The Day of Atonement (09/23/2001)
Pastor David Mitchell
Transcript
Dear father, we thank you for the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and that it has
Taken our sins away we thank you that it is fully powerful and Lord we thank you that it is the perfect sacrifice and father we pray that you would convict us of any
Unconfessed sin that we might get that right with you during the first moments of our day together
We would not want to be one who would quench your spirit or grieve your spirit And father may you also rebuke the enemy and remove him from this place for this is not his place
And we're not his people we've been set free by our Lord Jesus Christ and And may your
Holy Spirit move among us and teach us in a powerful way today and to impress upon our hearts the things that we need to learn from these passages of Scripture and And accomplish that work in our lives.
It's necessary make us fit To serve you in our day and we ask it in Jesus name.
Amen Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 23 this morning
Last a couple of Sundays. We've been talking about the Feast of the Trumpets and We're coming up this week upon the
Day of Atonement And so we'll speak about that this morning but we'll review just a little bit in case you weren't here the last couple of times before we move into the
Feast of the The time of the Day of Atonement well, look at Leviticus 23 and let's read verse 24 and Then we'll go down to verse 27 which speaks of this feast.
We're about to study together but Leviticus 23 24 says speaking to the children of Israel saying in the seventh month and the first day of the month shall
You have a Sabbath a memorial of blowing of trumpets a holy convocation we've spent a couple of Sundays talking about this feast of the trumpets and Pointing out that it is a sabbatical month because even though the rabbinical
Jews call this the new year It's not the new year because God said that the new year would begin in Nisan which is the time of The feast of the
Passover So this is actually the seventh month from that time. So it's a sabbatical month
It is to a year what the Sabbath is to a week After Babylon, we found that they found the
Word of God under Ezra and began to observe the new year day or this feast of trumpets
They cried but Ezra told them not to cry because it was a day of rejoicing and thanksgiving unto the
Lord and that's an odd thing When you consider that this feast pictures the tribulation period
Why would it be a day of thanksgiving and rejoicing? well you don't really recognize that until you go beyond this feast and get to the day of atonement and then you'll begin to see why it is a is a time of rejoicing
Thanksgiving because as the Apostle Paul said all Israel shall be saved on that day
And so all of the Jewish people who go through the tribulation period and who are standing there at the end shall be saved 100 % of them will receive the
Lord Jesus Christ as their Messiah The trumpet of the feast of trumpets is from a ram
It is a ram's horn and it pictures the ram that God Substituted for Isaac and the Jews make much of this in their prayers during this festival time
The trumpets symbolize three things to the Jew now. I'm not saying all these are biblical things, but this is just what the
Jew Believes number one the trumpet symbolizes repentance and it is a call from God to those who are dead spiritually to experience physical
I mean spiritual resurrection and to come alive through regeneration and repentance the second thing they feel that the trumpet pictures is
It is a reminder to the Lord himself of their covenant Relationship and that he might be gentle with them.
And the third thing that it pictures to the Jew even today is the trumpet sound is to confuse
Satan who they see as the accuser of the brethren and Who they believe has special power on this day to go about and to accuse
Israel on this particular first day Of the feast of trumpets now, why would they be concerned about him going about confusing the people on this day?
Because remember that this is followed by the ten Terrible days they believe there are three books that one book is a book for the thoroughly righteous
They don't think there are many people in that book and they're right From their viewpoint because they think that righteousness comes by works
And so if that were true, there would be no one in this book No humans other than the
Lord Jesus Christ, of course would have been the second book is the book that has people in it who are neither thoroughly righteous nor thoroughly evil and they consider that book to be full of the most of the people which
I would have to agree with them again on that and In the third book that they believe there is is the book that's for the thoroughly evil and they're going to hell and that's it
Now that's the way that you believes. So since they believe that most of the people are in this second book
They believe that the ten days from the beginning of the feast of trumpets until the Day of Atonement is a great important Awesome days that are to be used for repentance and so forth and so they go about doing good works they do good deeds and they are kinder to people than they are throughout the rest of the year and So they have these days now.
It's important to them that this is a day of Satan trying to confuse them to keep them from doing these good works so that they would perhaps
Drop down into that third book and so they're highly concerned about Satan Confusing during this time period.
