Thank you for that special music. Great, great song. One of my
favorites. In fact, I hope you don't mind
I singing with you. But I didn't have a pick. All
right, Leviticus chapter 1. That was a blessing. Leviticus
chapter 1. Well, this chapter is all about
how a holy God receives and accepts guilty sinners like you and me
by means of an innocent substitute dying instead of the guilty. It starts off this way, and the
Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle
of the congregation, Say." You'll notice that the Lord speaks out
of the tabernacle. You remember when God gave the
law, go back to Exodus chapter 19. When the Lord gave the law, you
know, He entered into a covenant with Israel, and Israel entered
into a covenant with the Lord. Exodus chapter 19. And basically
that covenant of works said this, obey God and live. Disobey God and you die. You cease to be my people. Look
at Exodus chapter 19 verse 4. The Lord said, you see what I
did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on eagle's wings and
brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, now he's giving
these words to Moses to give to Israel. Now, therefore, he
says, if you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant,
Then shall you be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people,
for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom
of priests, and in a holy nation. These are the words which thou
shalt speak unto the children of Israel." So the Lord gave
these words to Moses. Well, in verse 7, Moses came
and he called for the elders of the people. He laid before
their faces all these words which the Lord had commanded him. And
all the people answered together and said, all that the Lord hath
spoken, we will do. And Moses, he went back, he returned
the words of the people unto the Lord. There's been a covenant
entered into now by God and by Israel. And God says, I'll bless
you with all temporal, physical blessings. You'll be my people.
You'll be a peculiar people if you obey me. But if you disobey
me, God says, I'm going to cut you off. Now, you want to enter
into this covenant? Moses goes and he tells the elders,
the representatives of all the 12 tribes of Israel. He gives
the message to them. Moses said, okay, what say ye?
They said, you go back and you tell God that everything He's
spoken, we will do. And Moses did that. Now this
is called the covenant of works. Obey God and live. But disobeying
on any level, on any single point, disobeying, you are going to
die. And so, verse 9, the Lord said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto
thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak
with thee, and believe thee forever. And Moses told the words of the
people unto the Lord. The Lord said to Moses, he said,
go to the people, sanctify them today and tomorrow, let them
wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day, for the
third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the
people upon Mount Sinai. In other words, you go ahead
and purify yourselves. God's coming down to talk to
you. Thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about saying,
you take heed to yourselves that you go not up into the mount,
don't touch the border of it either. Because whoever touches
the mount shall surely be put to death. There shall not a hand
touch it, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through. And it doesn't matter whether
it be a beast or a man, he shall not live. God says, when the
trumpet soundeth long, they shall come up to the mount. Moses went
down from the mount unto the people and sanctified the people
and they washed their clothes. He said to the people, be ready
against the third day. Don't even come to your wives.
Don't have any relations with your wives. Now, you get ready,
you're going to meet God. It came to pass on the third
day in the morning that there were thunders. and lightnings,
and a very thick cloud upon the mount, upon Mount Sinai. And
the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud, so that all the people
that was in the camp trembled. And Moses brought forth the people
out of the camp to meet their God. And they stood at the nether
part of the mount, at the lowest part of the mount, that's where
they stood. And Mount Sinai was altogether
on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire. God's a consuming fire, that's
what scripture says. And the smoke thereof ascended
as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly. That's the setting. And then
God gave the law. And here is my point. When God
spoke to Israel and entered into this covenant, and then the things
that immediately took place after that, three days later, this
was a fearful time for Israel. The mountain was shaking. The
ground upon which they were standing was shaking. The mountain burst
forth with smoke. There was a loud trumpet sounding,
and they were absolutely filled with fear. What's happening? God's going to give His law.
