The Goat of Departure

8 And Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats; one lot for the LORD, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9 And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the LORD'S lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. 10 But 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. 11 And Aaron shall bring the bullock of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make an atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin offering which is for himself: 12 And he shall take a censer full of burning coals of fire from off the altar before the LORD, and his hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the vail: 13 And he shall put the incense upon the fire before the LORD, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is upon the testimony, that he die not: 14 And he shall take of the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it with his finger upon the mercy seat eastward; and before the mercy seat shall he sprinkle of the blood with his finger seven times. 15 Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the vail, and 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: 16 And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions in all their sins: and so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation, that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17 And there shall be no man in the tabernacle of the congregation when he goeth 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. 18 And he shall go out unto the altar that is before the LORD, and make an atonement for it; and shall take of the blood of the bullock, and of the blood of the goat, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about. 19 And he shall 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. 20 And when he hath made an end of reconciling the holy place, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar, he shall bring the live goat: 21 And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness: 22 And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited: and he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. 23 And Aaron shall come into the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall put off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the holy place, and shall leave them there: 24 And he shall wash his flesh with water in the holy place, 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. 25 And the fat of the sin offering shall he burn upon the altar. 26 And he that let go the goat for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward come into the camp. Lev 16:8-26 (KJV) Do we need a scapegoat? The scapegoat was a goat that was used to carry away the people’s sins. This was used with the company of a sacrificial goat as well. The difference is the scapegoat was taken away so the people could say that all of their sins were out in the wilderness. They did not repent of their sins as the goat had taken them. We sometimes use scapegoats in our lives as Christians. We don’t repent of our sins, instead we will point somewhere else to and say “there are the sins over there, not here”. What I am trying to say is when we are confronted of our sins we point at another sin instead. True repentance is when we accept our sins and our problem. We admit that we are the sinners we are. This message came to me this morning when I was explaining to my daughter how some people refuse to repent of there sins. This happens when we get caught doing something and we immediately point our finger at someone else’s sin. I told my daughter that she was not doing her chores the way she was supposed to. Instead of saying I know or yes you are right she immediately started telling me how other people don’t do there chores the way they are supposed too. She started using someone else as a scapegoat. This is not what repentance is. Repentance is when we admit we are completely guilty of breaking the law. We are sinners and we have all fallen short and deserve the same punishment as Satan. Do you know that about yourself, that you deserve the same punishment as Satan? We will not get this punishment if we repent and we all know this. Jesus is our scapegoat. See the scapegoat was taken out of the city and taken deep into the wilderness. At a later time when the Israelis were in Jerusalem, the scapegoat made it back to town one time. This was such an evil omen that a new law was made about the scapegoat. The goat was taken up to a big hill where it was pushed off where death was imminent. This was so the goat could not make it back to town because it was carrying all of the people’s sins. They sure did not want those coming back to town. Let’s look at some scriptures about repenting. 14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chron 7:14 (KJV) Here we are told if we humble ourselves, and pray, and seek his face, and turn from our wicked ways, only then will God hear us from heaven and forgive us. Simply saying “Oh God please forgive me” is not enough. We must humble ourselves. Humility does not always feel good, but sin usually does, right? Are you going to let, feeling good get in the way of eternity. As God was putting this on my heart I felt like I was going to be preaching to the choir as some say. So, I hope this is useful to someone here. As I was saying, sin feels good and humility does not feel good usually. Why is this? God doesn’t care if we get our feelings hurt, he cares about our eternal state. Satan acts on our feelings. Now we are going to get into the heart of this message. What happens to those who continually refuse to repent? What happens to those who continue to use a scapegoat and make excuses of why they sin or worse put the blame on someone else? 20 Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his mighty works were done, because they repented not: 21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. 23 And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for thee. Matt 11:20-24 (KJV) It says these are the cities where most of his might works were done. These are the people who had the privilege of seeing the works of God first hand. Jesus is saying that the people in Tyre and Sidon would have repented by now, because they don’t think themselves so high and mighty. They would have realized they are sinners and repented. These were terrible cities. Look what he said about Capernaum. They are exalted unto heaven and will be brought down to hell. Even Sodom would have repented if they had seen these works. Are we in danger of being Capernaum? I hope not. 5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. Rev 2:4-5 (KJV) Who is Jesus talking to here? Us!! He is talking to people who have the light and who have a candle. He is telling Christians to remember from where you came from and remember you are a sinner. You are not better than others. You too must repent, daily or more if needed. Every bible study I have ever heard of on repentance was always given to unsaved people. It was delivered as if only sinners needed it and Christians didn’t need to hear it. Well I say Christians need it as much as others. Jesus tells us in Mathew 11 that it will be more tolerable for Sodom then for the people who know and refuse to repent. We have no excuse. There are going to be people who refuse to repent, no question about it. Jesus tells us of these in Revelation 16. 10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, 11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds. Rev 16:10-11 (KJV) This is a glimpse of those who refuse to the end that God is God of all. I know that there are many who will perish. More then those that will make it heaven. We can do nothing for these people because they will refuse to repent to the God that they do not know. What about the believers that will go to hell because they refuse to repent of their sins? It is our responsibility to find out what we need to repent of. We cannot live by what someone else teaches. Ignorance is not an excuse for sin, but the more you know the more you are responsible for. 48 But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will ask the more. Luke 12:47-48 (KJV) Notice it says that those that know not will still be punished for what they did not know. There punishment will be less than if they knew, but they will still be punished. I challenge everyone this week to find sins in their life that they are not aware of. I believe we all have them and if you don’t then you are way ahead of me. Some examples of sins not known are pride, envy, covetousness, witchcraft, idolatry, lust, etc. There are many we may not be aware of. I repent on a daily basis for the sins I commit. I do not think it is OK to sin and I give no excuse for any of my sins. I want to live a righteous and holy life and I want to be called by His name. If it were not for the grace given me by the Father then I would never make it. However, I must still strive everyday with all that I have to fight the sin in me and fight against the adversary that hates me so. We must come to the throne of grace with boldness and say Father I have done this. What joy it is ever for earthly fathers to have their children to come to them and admit that they have made a mistake. It brings a father joy when his children say “I need your help, I can’t do it without you”. Let’s bring our Father in heaven joy. Let’s call on Jesus so he will stand for us when we fail. We cannot do it without him.