Day of Atonement 2024:

Good afternoon, brethren. It’s been over nine months since my wife and I have been married, and we’ve been through many Sabbaths and Holy Days together. This morning was the first time I woke up and offered to make the potluck and she just dismissed me out of hand. Never going to offer again. It didn’t happen.

I want to start today with a question. What is justice? We hear a lot about the perversion of justice, we hear a lot about justice in the church. If you were to write down what is justice, take a few seconds here, I’ll give you time. What would you write? If you go to the online version of Merriam-Webster, it is the maintenance or administration of what is just, especially by the impartial adjustments of conflicting claims. This is the part that I want to focus on, or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.

You may have written down something akin to that but basically, the bad guy gets what he deserves, if I can use the vernacular. Good things come to good people; bad things come to bad people. The bad guy gets what he deserves. Then there’s injustice where somebody receives a punishment for something they didn’t do. Some of the greatest injustices I’ve ever read about involve people who have been in prison for decades.

You probably see these stories in the news. They are heartbreaking. They’ve been in prison for decades and through the advent of DNA evidence, they’re proven innocent, and the state lets them out and they maybe give them a certain small amount of money per year that they were incarcerated. At the end of the day, someone lost a lifetime behind bars due to injustice. What they did didn’t fit what they received.

We’re here today brethren doing the will of God. We’re awaiting the kingdom of God, and we’re undergoing something that can be painful. Dr. Ranney talked a lot about fasting in the offertory. It’s not necessarily pleasant, but we’re reflecting on a day filled with tremendous meaning for all of us, and justice is at its very core. Turn to Leviticus sixteen. An entire chapter devoted to what we are talking about today, devoted to the day we’re keeping.

Verse one, “The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they offered before the Lord, and died. The Lord said to Moses, speak to Aaron your brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place before the veil, before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat. Thus shall Aaron come into the holy place: with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. He’ll put on the holy linen coat, and he’ll have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and he’ll be girded with a linen girdle, his priestly garments, and with the linen mitre shall he be attire.”

These are holy garments. “Therefore shall he washes flesh in water,” and so put them on. He’s getting ready to do something very important on behalf of the children of Israel, ultimately very important to all of us. “He’ll take of the congregation of the children of Israel two kids of the goats, two goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering. Aaron shall offer his bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself, and for his house. He shall take the two goats... Our subject here, the two goats, and present them before the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.”

“Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one for the Lord,” one representing Jesus Christ ultimately, “and the other for, the scapegoat.” Really the Azazel goat, a goat representing Satan. We’ll see. He had to cast lots because these goats looked identical. They both looked like good, healthy goats, but one represented something that was the culmination of all evil that has ever been, and the other a perfect innocent Christ. He had to cast lots because only God could determine which was which.

Lots are a solemn appeal to God in a doubtful matter, something that can’t be discerned with the eyes. “Aaron shall bring the goat, upon which the Lord’s lot fell, the one representing Christ, and offer him for a sin offering.” That is the foundation of this day. We need that sin offering to be at one with God. The goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat... Not an accurate translation. A scapegoat is somebody who’s blamed for something they didn’t do. We’ll see this being he’s blamed for something he did do.

“The goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before the Lord, to make an atonement with him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness. Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself, and he’ll take a censer full of burning coals of fire from the altar before God, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: He’ll put the incense upon the fire before the Lord, and the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not.”

Aaron had to do specific things as the high priest, but here we’re getting to these two goats once again. “He’ll take the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with the finger upon the mercy seat eastward,” continuing in that line. “Before the mercy seat, shall he sprinkle the blood with the finger seven times.” We heard a lot about that on... Was it Sabbath? Yes, on Sabbath.

“Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, for you and I, but ultimately for all people who have ever lived, or who will ever live, and bring his blood within the veil to do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat.”

What we read in Hebrews just very recently at the end of the series comes from this. It is an atonement-based book, and this is the origin. Verse sixteen “He shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel.” We also need atonement. “Because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remains among them in the midst of their uncleanness. There shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goes in to make an atonement in the holy place, until he come out, and have made an atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the congregation of Israel.

He shall go out unto the altar that is before the Lord, and make an atonement for it.” Only by Christ’s sacrifice can we be at one with God. “He’ll take the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it on the horns of the altar roundabout, and he’ll sprinkle of the blood upon it with his finger seven times and cleanse it, and hallow it from the uncleanness of the children of Israel. When he have made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the Tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat.”

Now we move on to the goat representing Satan. “He’ll bring the live goat: and Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat.” In one sense, killing that innocent goat representing Christ was a great injustice, but it was necessary. If it didn’t occur, you and I wouldn’t be sitting here today. This is justice. “Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat and confess over him all the iniquities” Meaning perversity, that is moral evil. “Of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions” meaning revolt, national moral or religious.