God's going to give His law. What a fearful scene. The people
were scared to death. Listen, the law of God and the
presence of God ought to scare us to death. This is a God of
glory. This is a God who made us. This
is the God of whom it is said, His name is holy and reverend. And these people foolishly entered
into a covenant with God and they said, everything that the
Lord says for us to do, we'll do it. And man broke that law real quick. You see, the law was never given
to be a means of salvation. The law was given to show us
our guilt before God. To leave us all guilty and to
shut our mouths. Read Romans 3 again. whatsoever
things the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law,
under the dominion of the law, under the control of the law,
under the authority of the law, under the power of the law, those
who are under the law, that every mouth may be shut, and all the
world may become guilty before God. The law looks at us and
says, guilty. The law can't show any mercy. The law won't hear anything about
extenuating circumstances. The law's not interested in your
excuses as to why you violated one of the commandments. The law only knows to punish
those who violate it and to leave alone those who keep it. God spoke from Mount Sinai. Now, back in Leviticus chapter
1, God is going to speak again.
But this time, He speaks out of the tabernacle. Now, they are still encamped
at the foot of Mount Sinai. But God is not going to speak
from Mount Sinai. God has come down, we studied
this morning, the glory of God, it hangs over, it covers the
tabernacle. That's where God's glory is.
And we know that tabernacle speaks to us of the Lord Jesus Christ
and all of the work that He did as our Redeemer. Everything about
the tabernacle pictures either who He is or what He did or why
He did it. And God speaks now, and He speaks
to Moses, and this is very, very important in the first verse.
God's speaking to him out of the tabernacle. Not from up on
top of Mount Sinai, behind a cloud with thunders and lightnings,
and the mountain belching forth smoke, and the ground shaking
underneath them. No, He speaks out of the mercy
seat. Within the holy of holies, he
speaks to Moses, he speaks out of the tabernacle, and that tabernacle
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen to me. Our God is
a consuming fire. You don't want to have anything
to do with God and the purity of who He is. God, the invisible
God, the infinite God. The God who is this consuming
fire, He'd consume you if you draw near to Him. Oh, then how
can we come to God? And how do we want God to speak
to us? Out of the tabernacle. Out of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Listen to this song. I was looking
for it this evening. I finally found it by Isaac Watts.
He wrote, Dearest of all the names above, my Jesus and my
God, who can resist thy heavenly love or trifle with thy blood? Tis by the merit of thy death
the Father smiles again. Tis by thy interceding breath
the Spirit dwells with men. Now listen to this. Till God
in human flesh I see, my thoughts no comfort find. The holy, just,
and sacred three, they're terrors to my mind. But if Emmanuel's
face appear, my hope, my joy begins. His name forbids my slavish
fear. His grace removes my sins. While some on their own works
rely, and some of wisdom boast, I love the incarnate mystery,
and there I fix my trust. The tabernacle. God speaks to
Moses out of the tabernacle. Out of the tabernacle. Out of
the holy of holies. From between the cherubim. There's
the mercy seat, the solid gold lid of the mercy seat. And beneath
that the ark of the covenant that has in it the law that men
had broken. God speaks out of the mercy seat. Oh, God speak to us tonight out
of the mercy seat. And we'll live. We will live. But don't you dare try to come
to God apart from Him who is the tabernacle, the tabernacle
of God. You see, God tabernacled among
us. That verse in John chapter 1,
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. He tabernacled among
us. Don't dare, don't you dare try
to approach a holy God apart from the Lord Jesus Christ and
His work of substitution. You'll die, the fire will consume
you. It will consume you. But if you
draw near through Christ Jesus, you hear words of mercy, and
words of grace, and words of forgiveness. God spake to Moses
from the tabernacle. Now notice this, and of course
the subject here is the burnt offering, or the burnt sacrifice. That's what chapter one is all
about, as our brother read to us a few moments ago. The Lord gives specific instructions
in this chapter pertaining to the burnt offering, to the offering
of fire that goes up, as we said this morning, to that which is
the holocaust. But it needs to be remembered,
this is not the first mentioning in the Bible of a burnt offering. Go back to Genesis chapter 8.
