I have a subject about which
I feel utterly incapable of speaking with any authority. My subject
is consecration, consecration to God. The root of all steadfastness
is consecration to God. but the world has yet to see
what God might do with a man utterly consecrated to him. Oh, I pray God will give me grace
to be such a man, utterly consecrated to him, that he might give us
grace day by day to consecrate ourselves to him. Consecration
is not a word we commonly hear or use these days, but it's used
frequently in scripture. In fact, there are entire chapters
devoted to just this subject, consecration. In our text this
evening, Leviticus chapter seven, verses 11 through 38, the Lord
God gives us what he calls the law of consecrations. So if you'll
open your Bibles to that chapter, Leviticus 7, we'll hear what
the Lord God has to say to us about the law of consecrations. That's the title of my message.
Our text, Leviticus 7, verses 11 through 38. Consecration is
neither more nor less than giving ourselves to God. the devotion
and dedication of our lives to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray God will give us grace
day by day to consecrate ourselves to him. This consecration to
God by faith in Christ is what was typified in the Old Testament
sacrifices of consecration defined for us in the first seven chapters
of Leviticus. We'll begin tonight in Leviticus
7, 37. I'll just read verses 37 and 38, and then we'll look
at the specific instructions given to us in this portion of
scripture. Leviticus 7, verse 37. This is
the law of the burnt offering, of the meat offering, and of
the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the
consecrations. Now that word consecration might
at first appear to be a little bit out of place here, but it's
not. It's inserted here for two reasons that are obvious. The
Lord God is just about to give us instructions with regard to
the consecrations of the priest. And he's going to teach us that
all acts of public worship are acts of public consecration.
So as we come to God to worship him, We come here to give ourselves
to him. As we come to God in prayer,
we come to give ourselves to him. Read on, Leviticus 7 and
verse 37. The consecrations and the sacrifice
of the peace offerings, verse 38, which the Lord commanded
Moses in Mount Sinai in the day that he commanded the children
of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord in the wilderness
of Sinai. Now the instruction given in
this passage of scripture is an inspired recapitulation of
the instructions given in chapter three concerning the sacrifice
of peace offering. But there are some things that
are added here that we don't have in chapter three. Let me
call your attention to those additional words of instruction
and then I'll show you how that our Lord Jesus Christ fulfills
the type of these typical sacrifices. First, the peace offerings were
sacrifices made by redeemed sinners as redeemed sinners. They're
sacrifices made by men and women who are already reconciled to
God. Look at verse 11. This is the
law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer
unto the Lord. Peace offerings were brought
to God by His people, brought as expressions of praise, gratitude,
and thanksgiving to Him for His deliverance of them. For His
deliverance of them out of the bondage of Egypt, of course.
But His continual deliverance of them through all their days
in the wilderness. His continual deliverance of
them through the times of the judges, from all those who took
them captive. His continual deliverance of
them day by day in their experience of His grace. delivering them
from sickness and from trouble, from bondage and from fear, from
oppressors and from foes. They come voluntarily offering
a sacrifice of thanksgiving to God for his great deliverance
so that the overflowing soul with gratitude and praise freely,
voluntarily brought a sacrifice to the Lord. by which he both
declared his gratitude and his personal consecration to God. The psalmist put it this way.
Accept, I beseech thee, the freewill offerings of my mouth, O Lord,
and teach me thy judgments. The offerings that we make to
God freely, with no constraint except the constraint of his
grace, with no ambition except to be accepted of him. These
were not sacrifices of men and women seeking peace with God,
but the sacrifices of people who had obtained peace. And that's
just the position we're in now in Christ, who is our peace.
The Lord God has reconciled us to himself by the sacrifice of
his dear son at Calvary when he broke down the separating
wall between us and himself. When he fulfilled the law, satisfied
justice, brought in everlasting righteousness, and put away our
sins, reconciling us to God. And He, having reconciled us
to Himself by His blood, sends His Spirit in the time of grace,
and reconciles rebel sinners to Himself, giving us life and
faith in Christ Jesus, so that we, willingly now, bow to Christ
as our Lord and Redeemer. That's what faith is. That's
what salvation is. That's what the experience of
grace is. It is God bowing sinners to Christ the Lord. It is God
bowing sinners to Christ the Lord. It is the reconciliation
of our hearts to God by faith in Christ. And now, as reconciled
sinners, we voluntarily give ourselves to him. Let us go forth
to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. Let us continually
go forth to God our Savior, giving ourselves to Him, giving ourselves
to Him. I love the story. I've often
told you that Roth Barnard used to tell about a Chief who had
been converted back long ago during the time when the various
tribes in our nation were sent to various reservations, but
missionaries had their work among them. One being David Brainerd
among the Indians in the North, Isaac McCoy among the Indians
in the West, and God taught some the gospel of his grace. I enjoyed
for 30 years going every year down to Cherokee preaching there.
