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(Day of Atonement)
Fred R. Coulter—September 25, 2023
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Greetings, brethren, welcome to the Day of Atonement, which is one of the most important Holy Days that we have. It is a day in which God commands us to fast. Also, He's very specific in the timing of the day.
This is why it's so important. This is not one of these things that we can take for granted, but one of the most solemn Holy Days of the year. It not only involves us in the Church, it also involves the world!
Remember, though Moses wrote these words, God spoke them! So, whenever we read the words of God, especially when He is quoted, that is the voice of the Lord and we are to obey the voice of the Lord!
Leviticus 23:26: "And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Also, on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a Holy convocation to you. And you shall afflict your souls…'" (vs 26-27)—that means to fast, no food, no water!
The reason that is so is that everything physical that we have comes from God. Just like Paul said in Acts 17, 'that in God we live, move and have our being.' Everyone in the world, whether they know God or not! That's why it's important that we fast on this day, because it also involves sin:
- our personal sins
- the sins of Satan the devil against us
That's why it's such a very important day!
Verse 28: "And you shall do no work in that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, in order to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God, for whoever is not afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people" (vs 18-19). That means God's blessing is removed!
Verse 30: "And whoever does any work in that same day, the same one will I destroy from among his people." A further penalty for working on this day! Any work!
Verse 31: "You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall be to you a Sabbath of rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. In the ninth day of the month at sunset…" (vs 31-32)—'ba erev'!
That ends the day; so this is when Atonement begins. Whenever the sun goes down below the horizon, that ends the day. Immediately, at that time, right after the sun has set, becomes 'ben ha arbayim'[transcriber's correction], which begins between the two evenings, between sunset and dark.
The Jews had different ways of calculating the Sabbath, but God has it very specific. This ninth day[transcriber's correction] at even.
"…In the ninth day of the month at sunset from sunset to sunset, you shall keep your Sabbath" (v 32). That applies to all Sabbaths, because that's how God calculates the time.
We find in Lev. 16 that we're to bring an offering—there are quite a few offerings in Lev. 16, and this becomes very important. It is a special instruction beginning with the high priest for all the priests, all the Levites, all the people. This is why we bring an offering!
We don't come before God on these special Holy Days without an offering.
(pause for the offering)
The whole chapter of Lev. 16 is a detailed account on what was done at the temple for the Day of Atonement, which is 'yom kippur' that means a day of covering! Again, you will see the explicit instructions!
Remember how important that the whole temple area was, and then you get into the Holy Place and then the Holy of Holies. When the tabernacle was setup in the first month of the second year after they came out of Egypt, then God devoured the offering that was there on the altar.
The command was that that fire was to always be kept burning, because that came from God! Then the two sons of Aaron—when they were supposed to be watching and putting the wood on the fire—let the fire go out! Then they started another fire, which is taken from ordinary fire and not what God sent down to start the fire.
God intended that fire to be from Him continuously all through time, so that they could always say this is the fire of God!
So, God executed the two sons of Aaron, because they didn't follow the instructions! So, all of these instructions in Lev. 16 are very important!
We will go through Lev. 16 and see everything, and we will see what all it means.
Leviticus 16:1:1: "And the LORD spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the LORD and they died."
Verse 2: "And the LORD said to Moses, 'Speak to Aaron your brother, that he does not come at all times into the sanctuary within the veil before the mercy seat, which is on the Ark, so that he does not die, for I will appear in the cloud over the mercy seat.'"
I want you to think on this for just a minute. In the covenant with Israel, only the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies. God put His presence there in that day, a special presence! His presence was always there, and that was called the 'shekinah.'
When Aaron went in it was only once a year, but today under the Covenant of Eternal Life we have access to God the Father every single day through prayer. Then couple that with Bible study and how important all of this is.
Verse 3: "Aaron shall come into the sanctuary this way: with a young bull, for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering."
That was for him because he represented to all the people God, and he was the only one who had access to God one day a year. He could not approach it without having first a sin offering.
Verse 4: "He shall put on the Holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches on his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen miter he shall be dressed. These are Holy garments. And he shall wash his flesh in water and put them on."
Think about the New Testament. We are to have the righteous Holy garments! When we come into the presence of God on that Sea of Glass when the resurrection has been completed, we're all going to be appropriately dressed because we're going to meet God! Think about that!
