Turn in your Bibles again, as I said, to Leviticus 16. Leviticus 16, our study resumes at verse 3. Just to remind you of the subject matter being addressed here, the Lord's giving Moses instructions to pass along to Aaron concerning the Day of Atonement. And what was the first thing that Aaron needed to know? Well, the Lord said to Moses, tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, that would be the holy of holies, before the mercy seat which is on the ark or he will die for I will appear in a cloud over the mercy seat. Now based on this primary instruction in our last study, you'll recall that we spent most of the time talking about our need to understand God's holiness as well as Christ's exclusivity as the lone means of salvation for sinful man. As I pointed out last time, contrary to popular opinion, there are not multiple pathways to God. There's only one way, and that way is the Lord Jesus Christ himself, who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. Now what does that have to do with our text? this morning. Well, it has everything to do with it because everything about the Day of Atonement is a foreshadowing or a picture of the finished work of the Messiah to come. Of course, one of the most blessed things about the atoning work of Christ is that we no longer have to be beholden to the ceremonial aspect of Judaism. We no longer are beholden to the rituals and all the ceremonial and civil law that was imposed upon the Jews really as a way of building into the whole thing a sense of futility. We've talked about that many times before. The purpose of the law was to lead them to Christ. The purpose of the law was to solidify in their minds that try as they might to be obedient to the law, they could never attain God's righteous standard, which is what? 100% obedience. They could never do that. James 2.10 makes that clear yet again. If we fail at any point, as concerns God's law, then we are guilty of violating the whole of that law. And so again, this sacrificial system is also included in that futility that was bound up in the law of God. We as believers can now approach God freely without fear of judgment and destruction simply because of Christ's lone sacrifice. Christ is the fulfillment of all of these sacrifices. Christ is the fulfillment of what was pictured here in this entire sacrificial system. Christ is the only Lamb of God who is able to take away the sins of the world, and he has in fact done that for his elect. Now we continue at verse three, following this warning against Aaron entering the holy of holies, the Lord continues and he says, Aaron shall enter the holy place with this, with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. Now just stop there for a minute. What's this reference to the holy place? Is this the same place as the holy place within the veil or inside the veil that the Lord talked about in verse 2? In this case, it actually is. Now, how do we know? What's being described here are the high priest's duties that are to be performed, not on every day that he goes into the inner sanctums of the tabernacle, not at any time that he chooses, but what's being described here are the functions of the priesthood, and namely the high priest, on the Day of Atonement. Now, if you're reading from the ESV or the New American Standard, which is what I'm using this morning, you might be thinking, wait a minute. In verse 2, the Lord tells Moses that Aaron is to be instructed not to enter the Holy of Holies at any time. So why is he being told now that he can go in? Well, once again, this is where some of our translations are often worded in ways that can be needlessly confusing. The better translation of verse two is actually in the King James Version which has the Lord telling Moses, speak unto Aaron thy brother that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat which is upon the ark that he die not. I believe the translators of the ESV and the New American Standard and others could have done us a great favor. by translating at any time as anytime he likes or at any old time. The prohibition here is against the high priest entering the Holy of Holies, where the Ark of the Covenant was, on any occasion other than the Day of Atonement. So when you read again, he's not to go in at any time, it simply means he's not free to go in anytime he chooses. He is free to go in and is indeed commanded to go in on the Day of Atonement, which again was one day a year. Now, just for the record, there is a place in the tabernacle known as the Holy Place, and it's the part of the tabernacle that is just outside the Holy of Holies. You can see that on that thing I had handed out this morning. The holy place is that outer area outside the Holy of Holies that contained the golden lampstand, the table of showbread, the altar of incense. The only thing in the Holy of Holies which was behind the veil was the Ark of the Covenant where God was pleased to dwell among the Israelites on the mercy seat. And again, this is why the high priest was only permitted to enter into the Holy of Holies one day a year, because if he attempted to go in there at any other time, he would immediately be put to death. As for the holy place, they were free to enter that portion of the tabernacle. any day that they were performing their ritual duties on behalf of the people and on behalf of themselves. This is where most of the sacrifices were applied, was in this holy place. These daily sacrifices, as the writer of the Hebrews writes in Hebrews 9, 6, The priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, that is the holy place, performing the divine worship, but into the second, which is the Holy of Holies, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. Even then, however, As we've learned in previous studies, there were very strict parameters instituted by God that the priests were expected to follow in the