The Burnt Offering | Leviticus 1 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (8/2/26)

Good morning, church. It is good to be in the house of the Lord this Sunday morning and worship God together. Let us turn our eyes to God as we read his word in the gospel of John chapter eight beginning in verse 12. Again, Jesus spoke to them saying, I'm the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

So the Pharisees said to him, you are bearing witness about yourself. Your testimony is not true. Jesus answered, even if I do bear witness about myself, my testimony is true. For I know where I came from and where I'm going, but you do not know where I come from or where I'm going. You judge according to the flesh.

I judge no one. Yet even if I do judge, my judgment is true. For it's not alone for it's not I alone who judge, but I and the father who sent me. Let's look at verse 26. I have much to say about you and much to judge, but he who sent me is true, and I declare to the world that I have heard from him.

They did not understand that he had been speaking to them about the father. So Jesus said to them, when you have lifted up the son of man, then you will know that I am he and that I do nothing on my own authority, but speak just as the father taught me. And he who has sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him. Let's pray.

Lord Jesus, it is our heart's desire to be able to say that I do always we do always that things are pleasing to you. But, God, you know our weaknesses. You know our shortcomings. You know our failures, and you are a graceful and a good God. You strengthen us.

You strengthen the weak, and you you raise ups up when we fall, And you forgive us when we confess. And we praise you and we thank you for that. And this morning as we come to worship you, God, we ask you that may our worship be sincere and pleasing to you, and our service is acceptable. In your name we pray. Amen.

Let's stand up to worship the Lord together.

I depend on you. I depend on you. I depend on you. I It's a wonderful thing to sing that we depend on God, but the ultimate way we express that is through prayer. You know that you depend on God when you pray.

And so at this time, let's show that to the Lord and let's pray together, shall we? Bring your weaknesses to Him. Bring your failures. Bring your needs. Bring your thank offering.

Engage your heart in this moment. God in heaven, thank you that we can call you Father. Thank you that you enjoy being our Father. Thank you that you delight in it. Thank you Lord that that is not only a title, that is a reality we get to experience on a daily basis.

And so, Lord, at this time, we rejoice that your word says about the Messiah that a bruised reed, He will not break and a faintly burning wick, He will not quench. Thank you, Lord, that we can come, however we may come, and you are willing to heal us and strengthen us. You do not intend to crush us. You do not desire to hurt us. But even in the things that are painful in our life, they have redemption written all over it.

They have glory behind it. Lord, use the means of this service this morning to remind us how we need you and how we depend on you, and that you never fail us when we do. We ask these things in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen and amen. Good morning to you.

Why don't you turn to somebody and welcome to this Lord's Day service before you are seated? This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. I hope you are glad. And even if you are not glad, even if you're sad, I trust and pray that this service will make you glad.

And so to those who call this place home, welcome to another Lord's Day service. For those who are visiting, a special welcome to you. Thank you for joining us as we've come to seek the Lord in our worship. And one of the ways that we worship is in our giving. And so if it is on your heart to give to God, who is the fountain of all our blessings and who has given us everything that we have, It is a privilege to give to him.

And so the ushers are helping us with that as I speak, and there are ways that you can give, different ways you can give on the screens to my left and to my right. And as always, a special thank you to to you for partnering with us in this way because people tend to think that, money isn't spiritual, and for the believer, it is. Everything becomes holy when we serve God and we live for God. And we wanna let you know that we take every dollar, every penny seriously, and we ask God for his wisdom continually as a church to know how to use what he has given us wisely for the advancement of his kingdom and for eternal purposes. And as that is taking place, I want to just mention a few things, things that you've already heard before, but I want to just start off by saying that we had our first men's breakfast yesterday, and it was a wonderful turnout.

It was a wonderful experience. It was so edifying. I think we had close to 50 brothers, eating together, hearing testimonies, singing together. It was great. Many more to come.

If you missed it, we hope you'll join us for the next one, but I just want to let you know that it was so edifying. I mean, we ended, I think, at twelve officially, and people were still hanging out until one, 01:30. Even beyond that, I had to leave earlier, but people were still there, and that's always a good sign. So we're so grateful for the brotherhood here, and we're looking forward to that fellowship being strengthened as well as the sisters. Maranatha Conference is coming up in a few weeks.

We are officially in the month of August. I can't believe it. We blinked and here we are. You can scan the QR code if you want to know more information about it. Registration to be on-site, has been closed for some time now, but there is still room for the women dorms.