“In all their sins, their offenses,” sometimes habitual sinfulness, and its penalty, more so habitual sinfulness for our purpose here. “Putting them upon the head of the goat, and he shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness.” All sins were placed on the head of this goat representing Satan the devil because that’s who’s ultimately responsible for all sin. We’ll see. We play a part in it, but he’s the originator of it. Skipping down to verse twenty-nine as we close out Leviticus sixteen.

Setting the table here, verse twenty-nine, “This shall be a statue forever onto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month” This day we’re keeping right here today brethren. “You’ll afflict your souls.” The other great element to this. “Do no work at all, whether it’ll be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourns among you: For on that day, It’s an incredibly solemn day. For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that you may be clean from all your sins before the Lord.” What an amazing day to be keeping with the kingdom just over the horizon.

What an amazing testament to doing the will of God. Clean of all your sins before the Lord. “It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and you shall afflict your souls, by a statue forever.” Verse thirty-four, “This shall be an everlasting statute unto you, to make an atonement for the children of Israel for all their sins once a year. And he did as the Lord commanded Moses.” Justice is coming, brethren. It’s coming soon. Now that we’ve read that chapter, we can appreciate this. Even more than justice, at the core of this day is sin. Sin is at the very core of the Day of Atonement.

Sin made the death of that first goat necessary for us to live. We slip up. We regularly go to the father and he applies that blood, and we can move forward in our Christian walk but sin made the death of that first goat necessary. That second goat was ultimately responsible for all sin. They were all put on his head. That’s what God commanded the priest to do. Lay the charge of all those sins on him. Blame him for the sin. Sin is at the core of this day. Sin must be eliminated in order for us to be at one and ultimately all human beings to be at one with God.

Now, there are certain explicit punishments coming to Satan for what he has done. They come in different phases at different points in time. It’s not necessarily my point to get into when each of these occur, but let’s look at some of those punishments. Our goal today is to hate sin at the end of this message more than when I started. If you hate sin leaving services today more than you hated it upon arrival, I’ve done my job. Very singular, simple goal.

Let’s learn to hate sin through this day of atonement. Hate sin more passionately than we already do. Matthew eight. Certain punishments are coming to this being for all that he’s wrought. Matthew eight and verse twenty-eight. Christ had just calmed a storm. “When he was come to the other side in the country” Verse twenty-eight, “Of the Gadarenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fears, so that no man might pass by that way. And, behold, they cried out, saying, what have we to do with you Jesus, you son of God?

Have you come here to torment us before the time?” Torment means torture. It can be translated give pain, toil, torment itself, vex. They knew there was coming a reckoning for them. They knew justice would ultimately come to them for the things they’d done. They asked Christ, “Are you here two thousand years early to torment us before the time?” Isaiah fourteen, just a litany of punishments are coming to this being and those he’s used in his persecution of mankind.

Isaiah fourteen. Often, we get windows into Satan through the men he possesses whether it’ll be the seventh head or the eighth head. You see that man of sin filled with all powers, signs, and lying wonders. We know it ultimately stems from the devil but here in Isaiah fourteen, we look at the King of Babylon. “It shall come to pass in the day that the Lord shall give you rest from your sorrow, and from your fear, and from the hard bondage wherein you were made to serve, that you shall take up this proverb against the king of Babylon, after the captivity.” This is Nebuchadnezzar, end of the year, against the King of Babylon. “Say how has the oppressor ceased? The golden city ceased! The Lord has broken the staff of the wicked, and the scepter of the rulers. He who smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger, is persecuted, and none hinders. The whole earth is at rest, and is quiet: they break forth into singing.

Yes, the fir trees rejoice at you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, since you are laid down, no fellers come upon us. Hell from beneath is moved to meet you at your coming: it stirs up the dead for you, even all the chief ones of the earth; It is raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations, and they’ll speak and say unto you, are you also become weak as we? Are you become like us?” Now, it looks like a man is being described, but it’s going to transition into Satan.

“Your pomp is brought down to the grave, in the noise of your viols: the worm is spread under you, and the worms cover you. How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!” Weakened the nations through those sins he instigated. “Which did weaken the nations! For you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I’ll also sit upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I’ll ascend above the heights of the clouds.”

Like isn’t in there. “I will be the most High.” Here’s a being who wanted to knock God off his throne and rule. How grateful are we that he isn’t in control of everything? “Yet you shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see you shall narrowly look upon you, and consider you, saying, is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms.”

