Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus chapter one, Leviticus
chapter one. In our study last Wednesday evening,
we considered the trial of Abraham. Abraham was a man that knew something
about trials, tribulation, suffering. And the Lord having given Abraham
the promised son, Isaac, then came to Abraham, and according
to God's infinite wisdom, according to his unquestioned will and
purpose, he commanded Abraham to do something. He said in Genesis
chapter 22, I'll just quote this for you, Genesis 22 verse 2,
This is what the Lord said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac,
whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah, and
offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which
I will tell thee of. Right now, before we go any farther,
and I'd like to deal with verses one and two here this morning,
and then, Lord willing, three to nine in second service, but
right here, right now, let's remember the words of our Lord
to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. Luke 24, 27 declares
this. Beginning at Moses, And all the prophets, he that
is the Lord Jesus Christ, expounded unto them in all the scripture
the things concerning himself. Now, I want us to understand
the picture that we shall look at today, which Lord willing,
I want to look at the law of the burnt offering. When the
Lord told Abraham, I want you to take your son and offer him
unto me for a burnt offering. There is, I believe, as we shall
see if we continue to look at these verses no clearer, no more
beautiful picture of the father giving his only begotten son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, for a burnt offering, and then the willingness
and obedience and submission unto the Father by the Lord Jesus
concerning being made the burnt offering. Brother Scott said
something one time that stuck with me, and I know it did with
you. He said, Almighty God had to do something for himself before
he could do something for his people. And in this burnt offering,
we're going to behold what the Lord did for himself. Now Isaac,
the son of God's promise, one according to the scriptures in
whom all the earth would be blessed, the one through whom the Messiah
would come. God told him, he said, the Messiah
is coming through Isaac. And so the Lord, when he came
to Abraham and he told him, I want you to take your son Isaac, your
only son, son of God's promise, and offer him for a burnt offering. Now there, the faith of Abraham
was put to the fiery trial and testing of Almighty God. God
Almighty was going to prove, He was going to prove to Abraham
God's faithfulness. You're going to prove to Abraham.
God knew. But you're going to prove to
Abraham concerning the faith that God had given him. Now,
according, I want you to turn to Hebrews 11. Hold your place.
We'll be right back. Hebrews 11. Now, concerning the
record of Abraham's reaction, this is what the Spirit of God
says concerning the reaction of Abraham concerning God's command. Hebrews 11, verse 17 to 19. By faith, Abraham, when he was
tried, offered up Isaac. And he that had received the
promises offered up his only begotten son. whom it was said
that in Isaac shall thy seed be called, accounting that God
was able to raise him up even from the dead, from whence also
he received him in a figure." Scripture declares, by faith,
Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac. Isaac was offered up in Abraham's
heart. That boy was dead. Whenever God
told him, don't you take your son, your only son, son that
thou lovest, and you offer him for a burnt offering, Abraham
believed God. He believed God. And that boy
in his heart was offered up. He believed that God was able
to raise that boy up. There the faith of Abraham again
put to that fiery trial and testing of Almighty God. Isaac in Abraham's
eyes and heart was already raised up in the figure being born. Abraham believed God could raise
him from the dead. God had shown him that, having
raised that boy up out of the dead womb of his mama. His mama
was past the age of childbearing. And God gave him a son. Gave
him a son out of a womb that the scripture said was dead.
Turn to Romans 4. Romans chapter 4. Romans 4. Verses 16 to 21, Romans 4, verse
16. Therefore it is of faith that
it might be by grace to the end the promise might be sure to
all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that
also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of
us all, as it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations
before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the
dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. who against hope believed in
hope that he might become the father of many nations according
to that which was spoken, so shall thy seed be. And being
not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead when
he was about a hundred years old, yet neither the deadness
of Sarah's wound. He staggered not at the promise
of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory
to God. You offer your son up to me.
Abraham slew that boy in his heart. And he believed this. God said that the Messiah was
coming through Isaac. God can raise him up. God can
raise him up. Now I want us to consider this
morning, from the revelation of God's Word, this blessed offering. And in Leviticus chapter 1, Looking
at verses 1 and 2, and we're going to start, I'm going to
tell you right now in verse 3 where it says, and if his offering
be a burnt offering, a burnt sacrifice. But I want to look
at verses 1 and 2 that lead up to what God said starting in
verse 3 of Leviticus 1. Where God told Abraham, I want
you to offer up your son for a burnt offering. That's the
first place in scripture where the burnt offering was mentioned. First place. God told him. Now
that's first mention. And that offering surely was
understood of Abraham. Now we're not told how Abraham
knew it because in the book of Leviticus, which is the book
of Moses, also written by Moses, God moved Moses to write down
the law of the burnt offering. What was to happen? But Abraham,
who was told of God to offer Isaac for a burnt offering, was
going to offer him as a burnt offering. How did he know it? Obviously, the Spirit of God
taught him. But he understood. And we're going to see, according
to good pleasure of God, concerning this indescribable mercy and
grace to hell-deserving sinners through the submission and humility
of the Lord Jesus. And this Lord will in just a
few minutes. Leviticus 1.1. And the Lord called unto Moses. I want to just stop for just
a second. The Lord called unto Moses. Psalm 28.1. The Lord called unto
Moses. I thought, what compassion, what
mercy. David said in Psalm 28, one,
unto thee will I cry, O Lord, my rock. Be not silent to me. Lest if thou be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit. Lord, speak to
my heart. God's people hear the voice of
the Lord. I've told you this many times.
