Blood Atonement In Leviticus

I want you to turn to the Word of God here tonight, to the book of Leviticus in the Old Testament. And it may not always be a book that preachers turn to or pastors, but it's going to be, you're going to see it's a very vital subject. It has been said that Leviticus is the most unread book in the entire Bible.

I may differ with that, I think many have tried to read Leviticus, started to read Leviticus. I believe some of the minor prophets are less read than Leviticus. People know where Leviticus is, but do you know what the problem is? Sometimes they maybe start on it, don't finish it.

They have no bearings on it, they don't even know why it's there. But I intend to remedy that. One thing, you're not going to leave this house tonight without seeing the importance of the book of Leviticus.

If I don't do anything else, I promise you, you're not going to leave your seat until I have done my work. And I promise, by the grace of God, that's my part, your part is to listen, open your heart, to pray, to submit yourself to the word of God. But I do promise, I will endeavor, simply, clearly, concisely, to make sure that you know this book is vital.

It's not an add-on, it's not an exception, it's something that you can afford not to have any time in. You're actually going to see, as we cover just a few scriptures here, and just touch on this, that it is an absolute fundamental book. And in fact, I'll tell you what's more, I actually believe that you can have many problems in your Christian life.

And that some of you had many problems in your life, because you don't spend time in it, and you don't even understand the message of it. And you haven't meditated on it and prayed over it. I believe this book is filled, crammed, absolutely pouring over with vital truths that are life-changing.

I believe it's doctrinally pure, I believe it's very dynamic, very powerful, very life-changing. I believe it's doctrinal, it can change your entire thinking on very basic things in the Christian life. So let's hear, I've got you intrigued now, I hope I've got your attention for just a moment.

But let's turn to the book of Leviticus. And we're starting a new series, and I've called this, it's a bit of a mismatched title. Because I'm going to deal with three words in this book, only three words.

I'm pulling them out for a reason, because I want you to understand the entire book. And to do that, I'm only choosing three individual words. But listen to what the title is.

And we're going to delve into this, we're going to go into this deep, we're going to understand this. But there's my title of this series and this message. Blood Atonement in Leviticus.

But you know what, my priority isn't dealing with the blood tonight. Although that's the title of my message, I'm going to deal with other things. But you better run to the blood.

You are going to have your eyes on the blood, if you understand what I'm saying here tonight. So let's go to scriptures, Leviticus. And I just want to go to a few different places, then we're going to come back and start.

Leviticus chapter 11. Leviticus chapter 11, reading from verse 44. For I am the Lord your God.

You shall therefore sanctify yourself, and you shall be holy. For I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth on the face of the earth.

For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy. For I am holy.

And then next turn with me to chapter 16 and verse 30. For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you to cleanse you. That you may be clean from all your sins.

Therefore, before the Lord. It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and you shall afflict your souls by a statute forever. And then last of all, let's go to chapter 22.

I'm just pulling out a few scriptures here. There's many others, but we're just going to deal with these very quickly. And verse 32.

Chapter 22, verse 32. Neither shall you profane my holy name. But I will be hallowed among the children of Israel.

I am the Lord which hallow you. That brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.

Let's pray together. Father, we love you and we praise you and we worship you. And Father, I pray that this book will be used in your hands.

Father, to teach us holiness. To teach us how to worship. To teach us your character.

Lord God, I pray that you would radically change our thinking on the book of Leviticus. Oh God, keep our minds and our mouths. Lord God, from foolish joking over such a precious book.

That is so integral to our walk with God. Lord God, we can't even walk with you. We can't even fellowship.

We can't even serve you. We can't even pray right. We can't even walk right.

We can't live right. We can't serve right. We can't pray right.

Lord God, there's little that we can do. Unless we understand the basic teaching of every single chapter in this book. And Father, I do pray right now for your grace and your mercy upon us.

In Jesus' mighty name. Amen. I've called this blood atonement in Leviticus.

And I actually believe blood atonement is central to the Christian life. Not to just get saved. But listen to me.

I don't care if you're saved 50 years, 60 years, 10 years, 6 months or a day. The blood isn't only there. The work of the cross isn't just to get you saved.

It's far more. It's fundamental to the entirety of your Christian life. I can't preach without the blood tonight.

You can't pray without the blood. You can't worship. You can sing songs without the blood.

You can't worship without blood. And God help you. You better not sing without true worship from the heart.

Or else it's dead ritual. If you actually sang the songs tonight. You sang them but you didn't worship God.

You didn't praise Him. Your heart didn't open up on Thanksgiving. What have you just done? You've actually entered into holy things.

Using holy words. In a holy atmosphere. And yet your mind could have been a thousand miles away.

Your heart wasn't even stirred over the words you sang. And if you're not concerned about that. You ought to be tonight.

Because I tell you. Spiritual things are a very dangerous thing. When you become familiar with them.

Casual with them. Used to them. When you're no longer prayerful.

Saying Lord help me. Lord watch over my heart. If you're not allowing the word of God to search you.

In a very definite way. I'm telling you. You can be playing with real holy things.

And here in this meeting tonight. I want to make you so aware. That this book of Leviticus is a mighty book.

It is a powerful book. And I actually believe. Just as we meditated on it here.

It's going to help you. It's going to aid you. It's going to encourage you.

Oh yes. We'll deal with the blood. But we'll deal with holiness.

And if you ever move to an emphasis in your life. Or if I do in my preaching. Or we do as a church.

Where it's all holiness. You'll make shipwreck. If you lose sight of the blood.

Daily in all things. You will make shipwreck. If you pursue holiness.

And you lose sight of the blood. Or the reverse is also true. If you only focus on the blood.

And you say it's all the blood. And you treat holiness very casually. You're in grave danger tonight.

I want to tell you. You can rejoice in the blood. Sing about the blood.

You can ease your conscience in the blood. But if it doesn't lead you to holiness. Why not? Maybe you ought to question the reality.

Of your faith in the blood. If your faith in the blood. Doesn't lead you to holiness.

Why not? You're hiding behind the blood. You're using the blood. You're using it as a means of escape.