People are ultimately going to see the devil for who he is. Right now, they’re utterly deceived. We’re the few on earth who understand what’s going on. Right now, they can’t discern between the Azazel goat and the goat offered for a sin offering, but there’s coming a point where the gig will be up if I can put it that way. They’ll see the devil for who he is. Revelation twenty, two more punishments here.

“I saw an angel come down from heaven,” verse one, “having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.” During the millennium another punishment justly coming on this goat. “And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be finished: and after that he must be loosed a little season.”

Then in verse seven, we start to read about the second punishment. Again, we’re not detailing when all this happens, but verse seven, “And when the thousand years are expired,” pretty plain. “Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, and he’ll go out to deceive the nations.” Just get back to the same work he left off. Just pick up where he left off. He’s a one-trick pony. That’s all he does.

“Goes out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. They went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet,” were cast earlier, “and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

That is his ultimate home if I can put it that way and he’ll only periodically come out when God needs him. We recall earlier in the series; we learned God made a covenant with him. He’ll periodically come out to test people, just as he now periodically comes out to test people in greater ways in God’s plan for God’s greater purpose, but ultimately, he’s going to the lake of fire. A place where you and I can end up. He wants to take us, drag us down into the lake of fire with him.

Ultimately, it’s God who determines who goes into the lake of fire, but if Satan can convince us to reject God, he knows he has the ability to drag us down into that same fire, except we’re physical beings. We’ll be burnt to a crisp. It’s game over for us. It’s no longer possible to enter the family of God if he can pull us down to the same fate that he knows is coming to him. Satan’s goal, and we’ll see how is to kill you. It’s simple.

All these devices and tactics and tricks and treachery, everything he’s doing only has one purpose, to kill you and I. To kill our siblings, to kill our children, to kill our parents. It’s really that simple. He may use sophisticated tactics to attack us, but the goal at its fundament is always the same. It’s entirely up to us, completely up to us to avoid that fate. We have every opportunity and tool to avoid that fate, including the blood of that first goat.

It’s nothing to be discouraged about, but we’ve got to see this being for who he is. His singular goal is to kill us, and he has real power. Turn to Hebrews Chapter Two. He has real power. We’re told by Christ, “Fear him who’s able to kill you in hell fire,” speaking of the Father. We’re ultimately to fear God. He’s the one who can ultimately assign us to the lake of fire. He’s who we fear and tremble before.

We don’t fear Satan in that sense, but Satan has very real power. I’m not talking it just as the god of this world, as the prince of the power of the air, as someone who can interrupt our lives, as someone who can weaken nations. That is real power, but I’m talking about a more specific real power here in Hebrews chapter two in verse nine, we’ll start. “We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.”

Had He not gone through those sufferings, he wouldn’t have qualified to be that sacrificial kid, that sacrificial goat. “For both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church I will sing praise unto you. Again, I will put my trust in him. And again, behold I and the children which God hath given me.” Through this extraordinary calling that he received and the test he underwent on our behalf.

Verse fourteen, “For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself took part of the same.” Christ came in flesh and blood, “that through death He might destroy.” This is the key, “him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” The devil has something called the power of death. It’s plain. Christ came to destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil.

Now, what is the power of death? We saw that those who ultimately fail wind up in the lake of fire. Their life ended. It involves the lake of fire, and we can think of it as just an almost immediate incineration and we’re done. That’s the power of death. Imagine flames and then it’s over, blackness. The dead know not anything, but it’s so much worse than that. The power of death means no eternal life. No time with family forever. No cities, no reward, no crowns, no wings, no resurrected animals, no tree of life, no white stone, no giant personage in beautiful form, no new name.

What about all the things we don’t even know about that await us? No pleasure is forevermore. No fullness of joy. If he can convince us if he can persuade us and utilize his power of death. No satisfaction when we have God’s likeness. No rest. It’s just a moment of pain, but it’s all that we miss out on. He doesn’t want us to have those things because he can’t have them.

He made terrible choices, and he wants to drag us down with him, but we’re not those people. We don’t fall prey to him. Now, the origin of this power of death is highly specific also. Turn to Romans chapter six. The origin of that power cannot be misunderstood. Romans six verse twelve. “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lust thereof. Neither yield your members,” Verse thirteen “As instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under the law.” because we have that first goat’s offering under grace? God forbid. Know you not, that to whom you yield yourself, servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey; whether of sin unto death.” If the devil has the power of death and sin is unto death, then clearly sin is the tool he wields in exercising that power. “Sin unto death,” we’ll see that more clearly here in a second. “Or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked, that you were servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, you became servants of righteousness.”

Yes, we slip sometimes but our overall arc is we are servants of righteousness as the people of God. “I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh, for as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness. For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you in those things whereof you are now ashamed?” What did it profit? “For the end of those things is death.”

