"Atonement" pt 5 - September 12, 2010

"Atonement" pt 5 - September 12, 2010

Sermon notes from Pastor Paula White

“Atonement” #5

2010

Leviticus 23:1-2 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, Concerning the feasts of the LORD, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my feasts.

V27)  Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD.

Col 1:19-22 [NIV]  v19) “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.  V21)  Once you were alienated from God & were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior  v22)  But now He has reconciled you by Christ physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish & free of accusation”

If it’s Important to God, it Must be Important to Me…

….

-God has set DIVINE APPOINTMENTS with man..

- They are His “special holy days” when He wants to “meet” with us…

[i.e] =  “God APPOINTMENTS” = Which call US from our everyday life to a time of consecration, dedication and preparation for the purposes of SPIRITUAL ELEVATION….

-We are in one of those DIVINE APPOINTED SEASONS NOW… = “Tabernacles Season”

-Rosh Hashannah – {9/9} – “Blowing of the Trumpets” = A clarion call to repentance..  [i.e = Reconsider your ways]

-Day of Atonememnt – {9/18 }-  Where Prayer, Righteousness & Faith are emphasized through supernatural cleansing to mark this MOST HOLY day to God

-{5 days later}…  FEAST of TABERNACLES =  [ i.e  = Harvest, fruit and outpouring…  Latter Rain]

-[On Sunday Sept 19^th… We will honor God as instructed]…

-[Dt 16:16]..  “Three times in a year shall all the males appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose…in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles; and they shall not appear before the Lord empty

v17)  Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the lord thy God which he hath given thee”

-God designed 7 feasts (Lev 23) = His own HOLY DAYS with specific instructions given for their observance where we have OPPORTUNITY to HONOR GOD & RELEASE SPECIAL BLESSINGS…

-It’s a time to reflect, contemplate and have an inner realization of the principles fundamental & respective to each feast

-The Day of Atonement is considered the MOST HOLY DAY to GOD…

-By Honoring & giving DISTINCTIVENESS to these Divine Appointments…

-WE FOCUS our minds on it & thereby foster a REALIZATION of the SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNTIES it offers us

-These principles individually point us to the steps in God’s plan for salvation, fellowship, abundant & eternal life through the Savior’s sacrifice..

-Remember [Ex 12:14] =

“So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the lord throughout your generations.  You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance”

-The Feasts of Israel were built on the Foundation of God’s Blood Covenant with mankind….

-They were physical “rituals” to help the children of Israel understand & align with spiritual truths

-WE know that we are REDEEMED by the BLOOD of Jesus Christ…

-We are not REQUIRED to follow the ancient blood sacrifices for our sins to be atoned..

-However, ….Like the EARLY Church of NT Believers we must recognize that God’s APPOINTMENT with us is an OPPORTUNITY to HONOR Him for WHAT He has done in our lives …

(i.e.) = (To APPROPRIATE their respective meanings)…& to celebrate WHO He is to US…

-…Which in turn, RELEASES great blessings & benefits…

-God’s MOST HOLY DAY…  “The Day of Atonement” is a time to meet Him at the “MERCY SEAT” in honor of His supreme sacrifice for our salvation.

-The message of mercy is that sin was dealt with in Jesus on the cross

-Through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross an exchange took place that unlocks all the treasures of God’s provision.

-The wages of sin is death, but Jesus paid that penalty for us at Calvary

-[Rom 5:1]  “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”

-If Jesus had not been punished, we could never have peace

with God.

-Jesus died our death that we might share His life

-SALVATION is EVERYTHING provided by the death of Jesus on the cross…

-[i.e] = Healing, Deliverance, Restoration, Wholeness….

-The [GR word = Save = “Sozo”] = & all other words for salvation are derived from the same root…

-It means = “To be rescued, made whole, made well, saved, completely healed, delivered & preserved

-Salvation includes:

1)                  Healing:

[Matt 9:21, 22] records the story of the woman with the issue of blood…

-She said to herself, “If only I may touch his garment, I shall be made well”

[Lit] =  “I shall be saved”

v22) “ But Jesus turned around, & when He saw her He said, Be of good cheer daughter, your faith has made you well”

[Lit] = Your faith has saved you

-What was she saved from?  SICKNESS

2)                  Deliverance from demons:

-[Luke 8:35,36] records the man with the legion of demons..

