For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but
the will of Him that sent me." Not to do mine own will, but
the will of Him that sent me. In the book of Leviticus last
week, we looked in that first chapter,
and Lord willing, I'd like to just go through the first chapter,
finish it tonight, on the burnt offering and what it speaks,
what it spoke at the time, what it sets forth tonight on the
very one that described and spoke of himself when he said, ìI came
down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of him
that sent me.î Before we go into this scripture, letís ask the
Lordís blessing on His Word. Our Father, tonight, for Christís
sake, we ask You to bless Your Word. Lord, bless it to our hearts. May we truly worship. May we behold as the Spirit of
God reveals the Lord Jesus Christ to us. For it is in Christ's
name we ask these things. Amen. Last week, I made mention that
in the book of Leviticus, five major offerings. Now, let it
be understood that every offering sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Substitute, every one of them. But in each of these offerings,
we behold aspects of Him points concern him, if I can say that. The burnt offering sets forth
the Lord Jesus Christ, the willing, spotless Lamb. He who in death
was a sweet savor to the Father. Almighty God, He chose, elected
His Son, the second Person, Christ, our surety. He chose Him and chose His people
in Him and sent Him into this world. He came down to do the
Father's will. to obey Him willingly, and His
sacrifice, His death, His substitutionary death, to the obedience of the Father,
to redeem all that the Father had given Him. That's what that
Scripture says. And this is the Father's will which has sent
me, that of all that He has given me, I should lose none. And His sacrifice, His death,
was a sweet savor to the Father. That's the burnt offering. Lord
willing, we'll look later at the meat offering which sets
forth the sinless character of our Lord Jesus who was the pleasure
of the Father in this life as He walked in obedience. The burnt
offering. showed the sinless, willing,
sweet savor to the Father in death. The sin offering sets
forth the elect's substituted calvary who bore the guilt of
all that the Father had given Him and died under the wrath
of Almighty God, the Father who forsook Him My God, my God, why
hast Thou forsaken me?" That's the sin offering. The peace offering
sets forth the Lord Jesus Christ, our reconciliation to God Almighty
having made peace through His blood. And the trespass offering
sets forth Christ, our Mediator, whoever liveth to make intercession
for us. That sacrifice sets forth Him,
our peace. You see, all of those offerings
are saying the same thing. As I said last week, they all
set forth Christ. Christ, our sin-bearer. Christ, our peace. Christ, our
advocate. Christ, our representative. Christ. Christ. Christ. These offerings. Tonight I'd like to look, and
I would like to, as I said, just look at this first chapter and
set forth the message in this Scripture, Leviticus chapter
1. We looked at the first, really, five verses. I'll pick up in
verse 5 here in a moment. And as we look at that, pray
that the Lord might be pleased to set forth Christ Our substitute,
our willing substitute. It started in verse 1, "...the
Lord called to Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle
of the congregation, 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 of the cattle, even of the herd
of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd,
let him offer a male without blemish, he shall offer it of
his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation before the Lord." Now, already we behold the Lord
God Himself, Jesus Christ, our substitute, a male without blemish,
perfect. This man that was to bring this
sacrifice was to bring it of his own voluntary will. That's what the Scripture says.
"...At the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the
Lord, and put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, it
shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he
shall kill the bullock before the Lord, and the priest, Aaron's
son, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about
upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the
congregation. He shall flay the burnt offering,
cut it into his pieces, and the sons of Aaron, the priests, put
fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire.
And the priest Aaron's son shall lay the parts, the head, the
fat, in order upon the wood that is on the fire which is upon
the altar. But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water,
and the priest shall burn all on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice,
an offering made by fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord. If his
offering be of the flocks, namely of the sheep or of the goats,
for a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring it a male without blemish.
He shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before
the Lord, and the priest Aaron's son shall sprinkle his blood
round about upon the altar, and he shall cut it into his pieces
with his head and his fat, and the priest shall lay them in
order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar.
