The Law of the Burnt Offering: Ashes & Perpetual Fire | Leviticus 6:8-13 | Christian Swanson

In the book of Jeremiah chapter 23 verse 29, we read, is not my word like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. Is not my word like a fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces. Here, it is the Lord himself testifying about his word. Is not my word like fire? Fire burns.

Fire consumes. Fire purifies. The first part of this verse makes me think of the risen Christ who after the resurrection appears to two disciples, two men on the road to Emmaus. And he opens the scriptures to them. And afterwards, they look at one another and they say, did not our hearts burn within us scriptures.

Have you ever felt that burning, the burning of the fire of the word of God in your heart? And God's word is like a hammer, a hammer that breaketh the rock into pieces. God's word is more than able to smash any and all idols in your life. God's word is more than able to break the bondage of sin off of you and usher you into the freedom that is only found in Jesus Christ. God's word, it's able to build you up, strengthen you, renew you, fortify you, and equip you for every good work in the Lord.

And this is the word we get to come to tonight. So what a joy What a privilege, what an honor. I'm so thankful to be here with you all and to open God's word together. So let's prepare our hearts to hear from him through his word. And let's pray one more time.

Let's seek the Lord together one more time in prayer and ask him for his help. Oh, heavenly father, we know, oh, Lord, that you are carefully watching over your word, that you are eager to perform your word. And we ask that you fall on your word tonight. We ask that you counsel us through your word, strengthen us, build us up, oh God. Midst, Lord.

Just get rid of any distractions. Help there to be focus on your word. Focus on Christ. May Christ be praised tonight. And help me, Lord.

Set a guard, oh Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Help me to decrease and Christ to increase. In Jesus' name, amen. Chapter one first.

Let's take a moment before we delve into our main to refresh ourselves a little bit concerning the book of Leviticus. Let's remove any cobwebs we may or may not have accumulated in our minds, and let's try and best orient ourselves to get the most out of our time together tonight. So the book of Leviticus, it can be thought of as a sequel to the book of Exodus. Remember, Exodus ends with Moses and the people of Israel assembling and erecting the tabernacle. They build this tent of meeting all according to God's instruction, God's guidelines.

And once this structure is standing, God's glory falls upon the tabernacle. God's glory fills this tentative meeting. And that's how Exodus comes to an end. And then we come here to the book of Leviticus. And it's here where God is essentially saying all throughout the book, I am holy.

Want to dwell with you, oh, Israel. I want my glory to reside with you. I want my glory to remain here. But you must never forget that I am holy. There's no unrighteousness in me.

So in order for that to happen, in order for me to dwell with you, this is what you must do. These are my rules. These are my laws. This is my instruction. Uphold this that I teach you today, oh Israel, that I may remain with you.

So let's look at chapter one of Leviticus verses one and two. Chapter one verses one and two. Here we read, the Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting saying, speak to the people of Israel and say to them, when any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. This is how Leviticus begins. God speaks to Moses and Moses is to relay this message to all of the people of Israel.

God wants all of Israel to hear what he has to say. And in the first seven chapters, chapters one through seven of Leviticus, they focus on laws concerning sacrifices. These are specific laws from God concerning different offerings that the people of Israel are to make to the Lord through the sons of Aaron, through the Levitical priesthood. And in this, God is essentially telling Israel in these first seven chapters, this is how this is how you are to worship me. And does anyone know how many offerings, how many different sacrifices we see in these first seven chapters?

Five. There's five main sacrifices in these first seven chapters. Some people argue there's more than five because towards the end of these seven chapters, there are some instructions specific to the priests for what they are to offer to the Lord on their day of ordination. But overall, when you look at these chapters, there's five main offerings laid out for us here. And these offerings are presented to us in this order.

We first receive instructions from the Lord about the burnt offerings. Then we receive instruction for the grain offerings, and then the peace offerings, and then the sin offerings, and lastly, the guilt offerings. And now we won't have time. We really won't be going over all these offerings tonight. But I do pray that this study would wet your appetite so that in your own time with the Lord, sacrifices.

We can learn about God's holiness. We can learn about the severity of sin. Maintain God's presence. And this is so important. All five of these offerings, all five of these sacrifices, they're all foreshadowings of Jesus Christ.

All five of them are types and symbols of Christ. But we are, however, going to look at the first one. I want to look at the burnt offering together because this offering, it shows up in our main text. We're gonna see it here in a moment in chapter six. So let's take a moment.

