Focal Point

Dave Drew: Today on Focal Point with Pastor Mike Fabarez.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: We do not understand the gospel until we understand the fact that sin is the problem that should cause my death biologically and relationally for all eternity. And the point of the gospel message is predicated on that truth: saved through the mechanism of repentance and faith.

Dave Drew: And welcome to Focal Point with author and Pastor Mike Fabarez. Did you know that during the Passover, close to a quarter of a million lambs were killed at the temple? As modern-day believers, we may look at that sheer number of sacrifices with both confusion and a little aversion.

Today, Pastor Mike continues the series *Christ Changed Everything* by explaining how Old Testament sacrifice points us to the true Lamb of God. He calls this message, "What's With All Those Animal Sacrifices and Why No More?"

Pastor Mike Fabarez: If you have your Bibles and you haven't opened them yet, please open them to Hebrews Chapter 9. We tried to tackle the first half of this text in talking about how Christ changed everything. We've seen a number of things that have changed between the Old Covenant experience in worship and the New Covenant experience.

The symbols and ceremonies and food regulations of the Old Covenant and this new thing called the New Covenant where Christ has come and changed everything because he was the fulfillment of it all. If you glance through the first few verses here, you'll remember all the Tabernacle setup, the ceremonies, the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstand.

All these things were mere pictures. As a matter of fact, when he sums it up there in verse number 10, he says all this stuff was a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings. They were only external regulations applying until the time of the new order. Then when Christ came as the High Priest of the good things that are already here, he went through the greater and more perfect Tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation.

We've already dealt with that a couple of chapters back, but here we've got this statement about how he entered. And he didn't enter verse 12 by the means of the blood of goats and calves, but he entered the Most Holy Place, the real Heaven, the real presence of God, once and for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. Then he begins in verse 13 to talk about the Old Covenant ceremonies.

Now, like we have in the rest of this series, what we're going to do is try to take a 30,000-foot view of this and answer some of the basic questions that surface because we are not in the audience of that first generation Old Testament person coming into being a New Testament follower of God that had to deal with the fact that everything in our practice was being changed.

None of us were tempted this morning to get up and go to the church down the street that offers animal sacrifice. They're hard to find; they're not in the phone book. You weren't tempted to go to that kind of church. As a matter of fact, you're glad that archaic thing is gone. But for them, it was different.

And so every point in this argument was important for those who stood in the sandals of those first-century Jewish people saying, "Why is it that we don't do this anymore?" But for us, it's a bit more academic, and yet it will invoke, I hope, in us a response that will change the way we look at the cross. Verse 1 of Chapter 10 says the law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming, not the realities themselves.

And we've been learning this throughout. The priesthood is set aside. The Tabernacle, the temple are set aside. The restrictions and ceremonies of the Old Covenant are set aside, but the New Covenant has the realities. What about these animal sacrifices? That's a tough thing. Here's a situation where we struggle with the concept, and we ought to at least try to answer it from a biblical perspective.

Why all the animal sacrifices? What's the point? Why is God doing that? Is he some kind of cruelty-to-animals captain? Is he not a member of PETA? What's wrong with him? Why are we killing animals all the time in the Bible? Let's try and answer that question.

And as you answer it, I want you to think back to Genesis in the very beginning. As a matter of fact, it might be worth looking at in Genesis Chapter 2. Easy one to find. But I want you to think back to the injection of death into the whole equation. Death was not initially, certainly from a human perspective, intended in the garden.

They had this thing called the Tree of Life, and you keep eating from that thing in this perfect environment, and everything was going to go fine. Apparently, there's some reality in our biological units where God will sustain us in perfect bodies for all of eternity, and that was the plan from the beginning.

But the problem here was one little tree that sat in the middle of the garden. Drop down to verse 17. You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it, you will surely die. And this was not a tree that was poisoned; it was a test of their obedience.