But on one occasion, he told about a chief who'd been listening
to the missionary. Barter did. He said the chief
got under some conviction and decided that he ought to come
to the Lord. And the missionary was sitting
in his tent late one evening and the chief came and said,
missionary man, chief give him tomahawk to Jesus. And the missionary
looked up at him, didn't get up. He said, chief, Jesus doesn't
want your tomahawk. And he left in a huff. He came
back, he said, missionary man, chief, give him moccasins to
Jesus. And the missionary looked up at him and said, chief, I
don't have to tell you this, but Jesus won't have your moccasins.
And he left in a huff and he came back a little while and
he pulled off that gorgeous headdress and held it out to him and said,
missionary man, chief, give him headdress to Jesus. And the missionary
looked up at him and said, chief, Jesus doesn't want your headdress.
and he left and was gone for a good while. And later came
back into the missionary's tent and he said, missionary man,
chief, give himself to Jesus. And the missionary said to him,
that's what he'll have, you, you. He'll have nothing from
you until he has you. And when he has you, he has all
of you. All right, look at verses 12,
13, and 14. Here's the second thing. The reconciled sinner
could not bring his peace offering to the Lord, except he bring
it with leavened bread. Now, as I read those words and
studied this portion of Leviticus 7, I was puzzled for a while. Leaven commonly represents evil. But God required that these people
bring their sacrifice with leavened bread. Look at verse 12. If he
offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the
sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened
wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil of fine
flour fried. Besides the cakes, he shall offer
for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving
of his peace offerings. And of it, he shall offer one
out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the Lord. And it shall be the priest that
sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. The worshiper brought
his unleavened cakes anointed with oil. These cakes, of course,
pointed to our Lord Jesus in his spotless, holy purity as
the God-man, our Redeemer. But why was the worshiper required
to bring leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving
of his peace offerings? The answer really should be obvious.
All who come to God in a state of reconciliation, all who are
reconciled to God by faith in Christ. Come to God with a conscious
awareness of our own filth and sin. Come to God with an awareness
of what we are by nature. So that as we bow before him,
we bow before him continually confessing our sin. Declaring
we are all as an unclean thing. Our righteousnesses are as filthy
rags. We have no claim before God except
Christ. No righteousness but Christ.
No acceptance but Christ. We come to God as sinners seeking
mercy and grace through Christ our Lord. Now, look at verses
15 through 18. The offering had to be eaten
in the holy place by the priest. Not only that, it had to be eaten
on the very day it was offered. And the flesh of the sacrifice
of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that
it is offered. He shall not leave any of it
until the morning. But if the sacrifice of his offering
be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day
that he offereth his sacrifice, and on the morrow also the remainder
of it shall be eaten. But the remainder of the flesh
of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire. And if any of the flesh of the
sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third
day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto
him that offereth it. It shall be an abomination, and
the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity. Now, there
are several practical things to be observed from this. First,
the Apostle Paul, writing by divine inspiration in 1 Corinthians
9, verses 13 and 14, tells us plainly that one aspect of this
commandment given in Leviticus 7 is that those who preach the
gospel are to live of the gospel. Gospel preachers are to be supported
and maintained by God's people in their livelihood. That's only
right. Just as the priests lived by
those things that were offered in the tabernacle and in the
temple, so Paul writes for inspiration and says, so they that preach
the gospel should live of the gospel. I know there are entire
religious organizations, entire denominations who say preachers
ought not to be maintained in their livelihood by the church. They ought to work another job
for a living like any other man. A pastor who is called and gifted
of God to this work gives himself to the work. He labors in the
work. If a man wears the title and
does not give himself arduously to the work of the ministry,
he ought to quit and go paint houses or lay bricks or work
in a factory or in the, what do they call the place down there?