I think it's interesting that they have these beliefs About these three books now as we have studied the scriptures dealing with this feast
We believe that the feast as all the other feasts do there are types or symbols
That teaches spiritual truths and that are fulfilled over in the New Testament we believe that these trumpets refer to the same trumpets that are in the book of Revelation and That it is a picture a type of that tribulation period now
Let's go to Leviticus 23 and verse 27 and read this together It says also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement
It shall be in Holy Convocation unto me and ye shall afflict your souls and offer an offering made by fire
Unto the Lord now, let's move over into this area and study this day of atonement because it's coming up this week and What is there for us and for our children
To learn from this particular feast or this time period in the calendar of the Jew Well, this word atonement
Yom Kippur It comes from the Hebrew word cop air, which means to cover which comes from a root word cofair, which means ransom and it's interesting that the same word for atonement is also the word that's used of the tar that was smeared on the bottom of the ark during the time of the flood and The very same word is used for that and this is what the word atonement means a covering covering of the sin
It is also known by the Jew to be a day of judgment and reckoning a
Sabbath of all Sabbaths During this time period two goats one and we'll study about this later not today
But the next Sunday we have an opportunity to continue with this feast We'll talk about the sacrifices in particular
But you have a two goats one is a scapegoat that they did not kill but they sent him into the wilderness
With the sins of the people upon him and the other goat was sacrificed along with a bullock and a red heifer and This blood was applied and sprinkled for the cleansing of the people from all defilement and sin
On this day. The high priest was assisted by over 500 priests and They performed all of these solemn rites and elaborate rites on upon this day
This priest was separated for seven days from the rest of the people he washed his body five times in his hands and his feet ten times and Then after killing the bullock and the second goat
Which was the one that was set apart for Jehovah? He sprinkled the most holy place and the veil and the altar of incense and the altar of burnt offering
Cleansing them from defilement and sin of the people and we'll discuss these things later not today
He then appeared before the very presence of God The most holy place which we call the
Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant was the mercy seat and the Shekinah glory, which is the very presence of God and Remember that at this point in time and from this time forward
He was only allowed to go into this place one time a year So one man the high priest could enter this place the
Holy of Holies once a year not without blood For the sins of the people
Man named Victor Burks Boston wrote a book called the gospel in the Feast of Israel and he says this about Yom Kippur and he gives us a very sad
Rendition of what the Jew is going through during this time and what he thinks But he also relates it to the modern church.
So I want you to listen to this very carefully He says in spite of Yom Kippur the day dedicated to atonement
There is no assurance of sins forgiven in Judaism There is longing
There is hope for forgiveness but of assurance there is none Judaism could best be summed up as man's attempt to justify himself by his own effort
Judaism has tried hard to find a substitute for Christ Unscriptural so -called
Christianity is trying hard even today to do the same thing The result is only a man -made
Substitute religion which increases the abyss between God and man
Now turn keep your hand there in Leviticus we'll come back to it but turn to Hebrews chapter 9 and verse 13
Hebrews 9 13 for if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of an heifer
Sprinkling the unclean sanctified to the purifying of the flesh How much more shall the blood of Christ?
Who through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God? Purge your conscience from dead works to serve the
Living God We're going to find in this passage of Scripture and other places in the book of Hebrews how the
Lord gives the Antitype to the type that is given to us in the day of atonement and the sacrifices in other words
We see that these sacrifices in the Old Testament were pictures and types of what the
Lord Jesus Christ really has done So it speaks of this
It goes on and says in verse 15 and for this cause he the Lord Jesus is the mediator of the
New Testament that by means of death for the redemption of the Transgressions that were under the
First Testament They which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance
For when let's get down to verse 19 for when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law he took the blood of calves and goats with water and scarlet wool and hyssop and Sprinkled both the book and all the people saying this is the blood of the
Testament which God hath enjoined it to you Moreover, he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry and almost all things are by law
Purged by blood and without shedding of blood is no remission It was therefore necessary that the patterns of things in heaven should be purified with these but the heavenly things themselves
With better sacrifices than these the Lord points out the fact that all of the vessels and the very place the temple and All the things that had to do with these sacrifices were a type or a picture
But they were not the real thing The real thing is in heaven There really is a place
That the mercy seat pictured in that tab wilderness tabernacle and in the temple later there is a place in heaven that has this mercy seat and When they went in they sprinkled the blood of calves and goats upon this
Seat which was a place really of judgment. It was the place where the just God dwelt he was pictured by the
Shekinah glory and The two cherubim were facing this place
Which they are created to vindicate the very holiness of God This was really an awesome place of judgment
And when this blood was sprinkled on this place It was turned from being a judgment seat really into a mercy seat and that's the name that it carries
But we have to remember that that was just a picture of the true heavenly things
The heavenly things themselves had to have a better sacrifice than the blood of these animals
And So we come to see in verse 24 for Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands
He didn't enter into this place on the earth into this temple and Take the blood of animals because these were figures of the truth but Christ entered into heaven itself
Now to appear in the presence of God and the two words for us or perhaps the most precious words in the
Word of God because that little word for is What saves you and me?
