Let's turn to God's Word this
evening. May the Lord speak to us and instruct us from His Word.
We'll turn back to the chapter we read in the book of Leviticus,
chapter 1, and we'll read together the last clause in verse 9. Leviticus chapter 1, the closing
words in verse 9. A sweet savour unto the Lord. Let's just read the whole verse
for the context. His leg and his innards and his
legs shall he wash in water and the priest shall burn it all
on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire of a
sweet savour unto the Lord. Scripture is clear to us that
the main focus and occupation of the saints in glory is worship. Worship that is God, Christ-centered. Worship that is humble. Worship
that is continual. And if we, by God's grace, reach
heaven, we will partake in true, sinless, heavenly worship. But it should be our desire,
and indeed it must be, that on earth, if we are a believer,
we also worship. That though not as heaven, because
we are here at the moment tainted by sin, we will truly reflect
an element of heavenly worship. We will humbly adore the Lord
as they do. Israel, when they were instructed
by God, and after having been brought out of Egypt, were then
instructed by the Lord how they were to worship Him. The book
of Exodus effectively recounts to us redemption. It shows to
us that God would bring His people out. bring its people from slavery
in Egypt to the wilderness and would ultimately bring them through
that wilderness to the Promised Land. It is an account of redemption.
The next book, Leviticus, is a book of worship. It taught
Israel, having been redeemed, how they were to worship the
Lord. And for the believer, we follow
that same pattern, don't we? Having been brought through the
book of Exodus, that is, having been brought through redemption,
through the Red Sea, out of the slavery of sin into new life,
we are then called to be worshipping believers. And we follow that
same Leviticus, Exodus into Leviticus, redeemed to worship. Worship today for a believer
is not something that we do for a short period of time. It is
not an hour, an hour and a half on a Sunday. Worship is not just
something we may do for half an hour, even on a weekday. Worship
for a Christian is a continual lifestyle. Because to worship
the Lord simply is to obey the Lord. The act of obedience, the
act of service of God, is in itself an act of worship. It is in our life and attitude
to put God first. But Israel, as much as they were
to do that in their lives, throughout their lives, were also given
specific instructions on ceremonies that they were to carry out in
these acts of worship. And we also, as much as it is
true that we have, in a sense, a calling to worship throughout
our life, all day, every day, we also have, don't we, specific
times when we come to focus on the things of God, we come to
worship together as a church. And that is, of course, what
we seek to do this evening. But Israel were given instructions. to how they should worship the
Lord. And the first five chapters of the book of Leviticus record
for us five offerings of worship to God. Firstly, Leviticus 1
shows us the burnt offering, which we read this evening. And
the burnt offering was to be brought to the Lord as an act
of an expression of devotion. to offer a bullock or something
from the flocks or a fowl if they were not well-off enough
to have these other animals to bring. They were to bring these
things as a sign of complete devotion. And you notice that
the offering was entirely consumed. It was completely burnt up, every
part of it. And this showed an act of complete
devotion and surrender to the Lord, giving utterly to him,
the burnt offering. The second offering in chapter
two, we read of the meal or meat offering. And this actually was
not to be an animal, it was to be flour or oil or even frankincense,
which was to be offered before the Lord. So it was not a meat
offering, it was not death. And this offering showed thankfulness
for God's provisions. It showed thankfulness for God's
goodness and worship for what he gave in the daily life. The
meat offering. The third offering was to be
brought was a peace offering. And this is recorded in Leviticus
chapter 3. A peace offering. And again,
this was to be an animal. It was to be from the herd or
a lamb or a goat. And this, so, was to be offered
in a sense of worship, but was also to remind them of peace
and of fellowship. Peace with God, of course, through
the offering. peace and reconciliation with
the Lord, but also peace with each other, because it's thought
that this peace offering often had with it some kind of fellowship
meal. And therefore there was to be
this joining together and peace amongst the people. The fourth
chapter tells us of the sin offering. The sin offering was to be of
various animals and different types, dependent on the person. The priest was to bring a different
type of sacrifice to other people. It depended on your position
as to which animal was brought. But the sin offering was a mandatory
offering. It was something that must be
brought. The other offerings, the burnt offering, meal offering
and peace offering, were voluntary offerings. But the sin offering
was mandatory. It must be brought. And it came
as an offering for sin, and more specifically for inerrant sin,
for indwelling sin, for the fact that they were, by their very
nature, sinners. It was for intentional indwelling
sin. And then finally the fifth offering
was the trespass offering, very similar to the sin offering in
fact. Very similarities between the fourth and the fifth. But
the fifth offering, the trespass offering, was more for sinful
acts. things that had been done, so
not the indwelling inherent sins so much as the sins which had
been committed were to be brought, and again it was mandatory because
everyone had sinned. So you see there were these five
offerings and there were other ones of course, we know there
was the Passover celebration and other things were to be remembered,
but these particular five are accounted in the opening chapters
of Leviticus. And you see how specific they
are, how detailed they are, of how Israel were to carry them
out, and how important they were that they did. Now if we think
how much detail there is in these offerings, it's important for
us to realize that yes, we live in a new, different age. We live
in an age where we do not bring offerings like they did. We do
not have to bring the peace offering, the sin offering. We do not have
to bring a lamb or a goat. We do not have to slay it at
an altar and burn it. We live in a gospel in the New
Testament age. These things are done away with.
