Turn with me to the book of Leviticus.
Leviticus chapter 1. Leviticus chapter 1. I would like to read the first
nine verses of Leviticus chapter 1. I'm actually going to plan, Lord
willing, to deal with the first five verses this evening. Then I'd like to just say a little
something about the first five chapters before I actually get
into the first five verses. Leviticus chapter 1, verse 1,
And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the
tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering
unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle,
even of the herd, and of the flock. And 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,
and he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering,
and 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 sons shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood
round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering,
and cut it into his pieces. And the sons of Aaron, the priests,
shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon
the fire. And the priests, Aaron's sons,
shall lay the parts, the head and 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 and offering made by
fire of a sweet savour unto the Lord." Now, I want to look, Lord
willing, over the next few weeks, possibly on Sunday night. I'll just see how it goes. But
I would like to look at the offerings that were made, that dealt with
in the first five chapters of the book of Leviticus. Now, if
you read this book, You know, and I know, and I'm going to
be the first to admit that when you first read the book of Leviticus,
you read it, and you read the next chapter, and you read the
next chapter, and you read the next chapter, and you say, well,
it appears as though to me that it's saying basically the same
thing. It's saying the same thing over
and over and over. And it's calling one offering
this, and then another offering this, and what's the difference? What's actually being said? Well,
there were five offerings, five major, five great offerings that
were offered there in the wilderness by the priest. One of them was
called the burnt offering. Now what I want us to understand
before we go any farther is that every offering, you know this,
every offering was dealing with the Lord Jesus Christ. It was
Christ. Now you know that. We can't get
away. There's nothing that was written
in all of Scripture that's not concerning Him. The Lord said,
speaking to the two on the road to Emmaus." I've brought this
up time and time again. And he said, beginning with Moses. Now that's what we're looking
at right here. The first five books of the Bible, written by
Moses, beginning with Moses, and all the prophets, he expounded
unto them in all the Scriptures those things concerning himself. Well, the first offering that
we are considering was called the burnt offering. Now, the
burnt offering was the offering, and remember, every offering
is concerning Christ. But the burnt offering was the
offering that set forth the Lord Jesus Christ as the willing,
spotless Lamb in His death that was a sweet savor to the Father. Now that's what the burnt offering
It was as if we're going to consider the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're
going to look at Him in these aspects of His office, as if
here's a chapter, and it's written on here's Christ, the willing
sacrifice, the sacrifice that was spotless, the sacrifice that
was a sweet savor to the Father. In another chapter of the first
five books of Leviticus, there is an offering that was called
the meat offering or the meal offering. Now this offering set
forth the sinless character of the Lord Jesus Christ who was
the pleasure of the Father in His life. Now see, the burnt
offering was the sweet savor of satisfaction to the Father
in the death of our Lord, the willing, spotless Lamb in His
death." Oh, the savor of the satisfaction of the Father. Burnt
offering. Meat offering is the sinlessness,
the perfection of the Lord Jesus Christ in His life as He walked
in this life. That's what the meat offering
was. Then there was an offering called
the sin offering. Now that offering was the offering
that was made, it was made outside the camp. And that offering was
the offering that set forth the elect's substitute, our Lord
and Savior, who at Calvary bore the imputed guilt of all of the
elect and of the wrath of Almighty God who turned His back on the
substitute, on the Lamb, who died for the nature of our sin,
our guilt, our nature. Now you think about this. Here
He is. The sin offering is the offering
that set forth the Lord Jesus Christ who bore the imputed guilt
and the wrath of Almighty God was poured out upon Him God Almighty
in absolute justice dealt with him as the sinner's substitute. You see the difference, what
we're talking about? Here is Christ, the guilt-bearer, wrath
of God poured out upon him. Sin offering, burnt offering,
willing, the sweet savor of the Father, the meat offering, the
perfect Savior who walked this earth, our representative, fulfilling
the law. And then there was an offering
called the peace offering. That was the offering that set
forth the Lord Jesus Christ, our reconciliation to the Father,
having made peace through His blood. And then lastly, there
was one called the trespass offering that set forth the Lord Jesus
Christ, our Mediator, whoever liveth to make intercession for
us. Now, this sacrifice set forth
Him who pardons us from sins, the sins of our nature. You say,
well, I thought that that was the sin offering. Listen, here's
the difference. The sin offering was the offering
where the guilt, what we are, laid upon Christ and the imputed
guilt of the imputed guilt of the elect laid on Christ, sin
offering, He died, and here the trespass offering are those sins
whereby He ever liveth to make intercession. Let me ask you
something. Was your guilt, you who believe, was your guilt,
do you believe that your guilt, your nature, who you are. Paul said, I was crucified with
Christ. Do you believe that your guilt,
your sin, nature, He was made to be sinned. Do you believe
that that was laid on Christ? Yes, you do. I'll answer it for
you. That wasn't a trick question. The guilt of God's elect laid
on Him. Let me ask you this. Do you sin
