holy God, I deserve to die. I am completely and woefully unclean before God.

[00:30:57] God wants to teach me how to be right with him. First thing he teaches me is, yeah, you got to kill an animal if you're gonna be right with me because you deserve to die.

[00:31:06] You're not fit to come into my presence.

[00:31:09] You need a substitute now let's just jump straight to the climax in Leviticus 16. Let's go. We're going to read through the offerings this week. But let's get to the ultimate expression. That is the day of atonement. This is the ultimate now picture that God is using the tabernacle and the offerings and the priests gods trying to create a picture of atonement.

[00:31:34] That would not only be for the people of Israel, but for people all time to understand the serious business of sinners trying to be right with the holy God, how God is making a way for us to be acceptable with him.

[00:31:49] This is the picture that God wants to give here in the Day of Atonement. This is Leviticus 16, verse one, page 95. If you got one of our books. And again, this is how the book goes. The Lord spoke to Moses. Twenty seven chapters, but over 30 something times it's saying God is speaking. That's the book of Leviticus. The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron. When they drew near before the Lord and died. And we're gonna learn about that. That's one of the stories in the Book of Leviticus.

[00:32:21] If you come back next week, we're going to see that when they do these offerings and when they have these PREECE God, he makes them acceptable. There is a tone men between the people and God and God comes. And he's there in the Tabernacle and Moses and Aaron are able to enter the Tabernacle.

[00:32:39] And everything's right between God and his people. And then two of Aaron's sons, they say, wow, God just consumed the sacrifice with fire. God's here among us.

[00:32:50] And they start getting some fire and they offer it before the Lord in a way that God does not tell them to. And God kills these two sons of Aaron for being inappropriate in his presence. And now God says to Moses, Hey, go tell Aaron and after his two sons got killed, that if Aaron comes to me in an inappropriate way, I'll kill him, too.

[00:33:14] That's what it says here.

[00:33:16] Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron, your brother not to come at any time into the holy place, inside the veil, before the mercy seat that is on the ark.

[00:33:25] So that he may not die if he comes into my presence.

[00:33:30] He will die. Make sure your brother knows that.

[00:33:34] Fry will appear in the cloud over the mercy see?

[00:33:37] So now what God's going to say here in this chapter is a practice that has been with the Jewish people since this time, that all one day of the year, one man, the high priest, can go into the holy place of God if he does it according to the instructions that God gives here. Verse three. But in this way, Aaron shall come into the holy place. Here's what he's got to do with a bull from the herd for a sin offering and a ram for a burn offering. He shall put on the holy linen coat. She'll have the linen undergarment on his body. He shall tie the linen sash around his waist and wear the linen turban. These are the holy garments. He shall be this body in water and then put them on. And he shall take from the congregation of the people of Israel to male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burn offering. So what we're going to see here is that one, he's got to cleanse himself. He's got to put on these holy garments. Then he's got to sacrifice a bull for himself so that he can be right with God. And then he's going to bring two goats to sacrifice. And one of them on behalf of the people of Israel. So he's got to first get himself right with God. And then he can represent the people. Verse six. Aaron shall offer the bowl for himself as a sin offering, and she'll make atonement for himself and for his house. That's the rest of the priest. Then he shall take the two goats and set them before the Lord at the entrance of the tent to meeting. And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats. One lot for the Lord and the other lot for as Zelle.

[00:35:23] Not a Hebrew word there. Then there's a lot of debate about how to translate this idea of Aziz Elba.

[00:35:29] Basically you got these two goats and we're going to cast lots and one of the goats is going to be sacrificed on behalf of the people before the Lord and the other goat is going to be how it used to be translated. It's going to be the scapegoat and it's gonna be the goat that is removed from the camp and taken out into the wilderness, representing that God has made atonement and the sin of the people has been removed from the camp.

[00:35:54] So one goat will be offered as a sin offering and one go will be the scapegoat that runs out into the wilderness of Azazeal. It goes on to say, your verse nine Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell for as shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness. Tazo. Verse eleven. Aaron shall present the ball as a sin offering for himself, so step one is what Aaron's got to do for himself. He shall make atonement for himself and for his house. He shall kill the ball as a sin offering for himself. And he shall take a sensor full of coals of fire from the altar before the Lord and two handfuls of sweet incense beeton small. And he shall bring it inside the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the Lord. That the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is over the testimony so that he does not. What does it say there? Hey, so think about it. Now comes the moment he comes in, he offers a bowl for himself as a substitute for himself and from the altar, he gets some of the fire and the sensor and he gets some incense.

