I'm sure that you are like me
at times we read the scriptures, especially tedious passages of
scripture in the Old Testament laws and ceremonies and records
and our eyes just kind of glaze over. because they're dull and
meaningless, only because we fail to see how they speak of
our blessed Redeemer and God's marvelous work of grace for us
in, by, and with the Lord Jesus. Let's pray that God will give
us grace ever in reading the scriptures to look for and to
behold our Savior in his word. I say that especially as we turn
now to Leviticus chapter 6. Our text will be Leviticus 6,
8 through 7 and verse 15. Leviticus chapter 6, verse 8
through chapter 7 and verse 15. As we read here about the ceremonial
sacrifices and the services involved in those sacrifices by those
priests who were appointed of God to make the sacrifices. Let's
focus our minds. May God be pleased by his grace
to focus our minds upon him who is the one true sacrifice, the
real sacrifice for sin, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the end
of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
It's my prayer that God, the Holy Ghost, will cause us to
know and feel the horrid evil of sin, the sin that is in us
by nature, the depravity of our hearts, the corruption of our
minds, and the violence of our ways. Such an evil it is that
the justice of God could never forgive sin. but by the sacrifice
of his own dear son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The only way God
in his holiness, justice, and truth could ever forgive us our
sins, remit our sins, blot out our transgressions, pardon our
iniquities. The only way is by the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's what's portrayed here
in our text. Let's begin reading at verse
8 in Leviticus chapter 6. The Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Command Aaron and his son, saying, This is the law of the burnt
offering. It is the burnt offering because
of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning. And
the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. And the priest
shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall
he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath
consumed with the burnt offering on the altar. And he shall put
them beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments,
and put on the other garments, and carry forth the ashes without
the camp unto a clean place. And the fire upon the altar shall
be burning in it, and it shall not be put out. And the priest
shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in
order upon it. And he shall burn thereon the
fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar. It shall never go out. And this
is the law of the meat offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer
it before the Lord, before the altar. And he shall take of it
his handful of the flour of the meat offering and of the oil
thereof and all the frankincense which is upon the meat offering
and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savor. even the memorial
of it unto the Lord. And the remainder thereof shall
Aaron and his sons eat. With unleavened bread shall it
be eaten in the holy place, in the court of the tabernacle of
the congregation they shall eat it. It shall not be bacon with
leaven. I have given it unto them for
their portion of my offerings made by fire. It is most holy. As the sin offering and as the
trespass offering, all the males among the children of Aaron shall
eat of it. It shall be a statute forever
in your generations concerning the offerings of the Lord made
by fire. Everyone that touches them shall be holy. And the Lord
spake unto Moses saying, this is the offering of Aaron and
his sons, which they shall offer unto the Lord in the day when
he is anointed. the tenth part of an effa of
fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the
morning and half thereof at night. In a pan it shall be made with
oil. And when it is bacon, thou shalt
bring it in. And the bacon pieces of the meat
offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savor unto the Lord.
And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall
offer it. It is a statute forever unto
the Lord. It shall be wholly burnt, for
every meat offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt. It shall
not be eaten. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his son, saying, This is the
law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt
offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before
the Lord. It is most holy. The priest that offereth it for
sin shall eat it. In the holy place shall it be
eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. Whatsoever
shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy. And when there
is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt
wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place. But the earthen
vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken. And if it be sodden
in a brazen pot, it shall be both scoured and rinsed in water. All the males among the priests
shall eat thereof, it is most holy. And no sin offering whereof
any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation
to reconcile with all in the holy place shall be eaten, it
shall be burnt in the fire, chapter seven. Likewise, this is the
law of the trespass offering. It is most holy. In the place
where they killed the burnt offering, shall they kill the trespass
offering. And the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about
upon the altar. And he shall offer of it all
the fat thereof, the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards,
and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is
by the flanks, and the call that is above the liver with the kidneys,
it shall he take away. And the priest shall burn them
upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the Lord. It is a trespass offering. Every
male among the priest shall eat thereof. It shall be eaten in
the holy place. It is most holy. As the sin offering
is, so is the trespass offering. There is one law for them. The
priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it. And
the priest that offereth any man's burnt offering, even the
priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering
which he hath offered. And all the meat offering that
is bacon in the oven, and all that is dressed in the frying
pan, and in the pan shall be the priest that offereth it.