But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water. The
priest shall bring it all and burn it upon the altar. It is
a burnt sacrifice. an offering made by fire of a
sweet savour unto the Lord. And if the burnt sacrifice for
his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his
offering of turtle doves of the young pigeons, and the priest
shall bring it upon the altar, wring off its head, and burn
it on the altar, and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at
the side of the altar, and he shall pluck away his crop with
his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part by
the place of the ashes. and he shall cleave it with the
wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder. And the priest
shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the
fire. It's a burnt sacrifice, an offering
made by fire, a sweet savor unto the Lord." Do you notice how
many times it's stated, it's a sweet savor unto the Lord?
It's a sweet savor unto the Lord. Man by nature read that and he
said, you know, that's just a little bit too gory. That just speaks
a little bit too much about too much blood. I'm going to tell
you, without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of
sin. It's whose blood we're talking
about. It's whose. If any man of you
bring an offering, you know who came. Now this speaks first of
all, it said, of those that need a substitute. Those that needed
a Savior. If a man needs a Savior, If He
needs a Savior, there is a Savior. If He needs one, God's people
are made willing in the day of His power. Man by nature doesn't
need a sacrifice. He doesn't need a Savior. He's
doing just fine. I've got a brother, and I hope
by God's grace if he'd hear this message, I'd tell him this face
to face, I've got a brother. It just grieves me. I know this. I am absolutely convinced of
this. If Almighty God's purpose is
to save him, God's going to save him. I know that. I know if he's
one of God's own, one of God's elect, God's going to save him.
But I tell you this, it doesn't change the fact that I realize
that lest the Lord God Himself cause him out of darkness, he's
going to perish. I find no pleasure in that and
myself. But I know this, that God Almighty
is going to do right. I know that. And I rest there. But if any man bring a sacrifice,
if any man need a sacrifice, a substitute, let him bring it.
Here, the willingness of the Lord Jesus Christ is set forth. It was a willing sacrifice. is the will of Him that sent
me. I came to do His will. I come to do Thy will, O Lord. My meat, my food, what I eat,
what I partake of, the Lord said, is to do Thy will, O Lord. And God's people know something
about that. They know something of that.
They hunger and thirst after Him. They long after Him. And
they see in themselves hopelessness in themselves, but in Him, they've
got a heart after Him too. They've got a conscience after
Him too. They've got a desire after Him too. Lord Jesus Christ,
the One without blemish, Almighty God, accepts the best. The best. This burnt offering. You know the first time I ever
found the burnt offering mentioned? Turn with me to Genesis 22. This is good. This is very good. Now you know, you think about
this, the burnt offering. What does that set forth? The
willingness of Christ, the without blemish Christ. The sweet savor
of Christ. First time burnt offering is
ever mentioned. Genesis 22, verse 1, it came
to pass, after these things, that God did tempt Abraham and
said unto him, Abraham, and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son,
thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest. Now you stop and just
think. right now concerning the Lord
Jesus Christ, God's Son, thy only Son, the One whom thou lovest,
get thee unto the land of Moriah, and offer Him there for a burnt
offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell thee of." The
first time a burnt offering is ever mentioned. Abraham said
when he came to that mountain, he told the two friends, he said,
Y'all stay here. And he said, Lad and I are going
to go up there and we're going to worship. We're going to worship. Isaac going up, he said, Father,
here's the wood, here's the fire, where's the lamp? And that's
when Abraham speaking under the inspiration of the Spirit of
God, and he said, My son, God will provide Himself a Lamb. As you read in that passage of
Scripture right there, look down at verse 90. They came to the
place which God had told Him of, and Abraham built an altar
there. Let me just stop right here on
the burnt offering. The burnt offering was offered
on the brazen altar. That was the altar. You'd come
inside that tent. a wall around the outside of
that tabernacle. And you come to that opening
right there, that door, that gate, and there was the brazen
altar right there. And there was the priest. And
you'd come, and that's where that sacrifice was going to be
made right there. They came to the place. And Abraham
built an altar there and laid the wood in order. And he bound
Isaac, his son, laid him on the altar upon the wood. Now you
think about this. This boy was no little kid. This boy, had he so desired,
could have put up a pretty good fight. No mention is made whatsoever
of any question, any struggle, any fuss, any fight. He was placed
on that altar. And the Scripture says, Abraham
lifted up his hand to slay that boy, and verse 12 said, and he
said, as the angel of the Lord called unto him out of heaven,
verse 11, verse 12 says, Lay not thine hand upon the Lamb,
neither do thou anything unto Him, for now I know that thou
fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thine Son, thine
only Son, from me. The Scripture says, the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking, And he said, Abraham saw my day. He
saw it and was glad. Substitution. Substitution. Here, first time that the burnt
offering is ever mentioned, here is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself. I was substituted. When that
ram was placed on that, there was the substitute. But look
at the pictures. of that. Take thine son, thine
only son. Take a cow out of the herd there
without blemish. Bale without blemish. Let him
come willingly. Offer him there for a burnt sacrifice."
