of the gospel viticus Verses
8 through 13 Leviticus 6 verses 8 through 13 The subject is ever-burning
fire Ever-burning fire in the scriptures Fire is used continually
as an emblem of God's purity holiness and justice That was
the way it was from the beginning. That's the way it is through
the entire scripture, all the way through the book of Revelation.
When God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden, he set cherubim
and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of
the tree of life. when Abraham went up to Mount
Moriah to make a sacrifice to God, God who revealed himself
in smoking furnace and a burning lamp. He carried fire in his
hand to the altar. God poured out fire and brimstone
and judgment upon Sodom because of the evil of that city. When
the Lord revealed himself to Moses in the mount, he spoke
to him with the mount covered with fire. When he revealed himself
in Exodus 3 in the burning bush, he spoke to him from that bush
that burned with fire and was not consumed. Over in Leviticus
10, Nadab and Abihu dared to come to the Lord and offer strange
fire upon his altar. And for that, God killed them. The Lord God makes his ministers
a flame of fire, the scripture tells us. Hell is a place of
horrible torment, a pit of everlasting unquenchable fire. I'm aware
of the fact that through the ages, multitudes, both religious
and profane, thinking themselves smarter than God, have brought
forth countless arguments trying to fritter away the fact of the
everlasting damnation of the unbelieving. But the fact stands
as it is plainly revealed in Holy Scripture. The wicked shall
be turned into hell. The expectation of the wicked
shall perish. Who among us shall dwell with
the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with
everlasting burnings? Troubling and horrible as the
fact of eternal damnation is, God's elect know with certainty
that soon our Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven. with
mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that
know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. And they shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and
from the glory of his power. I don't pretend to know what
hell is or what the torments of the damned are, but the fact
of those things are facts that cannot be escaped. And men try
vainly to suppress facts that are known to them inscribed upon
their hearts and their consciences by nature, by the finger of God,
and deny them as they will. Every man knows that soon he
will meet God in judgment, God who will punish sin forever in
the fires of his wrath, in everlasting torment, exactly according to
their deserts. And in that day and for all eternity,
as the righteous enjoy the bliss of heavenly glory and are keenly
aware of the torments of the damned, God shall be glorified
in his saints and admired in all them that believe. Our God
is a consuming fire. And in the camp of Israel, upon
the altar of God, God required that fire be burned continually. It is written, the fire shall
ever be burning upon the altar. It shall never go out. Let's
read this text. Leviticus chapter six and verse
eight. 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. I 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 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. It shall not be put out, for
the priests shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the
burnt offering in order upon it, and they shall burn thereon
the fat of the peace offerings. The fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar. It shall never go out. Now never imagine that there
are redundancies in the word of God. Everything written in
the book of God is written by divine inspiration according
to divine purpose. The first five chapters of the
book of Leviticus give us God's commandment to Moses concerning
specific instructions about the burnt offering, the meat offering,
the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. Here
in chapter six and seven, he gives instructions again about
those same offerings. But in the first five chapters,
the instructions were for the people who brought the offerings.
In these two chapters, the instructions are for Aaron and his sons, God's
ordained priests in Israel. In the portion before us this
evening, the primary focus is the ever-burning fire upon the
altar. That fire shall be ever-burning,
God says. It shall never go out. The fire burning upon the altar. That fire burning upon the altar
of sacrifice, that fire burning constantly portrays a marvelous,
instructive picture of the furious fire of God's wrath and justice,
which must be satisfied. It must be satisfied. Hold your
hands here in Leviticus and turn to 2 Corinthians 5. Let's read one more time the
message of our text, as it's given to us here in 2 Corinthians
5. This is what the message of Leviticus
6, 8 through 13 is. Begin at verse 18. All things
are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation. God reconciled
us to himself by the sacrifice of his son. And he reconciled
us to himself, giving us faith in Christ, taking away that enmity
of our minds and hearts that is against him by nature, giving
us a new heart and a new nature. And this is what that reconciliation
means, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world,
reconciling his elect scattered in the four corners of the earth
unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation. He's given us
this word to go preach. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ. As though God did beseech you
by us, we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. In preaching the gospel, we call
rebel sinners to put down the weapons of their warfare against
God and be reconciled to him, to surrender to Christ the sovereign
king, to throw up the white flag of surrender in their hearts
to Christ. How come? 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 back here in
Leviticus six, in these five verses we've read, I want to
call your attention to five things that are set before us clearly.