And I already see that I'm not going to get through this today,
so next Lord's Day we're going to pick up on this same subject. But we'll get a little further
this evening. Look at Genesis chapter 8. and his wife and his family,
they come out of the ark. Genesis chapter 8, notice in verse 18, Noah went
forth, his sons, Genesis chapter 8 verse 18. Noah went forth and
his sons and his wife and his sons' wives with him. Can I just
show you something? Look back in chapter 7 in verse
7. And Noah went in, and his sons,
and his wife, and his sons' wives with him into the ark because
of the waters of the flood. And now back over here again
in chapter 8 and verse 18, Noah went forth, his sons, his wife,
and his sons' wives with him. In other words, everybody who
went into the ark came out of the ark. They found safety in
there. That was a refuge to them in
time of storm. And I tell you, that ark is Christ
Jesus. And everybody who goes into Him is safe forevermore. And when the last trumpet sounds
and we're all gathered together in glory, everybody will be found
to be, everybody who entered into Him by faith, everybody
who was united to Him by God's eternal purpose of grace will
be found to be preserved safe all the way to the end in Christ
Jesus. Look at verse 20. Noah built
an ark unto the Lord. He took of every clean beast,
and of every foul, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And just like it said in Leviticus
chapter 1, and as Brother Lloyd read a while ago, I'm sure you
noticed these words, the Lord smelled a sweet savor. The Lord
smelled a sweet savor. It's what He commanded. You see,
God will receive that which God ordains and what He appoints
and what He provides. He receives His Son. He's not
going to receive your works. He's not going to receive your
tears. He's not going to receive your repentance. He's not going
to receive your prayers as some reason as to why He should receive
you. He receives Christ Jesus in everything
that He did. And that's a sweet smell to him.
It's a sweet fragrance to God. And the Lord said in his heart,
this comes right out of the heart of God, I will not again curse
the ground anymore for man's sake. For the imagination of
man's heart is evil from his youth, neither will I again smite
anymore everything living as I have done. while the earth
remaineth seed, time and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter,
and day and night shall not cease." Don't you worry about the sun
burning out or something coming and hitting this earth and knocking
it out of its orbit or whatever. Those things are not going to
happen. Things are going to continue because God said they're going
to continue. People get so worried about all these things that nobody's
got any control over anyway. Would the God be concerned about
spiritual matters, eternal matters, worried about their soul's condition
before a holy God? But instead, they're debating
about, you know, how long before the sun burns out, that kind
of thing. And God says, don't worry about
those things. It'll continue as it's been going.
Noah offered burnt offerings to the Lord. Look at Genesis,
the 22nd chapter. Genesis the 22nd chapter. Here's another illustration of
a burnt offering. Genesis the 22nd chapter. God said to Abraham, He said,
Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest,
and get thee into the land of Moriah, and offer him there for
a burnt offering upon one of the mountains, which I will tell
thee of." So over here in Leviticus chapter 1, the burnt offering
is nothing new. This is not novel. This is not
something that's never been offered before. It's not a new way to
draw near to God. See, the way to draw near to
God is an old way. It was already the way of substitution,
wasn't it? It was already the way of sacrifice. It was already the way of an
animal being offered to God and then consumed by the fire and
the smoke and the ashes went up to God. And God, as it were,
smelled it and said, that's a sweet savor to me. And I will accept
the death of the innocent. And that one who is guilty who
offered it, they won't die. This is the gospel message right
from the beginning. In fact, you go all the way back
to Abel's sacrifice. And while the word isn't used,
burnt offering, those words aren't used, that's what he offered.
He offered the firstling of his flock. He offered a lamb unto
God. He put it up on the altar. And
God showed he accepted Abel's offering of that lamb by devouring
it by fire. The fire of the Lord went forth
from between the chair bends. That flaming sword, that's the
very Shekinah glory of God. The fire of God devoured Abel's
sacrifice. That showed that God accepted
it. And when Abel's brother Cain, when he brought up the labors
of his own hands, he thought surely the fire of God will consume
this as well. But God wouldn't have anything
to do with it. Because all that Cain brought was the results
of his own labors. It represented the works of man.