And so if you are somebody who's willing to be in a room with different sisters and stay, in that kind of a context setting, you're more than welcome to register for that. Apart from that, you can always find a place around the conference center where you can lodge and join us for the services. Because of our services, that weekend and every year, 97%, of the church, here at Maranatha goes, there won't be services here in person, but the services will be live streamed. So you can always watch that if you're not coming to the conference this year. So we're excited.

If you're not gonna be there, be praying for that time. If you are gonna be there, please be praying. Be praying for the messages. Be praying for the fellowship, protection, salvation. Everything that we need comes from him.

Besides that, another announcement to make that is important for members, members, we have our members meeting today. And so once the service is over, there'll be some time for you to fellowship downstairs. There's a meal waiting for us. There's pizza, I believe. And, the the official time for the meeting will be 1PM sharp.

So make your way back to the sanctuary at 1PM so that we can, utilize every minute for this very important members meeting. This is our first one in our new home, and there's a lot to cover. So please join us for that. We have our church picnic next Sunday, August 9. That will be after the Lord's Day service as well.

Bring a change of clothes. If you can also bring just a side dish, maybe you want to bring a special, treat for us to enjoy. That's always helpful because, we we always enjoy the food and, people love to eat here. So we need more food for that to, to happen. So please, if you can do that, that'd be great.

If you want to bring activities, you can do that as well. We're looking forward to our I believe this might be our last, picnic, maybe not for the summer, but definitely before the conference. So join us for that. One last thing for, all the moms with your precious babies, just to let you know that if at any point your baby needs to be attended to or you need to, just help them out, there's an a cry room, to my right. You'll see it.

It's behind the screens there in the lobby. There's a room designated for nursing moms. You can always go in and that is a set apart for you and for your little one. At any point in the service, you're free to do that. And lastly, just in case you didn't know, we don't just meet here on Sunday mornings.

We meet here every Wednesday at 7PM. And I have to say, our prayer meetings lately have been incredible. Last week's prayer meeting I mean, it's always powerful. There's never one prayer meeting where I go in and I leave and think, no. It was it was it was it's always powerful, but last week especially, there was there was, it was a genuine move of the spirit in the hearts of God's people crying out to the Lord.

If you were there, maybe you you can, testify to that. But I'm just so incredibly encouraged. We we have visitors coming lately to our prayer meeting, and they're so encouraged to know that this church prays. The prayer meeting is virtually gone in most churches, which is a shame because Jesus said, my house shall be called a house of prayer. And so if we're not praying, what are we doing?

And prayer is the lifeblood to every other ministry, so we're protecting that meeting by God's grace. But if you wanna join us, you can always join us. It's downstairs. There's a prayer moo prayer room in the basement, and, we're there every Wednesday at seven. If you can't join us, send your request.

It would be an honor of ours to pray for you, whatever your prayers, and it can be anonymous as well. So we don't we don't need your name, your information unless you wanna share that, but we wanna partner with you in prayer every Wednesday. Every Friday, we're going through the Old Testament. We're, in the book of Nehemiah here at, in this very sanctuary at 7PM every week, and And as you know, we're here every Sunday at 10:30AM. Today is the Lord's day, but it's also the day where we recognize the Lord's Supper.

And I was reminded of an interesting verse in first Samuel chapter three. And this is just one way hopefully to prepare us to partake of this meal as a family. In first Samuel chapter four, actually, you have Israel at one of their lowest points in their entire history. The priesthood is bankrupt. You have Eli and his sons and they're doing atrocious things in the house of God.

And now the Philistines are going to war with Israel and they're losing the battle. It's getting very ugly and it's only gonna get uglier. But I want you to hear what the nation of Israel decided to do in an attempt to to win this war with the Philistines. It's in first Samuel chapter four verse three. And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines?

Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies. Most translations say it when referring to the Ark of the Covenant. Now in actuality, the ark of the covenant was an object. It was a chess looking piece, but it was much more than that. It symbolized God's presence.

In fact, God's presence manifested from the ark of the covenant. But at this point, because of the spiritual blindness and compromise, the people of Israel referred to the Ark as it when it was meant and designed to connect the people to God himself. God promised to speak from the Ark of the Covenant. God promised to manifest himself from the Ark of the Covenant. But to these people, it's been reduced to a ritual.