He died for us He died in our place He died with our sins every single sin you will do your entire bought life on this earth
From the day you're born to the day you die until the day the rapture occurs Every one of those was in his body when he was on that tree and when he died your sins were in him
Now, let me tell you brother Russell was giving me a statistic that I found difficult to believe that Over there over a billion moose
Muslims in the world today Which amounts to about 20 % of the entire population of the earth?
Hold the religion of Islam And the problem with the religion of Islam is that Muhammad?
Never did claim to enter in to this heavenly place and present perfect sacrificial blood
That was never done for them So they're still steeped in law and the
Jew today who has been blinded and does not see the Lord Jesus Christ as his Salvation as his
Lord as his Savior. He is also steeped in law and many Christians today and our churches all across this country who are totally ignorant of what the blood of Christ has done for them are
Steeped in law because they have quote standards. They have rules They have regulations that they try to place people under how they dress where they go what they listen to what they do
And they try to place this upon their brothers and sisters When in reality, that's not their job so legalism is a part and parcel of many churches today
And so we see though that what Jesus did was he appeared in the presence of God For us if you ever want to see that vividly read
Isaiah chapter 53 in the Old Testament You ever want to witness to a Jewish person use the
Isaiah Road? Don't use the Romans Road because they don't believe in the book of Romans But go into Isaiah 53 and read to them how
Jesus Upon this lamb was placed the iniquity of us
Verse 25 says nor yet that he should offer himself often as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year
With blood for others Jesus did not have to do this For then must he have suffered since the foundation of the world
There are many people around us who believe that you can lose your salvation Now if they were right about that we might go with them
But the part that really becomes blasphemy is when they say you can gain it back again Hebrews chapter 6 the first few verses very clearly teaches that if you could lose your salvation
You could never gain it back because to do so would be to recrucify The Son of God and to place him to open shame to me that speaks of blasphemy
We cannot recrucify him He does not have to give this sacrifice again and again and again and then you go out and you sin
So he has to give the sacrifice again next year and next year. No, no No, that's not what the scripture says in verse 26
It says for then must he have suffered since the foundation of the world, but now once in The end of the world hath he appeared once Hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of him self
And as it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment Yes, there will be a judgment for every man woman boy and girl in this place and all across the world
Those who sponsored the The human bombs that were created last week they shall face
God His name will not be Allah But they will face the true
God and they will be judged every one of us will be judged
But the beautiful thing about the judgment of his own those of us who have received the
Lord Jesus Christ Our judgment really took place 2 ,000 years ago When the sky turned dark and the earth quaked and Jesus said mama, mama
Mama subak than I I God my God Why has thou forsaken me?
God turned his head away from his son He turned his face away from his own son and the
Lord Jesus Christ faced Eternal judgment and your sins were in his body that day
If you belong to the Lord Jesus, that was the day of your judgment now Yes there will be a judgment seat of Christ where we answer for the deeds that we've done in this body and That'll be very simple similar to a child answering to his own father
For what he did that day when he comes home and mom says you need to go talk To Johnny dad you need to go in there and talk to him.
It'll be similar to that That's not the same as Some people think when they say that you'd be kicked out of the household and you're no longer a child that never happens so our judgment concerning Our salvation has already taken place
The only judgment we will face and I don't mean to minimize it because it's an entirely different topic altogether.