But there is much teaching here. It is not to be passed over and
ignored. And perhaps we can, because it doesn't apply directly
to us, we can think it doesn't apply to us at all. And it does. because there is great instruction
here and a challenge for us to consider. Do we worship the Lord? Do we, as it were, bring our
offerings to the Lord like they did? Do we bring our thanksgiving? Do we surrender our lives to
him? Do we entirely offer these acts
of devotion like they did? Not literally, but in our lives
and attitudes. Do we worship the Lord with thanksgiving? Not just on a Sunday, but throughout
our lives. If they had such detail in their
instructions for worship, we must remember that the Lord's
people today must also be concerned to put the Lord first in their
lives and worship Him also. But of course, we know that as
much as it's instruction for us in how we should worship the
Lord, it is much more than that in these offerings, because these
offerings are pictures. They are types of something greater. And each offering shows one element
of the picture. And of course, we know that they
are all types of Jesus Christ. No one offering is full in its
picture. The offerings show a part of
the picture. The fullness is in Christ. The burnt offering shows the
view of the father upon his son as he was offered utterly and
completely unto God as a sacrifice. The meal offering, the meat offering,
shows Christ as that vital offering, the bread of life, that we might
feed on and be satisfied. The peace offering shows to us
the Prince of Peace who brought peace through his death between
God and man. The sin offering and the trespass
offering show to us Christ as that vital offering to pay the
price for sin, that all those sins that we commit might be
forgiven, inerrant sin and actual acts of sin. All of these offerings
are fulfilled and complete in Him. And it's this burnt offering
that I particularly want to focus on this evening. Now let's just
remind ourselves of what the burnt offering meant, what it
actually had to be done. We're told that the burnt offering
was to be presented from the herd or from the flock, or, as
we read in the final section of the chapter, or from the fowls,
the turtle dove, or the young pigeons. They were to be, certainly
among the herd or the flock, males. and they were to be males
without blemish. As much as was humanly possible,
these males should be brought who were without defect. They
were not to be the worst of the flock, or the worst of the herd,
or the ones that they could do without. They was to be the best,
the strongest, the males without blemish. These offerings were,
as I say, voluntary or free will offerings. They should offer
it voluntarily at the door of the tabernacle of congregation
of the Lord. So they were of their own will to bring of the
best of their herd and the best of their flock. No man made them,
no man constrained them, but if they were to come, they were
to bring the best. And they were to voluntarily
present the offering at the door of the tabernacle as the burnt
offering for them. Having brought this freewill
offering, they were to place their hands upon the head of
the offering. And in doing so, they were identifying themselves
with that offering. There was this join, this bond
between the offerer and the offering. And this was signified by the
placing of the hands upon the head of this offering, so that
it was, as it were, the one that was offered was fully identified
with the offerer himself. And then, by his own hand, the
offerer was to kill the bullock before the Lord. Notice the priest
didn't do it. He shall kill the bullock before
the Lord. With his own hand, he would make
the sacrifice. The blood would then be taken
and would be sprinkled around upon the altar that is by the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Priests would do
that. Having sprinkled the blood, the
animal was to be flayed, it was to be skinned, and then to be
prepared to be burned. And you read also that the parts,
the head and the fat, were to be laid on the altar and the
inwards and the legs were to be washed in water and then themselves
laid on the altar. It was to be, the priest shall
burn all on the altar. So the whole animal, the whole
sacrifice was to be laid on the altar and was to be offered up. There was nothing left. The sacrifice
was completely offered up. Some sacrifices were partly partaken
of by the priests. They were allowed to eat part
of it. But not in a burnt offering. A burnt offering was utterly
consumed, completely offered up. And that offering was a sweet
savour unto the Lord. We read that three times in this
chapter. Verse 9, verse 13, and verse 17. Each burnt offering, whatever
the beast was, whatever the sacrifice was, it was pleasing to God. It was a sweet savour unto the
Lord. And that act of devotion, that
act of worship, was pleasing to God. He delighted in it. He
rejoiced himself in the sacrifice of the burnt offering. It was
a sweet savour unto the Lord. Well, as I say, these are all
pictures. They meant something to Israel.