Justifying you. So you don't need to live right before God. And I'm telling you.

That's very, very dangerous. So you can see with what we're dealing with. Leviticus is a balancing help to us.

It puts everything in it's right place. It deals with all of these things. And listen to me tonight.

As we deal with this book Leviticus. Look at the order of it in our Bible. First Genesis.

Then Exodus. And then Leviticus. In Genesis we have the great fall of man.

We have that tragic fall of Adam and Eve. We see the effect of the fall of man. In man's heart.

In man's life. In man's society. In Exodus.

The entire book of Exodus. Is dealing with redemption. Redemption by the blood.

The Passover lamb. Forgiveness before God. And being brought out of Egypt.

The type of the world. But when we come to Leviticus. Do you know what you have? You've already got redemption.

You've already come through the Passover. It's speaking about those. That have been saved by the grace of God.

And the power of God. And the blood of God. So what is the message of Leviticus then? If that's Exodus.

The message of it is your redemption. Blood redemption. To save you from your sin.

What really is Leviticus? Leviticus is all about. The whole message of the book. Is to teach you how to live.

How to walk with God. How to serve God. How to worship God.

How to minister unto God. The entire book is about that. How you function serving God.

In your day to day life. How you serve God in your entire Christian life. Do you realize the Bible.

The Old Testament. Genesis. Exodus.

Leviticus. And all the other books. That was the Bible of the first century church.

I've heard people say. Oh the early church had no Bible. That's heresy.

That's dangerous. And I'm tired of the foolish statements made in the church. And I'm telling you they're dangerous statements.

They're wrong statements. They're unbiblical statements. And anyone with a bit of sense.

Knows those things aren't true. You know what? Leviticus was one of the vital books of the early church. They read it.

They prayed it. They believed it. The apostles taught it.

Christ taught it. And so it is an absolute vital book. Leviticus was given to a people who had been redeemed by the blood.

Leviticus was given as an entire teaching. To those that have been delivered out of Egypt. Or out of the world.

That's why Leviticus is for you tonight. You've been saved by the blood of the lamb. You've been delivered in a miraculous way out of the world.

You didn't save yourself. You didn't try to help yourself. Salvation is a miracle.

Regeneration is supernatural. It's of the heart. The blood of Jesus.

That's grace. That's faith in the living God. This is the very heart of our walk with God.

But listen to me. It's to such a people washed in the blood. Saved through Passover.

Brought out of Egypt. Brought out of the world. They are given Leviticus.

Leviticus isn't accidental. And I believe the first century church understood this. The book of Leviticus was for the church.

They believed it. They read it. They understood it.

They rightly divided it. Of course there's things there for the Jew in the Old Testament only. We understand that.

There are things of ritual and outward garments. In the New Testament the priests don't have to wear clothes. We understand that.

But listen. It's got a spiritual message for a spiritual people. And as I said, it's one of the least read books or so it has been said.

But I pray tonight that you understand why the book of Leviticus has been given. And that you see the importance of reading it. Not skimming over it.

Not starting to read it. Not just jumping over chapters. Read the book of Leviticus.

It's filled with doctrine. It is filled with substance. It is filled with teaching.

In fact, you can't understand Hebrews without Leviticus. And Hebrews is actually built on or based on the book of Leviticus. I have probably found about 90 references of Leviticus in the New Testament.

As best as I can. Some claim there's 200. And they may be right.

There are far greater scholars than I could ever hope to be by the end of my death. But I'm telling you there's at least 100 references to Leviticus in the New Testament. Let me just give you one just so before I go into my three points here.

See, I'm just making you begin to think here. I want to challenge you. I don't care how much you learn tonight.

I want you to leave here seeing the importance of the book of Leviticus. That it is a vital book. It is a good book.

It is a spiritual book. It's a book for the church. It isn't just for the Jew.

It isn't just law. It isn't just Old Testament. Oh, no.

It is a book for the church. For you and for I. Let me just give you one of the quotes from Leviticus in the New Testament. In fact, I think you've heard it many times over.

I think all of you know it well. And yet you wouldn't know it's from Leviticus. You would think it's maybe from Exodus or from the law.

Listen to what it is. And it's concerning Christ. In Matthew 22, verse 36.

He says, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Look at the question. Jesus is being asked by a religious, knowledgeable man who knows the Old Testament. He knows the law.

He believes the law. He understands the law. So, he asks Jesus amidst all of those trying to catch him out.

This man isn't trying to catch him out. And so, he asks him a question. Which is the great commandment of the law? And you know what it was.

To love the Lord thy God with all your heart. See, that's the first commandment. But listen to the second one he says in verse 39.

And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. See, that's taken from Leviticus.

Specifically, Leviticus 19 and verse 18. So, Christ not only reaches into the Ten Commandments in Exodus. The second thing he says out of all of the Old Testament.

All of the written scriptures where he could have went to. He went to Leviticus. And he reached into Leviticus chapter 19.

And he pulled out this statement. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. I am the Lord.

So, Christ actually said all the prophets are built on these two things. Love God and love thy neighbor. Have you ever wondered how to love your neighbor? Have you ever stopped and considered.

What does it mean for me to love my neighbor? Who is my neighbor? What is loving my neighbor? What does love look like? Guess where you need to go to get the answer. Have a guess. Have a wild guess.

You need to go to Leviticus. Listen to the entire scripture. Let me read it again.

In context where Jesus gets us. Because I could say, you've got to love your neighbor. Oh, I love my neighbor.

Okay. Let's get into this then. Let's test it.

Because the Word of God begins to deal and it sanctifies. Leviticus 19, 18. Thou shalt not avenge.

Oh, okay. Now, we're dealing with love. What does it mean to love your neighbor? Thou shalt not avenge.

Oh, I thought that was New Testament. No, it's in the Old Testament. There's a lot of things people think are spiritual in New Testament.

Actually, they're in the Old Testament. They say they were circumcised physically. We get circumcised in heart.

No, no, no, no. That's why I say to Shiloh, no, no, no, no. To try and teach you the right way.

