"Atonement" pt 4 - September 5, 2010

"Atonement" pt 4 - September 5, 2010

Sermon notes from Pastor Paula White

“Atonement” #4

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…

(Prov 4:23)  “Keep your heart with all diligence, for out of it spring the issues of life”

-Whatever you keep in your heart will determine the course of your life..

-You cannot hold the “WRONG ATTITUDE” in your heart & live right…

-….NOR can you have the RIGHT attitude in your heart & LIVE WRONG…

-The COURSE of your LIFE is determined by what fills your heart!

-That is why God declared in (Prov 4:20-22)

-“My son, give attention to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Do not let them depart from your eyes:  keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, & health to all their flesh.”

-[Heb = HEALTH] = “Medicine”

-The Word of God is medicine to your flesh and LIFE to you

(Heb = LIFE = “To nourish, restore, repair, make alive & make whole) …

-When you RECEIVE and hold the Word of God in your heart… It will do everything it has claimed

-God’s promises do not depend on circumstances.  They depend on meeting the conditions.

-[James 2:20] reminds us…  “Faith without works is dead”

-It is not sufficient to sit back & say “I believe”…  You MUST activate your faith by APPROPRIATE deeds & actions…

-Faith IS an ACT…

-God’s Spirit moves in seasons & cycles…

-This is a season of CONSECRATION, DEDICATION and PREPARATION….

-As we have been studying “The Day of Atonement & Preparing for the Presence of God”…

-We recognize that we are entering into DIVINE APPOINTMENTS that God has set with man..

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

-They serve as occasions and reminders to honor God and release special blessings assigned to each appointment

-“Moadim” = (the Heb word for = appointed seasons) =

-These are “God APPOINTMENTS” which call US from our everyday life to a time of inner realization and contemplation of those principles that are fundamental to these “feasts” seasons or “Divine Appointments”

-[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

-These “Divine Appointments” or (Festivals) are days on which the people are “INVITED” to assemble in Prayer, Worship & Thanksgiving……  and HONOR GOD accordingly…

-The PURPOSE of the “FESTIVALS –(I.E =  DIVINE APPOINTMENTS)” =  IS for SPIRITUAL ELEVATION….

-God wants to take you to a HIGHER PLACE…

-By Honoring & giving DISTINCTIVENESS to the day … WE FOCUS our minds on it & thereby foster a REALIZATION of the SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNTIES it offers us…

-…This facilitates the RESTORATION of ALL that God has promised us… (as found in the book of Joel & throughout the scriptures)

-That RESTORATION includes:

1)        Increase

2)        Revelation

3)        Fresh Anointing

4)        God’s Power – Miracles

5)        Restoration

6)        Financial Abundance

7)        No shame but deliverance

8)        God’s Presence

-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

-Granted, 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..  (THAT WAS SETTLED AT THE CROSS).

-However, we still celebrate and honor the principles and patterns of these DIVINE APPOINTMENTS…

-Jesus set the example for us as He celebrated the feasts…

-He observed Passover from the time He was 12 years old (Luke 2:41-42) until His final Passover (Matt 26)

-He observed the Day of Atonement / [Feasts of Harvests] (John 7:1-2, 14-16)

-And the early believers in the Church followed Christ’s example….

-In [Acts 27] it was Tabernacles Season when Paul was shipwrecked…

- It was on the Day of Atonement…  (which is why he was fasting)…   that an angel stood by him… and declared that not he or the other 276 men would die…”NOT ONE LIFE WOULD BE LOST”…

-Like the EARLY Church of NT Believers we must recognize that God’s APPOINTMENT with us is an OPPORTUNITY for us to HONOR God 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…

-The Fall feasts are all about “preparation” for His Bride and the full restoration of His Covenant People…

-God is coming for a “Glorious Church”

-They start with “Rosh Hashanah” or the “Blowing of Trumpets”

.. Followed by 10 days of AWE which lead to God’s most Holy day… “The Day of Atonement”

“Trumpets” –Is a day of the blowing of the Shofar.. which is a call of “REPENTANCE”…

-As stated in [Joel 2:1]..  “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion”..

