I want to read, beginning here
in Leviticus 1, down through verse 9. Leviticus 1, verses
1-9. This is the sacrifice of the
burnt offering. And the Lord called unto Moses,
and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation,
saying, Speaking to the children of Israel, and saying to them,
If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, He shall bring
the offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock.
If his offering be a burnt offering of the herd, let him offer a
male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own
voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before the Lord. He shall put his hand upon the
head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him
to make an atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock
before the Lord, and the priest Aaron's son shall bring the blood,
and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is
by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall
flay the burnt offering, and cut it into his pieces, and the
sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire upon the altar, and
lay the wood in order upon the fire, and the priest Aaron's
son shall lay the parts the head and the fat in order upon the
wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar. But his inwards
and his legs shall be washed with water, and the priest shall
burn all on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice and an offering
made by fire, a sweet savor unto the Lord." Now, we won't say
anything much particular about this, but I want to look at this
burnt offering mainly in general. Now, I know what I was thinking
today as I thought about us gathering here. I know what the world is
saying. I know what the world is saying
about preaching. I know what the world is saying about Bible
studies. The world has got a very, very distaste right now for the
Bible, for teaching. They don't want to be preached
to. The world is telling everybody now, stop preaching to us. They
disdain even to think that we are gathered here this evening
to open this Bible and look at it. And one of the things that
they say is, we've got all kinds of problems. Look at the problems
in our schools, look at the problems in our community, in the world,
and you fellas get together and study an old book. What use is
it? It's a waste of time when we
can get together and put our minds together and try to figure
out community problems. Well, communities are always
going to have their problems, aren't they? There's been better men
than us that have tried all their life to straighten out the problems
of this world, and they've been very disappointed. If you got
everybody together and put their minds together and spent 100%
of their time trying to straighten out the world's problems, everybody
in the end would be disappointed. Because everybody, for as long
as this world has stood, has tried to straighten out this
world's problems. And why should you and I come here and try to
straighten out the problems of this community or the state of
Indiana? It would be useless, wouldn't
it? Now, even some believers bless
their hearts and this evil thought comes into our mind. Bruce, we
have these epistles. We have the Sermon on the Mount.
We have plain teaching in the New Testament that we could go
concentrate on and study on. Why would you want to go to the
book of Leviticus and study these shadows and these types? What
good can this possibly do us? Don't this evil thought come
into our heads sometimes? I can answer that question this
way. Our faith is in the Son of God. We are saved by faith in Him. We live by faith upon Him. We walk by faith in Him. And
these shadows and these types and these pictures are shadows
and types and pictures of Him. And when we see Him in these
shadows, what does it do? It strengthens our faith. We
can't walk by sight. We can't walk by feelings. We
have to walk by faith. You and I have a life beyond
this life, don't we? We have a life that's above.
We have a hope beyond this world. And these things strengthen our
faith. It increases our understanding,
and it enlightens our hope. That's why we come here, to look
at these things, because these shadows, they're shadows, just
they're shadows, but they're shadows of good things. the shadows
of redemption that's in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's why
we come here tonight to look at this beginning here in the
book of Leviticus, the burnt offering. Now we're told here
in verse 1 that the Lord spoke to Moses out of the tabernacle.
