There Will Be Blood, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D.

Greer. People misread the book of Leviticus. They read the book of Leviticus and they say, Oh my God, look at how many laws there are. Leviticus was not written to tell you all that you need to do. Leviticus was written to show you all that God was going to do for you. The effect of reading Leviticus on you should not make you look up in despair and say, Oh my God, look at all the things I got to do for you.

It's Oh my God, look at what you've done for me. Yom Kippur, also called the Day of Atonement, is the holiest of all the biblical feasts and it's celebrated religiously in the Jewish community each year. Traditionally, the activities of this solemn day centered around two goats.

One goat was sacrificed while the other was sent to wander in the wilderness as a scapegoat, symbolically carrying away the sins of the people. Today on Summit Life, Pastor J.D. Greer continues a two-part message called There Will Be Blood, explaining how this ancient practice actually pointed to Jesus.

If you missed the first part of this message, you can catch up online at jdgreer.com. But now let's get back into our study of Leviticus chapter 16. The question behind that question is, what's the standard that God uses to determine who gets in? Leviticus answers that question in a very clear way.

Absolute perfection is what is required. One false move, one unauthorized movement, and you're dead. We always talk about sin like it's not that bad. We call it mistakes. No, it's not that bad.

I was confused. I'm not as bad as other people. That's because we have a very man-centered view of sin. Sin is sinful because of who it is against.

A sin against an infinite God is infinitely guilty. What Leviticus shows us is that we are filled with these kinds of sins. It's in everything we think. It's in everything we say.

It's in all that we do. Leviticus even has this category for unknown sins. Things we do are sinful that we don't even know about.

Paul says it this way in Romans 3 23. All of us have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. The standard we're comparing ourselves to is not that person sitting next to you. The standard you're comparing yourself to is the glory of God. And in sight of the glory of God, you fall way short. Leviticus tells you. You and I are so far short that we just fall on our faces in despair because I'm Nadab and you're a Bihu and both of us are going to be destroyed in God's presence.

Which leads us to number two. Leviticus shows us that God's grace is greater than we dreamed. It shows us our sin is worse than we imagined but his grace is greater than we dreamed. Why did God have them use two goats? Well one goat would have made the point right? It was to illustrate two different things God's doing with our sin and he wanted us to make sure that we saw both of them.

One goat got slaughtered for our sins showing that the price for our sin had been paid. That was a theological concept called justification. Justification means there literally is no more claim against you.

Right? You've been justified. The debt has been settled. The other goat, the one that was sent into the wilderness, illustrates for us the concept of cleansing. God not only pays for our sins, he removes them from us. Whereas the first goat that was slaughtered shows us that we are forgiven on the basis of a substitute. The second goat shows us that our sins are forgotten and removed from us as far, the psalmist says, as the east is from the west. How far is that? It's not mathematical by the way.

It's a concept. East as far as you can go that way. West as far as you can go that way. They never touch. That's how far God has removed your transgressions from us. The psalmist says he's put them into the depths of the sea. The depths of the sea. Corey Timbum used to say and wherever that deepest part of the sea is that God puts our sins in, he puts a little sign up that says no fishing allowed.

You're not ever going to get to it. There are some people who say I feel like my sins are probably too bad. I'm not sure that I can be saved. Did you see verse 16? Whatever, whatever their sins may have been.

Do you see any conditions in there at all? I know people who say well no but see I've committed the sin against the Holy Spirit and I can't be forgiven. What Jesus said about the sin of the Holy Spirit in Luke 11 cannot contradict other things the Bible says like this. And the Bible says that whoever comes to Jesus with whatever sin can and will be forgiven. The sin against the Holy Spirit means that you no longer desire forgiveness. If you desire forgiveness whatever you've done you can receive that forgiveness and the fact that you desire that forgiveness means that you haven't committed the sin against the Holy Spirit. When you say I cannot be forgiven you are not exaggerating the size of your sin. You are shrinking the forgiving power of God. You say well maybe God can forgive me but I can't forgive myself. Now you're saying that your opinion matters more than God's.

