today. Well, as we go back to our topic of why Israel, why the church, I want to take us back to the analogy that I mentioned a few months ago of how in this series we're kind of taking it apart piece by piece like a puzzle. And I don't know if any of you have put together puzzles, if you like doing puzzles, or if you have the patience for puzzles, but it's nice as you get the puzzle pieces to start to get together this picture. And as we've been slowly going through, this series, Why Israel, Why the Church. We're taking a look at each puzzle piece, but we're starting to get a little bit more and more of a picture of what God was seeking to do in His chosen nation of Israel. So why Israel, why the church as we're going back to the book of Exodus and recently we've been talking about why the Mosaic Covenant. What was God's purpose in setting up the old covenant? What was it specifically, what did it mean specifically for the Israelites at that time? And we really looked at, initially, talking about this, that what is a covenant? We talked about how a key aspect of the idea of a covenant is relationship. That's the key purpose for a covenant. As well as there's an underlying thought or obligation of loyalty and obedience. So the Mosaic Covenant was going to be conditional upon the Israelites' obedience to the Lord. And so why do we need this covenant? It was through the Old Covenant that the Lord, we see God's desire to formally enter into a relationship with his people as a nation. So he initiates this covenant with Israel that's gonna govern the relationship. So we looked at Exodus 19 through 24. and the two parts of the covenant, the Ten Commandments and the Book of the Covenant, Israel agrees to do all that the Lord has said. And we also see that through the Old Covenant, we see God's desire as well to dwell with His people. And in order to dwell with His people, Israel must build, God, a holy dwelling place. And that's, of course, the tabernacle. And we looked at five different aspects of the tabernacle. We looked at purposes. We looked at its content, the construction, the completion, and then various pictures or representations that the tabernacle represented. And so as we looked at the purposes, the purpose of the tabernacle was, again, to be that dwelling place for his people. Tabernacle means dwelling place. It's also a place of divine revelation, the tent of meeting, the tent of the testimony, and it's also a place of sacrifice and atonement, which is what we're going to be talking about tonight. And regarding the construction of the tabernacle, we talked about how the people gave finances and materials, and God also gave wisdom to a couple of individuals to oversee the construction And then at the completion of the tabernacle, the glory of the Lord fills that tabernacle. And really the tabernacle represents four different things. It's a representation or it foreshadows Christ's incarnation. It foreshadows the heavenly temple, the church. and the believers as well. And then we looked at, as well, talked about the contents of the tabernacle. Now, there were some technical difficulties last time that did not allow me to show the layout of the tabernacle as I walked through. So what I wanted to do today was to show a video that would give you a little bit better of an idea of what the tabernacle looked like. So I'll go ahead and play that. If we can hit some of these front lights. So, we've got the Tabernacle of Moses here. We've got about 75 by 150 feet going east in entrance on the east side. And again, these courtyard walls really, again, separate Israel from the holy area because access to God is restricted. They can't approach in a nonchalant manner. And as they would go in, the first thing they would see is, of course, this altar of sacrifice, the altar of burnt offering, the bronze altar. And this is, of course, where they were to offer sacrifices to atone for their sin. And you see, here you're going to see in a minute, someone putting blood on the altar, which is one of the things that they would have to do whenever they would offer various sacrifices. Then moving on after that, you see the laver right there in between the tabernacle and the tent itself and the bronze altar. This is where Aaron and his sons would have to wash themselves, which symbolized their need to be holy and pure before they even enter into the tabernacle. And so that curtain, again, another barrier, represents that the access to God is restricted, and the closer and closer you go to God's presence, the greater holiness is needed. That's why only the priest could enter into this room. And so on the south side, which is your left, you have that candlestick, the candle stand, Now with the seven candles, the golden lamp stand, that word there is the Hebrew word that they just listed. Again, made of gold, and this represents Christ as the light of the world. On the north side, you have the table of showbread, again, overlaid with gold. And the bread would have been laid out, 12 loaves, every Sabbath day. And the bread and the presence of