I go, that's the wrong way. You need to learn the right way. Do you know in the Old Testament, they were circumcised in heart? A real Jew, a spiritual Jew, had to be circumcised in the heart.

That was in the Old Testament. It says, thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. How do you show love? Do not avenge.

Don't allow vengeance in your heart. I'm going to get back. I'm going to say, I'm going to put them right.

Don't carry a grudge. This attitude, this something in your heart against someone, it always comes up, if I could just put them straight. Do you realize love looks like something, it thinks like something, it believes like something, it acts in some way? And so, here is a simple way.

I'm showing you that the New Testament actually is expounded in the Old Testament. If you take a New Testament statement and go right back into the law, you begin to understand what it means when Jesus says, love thy neighbor. All the law, all the prophets, all the teaching of Scripture hinge on these things.

Love God and love your neighbor. But you need to understand what loving your neighbor is. In other words, Leviticus begins to explain what love looks like.

It begins to teach you how to love, not only God, but love your neighbor. It begins to explain it and expand upon it. This book of Leviticus, in its context and its day, was given as a manual for the priesthood.

It actually is a very, very detailed book of information for ministry. I don't mean ministry standing in a pulpit. I mean to be a Christian.

When I talk about ministry in the priesthood, you are the priesthood of God. I'm not the priesthood of God. We don't believe in clerics.

We don't believe in clerical ministry with colors and with titles. You know what? The entire church, it was a Reformation truth. The priesthood of all believers.

You know what Leviticus is? It's teaching on what it means to be a real priest before God. If you're passive, there's something badly wrong with you. Oh, I won't pray.

I won't worship. I won't serve. I just can be this in the church.

Actually, you're either saved or unsaved. Either you're going to hell or you're on your way to heaven. Either you're born again or you're a child of the devil.

Either you're under the wrath of God or the grace and the mercy of God has visited you. If that is you, then guess what? You're being raised up as a priest unto God. This is a book for you.

It'll help you serve God and walk with God and minister unto God and minister unto others. It'll teach you how to love your neighbor, how to treat people in this church, how to keep a right heart. This is a manual.

It's a teaching manual. It's a very detailed teaching manual, and it actually reveals God's will for those in relationship with himself. So Leviticus is God's will.

Have you come out of Egypt? Have you come out through the blood? Have you had a supernatural experience? Then come to Leviticus. God has a message there for you. If you see it in Christ, you can interpret it correctly.

Remember, Christ is the theme of every book of the Old Testament. He is the central person, and you're going to find Leviticus. We're going to see it.

I'm just going to touch on three simple points, but do you know what? As we go into Leviticus, we're actually going to find Leviticus is filled with doctrine about the cross. You can't even, to its fullness, understand the cross without Leviticus. You cannot.

You cannot. You cannot, and you know what? I'm going to show you the true message of the cross from Leviticus, and I'm going to show you the true character of God from Leviticus, and I'm going to show you true holiness of life from Leviticus. It's not law.

It's not legalism. It's the word of God. It's the spirit of grace, and so here tonight, I've got three points for you.

Just stay with me. Follow with me. This is going to be simple.

It's going to be short. It's going to be clear. It's going to be precise.

Number one, holiness. I'm taking the word holy out of Leviticus, and I want you to understand it tonight. You know why holiness is the central, dominating theme of Leviticus? You've been washed by the blood.

You've come out of Egypt. You've walked across the desert. You're seeking after the Lord.

Something supernatural has happened. The Lord made you to trust in the blood, to experience the Passover lamb, okay? Guess what? It's holiness unto the Lord. Turn with me to Leviticus chapter 11, verse 44.

Leviticus 11, 44. This is one of the central themes of this book. You can't understand Leviticus unless you hear the message of holiness.

I've got a message for this church here tonight, and every person in this church, it's holiness unto the Lord. Oh, I'm not a preacher. God help you if you ever think that.

I'm telling you, saints, I'm giving you the word of God tonight. Don't you dare minimize the call of God in every single believer. You're a priest in Christ.

He has done a miracle. You've come out of the world. You've got a calling on your life.

Some of the holiest saints I ever met in my life never stood in a pulpit and preached. I never heard them preach once, and yet I consider them the most godly, holy, sanctified believers I've met in my entire life. They carried the glory of God, because you do know you can't have the glory without holiness.

You do realize that holiness, obedience, purity of heart is the key to the glory of God and the presence of God and the power of God. See, some people want the power. You can't have the power without holiness.

Very few want the purity of God. They want the power of God. It would destroy you if you get it without purity.

Leviticus 11, 44. For I am the Lord your God. Ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves.

Notice the therefore. Because he is the Lord your God, therefore you sanctify yourself. Do you belong to God? Then you will sanctify yourself.

Holiness is not a choice. Doing right is not a choice. If that is even a choice in your mind tonight, you better bury it.

You better break it. You better fight against it tonight, because the Bible doesn't give you an option. There are no unholy Christians.

Oh, yes, I know there are. I know a Christian can fail. I know a Christian can sin.

I know that. I'm not stupid. But do you know what? A Christian has a calling to be holy.

That calling is to be sanctified, totally sanctified, totally pure. Are any of us there yet? Absolutely not. If you are, I want to talk to you after the gathering.

But listen. For I am the Lord your God. Therefore sanctify yourself.

If I am your God, if you are saved, if you do know me, then sanctify yourself. You have a responsibility. And that's the whole message of Leviticus.

Sanctify yourself. Purify yourself. If the Lord is your God, and notice God is speaking here.

It's not Moses. It's not man. It's not a preacher.

I am the Lord your God. Can I ask you a question? Is the Lord your God tonight? Is he your God? I mean, is he your God? Then I'll tell you what. He says, therefore sanctify yourself.

If you belong to me, if I am your God, sanctify yourself. What does it mean? Purify yourself. You're going to have to deal with some things.

Oh, well, I just drift along, and I'm sure everything's okay. That's not enough. Are you meditating the Word of God? See, if you're going to be holy, you meditate on this book.

I tell you, if you don't meditate on this book, you're unclean. And I'm telling you, you need to wash your feet tonight. You have a desperate need to wash your feet.