It's been reduced to an inanimate thing. It's been reduced to something lifeless. Listen, if we're not careful, we can do the same thing with the church. We can come to a place like this and in reality, we're we're just coming to a room to hear a message. No.

We're actually coming to meet with God. We're coming before God. We can sing and we put all our energy and effort in trying to keep up with the lyrics or we're thinking about the beautiful melody and we fail to remember that we're actually singing before a holy God. We can partake. And we think that we're just grabbing a piece of bread and holding a cup with some juice in it, when in fact, we are fellowshipping with God.

And so I bring this to our attention today to remind us that we are on holy ground this morning. We are on holy ground this morning, and we are coming to meet with the living God. This is not an it thing. It's about him. It's about him.

And so maybe you came in this morning a little foggy in your mind and that's okay. That's why the Word of God chases away all haziness when it is rightly proclaimed and taught. And so I come with you this morning and I want to really engage our hearts to say, Lord, I believe that I am coming before you on this Lord's day and that you see me and that you hear me. He will be honored. You and I will be blessed.

Let's thank him for that. We do thank you, Lord, this morning. Oh, how we thank you this morning that we have decided to do something far greater than coming to a sanctuary. We have decided to do something far greater than just repeating lyrics, even far greater than hearing a sermon. We have come as your people to be the temple of the Holy Spirit and to know something of your presence, to know something of your nearness.

And we pray that that would be a growing reality as we continue to worship you this morning. Lord, make yourself known to us. We want something greater than just superficiality. We we want something, and we need something greater than just object lessons. We need you.

And Lord, especially as we partake of this table, help us understand that we've come to eat with you and eat from you. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand together, church. Let's rejoice.

We we serve the living God. We serve the one who lives forevermore. And

Yes, Lord. We thank you for the cross. We thank you for the hope, the eternal hope that we have that gives us joy. And we sing in part, Lord, because you have saved us by your blood, by the sun, and his death, and his resurrection. And we thank you for Christ.

We thank you father and we worship you today. And Lord indeed, it is our goal to meet with you and meet with the living God. And we ask that that would continue in our worship now as we hear your word. Father, we want to meet you through your word. We want to hear your voice loud and clear through the message today and through your word.

And we ask that would happen by your grace and by the power of the spirit. We thank you for this time together. The joy it is to worship you and to meet with you. In

Jesus' name, amen. I'm aware that many of us are perhaps excited to look at John's vision of the return of Jesus Christ in Revelation 19, but I desire to give more careful attention to that vision, and we will do so next week. So instead, today, we'll be considering a different passage that I'm sure will help us as we partake of the Lord's Supper this morning. And it's a passage found in the Hebrew Scriptures that I can say with without any exaggeration, God used in my life to transform my worship. This specific text that we're we're going to examine has helped me tremendously to see God more clearly and to engage with the Lord with greater comfort and greater confidence.

And my sincere prayer is that the Lord would do the same for us, for all of us, as we look at this very same passage. And I believe that will be accomplished in two ways. Number one, that as we look at these verses, which unfortunately have been treated unfairly by many believers, overlooked, ignored, neglected, but that when we look at it, we would see Christ in it in a place where we might have missed them. And that should always excite us to find the Lord Jesus Christ throughout the pages of Scripture. But secondly, in the very same passage that we will look at, my prayer is that we would find inspiration, we would find illustration of what God asks of us when it comes to our personal devotion to him.

And I believe both of those objectives can be accomplished as we come to a specific text that deals with a particular sacrifice that God ordered ancient Israel to perform faithfully found in the book of Leviticus. And so I ask you now to please turn with me to the book of Leviticus chapter one. If you want a summary of what Leviticus is all about, you can say that it is God's instruction manual for ancient Israel's personal worship, their ritual worship, and their holiness, not just individually but corporally. This is the underlying purpose behind every elaborate procedure and observance and ceremony. It's all designed to give the people of God of that time the means and the steps to take in order to maintain fellowship with the Holy God, a God who chose to dwell among his people in what we know to be the tabernacle, a tent like structure that hosted his presence.

And what you will see here in the book of Leviticus, at least in the first seven chapters, are five different offerings that Israel was to give to the Lord, each emphasizing a unique aspect of their worship. And we don't have time to look at all of them, but the first one that comes to our attention in the book of Leviticus is the burnt offering. Now some of these offerings were voluntary. They were expressions of delight, consecration, pleasure in the Lord. And so you would come freely and give something to God upon that altar as an act of worship.