That's very serious In fact our study of Yom Kippur the day of atonement
Which pictures the second coming by the way We should be very somber when we consider the fact that we shall face him for the deeds
We've done but as his children will face him Not to find out if we made it or not.
If you have to find that out, it's too late You didn't if you get to that place in time and you're trying to find out it's too late
But as his children as you face that judgment seat of Christ For things that you have not confessed that you did in this body
Then you will confess at that time well Isn't it wonderful that our judgment from the point of view of what we're talking about in Hebrews has already taken place the day that He came in the presence of God for us and presented the blood
He presented the blood in the heavenlies Verse 28 says so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and The to them that look for him.
Shall he appear the second time? without sin unto salvation that second appearance is what
Yom Kippur pictures the Jews have kept this season for thousands of years and Again and again they go into it with the
Feast of Trumpets where they picture the tribulation period and the feast of The Yom Kippur where they picture the actual second coming and the judgment time
First Thessalonians 4 16 through 17 says for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout
With the voice of the Archangel and with the Trump of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together
With them in the in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the
Lord? That's why there's great joy During this time as well so we have the
Feast of Trumpets and then we have Yom Kippur and What's very fascinating to me is following that is that you celebrate the feast of the tabernacles where they go and dwell in tents
And this is a picture of the Millennial Kingdom So it's all there for the Jew God has pictured it again and again every year in their calendar year all of these feasts picture
God's program for all of time Well back to Leviticus chapter 16 now if you would
I gave you an overview of how these feasts sort of fit together in the fall feasts and A little bit of an overview of Yom Kippur and what it has to do with and I want us to get into the specifics
Which will take a little bit more time this morning to begin that and then next time we'll talk about the scriptural aspects of it
Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 16 And while you're doing that I want to read a little bit more portion out of Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1
It says for the law having a shadow of good things to come and not the very image of the thing
Can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers there into perfect So the law could never make the people perfect before God Those sacrifices done year in and year out could not make them perfect for God What they did do is they atoned for their sins.
They covered the sins for a time until the Lord Jesus would come Verse 3 of Hebrews 10 says but in those sacrifices now listen to this.
There is a remembrance again made of sins every year First thing it's interesting that the
Bible teaches that the sacrifices that they did did not take their sins away but rather caused them to remember their sins a
Remembrance of sins every year or it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins
Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he says sacrifice and offering thou woulds not but a body has thou prepared me in Burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou has had no pleasure
Interesting passage of Scripture. Does it mean God never had pleasure and the Sacrifices that they did throughout the
Old Testament times It's not exactly what it means, but it does mean though in the sense of whether they caused him to be propitiated and dissatisfied
They did not accomplish that because that was not accomplished until the Lord Jesus died on the cross and So we see that these were remembrances for sin
Well Let's go into Leviticus 16 Take a study at of the
Day of Atonement Verse by verse and see what we can glean from it Verse 1 and The Lord said unto
Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered before the
Lord and died and The Lord said unto 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
For I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat he's introducing the concept that he's not going to go in there, but once it one day a year not at all times and Thus shall
Aaron come into the holy place with a young bullet for a sin offering and a ram for a burn offering
Now we're not going to get very far into this this morning So let's stop there But let's go back to verse 1 and I want to show you something that's very very important in understanding this
Before God introduces the Concept of the offerings that would be given this one day of the year on the
Day of Atonement We see this interesting verse in verse 1. There's a little background here that we need to understand before we go any further
And really that's all we'll have time for this morning. But let's look at the background God is about to teach them the right way to do this
God is about to teach them the right animals to use and the right way to kill the animals and the right way to apply the blood in the right place to apply the blood in the right time to do it and the right order of services and the right person to do it and Exactly how he wants it done and What God is going to point out very clearly in this passage to the one who is a careful reader
Is that man cannot approach God man's way? Cain tried that once and it didn't work for him
Man can only approach God God's way. There is only one way of approach
Now there have been people throughout Bible history and then there are people still today in churches all around us this morning
They're trying to approach God their own way. They're trying to figure out all different new methods Whether it be a program or it be a method of worship
Whether it be bringing the world into the church in order to bring a crowd so that we can then preach the gospel to them
All the different ways man thinks up to try to worship God We'd better be very careful
Because look at verse 1 and the Lord spake unto Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron Now what was happening here
What does he mean the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered before the Lord and died?