First, the scripture speaks here in verses eight and nine about
the fire upon the altar. 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. Here the Holy One of Israel speaks
again from the holy place, revealing the horror of his wrath against
sin. and the perfection of his infinite
justice, which demands the satisfaction for justice, demands the punishment
for sin. God's infinite justice, burning
against sin, is displayed here in the fire upon the altar, burning
always at the tabernacle of the congregation. The fire was never
to be extinguished. In these five verses, the Lord
tells us three times not to allow the fire to be put out or to
go out on its own. Why? Because every one of his
righteous judgments endure forever. Every one of his righteous judgments
endure forever. The fire burned all through the
night in Israel. as an emblem of the sleeplessness
of hell, and the burning wrath of God against all iniquity,
and also symbolizing the ever watchful eye of divine righteousness
that watches over the earth. The prophet of God asked the
Lord to open the eyes of his servant that he might see the
angels of God encamping around about his people. And he saw
chariots, as it were, of fire, angels blazing all around them. So it is that God watches over
his people and keeps them as the apple of his eye. In the
pit of the damned, they have no rest, no respite, no relief
from the wrath of God. I don't know how the wicked suffer,
and I don't want to know. I don't know what they suffer,
and I don't want to know. But these things are plainly
revealed in Scripture. Whatever the fire of God's wrath
is, it is torment unimaginable so that the worm never dies. The worm never dies. The worm gnawing at the guilty
conscience. The worm of torment never dies. The fire of God's wrath is not
quenched. So that God somehow by his sovereign
power as God sustains the wicked in his wrath to endure his wrath,
but they can never satisfy his wrath. And the Lord God, in his
great mercy and grace, in his holy eyes of justice satisfied
by Christ, ever beholds his people upon the earth and watches over
them and keeps them as the apple of his eye. In the book of God,
turn over to Revelation chapter 14. Hold your hands here in Leviticus,
we'll be right back. But look at Revelation 14. Here we read of the damned. And we're told that the smoke
of their torments ascends up forever. The fire and brimstone
of hell produces a smoke ever rising up to God, ever rising
up to the holy angels, ever rising up to the redeemed in glory and
the lamb upon his throne. Revelation 14 verse 10. The same
shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured
out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he
shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb." There, in the pit of the damned,
in the presence of the holy angels, in the presence of the lamb,
and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever,
and they have no rest, no rest from torment, no rest from guilt,
no rest from anguish, no rest from the fire, day nor night,
who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth
the mark of his name. I think often about people I
have loved who today endure the fire of
God's wrath. And I do so with broken hearts. Broken heart. But the day is
coming. when I will see things and know
things and feel things as God my Savior does. And the torments
of the damned will cause no anguish to the redeemed, but only praise
to God for his justice, his truth, as well as his mercy and his
grace. Look at verse 18, Revelation
14, 18. And another angel came out from
the altar, which had power over fire, and cried with a loud cry
to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sickle,
and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, for her grapes
are fully ripe. All through the night. The fire burned in the camp of
Israel. It could be seen by everyone
in the camp. Try to picture a wise, believing
father. A wise, caring father. Each night as he is about to
put his children down to bed, I can picture him going to his
tent's door and pointing to the fire. and saying, children, do
you see that fire? Do you see the ever-burning fire? Do you smell the smoke? Except
you find refuge in Christ, the Lamb of God, so shall the fire
of God's wrath consume you forever. And I think also of my loved
ones with him in glory. and the bliss and the joy of
their souls, who have fled for refuge to Christ the Lord, upon
whom the second death, which is described in Revelation 20
as being the torment of the damned, shall have no power. Oh, blessed
be God, that fire representing his wrath, represents something
far greater than God's holy and just wrath. It represents the
way of all escape for all who believe. Can you see the victim
burned upon the altar? The lamb consumed by the fire?