God's not going to accept it. Because God will only accept
that which is perfect. It shall be perfect to be accepted. Our Lord Jesus is the perfect
sacrifice. And that's why throughout here,
this first chapter, it's always mentioned this way. That sacrifice
of that animal that's brought must be without blemish. It's
got to be perfect. The perfect sacrifice. And I'll go a step further. In
the third chapter of Genesis, I believe God offered burnt offerings
unto himself. He skinned the animals. He flayed
the animals. Remember he read in that, Moses
gave instructions from the Lord concerning the bullock or the
goat or the sheep to flay it. That means skin it. Skin it. Everything about the
animal was offered to God except for the skin. The skin, you know
who that went to? To the priest. To clothing. Boy, is that a gospel picture
or what? We're robed with the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there in Genesis chapter
3, God flayed those animals. He skinned those animals. And
He covered our fallen, naked parents. And I believe that He, of course,
in order to skin the animals, He had to kill the animals, the
blood was shed. Burnt offering. So Leviticus
chapter 1, as you go back there, this is not the first time in
the Bible that this offering has been presented to the Lord.
But what it is, It's additional information pertaining to the
old way of acceptance. And again, I emphasize, it's
not a new way. It's the old way. There's always
been just one way. It wasn't like in Leviticus chapter
1, the Lord says, okay, here's something new for you. This is
a new way for you to draw near to me. Oh no, no, no, no. It's an old way. It's just that the Lord gives
additional information and instructions pertaining to this old way of
acceptance. Because you see, God's method
of grace and mercy to sinners has always been upon the basis
of a suitable victim dying in the stead of the guilty. And I can almost hear the Lord
who is gracious say, as he beholds the sacrifice of his son, deliver
him from going down to the pit, I found a ransom. And God says
about Israel, you're not going to die because an animal is going
to die in your stead. Now you notice The Lord called
unto Moses. Verse 1. You know, all scripture is given
by inspiration of God. We know that. And we rejoice
to know that. So it's all vital. And it's all
necessary. All of the Word of God is to
be cherished. It is to be proclaimed. And it's
all to be believed. But I want to make this what
I think is a very important point. There is no book in the Bible,
in all of the word of God, there is no book that actually contains
more of the very words of God coming forth from his lips to
men than is recorded in the book of Leviticus. It's the Lord who is the direct
speaker in almost every page, every chapter of this great book. His gracious words are recorded
in the form in which they were uttered. Well, that fact alone
ought to send us to the book of Leviticus with an even greater
interest and even greater attention. And I'm not lessening the importance
of any other portion of Scripture, so I don't want you to misunderstand
me, but I just want to make this point. The words recorded in
the first chapter of Leviticus to the end of it, we know they're
inspired, they're given by God to Moses. But they're not the
words of Moses that God inspired him to write per se. They're
the words of God Himself. It's God speaking these instructions
in the book of Leviticus. The Lord called unto Moses as
one would speak to a friend. He called in mercy, not in wrath,
in tenderness and gentleness as a father. Not in vengeance
as a judge. And the Lord says this speaking
to the children of Israel. You speak to them. Notice the
need of a mediator. You speak to them. God spoke
to Moses, Moses spoke to the people. Instead of the Lord addressing
His words to Israel, He addressed His words to Moses, to give to
the people, to teach them that they needed a mediator. It was as if He said, these words
are addressed to a sinful people who cannot see My face, they
cannot hear My voice, except through a mediator. And that's
still the way it is today. God is not going to speak with
anybody. He's not going to deal with anybody
in mercy and in grace and in salvation and in forgiveness
and in righteousness except through a mediator. One God, one mediator
between God and man, the man, Christ Jesus. He says In the
second verse, if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord,
it's taken for granted that people would be inclined to bring offerings
to the Lord. Listen, the very light of nature
directs man in some way or other to honor his God and to pay him
homage. Why, even in false religion,
And I'm talking about false religions where they don't use the Bible,
they don't use the name of Jesus Christ, they don't believe in
Him at all. I'm talking about heathen religions in faraway
countries. Even in those false religions,
we find people presenting their offerings unto their God ever
how they imagine Him to be. Now, of course, men have a wrong
idea of God. and they have a wrong idea of
what sort of offering they should bring. And that's why in this passage
of Scripture, provision is made that men do not indulge their
own fancies, nor become vain in their imaginations and in
their inventions about sacrifices. Lest when they pretend to honor
God, they really dishonor God. and do that which is not worthy
of Him. You see, God is to be honored,
He's to be worshipped in spirit and in truth. There's a right
way to honor God. There's a right way to come to
God. You just can't come to God any old way you please. You come
one way. The Lord Jesus said, I am the
way, I am the truth, I am the life. No man cometh unto the
Father, no man cometh unto the Father for anything. Not for
salvation, not for forgiveness, not for righteousness, not for
any earthly need, any temporal need, any physical need, any
eternal need. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Boy, how can you miss that? Mary
is not the way. Some dead saint is not the way
to God. You bringing some of your works
to God, that's not the way, that's not the offering. Christ Jesus is the offering.