the candle stand, the lamp stand, symbolizes that someone dwells there, that God is actually there. The altar of incense, of course, where the priests would burn incense every day in the morning and the evening. And this symbolizes prayer, which brings us into the presence of God. Beyond that, you're going to see the thick veil with the cherubim on it that restricts access to God's Holy of Holies, where only the high priests could go. Again, even greater restriction to who can go in there. And the Ark of the Covenant, which the Ark of the Covenant symbolizes God's presence there. And on top is the lid, or the lid is the mercy seat, which is where the high priest would place the blood of the various offerings on the Day of Atonement to offer sacrifice. I think it paused, but I'm going to go ahead and hit that. So that gives you a little bit of an idea of what it looked like on the inside. And maybe now that we have a little bit better of a visual, we can better approach this topic that we have at hand here. So where does all of this lead to? You might be thinking, you know what? What's the purpose of this? And it really should be leading you to a question, it should lead the reader to a question of how can a holy, righteous God dwell amongst an unholy people? Because, you know, we have this now, we have this holy dwelling place for God, but it's right in the middle of a camp of sinners. It's right in the middle of a nation that is very much an unholy people. So how can God dwell with them? How can they come into his presence and worship him? How can this be achieved for sinners? How can we have fellowship with God? And that's really gonna be the theme of Leviticus as well. How a clean and holy God can make an unclean, unholy people clean and holy. So we've seen that to formally enter, we've seen God's desire to formally enter into a relationship with his people as he once had. And then we also see his desire to dwell with his people as he once did. And then today we're going to consider, and maybe next time as well, to create a holy people or a holy nation for himself. As mankind once was, Israel must have holy representatives to mediate on their behalf. Is my clicker working here? It looks like it's not. But the first point that we're gonna look at in God's desire to create a holy people and a holy nation for himself, and really as well to dwell with his people, Israel has to have holy mediators. They've gotta have someone to go between, because as a sinner, as someone who is unclean and unholy, they can't come into God's presence. Well, how can they have that fellowship? How can God fellowship with them if there's not a mediator? So God is going to choose who's able to stand before him and represent the nation. He's going to select and sanctify priests for Israel. And so the priests are going to mediate and help maintain the relationship between Yahweh and Israel. Now, this is needful because, again, God's tabernacle and the courtyard are holy, and those that are gonna enter into God's presence must be holy themselves. So how are these priests made holy? Well, there's a process. They are ceremonially sanctified unto God. So this is where we're gonna look at Exodus 28. And we won't read all the verses, but in verse two, we see the first steps of the process. We see the first step of the process as they are to make, Moses is to make holy garments for Aaron. And verse two, thou shalt make holy garments for Aaron thy brother for glory and for beauty and thou shalt speak unto all that are wise hearted whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom that they may make Aaron's garments to consecrate him that he may minister unto me in the priest's office. And there's other instructions as well for his other sons. So there are important holy garments that the priests are going to wear. They're beautiful. They're colorful. It signifies the importance of their position. And it identifies them with God's temple, because a lot of the materials used for their garments are gonna be the same materials that were used in the building of the tabernacle. And of course, the high priest apparel has even more detail, and he wears the ephod and the breast piece. And on the front of his turban is a gold plate that says, holy to the Lord, holiness to the Lord. Well, in the sanctification or in the ordination process, if you will, In chapter 29, we start to see this process take place in verse four. And Aaron and his sons, thou shalt bring unto the door of the tabernacle with the congregation and wash them with water. And thou shalt take the garments and put upon Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastplate and gird him with the curious girdle of the ephod. And thou shalt put the mitre upon his head and upon the holy crown upon the miter, and thou shalt take the anointing oil and pour it upon his head and anoint him. And thou shalt bring his sons and put coats on them. And he continues on, we won't read all of it. But basically, Moses is going to wash Aaron and his sons and clothe them in the holy clothes and anoint