Sin results in death. That is the devil’s power. “But now being made free from sin, and become servants of God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life. For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” Isaiah fifty-nine is very familiar. Let’s turn there. There’s one thing that can separate us from God, and the devil knows that, and he uses it to his advantage to exercise his power of death. Isaiah fifty-nine. We’ve escaped his clutches for the most part. We still have to endure to the end, but we’ve escaped his clutches. The world has not.

Isaiah fifty-nine one, “Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it can’t save; neither his ear heavy, that it can’t hear: but your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that He will not hear.” The world is in an unrepentant state. The world is in a state cut off from God because their sins don’t allow them to have a relationship with him. Those sins were excised. They were removed from our lives by Christ’s sacrifice, and they continually are.

The world is cut off presently regardless of when this ultimately applies. Sin brethren is the key to Satan’s power. That in and of itself, it should make us loath it. We can’t just view sin as inconvenient or a nuisance or something we deal with or “Ah, yes, I’ve been working on that, but it keeps cropping up.” Yes, there are battles that we sometimes have to repeatedly fight, but we can never have a casual view of sin.

It’s the power of death that the devil exercises over us. He’s at the core of those three S’s we talk about, Satan, society, and self. We often look at him as, as one of the S’s, Satan, but society. He’s the god of this world. He’s established the patterns of life over the last six thousand years in this world. He’s at the very core of society. Or how about self? We understand that human nature is Satan’s nature so he’s in that S also. Between those three S’s, he’s very effective at getting people to sin. He invented sin. Ezekiel twenty-eight. That’s what he’s all about, sin.

The more we can associate this being with sin, the more we will hate sin. The devil invented sin. The reason our reward is so high is we have to battle those three entities, Satan, society, and self for a long period of time. It’s not like during the millennium where Satan is bound, we read earlier. It’ll be much easier for people during the millennium. I would posit that their reward is less. You and I have to battle constantly day in, day out for a lifetime. It’s part of why our calling is so high. We’re overcoming as Christ did.

Ezekiel twenty-eight verse eleven, “Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus and say unto him, thus says the Lord. You seal up the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.” This isn’t any human being. “You have been in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone was your covering. The sardius, the topaz and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx and the jasper and the sapphire, the emerald, the carbuncle, the gold, the workmanship of your tabrets and of your pipes was prepared in you in the day that you were created.”

Created with special musical instruments. “You are the anointed cherub that covers and I have set you so.” I handpicked you. I have set you so. “You are upon the holy mountain of God. You have walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.” Access to God’s throne. You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created…” the pinnacle of God’s creation. However, many billions of years ago this being was created, and here’s the key, “…till iniquity was found in you.” Prior to that time, there was no such thing as iniquity.

The Father and Christ had lived for eternity, perfect peace, perfect harmony, perfect love, no iniquity whatsoever. At a point, they decided to make the angels, no iniquity at that point either. It’s wonderful until iniquity was found in this singular being. He didn’t learn it from anybody. Nobody taught the devil how to sin. It simply came up in him. It was somehow part of his nature. He let it be a part of his nature. He invented sin. He knows how sin works. He knows how to use it against us in his pursuit to drag us down into the lake of fire.

“Till iniquity was found in you by the multitude of your merchandise, they have filled the midst of you with violence and you have sinned. Therefore, I will cast you as profane out of the mountain of God and I will destroy you or covering cherub from the midst of the stones of fire banished. Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty.” There’s the answer. Satan thought, “Wow, I really am the pinnacle of God’s creation. I must be somebody. I deserve to be God.”

Till iniquity was found in him. Never a sin prior to that. Never any problem in the entire universe prior to that moment in time recorded here in verse fifteen. “You have corrupted your wisdom by reason of your brightness. I’ll cast you to the ground. I’ll weigh you before kings that they may behold you.” Very similar to Isaiah fourteen there. John eight. John chapter eight. We must hate what this being is about, and what better a day to meditate on it than atonement? John eight. An intense confrontation with the Jews here, verse thirty-seven. John eight, thirty-seven. “I know that you are Abraham’s seed, but you seek to kill me, because my word has no place in you.”

He told probably the Pharisees there, I’m not recalling. “I speak that which I have seen with my Father, and you do that which you have seen with your father.” Your father, meaning the devil. “They answered and said to Him, Abraham is our father. Jesus said to them, if you were Abraham’s children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now, you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I have heard of God. This did not Abraham.” Well, that set them off even more. “Abraham didn’t try to kill me.”