Remember Peter? He said, wash me all. No, I've only need to wash your feet. You've been washed spiritually, but you need to wash your feet, because walking in this world, you need sanctified.

You need washed with the water of the Word, and you shall be holy. How do you get holy? Sanctify yourself. Oh, Lord, make me holy.

Sanctify yourself. Listen to what God says. Deal with issues.

He says, repent of that. Deal with that. Get that out of your life.

Oh, God, I'm waiting on you to make me holy. You're going to wait a long time. You need to respond to God.

You need to hear from God. You want to get victory over sin? Read the Word of God. Hide it in your heart.

For I am holy. You shall be holy. Why? For I am holy.

Neither shall you defile yourself with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. Ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.

The word holy is used in Leviticus 94 times. He calls you, be holy. Why? I am holy.

Do you realize God's holy? God is holy. Oh, I know He's love. I know He's light.

But our God is a holy God. I believe this is the most vital characteristic of God. I believe it's more intrinsic than love.

See, love without holiness is dangerous. It's holiness that keeps love pure, that keeps it right, that keeps it sanctified, that gives it boundaries. Imagine love without boundaries, without rights and wrongs, without purities, without conditions, without explanation.

That's what you have in certain areas of the church. Oh, I'm just a very loving person. No, you're a rebel.

You know why? You don't even deal with people's sin. Remember in the great love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13, and it gives 13 marks of charity, of love. In other words, love in action.

13 marks. You know, one of them means that you actually expose and deal with someone's sin. So don't tell me love is just that you ignore everything and you're blind and you drift through life.

Actually, that's not a true definition. That's not a biblical definition of love. Love looks like something, like not having a grudge in your heart, not taking revenge.

Don't tell me you're walking in love and you're a person of vengeance and grudges, and grudges are in your heart and they fester away. That isn't love. Perfect love casts out all fear.

Do you know what love does? Love has the power, agape love, the love of Christ, of the Calvary. It actually gets rid of things. It usurps things.

And so we have this word, all through Leviticus, the word holy, it means to be set apart, marked off. It means to be distinct or different. Notice here, God's priesthood has to be different.

God's entire people, they've come out of Egypt, you've got to be different, since we ought to be different. You know, when I was in the army, they'd start saying, why don't you swear like us? Why don't you drink like us? I'm not saying anything. Why don't you blaspheme like us? Why don't you laugh at the dirty jokes like us? Me just standing quietly was enough to raise a controversy.

You know, they'd come into my room, or I moved in there the first, one of the times in the army, I moved in, and of course they'd come in to see, who's this new guy in the room? And they'd look at your bed space, and they must have got terribly alarmed at mine. First thing I got in there, put my Bible out, put my Christian books out, put my bits and pieces out. Then they'd come in and go, God help us, what have we got in our room? Do you know in that room, it was the only room in my entire lifetime that didn't have naked pictures of women on the outside of the lockers.

I never mentioned them once. Not once did I ever mention those things. I didn't frown at them.

I didn't say anything. But do you know what? There was an atmosphere of the Lord Jesus Christ that was actually there in that room that affected godless, wicked, vile sinners. They're affected by the saints of God.

You know when they used to do room inspections, they'd come in, and they'd always scrutinize your bed space. They never done that with me. I think the sergeants and officers were scared of my bed space.

They'd come in and quickly move on. I think they were scared of the Bible and the Christian signs and symbols and scriptures up there. They were a bit embarrassed about it.

It didn't bother me at all. But do you know what? Holiness is a distinction. You're different.

You're set apart. We're not meant to be like the world. Do you understand Leviticus? You don't think like most of the church.

Leviticus says you're set apart. Don't be like the world. Don't act like the world.

Don't look like the world. Don't speak like the world. Don't follow their patterns of behavior.

We shouldn't be like the pagans. Shouldn't be piercing our bodies. And I know many as have from the world.

You've got tattoos and piercings and all of the rest. That doesn't bother me in the slightest. But it bothers me in America when this young generation raised in the house of God, going to Bible school, leading worship, preaching in pulpits, start getting tattoos and piercing themselves.

That is an apostate confused movement. There's something really wrong. Yous are coming out of the world and you move away from that.

They are in the church and they grew up into it. You know what? That's a church movement that has really gone off. And so the emphasis in Leviticus is holiness, not love.

He doesn't keep emphasizing love. If you're holy, you will love someone. You will love someone.

See, the key to love is holiness. You want more love in this church? Let's get more holiness here. Let's begin to sanctify and purify.

Let's cleanse our hands. And I'm telling you, this place will be filled with the manifest love of God and the glory of God and the power of God and the presence of God. Since you want to see the miracles of God, this is the way.

Do you want to see the presence of God? Do you want to hear the prophetic voice of God? Do you want to see the gifts displayed? You can't pray for the gifts earnestly and then live anyway. We can't compare ourselves with other churches or other movements or other leaders or whatever. We actually have to go to Scripture and say, search me, Lord, and see if there be any wicked thing.

See, holiness is fundamental to God's character. He's swear by His holiness. Why did He not swear by His love? Why did He not swear by His patience or His mercy or His kindness? He didn't swear by any of this.

He swore by His holiness. You know why? Because He chose His highest attribute. And when God swears in His holiness, nothing can change that.

It's irrevocable. It's unchangeable. In other words, God says, just to prove to you, because I'm not going to lie.

That's God. God's not going to lie. He's not there where He can go, what if I lie or change my mind? He's doing it for you because you're so weak.

You're so frail. He says, I swear so that you know I'm going to do everything. I have said.

See, God swears by His holiness. What about the angels in heaven, the cherubim and the seraphim and all those in around the throne of God? Remember Isaiah, when he caught a glimpse of the throne of God, what were they singing? Love, love, love. Mercy, mercy.

They were singing, holy, holy, holy. You know why? Because when you're in the presence of God, when you become conscious of God, you're so aware of His holiness. Not a holiness that makes you run out of the building.