The water treatment plant. Work anywhere. Anywhere except
this. Anywhere except this. But those who preach the gospel
are to live of the gospel. God's people are to support men
in their livelihoods generously and faithfully. But the passage
teaches more than that. Observe how quickly the sacrifice
must be eaten on the day that it's offered. So our Lord Jesus,
our sacrifice, is to be received by faith. not just initially
when first we believe, but received by faith continually with urgency. Today, harden not your hearts. Feast upon Christ the Lord. Feast
upon the sacrifice with urgency. I've got to have him. I've got
to have him. I've got to have him. That's
how we are to come to Christ continually. Learn this too. when the poor soul saw God's
priest immediately eating his sacrifice. The sinner brings
his sacrifice and the priest is eating it. He takes the sacrifice
and immediately eats it. He was assured, immediately assured,
of the acceptance of him and his sacrifice by the Lord. I've come to God, bringing God
what God requires. God's accepted me. No guesswork
about it. He went home rejoicing in divine
approval. And as we come to God, believing
on Christ, bringing God the sacrifice he requires, we have every reason
to go our way rejoicing in divine approval, no matter how we feel. No matter how we feel. No matter
what's going through our minds. I brought God what God requires. God accepts his son. He accepts
me in his son. Again, the Lord took great care
that no part of the sacrifice would see corruption. Anything
left over until the third day was to be burned with fire. Why
is that? Turn to Psalm 16, I'll show you,
Psalm 16. The Lord Jesus, our great surety,
after being offered as the sacrifice for our sins, must rise from
the dead on the third day. His body would not, could not,
and must not see corruption. Look here in Psalm 16, verse
9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth. My flesh
also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul
in hell. That word hell commonly refers
to the grave, not to the pit of the damned, and the context
determines which. Thou wilt not leave my soul in
the grave. Neither wilt thou suffer thine
holy one to see corruption. Thou wilt show me the path of
life. In thy presence is fullness of joy. At thy right hand there
are pleasures forevermore. Now, here's the fourth thing.
Verses 19 through 21, Leviticus 7. Only those who were ceremonially
clean could come before the Lord with a peace offering. Verse
19. The one who comes has got to be clean. And the flesh that
toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burnt
with fire. And as for the flesh, all that
be clean shall eat thereof. But the soul that eateth the
flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offerings that pertain
unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall
be cut off from his people. Moreover, the soul that shall
touch any unclean thing as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean
beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and neither the flesh
of the sacrifice of peace offerings which pertain unto the Lord,
even that soul shall be cut off from his people. Now listen carefully. Our works, our sacrifices, our
services, be they ever so great and ever so costly, will never
be accepted of God until we are washed and justified and sanctified
in Christ. God accepts our sacrifices by
Christ Jesus. Our sacrifices are to God, Paul
says, a sweet smelling savor to God in Christ. But no sacrifice is accepted
except through Christ. Nothing we do is accepted except
as we are in Christ. No ceremony, no religious service,
no religious activity, not baptism, not taking the Lord's Supper,
not church membership, not church attendance, not Bible reading,
not prayer, no religious service or ceremony can make us clean
before God. It is the conscience that must
be purged from dead works to serve the living and true God.
Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 11, with regard to the Lord's
table, he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh
damnation to himself. I know that folks have the idea
that somehow or another, when you come to take the Lord's table,
you ought to examine yourself and make sure there's no sin
in your life and no unconfessed sin in your life. If that's how
you come, you come as a liar and a hypocrite. That's just
fact. That's just fact. That kind of
teaching is nothing but self-righteous Pharisaic legalism. What's it
mean then? He that eateth and drinketh unworthily,
eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the
Lord's body. not knowing his need of a substitute,
not knowing his need of a sacrifice that God will accept. He eats
and drinks damnation to himself by the practice of religion in
the outward form. He only continually seals his
own damnation. We must be clean if we would
come to God. We must be accepted of God only
in and by Christ Jesus, recognizing our only acceptance is in him. In him whose blood, being sprinkled
on the conscience by God the Holy Ghost, purges our consciences
from dead works to serve the living God. Here's the fifth
thing, verses 22 through 36. The sacrifice of the peace offering
had to be brought by the worshiper personally, with his own hands. Now, listen before we read these
verses. Rex Bartley could not bring a
sacrifice for Don Fortner. Don Fortner could not bring a
sacrifice for Shelby, or for Faith, or for Doug, or for Audre
Grace, or for Will. Each person must personally,
with his own hands, bring his sacrifice of peace offering to
the Lord. Verse 22, And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying,
Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, of sheep, or of goat,
And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and the fat
of that which is torn with the beast, may be used in any other
use, but ye shall in no wise eat of it. For whosoever eateth
the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by
fire unto the Lord, even the soul that eateth it shall be
cut off from his people. Verse 26. Moreover ye shall eat
no manner of blood, Whether it be a fowl or a beast in any of
your dwellings, whatsoever so it be that eateth any manner
of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel,
saying, He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings
unto the Lord shall bring his oblation to the Lord of the sacrifice
of his peace offerings. Verse 30, His own hands shall
bring the offerings of the Lord made by fire. The fat with the
breast it shall he bring, that the breast may be weighed for
a way of offering before the Lord. and the priest shall burn
the fat upon the altar, but the breast shall be Aaron's and his
son's, and the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest
for a heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. He among
the sons of Aaron that offereth the blood of the peace offerings,
and the fat shall have the right shoulder for his part. For the
wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children
of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings and
have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by statute
forever from among the children of Israel. This is the portion
of the anointing of Aaron and of the anointing of his sons
out of the offerings of the Lord made by fire in the day when
he presented them to minister unto the Lord in the priest offering.