His life feeds the flames. That's Christ, our Redeemer,
dying in our stead under the wrath of God Almighty in the
place of sinners who deserve to die. His suffering and death. upon which the triune God had
his holy eye from eternity, was held forth in the camp of Israel
day and night perpetually until Christ himself came, representing
him who would come and bear the wrath of God for us in whom and
by whom God's wrath, his justice alone could and would be satisfied
and in him. fire burning in him, consuming
his very life, and yet him consuming fire. There the love and justice
of God meet together in perfect unison. Righteousness and peace
perpetually kiss each other. Mercy and truth everlastingly
embrace each other. And beholding the fire on the
altar, the believing Israelite, look at that fire, He closes
tent's door and he go lay down in his bed and say, I will both
lay me down and rest. I will both lay me down and rest
in peace for the fire of God's wrath is satisfied in my Redeemer. Look at verse 10, Leviticus 6.10. In this tenth verse, the Lord
commanded his priest to put on his linen garments. 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. Now, we don't have to guess what
that is. Again, turn to Revelation, this time to chapter 19. Revelation
19. The priest's linen garment, his
linen britches, portrayed purity, holiness, and righteousness. Revelation 19a. To her was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen. clean and white,
for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints." In his suit of purity,
God's priest was again a type and emblem of the Lord Jesus,
our Redeemer, in his perfect purity. both his divine perfection
and his human perfection, both his righteousness as God and
his righteousness as a man, both his holiness as God and his holiness
as man. Coming into the world, he comes
to make atonement as our substitute in this suit of pure white linen,
The priest was to take the ashes of the burnt sacrifice from the
altar and lay them for a while beside the sacrifice, beside
the altar rather, so that all Israel might see that the flame
of God's indignation, the flame of God's fury, the flame of God's
holiness had consumed the sacrifice, sparing nothing. He'd gather
the ashes and just lay them there beside the altar. So our Lord
Jesus Christ lay for three days in the tomb. The sacrifice consumed
by the fire of God's just and holy wrath. And on the third
day rose again, displaying the fact that he had consumed the
fire of God's wrath for us. The lightning of God struck him
and will never strike again because justice has been fully satisfied. Blessed be God. Now, our great
priest has put his holy garments on us. But more than that, he's
made his very holiness, righteousness, and purity ours by almighty grace. We, with Christ, in Christ, and
by Christ, are made the righteousness of God. as you read Revelation
19 8 and the scripture says the white linen garments This is
the righteousness of the saints. The word righteousness really
would be better translated in the plural, the righteousnesses
of the saints. And that has led many, now I
shouldn't say it's led many, that's an excuse for many to
try to somehow work works into this. So this is not talking
about Christ imputed righteousness, this is talking about righteous
things that we do. Oh no, no, no. You see, the righteousness
of God's saints is a twofold righteousness. As our Lord Jesus
is righteous as God, and righteous as a man because of his obedience
unto God, our righteousness is both the imputed righteousness
of Christ given to us in free justification, so that we are
declared righteous because of our righteous obedience under
God's holy law, so that the record of heaven finds no fault against
us. And then the Lord Jesus comes
in the first resurrection, in the new birth, in regeneration,
and imparts to us a righteous nature. so that we're made partakers
of the divine nature, new creatures in Christ, that new man, that
holy man created in righteousness and true holiness in you, that
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. This is Christ
in you, the hope of glory. So our righteousness in him,
our righteousness with him, our righteousness by him is both
an imputed righteousness and an imparted righteousness. In
grace, he imputes righteousness to us because we obeyed God's
law in our representative. In grace, he imparts righteousness
to us, making us new creatures in Jesus Christ the Lord. Now,
look at verse 11. Here, God's priest was required
to take off his linen garments and put on his other garments.
and he shall put off his garments and put on other garments and
carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. Coming out of the sanctuary,
God's priest put aside his linen garments and he's now wearing
those other garments. He took off the garments that
had been ceremonially polluted by sin. and puts on his holy
priestly garments and carries the ashes of the sacrifice away
into a clean place. Our Lord Jesus. trod the winepress
of the fury of God's wrath alone and his garments are stained
with blood like one trampling in a wine vat. And it takes off
those garments stained as it were by our sin and comes forth
with holy garments to carry the sacrifice into a clean place. In Jeremiah 31, 40, that clean
place is called the Valley of Ashes. It was used for that purpose. I did a little research on that
today. The Valley of Ashes was southwest of the city of Jerusalem.