[00:37:15] And when he goes behind the veil, behind the curtain, into the holy place of God. And that's where the ark of the Covenant is. Inside the Ark of the Covenant is the Ten Commandments. On top of the Ark of the Covenant are the Cherubim with their wings. And right there between the wings of the Cherubim represents the mercy seat, which represents the very presence of God here on Earth, representing his throne in heaven.

[00:37:38] And even now with this sacrifice, one man on one day of the year. Even now, if he doesn't throw that incense into the fire, so it creates this cloud of smoke. If he were to have direct access to the mercy seat, he would die.

[00:37:55] Can you imagine how Aaron must have felt? Going into that place. I mean, here, two of his sons have already been killed because of what they did before the presence of God.

[00:38:07] Now it's saying, do it like this or you will die.

[00:38:10] You think there was a little sweat coming down his brow as you went behind the veil? You think he was like maybe not even wanting to look at the mercy, see? Until there was this cloud of smoke.

[00:38:25] And so it says verse 14. He shall take some of the blood of the bowl and he shall sprinkle it with his finger on the front of the mercy seat on the east side and in front of the mercy see? He shall sprinkle some of the blood with his fingers seven times.

[00:38:41] So it's going to get very graphic in this book about blood. And they're going to do a lot with the blood of these animals. Here is sprinkling seven times the blood of this bull in this place that represents the presence of God. We are sprinkling blood, and God's going to make it clear to the people of Israel do not eat blood because blood is the life. And the way to make atonement is there has to be blood. There has to be the giving of life to make atonement.

[00:39:14] So let's get that down for number two. If you want atonement, you need a substitute and you need blood. And this is a graphic here. The priests are often using the blood of the animals in ways that God instructs them. And here we're sprinkling it in a holy place, the blood of this bowl seven times. And that's just for himself. Now, let's get to the sin offering of the goat for the people. Verse fifteen. Then he shall kill the goal of the sin offering that is for the people and bring its blood inside the veil and do with its blood, as he did with the blood of the bowl, sprinkling it over the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat. So he's got to fire. Incense is on the fire. It's creating a cloud so he can't really see the mercy seat. But here he is now sprinkling first from the bowl. Now from the goat.

[00:40:11] He is sprinkling blood in the presence of God.

[00:40:15] Verse 16 does he shall make atonement for the holy place. Because of the uncleanness of the people of Israel and because of their transgressions and all their sins, and so he shall do for the tend to meeting, which dwells that with them in the midst of their uncleanness. Can you get this from God's perspective?

[00:40:35] God's got this one holy spot, and he's surrounded by the people of Israel and the people of Israel, from God's perspective, are all unclean. And he's trying to keep this one spot where he is holy. That's God's perspective on us, on people that we are unclean and we are not like him.

[00:40:58] And there has to be atonement for us to be right with him, that this had to be followed precisely for all of this uncleanness to be made clean.

[00:41:10] And God makes it clear, verse 17, no one may be in the tent of meeting from the time he enters to make a Tollman in the holy place until he comes out and has made atonement for himself and for his house and for all the assembly of Israel. The bowl was for himself and the other priests. The goal was on behalf of the entire nation. No one's allowed in while the high priest is doing these sacrifices in the presence of God. It's not here in Leviticus 16, but the tradition of the Jewish people is that they would literally tie a rope around the high priest when he went in there to do these offerings just in case he didn't do them right and he died in the presence of God. No one wanted to go in after him. And so they were ready to pull the body of the high priest out with the rope because they knew if the high priest dies in there, nobody better go after him or they'll die to. Then he shall go out to the alter verse 18, that is before the Lord. So now he comes back out. Nobody can see what he's doing when he's inside the tent. But now he comes back out to the altar, which perhaps the people could see here.

[00:42:21] There are they know now he's coming back out and he goes out to the altar that is before the Lord and make atonement for it. And he shall take some of the blood of the bull and some of the blood of the goat.