…”He who had been demon possessed was healed [LIT = saved]”…

-Deliverance from demons has been provided by the sacrifice of Jesus & is part of salvation

-Satan respects only 1 thing:  THE CROSS  - [i.e] =  THE SHED BLOOD OF JESUS

3)                  Resurrection from the dead:

[Luke 8:49-50]…  records the story of Jairus daughter…

“When Jesus heard it, He answered him saying, “Do not be afraid; only believe, and she will be made well [LIT = Saved]

4)                  Wholeness:

-[Acts 4:7 -10] records where the apostles were questioned how the lame man at the gate Beautiful was healed…

“If we this day are judged for a good deed done to the helpless man, by what means he has been made well [LIT = Saved]…. Let it be made known to you all, & to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazereth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole”

[2 Timothy 4:18]..  “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work & preserve me for His heavenly kingdom”

-Where the translation says “preserve”, Paul used the word “sozo”…  He was affirming, “The Lord will save me and keep on saving me”

-The ongoing outworking of what Jesus did for us on the cross is salvation…

-Many don’t refuse Salvation…  Rather, they NEGLECT it…

-The day of Atonement = (At-One- With God )= Yum Kippur =  To be “Covered” or “redeemed”, “Reconciled” to God…

….is our divine appointment to honor the sacrifice of Jesus and to meet God at the Mercy Seat…

- IT Has a Central theme of = redemption and repentance

-Now WE KNOW that The Full and Complete Atonement was made for the whole human race by Jesus Christ on the Cross…

-HOWEVER, …  We have NEVER really APPROPRIATED the REAL MEASURE of the ATONING work of the CROSS… [which is what we have been examining…]

-The sacrifices of the OT that day offered no permanent solution to the problem of sin… They merely provided a temporary covering…

-So, when John the Baptist introduced Jesus in [John 1:29], he said “Behold! The Lamb of God who TAKES AWAY the sin of the world!”

-When Jesus came and offered himself as a sacrifice on the cross…  HE PUT AWAY SIN…  [not just covered for it]..

-[Heb 9:26] …

-“But now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself”…

-When Jesus shed His blood on the cross of Calvary,  He sacrificed Himself “once for all”.

-JESUS BECAME MY ATONEMENT!!!

[Rom 3:23]…”All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

-As we have studied, Sinners by nature have to “sin”

-Sin is a MISTAKEN IDENTITY..

-Hamartiology = the Biblical doctrine of “sin” = shows that [hamartia] =[GR = for SIN]  …  Indicates that which falls short of OR misses the mark..

[GR word = “mark” = charagma] = “Character”

-To “sin”  = is to come short of the character of Christ

-[Heb 10:14] tells us in referencing to Jesus…

-… “By one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified”

-[Heb] = “He has perfected”  = Which means = ONLY ONCE was this sacrifice to be offered, never to be repeated

-It was a PERFECT SACRIFICE that would completely perfect all who put their faith in it…

-What Jesus has done, and it’s effect in US, is PERFECT = i.e = COMPLETE FOREVER…

-Nothing can be taken from it… Nothing can be added to it…

-But Remember….Our APPROPRIATION of it is PROGRESSIVE…

-Our SANCTIFICATION is Progressive…  We are PROGRESSIVELY being CHANGED more into His IMAGE

-It is IMPORTANT that we distinguish between SINS & SIN…

-SINS = are the sinful acts we have committed…

[Jesus was punished that those sinful acts might be forgiven]…

-SIN = is the evil power or evil nature that causes us to commit sins.

-[IS 53:10]  “It pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He has put him to grief.  When you make his soul an offering for sin, He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand”

-God the Father made the soul of Jesus Sin [or GUILT] offering.

-The key word here is “GUILT”.

-In the OT if a person committed a certain type of sin, he was REQUIRED to find the APPROPRIATE offering.  They would bring it to the priest of the Tabernacle & confess their sin.

-The Priest would lay his hand on the head of the sacrificial animal, which symbolically, by the act, would transfer the sin from the person to the animal.

-Once the sin had been transferred, he would exact the penalty from the animal & not himself by killing the animal…

-In a sense…  The animal was PAYING the penalty for the person’s sin.

[IS 53:10]…  “YOU MAKE HIS SOUL AN OFFERING FOR SIN”

-God the Father transferred ALL the sin of the human race to the soul of His son…

-Jesus soul was made the sin offering for ALL Humanity…  Thus was our ATONEMENT purchased…

-When we consider the absolute PURITY & Holiness of Jesus, we cannot even begin to comprehend what was involved in making His soul THE SIN OFFERING for HUMANITY.