Other sacrifices were mandatory. They were non negotiable means for reconciliation when, an individual sinned against the Lord or even when the corporate body violated some kind of law in unison. And so the Lord lays this out for his people and you might be thinking to yourself at this point, that's insightful. That's something maybe I didn't know before, but how does this help me as a follower of Jesus Christ? And I think it's extremely relevant for two reasons.

Reasons that I just mentioned earlier. Number one, each of these offerings, these main offerings point to a facet of the person of Jesus Christ. Something about his life, something about his character, something about his ministry, and clearly something about his death. Jesus Christ himself said that he was a fulfillment of the law and the prophets. And so when you come to something like Leviticus, you have to come with the lens and the faith of seeing Jesus here.

But secondly, we also understand that these offerings have something to teach us about God's heart and what he expects from us as worshipers. If interpreted rightly, if applied correctly because you see, as new covenant believers, we are not bound to the ceremonial laws in the Torah. That being said, we serve the same God. And we understand that even passages like what we'll see here in Leviticus have instruction for us. And I wanna show you by God's help how there are wonderful pictures here and principles that can bring you closer to understanding how to worship God the way he deserves.

And so we're looking very briefly, not exhaustively, hopefully enough to move your soul at the burnt offering found in the opening verses of Leviticus and we'll begin reading here from Leviticus one verse one down through verse nine. 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 of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. 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 priest, 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 on 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. Lord, we we pray when we read your word at this moment because we recognize that especially with a text like this, we can become distracted. We can even become discouraged. But, Lord, we believe that this is your word. We believe this is your holy word.

And we ask, god, that you would help us now look at what we need to see in order for us to be the worshipers that you've called us to be. Help us by the Holy Spirit. We are eager now. We are hungry to receive your food this morning. We ask these things in Jesus' name.

Amen. Oh, how I wish I can keep you here for a few hours, to just look at the burnt offering and see so much of Christ. But hopefully, what we will explore this morning will be enough to excite you about something like the book of Leviticus. And so we're not going to look at everything possible concerning Christ in these verses that we just read but just some thoughts. And the first thing that we want to consider here is how this offering and really all the offerings that will follow were instituted and originated and initiated by God.

Look at the first two verses again. 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 of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock.' What's the context? Well, the people of Israel in the wilderness or in the wilderness, God had told them to build the tabernacle once it was complete. Now he wants to tell them what they should do in the tabernacle. And what moves me about even these opening verses is that though these sacrifices are means by which the people are to fellowship with God, enjoy God, come near to God, that's the design of them.

It was God who initiated it. This was not requested by Moses or any of the other people of Israel. This was not their idea primarily. This was not their attempt to try to draw closer to God. This was God reaching out to his own.

This is God wanting to come near to his people and determining the procedures that were necessary for an unholy group to come to an ultimately holy God. And so right away, what we're supposed to see here is God's heart to commune with us. Our sin as vile and as disgusting and offensive as it may be, did not repulse God. Though he is so pure, so brilliant, so blameless, He sees an unholy people and he says, now how can I get to them? And so right away, I see God's love in the first two verses of Leviticus.

I see a relational God. I see a God who initiates when he seeks relationship with his creation. And in the same way, the ultimate offering in the person of Jesus Christ originated and was initiated by God himself. As sons and daughters of Adam, we did not come together and think to ourselves, how do we solve our sin problem? Let's all get together and cry out to God.

We were running away from him. And the more time passes you see in redemptive history, the more ground we were gaining as we're fleeing from his presence, seeking to be our own gods, and what do you find? The Lord pursuing us. And that pursuit culminates in the person of Jesus Christ. Where in John one, we read that he dwelt among us.

That word dwelt is tabernacled. When this actual tent failed, when the people could not keep up with these ordinances, God did not give up on them. He didn't give up on us. He doesn't instruct for a tent to be built any longer. He takes on flesh.

And he dwells among us. And with actual human feet, he goes to leper camps. And he goes to the booths of tax collectors. And he goes to sick people in their homes. And he reaches out to them with a desire for us to respond to that.

Beyond that, after you've come to this realization, you discover that the burnt offering is a substitute. Look again at verse three. 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 and 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.

What was the purpose of the burnt offering? For general atonement to be made for the sins of the people. There are other things that it symbolizes like consecration, but what we see here immediately is that it provided a level of covering for sin. But notice what was instructed. We encounter here a clear picture of substitution.