And of course, you know the story. By Chapter 3, they take of the fruit, they eat of the fruit. Adam and Eve are both guilty and sinful. They see their own shame, they want to cover themselves and hide from God, and everything unravels. But here's how God describes it. He says the day you eat of it, you will surely die.

Now, I know people raise their hands in Sunday school when they hear that and say, "Wait a minute. Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Adam and Eve are still kicking around, it seems. They didn't die." I know you know this, but jot it down for clarity's sake. If I am before a holy God as a sinful person, I've got a relational problem with him. I'm relationally dead to him.

And if I live long enough on this planet in a sinful world, even in good health, eventually what I find is my body decays. And as Genesis 3 says, I finally meet the end of this biological capacity, and I return to dust and I biologically die. Phase one immediately happened. They took the tree's fruit and they immediately were in relational damage with God.

They were separated from God relationally. They didn't even want to talk to him. When this appearance of God in the theophany in the garden showed up, they hid themselves. They didn't want to be with God. Relational death. And then one day down the road, they would biologically die.

The thing about our relationship with God is that he wants us to know that the wages of sin is death, both relationally and biologically. If you want to answer the question in the most basic form as it relates to the death of an animal in a worship service, why the animal sacrifices? Here is one reason: to show the wages of sin.

There had to be in the mind of the Old Testament person, as there should be in our minds—and we have the advantage of looking back on history, including the history of Christ's life, death, and resurrection—but there ought to be a sense that sin is a real issue. It's a problem. And it's not something that God can just nicely say, "Well, I'm not going to care about people doing the wrong thing."

If he's a just God, there's got to be a punishment. And he says the wages of sin is death. He says when you sin against me, you will die relationally and eventually biologically. And he says when you come to me in worship, just know you've got a tremendous need. And so they would bring animals.

And they would come with this graphic reminder with the spilling of blood in a worship service to have them graphically reminded that the real issue between you and God is the need for reconciliation because we are sinful people. When there was a ceremonial death of an animal in a worship service, the worshiper would lay his hand on the head of that animal, which was the best they could find in their flock, and that animal would be accepted on their behalf.

When I went to worship in the Old Covenant, I would go home alive biologically, and Fluffy would not come home at all. Fluffy's dead. As a matter of fact, the reality of it is that there is a need for my sin to be atoned for, and the animal will be a picture of that atonement so that he will suffer and I won't have to.

Jot this down. The second reminder in this is not just a reminder of sin, but an experience of substitution. It is to experience the concept of substitution. It reminds me of the sin, and then I want desperately the solution, and the solution is in a payment of the debt. And so symbolically this animal is taking my place.

I get to live but the animal dies. Now the reality of it was it was just a symbol of the substitution, but it was a substitution that allowed them to remember that God wants me to live. He wants me to live. He wants to provide life and grace to those even who've sinned; he wants to give them that sense of hope. But to do that, he wanted them to remember it's their life for yours.

And if by the way you think that was just something that you could sanitize in the Old Covenant and just maybe pick some corner animal, you could have maybe done that occasionally in the calendar year in Israel. But remember the most important festival in all of Israel was Passover. Just be worth jotting down Exodus Chapter 12.

Do you know how we started Passover? With a week of picking the unblemished, one-year-old lamb and living with it in your house. God wanted to make it clear. And you can imagine your five-year-old clinging to this animal that you've made as a family pet. There was a sense of cost here and a deep sense of substitution.

And God says, "You know what? This is going to provide for you. And you're going to eat off the fact and live off the fact and find sustenance off the fact of the death of someone who hasn't done anything wrong." And that innocent animal will be your source of life. Why animal sacrifices? Because it's a tremendous graphic picture of the wages of sin and the act of substitution, which is exactly what we need not only in the Old Covenant mindset but we desperately need it in the New Covenant mindset.

Which by the way is why we discuss the comments about Bonhoeffer. We do not understand the gospel until we understand the fact that sin is the problem that should cause my death biologically and relationally for all eternity. And the point of the gospel message is predicated on that truth. And so in the Old Covenant, there was a graphic picture of that.