performance of these duties, and this certainly applied to Aaron as he performed the most solemn duty on the Day of Atonement. As we just read in verse 3, he was to enter the Holy of Holies with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. Now, let me just clarify that. This does not mean that he was supposed to carry the entire bull into this Holy of Holies. It doesn't mean that he's to take the ram that was used for the burnt offering in its entirety into the Holy of Holies. We've already talked about how this was dealt with in the holy place outside. And even outside of that, where sacrifices, all the bloody work would have been done, right? All the smoke and all the burning on the altar and so on and so forth. What's meant by the wording here is that the blood of these sacrifices was to be taken into the Holy of Holies. The priest would then take a bowl with the blood in it, he would take a branch of hyssop, which was really just a weed and he would take it and dip it in the bowl and he would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on everything in there to make sure that everything was cleansed properly and significant of the atoning work of the blood of the ultimate sacrifice that was to come. It was all symbolism. Remember, we're talking about pictures and types and shadows. We're not talking about something that actually worked. And I know that sounds horrible. I mean, when I first learned that years and years ago, I was horrified to learn that the sacrificial system instituted by God for the Jews and to help them worship Him aright was actually meaningless in terms of anything beyond being a picture or a type of the sacrifice to come. Where do we learn that? Well, Hebrews 10.4. We're told quite plainly that the blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins. So why was it put into practice then? Again, it was symbolism. It was a thing that had a built-in futility to it. You can offer sacrifices all day long, every day, every hour of the day, and God is not going to be pleased with those sacrifices. What is the only sacrifice he is pleased with? He's only pleased with the sacrifice of praise that comes from a heart that's been transformed by the regenerative power of the Holy Spirit. Just by way of reminder, the sin offering was made to atone for Aaron's own sins and the sins of his household, while the burnt offering symbolized his complete dedication and surrender to God. As the entire animal would be consumed by the fire, this was representative of the one offering that particular animal It was a sign of their willingness to give their whole selves to God. Not anything of their former selves was to remain. They were giving themselves entirely up to God. This is explained in verse 6. Now before we talk about the burnt offerings and the other offerings that were to be made on behalf of the Israelites themselves. You'll also note that Aaron was required to dress appropriately. Verse four, he shall put on the holy linen tunic and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body and he shall be girded with a linen sash and attired with a linen turban These are holy garments. Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on. Now, why the strict dress code? Why was there particular clothing that Aaron was expected to wear? Well, the short answer and probably the most important answer is because God said so. I think this escapes us sometimes, doesn't it? We're all prone to ask why. Why? Why this? Why that? Why, God, do you do this? Why do you require this? We need to learn to resign ourselves to the ultimate answer, which is, because I said so. It's no different, you know, God's the perfect father. And as fathers, we're often faced with that same scenario in our own families. Our children ask us, why? And not to be rude, but children, we don't owe you an explanation. I know you'd love one a lot of the times. And if we're doing it right, we will give you an explanation if we think it will benefit you in some way. But a lot of times we just say, because I said so. Right? It's a necessary power play, basically to remind our children who they are and who we are in relation to them. God does the same thing. God never explains all the ins and outs of why He's prescribed such specificity in all of these things that we've talked about. He simply wants us to understand, because I'm God and this is what I require. What's particularly interesting about this command, though, is that the things Aaron was required to wear on the Day of Atonement were not nearly as ornamental as those things that were to be worn for other routine temple services. Back in Leviticus chapter 8, you'll recall that the priests were to wear the tunic, the sash, the robe, the ephod, the artistic band of the ephod, the breastpiece, the urim and thumim, the turban with the golden plate or holy crown on it. I mean, those priests performing their ritual duties on a daily basis, they were dressed to the nines. You know, they were dressed to impress. They were dressed to, not to impress in a worldly sense, but to impress upon the people that God had placed them and consecrated them, set them apart for a very unique function, a very unique ministry with which came the highest of standards. Now, there was functionality in what they wore. You know, we're not quite sure what all of that functionality entailed, but by and large, again, God says, dress this way or you die. You know, think about that. I mean, to dress inappropriately or improperly would have constituted strange fire. To be out of uniform, so to speak, would have resulted in the harshest punishment imaginable. Why? Because that would be an indication that the worshiper had not taken seriously enough what God said. We need to take very seriously what God says. And here's the beauty of it, as we'll learn in the next hour. We can rest in that. There's great peace in