-It means = “a cornet – as giving a clear sound – or ram’s horn”

-Repentance has to do with reconsidering our ways for His Ways…

- To turn around, to think different afterwards, to change one’s mind and purpose as the result of or after knowledge…

[Rev 2:5]  “Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first”

-This led to God’s MOST HOLY DAY…  “The Day of Atonement”

-Atonement = (At-One- With God )= Yum Kippur = “Covered” or “redeemed”…

-Has a Central theme = redemption and repentance

-The Day of Atonement speaks of sanctification, a lifestyle in which our flesh comes into alignment with our spirit…

-It was a time set aside for national & sanctuary cleansing

-Consecration turns the whole situation from Trouble to Triumph…

-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…

-This is WHY the DIVINE APPOINTMENTS are so VITAL..  they are “REHEARSALS”…

-It is the appointed time for the CHURCH to EXPERIENCE APPROPRIATION of the ATONEMENT..

-The CHURCH’S DELIVERANCE and FULL PROVISION is at hand…

-This is the fulfillment of the GREAT day of Atonement by way of experience…

-The pattern we find in Israel’s Day of Atonement is the knowledge that there is a PLACE of REAL VICTORY over SIN & the FLESH for the Church of Jesus Christ…

-This day a “Covering” or “Sacrifice” was made for ATONEMENT…  [to be “at-one”] or Reconciliation between God and man.

-By the sacrifices that were offered on that day… the sins of the people were covered – but only for 1 year.

-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 10:3-4] speaks of the sacrifices of the OT:  “In those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year”

-..”For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins”

-The CENTRAL ISSUE here is the “TAKING AWAY SINS, Not merely COVERING them”..

-[Heb 9:26] …

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

-JESUS BECAME MY ATONEMENT!!!

-The Bible’s definition of sin is given in [Rom 3:23]…”All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

-Sin is NOT necessarily committing some terrible crime or treason…

-…IT IS FAILING to give GOD His RIGHTFUL PLACE in our LIVES, leading lives that withhold from God the GLORY that all His creatures owe Him…

-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…

-HOWEVER… Our APPROPRIATION of it is PROGRESSIVE…

-Our SANCTIFICATION is Progressive…  We are those WHO are coming PROGRESSIVELY Closer to God and CHANGED more into His IMAGE

-Our victory is based on the  aspect of the divine exchange of our sin for His righteousness that was accomplished by Christ’s perfect work on the cross.

-We MUST 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…

[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…

-The opposite of Sinful = is RIGHTEOUSNESS.

-Here is the exchange:

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

-[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”

-God has taken away the filthy garments of our sin & clothed us with the garments of salvation & wrapped me in a ROBE of RIGTEOUSNESS…

-          ( The technical word for this = is JUSTIFIED)

-“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.

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

-Conviction brings results…  GUILT never ends…

-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

-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…

-That is ONR 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.

-“He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” [Heb 10:14]

-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”

- The root problem of the entire human race since the First Adam… is REBELLION against God…

-[ie] = We have TURNED to our OWN WAY, which is Not God’s Way..

-God describes that as INIQUITY…

-Here is the marvelous message though:

-GOD HAS LAID ON JESUS THE INIQUITY, THE REBELLION, OF US ALL”

-THE [HEB WORD] = for “INIQUITY” = is (avon) = …

- It means NOT merely REBELLION, but the evil consequences of Rebellion, the punishment of Rebellion & all that Rebellion brings on those who are guilty…

-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…

-The message of Mercy is that sin was dealt with IN Jesus on the cross…

-The wages of sin is death, but Jesus paid the penalty for us through His Atonement at Calvary

The RESULT:

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

-Once our sin has been dealt with in God’s way, the RESULT is PEACE with God!

-[IS 53:5]  “The chastisement [or punishment] for our peace was upon him”

-If Jesus would not have been punished, we could never have peace with God!

-Because He became totally identified with everything evil that any man, woman or child ever did, it is possible for us to be forgiven and delivered from this power of evil…

-[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..

..having made peace through the blood of His cross

-[Eph1:7]  “In Jesus we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace”

-We have been bought back from Satan & death to God by the blood of Jesus…

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

- It is to be rescued, made whole, made well and completely healed …

-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.