Let's get an understanding regarding the burnt offering before we come to our main text. Verse three. We read one and two. Verse three, and we're gonna read three through nine here. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish.

He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting that he may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. And the sons of Aaron, the priest, shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire.

And Aaron's sons, the priest, shall arrange the pieces, the head and the fat and the wood that is on the fire on the altar, but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. And the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. So a couple other things to note, some other important information for you is that the burnt offering was more or less a voluntary offering. And what I mean by that is God did mandate certain times for the priests to offer a burnt offering to the Lord on behalf of the entire assembly. And we're going to see that soon in chapter six, an example of that.

But just so you have an understanding, the priests, they were to offer a burnt offering, again, for the whole congregation, every morning and every evening, every Sabbath and on major feast days. But in general, as an individual Israelites, no one was going to force you to make this offering. Scripture as a free will offering. Meaning, you are choosing of your own free will to make this offering to the Lord. From the people.

But the Lord really is a true gentleman, isn't he? He's not interested in forcing you to do any thing. That we just read in verses three through nine. And as we read in verse three, the burnt offering had to be a male without blemish. Often this was a It could also be a sheep or a goat.

But if you were living in poverty, if you were poor, it could be a pigeon or a turtle dove. That would also be accepted. But let's imagine this now. You're in Israelite and you hear Moses declaring these words over you and you say in your heart, I want that. I wanna worship you, Lord.

I wanna worship you as you desire to be worshiped. So you then had to scour your flock. You had to search your flock and select a male without blemish. And you would lead this animal to the tabernacle. And when you arrive, you would wait at the entrance mean that you were, for one, supposed to check one more time, for the last time, ensure that your sacrifice was truly without blemish.

Within your means. Meaning that if you could easily afford a bowl, if you are a very wealthy Israelite, and you're trying to offer to the Lord a pigeon as a burnt offering, is this a joke to you? That will not please the Lord. You're not following the word of the Lord. So you're at the entrance of the tent of meeting and your sacrifice is accepted.

You then lead your animal inside and now you have to lay your hand on the head of the animal. That laying on the of the hands is very important. This laying on of the hands was declaring, this is my sacrifice. This is for me, Lord. This is from me, Lord.

And this act signifies substitution. This was a substitutionary act. For we read in verse four that one of the purposes of the burnt offering was atonement. So look at verse four again. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him.

But I believe, when you look at the entirety of this passage, when you look at the entirety of this passage that the burnt offering, it was more than just seeking God for atonement. Because we also read at the end of verse nine that the burnt offering, it was one of the food offerings. It was an offering that brought a pleasing aroma to the Lord. So if this whole process, if this procedure was done correctly, this was a profound act of worship. I believe that throughout this process, the worshiper would be saying in their heart, in their own heart, Lord, you alone are God.

And I desperately want to draw near to you. I want to commune with you. I want to fellowship with you. I want to be with you. I want to worship you.

But I know that none of this can happen without a tone for your whole and I'm a sinner. I fall short of the glory of God. So here's this animal in my place. Here's my sacrifice. May my sacrifice be a pleasing aroma to you.

And it appears you of the wrath that I deserve. Take this spotless, slay the animal. You had to spill its blood. And the priests, they would catch the blood, and they would throw that blood against the sides of the altar. And again, that's very important.

The Bible tells us that there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood. And we read that the entire animal was to be burned. The entire animal was to be consumed in the flames. Now if you go to Leviticus six seven or I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

Leviticus seven eight rather, You see that the hide of the animal, the skin, that was actually given to the priest. The hide was for them. That was given to them. But the rest of it, all else was to be burned. Nothing was to be kept.

Offer. And you just see Christ everywhere in this. This is such a foreshadowing of Christ. Christ is seen so clearly in these verses. A male without blemish, that was what was to be sacrificed.

Christ was without any blemish internally, externally. He knew no sin. He was fully God yet fully man. First Peter chapter one starting in verse 17, we read, and if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile, knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot. Like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

You see, if you don't have an understanding of Leviticus, a lot of the things you see in the New Testament are going to be a little confusing to you. It's very important that you understand this book. We mentioned here too, there's this profound substitutionary effect happening here in the burnt offering. And that too, of course, points to Christ. The worshiper was to lay their hand on the animal's head identifying that this was indeed his sacrifice, this was indeed his substitute.

Symbolically, the sinful life of the Israelite was committed to that animal and its death and shed blood brought forth atonement. Turn with me to Mark chapter 14 verse 46. Mark 14 verse 46. This is hours before the crucifixion of Hours before the crucifixion. This is when Jesus is arrested in the garden of and they laid hands on him and seized him.