So a lot of people looking at the Old Covenant saying, "Well, we see all these dead animals and see all this sacrifice and substitution. That must have been the way that God brought them into a relationship with himself. Those animals somehow provided for their salvation." Let's just ask this question because it's always asked, and it's an easy place for a mistake theoretically.

Did animal sacrifices save them? Let's just answer that just straight up in Chapter 10. Hebrews Chapter 10, do you have that text open? We read verse 3: the sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. Let's read the rest of the sentence, verse 4: because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

So does it save them? Does it take away their sin? No. But now look back at Chapter 9, look at verse 13. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean—now you can underline this word—sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. Now God does something now in response to the sacrifice of an animal in the Old Covenant, given that it's offered with the right mindset and the right heart.

God does something. As a matter of fact, if the leper is cleansed or the skin diseased person is now whole, they go and offer a sacrifice. And now they are allowed to come back into the fellowship of the redeemed people. That is something that God says is going to matter whether or not you give a sacrifice.

Now the point of salvation and taking sins away, it can't take sins away and the Bible's clear on that. But it does do something for them. It does something where God ceremonially sanctifies them and allows them to do things and gives them privileges they wouldn't have if they didn't sacrifice the animal. Let's summarize it this way.

It doesn't save them. No. But it does make them obedient. It does make them obedient. PETA wasn't big in the Old Covenant community. You couldn't cross your arms and say, "I'm not doing that. I like these animals and I'm not killing them and I'm not eating them. I'm a vegetarian; I won't do it."

Couldn't do that. You would be a disobedient person excluded from the community of the redeemed if you didn't do it. God was looking for obedience in this, knowing that that act does not save you, but it makes you obedient. If you want a parallel to that in the New Covenant, you can write this down: how about baptism?

Baptism in the New Covenant does not save us, but it symbolizes something that does. Same thing in the Old Covenant. Sacrificing a lamb on the Passover doesn't save me, but it symbolizes something that does. And if I've got somebody that's made a profession of faith and say, "Well, I'm a follower of Christ now. I've repented of my sins and I've put my trust in him, but I don't want to get baptized because I'm not into that water thing and I don't want to get wet and I don't have any cool swim trunks, so I don't want to do it."

They would be a disobedient Christian, and a lot of doors would close for them in terms of the blessing of God. God is looking for obedience from us. Does baptism save us, water baptism? No. But it symbolizes the baptism of being placed into Christ by the Holy Spirit and that does save us.

Animal sacrifice didn't save them, but it does symbolize something that does save them: the substitution and payment for sin, which they didn't have clarity on. They knew God was somehow going to prepare that and solve that problem for them. So it didn't save them, but it did make them obedient.

And God, I suppose, could have chosen any number of things. He could have said, "Pat your head and rub your belly and that'll make you ceremonially clean." But instead, he wanted to enrich this picture with a sobriety about sin and an anticipation of substitution. Let's turn to Psalm 50.

One example in Psalm 50 just to show you God is not some animal hater; he's not cruel to animals. The point of this was provision and substitution and feeding the Levites and all of that. He didn't have an interest in the killing of animals. As a matter of fact, that wasn't the original plan for the first nine chapters of Genesis.

He though wanted the heart of obedience and people that saw their need and wanted to reach out to God for the solution to their sin. That's what he was looking for. And at times when people said, "Well, my heart's not right, but I brought you a sacrifice," he said, "I'm tired of that. You don't understand. Doing the sacrifice doesn't change your relationship with God unless you do it with the right heart."

Psalm 50 is a great statement about this. In verse number 8, he begins the discussion by saying, "I'm not rebuking you for your sacrifices." This is Psalm Chapter 50 verse 8. "Don't rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. You're doing those. By the way, verse 9, I have no need of a bull from your stalls or a goat from your pens. I don't need that.

Every animal in the forest is mine. If I needed one, I mean, they're all mine. The cattle on a thousand hills. I own everything. I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field they're mine. If I were hungry, as though I ate stuff, I wouldn't tell you. The world is mine and everything in it. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?"