Well, back in Leviticus, the Lord Jesus Christ, our willing,
perfect sacrifice, who is the sweet savor unto the Father. The Father was pleased. His sacrifice
was vicarious in the stead of, in the place of. Almighty God
must be satisfied. And it's going to take a without
blemish sacrifice. Christ Himself without blemish,
but was made sin for us. what we are by nature. He was
made guilty before Almighty God, imputed to Him. He was made sin. And the Scripture
says that when this sacrifice was brought there to that place
where the altar was, that bullock, verse 5, was killed. He shall
kill the bullock before the Lord. You notice this is done before
Almighty God is going to have to be satisfied. It's done before
Him. Before the Lord, He shall kill
the bullock, that without blemish, that willing sacrifice. As the sinners substitute, Christ
Himself died. Died. That which was due to the
guilty sinner was done to the Lord Jesus Christ. But He laid
down His life willingly. That's what's set forth in the
burnt offering. Willing, without blemish in Himself. This is the
Holy One. Christ Jesus Himself. That which
was due us. He was answerable. He made Himself. Died in the person of our substitute. Though, listen, we were crucified
with Him. Paul said, I'm crucified with
Christ. Now, I live, yet not I but Christ
liveth in me. In Philippians 3, verse 10, Paul
says, I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, the
fellowship of His sufferings being made conformable to His
death. This offering, it's a sweet savor
to the Father. Here we see in type, the perfect
man, willingly offering himself to Almighty God for a sweet savor,
satisfaction to His justice. The burnt offering. The burnt
offering speaks of His obedience. Here we see, Scripture says,
He loved us and gave Himself for us, an offering and sacrifice
to God for a sweet-smelling savor. The thing that I want to make
sure that we understand is this, in the person of our Lord, Almighty
God is pleased. He's pleased. It smelled a sweet
savor unto Him. After the bullock was slain,
the priests, Aaron's sons, Bring the blood right about upon the
altar that's by the door of the tabernacle." The congregation.
Verse 7 says, "...the son of Aaron, the priest, shall put
fire upon the altar, lay the wood in order with the fire,
and the priest, Aaron's son, shall lay the hearts, the head,
and the fat in order upon the wood that's on the fire upon
the altar." The altar on which the blood was sprinkled, that
altar, typified the divinity of our Savior. God's chosen sacrifice. And here, atonement was made
for sin. Christ's blood is called the
blood of sprinkling. Turn with me to 1 Peter 1. an apostle of Jesus Christ to
the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Asia, and Bithynia. Here is who you are. He says
you are elect. According to the foreknowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience
and the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, grace unto you
and peace Be multiplied. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10, a few pages back. Hebrews 10, verse 21. Having an high priest
over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and
full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an
evil conscience. and our bodies washed with pure
water. That animal was brought to that
priest. And that priest would take, after
that animal was sacrificed, and those sons, those boys would
take that blood and sprinkle it, sprinkled the application
of that which was done. God was satisfied. reminded me,
as I told you last week, when Moses in Egypt, God told him,
He said, take an animal, one for every house. Set it aside. Make sure it's without blemish.
And on the night that He told him, He took that animal and
they would kill it, take the blood and apply it. The application
in God Almighty told Moses, He said, when I come through, when
I see the blood." Boy, you could go a long way with that one. When I see the blood, not when
I see your faithfulness, not when I see your free will, not
when I see your obedience, when I see the blood, I'll pass over. When I see the blood, I want
to know something about that. I want to know something. sacrifice
speaks of. I want to know, how is Almighty
God satisfied? How is He satisfied for me? Back in Leviticus chapter 1,
verse 4, listen to this, He shall put His hand upon the head of
the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for Him to make atonement
for him. That speaks of substitution,
imputation of guilt. That speaks of substitution for
me. It shall be accepted for me.