This is a holiness that melts you. I mean it melts you. What Brother Rory said about the heart of Christ on the cross, wasn't that a powerful thought? That there's a kind of heart, it was like wax that melted on the cross for you and I. Oh God, give me a heart like that, that you can ride upon that hot wax.

Saints of God, again, we need to see the holiness of God. This church needs to see the holiness of God. You and your Christian life need to see the holiness of God.

If you don't think God's a holy God, you will never be a holy Christian. And don't try to tell me that you think God is holy when you have a light slack attitude towards God. In fact, that's a symptom, that's a sign that your knowledge of God or your consciousness of God is defective at this moment.

See, a Christian can ebb and flow, can't he? Haven't you done that? Haven't you ebbed and flowed? Sometimes you're so conscious of him, sometimes you forget him. Remember. All through scripture it says, remember.

See, this is the basis of holiness. What is the basis of holiness? Verse 45. For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt.

He's teaching them to be holy, calling them to sanctify themselves. What's the basis of it? I brought you out of Egypt, Passover, the blood. You know what the basis of holiness of life is? Purity, obedience to God, blood sacrifice.

Holiness isn't an option. If you're redeemed by the blood, you will be holy. And you know the danger in this walk is that with your thinking, you begin to think differently.

That's why we need our minds renewed. You need to get into the book of Leviticus and you'll begin to see God is a holy God. He doesn't give an option.

He demands that every member of the body is sanctified and is holy and is purified. Do you realize that this command to be holy is actually in the New Testament? Shock of shock. Peter writes in 1 Peter chapter 1, Be ye holy for I am holy.

He actually says because it is written. He gives an entire teaching on the life of holiness. Then he says it is written.

Be ye holy. Where's he quoting from? Leviticus. He goes back into Leviticus and quotes, Be ye holy.

He is teaching on holiness in the church. He is exhorting them to be holy. He is calling them with a holy calling.

He takes them back to Leviticus. He says, you know why? Because it is written. Don't tell me the early church didn't take heed of Leviticus.

They did. They read Leviticus. They preached Leviticus.

They believed Leviticus. They applied it to the hearts of every member. There's a power with it.

Listen to what else Peter says. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober.

Not very casual, is it? And hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children. Look at every sentence here.

As obedient children. Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts and your ignorance. But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation.

That doesn't mean only your talk. It means your thought life and your attitudes and your words and your actions and your ministry and your prayers and your pursuits and your endeavors, your life in the church, your life at home, your life at work, in all of your conversation. Since this is a heavy burden and legalistic, if you don't know Christ, if you don't know the power of the blood, if you don't know a supernatural experience with him, this is law.

This'll kill you. You can't begin to do this if you don't do it by the grace of God and the power of God. That's why you need Passover.

That's why you need a new deliverance from the world. That's why you need a new supernatural regeneration. You know why? It brings you into this.

It's an entire life. This is New Testament. Be holy for he is holy.

God is holy. Leviticus constantly deals with the holiness of God. He is a holy God.

And if you call on the Father, who without respect to persons, judges according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourn here in fear. For as much as you know that you were not redeemed, see how he brings it back to his blood. Why am I telling you to pass your time here on earth soberly in the fear of God until the last day you breathe your last breath.

You ought to be sober saints of God. You ought to walk in the fear of God. You ought to take heed.

You haven't finished your journey yet. You've got a bit of ground to cover. Do you know why he says to do this? Because you were not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold from your vain conversations received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.

Do you notice both in Leviticus and in Peter, they're saying you ought to be holy. Why? Because of the cross, because of the blood, because of Passover. That is the whole basis and essence of your holiness.

You want to know what the basis of holiness is? Show me a holy man or woman, and I'll show you someone who knows the power of Jesus' blood. Show me a Christian who's hiding behind the blood, excused in their lifestyle. They have no power to live right.

They're used in the blood. The blood becomes a selfish thing. You don't even know the power of the blood.

If you experience the power of the blood, you'll pursue holiness. See, the blood brings you into a walk of holiness and purity. Never think these are an option.

Well, you can either be a holiness Christian or a blood-washed Christian. There's no such division. A real blood-washed Christian, one that's felt the power of Jesus' blood, desires holiness.

That's my first point. Point two, atonement. First word's holy or holiness.

The second word that you find in Leviticus is the word atonement. Atonement. Do you know in just one chapter, chapter 16 of this book, the word atonement is used 16 times, just in chapter 16 alone.

The word atonement is all through this book. Look with me at Leviticus chapter 16 and 30. 16 and verse 30.

And on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be cleaned from all of your sins before the Lord. And then chapter 17 verse 11. 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 atonement for the soul.

This book was preached in the early church. Yes, it's got a theme of holiness all through it. It is a call to holiness.

It's instruction on how to be holy, to keep yourself pure, to be separate from sinners. That's all through Leviticus. Peter preached it as such.

But second of all, the great theme of Leviticus is atonement, blood sacrifice, the work of the cross. That's what it's foreshadowing. And so here we see atonement is absolutely vital in Leviticus.

If all you see is holiness, you have missed something major in this book. It is radically vital. In fact, this book is filled with chapter after chapter after chapter that teaches you and gives you insight to the cross.

Imagine neglecting this. The early church didn't. The apostles didn't.

The church of Jerusalem emphasized this. This was their Bible. Leviticus they taught it.

Do you know, imagine Christ with a veil on His face. Just listen to me for a second. I want you to hear this.

The difference between the Jew and the Christian looking on the face of Christ is like Christ or a man wearing a veil on His face. See, as a Christian, when I see Christ veiled, listen to me, in the Old Testament, in the types, in the shadows, in the pictures, the ladder, the scapegoat, the Passover, here in the atonement, the sacrifices, I go, ha ha, it's Christ. It's so obvious.

It's so clear. And yet the Jew who's had the book, the Scriptures, all through the generations, why can't they see the Messiah, the Christ? Do you know what? When all you've ever seen is a man with a veil over His face, the type and the shadow, you can't see who the man is. All you've had is the types, the shadows.