And they laid hands on him. That short verse really ministered to my heart when I came across it studying for tonight. Because I just imagined the father in heaven watching as this cohort of men laid their hands on his lamb, on his lamb that he provided. And remember too that Christ's own disciples, they try to stop all this from happening. Simon Peter drew his sword and he cut the high priest servant's ear.

And of course, Christ heals that man's ear and he turns to Peter and he says, put your sword into its sheath. Shall I not drink the cup that the father has given me? That's John eighteen eleven. Christ is telling Peter, stop it. Let them come do what they came here to do.

I'm going with them. Let them put their hands on me. Let them lead me to the slaughter. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And like we've already said, the animal's blood was spilled, thrown onto the sides of the altar, for there is no forgiveness of sins without the shedding of blood.

And we, of course, know that Christ's blood was shed. His blood was shed, and it was shed for us. And through Christ's blood, we are cleansed from all our sins. At the very end of verse seven, in first John chapter one, so it's just the end of the verse. It's not the full verse.

First John chapter one verse seven. Towards the end, we read, and the blood of Jesus, and the there's just so much symbolism in Leviticus. There's so much foreshadowing that it's almost overwhelming. When you really sit down to study this and really look into it and dive into this, it's baffling. I mean, I could keep going.

I could show us example after example and and almost overwhelm us tonight, but we have to get to our main text. Before we come to our main text, as I was just pondering this and preparing for tonight, I couldn't stop thinking about second Corinthians five twenty one. We read for our sake, he made him to be sin, who knew no sin. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. Profound verse.

And you see that substitutionary effect clearly in this verse. He who knew no sin became sin. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. You know, that's the gospel, in essence, right there. That you're a sinner.

Don't kid yourself. You are a sinner. By God's standard, we're doomed. We're wretched. We are rightfully deserving of his wrath.

God, the holy and righteous and just one, he must deal with our sin. So that in him, we might become the righteousness of God. My sin, your sin, it was imputed to Christ. And through Christ's perfect sacrifice on the cross. You and I now have atonement.

You and I are now reconciled to God. You and I are now reconciled to God. You and I are now reconciled to God. You and I are now reconciled to God. You and I are now reconciled to God.

You and I are You and I are now reconciled to God. You and I are now reconciled to God. You and I are saved from the wrath to come. For by a single offering, Christ has perfected for all time, all time, those who are being sanctified. Faith in Jesus Christ alone, you are now righteous, even as Christ is righteous.

Let's get to our main text. Leviticus chapter six verses eight through 13. Verse eight because it's a fresh thought here. It's a new beginning. The first seven verses of this chapter continue the thoughts from the previous chapter.

They continue giving insight into the guilt offering. But when you reach verse eight, we come to something new. And we read chapter six, verse eight. The Lord spoke to Moses. This is the law of the burnt offer.

The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning. And the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them beside the altar. Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it.

It shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually. It shall not go out. So firstly, let's look at verses eight and nine again.

And they begin with God speaking to Moses. And the Lord instructs Moses to relay a command to Aaron and his sons. That is the priest. Now on the priests. And the priesthood, they must submit to and follow this command, the law of the burnt offering.

Chapter one. And you see language like we see here. All throughout the book of Lavinia. Of the burnt offering. This is the law of the grain offering.

You see language like this all over Leviticus. So let's pause here. And nine, as we see God commanding, as we see God giving forth the law, the law of the burnt offering. May this be a reminder to us that our God is a law 33, 22. And the verse itself, also very easy to commit to memory.

Memories. Yeah, 33, 22. We the Lord is our law give. The Lord is our He will save us. What a beautiful Here, Isaiah, by the spirit, he lists four different offices of God.

These are four different prerogatives that all belong to the Lord. The Lord is our judge. The Lord is our law giver. The lord is our and the lord is our say your notice though that one of those four, one of those titles that is ascribed to the lord here is that he is a law give. Statement.

Many people do not like that. They don't like that. And that's really what they think of Christianity. Of commands, a list of arbitrary laws, a list of do's and don'ts. And they think this in their life that it doesn't bring forth freedom, that it keeps them from having fun, right?

But they've got it all wrong. Let me remind you of what James tells us. James, in chapter one, verse 25, James one twenty five, we read, but the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty and perseveres. Being no hearer who forgets, but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing. Notice, James states here the perfect law, the law of liberty.