Here we have two young men Who were before the Lord doing the Lord's religious service seemingly and God killed them.
Let's look back at chapter 10 I think we should go there before we get into the right way to worship Let's see why
God is telling us that there is a wrong way in a right way to worship and we'd better be very careful
And reminded that these two young men were taken Because they attempted to worship
God their own way Look at chapter 10 verse 1 And Nadab and Abihu the sons of Aaron Took either of them his censer and put fire therein and put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the
Lord Which he commanded them not now what makes the fire strange? The fact that he commanded them not
They went out and invented their own way to worship God God had not told him to do it this way and God was very specific in the details that he gave
Moses on how to handle the wilderness tabernacle and then later God gave
Solomon the temple, but the wilderness tabernacle and all of the vessels that were used and how to use them
And so forth. Well, these two young men just invented their own Modern way to worship
God you might call them modernists today And in the midst of this
It says that there was fire therein and they put incense thereon and offered strange fire before the
Lord which God Commanded them not and there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the
Lord Then Moses said unto Aaron This is it that the Lord spake now what we're gonna see in this little passage
This is all we'll have time for this morning's this passage, but I want you to see four very important points
That have to do with how we approach God The first points given in verse 3 as Moses instructs them what just happened
I mean here is a man Aaron who has just seen his sons devoured by fire from God and he thought his sons were worshiping
God and the sons may have thought that and So he's standing there with his mouth open perhaps shocked in Moses comes and gives an explanation of what just happened
Moses said unto Aaron immediately after his sons were destroyed by fire
This is it that the Lord spake. He's saying this is why this happened Aaron When the
Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me and Before all the people
I will be glorified and Aaron held his peace He knew Moses was right.
He didn't say a word to him What is Moses saying here? Look at it very carefully
The Lord spake saying I will be sanctified in them that come near me
Now that's not saying it in such a way as Prophetically there will come a day when
I will be that's not what God is saying. God is saying it emphatically He's saying this is what
I will have This is my way. I will have it this way that those who come near me
Must sanctify me in their hearts Now it's not talking about you being sanctified
There are places all through the Bible where it talks about us being sanctified by God where he changes to be changes us
Day by day to be more like the Lord Jesus Christ In holiness
Enlighten us and that's what sanctification means It's a thing that happens at least a great portion of the teaching happens in time and space and we call it experiential
Sanctification it's what God does to us day by day. He uses both what we perceive to be the bad things
And the reason they're not really bad is because God's using those things to sanctify us and all that But this is not talking about the sanctification of us.
This is talking about the sanctification of him Which is more important than the sanctification of us because there's no way that you and I will ever become more like God than if then other than if we
Sanctify him in our hearts and make a place in our heart. That's just for him and we have no idols there
We have no other things there. We don't have the cares of the world there. We don't have the pleasures of this life there
We don't have the riches there We don't even have the worries of what's going on in the world there.
We don't have our loved ones there We don't have our wife. Our children are not there only
God himself is in this place in our heart and God said this is the way I will have it when you come to worship me
Have me in that place or don't come to worship me because then you're offering strange fire
How many are offering strange fire in this room today? How many are offering it all across this country today even in the name of Christianity because they came and they sat on a pew
Like you said this morning in Sunday school. I put both cheeks on the pew. Is that really what you said?
This Bonner, I think that's what I heard you say it was interesting turn the other cheek As no, but I thought the verse meant you're gonna have to get with me after church and explain that to me
But people come in and they sit in the pew and They offer strange fire because they don't have
God sanctified in their heart. That's dangerous Don't even come
Stay home unless you want to go to church where they play church Even that's dangerous because that's what was going on this day
Some three thousand five hundred years ago and these two young men's lost their lives because of it
So the first thing that's taught in this passage before we can ever go in and see what the right way is
Which yom kippur is going to be a picture of it is we must see what the wrong way is the wrong way is to try to Reach God your way
And not have God truly sanctified in your heart sanctified means set apart a
Place in your heart where he dwells a place in your heart where you go to be with him Daily and certainly when you come to worship a day of worship like we're doing today
You better be in that place This is it that the Lord spake saying
I will be sanctified in them that come near me and look at the result of this kind of sanctification when you and I have a place for God in our heart that we reserve for him only and Before all the people
I will be glorified. We worry so much about what it means to go out and witness Does it mean to go out and be a soul winner?