It's all teaching. But see, when you see the man, when the veil comes off, then all the types, the shadows, the covers, it becomes so obvious, it actually becomes a help to you. You can recognize the man in the veil.

They can't recognize the man in the veil. They've never seen him outside the veil. That takes a supernatural work of the Holy Ghost.

But here you have the second thing, the theme of Leviticus, is blood atonement. Since you better realize this book will lead you to Calvary, lead you to the blood. It'll keep you right daily.

God understands that you don't only need Passover. See, if it was a one-off cleansing, if it was a one-off Passover, a one-off experience with the blood, if you get washed in the blood and then thereafter you live so holy, you don't need cleansed again and washed again in the blood. All you'd have is the Passover.

But when you come to Leviticus, this is the teaching given to the redeemed saints of God. They have come out of Egypt. They've come out of the world.

Do you know you've been given an entire book about sacrifice, about blood, about how to walk right with God? How do you think when God lays down demands of holiness and He deals with your heart and deals with your actions and deals with your word, don't you realize we need this teaching of blood atonement, of sacrifice constantly every day? In Leviticus chapter 1 to 15, it is dominated by sacrifice, how to remove sin. It's dealing with saints, with Christians, with believers, with people of God, with the priesthood, with those who know God, those who experience Passover need this teaching. An entire 15 chapters on how to remove sin, how to worship, how to be clean, how to live in community with fellow believers in real fellowship.

It is detailed instructions, very detailed instructions here are given to you about how you live out your life together as the people of God. Without atonement, you'd have no sacrifice. You'd have no forgiveness.

You'd have nothing. All you'd have is the demands to live holy, a one-off experience and the demands. But God doesn't do that to you.

Do you realize He lays out 15 chapters in Leviticus? As soon as you begin reading, it's about sacrifice, laying your hand, choosing a perfect sacrifice. Who's it pointing to? Jesus Christ from chapter 1. I mean, you can hear, I was tempted to preach on chapter 1. I thought, no, I need to give some framework here. You know why? It embarks by verse 3, you're immediately in the blood sacrifice, immediately in the perfect lamb, immediately in delaying your hands upon the sacrifice.

All of this is about atonement. The word atonement used in this book, it's the Hebrew word kaphr. Kaphr, it's where we get the word Yom Kippur from.

Remember the Yom Kippur War? Well, that's what you have here. You had once in Israel the day of atonement. And chapter 16 is all about that one day, the day of atonement, talking about blood shedding.

But here's an interesting thing. The word kaphr for atonement, it comes from another word called kaphreth, which is the name for the mercy seat in the Old Testament. So the mercy seat on top of the ark in the temple where the blood was shed, the blood was placed so that God's people could be right with Him, that mercy seat where the blood was put, it actually has given us the name atonement.

This is what the old Puritans used to say. You say for atonement, at-one-ment. Isn't that an easy way to understand it? What does atonement mean? At-one-ment.

It's the entire teaching that makes you one with God, right with God, in unity to God. And so it literally means to be forgiven, cleansing, a payment to be paid, a ransom to be given, or to avert wrath from off your life. And so we see here in Leviticus there's an entire sacrificial system that is taught.

Fifteen chapters on sacrifices. Chapter 16 is the hinge of the entire book, and it carries on with more sacrifice. Chapter 17 is the day of atonement.

And then chapter 17 to 26 is the holiness code. In other words, it has laws, consequence, penalties of not obeying God. So up until chapter 17, God is emphasizing atonement, the blood.

See, I got my second point. I should have put it first, not holiness, but that's where it started. Saints of God, do you realize God has built this book, Leviticus? He leads you through an entire teaching, how daily to stay right with God.

Different sacrifices, the work of Calvary. You know within that you are given five distinct offerings which all represent Jesus. We're going to teach this one of these days.

The five offerings within the first chapters of Leviticus, five different offerings, and you say, well what's that offering? What's a burnt offering? What does that mean? All of them point to Jesus, but all of them reveal something else about the cross. All five offerings it took to give you a full view of the cross. Do you know also we have the feasts of Israel.

We have them taught within Leviticus as well. Three of them where you had to go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord and to serve the Lord during that time. Saints, when you begin to get into this book, you read the atonement 49 times in Leviticus.

It dominates every chapter. It leads you forward into a life of holiness. Do you want to be holy? Do you want to live right with God? Do you realize what the right is? See, some Christians, they get saved and stuck.

Remember like that message that was on for you on the Wednesday night. You can get stuck along this journey like Abraham. You can get stuck because of your old man and the old nature and the old flesh and you settle down with your old man.

Your old man isn't going anywhere and I'm telling you some of you are dictated to by your old man. You know why? Because what comes out of your lips is directly from the old man. It's not the new man.

It's not the renewed creature. It's not scripture. You're just giving up.

You're excusing yourself. It is dominated by the old man. You better deal with that old man.

That old man's an enemy. That old man will hinder you. But listen what Leviticus does.

It brings you the pathway of the blood, of blood sprinkled, of sacrifice. Do you know what sacrifice means? It means it's costly. Never think that this is cheap.

It's not a cheap gospel. It costs the father the death of his son. The gospel is very costly.

Your forgiveness is very costly. Oh, oh, a sin. Please forgive me Lord.

You need to be very careful of your heart and attitudes coming in. When it deals with the sacrificial system in Leviticus it goes into all the little details. It keeps repeating itself.

It is very diverse. It's got an entire theology on the blood. Don't go on Amazon to try and find a book on the theology of the blood.

Go to Leviticus. Begin to understand Leviticus. Don't listen to YouTube about the blood.

Go to Leviticus. Begin to read it and ask God to show you. Over in the New Testament in Romans Paul also carried this connection between atonement and the mercy seat.

He taught it in all of his letters just like in Leviticus. He said in Romans chapter 3 verse 25 Whom God has set forth. Speaking about Jesus.

He's preaching about the cross the death of Jesus. He said whom God has set forth. In other words, has publicly declared Revealed.

Demonstrated. Made known to everyone. God has made Christ known to everyone.

He decided before time. He ordained an eternity past that he would send his only begotten son. That Jesus would become a man.