them with oil. And again, remember, washing and cleanliness is very closely associated with holiness. But then after he anoints them with oil and places these holy garments on them, He's going to offer sacrifices. This is in verses 10 through 34. Each one, or with each one, Aaron and his sons are going to lay their hands on the animal. And by doing this, they're identifying themselves with this animal, this animal that's taking the place of their punishment. It's punishment and a death that they deserve. So verses 10 through 14, We see what is the first sacrifice, a sin offering, or a purification offering, as some scholars like to talk about, call it. This is a bull that is sacrificed for the priest's unintentional sins. And at this consecration ceremony, the blood is placed on the large bronze altar, which purifies it. And then verses 15 through 18, Verse 15 says, So again, this one is now, the second sacrifice is a whole burnt offering. The ram is going to be completely destroyed and this is again to atone for the sins of these new priests. And what Moses is emphasizing, and really God, through Moses, writing this, is that God's holiness demands death for sin. And we, as sinful humans, cannot approach God without having that sacrifice made for us. Well, there's a third sacrifice then in verse 19 through 34. And this is really a peace offering or a fellowship offering. And it's unique in that the sacrificial blood that is now used to purify the whole bodies of Aaron and his sons. And Moses anoints their right ear, their right thumb, and their right big toe with the blood. If you look in verse 21, and thou shalt take of the blood that is upon the altar, and of the anointing oil and sprinkle it on Aaron. and upon his garments and upon his sons and upon the garments of his sons with him and he shall be hallowed and his garments and his sons and his sons' garments with him. And it was verse 20 that I wanted to read. Then thou shalt kill the ram and take of his blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tip of the right ear of his sons and upon the thumb of their right hand and upon the great toe of their right foot and sprinkle the blood upon the altar round about. So why are they doing this? This all seems kind of very long, drawn-out process. Why is this important? Well, for them, as one writer wrote, whatever the blood touched is cleansed from defilement caused by wrongdoing. So this blood that is now sprinkled upon their robes and touched on the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe, this blood that is now sprinkled upon them and touched them, they are now ritually cleansed. And then with this specific sacrifice, Moses eats the breast and the thighs burn, and then the priests join in a holy meal that sanctifies them. And so this whole process, this process that we read in Exodus 29, and then Leviticus is also going to record it again, it's critical for the consecration of the priests. And verse 35 indicates that this is done for seven days while Aaron and his sons remain inside the courtyard of the tabernacle. All of this is the consecration of these priests. So now that they have been sanctified and are set apart as holy, they, particularly Aaron, are qualified to intercede on Israel's behalf. They can go in and officiate sacrifices and say that, yes, your sacrifice is pleasing to God and acceptable to God, but they must remain holy. This is so important. And that's why, again, they wash their hands before they enter the holy place, symbolizing their need for cleanliness and purity. They are also held to higher standards as far as ritual cleanliness and the laws of clean and unclean things, which maybe we'll get to next time. But all of what Exodus is doing through the sanctification of the priests and the dedication of the tabernacle and the building of the materials, all this is doing is emphasizing the holiness of God. It's emphasizing the holiness of his tabernacle as well as the ones working in it. If you want to have close access to God and be in God's presence, especially as the priests were doing, you must be holy. And that should really challenge our hearts as we think about, do we enter God's presence and seek to have fellowship with him with such a reverence and a carefulness? Do we seek to have that attitude of holiness before the Lord and take his holiness seriously? So we've seen that for Israel to be a clean and holy people and to have fellowship with him, with God, There must be a holy representative for them. There must be a mediator. But not only that, atonement also must be made for Israel through sacrifice. These sacrifices are gonna play a key role in their relationship with God. If they're gonna be in fellowship with God, atonement for sin must be made. That word atonement literally can mean at-one-ment, or there's agreement there, there's fellowship there. It can mean to cover, purge, or make reconciliation, particularly in the legal context. And this is needed because sin prevents our fellowship with God. My sin prevents my fellowship with God. Israel's sin prevented