[00:42:31] And now he's putting the blood of these animals on the horns of the altar all around. And he shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his fingers seven times and cleanse it and consecrated from the uncleanness of the people of Israel.

[00:42:46] And so now he's doing this out there in the courtyard of the Tabernacle area. And when he has made it tome in verse twenty for the holy place and the tent of meeting and for the altar. All this broad blood has been sprinkled in all these different places. Now we bring out this live. Go. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel. All their transgressions. All their sins. And he shall put them on the head of the go. And send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.

[00:43:23] I mean, what a picture. He's been sprinkling the blood of the bull and the blood of the goat all over the place, and he takes those same hands and he gets this live goat and he puts his hands on the head of this goat and he starts to confess the sins of the people of Israel, not his sins, not his brother's sins, but the sins of the entire nation. I wonder what he said. I wonder how many people could hear him confessing the sins.

[00:43:54] And all of these scenes now are going on to this scapegoat. And then there's a man ready. And now we're bringing the goat out of the tabernacle. Now we're bringing him through the camp of Israel. And now all the people there watching this goat and this man, he's leading it. And it goes outside the camp and it's going away into the wilderness. And you can see the guy taking the goat out. And it's going. And it's going. And it's gone.

[00:44:18] And when the goat leaves, that means that all of your skin has been removed from you and you are now right with God. Can you imagine what that must have felt like for the people? Can you imagine that feeling of knowing that God is pleased with you, that your sin has been removed from you and that you and God are atoned? You are reconciled.

[00:44:44] The God is looking at you and he's not seeing you as unclean. But he's seeing you and he's pleased with his people.

[00:44:51] That's what the scapegoat here is all about. It says in verse 22, look at this beautiful phrase, The goat shall bear all their iniquities on itself to a remote area and you shall let the go go free in the wilderness.

[00:45:07] So I understand that offerings Preece. Death and blood.

[00:45:14] These might be graphic things for us to try to picture, but what God is giving you a picture of. Is you being right with God and all of your sin being removed from you?

[00:45:26] That's point number three, if you want to Tollman, you need the removal of sin. This is what God is offering. God is not accepting anything that is not clean, but he is offering atonement that your sin could be removed from you, that you could actually be. You're going to read over and over again that you could actually be forgiven for all of your sins, that you could have atonement with God.

[00:45:51] We like to say, as far as the east is from the West saw, our sins are removed from us. It's like all of our sin has been put to the bottom of the sea, never to return. It's like it's on a goat that we're never gonna see or hear from again. Wandering out there in the wilderness when God forgives you. You are free from the guilt of sin and you are cleansed from all unrighteousness. That's what God wants from his people.

[00:46:21] That's what God wants for every person.

[00:46:23] He wants you as a sinner to be right with him as only God. And it's a much bigger deal than you think it is. But he wants you to experience forgiveness of your sin.

[00:46:36] That's the point. See that? Go walking out of camp.

[00:46:39] That's your sin. Your son has been removed.

[00:46:42] You my people are right with me. What a great celebration that must have been.

[00:46:48] What a great feeling, what a great moment you're looking at.

[00:46:51] Your loved ones in here, like, yeah, were right with God. He's okay with us. We're not going to die. Praise the Lord. That's what the day of Atonement was all about, it was about God. That's what the Book of Leviticus is all about.

[00:47:08] How can God remove the sin of his people when they are so unclean before him? God has made a way.

[00:47:18] Now, I would think that's the climax. That's that's awesome. That's exciting right there.

[00:47:23] I mean, we have this guilty stain of sin and it has been washed as white as snow. I know some people here at our church, they just went and saw snow for the first time this Christmas break, this New Year's. Right. Remember what it's like to be out there in the snow. A beautiful white blanket that covers the earth feels so pure when it's fallen from the sky. When you're doing a snow angel. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Right. That's where you are now. You were guilty before God. And he has cleansed you so thoroughly through his atoning work that you are now pure.

[00:47:58] You are as white as snow. Yes, a sinner like you is now pure in the eyes of a holy God. That's the good news of atonement. Your sin just left the camp.

[00:48:09] Everybody.

