Will you take your Bibles and turn to Mark's gospel where we will continue our examination of this amazing record of Jesus life and ministry. This morning, I will be speaking to you about our compassionate Savior and substitute. We're going to be looking at Mark chapter one, verses 40 through 45. Before we look at the text, I'd like to give you an introduction to make you even more fully aware of the reality of our sin and the glory of Christ our Savior.

You know, one of the greatest obstacles to the gospel is admitting the depth of one's depravity. Nobody likes to say, Well, yeah, I guess I'm so bad that I deserve an eternal hell. That is not a popular message. Although it is the truth. People don't want to admit that they have a sinful nature. They see themselves as basically good people. And of course, the world has a woefully low view of the holiness of God, therefore, they have a very high view of themselves. I remember talking about this once, and one of the groups that I was leading years ago, and my office that I had down in Maryland farms in Brentwood had a small group there of men and one man was so mad when I started talking about this subject that he got up, and came right over to me and spit in my face and left the room. I never knew what happened to him. I hope that by God's grace, he came to faith in Christ. But most people will say, Well, you know, good people will do bad things, because bad things happen to good people. So the philosophy of the age is basically man is deprived, not depraved. And, of course, this is the message of the progressive left, that is indoctrinating our children in public schools that dominates the news media, or government and so forth. What people will tell us is that if you just give men and women the right environment, and by the way, we will control that environment and if you give them a proper education, and by the way, we will tell you what they need to be taught. And if you will give them the proper economic opportunities, and by the way, we will help you understand what those are, then everything will be good in the world. And people's true natures will show. You know, I agree with that. And we've seen those true natures shown have we not? We have the gross immorality of the LGBTQ abominations. We have the transgender insanity. I understand now a lot of public schools, they have a gender unicorn, which is a purple Barney lookalike unicorn that teaches sixth and seventh graders about gender fluidity, gender identity, gender expression, and same sex attraction. Yeah, let's give people all of these things and we will have Black Lives Matter and we will have Antifa and we will have all of these hideous things that we've seen. We will have a country that is dedicated upon the premise that we must remove all things Christian from the public square. I had to laugh one of the headlines that I read recently went like this quote, "The economy collapses, the quadruple Vax, Dr. Fauci catches COVID and abortion supporters attack 23 pro-life centers." Yeah, boy, we need better environment, right. We need better education. We need better economic opportunities. A man by the name of Pete Hegseth. Some of you know him from Fox News. He's written a book that I recommend. It's called "Battle For the American Mind", and he gave a great summary of kind of how people view everything today, or how many people view everything. Here's how it goes, quote, "White people are inherently oppressive. Gender is completely fluid, climate change will destroy the world and America is the ultimate source of evil in the world. Up is down, left his right, good and evil are subjective, until an educator tells you who or what is good and evil, and then you must comply." That's the world in which we live. And is this because people are lacking in privileges and prosperity and education? Is it an oppressive environment that predisposes people to do evil? If so, you would think in the sophisticated world in which we live, by now, you would be able to root out all of those kinds of things and properly address people and their needs and train people to at least be able to obey the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. But we don't even see that.

So why is it that when every infant comes into the world, without any training or any development, that child will have a frightening attitude of selfishness that demands satisfaction of its every desire. Every parent will admit that a child who left unchecked will destroy himself and would destroy the parent if they had an opportunity. Why is that? I mean, no one needs to teach your child to be ill-tempered and impatient, or demanding or self-centered or jealous, or violent. Why is that? Why is it that every precious infant that is born into this world has within it the seeds of every imaginable evil? Seeds of sin for which they are damned? Or which the damned are now tormented? Why is that? Is it nature? Is it nurture? Are people deprived? Or are they depraved?

Well, Scripture answers this very clearly. Our Creator makes it abundantly clear that man acts wickedly, because his very nature is evil. And the only hope is in the Gospel. Now, this is not to say that nurture doesn't have an impact it does. We see this principle in Proverbs 22 Six, where we read how we are to admonish a child to and "Train up a child," it says, "in the way he should go, even when he is old, he will not depart from it." First Corinthians 15:33 says, "Do not be deceived, bad company corrupts good morals." But the consistent theme of Scripture is that although other forces will constantly exert themselves, upon us, we will naturally be ruled by according to Ephesians two, verse three, "the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind;" goes on to say that, "we are by nature, children of wrath." Verse five says, "We are dead in our transgressions." It goes on to talk about how we are desperate for God's Mercy who alone can make us quote, "alive together with Christ."