And every meat offering mingled with oil and dry shall all the
sons of Aaron have one as much as another. And this is the law
of the sacrifice of the peace offerings, which he shall offer
unto the Lord. If he offer it for 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 this, in
addition to these things, he'll offer these things mingled with
oil and fried. I'm sorry, I've lost my place
here. I won't read that, my computer
went bad. Let's pick up in chapter 7 and
verse 11. This is the law of the sacrifice of the peace offerings.
I'm sorry, back up to chapter 7 verse 9. And all the meat offering,
that is bacon in the oven, and all that is dressed in the frying
pan, and in the pan shall be the priest that offereth it.
And every meat offering mingle with oil and dry, and all the
sons of Aaron shall have one as much as another. And this
is the law of the sacrifice of the peace offerings, which he
shall offer unto the Lord. If he offer it for thanksgiving,
then he shall offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes
mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and
cakes mingled with oil of the fine flour fried. Beside 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. 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. five times in these verses of
scripture, God the Holy Ghost has recorded these words, it
is most holy. Those words are used only 10
times throughout the entire book of God. And every time they're
used, it is most holy. The reference is in connection
with a sacrifice, pointing us to the person and work of the
Lord Jesus, our great sacrifice for sin. Now, the first seven
chapters of the book of Leviticus give us the inspired record of
God's law concerning the sacrifices that he required for divine worship.
The burnt offering portrayed a celebration of acceptance with
God by Christ. The meat offering was a sacrifice
declaring the worshippers voluntary consecration to God. The peace
offering was a celebration of being reconciled to God in and
with the Lord Jesus. The sin offering portrayed the
Lord Jesus Christ as our substitute, our sin atoning sacrifice, our
sin offering to God. The trespass offering portrayed
and typified our Lord's effectual sin atoning sacrifice and the
forgiveness of sin obtained by that sacrifice. But keep in mind
when you read about these offerings, The burnt offering, the meat
offering, and the peace offerings were all described as freewill
offerings. God didn't require anybody to
bring them. It's totally a matter whether you wanted to or whether
you didn't want to. But if you brought them, you were required
to bring them in exactly the way God said and bring only what
God said. The point being this, if we worship
God, We will worship God according to the revelation of God in Holy
Scripture. We will worship God as God says
He will be worshipped or all pretense of worship for Him or
worship of Him is just that, nothing but the pretense. No
one worships God who does not worship Him willingly. And yet
those who are made willing to worship Him and bring willingly
themselves and their gifts of praise and thanksgiving to God,
they come to worship God, bowing to His Word, led by His Spirit,
worshiping Him in spirit and in truth. But the sin offering
and the trespass offering, those offerings God required. Why is
it the others were voluntary, these are required? Because those
others pictured ourselves and our experience of grace and our
worship of God. These offerings, the trespass
offering and the sin offering, were offerings that God required
because they portray the person and the sacrifice of our Lord
Jesus Christ, by whom alone sin is put away. And these trespass
offerings and sin offerings were described for us in meticulous
detail, ordered exactly as God required, giving us specific
instructions about our Savior. By these sacrifices, our Lord
Jesus makes himself known and says, like the star that led
the wise men to the newborn babe in Bethlehem, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto God but by
me. In the first chapters, the instructions
were for the people, specific instructions, instructions given
for all the people, the rulers, the common people, and the priest. The instructions were all about
how we must come before God in worship, bringing our sacrifices
to Him as He prescribed. But beginning in chapter 6 and
verse 8, things change. From here through the end of
verse 15 in chapter 7, the instructions are given just to God's priest. These are not given to the common
people. They're not given to the rulers. These are instructions
for God's priest as to how they are to carry on their work as
the priest of God, ordained and chosen of God. Why was there
this distinction made? Here, the high priest and his
sons. the high priest and his sons,
not his sons and daughters, the high priest and his sons, portray
for us the blessed work of the Lord Jesus Christ in making reconciliation
for our souls to God, in restoring that which he took not away,
in redeeming us from sin, in satisfying the justice of God.
These words are spoken here specifically to represent our Savior. Now
everything that is involved here, not just the sacrifices, not
just the priest, not just the altar, but everything involved,
the bringing of the sacrifice, the sacrifice, the place of sacrifice,
the altar where the sacrifice is made, the burning of the sacrifice,
the eating of the sacrifice, all of it, redemption by Jesus
Christ the Lord. And of these things God says,
this is most holy. This is most holy. Let's look at three things to
which I want to call your attention this evening. First, I want to
direct our attention to the revelation of God's holiness. God's holiness. That which separates
God from all his creatures. That which separates God from
all that men call gods. Today, men and women talk a great
deal about holiness. They talk about being holy. They
talk about doing holy things. They talk about holy places.