[00:48:11] Now, I would think that let's just ride off into the sunset with the scapegoat there, that sounds but God, he's so particular, he's so specific, he wants to tell them how to clean up. Look at verse 23 here. Then Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting. Let's try to think, why is this here? Aaron shall come into the tent of meeting. He's going to take off the linen garments that he put on when he went into the holy place. And he's going to leave them there and he shall bathe his body in water in a holy place and put on his garments. And he's going to come out. And now he's going to offer the bird offerings. Remember, there was a ram to go off with the with his Ambuhl offering and go for the people. There were also two rams.

[00:48:51] And so now there's these burnt offerings to make atonement for himself and the people.

[00:48:56] And they would burn the bodies of the animals, they would burn them there on the altar, and so there would be constantly this smoke rising from the tabernacle up into the heavens and it says over and over, you're going to read it if you read Leviticus over and over, that there's smoke rising up from these offerings is a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

[00:49:16] It's like the smoke that you can see rising up into the heavens is something that's like an incense and the nostrils of God. It's like a sweet smell to him. And he's so glad to have his people right with him. And so that's why we're doing these burn offerings, verse 25 and the fat of the sin offering.

[00:49:35] He shall burn on the altar and this guy who takes the gold out to Azazeal, the guy who takes the scapegoat into the wilderness. He shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water.

[00:49:45] And afterward he may come into the camp and then it says this verse 27. Look at this with me, the bull for the sin offering. Now, he got this body of the bull here that we offered as a sacrifice. We've been sprinkling the blood of the bull. And now we've got the body of this goat here that we offered for the sin offering whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place.

[00:50:08] They shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin, their flesh, their dung shall be burned up with fire. And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water.

[00:50:21] And afterwards he may come back into the camp. How do you like to be that guy? Who picks up the body of the bull? Maybe there's a bunch of guys picking up the body of these two animals that have been offered as sacrifices. And we're going to carry their carcasses outside the camp and burn them outside. Now, what is the significance of that?

[00:50:43] Why is God saying things so specifically, so distinctly? Why is he making this a point?

[00:50:52] I would think, hey, we already offered the bull. We already offered the goat. We've already seen the scapegoat go free. It's all there. The substitutes have died.

[00:51:01] The blood has been shed and spread around. The removal of sin has happened like we should be celebrating.

[00:51:08] What about these animal dead bodies being burned outside the camp? Will you turn with me to Hebrews 13? And in what we see here in the Book of Hebrews is the expression of this picture that God is trying to to paint this picture, that God's trying to give.

[00:51:26] See, this is what really bothers me about the attitude that we have today that we don't need to study the Old Testament or we don't need to know about the sacrifices of the Old Covenant.

[00:51:35] I hear what you're saying. We don't live under the old covenant. We're gonna go through Leviticus all month.

[00:51:40] We will not sacrifice any animals here at the church.

[00:51:44] I will not be sprinkling blood on anybody. All right. Can anybody with me on that? Be glad we don't do that.

[00:51:50] But here's the thing. These things are a picture of what Jesus came to do.

[00:51:58] The sacrifices, the PREECE, the days of Sabbath and rest, everything that we're going to learn about in Leviticus, it is all a picture of who Jesus is as the lamb of God, who takes away our sin as our high priest, who mediates between God and us as the only one who can give us rest for our souls. It is all about what Jesus does to fulfill the law. Yes, we don't do it.

[00:52:26] But the only reason we don't do it is because Jesus did it all. And that reason that we should study it is because by studying it, we can finally appreciate in the fullness what Jesus really did.

[00:52:40] Like, if you're looking back at Jesus dying on the cross, what you should see behind Jesus is a tabernacle with smoke rising up as a pleasing aroma and the dead animals and their blood and the scape goat leaving. That's the picture of what Jesus is doing for you on the cross.

[00:52:58] And a lot of us, we don't fully understand the sacrifice of Jesus and the significance of his blood and that our sin has really been removed from us because we don't know Leviticus.