So they took the hint. “Oh, you’re saying you were before Abraham? You do the deeds of your father.” Then they said to Him, “We be born not of fornication. We have one Father, even God,” taking a jab at Him because of how he was conceived. “We have one Father, even God.” Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, then you’d love me, for I proceeded forth and came from God. Neither came I of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Even because you can’t hear my word.” “You can’t comprehend what I’m saying because of...” verse forty-four here. “...you’re of your father the devil and the lusts of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning and abode not in the truth.” Iniquity was found in him because there is no truth in it.

He went from perfect in his ways to a point now where there is no truth in it. He’s the most insane and evil being in the universe. There’s nothing true about him. “There is no truth in him. When he speaks, he speaks a lie…” Everything he says is a lie. “…He speaks of his own, for he is a liar and the father of it.” He’s either lying or distorting truth or leveraging truth to lie. John is plain. John is plain.

In First John. First John three. First John three and verse eight. “He that commits sin is of the devil...” habitually commits sin, is of the devil, “...for the devil sins from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested that He might destroy the works of the devil.” That is an Atonement passage. Both lambs rolled into one. The devil sinned from the beginning. He’s responsible for the sins of others, and the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. To destroy the stronghold, he had over us with sin. To ultimately destroy the stronghold, he has over the world using sin to his advantage, using sin as his ultimate, singular tool. Look what he did to our first ancestors. Every interaction between Satan and people, we shouldn’t see it as, “Oh, he was giving them a hard time,” or, “He was trying to trick them,” or, “He was trying to inflict pain upon them.” No, he was trying to kill them. Genesis chapter two. Genesis two, verse fifteen.

Again, our purpose here is simple. Hate sin more at the end than when we started. Two, sixteen, “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which you shall not eat of it, for in the day that you eat thereof, you shall surely die.” “Because the wages of sin is death and you’d be disobeying me.”

So, immediately, Satan saw, “This is my opportunity.” God told them not to do something. And he told them, “If you disobey me, you’ll die.” This is my opportunity. This is my golden moment. Verse eighteen, “And the Lord God said, ‘It’s not good that man shall be alone. I’ll make him a helpmeet for him, and so on and so forth.” Chapter three, verse one. “Now, the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman…” he saw his opportunity, and he took it right then and there, right after learning they’d die if they disobeyed God.

“…He said to the woman, ‘Yes, as God said, you shall not eat of every tree of the garden.’ And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but the fruit of the tree, which is in the midst of the garden, God said, You shall not eat of it. Neither shall you touch it lest you die.’”

And the serpent said to the woman, “You won’t die. You shall not surely die. Don’t listen to God. Listen to me.” He knew he had the power of death. He knew if he could convince Eve to sin, just disobeying God. He knew if he could get Eve to disobey God, to sin, he’d have her. I mean, God said it back in chapter two, “You do that and you’ll die.” The devil wanted to kill our first parents. Let’s just look at it plainly. Let’s just put it plainly. The devil wanted to kill our first parents using sin.

“For God knows in the day that you eat thereof...” verse five, “...that your eyes shall be opened and you’ll be as Gods and...” You know, he went through his deception and his trickery, and he appealed to the pride of life and the lust of flesh and logic, and all these tactics he uses to get into our heads, but at the end of the day, he just wanted them to sin in some way, and it was a, “Got you.” Then God thrust him out of the garden, and we know what happened subsequent to that.

But we’re totally in control. I want to stress that over and over again. We’re totally in control. There’s no need to despair. We have free will. We choose. I mean, look what he told Cain just a chapter later. Genesis four, seven. He told Cain, “If you do well, shall you not be accepted with respect to your offering? And if you do not well,” Genesis four, seven, “Sin lies at the door and unto you shall be his desire and you shall rule over him.”

There’s this force at work called sin, leveraged by the devil, “But you shall rule over it,” God told Cain. And he tells us the same thing. We have the tools to rule over it. We’re exercising one of the most powerful tools there are today. Fasting, drawing closer to God, again, hearkening back to the offertory. It fills us with power. We must deeply see in our minds that the only thing that can end our lives is sin, and it has one source. The devil wanted to kill David.

Turn to first Chronicles twenty-one. We looked at this the other day. Let’s look at it in a little different light. First Chronicles twenty-one, we saw how massive the God we serve. In that case, the angel of the Lord was. We saw how massive he was with his sword outstretched over Jerusalem. Let’s look at this passage from a little different perspective.