Rhetorical question. God doesn't eat this stuff. He has no intrinsic interest in it. He has no intrinsic desire for it. Here's what he's interested in: the sacrifice that comes with the right kind of heart, that is included in verse 14, a sacrifice of thank offerings to God. Fulfill your vows, which includes animal sacrifice, he says, to the Most High.

But call on me in the day of trouble; I'll deliver you and you'll honor me, you'll worship me. Your heart of dependence and gratitude and praise will be there and that's what I'm looking for. I'm looking for that. I'm looking for them when you see the need to cry out to me and have me deliver you, which is the whole point of sacrifice. He has no intrinsic need for the sacrifice itself.

Which reminds us, by the way, of another excursion here for just a second. 1 Samuel 15, do you remember that classic line? It's a great one-liner where Saul is there with all this stuff from the battle where he was supposed to kill the animals. He didn't kill the animals; he brings them back. He tries to make an excuse to Samuel that, "Well, you know, I just was hoping to bring some really cool sacrifices back."

Which was a big fat lie because he was really padding his bank account. But when Samuel confronts him and says, "What's the bleating of sheep in my ears that I'm hearing?" Remember that whole thing? Here's what he told when he says, "Well, it's just the sacrifice." Do you remember Samuel's line? He says, "To obey is better than sacrifice."

And it's better to heed the word of the Lord than to bring some fat calf to God. God's using this as a symbol. There's no intrinsic desire, need, or interest in the death of animals. It was a symbol. Just like there's not, he's not interested in you swimming underwater, being in water. No interest in that. It's all a symbol of something very important that was central to the whole redemptive plan.

Did animal sacrifices save them? No. But it did make them obedient. And for that, it was important. But obedience is not just the act; it's the heart in sync with the act. It's the mind in keeping with the delivery of an animal at worship to the Levites. Well, then how were they saved?

Back to Hebrews Chapter 9. Interesting statement tucked in the middle of all this. This is another problem and even sometimes teachers of the Bible and Sunday school leaders and even seminary professors occasionally stumble over this truth and they miss it. So let's make sure we have it crystal clear in our minds.

Hebrews Chapter 9 verse 15: For this reason, Christ is the mediator of a new covenant that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. Did you catch that? Sins committed when? Under the Old Covenant.

How are they set free from the sins and the penalty of their sin? How? Well, the death of Christ. He died as a payment for that. And when he died as a payment for that, the debt of sin, these people were set free from the consequences. No animal sacrifices didn't save them. But here's the thing. When it comes to salvation, it's Christ that saves them. They were saved by Christ.

The same mechanism for salvation in terms of how the merit of a righteous God is applied to them is exactly the same in the Old Covenant and the New. And there are people that have messed this up, sometimes saying all kinds of outlandish things about how Old Testament people were saved. They were saved exactly the same way you are, by the merit of Christ.

But it's the difference, as we've often said, between the debit card and the credit card. This is a helpful analogy. You have both in your wallet. Credit card, you buy the stuff, you sign the thing, and you've got to pay at the end of the month. Or at least you should. That's another sermon.

The debit card, it's already there. Or at least it should be, supposed to be. And I lay down the debit card and they just take it out of my bank account. The credit of Christ was available to people in the Old Covenant. Oh, they didn't have clarity exactly of a Christ on a cross from Nazareth who hung outside the city walls of Jerusalem, but they trusted in God and he applied to them the merit of Christ.

It was on credit. It was forgiveness on credit. From the New Covenant perspective, it's forgiveness on a debit card. It's already been paid for. When we come to Christ and we throw ourselves on his mercy and we ask him to solve this big problem called sin, he does it. Not based on something yet to come, credit, but on something that's already happened, debit.

You've got to have your sin debt taken care of. Who's going to pay that? Animal can't pay it, but a human, a perfect human who does everything they're supposed to do can have that righteousness applied to you and your sin applied to him in this great transaction called substitution. They are saved by Christ just like we are. Through what?