obedience. There's great peace in contentment. On the Day of Atonement, again, the priest wore simple white garments with no ornamentation. Now, you might be asking, well, why the difference? Well, again, it's because the Day of Atonement was that one day a year that looked forward to the atoning work of Christ. And as such, the Lord made sure that the high priest performing the duties in the Holy of Holies prefigured Christ Himself as closely as possible. Now what does that mean? Well, one commentator noted this, he said, the high priest laid aside his garments of glory and beauty. He became attired in the pure white linen garments, devoid of all ornamentation, signifying the highest degree of holiness and humility. He goes on to say, this is a beautiful foreshadowing of Christ, our High Priest, who laid aside His glory even as the High Priest took off His glorious garments, replacing them with the holy linen tunic. Christ laid aside His glorious royal robe and took upon Himself the form of a man that He might qualify as the sacrificial lamb on the cross. Another commentator observed, beautiful colored materials of the normal priestly garments, intricate embroidery, gold and jewelry made him look like a king on the day of atonement. He looked more like a slave. Talk about a fitting picture of our perfect high priest. After all, he did come to be servant of all, did he not? He did come to serve. in a way that his father had prescribed. As I thought about this, my thoughts were immediately drawn back to Isaiah 53. And this is what makes the, not only the prophecies, but the fulfillment of the prophecies so amazing concerning Christ. You know, as I've said multiple times before, the Jews expected a revolutionary Messiah. The Jews expected that Jesus would ride into the east gate of Jerusalem on horseback with armor on, perhaps, and a flaming sword in his hand, and commit then and there to taking vengeance on all of God's enemies, freeing the Jewish people from the oppression that they were under for so many centuries before, taking matters into his own hands, as it were, liberating them from all of their political enemies. Jesus was seen as a political Messiah. And yet, when Jesus came, he was anything but. When Jesus came, He didn't come riding in on a snow-white charger with fire in his eyes and a sword in his hands. He came in riding a borrowed donkey. And even then, he was dressed not to impress, but in the garb of a common man. And Isaiah 53, again, is so fitting because remember what's said of the Messiah and His coming in verse 2. You know, this is another reason why Isaiah 53 is considered the forbidden chapter within Judaism. They don't read it. They don't want to read it. Instead, they go right to Isaiah 54, which does talk about Christ's victory and conquest over evil. But they don't take into account Isaiah 53 because it simply doesn't fit the narrative. It's unthinkable to them that this would describe the long-awaited Messiah. That according to verse 2, He has no stately form or majesty that we should look upon Him. Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. And yet that's exactly how He came. He came as one not to be admired on the basis of superficial things. He came as one to be worshipped on the basis of His identity as equal with the Father. Now even though there are some parallels that can be drawn between the Old Covenant High Priest and Jesus, our true High Priest, I think we would do well to understand and meditate on not the similarities between the two, but the stark difference between the foreshadowings and their fulfillment in Christ, between the temporal and the eternal, between the ritualistic and the futile, the genuine article, which is Christ, our high priest, as opposed to any earthly high priest. Let me give you just three of the most helpful contrasts between the two. And I'm not gonna give you these from my own thoughts. These are from the writer to the Hebrews, Paul, Peter, Barnabas. We don't know. First of all, as far as Aaron the high priest was concerned, he was a sinner in need of atonement. High priest as he was, he was a sinner. He needed the atoning work of the high priest to come. Jesus, on the other hand, look at Hebrews 7. According to Hebrews 7, 26 through 28, Jesus was not a sinner and thus had no need for atonement. The writer of Hebrews makes this clear. It was fitting for us to have such a high priest, holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens, who does not need daily, like those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people, because he did this once for all when he offered up himself, for the law appoints men as high priests who are weak, but the word of the oath which came after the law appoints a son made perfect forever. Our high priest doesn't need atonement. In fact, our high priest doesn't need anything from man. Because although he is like us in terms of his incarnation, the God that was made flesh and lived among us, don't ever confuse that with his being like us. in terms of our sinful proclivities, in terms of our tendency to go astray. He was perfect and is perfect in every way, and that's what qualifies Him to serve perpetually and eternally as our High Priest. Secondly, Aaron and every other High Priest after him had to repeat the various required sacrifices day after day and year after year. Jesus, on the other hand, secured our eternal redemption by one sacrifice. Hebrews 9. I should be hearing pages like... If you're not wanting to go there, just rattle your pages, make me feel good. Hebrews 9. 