Who do you think you are? I get that you feel like your sin is that bad but don't add to it another sin by shrinking the size of the power of God saying you can't really do what you said you were going to do. And if God promises to forgive you and he promises to restore you who are you to exalt your opinion of yourself above God's opinion of you? Do not try to out holy God.

That ain't never going to turn out well. Atonement literally means in English break the word apart at one minute. God has made us one with him on this day. God made Israel one with him by satisfying the penalty of their sin and by putting it away forever. Foaling it off a cliff. Putting it at the bottom of the sea. Making it as far as the east is from the west. And he made us one with him and what God has joined together no man can ever put us under. Number three.

This is really important. The day was all about Jesus. Well we've been kind of hinting at that the whole time but the day was all about Jesus. Did you see the fingerprints of Jesus all through this sacrifice? When you read through the last week of Jesus's life that we call the Passion Week and you do it after reading Leviticus you will notice that Jesus seems to be going out of his way to stage his own day of atonement.

Listen to this. Just like the high priest, Jesus began to prepare for a week beforehand. That's why we call it the Passion Week. The night before Jesus's sacrifice he stayed up all night just like the high priest. Except Jesus is not going to be clothed in rich garments like the Jewish high priest was. He's going to be stripped of the only garment he has. And instead of being cheered on by the people like the high priest was he's going to be jeered by them and abandoned by nearly everyone he loves. He wasn't bathed in a purifying pool.

He was bathed in human spit. When he came before God he didn't receive words of encouragement. The father turned his face away silent as he stood accused beaten mocked and scorned bowing to the father's will he took my crown of thorns he was struck dead in the presence of God even though there was no defilement on him at all because he was wounded for my transgressions and bruised for your iniquities and the price that obtained peace with God was put upon him. On the cross when he died he cried out as his last words it is finished in Greek literally to tell us die. To tell us die was a common phrase that just meant it's been paid. Archaeologists have found it inscribed on receipts after somebody paid a debt they would write across the top to tell us die. In Christ God has no more claim against our sin.

We have been justified. It would be unjust for God to bring it back up because it's already been paid for. The curtain that separated us from God was a symbol of Jesus's perfect flesh that was torn so that we could enter into God's presence. During the crucifixion the curtain was literally torn in two and for the first time in history the way to God was wide open and whosoever will may come. Jesus's body was the mercy seat where his blood was sprinkled so that we could find forgiveness of sins and enter into God's presence without fear.

By the way you ever notice this when the disciples first go to Jesus's tomb after he's been resurrected there's a little detail in there. It says that there were angels there. How many angels? Two. And where were they? One at the head.

One at the foot. What is he trying to recreate? The mercy seat.

They're not there because they're tired. They're there saying this is the new ark of the covenant. And if you come to this spot right here where the resurrected Jesus not physically but if you come there and say I believe it was done for me then you will be given forgiveness of sins. In fact Leviticus 16 says that when Aaron was done with this ritual he would take off this linen and lay it aside. What was it that Peter and John found in the empty tomb? There was only one thing.

It was that linen. Jesus didn't take it off because he was hot. He took it all. Why did he take it all?

He took it off because he was trying to say it's done. It's this whole day of atonement. I just finished it and just like Aaron laid it aside I'm laying it aside and it's never going to have to happen again. Jesus was the scapegoat who carried away our sins forever into his grave. Jesus went down into the depths of the grave burying our sin. Three days later he came out and he left our sins there at the bottom of the sea as far as the east is from the west. Our sins are not merely covered over.

They are gone forever. The old testament prophet Zachariah who wrote 500 years before Jesus was born. The book of Zachariah is built around a vision that Zachariah has where he sees a high priest whom he calls Yeshua go into the presence of God. But to Zachariah's horror it's on the day of atonement Zachariah who's very familiar with the whole process sees that this high priest about to go into the presence of God and the Holy of Holies is not dressed in fine linen he's covered in human excrement.