today? Do you sin today? The sin offering,
here's Christ, the guilt bearer. The trespass offering is that
offering that was made setting forth Christ, who is our intercessor
right now, pleading His own blood. And God Almighty forgives us
today. We come before Him as Brother
Bob was just praying, asking the Lord to forgive us. for the
sin. You say, well, you're saying
basically the same thing. No, I wasn't. Here's the aspects,
the different aspects of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ,
these different offerings. So when you read them, there's
a sense in which we read them and we say, well, that just kind
of overlaps one over the other. And I don't doubt that in the
least. There's always the sacrifice. There's the setting forth of
the Lord Jesus Christ in these five offerings, but what it does
is it sets forth Him in the aspects of His office, the sin bearer,
the intercessor, the perfect representative who walked, the
Lord Jesus Christ, the Man Christ Jesus. You see what I'm saying?
So tonight, I want us to look for just a few moments at the
first five verses. of Leviticus chapter 1. Now this
passage that we deal with tonight is concerning how a sinner, one
deserving the wrath of Almighty God, might find acceptance with
God Almighty and how that sinner can approach God. How? How? We're coming here tonight.
We're sitting tonight and we're listening to what the Scripture
has got to say. I want to know exactly what does
God Almighty say how I might approach Him. There's coming
a time, I know this, that I'm going to die. And then I'm going
to leave this world and immediately will be in eternity. I want to
know. God has spoken. I want to know.
What has he got to say? God alone has the right to prescribe
the way in which He shall be worshipped. Don't we agree with
that? How He can be approached, and that way of worship is a
priceless privilege. How do you put a price on being
able to come and see it? And by faith, faith given from
above, that faith, that wasn't That wasn't yours by nature.
It was given unto you to believe. What a privilege! Wouldn't you
say that was priceless? Priceless! A person leave this
world, what would a man give in exchange for his soul? What
would you give for the gift of faith to believe what God has
got to say? There is one way by which a sinner
might approach God. One way, you know this, the Lord
Jesus Christ in John 14 says, I am the way, I am the truth,
I am the life. No man, no man, no man cometh
unto the Father but by Me. No man. This has always been
the way in which Almighty God would be approached by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Realizing that all Scripture
is concerning Him, that may God Almighty grant us the reverence
to seek Him, to search Him, and by His Spirit, have His Spirit
revealed to us this evening in this passage, Christ Jesus the
Lord. The Scripture says, verse 1,
in the Lord, called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the
tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children
of Israel, and say unto them..." Now, I'm going to stop right
there for just a moment. The Lord called unto Moses. Almighty
God, the Scripture says, spoke to Moses. The first thing that
we must see, out of that Scripture right there, Almighty God only
speaks through a Mediator. Only. God Almighty speaks. Moses here is a type of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Mediator. The one who alone is qualified
to represent both God and man. Christ. The Lord spoke to Moses. He's a type. Moses there is a
type. And the Scripture says that He
spoke out of the tabernacle. That's what it says in verse
1. The Lord spoke to Moses and He spoke out of the tabernacle. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ, you
know this, is our tabernacle. Christ is our tabernacle. Look just back in the book of
Exodus, the last chapter right there, chapter 40. It says, and
I'm going to begin reading in verse 33, but if you read the
entire chapter of Exodus, chapter 40, what the Lord did was He
gave Moses explicit instructions on how he was to set up the tabernacle. The Lord spoke in that chapter,
chapter 40, after He had told him, well, just look for just
a second. Look at verse 24 of Exodus 40. He said, "...put the candlestick
in the tent of the congregation over against the table on the
side of the tabernacle southward." and he lighted the lamps before
the Lord as the Lord commanded Moses. Verse 28, he set up the
hanging at the door of the tabernacle. He put the altar of the burnt
offering by the door of the tabernacle of the tent of the congregation
and offered upon it the burnt offering, the meat offering as
the Lord commanded. He set, verse 30, the laver between
the tent of the congregation of the altar and put water there
to wash in. Almighty God gave Moses explicit
instructions on how this tabernacle was to be set up. After that
tabernacle was set up, it had curtains that were set up. We
dealt with this last Wednesday in our Song of Solomon when the
bride was confessing what she is by nature. She said, I'm black,
but I'm comely. I'm as the tents of Kedar. but
I'm as the curtains of Solomon, the curtains of the Lord Jesus
Christ is what she was talking about. These curtains were set
up. This laver, this altar, candlesticks,
all of these things were set up, the tabernacle, and it was
a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then in verse 33 of Exodus
40, "...And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle
and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate, so
Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent
of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the
tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter
into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon,
and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And when the
cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, The children
of Israel went onward in their journeys. But if the cloud were
not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day in that it was
taken up. For the cloud of the Lord was
upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night in the
sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys."