First Chronicles twenty-one, one, “And Satan stood up...” Sin is in our power. “And Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel.” Meaning pricked, stimulated, seduced. Satan provoked David to number Israel, to rely on manpower, military manpower rather than God himself. He provoked him. But Satan didn’t make him sin. David ultimately made a choice. Look at verse eight. “And David said to God...” after he’d realized what happened. “And David said to God, I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing.” Because I have done this thing. “Now, I beseech you, do away with the inequity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

Satan doesn’t have any power over us in terms of making us sin. He can convince us to sin, but it’s up to us. He doesn’t unconditionally wield that power over us by any means. By any means. The devil wanted to kill Job. Look at Job chapter one. He’s not interested in just, “Haha, I tricked you,” or “I want to make your life miserable.” No, he wants to kill us. Job one. We think about these horrid boils and all the people in Job’s life that were killed and taken away, and all his prosperity just ripped away from him.

And it can be easy to think, wow, to fall prey to the devil, what a terrible thing. What a horrible thing. No one wants to endure the afflictions of Job, but Satan wasn’t interested in any of that. They were just tools to get Job to sin. We’ll see. Because then, you know, if Job persisted in that pattern, he’d end up in the lake of fire. “There was a man in the land of Uz,” verse one, “Whose name was Job, and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God and eschewed evil.”

He hated evil. He hated sin. Job hated sin, so Satan knew he had to bring the heavy artillery to his life. “And there were born on them seven sons and three daughters. His substance was also seven thousand sheep and three thousand camels and five hundred yoke of oxen and five hundred she asses and a very great household. So that this man was the greatest of all the men of the East.” Unparalleled wealth in his area. “And his sons went and feasted in their houses, they kept birthdays.” And Job was troubled. “And it was so,”

Verse five, “When the days of their feasting were gone about that Job sent and sanctified them and rose up in early in the morning and offered burnt offerings, very concerned about the conduct of those around him, his children.” Verse six. “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.” We read earlier that he had access to God’s throne. Satan came among them.

“And the Lord said to Satan, where did you come from? Then Satan answered and said, from going to and fro in the earth and from walking up and down in it.” What was he doing? Was he just strolling? No, he was prowling. He was doing what he always does. He was looking for a Christian life to destroy. “To and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. And the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job that there’s none like him in the earth?”

Quite a superlative, “A perfect and upright man, one that fears God and hates evil.” That was the key. He hated evil. He hated sin. We’ll underscore that further later. He hated evil, so Satan knew it was going to take something extra. “Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for nothing? Have not you made a hedge around him and about his house and about all that he has on every side, that you have blessed the work of his hands and his substance has increased in the land?”

The devil knew that in this state of Job hating evil and doing what’s right, he didn’t have any control over him in his life. His life was wonderful and good because Job was living a very clean life, and he was being blessed for it. So the devil, he made a personal appeal to God. Let me try to ruin this man’s life. Why? Here it is. Here it is. “Then Satan answered the Lord and said, “Does Job fear God for not...” Repeating so that we get the flow. “Have not you made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he’s done on every side? You’ve blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land, but put forth your hand now, and touch all that he has.”

Why? To make his life miserable? No. “And he will curse you to your face.” Because Satan knew if he could get Job to go that far and to remain in an embittered attitude against God, to develop an embittered attitude against God, he could destroy him. But God knew that Job could handle it. “And the Lord said unto Satan, “Behold, all that he has is in your power. Only upon himself put not forth your hand.” “Don’t kill him.”

“So Satan went forth from the...” Ultimately, yes. Regardless, we understand the series of punishments that came forth. “So Satan went forth from the presence of the lord to attempt to kill Job,” if I can put it bluntly. We will sin, brethren, and hopefully less and less. But Satan again wants us comfortable with sin. He wants us habitually in sin. Because if he can do that, he can get us to turn the compass of our life away from God and toward him, and then we’ll be burnt in the lake of fire.

Christ was the devil’s ultimate prize, Matthew chapter four. The devil wanted to kill Christ, not just to end his life, but because of all that meant for us. All that was pictured with that first goat for us. Christ was the devil’s ultimate prize. He wanted to kill him. Matthew four. “Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he fasted forty days and forty nights...” Another evidence that fasting binds Satan as the church has understood for decades now.

“When he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward hungered. And when the tempter came to him after He was prepared for this, He said, ‘If you be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.’” Oh, seemingly a small ask. Oh, just make the stones bread. You’ll get to eat, and I know you have that power. It’s easy. It’s no problem. But He answered and said, “It’s written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.”

Christ discerned Satan was attempting to get Him to sin, which would have derailed the entire plan of God for Him and for all of us. “Then the devil takes Him up into the holy city and sets Him on a pinnacle of the temple and said to Him, ‘If you be the son of God, cast yourself down.’ For it’s written, ‘He’ll give his angels charge concerning you, and in their hands, they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against the stone.’” And Jesus said to him, “It’s written...”