This was disaster not only for Yeshua who certainly would die it was disaster for all the people of Israel because this moment was the moment that they obtained forgiveness. But just as Zachariah despairs he hears the voice of the Lord Zachariah 3 verse 1 he hears the voice of the Lord say to Joshua Yeshua the high priest Yeshua take off your filthy clothes. See I've taken away your sin and put rich garments on you.

I will send my servant and remove the sin of this land in a single day. You know what God had given to Zachariah? He'd given Zachariah a vision of what Jesus was going to do one day. You see Yeshua is just the Hebrew name for Jesus. It literally says Jesus that one day Jesus is going to come and he is going to dawn our garments.

Garments that are covered in the filthy human excrement of sin and he's going to walk into the presence of the Holy of Holies and he's going to be struck dead and then he's going to take it off and he's going to hand you and me a clean white linen garment of righteousness and say you wear this for the rest of eternity. That's why we say the gospel in four words is Jesus in my place. Jesus did not merely die for you as a statement of love for you. Jesus died instead of you. He took your sin. He bore your shame. He rose to life.

He defeated your grave a love like that the world has never known. People misread the book of Leviticus. They read the book of Leviticus and they say oh my God look at how many laws there are. Leviticus was not written to tell you all that you need to do. Leviticus was written to show you all that God was going to do for you. The effect of reading Leviticus on you should not make you look up in despair and say oh my God look at all the things I got to do for you.

It's oh my God look at what you've done for me. You know that's the goal. That's the goal of all Bible teaching. The goal of all Bible teaching is not that I fill up your notebook with new facts God wants you to know or new things that you need to do and and five ways to be a better dad and and four ways and uncle JD is going to give you how to handle your job. The Bible is not good advice. The Bible is good news and you leave with a sense of oh my God look at who you are look at what you've done look at the love that you've given to me and then in response to that everything changes in your life.

You see gospel change happens not by giving a list of things to do gospel change happens when you are overwhelmed with the beauty of what God has done and that's what the book of Leviticus is about from verse one to the end of the book. Number four it shows us that all ways do not lead to God. Always don't lead to God.

Did you notice how God set the whole thing up? You get this really terrible story about Nadab and Abihu and then God says hey tell your brother Aaron man he's not just to walk in any way he chooses into the most holy place or else he's going to die. It's really popular for people today to say well you know it doesn't matter what particular way you try to get to God.

This is like the most most believed American religious belief of all of them. It doesn't matter what way you try to get to God as long as you're sincere as long as you're good as long as you love people nor anybody. Nadab and Abihu were sincere and if you were to say to the people of Israel right after that situation where they die you know all paths really lead to the same God. I think Aaron would say we got two dead men here that would say the opposite. All ways don't lead equally to God.