It really wasn't what we would commonly call a valley. We would
commonly call it just a wash, just a hollow. It's really just
a ditch, a ditch right at the base of Mount Calvary where our
Savior was crucified. And our Lord Jesus, not by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, entered in
once into the holy place, had his sacrifice in the glory, obtaining
eternal redemption for us. Turn to Hebrews chapter 10, Hebrews
10. Read what that's all about. Verse nine. Then said he, lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, the
first covenant. He takes away all the covenant
of the law. He takes it away by fulfilling
it. Even this picture we have before us in Leviticus chapter
six, that he may establish the second, the covenant of his grace,
by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body
of Jesus Christ once for all. and every priest standeth daily
ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, after he had offered
one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of
God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his
footstool. For by one offering he hath perfected forever them
that are sanctified. He by his sacrifice of himself
has perfected, absolutely perfected forever all who are sanctified
by God in eternal election in Christ Jesus the Lord. Perfected
forever them that are sanctified. Read on. whereof the Holy Ghost also is
a witness to us, a witness in his word and a witness in our
hearts. For after that he had said before,
this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,
saith the Lord. I will put my laws into their
hearts and in their minds will I write them and their sins and
iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of
these is, there is no more offering for sin. having therefore brethren
boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. What? Boldness? Boldness to step through
the veil into the holy of holies where the high priest of Israel
could go only once a year on the day appointed by God, in
the way appointed by God, with the blood appointed by God or
he would die Yes, with boldness, with confidence, with freedom,
going into the very holy of holies by a new and living way, which
he hath consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say his
flesh, and having a high priest over the house of God, let us
draw near, draw near to God's center, draw near to God, my
brother, draw near to God, my sister, in full assurance of
faith. Full assurance of faith. How
is that? having our hearts sprinkled from
an evil conscience, hearts sprinkled with the blood of Christ. God
testified that our sins are put away, that we're righteous, holy,
sanctified, perfected, accepted in the beloved, and our bodies
washed with pure water, sanctified by his word. Let us hold fast
the profession of our faith without wavering. Hold fast to this. Are you listening now? Hold fast
to this. Christ is our sin atoning sacrifice. Christ has fulfilled all righteousness. Christ has satisfied the justice
of God. Christ is all my hope before
God. And God says, I'm accepted in
him. Hold fast to that in the teeth
of Satan's accusations. for he is faithful that promised. He is faithful that promised. Our Savior, who bore our sin
in his own body on the tree, wears another garment now. That
body in which he was made to be sin for us, that body which
bore our iniquities on the cursed tree, that body which was made
a curse for us, has now been made a glorious body. He has
cast off and cast away our sins. He's carried his blood into a
clean place and by the merit of his blood has obtained eternal
redemption for us. This one who was delivered for
our offenses was raised again for our justification. He was
delivered to the curse of the law because of our offenses made
his. And he was raised again because
of our justification accomplished by him. Therefore, being justified
by his blood, by faith, believing on the Son of God, We have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received
the atonement. We take the atonement. We have received the atonement.
We don't make atonement. We've received atonement. That
word atonement is most commonly translated reconciliation Christ
made reconciliation for us God the Holy Spirit comes by the
Word of God by the gospel of his grace sprinkles our hearts
and consciences with the blessed blood of Christ and washes us
from our sins consciously experimentally declaring that we are the righteousness
of God in Christ Jesus the Lord and we now come before God with
full assurance, having received the atonement, having received
the reconciliation. All right, back here in Leviticus
6, verse 12. Here's the fourth thing. Because
the fire on the altar was never to be put out or even allowed
to burn out on its own, it had to have a constant supply of
fuel. And that's what we read about
in verse 12. and the fire upon the altar shall be burning in
it. It shall not be put out, and the priests 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. Wood was constantly kept on the
altar. The fat of the peace offering
with the wood kept the fire burning continually. The fat of that
peace offering is what fueled the fire, constantly burning. That fire was on God's altar.