Dear friends, may I remind you, that there is one event that occurred in history that radically altered the very nature of man, and the very direction of all humankind. That event was the deliberate rebellion of the first man that God created. Adam. Because of Adam's sin in the garden, the entire human race was plunged into sin. Romans five and verse 12 tells us that "Through one man, sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned." And we know biblically, and through experience, that sin separates people from God and leads man away from God and every child conceived is born into this world in a state of depravity. The Psalmist said in Psalm 51 Five, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin, my mother conceived me." Different sin has penetrated and corrupted all of man's being. It has corrupted his mind, it is corrupted his nature, his heart, his will, even his body. And every person that has ever lived is capable of committing the most heinous acts of sin. And apart from God's transforming grace, and salvation, even when an unsaved individual does something right, it is for motivations other than glorifying God, making his actions ultimately displeasing to God. Worse yet, the unsaved are utterly bereft of the most basic ability to love the Lord their God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength, and God has made it clear that even the unregenerate will continue to spiral downward in morality, and that's what we're seeing today. Things are not moving in a positive direction, they're moving in a negative direction. Second, Timothy three verse 13, says, "Evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." And we know biblically that apart from Christ, man has no possible means of salvation or recovery in himself. Jesus made this clear in Matthew 19, beginning with verse 24. He says, "'Again, I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.' When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, 'Well, then who can be saved?' And looking at them, Jesus said to them, 'With people this is impossible. But with God, all things are possible.'" In Romans chapter one and verse 18, we read how "men suppress the truth in unrighteousness"; Ephesians two and verse ones tells us that that man is "dead in his trespasses and sins", verse 8 it's for "By grace", we are told that "you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves it is the gift of God, not as a result of work so that no man may boast."

So people please understand that sin is man's innate inability to conform to the moral character and desires of God. In fact, John tells us that "sin is lawlessness", First John three, four. Which is not only a failure to obey God's law, as he has revealed it in His Word, and in the person of Christ, but it's also living as if that law does not exist. It is a violation of the foremost commandment to love the Lord our God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. Sin is manifested primarily in human self-will, the root cause of all sin. And of course, this is fueled by the cherished lies of justified rebellion that we can all play out in our mind. People prefer to obey their wills rather than gods. And this is portrayed in Scripture in Galatians five. beginning of verse 19, it's called "the deeds of the flesh." The apostle Paul gives us a little list here It includes things like "immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing and things like these." He went on to say, "Those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." You see, because man is innately a slave to sin, He rejects his creator, and gradually, his creator abandons him to pursue the lusts of his heart. That is the wrath of divine abandonment that we see occurring here in our country today. And as a result of that, they begin to experience the devastating consequences of their iniquities which will ultimately either bring them to repentance or to ruin. Romans 1:24-32 speaks of that very clearly.

Now, in our passage this morning in Mark chapter one, verses 40 through 45, the Spirit of God gives us a stunning illustration of sin and man's need for cleansing. And he uses the hideous disease of leprosy to depict the damning nature of sin and man's need for a Savior. And as we examine this text today, I pray that every one of you who know, and love Christ will be reminded of what Christ has done for us by saving us by His grace. And I also pray that every unbeliever that is here today will see the hopelessness of your sinful condition, and your desperate need to come to Christ for deliverance. Let me read the text to you Mark chapter one beginning in verse 40. "And the leper came to Jesus, beseeching him and falling on his knees before Him and saying, 'If you are willing, you can make me clean.' Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, 'I am willing, be cleansed.' Immediately, the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away. And He said to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them.' But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the events around the noose around to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city butstayed out in unpopulated areas. And they were coming to him from everywhere."