Here is the tabernacle. It is a picture of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Every bit of it. All of it is
a picture of Him. and Almighty God, after having
told Moses exactly how to set that tabernacle up, which was
a picture of Christ, the Scripture says, then the Lord descended
into that tabernacle, and He spoke to Moses out of the tabernacle,
Christ is the Word. In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Christ Jesus
is the Word of Almighty God. God speaks to His people. Almighty God is only heard through
the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ made flesh. And here is this tabernacle,
and God Almighty called unto Moses and spake unto him out
of the tabernacle, and he said, unto the children of Israel,
and say unto them, If any of you will bring an offering unto
the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even
of the herd, and of the flock." Now let me tell you what happened
here. There was a tent set up, this
outer wall, and when one was to bring an offering, he came
through this gate, this opening, this door. And the first thing
that he came to when he walked into that outer court, not the
inner court, I'm talking about the outer court, there was an
altar. It was the brazen altar that
was set right inside the door. That was the first thing that
that offerer met. When that priest was there, there
was the brazen altar right there. The inner court, he didn't go.
Right here is where he was going to have to meet. That brazen
altar was for the burnt offering. That burnt offering was the fire
on that burnt altar, brazen altar, was to never go out. Never. So here we are. Here is where
the burnt offering is going to be placed. That burnt offering,
remember, is a picture of our Lord willing The Scripture says,
ìIf his offering be a burnt offering of the herd, let him offer a
male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own
voluntary will at the door of the congregation before the Lord.î
Now, this offerer, he would bring this offering. He would bring
that offering, the Scripture says, ìwillingly.î Almighty God
must be approached only in a sacrifice. Without the shedding of blood,
there is no remission of sin. If he is going to be drawn near,
it must be by the Lord Jesus Christ, who that burnt sacrifice
pictures. He says, you take of the cattle
of the herd, of the flocks, these were not to be wild beasts, it
was to be clean animals, which is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Perfect. It was to be brought
of the door of the tabernacle. The burnt sacrifice was exclusively
for the eye and for the heart of Almighty God. Truly, only
the Father could behold the work and the worth of the sacrifice. This burnt offering. Man was
blocked from fellowship with Almighty God by sin. And fellowship could not be had
without being approached in a sacrifice. The burnt sacrifice. It's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ willing. Christ is the door. He is the way. Remember, I said
when He came in, The first thing they saw was that brazen altar,
Christ, our door, our willing door, our perfect door, that
door that is the sweet savor to the Father. Here the Lord
Jesus Christ is set forth, willing to obey the Father's will. There
must be a willing heart, or there is no worship whatsoever. God's people, the Scripture says,
are made willing. Thy people shall be willing in
the day of His power. So here was a man. He would bring
this sacrifice. He would bring it to the priest. The Scripture says in verse 4,
He shall put His hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and
it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him." Now,
whenever this offering was brought, willingly it was brought, that
sacrifice was taken and given to the priest. Now, I want you
to turn with me to Exodus. Exodus chapter 29, and look in
verse 10 and 11. Exodus 29, verse 10 and 11, Thou
shalt cause a bullock to be brought before the tabernacle of the
congregation, and Aaron and his sons shall put their hands upon
the head of the bullock. Thou shalt kill the bullock before
the Lord by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Now look
at verse 15 through 18. Thou shalt also take one ram,
and Aaron his son shall put their hands upon the head of the ram.