Probably the last type of exodus. If we could have went on through
there, Utah saw the Lord instructed Moses to build this tabernacle. Most of you have seen pictures
of it inside the tabernacle and out. If you don't have a picture
of the tabernacle, get you one and look at it and see what it
looked like. He had set it all up, and now they were ready to
begin using it. The glory of God had come down
upon this tabernacle. This cloud filled it. Moses couldn't
even go in for a while because the glory of the Lord filled
this tabernacle. All during the wanderings in
the wilderness, this cloud stayed upon this tabernacle. When the
cloud moved, they took down the tabernacle and moved. Of the
night, there was a fire upon this tabernacle. It was the presence,
the shekinah glory of God. And now in verse 1, the Lord
God speaks to Moses out of this tabernacle. and he instructs
him concerning this offering. And the first offering we have
written about here in Leviticus is this burnt offering. This
whole chapter is one of the burnt offerings. Probably the oldest
offering there is, is the burnt offering. Remember when Noah
got out of the ark and he took the clean animals and he built
an altar, and the Bible says that he offered a burnt offering
to the Lord. And probably the offering that
Abel offered was probably a burnt offering because it was said
that he brought the sacrifice with the fat thereof. And the
reason he brought the fat was to burn it. So this is one of
the oldest, if not the oldest, sacrifice of all the sacrifices. The peace offerings, the sin
offerings, this is the burnt offering. I want to see some
things in this offering right quickly. And the first thing
I want to see here is found in verse 2, where they were to get
this sacrifice. We know these things. But hearing
them again, if we can get a hold of it by the arms of faith and
embrace who we see in it, it will help us. Where was this
sacrifice to come from? Where were they to get it at?
What he says there in verse 2, specifically, of the cattle,
even of the herd. It was to come out of the herd. Specifically from the herd. have a lamb or a bullock or a
goat and keep it up, separate it, and then when it comes time
to bring the fat calf or the bull out and sacrifice it, it
was to be among the herd, especially and particularly. Now, what does
this teach us? Well, it teaches us something
of the humanity of the Lord Jesus Christ. What did Moses say of
Christ the Savior? Listen to Deuteronomy chapter
18 and verse 15. The Lord thy God will raise you
up a prophet from the midst of you, like unto your brethren. Hymns shall you hear in all things.
Jesus Christ was not kept separate from everybody else. He wasn't
kept up away from the public. The Scripture says He came to
His own. He was born of a Jew. He lived
among that nation. He went in and out among that
nation, did many miracles among them. He was taken out of and
from His brethren. The Pharisees called Him a Samaritan,
didn't they? But He wasn't a Samaritan. He
was born a Jew, he lived in Judea, and that's where he died, in
Judea. He was a sacrifice taken out
from among his Jewish brother. Now that tells us something,
doesn't it? That tells us he was a human being. That tells
us that he was just like everybody else, sin accepted. I know he
was born to the virgin, so necessary to be born to the virgin. We
know that He was Immanuel, God with us. We know He came down
from heaven. We know He's the Creator, He's
the Sustainer. But He's something else too,
isn't He? He's a man. He was taken out from the midst
of His brethren. He was a real human being. And
in the light of that, look in verse 3. The first thing we see
then, He was real in His humanity. He lived among His brethren.
If his offering be of the burnt sacrifice of the herd," look
at this, "...let him offer a male without blemish." You and I are
so familiar with this, if we're not careful, we'll look over
it. But Jesus Christ was to be without blemish outwardly and
inwardly. Did you notice down there in
verse 9, in verse 7 through verse 9, beginning of verse 6, how
they were to fray the sacrifice. They were to divide it, they
were to skin it, and then cut its head off, they were to gut
it, wash its inward parts, and then burn it all upon the altar.
If they were to take this sacrifice and gut it, and they found some
secret cancers within it, It all had to be disposed of. It
couldn't be offered. It had to be a sacrifice without
blemish within and without. Now, isn't that the way Jesus
Christ is? We know that He was holy outwardly. He said, which of you convinces
me of sin? The Pharisees called Him a devil.
They called Him a sinner, a Samaritan. But He said, okay. He said, which
one of you have seen Me break the law? Which one of you have
heard me say anything that wasn't pleasing to the Father in heaven? Can any of you convince me of
sin? No. He had no outward sin. Peter said, we've been among
with Him for three and a half years, no guile has ever came
out of His mouth. Nobody's seen Him do anything
because He's never done anything that's wrong. He's never sinned.
That's one thing. But I tell you, within His heart,
There was no sin. His motives corresponded with
his conduct. Everything he did was God honoring,
magnified his law without, because everything he did from his heart
was for God's glory. It was from the proper and real
motives. He said to his father there in
John 17, Father, I have glorified you on I have finished the work which
thou hast called me to do." We hear this so much and we're so
familiar with it, but he's nothing like us in this sense, is he?