Then here's special instruction; v 5: "And he shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. And Aaron shall offer his young bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself and for his house" (vs 5-6).
We're going to see for a complete Atonement there are two parts, and that's why we have this ceremony. Here are further instructions as to what he was to do:
Verse 7: "And he shall take the two goats and present them before the LORD at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Aaron shall cast lots on the two goats; one lot for the LORD and the other lot for Azazel" (vs 7-8).
That's where a lot of difficulty comes for a lot of people in understanding it. Please understand this: the reason that they don't comprehend it properly is because they don't keep the Sabbath and Holy Days of God. They don't understand that there are two parts to the Atonement. We'll cover that and that's what we need to understand.
"…Aaron shall cast lots…"—why do that? The reason is men do not know right from wrong, good from evil!They can't tell the difference between the true God and Satan!
In order for God to show that there are two parts to Atonement:
- to atone for the people
- to put all the sins of Satan upon him representing the Azazel goat
We will see that in a little bit!
Verse 9: "And Aaron shall bring the goat on which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer it for a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the LORD, to make an atonement upon it… [not for it, but on it] …and sent away into the wilderness for Azazel" (vs 9-10).
This does not mean another name for Christ as scapegoat. This directly means for Satan the devil, as we will see!
Verse 11: "And Aaron shall bring the young bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the young bull of the sin offering, which is for himself. And he shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of fragrant incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil. And he shall put the incense on the fire before the LORD. And the cloud of the incense shall cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony…. [the Ark of the Covenant] …And he shall not die" (vs 11-13).
So special was this that if the high priest did not do it right, he's history! He's gone! So, what the Jews did was tie a rope around the high priest so that if God struck him dead, they could pull him out!
After he does that; v 14: "And he shall take of the blood of the young bull and shall sprinkle with his finger on the front of the mercy seat eastward. And he shall sprinkle at the front of the mercy seat seven times from the blood with his finger."
That's the only time that blood was applied in the Holy of Holies. That's how special this day is. After that he would come out.
Verse 15: "Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring its blood inside the veil…."
So, he made the trip out, offered the goat, took the blood and went back into the Holy of Holies.
"…And he shall do with that blood as he did with the blood of the young bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat and before the mercy seat. And he shall make an atonement for the sanctuary because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel and because of their transgressions in all their sins…." (vs 15-16). All the sins that the people made of themselves!
That covers for their sins! And 'Kippur' means to cover. It also means, as we will see, to ransom!
"…And so he shall do for the tabernacle of the congregation, which remains with them in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goes in to make an atonement in the sanctuary until he comes out and has made an atonement for himself, and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel" (vs 16-17).
That forgave and covered all their sins, beginning with the high priest, then the Levites, then the people. Here's where the difficulty comes, and it's hard for people to understand. But there are sins this way, sins that we do of our own volition and sins that we do that Satan the devil has caused us to do.
We see how God has taken care of the sin for human beings. But then the greater sin is what Satan does. So, God lays all the sins that Satan caused all the people to do—which were in addition to the sins that they chose to do—back on this goat for Azazel!
Verse 20: "And when he has made an end of reconciling the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the sins of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away by the hand of a chosen man into the wilderness" (vs 20-21).
Verse 22: "And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities to a land in which no one lives. And he shall let the goat go in the wilderness."
That's quite a ceremony! Why do that? Because these are all the sins that Satan has caused! Let's look at something else concerning the word 'kippur,' which can also mean ransom! Ransom is quite a very important thing!
Let's investigate this a little further and then we'll come back to Lev. 16 a little later.
Prov. 6:32 talks about a sin of adultery. Whenever there is a sin going after other gods, that is called spiritual adultery!
Proverbs 6:32: "But whoever commits adultery with a woman lacks understanding; he who does it destroys his own soul." Sooner or later!
It affects the conscious! Whenever there are sex acts like that, those are recorded in the mind!
Verse 33: "He shall get a wound and dishonor; and his shame shall not be wiped away."
That is if he doesn't repent of it; however for the husband of the woman that he committed adultery with it says:
Verse 34: "For jealousy is the rage of a man; therefore he will not spare in the day of vengeance. He will not accept any recompense…" (vs 34-35).