They were important to Israel. And to many, I'm sure, it was
made a blessing to Israel to bring their burnt offering. But
it is much greater and much clearer and much more glorious when we
look at it as a picture pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ, who
fulfills all of these offerings and fulfills the burnt offering
himself, the type gives us a glimpse that we might further understand
the fullness that there is in Christ. It's rather like if you
look at a picture on a wall. Let's say you go to a home or
to an art gallery and you see a beautiful picture of mountains.
And you can appreciate in a sense the grandeur of the landscape,
You can appreciate the size of the mountains and the beauty
of that picture and those surroundings. But if you then literally go
to the place where that picture was taken or that painting was
done, When you actually stand there, and you actually stand
in the surroundings, and you actually experience the size
of the mountains in comparison to yourself, and you experience
the wonderful atmosphere there, the picture in a sense fades
away, doesn't it? in the light of the actual reality
of what it was showing. When you stand there, you would
prefer to see the reality rather than look at the picture. If
you stood on a mountaintop in Austria, you wouldn't rather
look at the picture of a mountain, you would prefer to look around
and see the mountains around you. You appreciate it all the
more. But when you then get home and
look again at the picture that you first saw, you look at it
in a different light, don't you? You look at the picture remembering
what it was actually like. What it was actually like to
be there. When you turn again to the picture, it's still just
the picture, but you see much more in it because you have been
to that place. And it's like that in these things.
I'm sure Israel appreciated the Old Testament sacrifices. But
when we have seen Christ, when we have looked on Him as the
fulfilment of it all, it is still a joy, as it were, to turn back
to the picture and look at it in the light of the Greater One,
to look at the picture in the light of the fulfilment Himself. And then we see so much more
in it as to what it shows to us of Him, the splendour of Christ
is brought back to our remembrance in looking at these sacrifices. Well then, what was this burnt
offering? Firstly, it was to be a male
without blemish. A male without blemish. Clearly, we can see the direct
link here, can't we, with the Lord Jesus Christ, a male without
blemish. We must remember, when we look
on Christ, we do look on a man, but we do not simply look on
a man. He is God, holy God, sinless,
perfect God. In himself, He is righteous and
holy. Yes, the Lord did righteously. He lived rightly. He did right
things in his life. He never acted in a sinful way. None of his actions were wrong.
But it was more than that. In his very being, he was holy. He did not inherit in sin like
we do. In himself, he was Perfect. A male without blemish. In no way at all. When he comes to the end of his
life and he stands in the judgment hall before Pilate, Pilate questions
him and questions the witnesses and questions the people around.
They are desperate to find something wrong with him. But Pilate has
to come to the conclusion, I find no fault in the man. There's
nothing wrong. Nothing against the law. Now
Pilate looked just in his little view at the few things, but you
see the words that he spoke are utterly true in every sense.