You come God's way. You'll note that God prescribed
the offerings that were acceptable to Him. You see, He's the one
who's offended. Listen, you don't make the terms.
We don't set down the rules of salvation. It's God who's been
offended. It's God's law that's been transgressed. It's God who's been sinned against. He lays down the rules. And the
rule is this, an innocent victim dying for the guilty. And that's
it. It's not your works, it's not
your will, it's not your baptism, it's not your Lord's Supper,
it's not your church membership, it's not all of these things.
Christ alone, He's the way. That's what God said. The offerer who brought this
offering to the Lord, He would be accepted. He would
be accepted. I think about an Israelite. Here
is a man and his wife and his children and the man says, we
are going to go worship God. And they take a lamb, a male
of the first year without spot, without blemish. And he goes
to the door of the tabernacle. And he presents it to a priest.
And he says, I want to worship God. I'm such a sinner. And I know I'm not even worthy
to be here. I'm not even worthy to step foot
in this tabernacle, inside the door of this tabernacle. But
I'm coming the way God prescribed. I'm doing what God told me to
do. And I, Mr. Priest, I got this land. It's
the best lamb I've got. I want to offer it to God. And
I'm looking down the road to God's lamb who's going to come.
The priest says, alright. And the man puts his hand on
the head of the lamb, verse 4. He puts his hand on the head
of the lamb. The expression, he put his hand
upon the head, means he leans his weight on him. He leans his
weight on him. And there's a symbolic transference
of guilt. Of course, there is no real transference
of guilt. In fact, we can't even transfer
our guilt to Christ Jesus. I know we confess our sin to
Him. Lord, I'm such a sinner, and
I acknowledge what I am, but we're not the one who lays the
sin upon the substitute. God did that. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way, and the Lord has laid on him. The Lord has made to
meet on him the iniquity of us all. And here's this Israelite, and
he leans his weight on this lamb. And either he kills it or the
priest kills it, and it doesn't matter. Either one could be the
executioner. The blood is shed. The life is
forfeited, the life of that innocent victim. It's accepted for him. You notice in verse 4, it shall
be accepted for, I love it, it shall be. That's what God said.
This is not the opinion of Moses. This is what God says. God says
it shall be accepted for him to make an atonement for him. And that lamb or goat being accepted
for him, that means he's accepted. We're accepted in the beloved,
in the beloved. And then the priest's flake cuts
that skin off, cuts it in pieces, puts it up on the altar, the
brazen altar. It's hot. The flames are roaring. And as the smoke and the ashes
of that substitute rises up to heaven, That Israelite, I can
just imagine him. If I'd been there with my wife
and children, I'd put my arm around her and say, honey, let's
go home. All is well. She said, well,
how do you know? Because I believe God. I believe
God. And let me tell you something.
Christ Jesus has died. And He's risen again. And everybody
who leans the weight of their soul upon Him, you may rest assured
that all is well with God. How do you know? Because the
Bible says, He that hath the Son hath life. You got life. And you know what? We just go
home rejoicing. I'm going to go home believing
God, believing God's Word, so I don't feel saved. Ah, feelings
come and feelings go, but feelings are deceiving. I trust the Word
of God. Nought else is worth believing. I believe God's Word. Well, let's
sing a song. All right. Let's sing, God Be
With You Till We Meet Again, 82. Number 82.