[00:53:08] Look what it says here in Hebrews. This guy is writing Hebrews because he wants to prove to the Jews that the new covenant of Jesus is better than the old coven. They have the opposite problem of us. They want to stay in the old covenant. And he's like, no, you got to come to the new covenant. It's better with Jesus. He's fulfilled all of those things. And at the end of his letter here in Hebrews 13, just as like, oh, just like some going away thought. Look at verse eleven. He refers specifically to Leviticus 16, 27, and he says, for the bodies of those animals, remember that bowl? Remember that goat that the high priest sacrifice the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin?

[00:53:52] They're burned outside the camp. You want to know why? Verse twelve. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

[00:54:05] People are watching the scapegoat. There's their sin leaving. I don't even know if they paid attention to the guys carrying out the dead bodies of the of the bowl end of the goat. But you want to know why God put that in there?

[00:54:18] Because that's a picture of Jesus Christ.

[00:54:21] The offering, who would make atonement for your soul? The substitute who would come in your place? The blood that would be shed to pay for your son, Jesus Christ, the one who removes all of your sin. See when they kill Jesus.

[00:54:35] If you ever get to go to Jerusalem and you get to go to the temple, the tabernacle eventually becomes the temple. And it's the centerpiece there in Jerusalem. And you can walk across the street to the Antonya fortress where Jesus stood before pilot and they beat him up and they put the crown of thorns on his head and they had him carry his cross. And you can go down the Via Della Rosa and the road that Jesus walked carrying his cross.

[00:54:58] And what you need to understand is that they killed the people outside this city.

[00:55:05] Because they didn't want that death and that blood there among them.

[00:55:10] And so there's some debate even to this day. Where was the exact spot where Jesus died? A lot of people think it's at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher there in Jerusalem. There's a garden tomb where a lot of Christians go to remember the death of Jesus. You want to know why they're not exactly sure where it was that they crucified Jesus because it was in a place it was outside the city and God saying, my son's going to die outside the city. And I put a picture of that all the way back at the day of Atonement. So you could know this was my plan the entire time. God has always been and always will be. While we're still here on Earth in the atonement business, what God wants is for you to hear him and to be right with him.

[00:55:56] And he's saying, yeah, those animals got burned outside the camp because Jesus died outside the camp.

[00:56:02] When he shed his blood. For your sins. So what do we do?

[00:56:07] To experience atonement today, we don't sacrifice animals. We don't sprinkle blood. We have no scapegoat going outside the church after the service told me to first John Chapter one. Let me show you how we should think about this today, how we can experience atonement through Jesus Christ right here at church. This is first John, chapter one, verse five. It's on page 1021. I really need everybody to think through this passage with me. And this is first, John, one, verse five. And John is writing and he's saying this is the message we have heard from him. He's talking about Jesus. He's saying, I'm an eyewitness of Jesus. Let me tell you what I heard Jesus say. What I have heard from him.

[00:56:52] I proclaim to you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. Can I get a man from anybody on that? Is he if you ever hear somebody say, God did this, God did that. They're trying to blame God for something that God did, something that he shouldn't have done. Let me just tell you right now, your first thought should be that person is wrong. And what they're saying, because I know for sure God didn't do something wrong.

[00:57:20] God is holy. He is set apart.

[00:57:24] That's what it's saying here. He is like. There is no compromise in the character of God.

[00:57:30] There is no impurity in who God is.

[00:57:34] He is completely other than us. He is not like us in any way. So if we say we have fellowship with him, I know God. I'm right with God.

[00:57:43] I have atonement while we walk in darkness. We. What does it say there we want. I know the holy God well, I'm still over here in my sin, that's a lie. John says. Don't you know, atonement works, unclean, can't come in fellowship with clean the people who tried to do that, they died. No. Don't lie. Don't act like, you know, God. If you're still in your sin, no verse seven. If we walk in the light as he is in the light. We have fellowship with one another. And the blood of Jesus, his son cleanses us from all sin. How much sin does it say Jesus cleanses us from? So I want you to really think about that for a second. Because it says that the blood of Jesus Jesus is your substitute. He died on the cross in your place.

[00:58:35] His blood was flowing down from his head, his hands, his feet. There was a pool of blood there at the cross that was offered for you.

[00:58:43] And it says that that blood of Jesus, his substitute sacrifice, it can cleanse you from all sin.

[00:58:53] So let me ask you.