It's true. That God's law, it brings forth true liberty. And really it's God's law through Jesus Christ that brings freedom into the life of his redeemed. Right? Law of sin and death, as Paul puts it in Romans eight, otherwise.

But let's get back to Leviticus. Let's stay on track. Let's stay the course. Remember, God is a law. And in these verses we just read, the Lord is giving the law of the burnt offering.

And throughout these first seven chapters, you see many laws given, many instructions to both the people of Israel and to the priesthood. And much of these instructions are all about worship. Leviticus contains many laws pertaining pertaining to how the Lord wants to be worshipped. Be worshiped. He's not interested in being worshiped like these pagan nations that surround Israel worship their false gods.

Into how to rightly worship the one true and living God. Bring it, what the role of the priest is, what the role of the worshipper is. And this that we observe here in the video. New covenant, you can worship the Lord any time. And you can worship the Lord in any place.

But you can't just do whatever you want and call it worship. You can't just do anything. You understand what I'm saying? And that's true individually, and it's also true corporately, as a corporate body. It's true for the individual.

It's true for the church. So let's look now into Paul's first letter to the church of Corinth. First Corinthians. In first Corinthians, Paul describes towards the end of chapter 14, orderly worship. Paul touches on here what the church's worship is to look like when we, the church, gather together.

He gives many different instructions here for how to worship God as a local body in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord. But they and so when you read this letter, you start to get the picture that when this church, the Church of Corinth, when they would gather together to worship, it kind of became like a free for all. A lot of different things were all happening at once. It became kind of confusing. And God did not like that.

God did not like that. So in this chapter, chapter 14 of first Corinthians, Paul famously tells this church by the spirit in verse 40 of chapter 14, but all things should be done decently and in order. And Paul here, he's really giving a command to all churches everywhere. This applies to the church of Corinth, and this applies to the entire body of Christ. And and go a few verses prior.

Let's look at verse 37 now. Verse 37, now we read, if anyone thinks that he is a prophet or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If anyone does not recognize this, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. If If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. Wow.

Do you think you're a spiritual person? I'd hope so, if you're in Christ, because we're commanded to be filled with the spirit. Be filled with the spirit. And that's that's a daily decision to surrender your will and his will be done. That's a daily decision to grow in God's word and submit to God's word.

That's a daily to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to So if that's you, what Paul is saying here about orderly worship, you must submit to it. Because this is a command of the Lord. And it says, if anyone doesn't regard these words, uphold this, don't even recognize them. Don't even recognize them. They're going against the command of the Lord.

This is very important to God. You know, I saw a clip on YouTube, a few days ago, of a church service. And it really saddened me. And to be honest, it was disturbing in a way. And during this service, there's numerous people throughout the sanctuary.

And they are on the ground rolling around, belly laughing, uncontrollably. Fruit of the spirit is self control. That's a fruit of the spirit, self control. And there's others in the sanctuary. They're they're jumping up and down, and they're screaming and shouting, and people are waving flags, and music is play.

And the prophet or pastor or whatever he was, he would run over here, and he'd lay hands on people, and people would drop to the floor. And then he'd run over here, and he'd declare prophecies over people's lives. And I'm sure you you maybe you've seen something like this, because there's many ministries like this that are very popular. Ministries, who encourage this sort of thing, they'll say things like the Lord is in our midst. I don't see it.

I don't see it. Where's the order? Where's the decency? Our God is not a God of confusion. Our God is a God of peace.

And as we see in the Old Testament and the New Testament, God very much cares about how he is to be worshipped. So let's move on now to the law of the burnt offering. What is this law? What is the law of the burnt offering? Well, as we read in these verses, God is speaking to Aaron and his sons, the priests, through Moses.

So this law is for the priests. Couple different duties laid out for us here in these verses. And all of these different responsibilities comprise the law of the burnt offer. So as we read, the law of the burnt offering states that a burnt offering was to be offered to the Lord every evening. Burning on the hearth, on the altar, all night until the morning.

Ash. And those ashes that accumulate throughout the night, they're to be handled in a very specific way by the priest every single morning. The priests are given a protocol for those ashes. And we're also told many times that the fire on the altar must never go out. We're told a couple of times in these verses, the fire must stay burning.