Well, that is a biblical term. He that winneth souls is wise the Bible says What does it mean to be a witness?
I'll tell you what it better mean is that you as you go out into the world and as the people observe you
They observe that there's a place in your heart set aside for God only and they see that so clearly that they might listen to your words
If they don't see that you might as well forget the words because they'll only do damage. I Will be glorified so here we see a way that God is glorified in this world around us in time and space on this earth in our generation
Is only if we have that special place in our heart where we meet with him Now there's some more information here as we study this mistake this life and death mistake that Nadab and Abihu just made as their father watches them being taken from this earth by fire straight from God They didn't have a place in their heart for God.
They were going about to do their own thing and to worship God in their own way So we see that Some other things take place verse 4
Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan the sons of Uzziel Who was the uncle of Aaron and said to them come near carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp?
and so they went near and carried them in their coats out of the camp as Moses has said and Moses said unto
Aaron and to Eleazar and into Ithamar his sons These were the sons that were left the sons of Aaron who were left alive
Uncover not your heads and now he's telling them you can't even mourn for these two young men Do not even mourn for them
He's telling the father and these brothers who perhaps just saw this happen in front of their eyes Don't shed a tear for them
Don't cover your heads neither rend your clothes lest ye die and the and lest wrath come upon all the people
But let your brethren the whole house of Israel be well the burning which the
Lord hath kindled let others mourn them But you may not mourn them. This is hard, isn't it? This is hard put yourself in this place and you shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle the congregation
He said you stay put you stay in your place of service for a while Don't even go out of here because you'll die if you do for the anointing oil of the
Lord is upon you Well, that's an interesting warning for those of us who are God's children His an oil of anointing is upon us and he says don't go out from your place of service stay there for the anointing oil of the
Lord is upon you and they did according to the Word of Moses and The Lord spake unto
Aaron saying now look at this. Here comes the second point Do not drink wine nor strong drink now you wasn't saying it was wrong to do this for the average person
But he's telling these servants of God who have a place sanctified in their hearts for God Who are the priests and all of you if you're born again today?
The Bible says you are believer priests. So this applies to you He says do not drink wine or strong drink thou nor thy sons with thee when you go into the tabernacle of the congregation lest ye die
It shall be a statute forever Throughout your generations now and lest we misunderstand this teaching
He comes in and tells us exactly what he meant by it Here's what God says he meant by it and that ye may put a difference.
Listen to me. Ladies and gentlemen this is what's missing in modern religion and That you may put a difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean
Why is it that the church is so much more laid -back today than it was when your grandfathers went to church
Is it because we have more light and how it really ought to be we understand grace better than they did and And all those things or is it because they had more of a sense of duty to make sure that what went on in the
Religious services was different than what went on in the world. It looked different It sounded different it tasted different There was a difference between the holy and the unholy in worship at the turn of the century in this country today in many churches
Today there's very little difference your young people could go into a youth group in most churches in this city today and Hear the same kind of rock music that they heard
Saturday night in their cars Same music maybe Jesus's word name is in it a little bit more or a little bit
No, but it's the same music Now I'm not necessarily preaching on whether or not it's right or wrong to listen to that music on Saturday night
But I'm touching on Sunday. I'm touching on in our worship services Do we want and it's not the music itself by the way
God created music For his own pleasure the point don't miss the point The point is this there ought to be a difference in the way
It is in this room this morning when we're worshiping God than it is out there in the world all week long this was one of the key points and that there may put a difference between holy and unholy and between unclean and clean and Here's another point and they that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statute which the
Lord hath spoken unto them By the hand of Moses there ought to be Bible teaching going on in churches Do you know that most people have evolved to the place today where they think that what preaching is supposed to be is one or Two verses read and then a motivational speech given to make you want to get out and go do something for God through shouting and hollering and and moving all over the platform
And whatever means is used some churches use theatrical presentations on Sunday morning now instead of preaching
My Bible says that God wanted to accomplish it through the foolishness of preaching, but they've removed that even now and they do plays
Well, that's even better because people listen to the play and they'll get the point. Well, that may be better, but it's strange fire
It's not how God said to do it God said that a part of this service has to do with his word being taught line by line
To the people and if you remember in our last couple of services sermons where we talked about Ezra and how
He describes gave the sense of the of the scriptures to the people where they not only heard it read
But they understood what God meant by it and they taught the people and what did the people do they wept? They began to weep as they heard
God's voice and saw what God was saying very clearly. This is missing in our churches This is why people going back and do the same stuff and the country doesn't change and we're getting worse and worse
It's comes from the pulpit folks. The the first place of judgment is with the people of God Not with the people in New York City in those buildings that most of them didn't you know
How I know most of them didn't know God because the biggest word I heard on TV is I hear him running and fling
They're saying Oh God They're using God's name in vain when they say that a person who knows
God doesn't address the Lord that way Or if you did you're talking to him when you do it, you're not just using it as a phrase of fear and Those poor people so many of them did not know him personally.