You would almost feel intimidated thinking about being around him
until you were around him and realized you were welcome. But
to think of somebody being holy, without blame, without sin, inwardly
and outwardly, we can't relate to that. When you start talking
about that, what does it do? You just almost shut your mind
off. It just goes over your head. Why? We can't relate. It had
to be perfect to be accepted. It had to be without blemish.
Inside and without. The third thing we see is this.
We are in verse 3. The offering, the man who brought
this offering, was said in verse 3 that he had to do it of his
own voluntary will. He couldn't be forced to do it.
He couldn't be intimidated into doing it. He couldn't do it out
of necessity. Now, if you sinned and you had
to bring a sacrifice to have your sins put away, but you couldn't
do it just out of necessity. You couldn't say, well, I've
got to do it. I don't really want to go up there. But if I
don't do it, I'm going to be charged. It had to be done voluntarily. It had to be done with delight.
That's what this word means. Delight with pleasure, with desire,
even with zeal. You couldn't offer a secret sacrifice. There's no such thing as offering
a secret sacrifice. You couldn't slip in at the back
of the sanctuary and, shh, come over here, I've got something
I want you to offer. You can't do it. It had to be openly, it
had to be voluntarily. Now what does that tell us about
the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, nobody takes my life from
me. Is that what he said? Nobody
takes my life from me. I lay it down on myself. He not only was the sacrifice,
but He was the One who was offering Himself. And the Scripture says
that He did it willingly. I want to show you a couple of
Scriptures. Look in Psalms chapter 40. You'll remember that the
writer of Hebrews quoted these passages over in Hebrews chapter
10. When you think of the Lord Jesus
Christ coming to this earth, and living and dying. It wasn't
out of necessity. Though if he hadn't have done
it, he would have all perished. But that's not the first motive.
He done it voluntarily, with delight, with pleasure. He says
here in Psalms, chapter 40, and look in verse 6. Sacrifice and
offering thou did not desire, mine ears hast thou opened. Burn
offering and sin offering hast thou not required, then said
I, Lo, I come." This is Christ speaking. In the volume of the
book, it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God, yea,
thy law is within my heart. I delight to do thy will. My zeal, he said, the zeal for
my Father's house has eaten me up. I long to do my Father's
will. That's my meat, he said, didn't
he? That's my longing, my life, is to do my Father's will. He
did this in a voluntary way. No man forces me. I don't do
it just out of necessity. It's voluntary. Voluntary. How often do you and I do things?
Are you like me? You do something you know that
it's God's will because the Word says it's God's will, but you
have to force yourself to do it. Have you ever found yourself
doing that? I tell you, on a cold night like
this, if I wasn't teaching, I'd probably have to force myself
to get out and come here. Sometimes you have to pray, Lord,
give me a will. Give me a will. He never did
have to pray this. He never did. Oh, his heart. Thy law is within my heart. I delight to do Thy will. Oh,
my God! Everything that He did, never
was it forced. It was all voluntarily. Even
going to the cross. Even taking our sins. For the
joy that was set before Him. What joy was that? If nothing
else, the joy of doing His Father's will. I delight to do Thy will. My God! Necessary. Necessary, yes, but
voluntary. Voluntary. Of His own voluntary
will. Look back in our text again in
verse 3. Leviticus chapter 1 and look
in verse 3 again. Look how this was done openly
in verse 2. not only of his voluntary will,
but he was to offer this sacrifice at the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation. They never killed any animal
within the confines of the tabernacle. Everything was done outside the
tabernacle. There was a fence around the
whole tabernacle area, but you could stand there with your arms
on the fence and observe everything that was happening. This was
all done publicly. It was all done in the open. As I said a minute ago, no secret
sacrifices. No slipping one to the priest
and saying, would you offer this? I don't want anybody to know
it. No, it had to be done publicly. And Jesus Christ, Paul said,
was not crucified in a corner. They've estimated when the Lord
Jesus was crucified there upon Calvary, You hear estimations
it was the Passover. Remember the Passover? And at
these feasts, there were hundreds of thousands of Jews that came
from all over the world to these feasts, especially the Passover. You remember in Acts 2 at the
day of Pentecost? There were 16 or 18 nations there
that day. Remember that? And it's been
estimated that when the Lord hung on the cross, there were
somewhere between 200,000 and a million people in and around
the city of Jerusalem at this Passover. So He was crucified
publicly. They came by the multitudes and
sat down and they watched Him there. And remember when Paul
was preaching to Agrippa? And Grimper said, almost you
persuade me to be a Christian. Remember what Paul told him.
