As we were lifting our voices together and
singing a little bit ago, I looked out over the congregation and
I see you as folks who are in need
of a word from the Lord. Then I thought about me up here. And I thought about the words
of the apostle in 2 Corinthians. He said, who is sufficient for
these things? You see, the word of the Lord
is a savor of life and the life for some, and death unto death
for others. I want it to be, I ask God that
it would be life for you today. And I've asked him if he'd give
me something for you, something for all of us. You know, there is a question
raised in the book of Job, and is this, how can man be justified
with God? How can man, sinful man, wretched,
Man. Defiled man. Unrighteous man. Spiritually lifeless man. Man who is deserving of the wrath
of God because of our sins and our evils. The question is how
can man be justified? Be justified. Be forgiven of
all of our sins in such a way that it satisfies the law of
God. How can we be righteous before
the Lord? How then can man be justified
with God? We're talking about God. That's
God who's holy, God who's righteous, God in whose presence we all
are right now, God who charges his angels with folly, God with
whom the heavens are before him The heavens aren't even pure
in his sight. Here's the question, how thin
can man be justified with God? I've had an interest in that
question and the answer to that question for several years. But I'll tell you what, it's
just as interesting to me today as it was the first time I heard
the question and the first time I heard the answer. How can anyone, any son or daughter
of Adam, how can you, how can your children, how can your grandchildren,
how can your husband, how can your wife, how can this preacher
ever hope to stand acceptably before the God of heaven and
earth? And if you're interested in this
subject, I think I've got the answer for you from the book
of Leviticus chapter 1. The book of Leviticus chapter
1. This tells us how we can approach
God. And as we get to Leviticus chapter
1, you notice the very first word of the book. Leviticus chapter
1. And the Lord called unto Moses,
and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation,
saying..." The very first word is the word, and. You know, if you read secular
books, a series of books, Usually the second book you're reading
or the third book you're reading in the series, it doesn't begin
with and. But the Word of God, here's the
third book of God. The third of the books of the
Lord, of the 66. Here's the third book and it
begins with the word and, which shows us this is a continuation
of the book that preceded it. In other words, there's a connection
between what has just been said in the book of Exodus and what
is going to be said in the book of Leviticus. At the end of Exodus chapter
40, we know that that tabernacle that God ordained is now finished. You notice verse 33, and our
brother was reading this a little bit ago, this stood out to me
in the last chapter of Exodus, verse 33, the last sentence,
so Moses finished the work. So Moses finished the work. That is the work that God gave
him to do. Well, what was the work that
God gave him to do? Build the tabernacle. And in
this, Moses stands as a beautiful picture of our Lord Jesus. And at the very end of his labors
on Mount Calvary, the Savior said, it is finished. The work was finished. The work
that God gave Moses to finish was the work of finishing, completing,
building the tabernacle with all the furniture, all the finishing
touches were made, and everything is ready now and the glory of
God comes upon it. The work that God gave His Son
to do was the work of redeeming and saving and reconciling His
people unto Himself. That work our Lord undertook
to do, He promised to do it from old eternity. And lo, two thousand
years ago, He came into the world to finish the work. The work
of saving His people from their sins. And He finished His work. And God's elect were redeemed.