The word holy is thrown around like by religious people as carelessly
and casually as a profane man speaks profanity. All light talk
with very serious religious tones about holiness reveals one certain
fact. This generation, I speak particularly
of this religious generation, knows nothing at all about the
holiness of God. Holiness, while certainly it
includes purity and light, holiness speaks of the whole character
of God. the whole of his being, the completion
of his being. And when God comes and makes
sinners holy, he makes sinners who were ruined by the fall whole
again in Jesus Christ the Lord. Yes, he makes them righteous,
he makes them pure, but he makes them whole, forming Christ in
us. That's portrayed throughout the
miracles of our Lord while he walked on this earth. men and
women were healed by him and the scripture says the blind
was made whole, the lame was made whole, the deaf was made
whole. God in saving sinners makes them
whole in Christ Jesus. In the book of God, men and women
who are saved by God's grace are described as saints, sanctified
holy people. All of them, all of them. If you belong to God, if God
has saved you by His grace, you are one of God's saints. You are sanctified in, by, and
with Christ Jesus. You are holy before God, with
His spotless garments on, as holy as God's own Son. We are
made holy by Christ who is that holiness without which no man
shall see the Lord. And that holiness that is ours
in Christ does not in any way depend upon our personal character
or conduct. It is purely the gift and work
of God. Now focus on these words. It
is most holy. Without question, God's holiness
is displayed in many ways and in many places. God revealed
his holiness in the garden when he drove Adam and Eve from the
garden and set Cherub with a flaming sword to guard the way to the
tree of life. God made His holiness known on
Mount Sinai. His holiness is stamped on every
man's conscience by His creative hand. His holiness is displayed
in all of His righteous judgments. But all of these things only
reveal a little bit of God's holiness. They only portray a
little bit of God's holiness. They convince us that God is
holy, but they do not and cannot show us His holiness. The holiness
of God is revealed and known only by the revelation of Jesus
Christ crucified. Only by the revelation of Jesus
Christ crucified. When you understand what took
place at Calvary, you understand something about God's holiness. So let's go to Calvary. And behold
the crucified Son of God again. and learn something about God's
holiness. Beholding the floods of water over the earth in Noah's
day, and beholding the smoke of Sodom when God destroyed the
cities of the plain, and the plagues that God brought upon
Egypt, and the righteous judgments of God upon men and women in
his providence on this earth, I know that God is holy, and
I tremble before his holiness. We would be wise to mark, I know
men think we're just Bible-thumping radicals when we say such things.
We would be wise to mark God's hand in everything men call tragedies. all the earthquakes, and tornadoes,
and fires, and famine, and pestilence, and war, and murder, and slaughter,
all that men calls tragedies. These things are but the hand
of God saying to men on earth, judgment is coming. Sin must
be punished, and judgment is coming. They show us that God
is holy, but they only show us a portion of his holiness. Standing
at the foot of Sinai's dreadful mount, we behold the fire and
smoke, and we feel the quaking earth and hear the terrifying
thunder. And there we see something of
God's holiness and tremble like the children of Israel when Moses
spoke to them. They said, put a veil over your
face, we can't talk to you like this. Lying upon his bed with
the cold sweat of death on his brow, A man looks into the grave
as he's slipping off into hell, and he sees something of God's
holiness. And he trembles with fear, but
he doesn't know much about God's holiness. But standing by faith
upon Mount Calvary, beholding the Son of God when he was made
sin for us, and seeing how God dealt with his son, And God says
this, this is how I am a just God and a savior. Sin can be
forgiven only by the slaughter of my darling son in the place
of sinners. Now I see God's holiness and
I rejoice in God's holiness and I love God's holiness. It doesn't
terrify, but rather gives comfort and peace to the believing sinner. Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ
and his great sacrifice for sin, the Lord God says five times
here, it is most holy. This is the thing portrayed in
that which is most holy in all the Old Testament. He who undertook
the work of making an offering for sin had to be holy. It is written in chapter six
in verse 18, concerning the offerings of the Lord made by fire, everyone
that toucheth them shall be holy. He can't make the sacrifice.