[2Cor 5:21]  “God made Him who knew no sin [that is Jesus], to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him…

-[Ps 130:7] says, “With Him is abundant redemption.”  In other words, God not only paid BUT Overpaid for our redemption!

-There is an enormous difference between what Jesus gives us and what we deserve:

-“The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”  [Rom 6:23]

-Here is a deliberate contrast between wages and a free gift.

-Wages are what we have earned from what we have done…

-Receiving them is justice; anyone who withholds your wages is unjust

-But the free gift is something you cannot earn…

-Justice demands that you receive your wages & that is DEATH

-MERCY is the ALTERNATIVE to justice…

-If you decline your wages, you qualify to receive the FREE, UNEARNED GIFT of eternal life and abundant life in Christ Jesus…

-It is available because part of the divine exchange is that Jesus accepted the wages of sin that were due to us, receiving them in our place…

-[Heb 2:9]  states that Jesus “was made a little lower than the angels, … that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone”

-What is The opposite of Sinfulness?

-In one word:  IT is RIGHTEOUSNESS.

-Here then is the exchange:

-Jesus was made Sin with our sinfulness, that we might be made Righteous with His righteousness…

-We will never attain RIGHTEOUSNESS by trying to be good…

-There is only 1 WAY for us to apprehend the RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD:

-BY FAITH….

-We must believe the unbelievable…That Jesus was MADE SIN with our SINFULNESS that we might become the RIGHTEOUSNESS of GOD in HIM!

-[IS 61:10]  “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness”

-Literally = “I will Rejoice, Rejoicing”..  There is a DOUBLE TRANSACTION….

-1) God has taken away the filthy garments of our sin &  clothed us with the garments of salvation & ….

2) Wrapped me in a ROBE of RIGTEOUSNESS…

-          (The technical word for this = is JUSTIFIED)

-Justified and Righteous are from the same root….

-“JUSTIFIED” = means  = “made righteous” or “made just”

-So, when Satan or anyone else comes to accuse you  & try you in the Supreme Court of the universe for a crime that carries the mandatory penalty of death…

-THE VERDICT :  NOT GUILTY

-This is what it means to be “Justified”

-Your case has been tried in the Supreme Court of Heaven & the court handed down the verdict:  NOT GUILTY…

-You are ACQUITTED.. Just as if you had NEVER sinned!

-Nothing in the record of heaven appears against you…

-Satan’s PRIMARY weapon against humanity is GUILT

-BE VERY CAREFUL about ANYONE or ANYTHING that make you feel GUILTY…  It DOES NOT COME from GOD!

-The Holy Spirit CONVICTS the world of Sin & of Righteousness  & of Judgement  [John 16:8]  .. (BIG difference from Guilt)

-When the Holy Spirit CONVICTS of SIN,…  He says “You did this. It was wrong.  You need to repent & put it right.  This is how you do that”

-Once you have confessed, repented and done whatever is necessary for restitution, ..  THE MATTER IS CLOSED…

-There is no “afterthoughts, nothing further you should do or should not do”…

-However, with guilt,  you NEVER quite know I you have Done Enough…  That IS NOT the HOLY SPIRIT working

-Be ON YOUR GUARD, then, against ANYTHING that makes you feel GUILTY.

-GUILT = WHAT I have done is bad…. [Leads to] =

-SHAME = WHO I am is bad

-This is a DENIAL of the WORK of the CROSS / ATONEMENT…

-Conviction brings results…  GUILT never ends…

-You must learn to Stand on [IS 54:17]..

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper, & every tongue which rises against you in judgement you shall condemn.  This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, & their righteousness is from me,” says the Lord

-Notice, that God does NOT say He will condemn every tongue that rises against you….

-He says you will do that…

-You do it On the basis of what Jesus has done for you on the cross, you MUST reject all Satan’s accusations & refuse to come under guilt & condemnation…

-It is NOT YOUR Righteousness after all, that is being challenged, BUT God’s Righteousness transferred to you…

-On that BASIS, you can REJECT every ACCUSATION against you…  YOU ARE NOT GUILTY!!!!