their fellowship with God. And because of that sin, that sin must be punished. It must be paid for. And God's holiness demands it. A lot of times people will say, well, why can't God just forgive and just be loving and kind and overlook it and just forgive everybody in the world and everybody be saved? Well, if he did that, that would go against his nature and against his justice and his holiness. It would violate those qualities, those characteristics of his. But because he is also loving and he desires fellowship, and he also knows that Israel and we cannot get that fellowship, restore that fellowship on our own, he provides a way in his generous and loving way. He provides an opportunity and a way for Israel's sins to be covered or paid for. They can be cleansed or purged from their sin. And it is only through blood sacrifice, because again, God's justice demands death. That's why Hebrews 9.22 says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. So Leviticus is going to provide instructions for sacrifices, particularly for the layman at first, and then for the priest. Now I have a handout, I'm gonna ask Pastor Joel and maybe a helper, to hand out because I want to go over some of the sacrifices and it's kind of a lot. Whenever I was reading the sacrifices growing up, I remember the first time I read through the Bible in a year when I was in high school or so. And I got to the Leviticus and I was starting to read and I was like, ooh. This is making my stomach churn a little bit. I don't know if I'm the only one who's ever thought that before, but I was just trying to get through, and I was like, okay, I know this is good for me. It's God's word. I need to read it, but I just want to get through it, and then made it on the other side of Leviticus. Okay, now the numbers and some more narrative, and on to the good stuff, right? That was my attitude, and if you're like me, maybe you've struggled with that a little bit. You've struggled with what's really the significance of these sacrifices. So I've got a little handout for you that, again, there could have been, I could have put a lot more detail in there, but hopefully this gives you the gist of each type of sacrifices and the various aspects of it. But a few notes about the sacrifices in general. First, again, these are general notes about the sacrifices. Some of the details will differ slightly. But the purpose of the sacrifice is to atone for sin and to restore fellowship. Now the process, again, involves both a priest and a worshiper. The worshiper would lay his hand on the animal's head before he kills it, again, likely signifying that the worshiper is identifying with what is about to happen to the animal. The worshipper is recognizing that atonement for his sin is achieved through this animal's death, a death that should be his. And then the priest is going to collect the blood and sprinkle it on the sides of the bronze altar. And again, each sacrifice has specific instructions for what to do with the blood. Now, why is the blood important? We keep talking about the blood. We talk about the blood of the sacrifices. We talk about the blood of Christ. What is it about blood that is so important? Well, we're over in Leviticus now. Leviticus chapter 17, I've actually got it on the screen here, I'll let you look at it. Leviticus 17 verse 11 talks about the importance of blood. Verse 11, it says, for the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls, for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. So essentially, why is the blood important? Because God says it's important. It is through the blood of the animal, the sacrifice, that atonement is achieved. And one author pondered this a little bit more, and he said, these ritual actions reflect the importance with which the ancient Israelites viewed blood. It symbolized life. And for this reason, sacrificial blood was a powerful antidote to the deathly consequences of sin and impurity. So the blood is collected and sprinkled on the altar, and the whole animal, or certain parts of it, are burned on the altar, depending on the sacrifice. And then the pretty part of it, because it is completely dedicated to God as a gift. And that's why it symbolizes dedication. It also symbolizes substitution. So the worshiper is giving this sacrifice to gain divine favor and to make atonement for their sin. That idea of atonement, again, to pay a ransom or to sanctify. Excuse me. And this is really the most important sacrifice of all the sacrifices. Because again, God's justice demands the death penalty for sin. But that animal may substitute as a sacrifice for that sinner. And this is the kind of sacrifice that we see the patriarchs offering. They would offer burnt offerings as well. Well, then you get on to the meat offering, or it can literally mean grain offering, or gift, or tribute. And the requirement here is fine flour, or baked or unbaked. And it's the only one not involving an animal. And this one is partially burned on the altar, and then most of it is eaten by the priests, again, as part of their daily