That he would take on the sin of the world. That he would be the sin bearer. The propitiation.

That he would make atonement himself. God determined that. He planned it.

The cross was in plan B. Never let anyone tell you that was a hiccup to deal with man's sin. It was a reaction. No, that was always in the mind of God.

He was the lamb of God slain from the foundation of the world. You know what? Blood redemption was at the heart of God from all eternity. It wasn't an accident.

Not an afterthought. This was God's way to show you his love. See, don't tell sinners God loves you.

Tell them he died for you. He suffered for you. He bled for you on a cross.

Because even the word love has got confused in this hour. Hasn't it? It's got messed up. What do you mean love? We love you.

What do you mean? Lost all meaning. Preach the cross. Preach blood atonement.

Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. That word propitiation in the Greek is helisterion. It's the same word used in Hebrews 9.5 for the mercy seat in the tabernacle.

It was the lead of the covenant made of solid gold. The rest of the ark was a key of wood covered in gold. But not the lead.

The lead's solid gold. You know what that means? Pure divinity. It stands for God's nature.

That's where the blood is shed. That's where the sacrifice is gonna be. And Paul uses this term mercy seat to say Jesus, God sent his son to be a propitiation.

It says in Luke 18.13 and the publican, you know this, and the publican standing afar off would not lift up so much as his eyes on the heaven but smote upon his breast saying God be merciful to me a sinner. The word merciful comes from the same family. Heliskomai.

It means propitiation. God be a propitiation. Be an atonement for me.

He couldn't even lift his eyes up. I'm a sinner. Is there one who can be an atonement for me? Aren't you glad that this sinner who men looked down upon he knew he couldn't approach God.

He looked for atonement for a propitiation. I bet God answered his prayer because he was a seeking heart. In 1 John chapter 1 and 9 it says if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Chapter 2 verse 1. My little children, these things write I unto you that ye sin not. And if any man sin we have an advocate with the father Jesus Christ the righteous and he is the propitiation. The mercy seat for your sin.

Do you realize you always have a mercy seat? Who's John writing to? Christians. You that are born again. You that know Jesus.

Don't you know Jesus is your advocate? Don't you know he's the mediator? Don't you know he's your mercy seat, your propitiation? Saints, this is why Leviticus is so important. How do you understand Hebrews? How do you understand 1 John? About the blood, about Christ being the mercy seat if you don't go to Leviticus. In Leviticus Christ is the atonement.

There's an entire day of atonement. The entire book is covered, dominated by sacrifice. And you know what comes out of that? A walk of holiness and purity with God.

You'll never learn holiness without the blood. The blood leads you to holiness. See, don't tell me you know the blood.

Oh, I know the blood. I know I'm forgiven. I know I'm right when you don't even desire holiness.

That tells me a lot about your health state. A healthy man acts in a certain way. See, if I made a Christian healthy I desire holiness.

Not legalism, not law, not trying to be made righteous. Not striving to keep laws and regulation so that they remain right. But you know what? Out of a pure heart they go, I want to walk with God.

I want to obey God. I want to serve God. You know what? You know the power of the blood.

Because the blood, the sacrifice, being delivered from Egypt brings you into a whole walk of holiness. Let me finish here tonight on this third point, on this third and last word. This might surprise you.

So we've got holy or holiness. We've got propitiation or atonement. Remember, the word holy is written 94 times.

The word atonement is written 49 times. The next word is written 313 times in Leviticus. So it's actually more important than holiness, more important than atonement.

The next word is more important than the blood and it's more important than holiness. I wonder if I got you all to write down now what you think the next word is going to be. I wonder what you'd write.

But I won't keep you hanging. This is the third word. Lord.

It's God himself. Saints, I'm giving you three words so you understand Leviticus. It's dominated by holiness.

By the word holy. Be holy. I am holy.

It's dominated by atonement. Sacrifices to lead you into a walk with God. Not only a one-off experience, but an entire walk of blood sacrifice.

Provision of Calvary. The grace of God. Washing, cleansing, purifying.

We need to learn what all those sacrifices mean. What the offerings are. What Calvary is.

See this is how the old apostles used to preach the cross and teach the cross. They taught it from the Old Testament. But third and finally, Lord is the third word.

313 times The word Lord in capital letters is used in Leviticus. Always capitals. There's another Lord.

It's small letters. One capital letter for L. Then O-R-D. It's a Donai.

It's not the same word as this. It's another name for God. But this name for God is Jehovah.

What we've often called Jehovah. It doesn't get used often now. Jehovah's Witness don't possess this.

They stole it from us. It was a way to try and describe the way Lord capital letters so you could understand it. It's actually used 6,000 and you can count them if you want.

6,823 times in the Old Testament. It's got four letters. We try to pronounce it by saying Yahweh.

That's probably a good way to describe it. Jehovah, Yehovah, or Yahweh. It's written without vowels.

People try to fill in the vowels by saying these four letters like Yahweh or Jehovah. I say either way. That's fine.

People try to puzzle to understand the meaning. They call it the name of God. The Jews wouldn't use God's name.

They didn't like to use God's name. When they write it, they write G stroke D. They don't like to write or to use the name of God. They feel it is too holy.

Saints, as we close, what does the name Lord in Leviticus mean? It dominates the entire text. It is everywhere. The name literally means I am that I am.

The word literally means to be. I am. That's what Lord means.

Jehovah, Yahweh. Hey, I am. This is me.

This is who I am. It is a revealing of God himself. The name actually means I always am this.

I never change. He is self sufficient. He doesn't need you.

Have you ever heard these preachers say God has this big void in his heart just waiting for you and he feels so empty and you're the only one that can fill it. And he's really sad until you come and fill that part. God isn't that you centered.

We're meant to be God centered. Do you see how the gospel has went? God is self sufficient. He has everything in himself.

He doesn't need anything. I'm sorry if this hurts you, offends you or you stumble over it on the way out the door. But I'm telling you God doesn't need you.

You need God. And if you have any other thoughts per me, God isn't going to change the gospel for you. That's what it means that the Lord is self sufficient.