Again, He’s quoting the law because we know that sin is the transgression of the law. He’s saying, I can’t violate God’s law. “It’s written again, ‘you shall not tempt the Lord your God.’” Satan couldn’t kill Him that way. “And the devil takes Him up into an exceedingly high mountain.” This was the ultimate battle. Had he succeeded here, it would have been over for every person.

He wouldn’t have needed to test subsequent people, to get subsequent people to commit sin. We wouldn’t have had a savior. We’d have sinned with no path forward. “The devil takes him up into an exceeding high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them.” He’s getting desperate at this point. I’ve really got to get Him to sin now. So, he thinks he can get Christ to bow down and worship him. Absurd. He’s an insane being.

Everything he speaks is a lie we read earlier. But his goal was simply to kill Christ. That’s how he’s the god of this world. He’s the father of the children of disobedience, we read in Ephesians. When people are disobedient habitually, they’re ultimately under his control. He doesn’t particularly find it useful to directly test those people. They’re already scheduled for death. It’s us, brethren. It’s you and I. It’s those who have everything on the line that he’s most intently focused on. But thankfully, we are in God’s church. We have the tool. The understanding, the tools to battle him. The understanding, the tools to overcome as Christ did. First Peter five. We are in full control. First Peter five. Heard about this in the offertory. “Humble yourselves...” We’re humbling ourselves, verse six, in a unique way today. “Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.” We know exaltation is very close. “Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.”

Not who he will devour. He doesn’t have a choice. We have the choice. We have the choice to let him devour us or not. We have the choice to reject sin. Seeking whom he may devour, meaning drink down, that is gulp entire. He wants to ruin us, but that’s not his power. His power is to get sin to convince us to ruin ourselves. Sin is not just a nuisance or a trial, it’s deathly serious. We have to hate it with every fiber of our being.

Ecclesiastes three, we won’t turn there, speaks of a time to love. We often talk about a time to love as Christians. It’s a way of life. Loving man, loving God, on all the law and prophets, hang on the two greatest commandments that have at their core love. We talk about love all year long, but there’s also, Ecclesiastes three, eight says, a time to hate. There’s a time to hate in life. And the thing we must hate most is sin. We’re preparing to enter a time where people will learn the fear of the Lord.

When we’ve kept past Feasts, we’ve gone there to learn the fear of the Lord and rejoice. Great numbers are now going to learn the fear of the Lord at the feast. What a wonderful time, and they’ll learn to rejoice as well. There are many facets to the fear of the Lord. It’s clean, it’s the beginning of wisdom. You can go through the Proverbs and Psalms and see the different facets of the fear of the Lord. But let’s turn to Proverbs eight and just look at one of them. Job eschewed evil.

There’s a time to hate. What better thing to hate than what Satan uses to pull us out of Christianity? We must hate sin. Proverbs eight, verse twelve, “I wisdom dwell with prudence and find out knowledge of witty inventions. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil, to hate sin.” We should actively work on hating sin, hating what resulted in the death of that first goat, hating the leverage that that second goat has over us, if we allow him to. The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.

Why was Christ so powerful? Turn to Hebrews one. Why was Christ so powerful? Why was He able never to sin? Well, He adopted this mindset of hating sin. Hebrews one, verse four, “He was made so much better than the angels, as He has by an inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, You’re my son...” Verse five “...This day have I begotten you, and again I will be to Him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son.

“And again, when he brings in the first begotten into the world, he says, “And let all the angels of God worship Him. And of the angels, He says, who makes His angels spirits, and his ministers flames of fire. But unto the Son, He says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever, a scepter of righteousness and a scepter of your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated iniquity.”

Two conditions. “Therefore, God, even your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.” Because Christ loved righteousness and hated sin, God gave him what he needed to overcome sin in the most ultimate sense. That’s why He was so powerful. He hated evil. He hated sin. What evidences our love of God? You know, you might think this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. True. But what evidences the love of God?

Psalm ninety-seven. Let’s consider it from the flip side. We keep his commandments and they’re not burdensome. They’re not grievous. Let’s look at it from the opposite perspective. How do we evidence the love of God? Psalm ninety-seven, nine, “For you, Lord, are high above all the earth. You are exalted far above all gods. You that love the Lord, hate evil.” You that love the Lord, hate evil. Hate sin. “He preserves the soul of the saints. He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.”

“Light is shown for righteousness and gladness for the upright of the heart.” You that love the Lord, hate evil. We’re here in Psalms. Turn to one hundred and one. “I’ll sing of your mercy and judgment. Unto you, O Lord, will I sing.” Verse one of Psalm of David. “I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O, when will you come unto me? I will walk within your house with a perfect heart.” Similar language to Job. “...I will set no wicked thing before my eyes. I hate the work of them that turn aside. It shall not cleave unto me.”