food. Sometimes vegetables would be roasted beforehand, but not actually sacrificed. This one symbolizes dedication to God as well, but also it symbolizes God's divine sovereignty, and its purpose is to give or seek a pleasing response to God. The idea behind this sacrifice is that the person is offering this kind of like a gift. like a subject or a foreign dignitary would come and offer a gift or a tribute to a king in recognition of his greatness and his sovereignty and his superiority. So the Israelite is offering this in recognition of God's greatness as their divine sovereign king and lord. And then the priests, as God's representatives, are the ones who receive and partake of this offering. This is one that's not required because of sin specifically. Although you will see it often offered along other types of sacrifices, but this one is not specifically because there was some sin committed. It is out of the goodwill of the worshiper. He wants to give this as a gift to God. And then the second one is the peace offering, or the third one rather, the peace offering, or sometimes called a fellowship offering. And it's similar in the fact that it's desiring to give something to God or have fellowship with God. The name for this sacrifice is really actually closely related to the Hebrew word shalom, which again means peace. And the requirement here is a male or female without blemish. And small animals are not going to be suitable for this sacrifice. Like in the burnt offering, the poor could offer a pigeon. But that was not acceptable for this one because this is essentially going to be a meal. So the sacrifice is partially burned. The fat parts, or the best parts, the liver and the kidneys, that was considered the Lord's portion. It was always the Lord's portion. And then the priest would receive the right thigh and the breast, and then the rest is eaten by the worshiper as a festive meal with the priest, and it's kind of like a meal with the Lord. And they were supposed to eat it either that day, or sometimes they could eat it the next day, depending on the case. And this symbolizes God as our true source of peace and our communion that we have with him as king. This is again, and they had several different occasions that they would offer this to express thankfulness or fulfill a vow like the Nazarite vow or be just a free will offering. But this is all for the idea of they want to have fellowship with God and communion with God. We had a Host Home Fellowship last week. In a large part, the reason that we do that is so we can have closer, more intimate fellowship with one another. We had a great time at our house last week. I trust you were able to come to one of the locations last week. But, you know, I walked away from that evening, you know, we had, you know, kind of a little bit of a meal. And then after a while, we just were able to sing and talk more intimately about the things of God and whatnot. And I left that day, actually it was at my house, so everybody left, and I felt, wow, I'm that much closer to each one of those. I have closer fellowship and communion with each one of those people. And this, in a similar way, is this sacrifice was not offered because of the sin of anyone in particular, although it, again, it often accompanied other sacrifices for that purpose. It's just for the desire to please the Lord and have fellowship and communion with God. Well, then we move on to the sin offering, or scholars like to call this the purification offering because this is what they would do with the blood. This was, again, required to have a young bull without blemish, and this one is partially burned, Now the priest may eat of this one if they are not the sinner, okay? And then the blood is going to be taken and it'll be taken and sprinkled on various objects to purify them. And this really symbolizes the pollution caused by sin. Sin contaminates things and it pollutes and it's destructive. And so there was a sacrifice needed to purify the sacred items in the tabernacle. The tabernacle, it was an earthly dwelling place for God's presence. And so as it came into continual contact throughout the year, it was, we can say, contaminated by their sin. It had to be purified by that blood. So this sacrifice was offered due to sins of negligence or sometimes severe uncleanness, like leprosy. And if it was the sin of a leader of a tribe or somebody else, the blood was put on the horns of the bronze altar there in the courtyard. But if a priest had sinned or if it was, say, on the Day of Atonement, which we'll talk about in a minute, if it was all of Israel, a sin of all of Israel, the blood was put on the horns of the altar of incense. And again, this is reinforcing the idea that sin causes pollution, and then the more serious the sin, the greater the pollution. So blood is needed to cleanse that sin and purify not only the sinner, but also God's house. Well, then the final sacrifice that you see on your sheet there is that guilt offering, or again, scholars like to call it the reparation offering, because you're seeking