I wish to divide this into three, basically, easy to understand headings. And hopefully this will be helpful to you. We're going to first of all see the desperate situation. And then we will see the compassionate provision and finally, the ultimate substitution. So under the heading the desperate situation again, notice verse 40. "A leper came to Jesus beseeching Him falling on his knees before Him and saying, 'If you are willing, You can make me clean.'" Now, we must first understand this dreaded disease of leprosy. It comes from the Greek "lepros", which means scale. And a person who has leprosy is inflicted with a cutaneous disease. In other words, a disease that affects the texture of the skin, and it it leaves a scaly appearance. It's a terrifying, untreatable, incurable disease even though they have some treatments. Today, it is still incurable. Especially in the ancient days, it would cause hideous disfigurement, thick, stiff, scaly skin, spongy, tumor like swellings on the face. It would often begin with the loss of eyelashes and eyebrows, nasal congestion, nosebleeds, debilitating nerve damage, even paralysis, loss of vision, there would gradually be a deterioration of internal organs and bones, permanent damage to the hands and feet, there would be a shortening of the fingers and the toes chronic ulcers on the bottom of the feet that will not heal. It would eventually weaken the immune system making people vulnerable to all other kinds of diseases, especially tuberculosis. Perforating ulcers would often form on the limbs, especially on the feet, typically causing the decay to be so bad that a foot would literally fall off and leave a stump. Flesh and limbs would literally rot off of people's bodies. The amazing thing about it this is that this would happen without any pain. This disease was so cruel that it would numb the nerves. People would feel no pain, the warning system has gone oblivious to injury or further destruction of the body; they would do things that would destroy the body. Many reports of insects and verminsthat would often chew off fingers and limbs in the night. The people would never feel it.

In his book, "Unclean, Unclean" LS Huizenga provides some excellent insight into this tragic disease. Quote, "The disease generally begins with pain in certain areas of the body. Numbness follows. Soon the skin and such spots loses its original color. It gets to be thick, glossy and scaly. As the sickness progresses, the thickened spots become dirty sores and ulcers due to poor blood supply. One can even smell it for the leper emits a very unpleasant odor. Moreover, in view of the fact that the the disease producing agent frequently also attacks the larynx, the lepers voice acquires a grating quality. His throat becomes hoarse, and you can now not only see, feel and smell the leper, but you can hear his rasping voice. And if you stay with him for some time, you can even imagine a peculiar taste in your mouth, probably due to the odor." Now, this is what they call Hansen's Disease. Again, a bacterial infection that ravages the skin and the nerves, "mycobacterium leprae", they call it I wanted to check out what others say about it. In the medical field, here's what the Cleveland Clinic says. Quote, "Although it is not highly contagious, leprosy can spread from person to person. Experts don't fully understand how the disease spreads from one person to another, but the bacterium is likely transmitted through airborne droplets when an infected person coughs or sneezes. When bacterium is released into the environment, other people can inhale it. Leprosy can't be spread through hugging, shaking hands, sitting next to an infected person or even sexual contact." It's important to note they go on to say that "most people have natural immunity to mycobacterium leprae." In fact, only 5% of all people are truly vulnerable to leprosy. And I also wanted to look up something that I have heard from my cowboy friends down through the years. Not everything that my buddies would tell me would be true, but this one happened to be true. And that is do armadillos carry leprosy. Cleveland Clinic says yes, some do. "Mycobacterium leprae only grows in living hosts, including certain types of armadillos. Research has confirmed that a species of armadillo native to the southern United States and Mexico can carry leprosy and spread it to humans." And now as we see those little critters invading our territory, you might want to give them a wide berth.

Well, folks, as you can see, this was a hideous disease, especially in those days a dreaded disease. It was a death sentence. But worse than the disease was the total isolation that those people experienced. No human contact, no fellowship with family or friends. Now in the Mosaic Law, God gave specific regulations for the leper. We read about it in Leviticus 13. At the first sign of a skin problem, they were to go to a priest for examination, they were to be isolated, quarantined for seven days. And if the symptoms got worse, than they would have to stay another seven days and if no better, they were pronounced unclean. Often it would be obvious that the leprosy had really struck the person. Because the hair would turn white flesh becomes raw, sometimes like a boil, scaly, swollen, and at that point, the priest would pronounce them unclean on the spot. The clothes were to be burned, because they believed that it would spread through touching the clothing. The head had to be uncovered, but the mouth had to be covered to prevent the spread of the airborne droplets being spread through inhaling, and the person was required to shout "Unclean, Unclean!" if they got anywhere near another person. In other words, stay clear. The Talmud, which was the primary source of Jewish religion and theology, tells us that Jews were forbidden to come within six feet of a leper, and if it was a windy day, they had to stay about 150 feet away.