in the priest's office rather, which the Lord commanded to be
given them of the children of Israel in the day that he anointed
them by a statute forever throughout their generations. Now first,
let's look at this prohibition with regard to eating fat and
blood. It's the very same law given
in Leviticus 3, verses 16 and 17. It referred to the ceremonial
sacrifices. And as the blood and fat were
considered with these ceremonial sacrifices, as reference to those
sacrifices, it had reference to the sin-atoning blood and
sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ and was considered sacred. The flesh with the life thereof,
which is the blood thereof, shall you not eat? The life of the
flesh is in the blood, our God says. So that the fat and the
blood were looked upon as sacred things because it refers directly
to the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ poured out in our stead
at Calvary, the giving of his life for us. Still there's more. The fat and the blood belong
to God. There's spiritual significance
here. We enjoy peace with God by giving him the best. That's what's represented by
the fact. We enjoy peace with God giving him his son, the very
best. That's what's represented by
the fact. I, one of my first jobs after I quit carrying papers
as a boy, I was 15 years old, and I went to work at Big Bear
Grocery Store in Winston-Salem, and I worked in a delicatessen,
and the delicatessen was a part of the butcher shop, and back
in those days, we actually had butchers in the stores. And the
butcher took me around, showed me various cuts of meat, showed
me how they processed it and how they cut the things up, and
then he took me back to the cooler that was closed. The public didn't
see this. And he showed me special cuts
of meat. They were called USA prime beef. He said, we don't put these out
under the glass because the ladies who don't know what they are
won't buy them. They'll just lay there and get old. We keep
them back here. But the ones who want it, this is what they
want. And he showed me the difference between that and all the other
grades of beef. USA prime beef is good. beautiful red meat and it's got
white stuff running all through it. I mean it's got fat running
everywhere. It's called USA Prime. That's
the best there is. The fat has the best part of
the meat. You ladies who want to cook,
I know However, this is not what the doctors would prescribe,
so if you have a problem with health and you can't have it,
I'm sorry for you. But if you want taste, I tell my wife, don't
take the bone out and don't take the fat off. That's where the
flavor is. That's the best of it. On the
occasion that I have a prime rib at the steakhouse, you know
what I do? I always save the best taste
for the last thing goes in my mouth. I always say that section
going right around the outside of it, that you just can't hardly
tell where the fat starts and the meat starts. It's just all
mixed together, because that's the best there is. We offer God
the best when we offer him his son, and thus have peace with
God. And we offer God our best in
all that we do. The best of our labor. The best
of our sacrifice. David said, I will not offer
to God that which doth cost me nothing. And we belong to God
by giving him our lives. That's what's represented in
the blood. We come to him and give ourselves
to him. Now in all these things pertaining
to the worship of God, personal faith is required. We must trust
Christ ourselves, for ourselves. Some of you, I know your families.
I think about Brother Jonathan, I know his family. I've known
Jonathan's family for a long, long time. And folks who had
the privilege of being raised like you were raised. under the
sound of the gospel, under the influence of the gospel, with
a family that worships God, have an inclination to think that
being raised in a house where God is feared makes me a Christian. Nothing could be further from
the truth. Salvation comes to personal faith, to you believing
on the Son of God. We must come to him ourselves
and we must walk with him ourselves. Everyone who brought the peace
offering brought it with his own hands. He brought it with his own hands.