Tell me of the one who satisfies Almighty God for me. The one who is without blemish. The one who is willing to obey. Came down willingly. Laid down
his life willingly. satisfied Almighty God. I want to be found in Him. That's
what Paul says, that I might know Him and be found in Him. In Him. Scripture says that these
boys would take and lay that wood on that altar. They would take it and then they
would lay the fire upon it. Scripture says, After that, I'm looking for the verse right
here that talks about where they would flay. Verse 6. I'm sorry. They shall flay. F-L-A-Y. Flay. The burnt offering and
cut it into His pieces. That animal was brought and it
was looked upon by that priest. And it was without blemish. There was no blemish. It had
to be without blemish. No sickly animals. Not the dregs
of your herd. It's a picture of Christ without
blemish. And they'll take it. And they
took that after they killed it and they skinned it. That's what it means. They flayed
it. They cut the skin. Removed that outer covering.
removed it. And here we behold again the
absolute holiness, perfection of our Lord. Outwardly, sinless. Inwardly, sinless. Perfect in
it. Psalm 51, verse 6, Behold, thou
desirest, and that which Almighty God desires, that He must have
to be satisfied. Behold, thou desirest truth in
the inward parts." In the heart. In the heart. Who but Christ
could that speak of? Who but Christ? There's none
good. God looked to see if there were
any good and there was none good. No, not one. A rich young ruler came to the
Lord Jesus Christ and he said, Good Master, why do you call
me good? There's none good but God. Thou desirest truth in the
inward parts, in the hidden part. Thou shalt make me to know wisdom."
Here we behold in the night the exposure of Christ Himself completely
before the Father. That's what that pictured before
Almighty God. Set forth the words of our Lord
when the Father said of Christ, This is My beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased." And these boys, sons of Aaron, they put
the fire, verse 7, upon that altar. They shall and shall lay
the wood in order, lay the parts, lay the head, lay the fat. Almighty
God has set forth how He is going to be worshipped. And they, the
Scripture says, shall burn it. Burn it. That word burn right
there in the burnt offering is a word that means sweet supper. The only way that
I can say it I can probably understand it a little bit better. You burn
something that has a stench in it, that's a repulsive smell. This word burn right here is
the word that means incense. In fact, turn to Leviticus 6.15. He shall take of his handful
of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all
the frankincense which is upon the meat offering, and shall
burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor, even the memorial of it
unto the Lord." That frankincense was put on there, and it had
a sweet smell. You know when you burn a candle
in the house, candle and it smells good. You walk in and you smell
that and you think, boy that smells good. I like that. I like
that smell. That's one smell. Have you ever
started cooking something and it stayed in the oven just a
little bit too long and it just, ugh, I don't like that. That
doesn't, that's not the, the word burn right here is a sweet
smell. savory smell. The smell of that
sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect, willing sacrifice
of Almighty God was a sweet savor unto the Lord. Back in Leviticus
1 verse 9, But His inwards and His legs shall He wash in water,
and the priest shall burn all on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice,
and all shall be made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord."
Here we behold, in this type, the bride sanctified, His inwards. Those chosen in Him, those considered
in Christ Jesus their Head, the inwards were shown. The Scripture says they were
opened up and it was shown without blemish. Those inwards were washed. I tell you this, the inwards
were shown to be without disease, without blemish, just as the
outward picture of Christ was. Those chosen in Christ have been
washed in Him. In ourselves? Oh no! washed by His blood, that which
was shed for them. And they are washed daily by
the Word of Truth. Their legs were washed, symbolic
of the believer's walk in the Word. While they walk in this
world, they are washed by Christ. You remember the Lord Jesus Christ,
when He washed His disciples' feet. Peter said, I'm not going
to wash my feet. I go wash my feet. He said, if
I don't wash your feet, you don't have any part with me. We need
to be washed daily by this Word. Washed. You take it. But they were all burnt upon
the altar. And all was a sweet savor unto
the Lord, setting forth that members of the Lord Jesus Christ
in Him We have satisfied Almighty God. Those words of our Lord
in that day, when He says, I will separate the sheep from the goats,
the goats are put on the left hand, the sheep on the right.