I find no fault in the man. He is a man without blemish. His life, his whole being, for
a time on earth, but of course around all eternity, has been
utterly pure and holy. That's impossible for us to grasp
in that sin in our life taints everything about us. We can't
imagine a life, we can't imagine a world without sin, but here
is the perfect one. Here is God in the flesh. And because of that, His offering
of himself was absolutely acceptable to his father. When he comes to the beginning
of his ministry, the Lord Jesus goes to Jordan and is baptized
by John. And as he comes up out of the
water, the Holy Spirit descends in the form of a dove and an
audible voice is heard from heaven, this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased. The father looked upon his son,
and yes, he was pleased in that act of baptism, and he was pleased
in the life that was to come, but I believe the father, as
it were, looked over the 30 years since the manger in Bethlehem,
and he looked over the catalogue of his life, and he said, I am
well pleased in my son. There's nothing at fault in him. When Jesus comes very much towards
the end of his ministry, and goes up the Mount of Transfiguration
with Peter and James and John, and transfigured before them
in his glory, and again they hear an audible voice from heaven,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. The beginning of his ministry,
the end of his ministry, all that his father saw was utterly,
entirely well pleasing. a lamb, a man without blemish. Now if a holy God can look on
the life and soul of his son and declare him to be well-pleasing,
then he must be truly well-pleasing. Because God would see through
everything. If there was a speck of sin,
God would have seen it and noticed it. Nothing could be hidden from
him. But the holiness of God looked upon his son and said,
he is well pleasing to me, a man without blemish. This offering,
this one is brought. He is brought as it were to the
gate of the tabernacle. But he is not brought under any
form of duress. He is not dragged along like
perhaps some of these animals may have been. Yes, the offerer
was willing to present his lamb or his goat or his bullock, but
perhaps some of the animals strained. But Christ, a man without blemish,
who would offer himself as a free will offering. We're told, aren't
we, that he humbled himself and was made obedient unto death,
even the death of the cross. He brings himself to the altar
as a freewill offering. Yes, man conspired against him,
and man made a plan, and man took him and bound him and presented
him to Caiaphas and to Pilate, But man had no control over Christ. It was entirely a free will offering. When Jesus is in the upper room
with his disciples, and they celebrate the Passover meal,
and he brings the cup and the bread before his disciples, and
he says, take and eat. This is my body which is broken
for you. Drink. This cup is the blood
of the New Testament that is shed for you. Jesus knew exactly
what these things meant. He knew exactly that that very
night he would be betrayed and within hours he would be on a
cross. He knew that the bread that he literally broke in his
hands was a sign of his literal body. He knew that the wine that
he poured out in the cup and passed round was a symbol of
his literal blood that would be shed in the hours to come.
He knew what that meant. And yet he leaves the upper room.
and walks over the book Kridron into Gethsemane with the full
knowledge of what is going to happen. When he comes into Gethsemane
and is bowed down under the weight of what is before him and the
suffering that he must endure, having prayed three times, let
this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done,
having sweat, great drops of blood, and the agony of soul
that he endured. We read at the end of all of
that, he turns to his disciples and says, arise, let us be going,
for my betrayer is at hand. Now we might say, did that mean
it was time to run? Does that mean it was time to
find an escape route? He knew that they were coming,
it was time to run. Quite the opposite. He walked
to meet them. He gave Himself to them. Whom seek ye? Jesus of Nazareth. I am He, He says. And the whole
crowd fall down backward upon their feet. They cannot stand
before Him. They can do nothing until He
willingly gives Himself to them. They are utterly in His control.
Indeed, He says, Could not I ask the Father? And He would send
twelve legions of angels. that he might be delivered from
arrest. He was totally in control. And even as he stands before
Pilate, and Pilate says, do you not know that I have power to
release thee and power to crucify thee? He says, you have no power
against me whatsoever, lest it be given thee from above. You
see, the events Leading up to the death of Christ, there has
a sovereign, controlling, powerful hand on it all. The offering
was brought willingly, a free will, voluntary offering. The Lord Jesus Christ does this
for love, for those for whom he will die. and obedience to
the command and calling of his father. Oh, it is one thing for an animal
to be brought on behalf of another, straining against the lead. It's
quite another for the sacrifice to bring himself and to lay himself
down and to give his own life for the lives and souls of others.