They weren't saved by animal sacrifices. They were saved by Christ via repentance and faith. Same thing you're saved by. Saved through the mechanism of repentance and faith. The merit comes from Christ's life, death, and resurrection. How do I respond? How do I get this? I repent of my sins and I put my trust in God's provision.

Same way in the Old Covenant as the New. Let me prove it to you. Go to the book of Isaiah, Isaiah 55. What a great text here that any person from New or Old Covenant should feel like this is just old stuff. This is how God has always responded to us and calling us. What he's calling us to, verse 6.

Let's start there. Seek Yahweh while he may be found. Call on him while he's near. I mean, there's an opportunity right now to get this sin problem fixed. Let the wicked forsake—that's a great Hebrew word, azab, it's 112 times in the Old Testament, to desert it, to leave it, to reject—his way and the evil man his thoughts.

Let him turn. This is a great key theological term in the Old Covenant. Let him turn. The Hebrew word shub, over a thousand times in the Old Testament. It means to go back, to repent, to turn away from. Turn away from sin and turn to what? Turn to the Lord, turn to Yahweh, and he will have mercy on that person.

Turn to our God and he will freely pardon. If I'm convicted with the guilt of my sin and I see it and I feel it and I know it, how do I get that problem fixed? I've never even heard a Sunday school or a Sabbath school lesson on the coming of some guy from Nazareth before. Well, here's what you do: you repent of your sins. You throw yourself on God. You call out to God. You reach out to him to solve the problem. Same thing, Old Covenant, New Covenant. You could preach that passage to somebody now; you could preach it to them 3,000 years ago. The focal point of our faith gets really clear, Jesus Christ. But for them, it was a hope in God's provision.

Dave Drew: What a marvelous gift we have through the sacrifice of Jesus. You're listening to Focal Point and a message from Mike Fabarez called *Christ Changed Everything*. Throughout our study in Hebrews, Pastor Mike has been helping us clear up some of the confusion about Old Testament rituals. Today, we looked at the significance of animal sacrifices.

But if you'd like to hear more about the temple, the priests, the Old Testament laws, and the New Covenant, just go online to focalpointradio.org or download the free Focal Point app to your phone or smart device. And right now as a perfect complement to this study, we're offering a book titled *The Unfolding Mystery: Discovering Christ in the Old Testament* by Edmund Clowney.

Clowney walks you through the pages of the Old Testament, showing how every thread, every figure, every sacrifice, every promise, was pointing forward to Jesus all along. It's a rich, rewarding read that may permanently change the way you see both testaments and deepen your awe of the Christ who's always been right there at the center of it all.

Request your copy of *The Unfolding Mystery* when you make a gift to Focal Point today. Reach our team by phone at 888-320-5885 or give online at focalpointradio.org. And if you'd rather send your donation by mail, just write to us at Focal Point, P.O. Box 2850, Laguna Hills, California 92654.

Every dollar you give makes a real difference, whether it comes as a single gift or as a recurring monthly commitment through being a Focal Point partner. Partners are truly the foundation this ministry is built on. It's their faithful month-after-month giving that funds sound biblical teaching and puts it in front of new ears all across the country and around the world. And as a partner, you'll have Pastor Mike's handpicked resources delivered right to your doorstep every month. Join the team today by calling 888-320-5885 or sign up online at focalpointradio.org. I'm Dave Drew. We'll continue our study in Hebrews when we come back next time. More relevant and accurate Bible teaching from Mike Fabarez, Thursday on Focal Point.

Pastor Mike Fabarez: Pastor Mike here. Ever wish you could corner your pastor and challenge him with your toughest questions about the Bible, about faith? Well, now you can. Send me your questions. Head on over to focalpointradio.org and click on Ask Pastor Mike or send me a note on facebook.com/pastormike or twitter.com/pastormike. I can't wait to hear from you.

Dave Drew: Today's program was produced and sponsored by Focal Point Ministries.