And lastly, in verse 12, chapter six verse 12, it tells us that the last responsibility essentially was that fresh wood must be placed on the altar every morning and another burnt offering was to be offered with the fat from a peace offering placed on top of it And that was to be her be burned. So all these priestly responsibilities we see in these five verses, that comprises the law of the burnt offering. So let's dive into this. Firstly, let's let's look at the fact that we're told here that every morning, the priest wearing his priestly linen garments had to gather these ashes and set them in a pile beside the altar. But then he had to change his clothes.

Verse 11 states, then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. So the priest, he couldn't wear these linen garments outside of the camp. He couldn't wear those when taking these ashes to the clean place when he was depositing them there. So let's look at this change of wardrobe. Again, first, he's to wear the linen garments.

These verses describe the priestly garments in detail for These verses describe the priestly garments in detail for us. And there's a lot of insight here into their purpose and their meaning. So Exodus 28 verse 40, for Aaron's sons you shall make coats and sashes and caps. You shall make them for glory and beauty. And you shall put them on Aaron your brother and on his sons with him and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them that they may serve me as priests.

You shall make for them linen undergarments to cover their naked flesh. They shall reach from the hips to the thighs, and they shall be on Aaron and on his sons when they go into the tent of meeting or when they come near the altar to minister in the holy place, lest they bear guilt and die. This shall be a statute forever for him and for his offspring after him. So here we see that this attire that we just read about, this was to always be worn by the priests whenever they were inside the tent of meeting or whenever they drew near to the altar to minister. And compliance with this dress code, it was mandatory.

If they failed to follow these instructions, they put their life at risk. For beauty. So when this was all on them, this clothing was beautiful. And this clothing, it gave glory to God. It's shown with God's glory.

Great honor of being those whom God had selected to minister to the Lord on behalf of the people of Israel. So another function that we can easily see that we can easily come to a conclusion in is that these garments, they were to help visually set apart the priests from the layman. So ultimately, this outfit that they're to wear, it was symbolic of being set apart and consecrated to the lord. That's what this clothing really represents. And let's talk about that.

What does it mean to be consecrated to the lord? What does the Bible say about constrictions? What does the Bible say about constrictions? What does the What does the Bible say about consecration? Anyone have any ideas?

Well, consecration, it essentially means to separate oneself. If you're consecrated, you're separating yourself. From what? What are you separating yourself from? From anything that would defile you.

Dirty you. If you're consecrated to the Lord, you're going to be far away from anything that would contaminate you or your relationship with the Lord. That's what it means to be consecrated to the Lord. And when you study consecration in the scriptures, you see that consecration, it's inseparable from holiness. It's inseparable from sanctification, from purity.

These things, they just beautifully blend together. Like these priests who are anointed and ordained to serve God in these holy garments, that if you, if you Christian, if you want to serve God, be used by him, if you want to minister to the you've got to you've got to you've got to you have to endeavor for holiness. Put on holiness. Put on the Lord would muddy your testimony. Anything that would come between you and the Lord.

And consecration, it was necessary for the priests in order to serve God. And in our passage here in chapter six, we see that God does not want the priests wearing those precious garments outside of the tent of meeting. Else. Put on something different when you leave with those. But it's interesting though that they're to keep those on when they're dealing with the dealing with the ash.

And we're ready in a status. That's when they were ministering to the Lord at the altar. So the Lord they're dealing with these ashes at the as a form of ministering to him. Offer. Now, the first thing that came to mind as I was just meditating on these their ashes, they're clearly important to him.

They're very precious to him. I just pictured the Lord who never sleeps, who never slumbers. He's just watching the fire burn all night. He's watching that burnt offering be consumed in those flames and turn to ash. And in the morning, the priests, they had to gather those ashes and they had to set them on the side of the altar and then take them to a clean place.

You know, you can't just throw those ashes away. You can't just toss them to the wind. No. No. No.

They can't stay here because my glory is here in the tent of meeting. Rather take them to a clean place. So in just pondering that, I was just reminded in in thinking about these ashes that if God cares so much about these ashes, how much more you? How much more you who he sent his son to die for? How much more you who are made in his image?

And this is a small little detail. No. He cares about every little detail of your life. Don't think there's ever something too little too small to bring before the Lord. This is a small little detail, isn't it?

There are little Yeah. About you and and may the Lord's heart toward these ashes remind you of his love for you that is far greater. These ashes, they're essentially, you know, the end result of sacrificial, and substitutionary atonement. In order for that atonement, in order for that worship to take place, an animal's blood had to be spilled, and the animal had to be consumed by the fire producing these ashes, resulting in these ashes. And every morning, those ashes must be brought to the ash heap by the priest.