Justice fell on Christ, our peace offering. He bore the fire of
God's fierce wrath for us. He endured the fire of hell as
our substitute. By his death, under the vengeance
of God's holy wrath, he obtained peace. Now turn over to chapter
nine, Leviticus nine. This ever-burning fire portrayed
the burning fury of God's wrath against sin. The infinite burning
fury of divine wrath that fell upon our Savior when he was made
sin for us was first lit by God himself. Look at verse 22, Leviticus
nine. Aaron lifted up his hand toward
the people and blessed them and came down from offering the sin
offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And
Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of the congregation
and came out. Moses, the law. Aaron, the priest. Moses, the requirement. Aaron,
the satisfaction. Moses, who demands punishment. Aaron, who offered a sacrifice
for punishment, came out together and blessed the people. What
a word. Are you saying, Brother Don,
that God's law and his grace, God's justice and his mercy,
God's truth and his goodness are those things by which we
are blessed in Christ? That's what he's saying. Moses
and Aaron, Moses being satisfied, Aaron making satisfaction, comes
out and blesses the congregation. And the glory of the Lord appeared
unto all. And there came a fire out from
before the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering
and the fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted and
fell on their faces. Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu
in the next chapter, Leviticus 10, despised God's sacrifice. They despised God's provision.
They despised the fire that God had lit upon his altar. And they
presumed to come to God, presumed to be accepted of God, presumed
to find favor with God because of something they decided to
bring to God. And for that, the Lord God killed
them in the holy place. Be warned, be warned. Nadab and Abihu were justly slain
because no sacrifice of man can ever satisfy the justice of God. The very fire that consumed God's
sacrifice consumed Nadab and Abihu. the very justice of God
that consumed his darling son, our sacrifice, the sacrifice
that God required, the sacrifice God gave, the sacrifice God has
accepted, that very same fire will forever consume everyone
who despises God's sacrifice and presumes to find acceptance
with God on his own grounds. by his own works, by his own
sacrifice, no matter what it is. Now, look at verse 13 for
just a minute. And understand that the perpetuity
of this fire is intended to teach us that the fire of God's wrath
has no end. The fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar. It shall never go out. Throughout
this instructive passage, we're constantly reminded that the
fire of God's wrath has no end. Three times in one chapter, Mark
chapter 9, our Lord Jesus declared that in hell, the worm dies not. and the fire is not quenched.
I have no doubt at all he's referring specifically to these commandments
given in Leviticus 6, 8 through 13. The eternal justice of God
will never cease to find fuel for the fire of his wrath in
hell. It is written, the wrath of God
abideth. Let every sinner tremble. The
wrath of God is infinite. That means hell is forever. Hell is forever. Would to God
we halfway believe what I just declared. Would to God we halfway believe,
sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers,
are running fast as they can to hell and are but a heartbeat
away. And hell is forever. Hell is forever. But I can't send you home with
that. So I'll close my message by reminding you that God himself
has put out the fire. The Lord Jesus Christ has forever
satisfied the wrath of God. He is that one sacrifice which,
when consumed by the fire of God's holy justice, has consumed
the fire. And now the holy Lord God will never cease to find complete
satisfaction for his holy justice in his darling son. Because Christ
has forever satisfied the wrath and justice of God, God's word
to every believing sinner is this, fury is not in me. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. No condemnation now, none tomorrow,
none forever, no possibility of condemnation. For what the
law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending
his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in
the flesh, isn't that? God is just to justify us and
declares to his people, fury is not in me. Let us walk before
God, conscious of his great mercy and grace, conscious of the fury
of his wrath, declaring to sinners, mercy and grace in Christ the
Lord, and conscious of the glory set before us in the hope of
glory, in everlasting bliss, because the fire of God's wrath
is satisfied in his darling son. The apostle closes the book of
Hebrews with this benediction. Let me give it to you, and then
we'll sing a hymn. Now the God of peace that brought
again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of
the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every good work to do his will. working
in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.