He said, I'm persuaded that you believe the Scriptures that I'm
preaching to you concerning the death of Jesus Christ. He said,
you know of these things, because these things were not done in
a corner. In a corner. They weren't done
in the dark. They weren't done in secret.
They were done openly. Everybody saw the Lord Jesus
Christ. hanging up on Calvary's tree. And yet our text here in
verse 3 says this. Look at this. He shall offer it of his own
voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before the Lord. It was to be offered before the
Lord. Now, this is probably one of
the most important things that I'll say here this afternoon.
This all was to be done before the Lord, before the Father in
heaven, Jehovah God. Verse 6 tells us the same thing.
It all had to be done before God. And everything that Christ
did, everything He did in His life, the miracles that He performed,
all the trials that He faced, all the sufferings and His death
upon the cross, it was all done before the Father. Now listen
to two or three passages. John 8, 29. He that sent me is
with me. The Father hath not left me alone. Now listen to this. For I do
always those things that please Him. I do everything that I do,
and everything I do, He knows it. He is watching me. His eye is upon me. How do we
know that? Because He says He's pleased.
He's pleased with everything I do. God knows everything the
Son did. And what did the Father say?
I'm pleased. I'm pleased. He did His all before
the Father. John 14, 31, the Lord Jesus said
that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the
Father hath gave me commandment, even so I do. The Father commanded me to do
these things And I do them. I came to do the will of Him
that sent me. I have glorified thee. I have
finished the work that you sent me to do. Isn't this an amazing
thing? A man on this earth is so perfect
that he can perfectly perform all the will of God who is in
heaven. Now, that's amazing, isn't it?
He can do everything he did before God his Father, and the Father
looks upon him and says, My son, My son, in you I am well pleased. I have given you all these things
to do, and you have indeed finished it. You have finished the work. The work of Christ was not only
voluntary, But it was all done before the watchful eye of His
heavenly Father. When you and I think of the work
of redemption that Jesus Christ has accomplished, we must first
and foremost remember that it was done for God. It was done for God. Remember what old Scott Richardson
used to say, that God had to do something for Hisself? before
He could do something for us. Jesus Christ's work upon the
cross and His life lived was first and foremost for the Father
and to the Father. It was done for Him. God saw of the travail of His
soul. And what did the Scripture say?
Satisfied. Satisfied. How did God know that? He was watching Him. He was looking
at Him. And notice the Father's attitude here towards this sacrifice. In verse 9 and verse 13 and verse
17, all three of these verses in respect to these sacrifices,
the Scripture says here, look in verse 9, in the last portion,
that offering made by fire, a sweet savor unto the Lord. A sweet savor. Now, I don't know
if you've ever smelt burning flesh. It's not a sweet smell
in savorism. And I think there's a reason
that he chose these animal sacrifices. Because in the natural smell,
it's repulsive. It's repulsive. Isn't that the
way the gospel is to the natural man? It's repulsive. But to God. The gospel of Christ, the death
of Christ, the suffering of Christ, is sweet. It's a sweet perfume. And that's the way the Father
thinks of His Son. We often think of the cross where
Christ's love for us was manifested. And bless God it was, wasn't
it? We love that. That's where His
love for us was manifested. But more than that, it's where
Christ's love for His Father and the Father's love for His
Son was told in language that only they can understand. No
man knows the Father. No man knows the Son. Now listen
to this. No man knows the Son, but the Father. No man knows
the depths of love and obedience and delight that's in the heart
of the Son for the Father, but the Father Himself. There is
a love that Christ has for His Father. There is an obedience
that Christ has for His Father and His Father's will that you
and I can't even enter into. Only the Father knows it. No
man knows the Son but the Father. And He says no man knows the
Father but the Son. No man knows the love and the
delight and the satisfaction of the Father for the Son but
the Son Himself. Only they can enter into the
love that they have one for another. When the Son says, I delight
to do thy will, we read those words, but who can enter into
the deaf soul? I delight to do thy will. And who can enter into this?
Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life. The Father loves me, but to what
degree? To what depths does the Father
love him? It is deeper than you and I can
begin to imagine or apprehend the love, the delight that they
have one for another. How often do we read such language
as this? A voice spake from heaven, saying,
This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. We read that language, but you
think upon that. You think of God speaking from
heaven and making such a statement concerning His Son. This is My
Beloved Son. I'm pleased Behold my servant
whom I have chosen, my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. And again in Isaiah 42, 1, Behold
my servant whom I uphold, my elect, in whom my soul delighteth. My soul delighteth. My soul approves
of. My soul is satisfied in. My soul
rejoices. I am made happy. That's what
that word means. I delight in Him. And you could
say this in a way. We may not be able to grasp this
because of God, of who He is, but in a sense, there is a sense
in which God thinks upon nothing else or nobody else but His Son. He's the delight of His heart.
From all eternity, He said, I had glory with you. And now He's
coming as humanity. And the father's feeling, if
anything, increases for him when he saw him going about doing
his will and giving his life and laying it down. Oh, he said,
my son, I love you. I love you. I love you. Sit on my right hand. Sit on
my right hand. That place is reserved for one
man, ain't it? The man Christ Jesus. My son
sits here. until I have saved all your people
and made all your enemies your footstool." I wonder if some
of the nagging doubts and some of the distrust and mistrust
that we have for our Lord's redeeming work, if that would be dispelled
if we looked at the cross this way. Not first and foremost on
our behalf, but look at it first and foremost on the Father's
behalf. How did the father feel about his son? How did the son
feel towards his father? I think if we look at it that
way, some of these nagging doubts and fears that we have, some
of this looking within us, would probably be dispelled. Look first
then, how did the father feel about his son? How did the father
feel about the sacrifice? He accepted it. He delights in
it. If He delights in it, if He is
accepted, if He glories in His Son, then can't we? It brings us now to verse 4. And
this is something natural. I think it just brings us here
naturally. Verse 4. And He shall put His hand upon
the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for
Him to make an atonement for Him. The man that brought this
offering He was to put his hand upon the head of the sacrifice. Now, this means two things when
they did that. First of all, it means identification. He put his head upon the head
of the sacrifice. And the offerer and the offering
became one. When this poor Jew who had sinned
brought this bullock and put his hand upon its head, He and
the sacrifice became one. He identified with that sacrifice.
When the sacrifice bled and died, He bled and died. Because He
became one with this sacrifice. If His sacrifice was accepted,
then the poor sinner was accepted. Because He identified with this
sacrifice. Now what do we find in the New
Testament? that every believer is one with Jesus Christ. We
have union with the Lord Jesus Christ. We are one in Him and
one with Him. If Christ is accepted of the
Father, then the believer is accepted in Christ because he
is one with Christ and in Christ. If the head is accepted, then
the members are accepted because the head and the members are
one. God cannot accept the head and
reject the members, because the head and the members are one. We are identified with Jesus
Christ. The Apostle Paul says it like
this, I am crucified with Christ. Why, Paul, you're a madman. Festus
is right about you. You're a madman. Much learning
has made you mad. Look at you, you're much alive.
