04 Atonement Accomplished Series

Open your Bibles and find the book of Leviticus, chapter 16. Once you have that, turn to the New Testament book of Hebrews, chapter 9—Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 9. As we begin, I want to read a few verses from both Leviticus and Hebrews to lay the groundwork for our focus this morning.

Follow along with me in Leviticus 16, beginning with verse 1:

Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they had approached the presence of the Lord and died. The Lord said to Moses: “Tell your brother Aaron that he shall not enter at any time into the holy place inside the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark, or he will die; for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat. Aaron shall enter the holy place with this: with a bull for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering. He shall put on the holy linen tunic, and the linen undergarments shall be next to his body, and he shall be girded with the linen sash and attired with the linen turban (these are holy garments). Then he shall bathe his body in water and put them on. He shall take from the congregation of the sons of Israel two male goats for a sin offering and one ram for a burnt offering. Then Aaron shall offer the bull for the sin offering which is for himself, that he may make atonement for himself and for his household. He shall take the two goats and present them before the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. Then Aaron shall offer the goat on which the lot for the Lord fell, and make it a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot for the scapegoat fell shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make atonement upon it, to send it into the wilderness as the scapegoat.

Now turn to the book of Hebrews, chapter 9, beginning at verse 1:

Now even the first covenant had regulations of divine worship and the earthly sanctuary. For there was a tabernacle prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the sacred bread; this is called the holy place. Behind the second veil there was a tabernacle which is called the Holy of Holies, having a golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, in which was a golden jar holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod which budded, and the tables of the covenant;and above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; but of these things we cannot now speak in detail.

Now when these things have been so prepared, 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, which he offers for himself and for the sins of the people committed in ignorance.

Now skip down to verses 11–12:

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.

[Prayer]

It’s inevitable … anytime I wear a white shirt, nine times out of ten, I end up dribbling my coffee or dropping my lunch down the front of it. You know what I’m talking about, right? Have you ever been there?

Now imagine a stain—not just any stain, but a deep, indelible mark that stands out against a pure white background. You’ve tried to scrub it out, poured every cleaner you could think of over it, but nothing worked. Eventually, you’re left wondering how to hide it—flipping the cushion to hide the stain on the couch; rearranging the furniture to cover over the stained carpet; doing whatever it takes to keep that stain from being seen.

In his book Not a Fan, Kyle Idleman tells a story about a stain like that. His wife had bought a white loveseat—a risky choice, considering they had kids and white carpet to match. The rule was simple: no kids in the white room. But one day, while straightening up, Kyle’s wife found a stain—pink fingernail polish blotched on the pristine cushion of the pure white love seat. The stain had obviously been there for a while, hidden by flipping the cushion over. As Kyle and his wife confronted their children, his middle daughter broke down and ran to hide in her room. She knew she couldn’t fix the mess she’d made, and she was terrified of the consequences.