When a person desired to bring a burnt offering, he would bring a bull from the herd and what would he do? Lay his hand on the head of that beast. That's more than just somebody coming at the entrance of the tabernacle saying, hey. This is mine. No.

No. No. No. No. It's far more profound than that.

By laying the hand on the head of that beast, what that worshiper was confessing is, this animal and me are becoming one in a sense. I'm identifying with this beast. And I know that this animal is about to die. And what I'm saying by placing my hand on this animal is that I deserve to die for my sin. So there's an element of confession here.

I know that this beast is about to be placed on that fiery altar, and I recognize that he's doing it my place. So there is a sense in which this individual here is actually humbling himself to say, this animal is taking my place. I deserve to die. But more than that, not that there was some magical thing taking place here. This is this is all symbolic.

There is an element of transferring of sin that this this beast here is going to die in my place, but look at the language here verse four carefully. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him. For him. The beast is dying but it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. That's payment.

That's covering. So listen, early in Israel's history, God is communicating here in the opening verse of verses of Leviticus that in order for you to enter into relationship with me, there needs to be a substitute in your place. Your sin is so costly that something needs to die. That's the wages of sin. And instead of the worshiper dying because God does not delight in our death, he provides a way for his justice to be satisfied but also for his mercy to be experienced and he does through does it through this kind of system.

This beast is going to die on my behalf. I'm going to benefit from its death. And in like manner, Jesus Christ himself said it so loud and clear that he is the way, the truth, and the life and that no one can enter into a real genuine loving relationship with the father apart from him. In order for you to have the entrance into relationship with God, the key is Christ and his substitutionary death. There needs to be a spotless sacrifice.

There needs to be a payment that pleases God and this is what all this is pointing to. But notice how this is even explained further in verse five. This really moves me. Then he shall kill the bold before the Lord. And Aaron's sons, the priest, shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

Who's killing the animal? It's not the priest. It's the one who brings the animal. It's the worshiper. That's staggering to me.

So he goes and fetches for a spotless bull. He brings it to the entrance of the house of worship. But he doesn't just drop it off and say, okay, thank you. I'm going to trust by faith that this this animal is going to die on my place, my place, and I'm gonna be covered temporarily. No.

No. No. No. No. God says, you need to kill it.

Why? To give a sense of personal responsibility. That's why. I want you to recognize that you are contributing to the death of this innocent thing. I want you to feel the weight of it.

I want you to understand that it's your sin that's causing this death. You know, I believe many people struggle trying to rest in the love of Jesus Christ primarily because they have never or they can't seem to make it personal. So they understand they understand that God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son. He died for the sins of the world. Wonderful.

Praise God. We think about his promises to the church at large, to the believers collectively. And we seem to think that God loves everybody else in the church, but he struggles to have some kind of affection for me. Well, this procedure here would help because you would have to understand by slaying this animal, this is very personal. What did Paul say in Galatians two twenty?

I'm crucified with Christ. Right? Nevertheless, I live. And then he goes on to speak about the faith that he now lives in the son of God in the flesh. And then he goes on to say this, who loved me and gave himself for who?

The world? The church? No, me. He made it personal. He understood that it was my sin that put him on the cross.

So I wanna challenge you this morning. I trust that many of you in here understand and believe that the the sin of the world was placed on the shoulders of Jesus Christ. But when's the last time you reflect on this? My sin put him on the cross. My thoughts, my selfish motives, my murderous spirit, my porn addiction, my love for money, my ugly rage against my wife.

When's the last time you and I have just contemplated that it was my offense that put him to death? And at the same time, when was the last time you meditated on this? That he died to pay for my sin. List all the sins that you want. If you put your faith in his substitutionary atonement, it's all paid for.

It's all paid for. Every last thing, That's how potent his blood is. That's how rich it is. That's how much it is pleasing in the sight of God. So don't generalize the cross.

Make it personal. That's That's why people struggle reading the Bible also because they don't read it personally. They don't see, okay, what is Leviticus asking of me? How do I view God from pages of scripture? And the Lord understood that.

So he provides this rule. You bring the beast, you need to kill it. This is incredible for us to see, I'm sure. And I want you to notice here at verse nine, the result of the offering. We read here in the last part that it is a pleasing aroma to the lord.

In fact, that statement is made two more times in the short chapter with the burnt offering. It's pleasing. It's a fragrance. It's a perfume. It brings pleasure to God.