And all of our sins were removed. And everlasting righteousness
was brought in for all of the Lord's people. Moses finished the work. Now we know that God first ordained
the tabernacle. That is, He Himself God, the
Lord God of glory, He ordained, He determined everything about
the tabernacle. He designed the tabernacle. God purposed the tabernacle. And He gave commandments according
to His own will as to how it was to be built. He designed
it. He purposed it. That is set forth,
by the way, in Exodus chapters 25 through 31. God ordained the tabernacle. And then in the book of Exodus,
we run into chapters 32, 33, and 34. That tells us of Israel's
rebellion, of Israel's sinfulness, How they worshipped a golden
calf. What a tragic history in Israel
that was. It's recorded in chapters 32,
33, and 34. Now after that is recorded, the
subject goes back to the tabernacle. Understand this, chapters 25
to 31, God designed the tabernacle, God purposed the tabernacle,
God ordained the tabernacle, He gave all the plans for the
building of the tabernacle to Moses. And then you get to chapter
32 and you find Israel being rebellious against God, worshipping
a golden calf. And that subject occupies chapters
32, 33, and 34. But then with chapter 35 with
Exodus, we go back to the subject of the tabernacle, but this time
it's the actual building of the tabernacle. The actual erecting
of this tent in the wilderness exactly according to God's specifications. In other words, that which God
had purposed and designed in chapters 25-31, is brought to
fulfillment in chapters 35-40, and that which separated the
purpose of God and the fulfillment of God was man's sin, Israel's
degradation. You see a picture there? Purpose,
fall, accomplishment of the purpose. It's a gospel lesson to be seen
there. that accurately sets forth our
salvation, God's salvation for sinners. First of all, God ordained
salvation like He ordained the tabernacle. In Exodus 25 and
verse 8, the Lord said, Let them make Me a sanctuary that I may
dwell among them. And in old eternity, God purposed
the salvation of a multitude which no man can number. God
ordained salvation. He purposed salvation. God chose
a Savior, His Son. In that Son, He chose a people
that He would save. God ordained the method of salvation
by the substitutionary atonement of the Lord Jesus. He must die
in the stead of guilty sinners. All of this was ordained before
the world began. This happened back before time
ever started. God purposed salvation. The Son of God agreed to this
purpose. He agreed to be the surety of
the everlasting covenant of grace, or in that covenant of grace,
He agreed to be the surety of His people, the Savior of His
people, that He would come into the world and suffer and bleed
and die to put away their sins by the very sacrifice of Himself. the Spirit of God. It was ordained
that He would at some point during the lives of the elect, redeemed
ones, He would use the gospel, He would quicken dead sinners,
make them alive, give them a new heart of faith to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ, to look to Christ for all things in salvation
and eternally. That's all ordained in the covenant
of grace. And then God created man. And man fell. What a disgraceful
thing Adam was. Instead of being thankful, he
was thankless. He rebelled against the Lord.
He lifted up his hands in rebellion, in defiance against the Lord
who made him and who provided for him. But Adam did not act
as a private individual. He was a representative man.
So that when he fell, we fell. When he sinned, we sinned. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon
all men, for that all have sinned." That is all sinned in Adam. Awful thing. Awful thing. He committed treason against
God. And we all became sinners. But don't lose hope, because 4,000 years after the
fall, there entered into this world one who came to fulfill
his covenant promise. You see, what God purposed out
there would be fulfilled in time. God sent His Son into the world
to redeem them that were under the law. He was made under the
law, made of a woman, made under the law to save His people from
their sins. This is the fulfillment of God's
purpose of grace. Christ came. Christ came. Man, bone of our bones, flesh
of our flesh. to save us by the sacrifice of
Himself. So we see a beautiful picture
of that in the tabernacle. And the tabernacle, every bit
of the tabernacle pictured either something about our Lord's person
or His work. God purposed it. Man failed. God fulfilled His purpose. Make
sure you remember this. Man's failure will never ruin
God's purpose. Man's unbelief will not ruin
God's faithfulness. God's purpose cannot be frustrated. His will shall come to pass. The Lord ordained the tabernacle.