Now, dear friends this is a vivid illustration of the metastasizing corruption of sin, isn't it? An amazing picture. I mean, think how it works in sin. Gradually the warning system of the conscience is silenced, no longer alerting us to the consequences of our sin. Insidiously, at first, sin gradually infects the whole person. It is ugly, it's often imperceptible; begins to manifest itself in our character, in our conduct, begins to be seen in the context of our closest friends and family. The contamination of our sin grows stronger and stronger within us. And at the same time, our resistance to sin, our immune system, so to speak, grows weaker and weaker. Isolation and alienation from God grows with each passing day, and even relationships that we have began to disappear. Sin produces loneliness and despair and divorce, bitterness, poverty, suicide, and eventually the disfigurement of life dominating sin begins to manifest itself. That hideous, nauseating character of sin causes other people to want to stay away. And the sinner could only find places where other leper centers like them congregate. The leper colonies of bars and houses of prostitution, gambling houses, drug houses, places where the dregs of humanity congregate to ease the gnawing pain of being at enmity with God. All they have is the fleeting pleasures of life before the flames of hell engulf them. Their life is literally a harbinger of hell. Their mind, their body is so corrupt that evil is okay with them. They are so disfigured in their character that they stubbornly refuse to dip themselves like Naman in the river of humble repentance, to receive forever that cleansing that only comes from the imputed righteousness and purity of Christ.

Well, dear friends, here in is the desperate situation. This poor leper comes to Christ, he obviously sees the desperateness of his condition. And he's having to shout all the time, "Unclean! Unclean!" We read in verse 40, that he came to Christ. Now this is very important because a leper was never allowed to come near other people, but he was especially never allowed to come near a walled city, or certainly into Jerusalem, never allowed into the temple. No opportunity for worship; a total outcast. I want you to think about this for a second. Imagine if our sins could be manifested in our body, like a leper’s condition. Imagine if every proud, self-centered, rebellious thought manifested itself with another lesion or another scale on our body. Imagine if the idols of our heart and the blasphemies that we have within our imagination were somehow so pronounced that others could smell it. Imagine if everyone could see the hideous disfigurement of the souls of the unregenerate that are hidden behind the nice outward appearances of a proud humanity. If we could see that we would all be horrified. One look in the mirror would send the least sinner running to Christ for salvation, but because of our deceitful heart, because Satan blinds the unregenerate so that they won't see their sin or the Savior, we don't do that, unless God does something first. Well, that's what happened here. In this case, this dear man comes to Jesus, and we read "Beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him." He says" If you are willing, you can make me clean." Luke's account of this in Luke 5:12 says that "he fell on his face before Jesus." You know, this is how a sinner must come to Christ in repentant faith. This man had seen his sin, he sees his physical condition. It's interesting here, he didn't need to be begged or prodded. He didn't need any emotional invitation to get him to make a decision for Christ, hoping that Jesus would somehow accept him, and that he needed to accept Jesus into his heart. There was no thought of, will Jesus accept me? You know, there's nothing in life more important than addressing our need for cleansing. And this is what we have pictured here. In this amazing story, I want you to think about it.

This man was willing to risk everything to come to Jesus that had a crowd around him. Despite the multitudes that undoubtedly hurled insults at him, probably even hurled stones at him. What a graphic illustration of a man or a woman who comes to Christ and will only come through the narrow gate that leads to repentance and salvation, willing to travel the narrow road to follow Christ come what may. I think about this, my what an electric moment this would have been. The crowds would have been aghast, they would have backed away, they would have said, "Get that filthy leper away from us!" Get out of here. The proud scribes and Pharisees, I'm sure, looked on with disgust, at the hideous sight because remember, in those days amongst the Jews, they believe that this type of thing was caused by a person's sin. Sothis man had to have been a terrible sinner, this loathsome creature coming near us. And then calling this Jesus of Nazareth, "Lord", what blasphemy. And I'm sure they're wondering what Jesus is going to do. This Jesus of Nazareth, is he going to defile himself by touching that which is unclean?