Did you know that this is something that the New Testament ascribes to Jesus? Turn with me to Ephesians chapter five. I want you to see it with me. And notice what Paul says about the offering of Christ. Ephesians five, look with me at verse one.

Ephesians five verse one reads, therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Where is Paul getting that language from? Leviticus? That's what all of this is pointing to. Christ himself is the aroma that satisfies the heart of God, And it never ceases to please God.

You see, there was not one single burnt offering that was made in the Old Testament that gave God permanent pleasure. It needed to be repeated. In fact, not to make things too complicated, if you go to Leviticus chapter six, on that altar, we are told that there should be a burnt offering day and night. Unending smoke, unending fire. But Christ sacrifice, his atonement is so holy and so lovely and so profound that he died once never to die again.

That he's he laid his life down once never to see death again. Without getting ahead of myself here, what moves me about this passage in Ephesians is that although Christ is being described as a fragrant offering, Paul tells us how we can walk as fragrant offerings. Look at verse two. And walk in love and walk in love as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Earlier he's saying imitate God.

Do you wanna know how you can be absolutely certain that your life carries an aroma before the throne of a holy God? Do one simple thing. Walk in love. That is what God asks of us, to minister to people's needs, to think of them, to help them, to encourage them, to serve them. And as you and I do that by God's help, it is ascending an aroma before God himself.

I'm pleased with this. Does that not move you? It moves me. What is God looking for me? What is he asking from me?

Love. Love for Him and love for others. So we see here that the burnt offering was a substitute. But more than that, as we come back to Leviticus one, I want you to see here how the burnt offering was supposed to be clean from the inside out. Look here at verse six of Leviticus one.

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 of the head and the fat on the wood that is on the fire on the altar, but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water. I get it. You read something like this in your morning devotions and you say, Lord, what do I do with this? Entrails, legs, head, fat.

What? Read closely. Look for Christ. Here's my first question. What's unique about the burnt offering is that unlike the other offerings, the entire animal was consumed in flames.

You see, in other offerings, there would be some portions left for the offer to consume and eat and some for the priest. Not so with the burnt offering. When you came with this kind of sacrifice, you put everything on the altar. So here's my question based on verse six. If you're putting everything on the altar, why take the time to cut it into pieces?

Legitimate question? Save some time. You're burning the whole thing anyway. Place it there. And then you read verse nine where you recognize that different pieces had to be washed.

Now it makes sense. Cutting the beast in pieces was a way for the priest to inspect to see if everything was perfect, to evaluate and inspect and see that there's no defect, there's no diseased part. And so it was a practical instruction, surely. But then you look at the details of verse nine and you see that there are two things, main things that need to be washed, the entrails, that's the organs of the animal, and the legs. Where do you find the entrails for an animal or for a human being?

Inside, right? And the legs? Outside. So what's this inspection all about? Make sure that the inside is perfect and that the outside is perfect.

Here you see Jesus Christ. Christ's perfect holiness was not external only. It was not just in his actions and in his words and in his behavior. No. Christ was perfect internally.

He never sinned in his imagination. He never broke God's law with his feelings or his ambitions or his passions. Everything about Christ from the inside out was holy. And there's an element to this too when we recognize Christ being crucified that his agony was also more than just physical. He quotes the Psalms expressing the pain of sensing God forsaking him.

The depth of that punishment was beyond nails and beyond a pure sign and beyond thorns piercing his brow. There was something on the inside taking place. Wash the entrails, wash the legs, Ensure that it is perfect in the sight of God. Christ is perfect totally, completely. And praise God for that because then, he is an acceptable sacrifice.

Now here's what's so amazing about the burnt offering. Here's what's so amazing about the word of God. It demands that you read all of it. That's how the Bible is put together. And so you think that, okay.

I know a little bit more about the burnt offering here and what you see here based on these instructions is that the whole beast is consumed. Sure. And then you go on to Leviticus and recognize, wait a minute. Is it? Turn with me to Leviticus seven.

Except for one thing. I want you to see one verse with me in Leviticus seven. And the priest who offers any man's burnt offering shall have for himself the skin of the burnt offering that he has offered. Remember back in Leviticus one that they flayed the beast? So you're skinning the animal, but you didn't discard it.

According to this instruction, the priest who helped you offer the beast was to keep the skin. And you're thinking why? I'm thinking why? Well, we're not explicitly told. But how much can you do with skin?