Thou shalt slay the ram, thou shalt take his blood, and sprinkle
it round about upon the altar. Thou shalt cut the ram in pieces,
and wash the inwards of him and his legs, and put them into his
pieces unto his head. Thou shalt burn the whole ram
upon the altar." It's a burnt offering unto the Lord. It's a sweet savor, an offering
made by fire unto the Lord. Now, you say, why are you making
that distinction? Here was a lamb, a ram, a cattle
brought to the priest. The priest would take it. This
sacrifice was brought willingly by that one to make an offering,
and he would give it to the priest, and the priest would put his
hands on that animal. And it says back in Leviticus
1.4, He put His hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and
it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. The
issue here is that Almighty God is only approached in a priest. This man would come and that
priest would take it. The one that the Father that
God Almighty had appointed to be the priest. A man doesn't
just come and approach God. A man doesn't come and just walk
in and just say, well, this is the way I think I'm going to
offer my sacrifice unto the Lord. I think I'm going to just walk
right in there and I'm going to do this. I'm going to be a
freewill offering. No, God Almighty approached only
in the appointed method. What did the Lord Jesus Christ
say? I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. No man comes to
the Father but by Me. We need a priest. We need a mediator. I need one to approach God for
me. So He would take this animal,
give it to the priest, and the priest himself put his hands
on the head of that burnt offering. And it was accepted. Look at
verse 4. It was accepted for Him to make
atonement for Him. He put His hand. Christ Jesus
Himself is our High Priest. He is our willing sacrifice. He's the priest. He's the sacrifice. He's the altar. Almighty God
is approached only in him willing, willing, pure, and the savor
of his sacrifice. It's accepted. This truth is
declared in 1 John 4, verse 17, herein is love. Love with us is literally what
that says. Here is love made perfect that
we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is,
so are we in this world. Nothing short of this affords
any hope for the sinner. Here a sinner would bring an
offering willingly, willingly. He would bring it and He would
give it to the priest. And the priest would actually
offer for in the stead of that sinner, and it was accepted before
Almighty God for him. Identification is to say that
as before Almighty God, I come before Him seeking presence with
Him, to be known of Him, but I can't approach Him myself. I cannot come into His presence
myself. I need a priest, one that can
approach God Almighty for me, one who can speak for me. I can't approach God. I know
that. Christ our priest. We are complete in Him. We are accepted in the Beloved,
in the laying on of the hands by the priest, the sinner, by
faith, repents, bows to God's remedy. This Lamb, that Lamb
that will receive Death. That's what I deserve. That Lamb
in the willingness in which He was given is a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the willing. That Lamb right there that was
without blemish, perfect sacrifice. In Him, no blemish. I'm not going to get into it
right now, but I will just say this, Lord willing, next week
in verse 6, look at verse 6, I don't want to get ahead of
myself, but it says right there, He shall flay, F-L-A-Y, the burnt
offering and cut it into pieces. I'll go into this in a little
bit more depth, but let me tell you what that was saying right
there. When that animal was brought,
that priest would look at it, look at it on the outside, There
are no sores. I don't see any sores. I don't
see any cuts. I don't see any bruises. He is
without blemish on the outside. But before that animal was burned,
to flay means to cut the skin off and cut it in pieces. cut next to the bones and cut
through the joints and cut everything. He was not only perfect outwardly,
He was perfect inwardly. Cut the skin off and just laid
Him bare. He is perfect, the perfect willing
sacrifice. This is our Lord and Savior. Then the Scripture says in that
verse 4, He shall put His hand upon the head of the burnt Sacrifice. That word put right there means
to lean upon. I lean on Him. That priest was
going in the stead of, Neal, for this guy. Now you think about
this. Now here is a priest. This man
brings this animal. And it's an animal without blemish. And that priest looked at it.