That is love. That is the burnt offering, a
free will, voluntary sacrifice. The blood was then to be shed. The life was to be taken, it
was to kill the bullet before the Lord. And Christ, yes, must give himself
to his accusers, He must give himself the back to the scourge,
but he must give much more than that. The life must be given. See the difference here? The
life was not taken. The life of the animal was taken. The
life of Christ was given. He cried with a loud voice, it
is given. finish, and he yielded up the
ghost. Not in weakness, yes in weakness in the sense he was
suffering on a cross, yes he was in agony, yes he died from
crucifixion, but much more than that also, he gave his life,
he yielded up the ghost. The time had come, the suffering
was complete, and he gave his life. He cried with a loud voice,
and then he truly died. Not as some would say that he
simply fainted and was revived later, or he didn't really die,
or he was rescued in some way. Jesus truly died. It's verified, of course, in
Scripture, but it's clear from the things that the Romans did
and the commands of Pilate to the centurion and so forth. It
was clear Jesus really, literally died. Physically died. On the cross, his body and soul
were separated. A body remained on the cross,
was taken down and laid in the tomb. His soul ascended into
heaven to be with the thief that very day. He truly and physically
died, suffering the result of the curse and the price of sin.
But more than that, mysteriously, amazingly, on the cross, Jesus
spiritually died. That is, he was cut off for a
time from his father. The love, the communion, the
union he had enjoyed throughout eternity for that time was cut
off. My God, my God, why has thou
forsaken me, he said. He endured, contracted into a
finite space of time, an eternity of hell that his people deserve.
and he endured it utterly in his soul. It's his father who
never ceased to love him, yet poured out his wrath and anger
and displeasure upon him for every sin of the church. All that we deserve All that
we must suffer, all that we must go through, the hell that we
must face if not for Christ, all upon Him, the depth of the
agony of body and much more of soul of Christ is beyond any
comprehension. The life must be given, a free
will offering. And then it was to be consumed,
It was to be utterly burnt up on the altar. All of it was to
be given. All of it was to be presented
and burnt before the Lord. And the Lord Jesus Christ gave
His all. He gave everything. We sing,
don't we? He had strength enough, but none
to spare. Think of what the Lord gave.
He left the heights of the throne of glory, the adoration of the
heavenly hosts, and the union of the Trinity in that sense
in heaven. And he came down to a sinful,
cursed, rebellious world. And he came to live amongst sinners,
and he came to die and suffer for sinners. He came to endure
the weight of the guilt that we should carry. And he came
to even the death of the cross. It's as if the whole of him was
offered on the altar. It was all given, body and soul,
for the good and salvation of his church. What love! What an offering! What a sacrifice! And this sacrifice, like the
sacrifices of the burnt offering, was a sweet savour unto the Lord. It was well-pleasing to God. It was a delight to his father,
as he there sees even his son suffering for others. We're told,
aren't we, as Paul wrote to the Ephesians. And remember the Apostle
Paul. The Apostle Paul knew the Old
Testament very, very well. He knew the ceremonies. He knew
the sacrifices. He knew what must be done. He
knew their importance. He knew their beauty. He would
have delighted in them as a Jew. But the Apostle Paul saw them
finally as simply pictures when he came to this realisation.
As walk in love, he says to the Ephesian church, as Christ also
hath loved us and has given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice
to God for a sweet smelling savour. You see, I'm sure the Apostle
had Leviticus 1 in mind when he writes to the Ephesians. and
he refers it to Christ. Christ has offered himself as
an offering and sacrifice to God, a sweet smelling savour,
a sweet savour unto the Lord. And this is what it was to the
Lord, to his father. He was well pleased with his
son. He was pleased with his obedience. He was pleased with
his righteousness. He was pleased with his life.
And then he was pleased with his sacrifice on the cross. Isaiah
53 tells us, he shall see the travail of his soul and be satisfied. He knows a great difference there
between this Old Testament offering and the Lord Jesus Christ. God
was pleased with the Old Testament offerings. They were done in
obedience. They were done as he had commanded.
And he was pleased with them. They were a sweet-smelling offering
to him. And he received them with pleasure
from his people. But they did not satisfy him.
They pleased him. But they didn't satisfy him.
And then he saw the travail of his son. And he saw the travail
of his soul. And then, He was satisfied. A true offering, a right offering,
a suitable offering had been offered for the sins of his people.