Any atonement, because the word here is 'kippur,' same word for atonement. In other words, that breach of the marriage is not reconcilable!
"…nor will he be willing even if you multiply the gifts for him" (v 35).
I want you to think about how bad the world is today with all these satanic sexual sins going on!
Proverbs 21:18: "The wicked shall be a ransom for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright."
Ransom can also mean because all the sins of the wicked will be laid on them. No ransom or atonement.
Let's look at what God says. And this will help give us a greater understanding of why the sins were pronounced on Azazel.
Isaiah 43:3 "For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom…"—or atonement!
Now, this is something we haven't covered before, but I got a phone call from a man who was studying out the word 'kippur.' He saw that this was a tremendous verse. He called me and asked me to check it out. Could this also mean that 'I gave Egypt for your atonement.'
What was Egypt? All the sins of Satan the devil! For God to deal with the children of Israel, He also had to lay upon the Egyptians all their sins!
- Did He do that?
- How was that done? It was done through all the plagues!
- What was the last plague? The killing of the firstborn of man and beast throughout all of Egypt!
But we know that on that Passover night, because the children of Israel offered the Passover lamb at each house, and the blood was put on the side posts and the upper lintels. When the destroyer came to destroy the firstborn of Egypt He would see the blood and he would pass over!
So, in a sense that very first Passover also has some of the elements of Atonement in it! When you look at the forgiveness of sin for the congregation of Israel, all their sins are all forgiven. Once they're all forgiven they don't need any more forgiveness.
Then laid upon Azazel, who represents Satan, all the sins of Egypt as a ransom or atonement!
Verse 3: "For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom [atonement]…"
That follows along with what was Azazel! We're talking about spiritual sin that Satan locks people into! That sin must be removed! That can only be removed with God putting all the sins of all the world, of all time, on the Azazel goat! Just like the sacrifice of Jesus Christ is for the atonement and forgiveness of our sins before God!
That's why there also has to be baptism! The old person, before calling, conversion and receiving the Holy Spirit, must die the baptismal death in the watery grave!
So, with Atonement and Passover it's like one coin with two sides! We will see that we are rescued from Satan the devil!
Proverbs 21:18: "The wicked shall be a ransom [atonement] for the righteous, and the transgressor for the upright."
What do we have?
- Egypt: all the firstborn are killed! That's the transgressor!
- All the sins are of Satan, they remain on him!
In a sense, the children of Israel—with the offering of the Passover while they were in Egypt—God lifted their sin, or covered their sin from them so that He could begin to deal directly with the people of Israel through Aaron, Moses and later the priesthood.
God dealt directly with them! Was He not there in the pillar of the cloud by day and the fire by night? Yes, He was! That ties in with Isa. 43!
Now let's look at some other things concerning Atonement. There's a price that God has paid for, for us! This represents the goat that was sacrificed on Atonement, and also on Passover.
1-Cor. 6—Paul was talking about all the sexual sins that were going on and other sins in Corinth, and he finishes by saying:
1-Corinthians 6:19: "WHAT! Don't you know that your body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit, which you have within you from God, and you are not your own?"
We need to understand Having the Holy Spirit of God is the greatest thing that can happen in our lives until the resurrection!
Verse 20: "For you were bought with a price…."
That price was the death of Jesus Christ and His shed blood and sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin! That opened the way for us to have direct contact with God the Father and Jesus Christ in heaven above!
"…Therefore, glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."
If we're bought with price, God owns us! We are His! We are His children! He also does something else for us, which is very important. He delivers us or rescues us from Satan the devil! That's quite a thing! I want you think about this on this Day of Atonement when we're fasting, praying and coming to God:
- when we know that He is forgiving our sins
- when we know that that great sacrifice of Christ was tremendous and awesome thing, indeed
That God would give up being God to become a human being and only retain just enough of His God existence so that He was God manifested in the flesh! Born of Mary, and had every experience in growing up that every human being has. So that He could become that sacrifice for the Lord and for the sins of the whole world, but not for the sins of Satan!
Colossian 1:12: "Giving thanks to the Father, Who has made us qualified for the share of the inheritance of the saints in the Light; Who has personally rescued us… [or delivered us] …from the power of darkness and has transferred us unto the Kingdom of the Son of His love; in Whom we have redemption… [or atonement] …through His own blood, even the remission of sins; Who is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation" (vs 12-15). That means the Firstborn from the dead!