Oh Israel's sin, they committed this wretched idolatry. But God
who purposed the tabernacle to be built, He had it built. In fact, the sin of man only
showed even more clearly the necessity of that tabernacle. And you see, man's fall in the
garden only manifested even more clearly how desperately we need
and we rely upon that covenant of grace established in old eternity. In our Bible class this morning,
we studied the last words of King David from 2 Samuel chapter
23, and how he rejoiced in the covenant. He said, this is all
my salvation, this is all my desire, all I want is in that
covenant. That covenant of everlasting
grace and mercy to sinners through Jesus Christ the Lord. And that's
our hope. That's our confidence. that God
will be true to His Word, that which He set out to do in old
eternity. He has fulfilled His purpose
in, through, and by the Lord of glory, Jesus Christ the Savior. Christ Jesus came, and He finished
the work that the Father gave Him to do. So, at the end of
the book of Exodus, the tabernacle has been finished. Look at verse
34 of Exodus 40. Having finished the work, then
it says, a cloud covered the tent. Exodus chapter 40 verse
34. Then a cloud covered the tent
of the congregation. And the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle. So much so, Then 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. The majesty of God was there. That bright light, that bright
Shekinah glory going out in every direction. It was absolutely
magnificent. The God of glory came down. to the tabernacle. And you know
our Lord Jesus Christ, of Him and His written, the Word was
made flesh and dwelt among us. He tabernacled among us and John
said, we beheld His glory. The glory as of the only begotten
of the Father, full of grace and truth. Our Lord on the Mount
of Transfiguration, He manifested that glory to His disciples,
and the Scripture says His countenance was brighter than the noonday
sun. That glory of God, that Shekinah
glory coming out of the tabernacle. That's our Savior. See, this
tabernacle here pictures our Savior. The glory of God's come
down upon it. So much so that Moses wasn't
able to enter into the tent of the congregation. Then when this cloud was taken
up over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward in their
journeys. That's how God led them. How
does God lead us today? He leads us Himself. The Son
of God leads us. He guides us. Children of God,
I know sometimes we feel like our lives are like a maze and
we're just wandering around. But listen, you're not wandering
around aimlessly. You're being directed by the
cloud. Even Him who is the glory of
God, He's directing your paths all the days of your life. And
the path that you find yourself on right now is the right path. It's the path that God would
have you to be on. If there's a better way for you
to be on, your Father in glory would have you on that way. Here the Lord led the tabernacle.
When He moved, they moved. When He stopped, they stopped.
Boy, that's a simple rule to remember, isn't it? When the
Lord moves, let's move. When the Lord stops, let's stop.
Follow Him. Or it says in verse 38, 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. And we know that in every way
Israel is not a picture of the Lord's church, but in many ways
she is. And I'll tell you, the church
of our Lord All of God's people, we behold the glory of God in
Christ Jesus. We've set our eyes upon Him,
and the eyes of our soul upon Him, and we behold Him. We look to Him for all things. After all, He is the light of
the world, and He is the brightness of God's glory. He is the express
image of His person. He's the glory of God. That brings
us to Leviticus chapter 1. The book of Leviticus is correctly
called Leviticus because it consists primarily of the duties and the
services and the sacrifices of the Levitical priesthood. We
know that not all Levites were priests, but all priests were
Levites. You might want to remember that. Not all Levites were priests.
Many were assistants. But all priests were Levites. Aaron's family and his descendants,
they constituted the priesthood. And the rest of the Levites were
somewhat of assistants to Aaron and to his sons. One writer that
I read on this, he said perhaps this was granted them, this privilege
was granted to them because when Israel sinned, back during their
fall now, when Israel sinned and Moses yelled out, he cried
out, who is on the Lord's side? You remember who stepped forward?
The Levites. And he said, strap on your sword.
You are ready for battle. And they did. The Levites. Now the book of Leviticus sets
forth various instructions and a few happenings that occurred
in a single month. That's noteworthy. Everything
that happens in the book of Leviticus, 30 days. 30 days. And we know that from the Scripture.
We know that by comparing Scripture with Scripture. Exodus chapter
14 verse 17 says this, our brother started here, it came to pass
in the first month of the second year on the first day of the
month that the tabernacle was reared up. And if you want to
look at it, Numbers chapter 1, And verse 1 says, And the Lord
spake unto Moses in the wilderness of Sinai, in the tabernacle of
the congregation, on the first day of the second month in the
second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt. So
everything that happens in the book of Leviticus happens in
one month. In one month. And I think we
can even narrow it down even further. to give you even specific
days if you are interested in this sort of thing. April 21st
to May 21st, 2514 B.C. So we know exactly when this
happened. Now, as we start the book of Leviticus, it begins
with the most important offering that Israel would offer up to
the Lord. That is, the burnt offering. That's what we want to be talking
about this morning, and again this evening. The burnt offering. I'll give you an overview this
morning, and then tonight we'll begin to go verse by verse. But this was the most vital of
all of the offerings of Israel. Now, what does a burnt offering
mean? Well, if you look up the definition, it literally means
a fire offering that goes up. It goes up. It goes up to God.