He can't come to the holy place. He can't come to God's altar
except he himself be holy. Now Aaron's sons were no more
holy than anybody else in Israel. except ceremonially. Ceremonially
they were holy. God set them aside. He said these
are my priests. They are holy because I have
said they are holy. So it is that our Lord Jesus
is represented in them. He is not just declared to be
holy. He is that one who is holy. They could only make a ceremonial
sacrifice in a ceremonial holy place, but he who is the holy
one carries a holy sacrifice with his own blood into the holy
place and obtains eternal redemption for us. The sacrifice itself
had to be holy. Again, ceremonially holy. The
place where the sacrifice was made and accepted is called the
holy place, the holy altar. The one to whom the sacrifice
was made is the holy Lord God, the God of Israel. And the one
for whom the sacrifice is made is by the sacrifice made, made
holy. So that these priests, they are
men who can't touch the sacrifice except they be declared by God
to be holy. And coming and taking the sacrifice,
making the sacrifice, they're made holy, able to come to God
as the representatives of His people. And you and I Find all
of these things a portrayal of our blessed Redeemer in his work
of grace as we behold God in the face of Jesus Christ. Here
is the wondrous mystery of God's grace. In the sacrifice of our
Lord, we see the Holy Lord God. The Holy Lord God. made to be sin and punishing
sin, putting away sin and forgiving sin, that sinners might forever
live before Him without sin in spotless holiness, that we might
be presented before God wholly and without blame. What words
Presented to God wholly with no blame, no guilt, no shame
from God. The Holy One who is our substitute
is that holiness we must have. Paul says, of him are ye in Christ
Jesus, who of God has made unto us wisdom, and righteousness,
and holiness. That's the word, sanctification
and redemption. That according as it is written,
he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. Paul says in Hebrews
12, 14, follow peace, pursue peace with all men, and pursue
this, holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Sadly,
over the years, I have heard many use Hebrews 12, 14. I've read many sermons on it.
I've heard many on it. I've read many commentaries on
it. Almost all of them say, now this is what you must do if you
would be saved. You must make yourself holy by
the things you do. By your separation from the world,
by your reading the Bible, by your praying, by your devotion,
you must follow holiness. You gotta pursue holiness so
that men will look at you and say, my, isn't he a holy man? I'm looking at you, Sammy Wall. My, isn't he a holy man? I'm looking at you, Regina Henson. My, isn't she holy? Indeed they are. Indeed you are,
if you're in Christ. You're made of God, holiness,
and Christ in you is that holiness without which no man shall see
the Lord. All right, let's go back to our text in Leviticus
6, verse 16. God gave specific commandment
for the eating of the sacrifice. And the remainder thereof shall
Aaron and his sons eat, with unleavened bread shall it be
eaten in the holy place. In the court of the tabernacle
of the congregation, they should eat it. They weren't allowed
to pack it up and take a picnic lunch and go out in the wilderness
somewhere and eat. They had to eat right there in the holy place
in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. Aaron and
his sons were to eat it. We're told the same thing in
verse 18, verse 26, verse 29, and again in chapter 7 in verse 6. The sacrifice was to be eaten. I want to take this, the sacrifice,
and eat it. The sacrifice made by fire unto
the Lord was to be completely eaten, the whole thing. Remember,
the sacrifice had sin imputed to it. So what they're eating
is sin. Here are God's priest eating
sin, eating it in the holy place because God commands it. It had
to be eaten by the priest who offered it. What does that mean? It speaks of our Savior and his
complete, total self-identification with sin. I haven't yet begun
to state this as I know it needs to be stated. He was made sin. He was made sin. Claus Peterson, you can't stretch
that too far. That's what the book says. And
we haven't begun to grasp it yet. He was made sin, as the
priest ate the sin offering and made the sin offering his, so
that he and the sin offering are identified as one. So the
Lord Jesus, the Son of God, our great priest, took our sins and
made them His. I want you to look at two texts. Psalm 40. Psalm 40. When you find the 40th
Psalm, turn over just a few pages to Psalm 69. These two Psalms, no question
our Savior is the one speaking. The Spirit of God tells us that
this is the one speaking. Psalm 40, verse 12. The Lord Jesus says, for innumerable
evils have compassed me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me. That any man who dares try to
explain that, I'll just read it like it states.