Why? Because faith in Christ is an intensely personal thing. It is an intensely personal thing. Salvation is an intensely personal
thing. An intensely personal thing.
Job said, I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand
in the latter day upon the earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God, whom I
shall see for myself. The Apostle Paul puts it this
way. I am crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved
me and gave himself for me. Now, let's look at the last two
verses of Leviticus 7. Here the Holy Ghost lumps all
these sacrifices together as if to declare that all are one.
All these great sacrifices of divine worship and all the instruction
with regard to them are for one purpose. The sacrifices were
all given to point sinners to Christ. They were all typical
of Christ, and they've all been fulfilled by Christ. Verse 37,
this is the law of the burnt offering, and of the meat offering,
and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and
of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice and the peace offering.
And you see what it said? This is the law. Not the laws,
but the law. All these things all have reference
to one thing. And that is Christ Jesus our
Lord and He fulfills them all and we find the fulfillment of
them all in Him. Verse 38, which the Lord commanded
Moses in Mount Sinai in the day that He commanded the children
of Israel to offer their oblations unto the Lord in the wilderness
of Sinai. This is that which is spoken
of in Hebrews 10 when Paul says, he takes away the first that
he may establish the second. He takes away that revealed in
the Old Testament law, that he may establish that revealed in
the gospel of Christ, by the which will we are sanctified
by the offering of Jesus, the body of Jesus Christ once for
all. Christ is our true burnt offering
who is spoken of in chapter one. He is that one who is a sweet-smelling
savor to God, and by whom we are accepted as a sweet-smelling
savor to God. The Lord Jesus is our true meat
offering, our offering of firstfruits, described in Leviticus 2. He,
in his resurrection, is the firstfruits of them that sleep. As in Adam
all die, in Christ shall all be made alive. He is the firstfruits,
his resurrection, testifying and assuring us of our own. And
our Lord Jesus is our true peace offering, described in Leviticus
3. He is that one who was delivered for our offenses and raised again
for our justification, therefore being justified by faith, we
have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we
have received the atonement, by whom we have received the
reconciliation he accomplished. The Lord Jesus is our one and
only sin offering described in Leviticus 4. He is that one of
whom we read in 2 Corinthians, the text I quote deliberately
every time I preach. If I fail to quote it, it's because
I slipped up. He hath made him, who knew no
sin, to be sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. He is our sin atoning, sin offering. And our blessed Savior, the Lord
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our only and our true trespass
offering spoken of in Leviticus 5. The whole of Isaiah 53 speaks
of Him as our trespass offering, our sin offering, the sacrifice
God gave, the sacrifice God has accepted, the sacrifice we receive
believing on Him. The Lord Jesus is our sacrifice. in whom alone sinners have access
to and acceptance with God. He is our sacrifice, by whom
alone our faith and our prayers and our worship and our gifts
and our service and our lives, yes, and we ourselves in the
totality of our lives are accepted by the holy Lord God. That's
the law of consecrations. Thank God for the law of consecrations
by which our Lord Jesus Christ and God's salvation in, by, and
with him are portrayed so vividly. And I would persuade you to come
to God, to consecrate yourself to God in Christ Jesus. He and he alone is the sacrifice
who can atone for sin. The sacrifice who gives acceptance
with God. The sacrifice who brings peace
to the soul forever. Speaking peace to sinners who
otherwise have no peace. Has the Son of God done this
for you? Has he done it for me? If so, the most reasonable thing
in all the world is that we make a return to Him of ourselves,
giving ourselves to Him. We're told in 2 Corinthians 5
that He died for us, that we henceforth live not unto ourselves,
but unto Him who died for us and rose again. Oh God, give
me grace. to live not another hour for
myself, to myself, but for him, to him who died for me and rose
again. Here, Lord, I give myself to
thee. It is all that I can do. This heart, These eyes, these
ears, these hands, these feet, this mind, all that I am, all
that I have, I freely, willingly give to Him. I have nothing to which I can
make claim, nothing. I am His, lock, stock, and barrel. God give me grace to live with
that conscious awareness and that utter devotion, that sweet,
sweet consecration to God. that sweet, sweet consecration
to God spoken of in the Law of Consecration. Amen.