The ashes and the smoke of the fire, as the fire consumed the
animal that was on the altar, they ascended up to the Lord,
and it's for the Lord. And as we go through Leviticus
chapter 1, and we're going to keep on going because I want
you to look at five main offerings of Israel in the next several
weeks. But we'll see over and over again
how that these offerings were before the Lord. They were all
for the Lord. They were for the Lord. You see,
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, oh yes, it benefited
us. And we receive innumerable blessings
due to the sacrifice of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ once
for all. But His sacrifice was first and
foremost for God. So that God could be just and
justify us helpless sinners. The burnt offering. The burnt
offering. It's for God. God ordained the
burnt offering. God appointed the burnt offering.
And God would accept the burnt offering. And He would accept
every person who came to Him by faith bringing this offering
that was to be burnt with fire. In Latin, the word burnt offering
are literally holocaust. I thought that was interesting.
It's literally holocaust. A sacrifice consumed by fire. That is a thorough, total destruction
by fire. And this burnt offering sets
forth that death of our Lord Jesus Christ whereby he offered
all of himself to God, body and soul. Not only did his body suffer,
and we talk about, we read about the nails in his hands, and the
whippings on his back, and the crown of thorns on his brow,
and all the slappings and beatings, and all the rest of the things
associated with his crucifixion. His bodily sufferings were awful. But his soul's sufferings, that
was the real heart of his sufferings. When God the Father laid on his
soul stripes that you and I deserve to endure forever. When he bore
the wrath of God in his very soul for his people. Our Lord
Jesus is God's burnt offering for sin. All of himself was offered
up to God. a total sacrifice to the Father. So we know this about the burnt
offering. In the system of Jewish sacrifices,
the burnt offering held the very highest position. It was the
most dignified of all the sacrifices which were offered to the Lord,
and it was the most frequently offered sacrifice to God. Every morning at nine o'clock
sharp, That was the morning offering. A burnt offering, a lamb was
offered to the Lord. And every afternoon at three
o'clock sharp, an evening sacrifice, the burnt offering of that lamb
to the Lord. This is always kept before the
eyes of Israel. Not a day went by without these
burnt offerings being offered to the Lord. And on the Sabbath
day, they offered twice as many. They offered two lambs in the
morning, two lambs in the evening. thereby setting forth the absolute
necessity of an innocent victim dying that the guilty might go
free. Substitution. Substitution. You see, look at verse 4. We'll
talk more about this tonight, but Leviticus 1.4, "...and he
shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering. It shall
be accepted for him in his stead." You see, divine justice must
be satisfied. And it's going to get some measure
of satisfaction in our death. I say some measure, but not full
satisfaction. That's why hell is forever. It's
going to get some measure of satisfaction in our death, or
else it got full satisfaction in the death of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Thank God He died in the stead
of His people. And all those in whose stead
He died, they are safe forever. Safe forever. Every day. burnt offerings were
offered to the Lord. And if you had lived back then,
if you wanted to worship God, you brought one of the appointed
animals, as we shall see, a bullock if you were kind of wealthy,
or a goat or a sheep if you were middle class, or a pigeon or
a turtle dove if you were poor, like Joseph and Mary were. Luke
chapter 2. gives us some idea of their financial
standing. They brought to God turtledoves,
pigeons. But whoever you were, if you
wanted to worship God, you want to draw near to God? Do you feel
your guilt? Do you feel your sinfulness?
And the head of a Jewish household said, we're so sinful. We're so sinful. We need to go
worship God. But we can't worship God without
the blood. We can't worship God without
an innocent victim dying in our stead. So let's say they were
middle class. So he goes out and he looks over
his flock of sheep. He selects a male of the first
year. He pulls it over to the side.