6 to 14. The priests are continually entering the outer tabernacle, performing the divine worship. But into the second, only the high priest enters once a year, not without taking blood. That's that reference to what I was talking about a minute ago, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance. The Holy Spirit is signifying this, that the way into the holy place has not yet been disclosed, while the outer tabernacle is still standing, which is a symbol for the present time. Accordingly, both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make the worshipper perfect in conscience, since they relate only to food and drink and various washings, regulations for the body imposed until the time of Reformation. But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation, and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood. He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of bulls and goats, the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more Will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? How much more worthy is Christ than all of those sacrifices combined? Now jump down to verse 24. For Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us. Nor was it that he would offer himself often, as the high priest enters the holy place year by year with blood that is not his own. Otherwise, he would have needed to suffer often since the foundation of the world. But now, once, at the consummation of the ages, he has been manifest to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation, without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him." The author of this letter goes on. Turn to Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10. I just talked about this. Let's read it for ourselves. Let's read verses 1 through 18. Let's read it all. Here the author writes, since it has only a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very form of things, can never, by the same sacrifices which they offer continually, year by year make perfect those who draw near." Now, let's just stop there. Again, that's a restatement about the futility that was built into the law. You know, this, of course, was not revealed to the Israelites in antiquity, because the moment this would have been revealed to them, what would have happened? They would have stopped. Why would they come and offer sacrifices? Why would they come and do anything that was meaningless, ineffective? I mean, there would have been some who got it. There were undoubtedly some like Abraham, those who were of the same precious faith as Abraham, who would have concluded by the grace of God, the work of the Holy Spirit, they would have reasoned according to that internal working of God's Spirit. They would have said, you know, even though this in and of itself is not effective, I'm going to continue doing it because it does beautifully picture that which is to come. I'm going to keep doing this, similar to the way we observe the Lord's table, in remembrance or as a reminder of what the Lord has promised. Remember, the people of faith in the Old Testament look forward to that which we look back on. How? In faith. Well, surely you're not suggesting that they had the same kind of faith that we have today. They did. They did. The writer goes on, otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered? This is my whole point. Because the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have had consciousness of sins. But in those sacrifices, there's a reminder of sins year by year, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when he who comes into the world He says, sacrifice an offering you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold. I have come, in the scroll of the book it is written of me, to do your will, O God, after saying above, sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you have not desired, nor have you taken pleasure in them which are offered according to the law. Then he said, behold, I've come to do your will. He takes away the first in order to establish the second. By this will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But he, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God, waiting from that time onward until his enemies be made a footstool for his feet." Stop there. When will that be? at the very end. Oh, but can it happen sooner? We're going to be talking about that in the next hour. Lord, why can't it happen sooner? Okay, I get it. The Lord will place His enemies as a footstool for His feet if I'll only show enough discontent. If I'll only complain enough about the current state of things. If I only take matters into my own hands and do this, that, or the other thing, then the Lord will be pleased to place His enemies under His feet. No, no, no. The Lord will be pleased to place His enemies under His feet, taking vengeance on them all at the time and place of His choosing. Now you can hope that that's today. Amen? You can hope that before this day is over, All of God's enemies the world over will get what's coming to them. But you know what you can also pray is that before it happens, all those who we might think are God's enemies now might come to faith in Jesus Christ. How about that? You might be thinking now of ways that in the interim, before God's enemies are made a footstool for Christ's feet as he sits at the right hand of the majesty on high, you might be thinking even now, how can I go out into the world and instead of talking about the skies falling, the skies falling, how might I warn them of the wrath to come? How might I comfort them with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Reminding them that God has commanded all men everywhere to repent. to turn or burn. Instead of being overly preoccupied with this, that, or the other thing, how about we all become preoccupied and occupied with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? Why? Well, he goes on. For by one offering, he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And oh, by the way, according to Romans 8, 29 and 30, are we sanctified as believers? Yes. Are we being sanctified? Yes. But are we positionally sanctified? Yes. Since when? Since before the foundation of the world. Any more going to be added