[00:58:55] Let's think this through together. Are you cleansed from all sin or are you a sinner?

[00:59:01] That's interesting, isn't it, because I hear a lot of people, one hundred percent sure that I'm saved and I'm going to heaven. But if you ask them, what would they say about themself or I'm a sinner, I'm a wretch.

[00:59:11] I'm unclean. Right.

[00:59:13] OK, well, let's think that through it, saying here, John's wanting us to think about this. He's light. There's no darkness in him. Jesus has cleansed us from all sin. OK. So we we know about the reality of sin, but we should also know about the reality that Jesus has cleansed us from since. So how should we think about this verse eight if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.

[00:59:38] See, you're underestimating yourself. You think you're all right. You're way more sinful than you realize.

[00:59:43] He's saying, don't be deceived. You've got sin. But then here's what we can do about it. Verse nine. If we confess our sins, he is faithful. And just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from how much unrighteousness does it say we'll be cleansed from all unrighteousness?

[01:00:01] And then it goes on to say, if we say we have not sinned, now we're making God a liar and his word is not in us.

[01:00:07] God is saying that we are unclean, that we have sin. And if we're going to condemn, we have to be forgiving of that sin. We have to be cleansed.

[01:00:18] So here's here's what you should know.

[01:00:20] As one of God's people, if you're a Christian, if you're my brother or sister in Christ, you do not need to walk around like a sinner. Yes, you need to acknowledge your sin. But if you go to God and you confess your sin, he will forgive you for your sin. He will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. And you will be like watching the go run out of the camp with all of your sin with it. As far as the east is from the west and you can walk out of here today white as snow. That's what we're saying.

[01:00:50] You don't have to be like, well, I'm a sinner. There's nothing I can do about it. Jesus has already done something about it. He's offered perfect atonement to cleanse you from all sin. And so you've got to approach the tabernacle. You've got to come and put your hand on the animal. And you've got to say I'm the one who has sinned. Let me agree with you, God. Let me acknowledge my scene before you God. Here's what I did. I mistreated that person in my life. I said that thing I shouldn't have said. I thought that thing that only, you know, I thought. But I knew it was wrong when I thought it. And I come to you and I agree with you. I have sinned. And the moment you do that, you are forgiven for that sin. You are cleansed from all of it. It is separated from you completely, why are so many of us walking around under the burden of guilt and sin when we can just come to God and confess it and experience cleansing? There is a tone man in Jesus Christ.

[01:01:51] And you can have it here today.

[01:01:54] Every single person here today, his blood is sufficient to pay for your sin. There's a very unfortunate chapter break here and first, John, because chapter two, verse one continues the idea. Look what it says. He says, My little children, he's writing to people who are who are believers, who are Christians.

[01:02:13] He's saying, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin when you think about the holiness of God. When you think about the cleansing blood of Jesus, I want you to not sin. But if anyone does sin and we know that we do as Christians. Here's what he wants us to know. We have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. There is a priest who stands in our defense.

[01:02:37] There is a helper who calls alongside of us when you have seen before God.

[01:02:42] There is one who stands in the gap for you. And his name is Jesus. And he is the righteous one. Why would you walk around under this burden of the guilt of sin when Jesus stands ready to defend you and claim you as his own? He's ready to say that he's your substitute. That his blood has washed you. And that you are to be forgiven for all of your sin.

[01:03:06] And then it goes on to say here in chapter two, verse two, he Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

[01:03:20] And when it says in Leviticus, chapter one, verse four, that God is going to set up these offerings so that people can have atonement. The Hebrew word there is Kafar to be right with God. When they try to say Kafar in the Hebrew, in the Greek, which is what John is riding in here, the Greek word that they use to translate Kafar is his laws Mohs. That's the word that's translated propitiation.

[01:03:44] Jesus Christ is your atoning sacrifice. Not only is he your atoning sacrifice, he is the atoning sacrifice that is available to all people.

[01:03:53] God is speaking to the whole world saying, I want you to have atonement. I want you to be acceptable.

[01:04:01] I sent my son Jesus. He's your substitute. He shed his blood. Your sin can be removed.

[01:04:09] Is that your experience, brothers and sisters?

[01:04:13] Are you walking around forgiving? Are you walking around clean, you can have that. You can have a Tony.