He calls his wife over and says, let's look this over close. You
see anything wrong with this sheep? You see anything wrong
with this lamb? They look it over. ever so carefully,
because it's got to be faultless. It's got to be absolutely without
blemish. You see, only a pure Savior can
wash and cleanse an impure sinner. Only a perfect Savior can save
someone who's imperfect. An imperfect Savior can't save
anybody. And all of these sacrifices,
all of these animals that were brought, they had to be specifically,
particularly, very closely and minutely looked over to make
sure there is nothing wrong with them. Our Lord Jesus came into
this world, let me tell you something, He lived under the microscope
of God's law all of His life. And others looked at His life
too. And then, as it were, Pilate speaks for everybody and said,
I find no fault in this man. All right then. He's the lamb
without spot and blemish. He's qualified to die the death
of the cross. This sacrifice to God. This burnt offering. It's the
most important of all the Jewish offerings. The one most frequently
offered to God. And yet we know the blood of
bulls and goats couldn't put away sin. That's what we read in Hebrews
chapter 10. But thankfully the sacrifice
for sin has come. that one whose death is pictured
in the deaths of these animals, by whose sacrifice our sins were
actually put away, for by one offering he hath perfected forever
them that are sanctified." So if you wanted to worship God
and you lived back then, you went to the door of the tabernacle
and you brought your lamb, you brought that male of a year,
that perfect lamb unto the Lord, and you offered it to the Lord
as a sacrifice, dying in your stead. These animals that they brought,
these four-footed animals, bullock, three years old, sheep or a goat,
and then, if you're very poor, the pigeon, but I want to focus
on these other animals right now. These were very serviceable
animals. Very serviceable animals. Animals
that meant something to the families. Animals that provided food for
them. Animals that could work for them
and labor for them. This teaches us that God gave
his best when he gave Christ Jesus. You see, when they gave
a bullock, or a sheep, or a goat, they gave the very best of the
flock, the very best of the herd. They didn't give some, well,
it's going to die anyway, I'll bring it to God. The Lord says
in the book of Malachi, try offering that to your government, see
if they'll take it. See if they'll take something
that's less than perfect. The Lord demanded perfection.
And I'll tell you, when God gave us His Son, He gave the best. You can't get any better than
Christ Jesus. He's the best. Thanks be unto
God for His unspeakable gift. The gift of all gifts is the
gift of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was very serviceable for us.
He was a servant. He came as a servant. He said,
the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister
and give His life a ransom for many. And He's the one we feed
upon. He's the one who nourishes our
soul. He's the perfect servant. He's
the perfect Savior for us. And I'll give you this and I'll
quit. I mentioned to you that depending
upon your financial standing, there was an offering appointed
for you to bring, that none might be discouraged. Now if the Lord
had only said, like in verse 3, look at Leviticus 1.3, 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. He shall put his hands upon the head of the burnt offering,
it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Here's
a bullock. Well, here's a family down the road, or maybe your
own family, say, we don't have a herd. I don't have any cattle.
I've just got a few sheep. Well, they'd be left out if God
hadn't said, well, you could bring a sheep or a goat. And
then, if somebody couldn't afford a bullet, they didn't have a
herd. I don't have any cows. Can't afford cows. Well, you
got any sheep or goats? Well, I tell you, our family
has fallen on hard times. Well, that didn't mean you couldn't
come worship God, get you a pigeon, get you a turtle dove, and offer
it to the Lord. You know what this tells me?
The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is for all kinds of sinners. I don't care who you are. I don't
care what you've done. It doesn't care what your standing
is in life. It doesn't matter whether you're rich or poor,
or somewhere in between. If the Spirit of God has made
you realize your neediness, you need righteousness, you can't
produce it. You're a sinner, you can't wash
away your own sins. God's holy, God's just, God's
righteous. You can't do anything to be accepted
in God's sight if you've been made to realize that. Let me
tell you something. There's a Savior available. He's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the Savior of anybody who
needs a Savior. If you're thirsty, come to Him.
If you're hungry, come to Him. He's readily available. Didn't
He say, the Lord's not far from any of you? That's what He said.
He said, I'm not far from any of you today. today. Do you need a Savior?
Watching on the internet, sitting there drinking a cup of coffee,
listening to me preach, watching me preach. Do you need the blessed
Savior? Come to Christ Jesus. Is there
a sinner here today? If I could find a sinner, if
I could find a sinner, I'd give them some good news. I'd tell
them this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom
I'm chief. I'd give you some good news.
I run across a lot of self-righteous people, but I don't run across
many sinners. But we've got a good word for
sinners. It's a word of grace. It's a word of mercy. It's a
word of forgiveness. It's the words of Christ Jesus,
the Lord. He is the good news. He is Himself. Well, we'll pick up tonight sort
of where we left off this morning, talking about this burnt offering. This burnt offering. Let's sing
a song.