My sons were very sincere but they didn't come in the way that was prescribed. The whole chapter declares there's one way to come to God and God gives you that way and if you're going to come to him Jesus said I am the way the truth and the life. No man comes to the father except by me. Do not try to enter the presence of God in any other way because it's not about how you reach out to God with whatever fire you want to present before him. Salvation is about God's reach to you and you receive it for what it is. Number five it shows us that you have to accept the atonement for yourself. You got to accept it for yourself this might be my favorite point not all of them. Even though full atonement has been made by by by Jesus even though full atonement was made by the high priest you had to individually appropriate it. Verse 29 this is to be a lasting ordinance for you on the 10th of on the 10th day of the seventh war of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work sabbath that's what he's talking about you must go into a sabbath whether native born or whether you're a foreigner residing among you because on this day Yom Kippur atonement will be made for you to cleanse you then and only then before the Lord you will be clean from all your sins. This is such a beautiful picture to reap the benefits of the day of the atonement you had to do something the benefits of the day of the atonement the sacrifice the high priest offered the benefits were not conferred on you automatically you had to do something what was that something you had to do pay a lot of money say enough prayers I love this you observe the sabbath and what was observing the sabbath doing nothing you had to consciously do nothing the way that you received the work of the atonement was by doing nothing and resting in what God had already done that's what we call salvation by faith alone it is the acknowledgement that Jesus has done it all and I cease trying to earn my way before God and I say you've done it all and I rest in what you've done and God takes my rest God takes my faith and He counts it as righteousness there are many of us who are not walking we're not going to enter eternity not because we're too guilty not because we're not good enough simply because we simply refuse to believe we simply refuse to believe that Jesus did what he said he did and he paid it all number six for the rest of your life you're going to respond to this great sacrifice for the rest of your life you're going to respond to this great sacrifice commentators point out that the order of events in this chapter is incredibly significant it begins with what the high priest does for the people 28 verses of him climbing this mountain making atonement for the people and only then does it cross that crest and begin to show Israel how they are to live in response y'all that is such a common pattern in the bible God's work of salvation comes first our obedience comes as a response in other words good works don't lead up to salvation good works flow from salvation and that makes all the difference Martin Luther was the Catholic monk who rediscovered this truth and he began to say salvation is a free gift that God offers to those who will just rest in it to those who will receive it and the church of his days Martin you can't go around telling people you can't go around telling people that that that salvation is a free gift because they'll lose all their motivation to obey God and he said quite the contrary he said the only reason they obey God now is because you threaten them with hell he says that's not obedience to God that's fear of God God wants people to obey him not because they fear him because but because they love him he's not just after obedience he's after a whole new kind of obedience an obedience that grows out of desire an obedience where you seek God not because you're afraid of hell but because you crave God an obedience where you love righteousness and therefore you do righteousness what if you saw your entire Christian life as a response to the gospel what if you saw everything you did as a response to what Jesus had done for you on the day of atonement what would your life look like because the book of Hebrews which is the book in the New Testament that explains pretty much everything I've been saying to you right now that all these sacrifices were about this one sacrifice the book of Hebrews ends chapter 13 by suddenly switching and talking about sacrifices we offer to God it's like all these sacrifices in the Old Testament they're all done and then it says you're going to offer to God listen to this a sacrifice of praise that's an incredibly important way to say that it's not a sacrifice in order to please God in order to be saved it's a sacrifice of thanksgiving and praise because I have been saved and what Hebrew the writer of Hebrews says is what comes out of your mouth in worship ought to be a reflection of the price that Jesus paid for your sin let me ask you your worship this morning was it a good reflection of the price Jesus paid to save your soul from hell I'm just going to tell you hands in your pocket bored looking on your face not the right response that just shows me that you've never really understood how sinful you were and how far Jesus reached to save you the writer of Hebrews goes on to say he says he says how you share your things what you do with your money ought to be a reflection ought to be a statement about the price you realize that Jesus paid for you why is it that people in this church sacrificially give their money is it because they think that giving a little more money is going to make God happier with them no God has given us full and complete acceptance in Jesus it's because we realize where we were and how much Jesus gave to save us why do people leave this church and go live in places like the Sudan or Indonesia or India or Afghanistan is it because they don't like America is it because they want to be away from their parents is it because they get the sense of adventure and they just go have to live over there no it's because they realize how