-This is WHAT the REVELATION of the CROSS (ATONEMENT) does FOR us & IN us…

[Rom 8:1]  “There is therefore now NO condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus”

-Romans 8 is the picture of the Spirit controlled life.

-Verse 1 =  is the entrance to that life and it is marked by NO CONDEMNATION..

-CONDEMNATION = [GR] = “An Adverse sentence, Verdict”

-You cannot live the SPIRIT CONTROLLED LIFE while under a guilty verdict and adverse sentence”

-That is ONE REASON the Day of ATONEMENT is so vital to HONOR…

-The Day of Atonement [as with the other feasts]… Is a day we remember what the Lord our God did for us and APPROPRIATE that finished work…

-The last words of Jesus on the cross were “IT is FINISHED”…

-This Word means = “To do something Perfectly”…

-You could translate it…  “Perfectly Perfect” or “Completely Complete”…

-The Atoning Work of Jesus on the Cross is..  “Perfect in Every Aspect, Perfect in Every Respect”..

-[2 Peter 1:3]  “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain to life & godliness, through the knowledge of him that called us to glory & virtue”

-EVERYTHING you will ever need, in time & eternity, whether spiritual or physical, financial or material, emotional or relational, has been provided by that one sacrifice.

-Through the sacrifice on the Cross an EXCHANGE took place that unlocks all of God’s provisions…

-[Is 53:4 -5]  states clearly what Jesus did on the cross:

-“Surely He has borne our griefs [literally = sicknesses] and carried our sorrows [literally = pains]; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon him, and by his stripes [or wounds] we are healed”

-Here is the FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH of ATONEMENT:

-At the CROSS an EXCHANGE took place.. divinely ordained by God…

-[IE] = ALL the evil due, by justice…. to come to us, came on JESUS,

-…So that ALL the GOOD due to JESUS, earned by His Sinless obedience, might be made available to us.

-Jesus was punished that we might be forgiven

-Jesus was wounded that we might be healed

-Jesus was made sin with our sinfulness that we might be made righteous with His righteousness

-Jesus died our death that we might share his life

-Jesus was made a curse that we might receive the blessing

-Jesus endured our poverty that we might share his abundance

-Jesus bore our shame that we might share His glory

-Jesus endured our rejection that we might enjoy his acceptance

-Our old man died in Jesus that the new man might live in us

-What an AWESOME God that would release such an EXPRESSION of MEASURELESS LOVE to us…

-In addition, there are 5 different aspects of DELIVERANCE that we may receive when we APPRPROPRIATE His Atonement…

Deliverance from:

1)        This Present Evil age

2)        The Law

3)        Self

4)        The Flesh

5)        The World

(1 Cor 15:45)  “So it is written, The First man Adam became a living being (or a living soul).  The last Adam became a life-giving spirit”.

V47)  The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second man is the Lord form heaven.

-It is VERY IMPORTANT to note:

-Jesus is called the LAST ADAM & then the SECOND MAN

-On the CROSS (at ATONEMENT)..  Jesus was the LAST Adam

-He was NOT the last in the sense of time; BUT in the sense that the EVIL INHERITANCE of the WHOLE ADAMIC RACE came on HIM in it’s entirety…

-The total evil-inheritance of our sin-cursed race came on Him & WHEN He was BURIED..  IT was BURIED with Him…

-When Jesus AROSE from the dead, He arose as THE SECOND MAN, a new kind of man…

-The firstfruits of the “God-man” race…

-[Col 1:19]  “It pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness of God should dwell,  & by Him to reconcile all things to himself..

-On Atonement….We are honoring Him in the commemorations He designed and desires…

-Our obedience brings us into intimate encounters with the LIVING GOD…

-These feasts are more than a ritual, or a tradition…  THEY are an ENCOUNTER with the FOUNDER of the FEASTS in our hearts and being…

-He has set a meeting place for you….To Meet Him at the mercy seat on His day of Atonement

-When we consecrate ourselves there are 8 Promises as found in the book of Joel

a.      Increase

b.      Revelation

c.       Fresh Anointing

d.      God’s Power = Miracles

e.       Restoration

f.        Financial Abundance

g.      No Shame but deliverance

h.      God’s Presence

Deuteronomy 16:16-17 Three times in a year shall all thy males appear before the LORD thy God in the place which he shall choose; in the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the feast of tabernacles: and they shall not appear before the LORD empty:

Every man shall give as he is able, according to the blessing of the LORD thy God which he hath given thee.