to repair a relationship, so to speak, also called the trespass offering. And the requirement here is a ram without blemish, but it also had to be of a certain value. It couldn't just be any ram, a Joe Schmo ram. It actually had to amount to a certain silver value. And this sacrifice was partially burned. The fatty portions, again, the fatty portions are the Lord's portion. That's always the Lord's, which is, in fact, why it was so serious. Hothnai and Phinehas in 1 Samuel, they would come along and they would try, they would get the best meats, the fatty portions before it had burned off and that was the Lord's portion. And they were, as it says, they had a low view or they despised the office of the priesthood. They were just in it for themselves. and they were taking the Lord's portion, and God took that very seriously. So the patty portions of this offering were burned, it was to the Lord, and then the rest is eaten by the priests. And this represents payment needed for sin. The purpose is to make restitution or compensation to God for wrongs committed against Him, for damages done to Him, or even your neighbor. or for sins against the holy things or divine commandments. So you've got all these different sacrifices and each one has a different function which reflect in different ways man's relationship to God which is affected by sin and uncleanness. So together, all these sacrifices seek to restore humans and maintain a harmonious relationship with God. Well then you have The final column there, the most important day of the year was the Day of Atonement. And this is in Leviticus 16, if you want to turn there. I'm just going to talk about some of the things that go on in there. I won't read through it specifically, but you can kind of follow as we go down through. But again, this is the most important day of the year, especially for the high priest. And there's three components for the day's rituals. Number one is the purification of the temple. Then you have the sending away of the scapegoat. And then you have the sacrificing of two burnt offerings. So the first thing that happens here is that Aaron is going to put aside his high priestly garments and he'll take on a more simplistic but still holy garment. Then he washes himself in water. Again, it represents purity and cleansing. Then he offers a bull as a sin offering or a purification offering for himself, for his family. Now they don't eat any of it here. Then he sprinkles its blood. He goes into the holy place with the blood as well as with incense and coals from the fire to sprinkle the blood on and in front of the mercy seat. So he does that seven times in front of the mercy seat. And then he goes back out and he casts lots to determine which of the two goats are sacrificed. And the one that the lot falls on is offered as a sin offering for the people. And again, that blood is taken again into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled on and in front of the mercy seat a second time. So once with the bull, the first bull, and then a second time with this goat. The blood is then used to purify the holy place and sprinkled in there. This seems to be implied in verses 16 through 17 when it talks about him going back into the holy place. And just like with the purification offering for a priest when he would have to go in to put the blood on the horns of the altar of incense, that is likely what happens here. And then after he does that, he comes back out with the blood of both the bull and the goat. He puts that on the horns of the bronze altar and sprinkles it around that altar as well, seven times. And this action is necessary to purify the sacred items and objects from the impurities of Israel. Let's see, I have another verse here. I have Leviticus 19 and verse 16, I'm gonna read verse 16 first. And he shall make an atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgression and all their sin. And so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. Or you might translate that as impurities. Another verse, you've got Leviticus 16, 19. And he shall sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times, and it shall cleanse and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel." So again, it's going back to that idea of the pollution caused by the Israelite sin, and the cleansing and the purifying that even these sacred objects need because of the sin of Israel, because of that contact that they have. Well, after atoning for the sins of Israel, the high priest would then take the live goat because that first goat was offered for the sins of the nation. So the bull was offered for himself and his family. The goat was offered for the nation at large. Then he takes the second goat and he leans on it with both hands and he confesses over it all the sins. sent out from the camp, never to be seen again. And the one that takes the goat out is to wash himself and his clothes in water before he actually comes back into the camp. And so that goat really is supposed to bear the sins of the nation, and its removal from the camp represents