far how far Jesus came to save them and there are people in Afghanistan and Sudan and Indonesia who've never heard about him and so they say if this is how far Jesus came to save me there's nowhere on planet earth I can go that is nearly as far as the price that he paid and the extent that he traveled so that he could save me and I just want to respond I just want to respond and say as you've been to me I'll be to others why is it that some of us reach out to people that are around us and try to talk to them about Jesus is it because we're extroverts is it because we like religious controversy and we're just looking to engage in debates in random places no that is not the reason that we do it the reason we do it is because we know that that Jesus died for that person and we know that we were wandering away from God when Jesus got a hold of us and so we want to be to other people the way that Jesus was to us you say well I don't like it just makes me feel awkward of course it makes you feel awkward and I don't mean to be heavy-handed here but I imagine being stripped naked and crucified felt a little awkward too but if that's what Jesus did to save me then it means that I'm probably going to need to tell that person in my life that Jesus died for them and if this was the price that was paid then that's certainly a way that I can respond you see there's really two questions that the book of Leviticus presents to you here they are that once you buy your heads just buy your heads here's your two questions number one have you received the free salvation that God has offered to you it's not automatically yours it's not automatically yours what do you have to do to get it you rest in what Jesus has said he's done here at the summit church we compare to sitting down in a chair let the chair represent the fact that Jesus paid for your sins you can be around the chair you can know where the chair is but you have to transfer the weight of your body onto the chair Jesus died for your sins that's true have you ever transferred your hope for eternity into what he has accomplished for you because if not you could do it right now you can say Jesus I receive it I believe it I surrender to you as lord and I receive you as savior right now you're gonna sit down sit down you're gonna Sabbath rest you're gonna Sabbath rest in what Jesus has done if you've never done that I would invite you to do it right now the second question that Leviticus presents to you is simply this are you responding appropriately to the gospel is how you spend your money is it a good reflection of what Jesus did for you is the zeal with which you live is the focus of your life a good reflection of the price you believe Jesus paid for sin I urge you therefore brothers and sisters in view of the mercies of God that you present your lives a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God this is your reasonable act of worship don't be conformed to this world don't listen to everybody saying it's all about the American dream it's all about acquiring stuff no don't do that be transformed by the renewing of your mind and the message of what Jesus has done because then you'll begin to live out that perfect and acceptable will of God what would your life look like if you lived each day responding to what Jesus did on the cross removing your sins you're listening to summit life and a message of your summit life and a message titled there will be blood from pastor JD Greer to hear this message again go to jdgreer.com pastor JD we've been talking about your new book called just ask this month and there really is something for everyone in it first of all what encouragement would you offer to a listener who rarely prays and second what about the person who's already committed to a prayer time how would you counsel them I think there's a theological spiritual side to this and really practical the spiritual side is prayerlessness is not primarily a discipline problem it's a gospel problem a lot of us feel like we don't pray for the same reason we don't work out enough or eat enough alfalfa sprouts we're just not disciplined but ultimately at its core prayerlessness comes from a sense of self-sufficiency Jesus said in John 15 5 apart from me you can't do anything lots of unbelievers do lots of things he means you can't do anything of eternal value when the gospel teaches you that then you begin to pray like it's instinctive like breathing you breathe because you crave air the practical side is a lot of people don't know how to start their mind wonders when they pray they don't know you know what what do I say I wrote this with a lot of really practical practical steps as well as spiritual gospel driven content here's a lot of practical instructions about how to set up your first prayer how to set up your first five minutes of prayer what do you say what what kind of model and how do we use what what Jesus taught us about the Lord's prayer as a as a baseline for us so I'm hoping that an answer that is both spiritual practical can really move the ball down the field so to speak and getting you to a happy healthy effective prayer life allow us to get this new resource to you by reaching out at jittygrier.com right now you're welcome to request it when you support this ministry with a donation of 25 or more remember when you give to summit life you're really giving this program to your fellow listeners making sure that we stay on your station and on the web and the book is just our way of saying thanks for your support remember to request your copy of jd's newest book just ask when you call 866-335-5220 that's 866-335-5220 or if it's easier you can give online at jdgrier.com if you'd rather mail your donation our address is jdgrier ministries po box 122 93 durham north carolina 27709 i'm molly vidovich hope you have a great weekend of worship at your local church and then join pastor jd monday as he explains the purpose and meaning behind the old testament rules and regulations we'll see you then right here on summit life with jd greer today's program was produced and sponsored by jd greer ministries