And now his father truly receives it as a sweet savour unto the
Lord. He is satisfied by the travail
of his soul. And he pours out the anger upon
his son. The anger against all sins that
he is bearing. The punishment that he is suffering
on behalf of the church. And in one sense, he turns in
anger on his son. He turns in this wrath against
his son. But in another sense, if I can
put it this way, there was no moment that the father loved
his son more than when he looked to him on the cross at Calvary.
as he received that sweet-smelling savour of an offering of his
son for sin. And he could say, Behold my servant
whom I uphold, my elect, in whom my soul delighteth. And he delighted in his son,
as he receives the offering, and as he sees his son, the travelling
of soul on behalf of his people. We know that this offering of
Christ was a sweet-smelling savour, and we know it was received and
it was satisfied, because he rose again. The satisfaction
of God by this offering is proved by the resurrection of Christ.
There is no more suffering. There is no more offering. There
is no more death. There is no more sin to pay for.
God is appeased and the sacrifice is received and therefore there
is no more that can hold him. He must rise again from the dead
and the empty tomb shows that he is satisfied and that it was
a sweet smelling savour. The empty tomb is evidence that
the work of salvation is finished and complete. And today we have
no uncertain salvation. We have no uncertain gospel to
declare and receive. All is paid for, all is finished.
Christ is victorious. The offerer was to bring his
offering, was to bring it to the door and was to lay his hands. He was to put his hand upon the
head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him
to make an atonement for him. Now this evening, in a little
way we've scratched the surface of the wonder of the person and
sacrifice and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is one thing
to listen and think and consider. But this evening have we joined
with these people and by faith laid our hands upon the head
of the sacrifice. Have we personally, not thinking
of anyone else and what their offering is or what they've done,
have we personally come ourselves and as it were laid our hands
on him that we might be identified with this offering? that there
might be that unbreakable bond and link between us and the sacrifice
of Lord Jesus, identified with Him. And we come, laid our hands,
confessing what we are, confessing our sin and our need, Confessing
our failings and our backslidings. Confessing that we cannot pay
the price ourselves or offer anything. But confessing, saying
there is another. And lay our hand by faith, trusting
that that offering is enough. Longing that we also might be
identified with him. It's a very physical act, isn't
it, laying your hand? There's a real physical joining
together. I was thinking this afternoon,
isn't it a little bit like when someone, if someone asks us if
something is ours or what belongs to us, we might reach out. We
would say, well, it's that, but we would touch it as well. as
a visual reinforcement that it's our possession. If we're with
a number of children and someone says, well, which child is yours?
We might reach out and touch their head and say, this one's
mine. There's a physical connection. This one belongs to me. There's
an identification between us. Or to reach out and say, this
one's mine. This is what I desire. This is
what I need. I cannot do it. I cannot offer
myself. Here is an offering which was
offered of His own free will. I reach out and put my hand on
that dear head of His. Oh, that that perfect, pleasing
and acceptable sacrifice might be ours, and our way to life,
our way to God, His righteousness. His obedience. His sacrifice. His suffering. His death. His victory. Ours. By identification. By a bond
that cannot be broken. As God is well pleased with his
son in his righteousness, is well pleased with his son in
his obedience, is well pleased with his son in his suffering,
pleased with his death, pleased with his victory. So amazingly
and a wonder of wonders, God looks on his people and is well
pleased. as if they were obedient, as
if they were right, as if they had paid, as if they are now
free and holy to be seen through Christ. Well, I wonder what each one
of us knows of this burnt offering, what each one of us knows of
this sacrifice. Do we plead Him? You have nothing
else to plead and nothing else to bring, but do you plead Him?
Do you plead His name and His offering? And do you worship
the Lord, as it were, through this offering? And come and present
Him before the Lord. That's a wonderful thing, isn't
it? To come to God in this act of worship and say, I bring an
offering. Not what I've done. Not what
I've earned or brought, but I bring an offering. And this is an offering
that the Father loves to see. I bring my offering. It's Christ. Receive me through Christ. Love
me through Christ. Hear me through Christ. Bless
me through Christ. Bring me to glory through Christ.
I bring my offering. Here it is, the full, consumed,
burnt offering of Christ. Receive me in his name. And the
Father loves to hear that name. Because whenever it's brought
to him, there is a sweet savour unto the Lord. Amen.