“I hate sin,” David said. Yes, he was plagued with sin. Yes, he made many mistakes, but he was a converted man. He hated sin. He strove to overcome it. “A froward heart shall depart from me. I will not know a wicked person.” How do we evidence understanding? We evidence love by hating evil. How do we evidence understanding? Still here in Psalms. Let’s turn to one nineteen, please. My favorite. Maybe my favorite hymn. Verse ninety-seven.

Psalms one hundred and nineteen, ninety-seven. “O, how love I thy law. It’s my meditation all the day. You, through your commandments, have made me wiser than my enemies, for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my teachers, for your testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients because I keep your precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way that I might keep your word.” He avoided evil.

“I have not departed from your judgments, for you have taught me. How sweet are your words unto my taste? Yes, sweeter than honey to my mouth. Through your precepts, I get understanding. Therefore...” Because he understands God’s precepts, “...therefore, I hate every false way.” He trained himself to hate sin and was therefore able to depart from it. “Your word is a lamp unto my feet.” That’s how he was guided. “...and a light unto my path.” We must hate the origin also of evil because sin starts in the mind. Psalms one hundred and nineteen, we’re still here. Turn to one hundred and twenty-seven, verse one hundred and twenty-seven, “Sin starts in the mind.” Excuse me, verse one hundred and thirteen, “I hate vain thoughts, but your law do I love.” Sometimes we get thoughts we don’t want. We have to hate them, immediately put them out. Don’t let them fester. Don’t let them linger, and we’re well on our way to overcoming this singular leverage that the devil has over us.

As soon as something comes into our mind that we don’t want, put it out, exercise the spirit. Train ourselves to discern wrong attitudes when they’re starting and nip them in the bud rather. It’s a difficult process. Paul spoke in Romans seven of this war at work within him. You may want to read it. “There’s a war in my members,” he said, “warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.”

It’s not easy. Very difficult this fight, but there’s a way forward. It involves forgiveness. It involves fasting. It’s involves exercising God’s Spirit.

When we do slip, First John one verse nine comes into play. This is a day about sin, but we’re assured if we confess our sins to Him, we’re not Catholics, if we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to apply that first goat sacrifice and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

And if we confess it and, “I have sinned. I’ve made a mistake, Father,” it’s not that we blame the devil for it. He’s the originator of it. He’s the cause of it, but we’re the ones who slipped and sinned. We’re the ones who fall prey. If we confess our sins, He’s faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. One more verse back in Psalms as we wrap up here. One more verse back in Psalms one hundred and thirty-nine.

We know we hate the sin versus the sinner. This is interesting language but drives the point home. Psalms one hundred and thirty-nine and verse nineteen, “Surely you will slay the wicked...” actually, verse seventeen. “How precious are your thoughts unto me, O God, and how great is the sum of them? If I should count them, they’re more in number than the sand. When I awake, I’m still with you. Surely, you will slay the wicked, O God. Depart from me, therefore, you bloody men.”

David didn’t want a part of anything evil, “For they speak against you wickedly and your enemies take your name in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate you and am I not grieved with those that rise up against you? I hate them with a perfect hatred. I count them, my enemies, because they were involved in these wicked things.” We focus on the sin, not the individual, of course. “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts.”

And here is the key, “And see if there be any wicked way in me, any sinful way in me, and lead me into the way everlasting.” We have it made, brethren. If we fall short, God’s made provision for that. While we’re trying to pursue righteousness, He promises to guide us every step of the way, and we’re led by the Spirit of God. We can overcome this being that has the power of death. We can overcome the sin that he wilds over us. Very soon we will be God. We won’t be subject to sin.

We will not be able to sin. We won’t be tempted to sin. We could’ve added that to the list earlier of things Satan is trying to prevent us from receiving by dragging us down into the lake of fire. Imagine never again being tempted by sin. Imagine just the free feeling of knowing that everything you’re doing is right, not second-guessing, or having to overcome this, or battle that, or worry about this, just perfect peace of mind and freedom.

We won’t be able to sin, but until then, brethren, let’s take these lessons about sin from the day of atonement and apply them in our lives. Sin is the only thing that prevents you and I from being at one with God. And it’s not just us, it’s the only thing that is ultimately preventing everyone, everyone you know, everyone I know, everyone from history, everyone from the future, the only thing that’s preventing a relationship, an eternal relationship with God for all mankind.

Hopefully, through the lens of the day of atonement, we see why sin is so deadly. Christ was killed for it. We see that Satan is ultimately to blame for it, that we have our role in it. And it’s the only thing that Satan can use to derail us from our pursuit of eternal life. Let’s hate sin more than ever and eagerly anticipate when we will be permanently free of it, at one with God forever.