[01:04:24] This is not some brutal thing that's hard to understand that God is setting up. This is a beautiful gift that God wants to give you a right relationship with him through his son, Jesus.

[01:04:34] The Vicas is painting a picture and Jesus. Is the answer.

[01:04:41] And so we're gonna do the thing that God does tell us to do in the church. We're gonna take communion right now and I'm gonna ask the ushers to come forward. And we're going to give you a moment to spend in the presence of God. I want you to think about that picture walking up to the Tabernacle and putting your hand on an animal, and let me ask you, my brothers and sisters, is there something that you need to confess before the Lord because there is atonement available, this bread that we're gonna have, that's the body of Jesus.

[01:05:08] This cup that we're gonna have, that's the blood of Jesus. And that blood. That body can cleanse you from all of your sins and make you write with God. And this is a moment for us to say thank you to God. This is a moment for us to remember and to worship that I am clean from all my sin and I have been forgiven. And it's all because of my sacrifice, Jesus Christ, and what he's done to remove my sin.

[01:05:33] But if you're insane. You should confess that Dow.

[01:05:38] And you should you should leave that here with the Lord. And you should walk out of here forgiving and cleanse. And let me just talk to some of you who are not Christians who have never confessed your sin.

[01:05:49] So there comes a point in your life where you are unclean before God and God has to make you right. We call it salvation. You have to confess your sins and trust that Jesus is your sacrifice. And if you've never turned from your sin and trusted in Jesus. Let me just make it very clear.

[01:06:05] If you don't have a substitute who has shed his blood to remove your sin, you're going to die.

[01:06:12] When you go before God. You either get atonement or you get judgment. Those are the two options. And God wants you to have a tom.

[01:06:23] And so we have these elements here to remember Jesus, that's for those of us who believe in him, if you don't believe in him, you don't need these elements. You need Jesus Christ.

[01:06:33] You need to come before God right now. You need to lay your hand out there and you need to say, yeah, it's me. I did it. I'm guilty of sin.

[01:06:43] And I need you in Jesus to cleanse me from that sin, even if you come to God and you confess your sin. Let me tell you, I promise you this. God is faithful and just to forgive you for your sin. And he will cleanse you from all of your own righteousness. That's what he does. And our people in this room that you need to experience atonement today before it's too late and the judgment comes. So I'm going to pray for us. We're gonna get these elements and then we'll all take them together. But you have a time to pray. Let me start it out. Father, we want to thank you for speaking to us today from the Book of Leviticus. Father, we want to thank you for speaking to us through your son, Jesus Christ, through his sacrifice, through his blood. That speaks a better word than any claim we will hear upon this earth. God, we praise you that in Jesus Christ, there is atonement. We can be forgiven for our sins and cleansed from all and righteousness. And we now remember what Jesus has done. And God, thank you for giving us the picture in Leviticus. Thank you for giving us the fulfillment. In Jesus and got here we are right now in your presence with all of your people. And the blood of Jesus can cleanse us from all of our sins.

[01:07:57] How foolish it would be for us to hold on to that sense and deny that sin, to not confess that sin and to walk out of here guilty when we could confess that sin to you right now and walk out of here forgiving God. So I pray for my brothers and sisters that we will remember Jesus Christ, our sacrifice, his blood, that we will say thank you right now and we worship you.

[01:08:22] God, please don't let us walk around like by like sinners when Jesus has already paid for our sin and we have seen that has come before you. Let us confess. That's it. Let us acknowledge what we have done and let us walk away. Forgiven it made right with you. God, I beg you, for the souls in this room right now who do not know you because they have never acknowledged their sin, they've never turned from it. They haven't trusted in Jesus to wash them clean. God, this is the moment. This is the hour. You're speaking to them. Let them hear you. God save their soul. Let people be crying out to you right now for forgiveness. When you've done so much to make a way for us unclean people to come to you, a holy God.

[01:09:11] You gave your one and only son is a sacrifice. So we worship him now and Jesus.

RELATED

[bibblio style="bib--split bib--row-4 bib--font-arial bib--size-18 bib--wide bib--image-top bib__module" query_string_params="e30=" recommendation_type="related"]