In Matthew chapter eight, verse two we read that he actually says, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Lord means my sovereign ruler and King. He's placing his confidence in the power of the master; that you are the Omnipotent One, you are the Creator God. This is how we must come to Christ. Regardless of this man's outside, his heart was pure on the inside as he places his faith in Christ. Again, no sense of self-confidence here, no arrogant pride on his part, no idea of hey, show me what you have to offer me and then I will exercise my will and decide whether or not I want to accept you into my heart. You don't see any of that silly stuff. Again, I'm moved by the phrase, "Lord, if you are willing, you can heal me." You see, dear friends, he knew that Jesus was able. But he also understood that He was God and therefore sovereign. He realized that Jesus was not obligated to heal him. But he cries out for that healing. Dear friends, I hope you can see this. This is precisely what Jesus meant. Matthew five, verse three, "Blessed are the poor in spirit", literally, the destitute. The spiritually destitute, "for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they who mourn", referring to mourning over their sinfulness, "for they shall be comforted." Beloved, please hear me, never is a man closer to Mercy than when he is absolutely certain that he does not deserve it. And that's what we have here. What a picture of a sinner and of saving grace. We come to Christ in desperate desperation, recognizing our need, we come alone, we come regardless of the cost. We need cleansing. We're utterly bereft of pride and self-righteousness. And we plead for that undeserved mercy that only Christ can give. And that's what we see pictured here. And how do we see that? Because the Holy Spirit opens our eyes, and causes us to see the wretchedness of our condition, and the power of saving grace. And a man and a woman is never more assured of grace than we when he or she recognizes that the only recourse they have is to cry out for that which they do not deserve. So the sinner comes in faith believing, saying, "Sovereign Lord, you alone can make me clean." It reminds me of Isaiah one where we're toldabout how God will wash us and make us clean. "Though my sins are a scarlet, they shall be what is white as snow, they are red like crimson, they will be like wool." Folks, this is the stuff of genuine repentance. This is the stuff of saving grace. This is at the heart of the gospel.

So we've seen the desperate situation, we move secondly, to the compassionate provision. Notice, verse 41, "Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him." The term touched him in the original language literally means to make physical contact, which can include taking hold of someone, even embracing someone. You know, Jesus could have healed him with a word, right? But he didn't do that. He knew that the man needed more than that. And so Jesus did the unthinkable. He reached out somehow, and he literally made physical contact with this man. Man, imagine what that would have been like for him to have had no physical contact for undoubtedly many years. Living as an outcast, despised and rejected. And now his Creator embraces him. Better yet, heals him instantly. Absolutely inconceivable. Now, the crowd must have been completely flabbergasted. They're obviously standing afar. Jesus is now contaminated himself; Jesus is now ceremonially unclean. This would eliminate others from having an opportunity to coming near to come near him, right? You can't go to Jesus now, because he's contaminated. Now interesting, Jesus wants him to follow the letter of the law and doesn't want to be prematurely exalted for all of the wrong reasons until he's made his way to Jerusalem. And also, Jesus wants to avoid any sensationalism. He wants to avoid others being drawn to him in this healing frenzy that would eliminate any possibility of preaching the gospel and moving through the crowd. So we read in verse 43, "And he sternly warned the leper, and immediately sent him away. And he said to him, 'See that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them'." Now, think of the scene here, the multitudes have seen all of this. And what they're hearing now is that Jesus wants him to fulfill the requirements of the Mosaic law. So he's got to go to the temple priests for an examination. And what Jesus wants is for the priest to declare him clean. In other words, let the priests be the ones to be confronted with the reality of what I have done. This process by the way, is found in Leviticus 14. This was a ceremonial cleansing, filled with profound symbolism. I'll just give you the highlights. The leper was to take two birds killed one of them overrunning water, take the live bird along with cedar wood, and a scarlet string and some hyssop and dip it all in the blood of the slain bird seven times. This was to symbolize purification. The live bird would then be released which symbolizes the leper’s freedom from the disease and from quarantine. And then the leper would wash all of his clothes, shave off all of his hair and remain outside his tent for seven days. Then there would be a gradual reentry back into the fellowship of the people, all graphically picturing, dear friends, the premium that God places upon holiness in the camp of the redeemed, which includes the church. It also pictures the profound need for a thorough cleansing pictured by the leprosy.