How do they hear? They hear in the scripture, they
hear in providence, they hear in the reading of the words,
but they hear it in their heart. They know, they know. When God
gives command, they hear it. And the Lord called unto Moses. You know, when the Lord called
unto Moses from Mount Sinai, there his communication was concerning
the glory of God's fiery law. That's when the Lord told Moses,
you come up and you tell the people. Don't come up on the
mountain. Moses can come up, but don't
let the people come up. If they come up, if they touch
the bottom of this mountain, you pierce them through. You're
gonna die. God was gonna speak unto Moses
concerning his law, and the people seeing the earthquakes and the
lightning and stuff, they said, Moses, you go up there. You go
up and talk to God. We don't wanna go. God spoke
to him concerning that fiery law, but here, listen to this,
and the Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the
tabernacle of the congregation, saying, now where is he speaking
from? He's speaking from that place
which declares that peace, having been made through the precious
shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ through the person of
our salvation. The tabernacle which pictured
Christ Jesus the Lord who is the tabernacle of God's dwelling
in grace and mercy to his people. God's going to speak to Moses,
he speaks to us through Christ Jesus our Lord. Peace, comfort. And he said in
verse two, he said, you speak unto the children of Israel and
say unto them, if any man of you bring an offering unto the
Lord, you shall bring your offering from the cattle, even of the
herd and of the flock. Now again, we're reminded of
two precious truths here. First of all, that the word of
the Lord was sent unto a people of God's affection. Now look
at that second verse. Speak unto the children of Israel. Say unto them. What joy, what peace. God has
a people of His choosing. A people of His eternal love
and affection. A people chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. And He speaks unto them in mercy,
in mercy and compassion. And he speaks one way. This is
the second thing I see in him. He speaks to a people of his
choosing and he speaks one way. Speak unto the children of Israel
and say unto them, who is he talking to? He's talking to Moses. He's talking to Moses. Moses,
You speak to the children of Israel and you say unto them. Here's the second thing I see.
God speaks through a mediator. He speaks through an arbitrator. One who intervenes between two
parties. One who can restore peace and
friendship between two parties. Moses here is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ who was commanded to speak to God's people. Let's
remember this. There's one God and there's one
mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy
2.5. All the merciful things of God
which are spoken to his people concerning His love for them,
spoken through the one who willingly, the one who qualified to represent
God, because He is God, and to represent man. He was made flesh. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word
was made flesh. Moses, you speak unto the people
of Israel. Speak to my people, and you say
unto them. God Almighty has a message to
His people, and they hear it. Given a heart of faith, they
hear the word of the Lord. And here's what He said. If any
man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, You shall bring
your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock. If any man bring an oblation,
something that is brought, that is brought that nearness through
a sacrifice might be accomplished. If any of you bring an offering,
you shall bring your offering, now listen, of the cattle, even
of the herd and of the flock. You know what mercy that God
would reveal, that which he accepts. He's going to accept only that
which is concerning his son. And the Lord can only be approached
when he's found to be appeased. And God was offended in the garden
by man, by his disobedience, and his law in the garden was
broken. The scripture that was given,
I mean, the law that was given unto Moses, and this is a law,
this is a command, this is a word from the Lord. He said, of every
tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it, for
in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. So God, by man's rebellion, has
been offended. He's been disobeyed, and God,
though has been pleased through the revelation of his scripture,
God has been pleased to reveal that he has been appeased. He's been satisfied. He's been
satisfied one way. He's been satisfied through his
son. And that truth is pictured in
the fact that if an offering was to be brought to the Lord,
that it was not going to be an offering of man's decision, man's
choice. Appeasement was only going to
be found through the place of God's choosing. Remember the
Lord gave instruction concerning clean animals, four-footed beast,
and unclean animals. There was a long list in the
scriptures concerning that. And here's what the Lord said,
if an animal is going to be brought, It's going to have to be an animal
from the cattle, even of the herd and the flock. Those which
God declared to be clean animals according to God's appointment
and choosing. Now, again, this speaks of Christ's
purity and acceptance, cleanness, nothing, nothing that we're looking
at here is apart from the declaration of the Lord Jesus Christ. All
these these types and figures, if an offering is going to be
brought, you bring it out of out of the herd, the cattle of
the flock. Unclean animals, according to
Leviticus 11, You go back and for sake of time, just read Leviticus
11. God will tell them, told them,
He said, you don't, these are unclean animals. You don't, you
don't touch these or eat these. Unclean animals offered unto
the Lord would be a picture of all man-centered, false religion,
man's way, man's choice, man's thoughts. And the Lord declared
it to be unclean. You remember, the things of man's
choosing, man's efforts, is not accepted. An unclean animal would
present nothing more than man's refusal to hear God's word, his
disrespect for the Lord's word, and therefore reveal man's thinking
that he can approach God any way he wants to. I can bring an eagle if I want
to, I can bring a camel and sacrifice
a camel. I can bring whatever I decide. The Lord said, if man bring an
offering, you shall bring your offering of the cattle, the herd,
and the flock. God's sacrifice is according
to God's revelation. It's according to God's wisdom.
It's according to God's will. And Almighty God accepts only
that which God supplies. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten Son. He that hath the Son, not he that hath religion, he
that hath baptism, he that hath this, he that hath the Son. life, and he that hath not the
Son hath not life, and the wrath of God abideth on him. I pray that the Lord would bless
our hearts these few words of preparation as we Lord willing
go into this next message on the law of the burnt offering,
what was commanded. I pray God bless you to our hearts
for Christ's sake.