I'm not judging them I'm just saying most people right here. Of course can I don't know him personally?
Jesus himself said most people won't know me personally narrow is the way he said And it's so sad to think
And People in our churches are not being taught the scriptures
In a sense in which God means it and that's missing and then I see a fourth thing we won't read for sake of time the the rest of this passage, but let's go over in here to Verse 17,
I thought was very interesting and I had to study this and ask the Lord to teach me what he was saying here
Because it's not a passage that it had meant much to me before in the times I've read through it, but all of a sudden it kind of jumped off the page verse 17
Wherefore have you not eaten the sin offering? Now we got to go to verse 15
I'm sorry for 16 for it to make sense to you. But Moses is going in now he's taught them how to do this and they're doing this offering and Moses cannot find the goat and They had burnt the goat in its entirety already and it made
Moses angry and this is what's going on verse 16 Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering and behold it was already burnt and He was angry with Eliezer and Ithamar the sons of Aaron which were left alive saying
Wherefore have you not eaten the sin offering in the holy place? see they were the priests were supposed to eat the meat after it was offered and This was part of the offering and I'm sure
Aaron is here now Frightened to death. He's already lost two sons because they did not do it, right?
And now Moses is angry at his other two sons Why didn't you do just what
I said to do Moses says Wherefore have you not eaten the sin offering in the holy place?
Seeing it is most holy and God hath given it to you. Now. Look at this phrase was the phrase that I found fascinating God has given it to you to eat so that you may bear the iniquity of the congregation
What in the world does that mean? I Thought it was the sacrifice that bore the iniquity and now the
God is saying I mean Moses is telling these that when you eat the sacrifice You are then bearing the iniquity of the congregation to make atonement for them before the
Lord now The story ended good here in verse 18 through 20 Aaron spoke up and Moses accepted what he said and and Moses heard that and he was content and they went on but the teaching here
Is found I believe in 2nd Corinthians 5 8 and go over there and this Must be the last passage we look at but I want you to see this 2nd
Corinthians 5 8 We are confident
I say and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord There's no such thing as soul sleep, by the way, because the moment you're absent from your body you are present with the
Lord Therefore we labor That where the present are absent we may be accepted of him
For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ and we'll talk about this more as we get into studying this feast of Yom Kippur and how it pictures the second coming and different types of judgment that take place
That everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad
Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men But we are made manifest unto
God and I trust also are made manifest in your consciences For we commend not ourselves again unto you
But give you occasion to glory on our behalf that ye may have somewhat to answer them which glory and appearance
But not in heart for whether we be beside ourselves. It is not of to God or whether we be sober
It is for your cause Now when we start with verse 14, we began to get a glimpse of what
Moses was speaking of You see when they ate the sacrifice All of a sudden the sacrifice was in them
Now think of the places in the New Testament where Jesus Christ said you and me and I in you and even the
Lord's Supper pictures Christ in us and And so it says in verse 14 for the love of Christ constraineth us because we thus judge that if one died for all then we're all dead and That he died for all that day which lives should not henceforth live unto themselves in selfishness
But unto him which died for them and arose again Wherefore henceforth? No, we no man after the flesh.
Yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh yet now henceforth No, we not no more Therefore if any man be in Christ He is a new creature old things are
Passed away. Behold all things are become new Is it important that we have a place in our heart where God is sanctified?
Is it important that the world see God in us? Therefore if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature old things are passed away.
What does that mean? Old things are passed away Does it mean old attitudes and ways of thinking?
Yes, it does That's the very definition of repentance But does it also mean old habits and things we used to do and things we used to covet so dearly
Are not in that place anymore. Yes, it does and the world can see that part of it
Behold all things are become new and all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself
By Jesus Christ and look at this and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation
To wit that God was in Christ Reconciling the world unto himself not imputing the trespasses unto them and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation now then we are ambassador ambassadors for Christ Verse 21 says for he hath made him
To be sin for us and you know sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him
You know so much of it was there back in the 10th chapter of Leviticus And isn't it amazing how much we can learn about the right way by observing?
Nadab and a by whose wrong way God must be sanctified in our hearts if we're going to worship him
Otherwise, we're offering strange fire We must have a difference between the holy and the unholy and Between the unclean and the clean if we're going to worship
God We must teach people What God's Word says if we're going to worship
God? God's Word does not say by the way that we have services where we include Sikhs and Mohammedans and those who believe in Judaism and all forms of Christianity and you put them all together in one building and call that God Jesus Christ said
I am the way and the truth and the life and No man comes to the father but By me
Christianity is a very exclusive religion Jesus did not accept Muhammad. He said others there will be
Who are nothing more than thieves and they come to kill and slaughter the sheep. He said
I am the door So we have to teach men what the word says
It does not say that everybody's approaching the same God through different means and Yet that's going to be the popular gospel of the one world religion
If you're uncomfortable with what I'm saying, then you'll be a part of the one world religion If you understand what
I'm saying, then you'll be hated By everyone who believes in the one world religion including people that you think are good people all around you
They will not understand your exclusivity and the only thing you can say at all as well
You know, I we don't claim to be perfect at all But we do think God gave a way and we'd rather do it his way
Rather than inventing our own way And then fourthly
Moses was angry with him because they had not eaten the sacrifice well That's kind of like a picture of us being fleshly or carnal as Christians But not walking in Christ filled with the
Holy Spirit Having Christ in us so much that the people see that and God is glorified
So we must start here with the wrong way Contrasting that with the right way before we get into next week studying
Yom Kippur and what it pictures in the right way to do The sacrifices and what those sacrifices do picture the reality of it in the spiritual realm in our lives today is his children
But I think the Lord's revealed some things to us even through These men who were preaching the wrong way
Nadab and Abihu taught us a lot this morning, didn't they? Let's stand and have prayer together
There's a lot of their religion in the world today a lot of strange fire and we're seeing it on our Televisions and we're seeing it in the name of good.
We're seeing it in the name of trying to bring the world together Using religion to do it
Better be careful That's not the last time fire will come down from God by the way
Check out the Battle of Armageddon Let's pray father. We thank you for your word.
We thank you that your Holy Spirit teaches us we thank you that if we'll just study and stay in the word that it will be a
Guide to us and we'll stay in the right path. It will be light to our understanding
Lord we know that we live in the most interesting of times We know there are people all around us that have questions, but don't let us give popular answers let us give the truth and father may your
Holy Spirit move and in the midst of our Testimony and the fact that they can see you in our hearts and on our countenances that some may be saved by the gospel
And father we pray that those who are saved some of them would see that there's some strange fire being offered
Today and they would abstain from that They're a proper healthy fear of their father in heaven
Lord, we ask you to give us wisdom to have the right things to say to our fellow man in these days
We ask for wisdom for our president Who we believe belongs to you, but father we
Know that he lacks some understanding and your ways in the scriptures
We ask that you would give him that understanding give him counselors and men of God around him that would
Show him some of the things in the scriptures that he might be wise And Lord, he'll need all the wisdom from you
And father we pray for our other leaders We pray for our children We pray that you would cause them to be strong in the word and have on the whole armor of God And be able to resist in the evil day
Lord, we ask for you to go with us into the remainder of our services as we have some time of fellowship together that we you would bless our meal together and our
Fellowship together and bring us back to break the word again this afternoon. We ask it in Jesus name.