And that priest made the judgment call. And he cut the skin off
that animal. And look, there's not just outwardly,
but then he dissected, cut it in the prescribed manner just
exactly. And all of those pieces, there's
no blemish here. This is no blemish here. But before he'd cut it, he had
leaned on that. And that priest in the stead
of this one for him, and it was accepted of Almighty God. This
is the association that a believer has With that sacrifice, that
was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that priest would
lean upon that animal. Psalm 85 says, Who is this that
cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her Beloved? The sinner is here confessing
before Almighty God. This is my hope. This is my plea. This animal, which is a picture
of Christ willing, perfect, sweet savor unto the Father. This is
my hope that this animal pictures Him. Not that there was any hope
in the animal. You know that. The blood of bulls
and goats doesn't put away sin. Christ Jesus alone puts away
sin. But that picture that it set
forth of the Lord Jesus Christ, that sacrifice, was willingly
laid down for me. The one that Almighty God accepted
without blemish, He accepted for me. The one that was a sweet
savor of Almighty God before Him, that was for me, for we,
2 Corinthians 2.15 says, are unto God, now listen to this,
we are unto God a sweet saver of Christ. When the Lord Jesus
Christ died, He died willingly. He died without blemish in Himself. I know that our guilt was laid
upon Him. I know that He was made to be
sin, but in Him there was no sin. It was perfect. And when
He laid down His life, He laying down His life, that was a sweet
savor to the Father. He came into this world to redeem
them that Almighty God had given Him from the foundation of the
world. And when He laid down His life,
I know, and I will tell you again, and I will remind you of this,
Lord willing, until I preach through these different sacrifices,
I know that the wrath of Almighty God was spewed out upon the Lord
Jesus Christ without a doubt. There is no doubt about that.
And the sin offering, that's exactly the point of the sin
offering. But this burnt offering, though
this burnt offering actually died, was cut to skin, was taken
off of it. The parts were cut up, laid bare
to show there was no blemish here. There's nothing you're
going to find Outwardly or inwardly? This is Him perfect. But when
that sacrifice was laid on there, you go back and read that ninth
birth, His inwards and His legs shall He wash in water. Now here
again, I don't want to get ahead of myself, but those inwards
right there, I'll tell you who that's talking about. That's
talking about His people chosen in Him. Him. His inwards? and His legs, their walk, shall
He wash in water." We're washed in the water of His Word, and
the priest shall burn all on the altar. We've sacrificed with
Him to be a burnt sacrifice and an offering made by fire of a
sweet savor unto the Lord. We are in the person of our substitute,
a sweet savor. as He is, we are in this world. Almighty God smelled the savor
of satisfaction in the perfect sacrifice, the willing sacrifice. He said, I lay down my life.
No man takes my life from me. I lay down my life of myself. I have the power to lay it down
and I have the power to take it up, Sacrifice. Almighty God. And then the Scripture
says, He shall kill. And I'm going to just, Lord willing,
take up here next week, next Sunday night. 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's by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. He shall take it. The priest
shall take it. This is going to be done before
the Lord. And it says that the sons of
Aaron will take that blood and sprinkle that blood. A perfect
remembrance that we have of this. That actually speaks of the application
of His sacrifice was for me and for you that believe for His
people the application That animal was slain, perfect, willing,
came down and that animal was killed and the blood was sprinkled. You remember when the Lord told
Moses in Egypt, He said, I want you to take a lamb, I want you
to take it and kill it. I want you to take the blood
of that sacrifice Now you know that that was a picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ. I want you to take that blood
and I want you to apply it on the door. The application, the
sacrifice is a picture of Him who died, the burnt offering
setting forth, the willing, perfect sacrifice that is a sweet Savior,
a saver of life. And what did God Almighty Tell
Moses, he said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you. There's the application of what
he did applied to his people. He shall kill the bullock before
the Lord, and the priest, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood and
sprinkle it round about upon the altar that's by the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation. When I see the blood, the burnt
offering is the offering that sets forth the willing, perfect
sacrifice that was a sweet savor unto the Father, the burnt sacrifice. Let's pray. Our Father, as we
come before You, how we thank You, oh, for the setting forth
of our Lord and Savior who willingly laid down His life, who willingly
gave of Himself in obedience to you, in obedience to being
sent into this world, chosen, elect, and we in Him, how we
thank you for Him who willingly gave of Himself for us, our substitute,
He who pleased you, Lord, in Him, in our Redeemer, in our
substitute, we pleased you totally upon the merit of His sacrifice. How we thank you and bow before
you with thanksgiving this evening for Christ's sake. Amen.