that removal of sin from the nation. Well, after the goat ritual, the high priest would then wash himself and put on his regular high priestly garments and offer two more sacrifices. One was, and they're both burnt offerings, one ram is for himself. And then the second ram is for the nation. And the fat of the goat and the bull, those portions are burned here as well. And any of the remains of the sacrifices are then taken outside the camp and burned as well. And that person has to wash their clothes and himself before returning. Why is all this important? This is a lot of sacrifices, a lot of blood, a lot of oof. Why is all this important? Well, I see two main points that correlate directly to our lives. As we've seen, the Israelites, in order to have fellowship with God, and in order to be a holy and clean people, a holy and clean nation before God, they needed a holy mediator. They needed someone to go between them and God, to take them and represent them before God. And they also needed atonement for their sins. But in the same way, we also need a holy mediator. We also need someone to represent us on our behalf. We need atonement for our sins, because we're sinners just like the Israelites were. Our fellowship with God is impeded and hindered because of our sin. And as we have inherited that sin nature from our parents, Adam and Eve, and it's gone all the way through the nations, we realize that we need someone to pay for our sin. And that person is, of course, Jesus Christ. Jesus is that high priest. He is a better priest than the priesthood of Aaron. He's divinely appointed after the order of Melchizedek. Hebrews 7.26 says, He is holy, blameless, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. And here's another point. Aaron served in an earthly tabernacle, and one that needed yearly purification, right, on the day of atonement. But Jesus serves in a heavenly temple that was purified once for all. If we go to Hebrews 9, Hebrews 9, and I actually have verse 23 on the screen here. It says, it was therefore necessary that the pattern of the things in heaven should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with a better sacrifice than these. So Jesus purifies a heavenly temple, a greater one, and it was purified once with his own blood. And think about this too. As a sinless, perfect priest, he now sits at the right hand of the Father, and he stays in the heavenly tabernacle. High Priest, he would go in and then he would go out. He was only allowed to go in there in the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. He couldn't stay there because of his sin. But Jesus stays at the right hand of the Father. He stayed in that heavenly tabernacle. He doesn't leave. And so because of that, we know that Jesus is accepted by God. And because Jesus is accepted by God, we know that his mediation is perfect by God, perfect, and we can know that we are accepted by God. Because if you think about it, there are three components really to offering a sacrifice in order for it to be acceptable. You've got the worshiper, He needed to be ritually clean and make sure that he didn't have known sin. Of course, part of the reason he was coming was to offer her sacrifice for sin, but he needed to make sure that he was right. He needed to make sure that the sacrifice was appropriate. It couldn't be a lame lamb or anything like that. It had to be one without blemish. But then the priest also had to be right. The priest also had to be holy and able to mediate. If any one of those three are out of line, then it wasn't an acceptable sacrifice. And so that worshiper is really dependent upon this human sinful priest who could have sin in their lives to mediate for them and say, yes, your sacrifice is acceptable. You're now in a right stance with God. Well, we don't have to worry about that because Christ is a perfect mediator. He doesn't have to leave God's holy presence because he himself is perfect and holy. And so Jesus is that perfect high priest that can mediate between you and God and represent you on your behalf to God. And not only that, Jesus is that perfect sacrifice. John 1.29, John the Baptist says, And we've talked about the blood and the sacrifices tonight, and in the New Testament there is much made about the blood of Christ. We've got 1 Peter 2 talking about the sprinkling of Christ's blood. And then 1 John 1-7 talks about it's the blood of Christ that cleanses us. Over, still in Hebrews chapter nine, verse 25 through 26, talks about how Christ accomplished this atonement once for all. Not yet that he should offer himself often or repeatedly as the high priest entereth the holy place every year with the blood of others. For then he must have suffered since the foundation of the world. In other words, he would have to keep doing this over and over again. But now once in the end of the world, in the end of the world, hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrificing of himself. And then verse 28. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many. Those Old Testament sacrifices that were repeated over and over and over again were clearly not enough. They were they really only had a temporary benefit. And ultimately, they're really only a picture of what Christ would do. But Christ's blood was enough to be shed once and offered once, and it was enough to cover every single one of us for all eternity, for all time. And as you think about it, the inferiority of the old covenant sacrifices is also highlighted by the fact that the blood from those sacrifices, it really only cleansed people and objects outwardly and ceremonially. But what does Hebrews 9.14 say? Starting in verse 11. But Christ, being come in high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not one made with hands, and that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. Okay, so just outwardly is basically what it's saying. How much the 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. This new covenant that we have, through Christ's blood, it actually cleanses the human heart. It purifies us from sin. And so because of that, we can have fellowship with God. We have access to the Father directly through Jesus Christ. I think about the song, down at the cross where my Savior died, down where for cleansing from sin I cried. What is that next phrase? Does anybody know? There to my heart was the blood applied. Glory to your name. So my question for you is, we've been talking a lot about sacrifices tonight. is this question right here. Is the blood of Christ covering your sin? Do you have that relationship with Christ? Because we've clearly seen from the Old Testament, which again is just foreshadowing what was a temporary means for the Israelites at that time. It's just foreshadowing what Christ would do in the future. We've clearly seen that death is the penalty for sin and a blood sacrifice is required to have forgiveness from sin and have fellowship with God and have access to God. And Christ has achieved that for us once for all. Do you have His blood covering your sin? Do you have that relationship with God? There is no other way. Jesus says, I am the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father but by me. And my prayer is for you today that you would have your sins covered by the blood of Christ. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your son who sacrificed himself and gave of his blood to cover our sin, my sin, my selfishness, my pride, my arrogance, and every other sin that we could think of, you covered it with your blood. And it is more than sufficient, more than enough. And God, I thank you that as a four-year-old boy, my heart had your blood covered, and you're covering it. As a four-year-old boy, I could now sing, there to my heart was the blood applied, and glory to your name. I pray if there's anyone here that does not know you as their savior and has never had your precious blood applied to their account, I pray that today would be this day of salvation, that they would not leave today without making that right. Maybe there's somebody watching online And that maybe for the first time, their hearts and eyes have been really opened to their need for salvation. I pray that they would contact us, or maybe if they know what they need to do, that they would just sit there in the quietness of their room and say, God, I know I'm a sinner. And I know that my sin prevents me from fellowship with you. I pray that you would forgive me for my sin and cover my sin with your blood and apply your blood to my heart. I pray for the rest of us that we would not take for granted the sacrifice that you have made for us. This time of Thanksgiving season, as we give thanks for so many things, We thank you first and foremost for your son, Jesus Christ, and his precious blood. And it is in his name that we pray, amen. We'll close by singing the song number 77 out of The Wild Songbook, the precious blood of Jesus Christ, the covenant of grace. If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior, we would love to be able to talk to you about how you can have his blood applied to your account. And for the rest of you, maybe there's someone that you're thinking about and you're burdened about. that you know that they don't know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Maybe as you sing, maybe you just pray in your hearts, or maybe even slip to your seat and pray for that person specifically, that they would come to know Jesus as their Savior and have their sins forgiven. Would you stand with me as we close by singing the first two verses, number 77, The Precious Blood. The precious blood of Jesus Christ, the covenant of grace, unveils the wonders of God's love to Adam's fallen race. ♪ The sovereign king who died for all ♪ ♪ Redeems us from our sin ♪ ♪ And makes us kings and priests of God ♪ ♪ Where we shall reign with him ♪ The precious blood of Jesus Christ, a new and living way, gives access to a holy place where we can boldly pray. In trying time of grief and pain, A throne of grace is ours, where mercy flows for every knee, with God's sustaining power. Amen. God bless you, and you're dismissed.