Do you think he's going to give all his word, all his prophets, all the teaching, all the patriarchs, all the apostles, all the revivals and now he's going to change it for a poor little you. You sit there, you hear everything, you digest it, you don't believe anything, you don't obey it, you don't even lift your head and then you want God to change and accommodate you. He will not do it.

You need to repent. You actually need to seek God with all your heart because this works. This worked the first day that you got saved.

When you got born again the power of God came. You were forgiven. You were changed.

But if you're not careful, if you don't stay in the word of God, if you don't allow Leviticus to teach you and renew your mind, if you don't learn the character of God in Leviticus, guess who this God is? He's a holy God but he's a blood atoning God. He's a God of blood sacrifice but he is a holy God. He's an unchanging God.

Aren't you glad about that? He's self-existent in himself. He is eternal. This is his unique name and he reveals his nature.

Listen, the word Lord means I am righteous. He is absolutely righteous. It means he is righteous.

He demands righteousness and he will help you to be righteous. This is God. He provides righteousness.

Aren't you glad Christ made you righteous when he first saved you? Passover, born again, he makes you perfect in him. You didn't become perfect in him. You were complete the very first day that you got saved.

You came as a sinner, powerless, ungodly, hopeless, a life of sin. He says, I forgive you. Stand on your feet and walk.

I'll be with you always. Saints, this is our God. He is righteous.

He demands righteousness and he provides righteousness. He's not demanding of you. Go and try to work this out.

He never does that. He says, I will make you righteous. It's my character.

It's my nature within you. Not until he gave the law did he make himself known to Israel by this name, Lord or Jehovah. Listen in Exodus 6 and 2. And God spake unto Moses and said unto him, I am the Lord.

That's the word, Lord. So he's appearing unto Moses saying, I'm the Lord. Here I am.

I'm unchanging. I am. I am.

This is who I am. And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty. But by my name Jehovah was I not known unto them.

So God is revealing something of his character, who he is to Moses that he didn't reveal to Abraham. God, the same God was revealed to Abraham, as to Moses, as to us. But do you know what he's doing? He's revealing more of his character, more of his, who he is.

And listen to me. If you think the character of God taught in the Bible is a small thing, you're very mistaken. Here he appears to Moses with a revelation of himself, teaching, explaining, showing who he is in a way he hadn't before from creation.

Now he's going to be a covenant God. Now he's going to join himself to a nation. Now he's going to have an entire priesthood of people.

Sadly, they drew back. See, God looks for an entire people of priests and kings to serve him. Do you remember all the redemptive names of God? They all come within this.

The names of God, Jehovah. Ten times over in the Old Testament, we have a revelation, the redemptive, the Calvary names of Christ. Jesus Christ is this revelation of God.

He's Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide himself a sacrifice. He's Jehovah Rapha, the Lord who heals you. He's Jehovah Nisai, the Lord, my banner.

I used to love that better than any name when I was a kid. Jehovah Mekitesh, the Lord who sanctifies us. He's Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our peace.

He's Jehovah Teketesh, the Lord our righteousness. Jehovah Raphai, he's the Lord our shepherd. He's Jehovah Shammai, the Lord is there.

He's Jehovah Sabbath, that means the Lord of hosts or the armies of God. And listen, none of them have in any of their lists of Jehovah names. So mark it down because they don't write this.

Jehovah Kwanah, the Lord who's jealous. You know what? If you're married, I hope your partner's jealous. Not jealous in a bad way.

You ladies, you can be jealous in a bad way. You can be superstitious jealous. But you know what? God's put a jealous nature within a wife, more than a man, to be a protection, to be a guard, to be a help mate.

To go, be careful touching him. Be careful spending time with him. That's actually a God-given thing.

Guess what? God is a jealous God. I thought jealousy was wrong. Oh, it's like anger.

Anger can be wrong or it can be righteous. Actually, sometimes if you're not angry, there's something wrong with you. And sometimes if you weren't jealous, guess what? I'm jealous over this church.

I'm jealous. Listen, mate. I'm not sure if I've said this before.

I'm jealous over you. I am very, very jealous. Let a false prophet touch you, I am very jealous.

Let me see sin come in and compromise and lethargy and other ideologies. I'm jealous over this. Don't bring that filth in here.

Don't bring that teaching in here. Don't bring that ideology in here. You know why? God is a jealous God.

And so, saints, I'm closing now. But here are three things. Holiness, Atonement, and the Lord Himself.

Do you see how big these subjects are? And they dominate the book of Leviticus. Never let it be said in this church, this is the least read book in the entire Bible. Because I actually believe, see this book, if you hear me tonight and in the weeks to come, however long, whatever God wants to open up out of this, maybe we'll only touch on it, but we'll have to come back time and time.

I need a whole series on the five offerings, sacrificial offerings to show you the cross. For years, I've wanted to preach these five offerings in this church. And time after time, it's a bit like the series on tongues and the series on the fear of God and the series on just prayerfully want to be led of God.

Until it's getting close to me preaching those five offerings, because it's so vital. It'll help you understand the cross. To understand your walk with Jesus.

I actually believe, see it's not just Passover in Egypt to come out of the world. This is a whole doctrine of teaching so that you can walk wholly before God and live before Him. Let's pray.

Father, we love you. We thank you for the word of God. Father, I pray, give us a deep love for this book of Leviticus.

I pray that these deep themes of the character and the name of God that dominates the text of Scripture, this teaching on blood atonement to keep us right, to keep us serving, to keep us ministering, to show us how to walk right and stay right in a filthy world. Lord God, while we have this old nature, this old flesh, and we have to fight the devil and his thoughts, Lord God, how to walk in the life and the power and the provision of blood atonement through our Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we do want to walk as a testimony unto you, to be a royal priesthood, that minister unto you, that pray, that are raised up to minister unto our God and to minister to this nation of Ireland.

Lord God, what a power for you, for a church by the blood of the Lamb, to be raised up to serve you, and Lord God, to live out this Christian life for all of their days. We pray, Lord God, that you stir something deep in our hearts tonight in Jesus' name.