No, he says, I'm crucified with Christ. When Christ went to the
cross, I went there with Him. When He went to the tomb, I went
there with Him. When He raised, I raised with
Him. And now I am seated in heavenly
places in Christ. How could that be said? Identification. Union. Union. Every believer
is one with Jesus Christ. When Christ, who is your life,
shall appear. Then shall you appear with Him
in glory." You have no life anymore, dear child of God. He is your
life. You don't stand before God and
represent yourself. He's already represented you.
And you sat here this afternoon, and you're a believer in the
Lord Jesus Christ. You wretch out your hands of faith, the
heart faith, and you've laid them upon Him, your sacrifice,
Christ and Him crucified, then you're one with Him. You're identified
with Him. And if you live to be 75 years
old, you'll never be any more justified than you are now. You'll never be any more accepted
as you are now, because you're accepted in the Beloved. You're in Him. And you're one
with Him. And what He's done, you've done. Where He is, you are. We get down and we get to look
at ourselves and think we're standing in our own person before
God. But that's just not so. If you've
laid your hands of faith upon Christ and Him crucified, He
is your life. He's everything. before God. And God doesn't look upon you
as an individual. He looks upon you being in His
Son. When He sees me, He sees the blood of the Lamb. He doesn't
look upon me in my frailty and my sinfulness, but He looks upon
me as I really am in the Lord Jesus Christ. So that's the first
thing this means. Put your hand upon the head of
the sacrifice. That means you're identified
with it. Secondly, when they placed their hands upon the head
of the sacrifice, it also meant something else. Not only that
they became one with Him, but it means they transferred their
sins to this bullock. Look over here in Leviticus chapter
16 and close it. Leviticus chapter 16. This is the Day of Atonement
where they offered the goats. One of the goats they would take
in and offer him for a sacrifice, and the other one they would
let go. And some of the commentaries, they say, you know, that you
just can't represent Jesus Christ by these shadows and ties, because
what He's done, who He is, too wondrous. They always fall short. So on the Day of Atonement, it
took two goats to represent the Lord Jesus Christ. One of them
was the goat that was sacrificed, shed his blood, sprinkled the
altar with his blood. And the other one, they let go.
So it took two goats. Same way with the bird. One bird,
they put it on the water and killed it, washed and let the
blood come on the live goat. Then they turned the live bird
loose and he flew into heaven. It's hard to look at these types
and find the perfect type. You just can't do it. But here's
what they did on the Day of Atonement. Verse 21. And Aaron shall lay
both his hands upon the head of the live goat. Why did he
do that? And confess over him all the
iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions,
and all their sins. I don't know how long this would
have took, do you? I mean, if they got particular, it's going
to take a while, wouldn't it? I don't know how they did this.
But he stood there with his hands on that goat, confessing the
sins and iniquities and the transgressions. "...putting them upon the head
of the goat." Now, ain't that amazing? Ain't that amazing? "...and shall send him away by
the hand of a fit man, there's Christ, into the wilderness.
That was a place that wasn't inhabited. And the goat shall
bear upon him all the iniquities unto a land not inhabited, and
he shall let the goat go in the wilderness. Took him so far out into the
wilderness where nobody was. He could never find his way back.
And I imagine he died there. Probably starved to death for
lack of food and water. But that's Jesus Christ. He took
our sins. God laid them upon Him. And He
bore our sins away. He bore them away. The Scripture
says He throwed them behind His back. He put them in the depths
of the sea. And His meaning is He took them
away. There is a sense in which this
has already been done. And there is a sense now in which
we do it. When our conscience is bowed
down with its guilt, when our spirits are heavy with the knowledge
of our sins, what do we do? Go to the hands of faith and
lay them again upon Jesus Christ, your substitute. Take them and
put them on Him. And say, they can't be in two
places at the same time. If they're on Him, they can't
be on me. If they're on Him, then they're
gone. Believe that and be done with it. And don't carry the
guilt around and look like an old long-faced horse all the
time. Put your hands on the head of
the sacrifice. Any questions?