Ashes were added to this heap every morning, daily reminder, a daily reminder, one of of God's holiness, God's holy. And two, that in order to worship him as a holy God, in order to draw near to him, there had to be a costly sacrifice. There had to be this production of ashes. So daily reminder of their need for atonement, a daily reminder of their of their of their to draw near to this holy God through these sacrifices. This.

When they would see the priests carrying these ashes, when they would see this growing pile of ashes, I believe it would remind them that yes, we are Yes, we fall short of the glory of God. Yes, we're in need of a tone. But praises be to the Lord. Praise our God that he's reached out to us. Way for us to worship him.

That he's been he's made a way for us to draw near to him and commune with him through the priesthood and through these sacrifices that we're just not left in despair. Of start to see the cross. Don't you? Also reminds us we're sinners in need of atonement and that God, while we were enemies with him, died for us, and the last point I want to make about these ashes. The last thing I was thinking about as I was swimming in these verses was I put myself in the the priest shoes.

And I began to think about how this wasn't really a glamorous task, right? You're scraping clean an altar. You're dealing with ashes. This was a humbling task. You had to put on normal layman clothing, more or less, and walk them out of the camp to a clean place.

But this was part of the law of the burnt offering. God expected this. God wanted this every morning. He didn't want his alter dirty. And he wanted those ashes taken care of.

And as I thought about this, I thought, wouldn't it be easy for the priest to over time start to view this task as an anointing. Really expect us to do this. Now Now let's draw sticks. Let's figure out whoever draws the shortest stick. They're these ashes, they're precious to God.

And it's a form of ministering to them at the altar. He wants you to keep those linen garments and take those ashes, set them beside the altar. So this was important to him. So if any of those priests started to look at those ashes with contempt, if any of those priests started to have the wrong intentions in their Turn with me to Song of Solomon, chapter two verse 15. Song of Solomon, chapter two verse 15.

We read catch the foxes for us. The little foxes that spoil the vineyards. For our vineyards are in blossom. For our vineyards are in blossom. Song of Solomon, it's a romantic tender conversation between a husband and a wife.

And in that dialogue, we see glimpses of Christ's love for his bride. That's so wise and profound verse. This verse is telling you, keep watch. Up whenever you see them. Round up those little foxes.

Round up any potential threat that would spoil your love in this relationship. Foxes are often tiny little things, often things many overlook. But believe me, they're able, over time, to burn everything down. A little leaven leavens the whole lump. A few dead flies in the perfumers ointment brings forth a stench.

So a little folly outweighs wisdom and honor. So just in pondering that, that caused me to cry out to God. Say, Lord, is there anything in my life that isn't pleasing to you, even a little thing? Even a little thing, Lord. Expose it.

Bring it for us both now that I may repent of it, that I may forsake it, that I may turn from it. Please, Lord, protect me from those little foxes that spoil the vineyard. Lord keep me wholly pleasing to you. And you should do the same tonight. You should look inside your heart, examine yourself this evening.

You know, maybe you're serving the Lord. Yes. But you're not doing so with joy. God wants you to serve him with joy. Maybe there's something small, something small, and you just know your intentions aren't right before the Lord.

God is not pleased with your heart posture in that matter. And ask him to help you. Ask the Lord to help you. Because believe me, if those foxes aren't dealt with soon, they can burn everything down. They can cause destruction and ruin to enter into your life.

That's for certain. But remember, God is so faithful to expose those foxes, to help you catch those foxes, to rid your vineyard of any of those foxes, that your love for him may be pure. That your love for him may be And then and then to the the final topic that I want to spend time going through with you. The final thing I want to look at is the perpetual fire on the alter. The fire on the alter that mustn't go out.

The fire must be kept We're told once in verse nine, once in verse nine, we're told twice in verse 12, and then we're told another two times in verse 13. We're told five times in five verses. That should be a big red That tells us this is very important to God. God really, really cares about this. And this fire on the altar, it's very interesting for a number of reasons.

Firstly, turn with me to Leviticus chapter nine. Just flip a few chapters. Leviticus chapter nine, and we're gonna look at the very end of this chapter. We're gonna start in verse 22. Leviticus nine verse 22.

Then Aaron lifted up his hands toward the people and blessed them. And he came down from offering the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting. And when they came out, they blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.

And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar. And when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. The Lord started the fire on the altar. So this fire, it's often been described by many as heavenly fire. This is the Lord's fire.