Let's see what Paul said about this. Not only are we delivered from our personal sins, we are delivered from Satan the devil and the sins that he perpetrates upon us! Think of all the sins that he's perpetrating on the world right now with all of this satanic sexualization of the world!
Here's what Paul said, and he repeats the words of Christ. What was Paul called? We know that he was steeped in Judaism more than any of the other apostles! There was a reason for that!
(break@39:35)
Paul was reiterating the words that Jesus told him when He knocked Paul to the ground on his way to Damascus. He was standing trial, so he was explaining how it came about. So, Paul said, after he was knocked to the ground:
Acts 26:14: "Then all of us fell to the ground… [all the other men there, as well] …and I heard a voice speak to me, saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.'" That means these big spikes of thorns!
If you go against God, you're the same as kicking against those big spikes of thorns and destroying your own life and don't know it! So, as Paul lay there on the ground, he said:
Verse 15: "And I [Paul] said, 'Who are You, Lord?' And He said, 'I am Jesus, Whom you are persecuting.'"
That's interesting! Whenever anyone persecutes us who have the Holy Spirit of God, they are persecuting Jesus! Think about that!
Verse 16: "Now arise, and stand on your feet; for I have appeared to you for this purpose…"—for this cause!
As we have covered, God has a purpose for every one of us! God has His purpose that He's fulfilling:
- with the Church
- with the world
- for His eternal plan forever and ever
"…to appoint you as a minister and a witness both of what you have seen and what I shall reveal to you" (v 16).
He had to reveal to Saul—the one who became Paul—that all the traditional teachings of the Jews were not of God, and were not to be a part of the New Testament Church. That includes sacred names! As you see, he spoke to Saul in Hebrew. So, if God wanted Hebrew names in the New Testament He would have inspired them to be put in the N.T.—but He didn't, because this was to go to the whole world! Not just to those who knew Hebrew!
Verse 17: "I am personally selecting you from among the people and the Gentiles, to whom I now send you to open their eyes…" (vs 17-18).
Who blinds people? We'll see in just a minute!
"…that they may turn from darkness to Light…" (v 18).
Who is the 'power of darkness'? Satan the devil!
"…and from the authority of Satan to God…" (v 18).
Think about that! Think about Satan's situation today; we'll cover that in just a minute!
"…so that they may receive remission of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified through faith in Me" (v 18).
That was a summary of what Paul was to do!
Let's look at how Satan works, and Satan does different things! He wants to come after us! Let's look at the example of Peter. Peter was to become one of the leading apostles. There were actually three of them: Peter, James and John!
Let's see that Satan likes to come along and use human effort to introduce sin. So, when the choice to sin is made by the individual, that's their sin, but the power behind it is Satan, and that must be accounted for and atoned for and taken care of by God!
Mark 8:30[transcriber's correction]—right after the vision of the Transfiguration: "Then He strictly charged them that they should tell no one about Him. And He began to teach them that it was necessary for the Son of man to suffer many things, and to be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and to be killed, but after three days to rise from the dead" (vs 30-31).
Notice Peter's reaction, and notice Jesus' response:
Verse 32: "And He spoke these words openly. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him." Rebuke Jesus Christ!
We don't know all the words that were said, but he probably said: 'Lord, why would You say these things?' Then we will see a little later He volunteered to die for Jesus!
Verse 33: "But He turned and looked at His disciples, and then rebuked Peter, saying, 'Get behind Me, Satan…"
Think about all the battles that were going on spiritually between Christ and Satan, and between the disciples and Satan!
"…because your thoughts are not of the things of God, but of the things of men" (v 33).
That is the entrance of Satan the devil! When you get your thoughts on the things of men that are not in accord with God, then that comes up.
Let's see another account—Luke 22—Peter was acting as if He's going to keep Jesus from having to go through all the difficulties. This is right after Jesus gave the bread and the wine, and said to the disciples concerning what they would receive in the Kingdom of God:
Luke 22:29: "'And I appoint to you, as My Father has appointed to Me, a kingdom; so that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom, and may sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.' Then the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon…'" (vs 29-31).
This tells us the spiritual battle that was going on, that we don't know anything about! But this gives us a hint of it.