to that? No. Any taken away? No. But we don't know who they are or aren't, and so we preach the gospel indiscriminately in hopes that others might come. We give bread and drink without cost, do we not? It's like Spurgeon said, we don't go around looking under people's shirt tails to see if they have that telltale E tattooed on their back, identifying them as one of God's elect. We preach the Word in season, out of season, and we let Him do the rest. So simple. Why do we have to complicate things so much? Why are things always so convoluted? You ever ask yourself that? Now, theology is important. Don't get me wrong. You know, you can create your own entire propodutic. Don't know what that means? It's not necessary that you know what that means. It's a body of divinity. It's your own full-orbed theology. You can be an infralap, superlap, sublap, lapsarian. What does that mean? Am I going to go to hell if I don't know what that means? No. No. How about we go back and re-simplify the gospel? You know what the gospel is? People say, well, I have a hard time giving the gospel to people. You know what? The gospel is as simple as me jumping off this stage. I'm not going to do that, but it's as simple as the nose on your face. The gospel is. You're a sinner. By virtue of the sin of your father, Adam, you're a sinner. You're in need of a Savior. There's only one Savior. His name is Jesus Christ, and He is the only name under heaven which has been given among men by which we must be saved. Cry out to Him and be saved. I don't know, Pastor. I've got to make sure his theology is right first. That'll come later. Do you not believe that the Holy Spirit is able to teach that person as much as He has taught you? And oh, by the way, how much theology did the thief on the cross possess? He couldn't locate his propodutic with, you know, a flashlight and 10 hands. He didn't have one. For by one offering, he's perfected all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us for after saying, This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord. I will put my laws upon their heart and upon their mind, and I will write them. He then says, and their sins and their lawless deeds, I will remember no more. Now where there is forgiveness of these things, there's no longer any offering for sin. Notice carefully, the Lord says, I'll put my law in their hearts. Which law? This law, the ceremonial law containing all the rituals and all the sacrifice? No! The moral law of God. The Ten Commandments. The very thing from which all laws flow. Remember what was said in summation of the Ten Commandments by Jesus himself? The first table, Tells us how we're to respond to God Himself. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind. The second is likened to the first. Love your neighbor as yourself. Bound up in those two things, those two commands, is the whole law. And the moral law of God exists in perpetuity. The moral law of God has not been done away with. Jesus has something to say about that too, does he not? Not one jot nor one tittle of this law will pass away. until it's all done. And why then? Because in glory, guess what folks? We don't need the law. What, what, we don't need the moral law in glory? No. Why would we need the moral law if we are joint heirs with Jesus Christ and we're realizing the fullness of our salvation? In glory, we will be perfect. Sin will have no place in glory. So the laws intended to govern us and sin will no longer be necessary. Why? Because the law himself will be right before our very eyes. Remember, he's not only the law giver, he is the embodiment of the law. Just as a relevant aside here, I don't know if you've noticed, but there's quite a trend in former Protestants jumping over to Roman Catholicism. It's a real thing. Either that or Eastern Orthodoxy. I mean, if you stay abreast of all the social media, I don't recommend that. Just stay away. But there is a trend going on where people, otherwise solid people, even from Reform backgrounds are jumping back into Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy. But as I thought about this, I was like, not only how could one be so spiritually misguided and naive, my suspicion is they're not saved at all. I'm not gonna label them that, but we don't know, but it's a warning, is it not? And it's a warning for oh so many reasons, but one of the primary reasons that I would consider this not only unwise but, well, really dumb, is because the Reformation took place to combat against the very beliefs that the Roman Catholics still espouse to these days, namely, that Christ needs to be re-sacrificed every week in the Mass. I've just read to you a few passages where Christ was sacrificed once. And that sacrifice was sufficient to save every person for whom it was intended. And yet Roman Catholic doctrine insists that Christ be re-sacrificed every week in the Mass. And you know, the funny thing is, it's not funny haha, but kind of peculiar, Roman Catholics will deny this till the cows come home. We're not re-sacrificing Christ in the Mass. We're only commemorating His one death, burial, resurrection in the Eucharist, the Lord's Table. That's all we're doing. We're just commemorating it. Well, if that's true, and some of you are former Roman Catholics, right? If that's true, somebody please explain to me Why the doctrine of the transubstantiation of the Eucharist? Now, a lot of you don't know what that means, but let me tell you. The transubstantiation of the Eucharist is the Roman Catholic belief that the little wafer, once the priest pronounces his blessing on it, becomes the literal body of Christ. not a representation of the body of Christ, literally the body of Christ. The wine becomes literally the blood of Christ. If you're not re-sacrificing Christ, then why the need to make that His real body and real blood? What you're doing is re-sacrificing Christ every