He brought it forth. It's a very fascinating thing to study in the. It appears all over the Bible. It's And fire though, it's used to depict many different things. Depending on the context of the verse, fire can symbolize God's judgment.

It can symbolize God's wrath. Cleanse, to purify, to clean. God himself, he often appears as fire. He appeared as a burning bush to Moses. God was a pillar of fire by night to the people of Israel.

The book of Hebrews describes God as an all consuming fire. God, as we heard at the start of the service, he describes his word as fire. And God makes his own ministers to be flames. What about this fire? What about this heavenly fire burning on the altar?

You know, like many things in the scriptures, the Bible never plainly tells symbolizes, what it means. It's not laid out in a black and white fashion for us. So you have to dig, if you want to, if you want to, if you want to, and many different men of God have drawn different truths out of these verses regarding this perpetual fire on the regarding this perpetual fire on the altar. Now for one, the purpose of the fire on the altar was in connection to the sacrifices of the offer. The offerings of the people of his and by God instituting that this fire was to be ever burning on the altar.

I believe it reveals to us that he's always I can bring my sacrifice anytime today. The fire was always ready to receive those offerings during the day. It was always flickering. It was always ready for atonement to be made. Always ready through the shedding of the animal's blood and those sacrifices.

Of course, still true today. God is always ready for you to draw near to him. He's always ready. You can do so even now. You don't have to wait till Sunday.

I'm sure you know that because you're here on a Friday. You can come to him whenever and come just as you are. He's always ready to receive you no matter your condition. He's always ready to receive your worship and your praise of him. And what's so amazing is that as Christians in the new covenant, we don't have to bring a lamb that is without blemish in order to draw near to our God.

Christ, as our sacrificial lamb, Christ, as our great high priest, he's made a way for us to enter the holy of holies through his perfect work on the cross. Secondly, though, I believe it's important to note that it was the priest's duty to keep that fire burning. That was their responsibility. They had to tend to the fire. How long does it take for a fire to go out?

Roaring fire can be smoldering ashes in a few short hours. So these priests, they they almost had to hourly watch the fire. They couldn't be lazy with this. They had to be very attentive to this fire and watch it around the clock twenty four seven all through the night, all through the day. And I'd argue they almost had to be militant.

They had to be organized. They had to be disciplined. They could not neglect the fire. This was very important to God. This is one of their priestly duties, and this is part of the law of the burnt offering that we read here.

Now, did you know that if you're born again, if you're saved in this place tonight, that you're a priest, Turn with me to first Peter chapter two verse nine. First Peter chapter two verse nine. But you are a chosen race, royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. So when you're saved, one of the things that happens is that you become a priest to your God so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who saved you. And as priests in the new covenant, we do not offer animal sacrifices like we see here in the book of Leviticus.

You're still in first Peter. Go to verse five of chapter two, just a few verses prior. Look at verse five now. First Peter chapter two verse five. Spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices.

Spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. So as priests in the new covenant, we now offer to God spiritual sacrifices. What does that mean? What are some examples of that? I'll give you two examples really quickly here.

And I'm telling you all this to make a point about this fire. So bear with me. Your priest and you are to offer spiritual sacrifices to God. Firstly, first example, Romans 12, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. So as a priest, you are to offer your body as a living sacrifice to God.

You know, that God wants all of you. He wants your hands and your feet. He wants your eyes and your ears. He wants your mind. Lord wants your mind.

He wants every part of you. And you're to offer him that as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to him. Another example, Hebrews 13 Hebrews thirteen fifteen. Then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of lips that acknowledges beautiful verse.

Offer to God a sacrifice of praise. I find it very interesting here that the author of Hebrews, he describes praising God here as a sacrifice. Everything in your body, everything in your being, it's telling you now, So whether you like it or not, get ready because it's time to worship the Lord. He's worthy. And you offer to the Lord a sacrifice of praise.

Looks much different from the Levitical priesthood. Our priesthood looks much different from theirs. But I believe we as priests, we can look to these priests of old who had to keep the fire burning, and we can learn from them. We can draw encouragement from them. I believe this perpetual fire, that should motivate us to keep the fire that's on the altar of our heart Lord.

So that we're always ready to offer him our own spiritual sacrifices to stay burning for Christ, all our days, to do all that we can to remain steadfast saved us. So let's look really quickly, this is what I'm getting at. This is what I mean. Luke twelve thirty five. Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning.

Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning. What a great verse. That short verse doesn't remind you of the parable of the wise virgins, the foolish virgins. They cried out, give us some oil for our lamps are going out. Don't be like those foolish virgins.