Verse 31: "Then the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon listen well. Satan has demanded to have all of you, to sift as wheat.'"
That's why we have to be rescued from Satan the devil; that's part of the Day of Atonement! How is God going to handle all the sins of Satan the devil? Those are not our sins! Those are his sins! What happens to people who do not repent of their sins, as well as the sins that Satan made them do? They're cast into the Lake of Fire! That's the second death! No atonement for them!
Verse 31: "Then the Lord said, 'Simon, Simon, listen well. Satan has demanded to have all of you, to sift as wheat.'"
Don't know what all of that means, but that must have been something that he was rescued from!
Verse 32: "'But I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and when you are converted, strengthen your brethren.' And he said to Him, 'Lord, I am ready to go with You both to prison and to death'" (vs 32-33).
That was an impetuous statement by Peter, but this tells us that many of our thoughts, though we think they are good, are not good, because they're not of God! Peter was thinking that they needed to save Jesus, 'We can't let this happen to Him.'
Verse 34: "But He said, 'I tell you, Peter, the cock shall in no wise crow today… [in this night] …before you have denied knowing Me three times.'"
That happened, and Peter had to go out and repent tremendously!
Rom. 5 tells us something very important regarding the sacrifice of Christ. Notice that's just before Rom. 6 where Paul explains the whole process and meaning of baptism and being conformed to the sacrifice of Christ.
Romans 5:8: "But God commends His own love to us because, when we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more, therefore, having been justified now by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His own Son, much more then, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom we have now received the reconciliation" (vs 8-11)—atonement!
Let's see the rest of the Azazel, because this is important for us to really grasp. God gave His forgiveness and atonement through the sacrifice of the goat that was offered, and the blood sprinkled on the Holy altar of God by the high priest!
This covered or forgave all of our sins. But the goat on whole the whole the live goat fell was a different story!
Leviticus 16:20: "And when he has made an end of reconciling the sanctuary and the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, he shall bring the live goat."
That's the only time that there is a live animal. That's because spirit beings do not die. Satan the devil and the demons are spirit beings. That's why the live goat. Wherever the live goat went—wherever Satan went—that's where all the demons would go, as well.
Verse 21: "And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the sins of the children of Israel…"
- What were those sins?
- Were those sins not forgiven by the sacrifice of the goat that was to be offered for a sin offering and the blood sprinkled in the Holy of Holies? Yes!
That covered all their sins!
But all the sins that Satan made people do; "…and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send it away by the hand of a chosen man into the wilderness" (v 21).
We know that in the New Testament it shows that the ultimate judgment of Satan the devil and the demons is going to be the blackest darkness forever!
Verse 22: "And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities to a land in which no one lives. And he shall let the goat go in the wilderness. And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall strip off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the sanctuary, and shall leave them there. And he shall wash his flesh with water in the Holy place… [kind of like a baptism] …and put on his garments, and come forth and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make an atonement for himself and for the people" (vs 22-24).
Atonement is to be made at-one with God! Not just to have your sins forgiven, not to just have Satan's sins put upon him and remove him, but so that we become:
- one with God
- to be in His Family
- to be His children
Verse 25: "And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. And he that let go the goat for Azazel shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. And the young bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy place, shall they carry forth outside the camp. And they shall burn their skins in the fire, and their flesh and their dung" (vs 25-27). A complete burning up!
Verse 28: "And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. And it shall be a statute forever to you: in the seventh month, on the tenth of the month, you shall afflict your souls and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country or a stranger who is living among you, for on that day an atonement shall be made for you, to cleanse you, so that you may be clean from all your sins before the LORD" (vs 28-30).
Verse 31: "It shall be a Sabbath of rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls by a statute forever."
Now, let's look at some other things that the Apostle John wrote concerning sin and Satan. We're going to see some very interesting things concerning sin.
Let's start out with how Satan begins to make an inroad; eventually all sins are laid on Satan and the demons, and they are banished to blackest darkness forever!
We know that when Christ and the saints come back to the earth (Rev. 20) the very first thing that happens is a strong angel comes and takes Satan and binds him with a chain and puts him into the abyss. It is shut and locked up and Satan has no influence on the people all during the Millennium.
All during the Millennium there will not be the sins of Satan the devil, and furthermore, we will find that God—in the second resurrection, which also means beginning with the start of the Millennium—God is going to bring people to repentance.