Well I'm sure I would have been the same way as this guy, you're euphoric, right? All of a sudden, you're a different person. You feel great. And I'm sure what Jesus said about "don't tell anybody" just in one ear and out the other. And so he goes, and obviously, he fanned the flame of hysteria which Jesus didn't want. But that's what happened. Verse 45. "But when he went out and began to proclaim it freely, and to spread the news around to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas, and they were coming to Him from everywhere." Literally, as we read the Gospel accounts, the crowds were hunting Jesus. Wherever he went, they swarmed him. And the problem grew. We read later on in Mark three and verse seven, and following, "Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples, and a great multitude from Galilee followed, and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that he was doing and came to Him." So they're coming from everywhere to try to find Jesus, even when he goes out to sea. So what we see happening here in Mark one is the need now for Jesus to retreat into an isolated wilderness, into those areas, up and down the shore of the Sea of Galilee. You'll recall in verses 38 and 39, that when he left Capernaum, that he went into, quote, "the synagogues throughout all Galilee, preaching and casting out the demons." Josephus, the first century historian tells us that during that time, there were about 240 villages in Galilee. So that's where Jesus is ministering. But I don't want you to miss the fascinating exchange that takes place, that is pictured here in this passage.

We've seen the desperate situation and the compassionate provision. Now, finally, we see the ultimate substitution, verse 45, "Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas." Isn't it interesting that the leper was previously isolated in the wilderness prior to his healing, whereas Jesus was allowed to socialize among people, but now everything changes. And this is such a striking metaphor that pictures the ultimate substitution that occurred in Christ's atoning work on the cross. We as leprous sinners were alienated from God, we were separated from the blessings of His grace and the joy of His presence. But Jesus, who was in the glory of heaven, comes down in His earthly ministry. He enjoyed the freedom of fellowship with the Triune God, but he leaves all of that to come to purchase our redemption. He literally traded places with sinners. We read how he emptied himself, he took upon himself the form of a slave, made in the likeness of men. He comes in, he's rejected, and despised by men, a man of sorrows acquainted with grief. He was eventually numbered amongst the transgressions; he was even forsaken by his Father. So he who once lived in the in the splendors of God's presence, becomes an outcast, so that we could enter in. It's an amazing picture. We see this picture and prophesied in the Old Testament. In the context of the high priest responsibilities on Yom Kippur, which is the Day of Atonement, described in Leviticus 16 and 17. Let me rehearse that for you briefly. And you'll begin to see the picture even more vividly. The high priest would move methodically through the ceremonies of the Day of Atonement, obeying a variety of instructions and sacrifices that are delineated there in Leviticus 16 and 17. First, of course, Aaron was the priest. During that time, Aaron was required to remove his normal priestly garments. He had to wash and he had to put on special garments that God required for sacrifices that would take him into the Holy of Holies. He would then secure the necessary sacrificial animals. He had to get a bull for his own sin offering and two male goats for the people's sin offering. He also had to have two rams, one for Aaron's and the other for the people's burnt offering. Next, he would slaughter the bull for his own sin offering.

By the way, the sacrifices were deliberately gruesome, there was blood absolutely everywhere. It was a graphic picture of the hideous nature of sin, "the wages of sin is death", that there is no forgiveness of sin apart from the shedding of blood. Well, before entering into the Holy of Holies, with the blood of the bull, Aaron had to create a cloud of incense in the Holy of Holies. And that cloud then, would be filled with this with this incense, and that would cover the mercy seat, in order to veil or to dim the glory of God that was hovering between the chair of them above the mercy seat, so that he could enter in and his life would be spared. He then took the blood and went through the door, into the outer court, through another door into the holy place. And finally he would disappear behind the veil into the Holy of Holies. And once he was there, he had to make the sacrifice very quickly. There was no place to sit, no time for delay. And once inside, he would take some of the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on the mercy seat seven times. The mercy seat was called in the Septuagint, "Hilasterion", which means the place of propitiation. And there the justice of God was temporarily appeased, because all sin must be punished; their atonement was made for the sins of the people.