Keep your lamp burning, Christian. Or another example, first Thessalonians five nineteen, do not quench the spirit. It's another easy verse to memorize, very short. Do not quench the spirit. And to quench, that means to extinguish.

Quench means to put out, like you're putting out a fire. Do not put the work of the Holy Spirit out in your life. No, no, no. Let the spirit burn. So again, just to reiterate, I believe we can safely come to these verses, and they should stir us to remain steadfast to the grow so cold so quickly, can't we?

Tomorrow morning, you can be ice cold already. So imagine with me here now. The priests, they're tending to the fire on the altar, the Levitical priest. They're tending to the fire and the temperature drops, and a cold wind starts to blow through that tent of meeting. And in the distance, those priests, they see dark black clouds quickly coming in on them.

They start to hear roaring thunder. They see flashing lightning and begins to rain and starts to pour. Don't let that fire go out. Five times the Lord said, do not let the fire go out. Chop the wood, feed the flame, protect those flames.

Some people, sadly, all it takes is one bad storm, and any zeal they had for Christ, any any hot flame they had for him, it's gone. It's extinguished. And often, not always, not always, but often, many times, because of that bad storm, they're very angry at God. They're mad at him. They point their finger at him.

They curse him. And I wanna argue here tonight that that scenario, that scenario that's very real in the lives of many, that'd be fairly similar to these priests of old, who in seeing the storm, let that storm put the fire out. And then they come to Moses and they come before him and they come before the Lord and they say, the Lord is sovereign over the weather. The Lord sent that storm. The Lord could have stopped that storm.

It's really him who put it out. It's not me. It's not us. Would that be a valid excuse? Is that gonna cut it on judgment day?

No. No. God said, don't let the fire go out. No matter what, keep that fire burning. But I also I'm very aware, brothers and sisters, I'm very aware that there are also those overwhelmed.

Maybe they feel like the psalmist. And Psalm 42 verse seven. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls. You're weary. You're in despair.

Maybe that's some of you tonight. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 42. Isaiah chapter 42. May this be an encouragement to you if that's you. The verses we read here in this chapter, they're about messiah.

This is about the Lord Jesus. We're gonna start in verse one, the first few verses here. Behold my servant whom I uphold, my chosen in whom my soul delights. I have put my spirit upon him. He will bring forth justice to the nations.

He will not cry aloud or lift up his voice or make it heard in the street, a bruised reed he will not break. And a faintly burning wick he will not quench. He will faithfully bring forth justice. Look at the Lord's heart here towards those who are bruised, those who are faintly burning, those who are weak. His heart is so tender and loving toward them.

Faintly burning wick, he will not quench. The Lord is not looking to break you. He's not looking to snuff you out. And you need to know that he sees it all. Everything you're going through, it's all before him.

And as we just read, he will faithfully bring forth justice. So you can know tonight that justice, it's on its way. Hang on. Keep going. And if that's you, I encourage you, grab a brother or sister here tonight and ask them, won't you help me throw some some logs on my fire?

Encourage one another, strengthen one another, bear one another's burdens? You know, it wasn't just one priest's job to keep that fire burning. They had to work together. And this is the last verse that I want to look at tonight as we come to a close, as we come to a and I actually mentioned this verse earlier in I've read about many of them in books. I read about lots of them in this book.

And when you hear about the affliction, when you hear about the suffering, when you hear about the storms in their life, it makes you When you see them, it's just undeniable that they're burning hot for the Lord. They are a flaming fire. Strials, their fire is growing. They're moving from glory to glory, from strength to strength. They're going brighter and brighter.

And these individuals, these followers of Christ brothers and sisters, they have built all their lives on the firm foundation that is Jisus. And their their witness, it's so powerful, so encouraging to the lives of many. When your house is built on Christ, you can weather any storm. It's not easy. It's not peaches and cream.

It's going to be very hard at times. But you can rest assured tonight that if you've really built everything on the firm foundation that is Jesus the wind can blow and the rain can pour, but the Lord's not going to let that house fall down. He's not And I pray that as we close, we'd all be stirred tonight burn hot for Christ, to fight the good fight, that we would be lamps on a stand, not cover, that we would be cities built on a hill, beacons of light, let's let's let's let's let's Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you for our time together this evening. Glory to you. May we give all glory to you.

May we give all glory seal your word in our hearts tonight, God. Seal this word in our hearts. And bless us, and may you be blessed as we worship you now. In Jesus name. Amen.