week. Now, how seriously do they believe this? Well, in 1551, there was a council, Council of Trent. And in the 13th session of that council, the Roman Catholic Church presented 11 separate canons or rules that were intended to codify and clarify their teaching on the Eucharist. As I'm sure a lot of you know, with the canons and dogmas of the Roman Catholic Church, most of them at the end are accompanied with anathemas, curses. If you don't believe this, you are anathema. You are cursed. Let me just read to you a couple of these canons related to the transubstantiation of the Eucharist. Canon 1. If anyone denieth, that in the sacrament of the most holy Eucharist are contained truly, really, and substantially the body and blood together with the soul and divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ, and consequently the whole Christ. But saith that he is only therein as a sign, or in figure, or virtue, let him be anathema." You're cursed. unless you believe that that is really and truly Christ. Canon 8. If anyone saith that Christ, given in the Eucharist, is eaten spiritually only and not also sacramentally and really, let him be anathema. That's only 2 out of 11. Go and read them for yourselves. You are currently cursed by the Roman Catholic Church for believing that what we do in partaking of the Lord's table is in remembrance only of Him. And we have people wanting to jump from here to there. Talk about going from the frying pan into the fire. They've actually jumped from the warmth of the fire into the fire. They're not even in the firing pan. And again, if Christ's one sacrifice was sufficient and efficacious, why does the Roman Catholic Church feel the need to do it over and over and over again? I've looked high and low for a reasonable explanation, and there are none. No one has offered an explanation which makes any sense. Now, if they would be honest and say, yep, we believe that, you know, we're resacrificing Christ every week, at least that would be honest. But they know how out of line that is with the scriptures. Matter of fact, I mean, it's so easy to see when Christ instituted the first Lord's Supper with his disciples, You know, some of them rejected the idea that they were actually going to eat His body and drink His blood, and then it was all explained. And oh, by the way, when Jesus wrapped that up, He said, as often as you do this, do this in remembrance of Me. In remembrance of what, Jesus? In remembrance of the one sacrifice that I'm about to be on your behalf. Do this in remembrance of that. I'm not going to get into the pagan overtones here. There's a lot of pagan influence that was attached to the Eucharist back in the earliest days of the church. I've told you before about syncretism. That was the thing that was going on in the church at Colossae where they were grabbing from every religion in the sphere in which they were and they used bits and pieces from all the religions to make a an amalgam of religious thought that would be palatable to everyone in the realm. That's not acceptable. And yet, a lot of those things made their way into Roman Catholic theology, doctrine, and dogma. So, again, Christ died once. That's it. He need not die again. In fact, if he needed to be re-sacrificed again, what would that say about his initial sacrifice, his only sacrifice at Calvary? Yeah, it wasn't sufficient. It didn't work. He failed. And it's up to us to re-crucify him so that it sticks. And it stands to reason in a religion based on works, righteousness, You have to, you kind of have to keep doing that. Anyway, thirdly, finally, the third contrast that can be made between the temporal high priests under the old covenant is this. The earthly high priests required rituals involved his entry into an earthly sanctuary. But as we just read in Hebrews 9 24, Christ's own high priestly work involved his entering into heaven itself before the presence of God. Huge differences. Huge differences, but we only look at the old in the light of the new, and looking at the old here in the light of the new is very beneficial because we can see what all of these things pointed to, what they were intended to symbolize. Well, I'd hoped to cover a lot more this morning, but I think next time we'll pick up at verse 5. But I think what we've talked about this morning will help us to understand what follows because it sets the necessary groundwork without us having to pause every three seconds and talk about what we talked about this morning. So kind of use what we talked about this morning as foundational for what we're going to talk about in the rest, not only of this chapter, but in much of the rest of the book as well. It'll help you understand. the importance of symbolism, the importance of types and shadows, and that there is a distinction that's to be made between the two. So let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer, and then meet back together at the top of the hour. Let's pray. Father, once again, we are so blessed to live this side of history. We're so blessed with the realization that what we read about here in Leviticus as yet to come has already happened. We're so blessed to know that instead of being beholden to a sacrificial system that requires us to perform our duties day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, we simply can rely on Christ. We can simply rely on his finished work of atonement. We can trust in Him. We can appeal to Him. We can live with that certain knowledge that we do, in fact, have an intercessor between us and our most holy God. Help us to process these things in a way that glorifies you. Help us to look forward even now to the next hour where, yet again, we'll learn more about what it truly means to be a people after your own heart, of people who desire nothing more than to please you in everything we think, say, and do. We pray these things in Christ's name. Amen.