Next, lots were then cast for the two goats to determine which one would be slaughtered, and which would be the scapegoat that would be driven away and loosed into the wilderness. The goat for slaughter, the goat of the people sin offering, was then sacrificed and its blood was taken into the Holy of Holies, and applied to the mercy seat, as the bull’s blood had previously been. Cleansing was then made for the Holy of Holies, seemingly by the sprinkling of the blood of both the bull and the goat. Next, outside the tent, Aaron, was to make atonement for the altar of burnt offering using the blood of both the bull and the goat. And then the second goat the one which was kept alive, had the sins of the nation symbolically put upon its head, and was driven from the camp to a desolate place from which it must never return. Tradition tells us that they would often take the goat to a remote place far away to a high cliff and then push it backward over the precipice to prevent it from ever returning to the camp. The two goats symbolizes two great theological concepts, propitiation, and expiation.

To "propitiate" means to appease the righteous wrath of God against sin. First, John 4:10 tells us that "God loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins", comes from "hilasmos" again, that's why the mercy seat was called the "Hilasterion", the place of propitiation.

And to expiate means to remove the guilt of sin, a little different concept. So you must understand that the goat that was slaughtered symbolizes propitiation, because there an innocent substitute was slaughtered to appease the wrath of God. The one sent into the wilderness symbolized expiation, the permanent removal of the guilt of our sin. Beloved, Jesus was the only possible substitute that could do this on our behalf. His death accomplished both pardon, as well as cleansing. He offered Himself in our place to both propitiate which means to appease the just wrath of God that we deserve, as well as to expiate, to remove the guilt of our sin, because God alone, quote, "covers our sin" and erases our sin; blots out our sin from His sight. And how does he do this? Through the blood of Christ, God told Isaiah and chapter six and verse seven, "Behold, your iniquity is taken away." Second Corinthians 5:19, Paul says "God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us."

Well finally, when the earlier sacrifices of the bull and the goat were completed, the fat of the sin offering was burned on the altar and the remains of the bull and the goat were taken outside the camp where they were burned. The symbolism here is that the priests could have absolutely no part of the sins of the people. The priests were not allowed to eat the meat of the sin offering on the Day of Atonement. The sin offering had to be offered up completely, Leviticus 6:30, "But no sin offering of which any of the blood is brought into the tent of meeting to make atonement in the holy place shall be eaten, it shall be burned with fire." So instead of eating the remains of the animals, they were taken outside the camp, and burned Leviticus 16:27 "But the bull of the sin offering and the goat of the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place, shall be taken outside the camp, and they shall burn their hides, their flesh, and their refuse in the fire. Then the one who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body with water, then afterward, he shall come into the camp."

Beloved, I hope you can see that God hates sin, in ways that we can't even begin to imagine. It is so defiling. It is so reprehensible, that it must not only be punished, but it must be removed from the very presence of God, and from the people outside the camp. It was so detestable to God that the sin offering could not even be burned upon the great altar. It had to be removed from his holy presence and burned completely outside the camp. If we go to Hebrews chapter 13, in verse 11, we read, "For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest, as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp." Verse 12, "Therefore, Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through his own blood suffered outside the gate." Jesus was both the sacrifice and the Great High Priest who made the sin offering with his very blood. And Jesus died outside the camp where the sinner once was, that we might enter in. And therein beloved, is the great exchange that took place; the substitute that had to happen so that we could be purified and cleansed and made acceptable to God so that we could worship and serve Him and one day enter into His presence blameless with great joy. Oh, what a compassionate Savior and substitute Amen. And all of this is pictured in this amazing narrative. I am so thankful that the leprosy of my sin and yours has been cleansed by the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Father, thank You for the glories of Your grace that are incomprehensible. Were it not for what you have communicated to us in Your word, and through the person and work of Christ, we would have no clue. But you have revealed to us enough to cause us to sing "Amazing Grace, How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now I'm found was blind," and leprous, "but now I see" and I'm cleansed. Lord, for all of this, we give you praise. May we live lives that are honoring to you, as an appropriate expression, of not only the transformation that you have wrought within our souls by the power of the Spirit, but also because we love you, and we want to honor you, for us in Christ names and I pray. Amen.