He said, and He will say unto those on His right hand, well
done. Well done, thy good and faithful
servants. Well done. You tell me how they
can have well done, I said to them, without their substitute,
without being considered in Him, to remember that Almighty God
deals with His own in a substitute, in their head, in their covenant
head, in Him alone. Are they perfect? All was burnt
at the altar. Some of the offerings that we
will consider were shared, eaten by the priest. But this one was
completely burnt, completely. Setting forth the Lord Jesus
Christ, offering Himself to Almighty God, and no one else shared in
this. In the meat offering, the priest
could eat part of that. I'll tell you about that later.
The meat offering was that which set forth the perfection of the
Lord Jesus Christ in His humanity. And He said, eat of Me. Eat of Me. Drink of Me. My flesh
is meat indeed. That's another message. That
offering of the fire and it couldn't be put out. That is set forth
in Leviticus. And very quickly, the last few
verses, verse 10, I won't re-read them, but verse 10 sets forth
that this offering could be of the sheep or of the goats, for
a burnt sacrifice had to be without blemish. Scripture says in verse
14 and the rest of those verses 11 and 12 and 13 told exactly,
how that sacrifice was to be offered just like it did in the
first part. Verse 14 says, If the burnt sacrifice
for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring
his offering of turtle doves or young pigeons. And then it
says in 15, 16, 17, how the priest was to take it and sacrifice
it. No one is exempt from their need
of a sacrifice. No one. Turn with me to Leviticus
chapter 14, and with this, I'm going to end this message. Leviticus chapter 14, beginning
in verse 19. You say, why would start off
in verse 3 and say, if his offering be a burnt offering of the herd,
let him offer a male without blemish? Why would it say in
verse 10, if it be of the sheep or the goats for a bird offering,
let it be a male without blemish? Why would it then say in verse
14, if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of
fowls, then bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons, where
it is set forth? In Leviticus chapter 15, beginning
in verse 19, Leviticus 14, 19, in the priest,
shall offer the sin offering and make an atonement for him
that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness. Afterward, he shall
kill the burnt offering. And the priest shall offer the
burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar, and the priest
shall make an atonement for him. And he shall be clean, verse
21, and if he be poor and cannot get so much, then he shall take
one lamb for a trespass offering to be waived to make an atonement
for him, one-tenth deal of fine flour mingled with oil for a
meat offering, and a log of oil, and two turtle doves or two young
pigeons, such as he is able to get. And the one shall be a sin
offering, and the other a burn offering." The sacrifice that
was presented was to be a willing sacrifice without blemish. But Almighty God sets forth what
men must need. Whether a man was rich or a man
was poor, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Every man in Adam is a rebel against God. Every man, rich
or poor. The Scripture sets forth, if
a man was poor, let him bring a turtledove. Let him bring a
pigeon. If he's rich, go get of the herd
over here. If he's middle income, bring
of the goats. Bring of the sheep right here.
But all men, without exception, are rebels against Almighty God. All have sinned. The widow that
had two mites, the Lord Jesus Christ, when she gave, said this
of her, she has given all that she had. They gave out of their
abundance. We gave more than they gave. Verse 3 sets forth in Leviticus
1 that God Almighty has placed great importance upon that which
is offered unto Him with our blemish, willing, a sweet savor. Therefore, let us draw near with
a pure and sincere heart, recognizing this one part, this one thing. We cannot approach Almighty God
without a sacrifice. It must be a willing sacrifice. Christ is the willing sacrifice. I came down to do His will. The without blemish sacrifice
He is God Almighty. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word,
the Word Himself, was made flesh. When He laid down His life as
a sweet Savior, He did the Father's will. And Almighty God was pleased. That's the burnt offering. in
that burnt offering, the perfection of Christ, the willingness of
Christ, and the sweet savor of His sacrifice.