The Son of God says, mine iniquities have taken hold upon me. So much
so that I'm not able to look up. They, mine iniquities, are
more than the hairs of mine head. Therefore, because mine iniquities,
more than the hairs of my head, have taken hold on me, therefore
my heart faileth me. Look at chapter 69, Psalm 69,
verse 5. Oh God, thou knowest my foolishness. The word is guiltiness. And my
sins, my guiltiness and my sins. Oh, blessed Savior. What condescension. Oh God thou knowest my guiltiness
and my sins are not hid from thee. The sacrifice had to be
eaten and it had to be completely eaten in one day. Why is that? Because in one day
the Lord Jesus consumed and forever took away all the sins of his
people by the sacrifice of himself. The sacrifice had to be eaten
by Aaron's sons. All the males among the children
of Aaron, the priest that offereth the sin shall eat it, and all
the males among the priests shall eat it. It is most holy. Why
the males? Why are they specified and not
the females? Why not Aaron's daughters? We're
told plainly in Numbers 18 that with regard to other sacrifices,
Aaron's daughters ate those. Why not these? Throughout the
scriptures, the female represents the weaker sex. She's presented
to us as the weaker vessel. As such, the daughters of Aaron
could never serve as priest because the weaker vessel could never
portray him who is God in human flesh. The weaker vessel could
never portray Him who is the omnipotent God-man, our Redeemer. He alone who is able to take
away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. He who alone is able
to take our sin upon Himself and put it away by the sacrifice
of Himself, the Lord Jesus. made our sins His own. He bore the wrath and judgment
of God against us for sins in His own body on the tree. And
thus He fully identified Himself with us and with our sins, so
that we might with full and blessed certainty know the matter is
forever settled. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Oh, what a price he paid. Oh, what humiliation he endured. Oh, what pain he suffered. Oh, what depths of horror he
sunk to when he was made sin for us. But being made sin for
us, We are assured now that he has put away our sins forever,
and we're accepted of God. You see, our salvation, our peace,
our happiness, our eternal blessedness. Oh, I hope you're listening to
me. This is so contrary, marked our
flesh, and so contrary to everything in the religious world, it's
hard for us to get it. Our salvation. Our peace, our
happiness, our eternal blessedness does not to any degree depend
on us, our works, our feelings, our goodness, or even the strength
of our faith, but only upon the finished atonement of Christ
our Lord. It is done, the great transaction
is done, I am my Lord's and he is mine. Now, one more thing. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 one more time. Let's look at this most precious
statement of scripture and see the fulfillment of the type. It is most holy. Oh, it is most
holy. For he hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Now I see something of God's holiness.
Never was the holiness of God so clearly revealed as when His
own dear Son was made sin for us upon the cursed tree. The
vileness and blackness of our sin with which the Son of God
identified himself upon the cursed tree shows him most holy. Though he was the sin bearer,
he knew no sin, he's sinless. Though he endured all the horror
of God's wrath, he was his Father's delight. Though he was forsaken
by God and hung in utter darkness upon the cursed tree when he
was made sin for us, yet he dwelt still in the bosom of the Father. Precious mystery. Precious mystery. I'm often accused
by men who look for reasons to deny what's preached from this
pulpit as well. Faulkner says Christ didn't die
as the sinless one. Oh, yes, he did. Oh, yes, he
did. He's made sin and he's the sinless one. And Faulkner says
Christ wasn't accepted of God. Oh, Faulkner didn't say that.
He is forever in the bosom of the Father. and at the same time
forsaken of God, engulfed in the wrath of God when he was
made sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb
of God who knew no sin, was made sin for us, and thereby we are
made the righteousness of God in him. This is a mystery no
man can grasp, the depths of which no man can plummet, It's
a mystery called the mystery of godliness. It is most holy. Without controversy, Paul said,
great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the
Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up unto glory. Now, we come. as poor, needy sinners. And we, like that woman with an issue
of blood, she said, if I could just touch, if I could just touch
the hem of his garment. His garment of righteousness
is part of Him. If I could just touch the hem
of His garment, I'd be made whole. And she came in the dust, crawling
to the Savior. She touched Him, and immediately
she was made whole. And we come to our Savior, needy
sinners who have no hope of help anywhere else. and touching the sacrifice. If you can touch it, if you can
lay on Him the hand of faith, then He has made you holy, for
He has made you whole, and He made of God unto you holiness
forever. This salvation And I'm here to
tell you, this is the only salvation any man has, which can be described
with these words. This salvation, you can say this
and speak with absolute truth, it is most holy. It is most holy. Every pretense
of it. Every sham has got a flaw in
it. This is most holy. God make it yours for Christ's
sake. Amen.