But let's first of all examine the children of God vs the children of Satan, and how Satan comes in first with the sins of the flesh! It's called the way of the world!
1-John 2:15: "Do not love the world, nor the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
- Why?
- What is the love of the Father that we have to have? The love that is with all our heart, all our mind, all our soul and all of our being!
That's the love of the Father! That comes:
- with His Spirit
- with our growing and overcoming
- with our living God's way
Verse 16: "Because everything that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pretentious pride of physical life—is not from the Father, but is from the world."
- Who is the 'god of this world'? Satan the devil!
- What does he do? Blinds the eyes of those who do not believe!
All of that is removed when Satan is locked up! But now we're living in the world.
Verse 17: "And the world and its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God abides forever."
Let's see how interesting that this is. We're going to see the contrast and we're going to see the physical sin that we do, and we're also going to see that if we continue in sin that we become the children of the devil.
1-John 3:4: "Everyone who practices sin is also practicing lawlessness, for sin is lawlessness."
It's more than just transgression; it's going against Law. The strongest part of it is to hate the Law of God! What did Jesus say we would be facing in these times just before His return? Lawlessness shall be multiplied!
Verse 5: "And you know that He appeared in order that He might take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. Everyone who dwells in Him does not practice sin…" (vs 5-6).
We do have our sins and we need to repent, that's true; but we don't practice it as a way of life! How many of those out in the world today are practicing sins, not only theirs but reinforced with the power of Satan and the demons?
"…anyone who practices sin has not seen Him, nor has known Him. Little children, do not allow anyone to deceive you; the one who practices righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous" (vs 6-7).
That's what we do, and we stand in the righteousness of God. That comes through Jesus Christ! That's why we have Christ in us, the hope of glory!
Verse 8: "The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has beensinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil. Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin, because His seed of begettal… [of the Holy Spirit] …is dwelling within him, and he is not able to practice sin because he has been begotten by God" (vs 8-9).
What does the Spirit of God in us do when we sin?
1-John 5:16: "If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin that is not unto death…"
What is a sin unto death? The unpardonable sin!
"…he shall ask… [you pray for him] …and He [God] will give him life for those who do not sin unto death. There is a sin unto death…" (v 16)—the second death!
- there is no atonement
- there is no forgiveness
- there is no escape from the Lake of Fire
After the Lake of Fire has consumed all of the wicked, that's when Satan and the demons will be cast into outer darkness, wherever that is in the universe. They will be there forever as a perpetual witness that sin never pays!
"…concerning that sin, I do not say that he should make any supplication to God. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not unto death" (vs 16-17). But there is a sin unto death!
1-John 3:8: "The one who practices sin is of the devil because the devil has beensinning from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God appeared that He might destroy the works of the devil. Everyone who has been begotten by God does not practice sin, because His seed of begettal is dwelling within him, and he is not able to practice sin because he has been begotten by God" (vs 8-9).
That works this way: When you sin God brings it to your attention so you can repent! That's why in the daily prayer we are to ask God to forgive us our sins. Think about today with all of the things that we have coming into our mind via all the hi-tech things that we have.
Verse 10: "By this standard are manifest the children of God and the children of the devil…."
So, there are children of the devil who will be in the Lake of Fire! There is no atonement for them!
"…Everyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, and neither is the one who does not love his brother" (v 10).
That's something we need to know and understand; that's the message for the Day of Atonement! That we see that God is righteous and just; He forgives us of our sins upon deep and sincere repentance. But the sins of Satan the devil and the children of the devil who will not repent Satan has his punishment forever. The children of the devil will be burned up!
Then there is the complete atonement for all the children of God and for the beginning of the Millennium so that now the Family of God can grow great!
Scriptural References:
- Leviticus 23:26-32
- Leviticus 16:1-17, 20-22
- Proverbs 6:33-35
- Proverbs 21:18
- Isaiah 43:3
- Proverbs 21:18
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20
- Colossians 1:12-18
- Acts 26:14-18
- Mark 8:30-33
- Luke 22:29-34
- Romans 5:8-11
- Leviticus 16:20-31
- 1 John 2:15-17
- 1 John 3:4-9
- 1 John 5:16-17
- 1 John 3:8-10
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Acts 17
- Romans 6
- Revelation 20
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 7/28/23
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