So some believe that, oh, it's it's a compensation for the priest to be able to sell it if they need to make some money. I know it's difficult to come to a conclusion when you have so much silence, but I look across the Bible and and I'm thinking to myself to pass instances of scripture where sacrifices were made, and I'm looking for skin. And I recognize something, that a very significant place where sacrifice was made and the skin is explicitly mentioned, it was used for what? Covering. Do you remember what happened with Adam and Eve after they violated God's one single command and he banished them from his presence?

He banished them from the garden? Well, in Genesis three twenty one, it says, and the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. What purpose did the priest in Leviticus use The skins as garments, we're not told. But it makes total sense and it is amazing when you think about the implications of it. Because you've been hearing over and over again how this sacrifice is a pleasing aroma, how everything about it inside and out is perfect and must be perfect pointing to Jesus Christ and then you have this one little occurrence where you discover that the skin of that beast that pleases God, that must be completely holy is now worn by the priest.

There's a level of identification even there. You see, when you believe on the sacrifice of Jesus Christ by faith, you now from that moment on where his righteousness and the pleasing aroma that was on him now is transferred over to you. And so that when God looks at you, he sees the covering of his son. This is what makes us absolutely unique as Christians that we don't present our own righteousness before the Lord but we come clothed in his. That is where you find confidence in your eternity.

That is where you find confidence in prayer. That is where you find confidence when Satan tells you over and over you're a dead man. You have a surprise waiting for you at judgment day. You think you're saved but you're not saved. And Leviticus reminds me here, you're right if I'm basing it on my own performance but I'm clothed in his.

So the burnt offering in all its glory and its complete surrender at the same time clothes the priest. How much more can we say about Jesus in Leviticus one? So much more. But let me give you one last thing, and that is how the burnt offering was available for all walks of life. We stopped at verse nine.

If somebody want to offer a burnt offering, they should go to their herd and find a bull, but it didn't stop there. Read with me in verse 10. If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a male without blemish. Scroll down here to verse 14. If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons.

When you compare these animals, it's clear that a bull was the most expensive, the most costly. It had more to offer as a type of vehicle for an individual for a family. But God understood that not everybody could afford a bull. So what if somebody needed atonement? What would they do?

Well, he provides a way. If you can't get a bull, go get a goat. Go get a sheep. Oh, what if I don't have a goat? What if I don't have a sheep?

Then go get a bird. What's this teaching? God makes atonement available for everybody. That's the picture. And none of us have an excuse of not receiving his forgiveness.

You see, God here considers every class in society, every economic circumstance, every background, he does not leave one individual out from receiving his forgiveness. And we're very good at excluding ourselves from God's love and even from his salvation. When we look back at our own history, in our own past, in our own behaviors, in our own whatever, and we think to ourselves, I can see how God can forgive that person. I can see how God forgives that lady. I can see how God forgives that individual.

But me, I'm not sure. Leviticus one says it's available for everybody. So if you're in here in this place today and you're thinking, what service did I walk into? Blood and entrails and fat and fire. Let me say this with the utmost reverence.

What I'm trying to convey to you if this is very new to you is that everything in the Bible points to Jesus Christ. And even in this, this real historical document for real people, ultimately foreshadows a person. And if you don't hear anything else, hear this this morning that what we see in these pages of scripture is that there is nothing that you have done that cancels out the possibility of you being forgiven by God. You can come exactly how you are, but God loves you too much to keep you as you are. He will transform you, but you have to understand he has made it all possible for you to approach him.

And if you don't, the fault is yours, not his. He's pursued you. He's provided the atonement, but you have to apply your faith to it. So these are just some of the ways we see Christ. I hope I hope that your heart is stirred.

Who would have thought that I can see Jesus in the burnt offering? And there's even more. Discuss it over lunch. But now I wanna take the last few moments before we we continue in the service to see what we can learn about God's commands and demands and desire for our worship. First of all, the burnt offering looked different for each person.

You heard it already. One would bring a bull. If you couldn't afford the bull, you bring a goat. If you couldn't afford the goat, you bring a bird. And it's at this point I want to stop and say that exact thought is what God the Holy Spirit used in my life to change the way I view my personal devotion to him.

Do you remember what it was like to first be saved? For many of us, it was at different stages of life. For me, it was in college. Full time student, try to be a good one, but I wasn't as busy as I am now then. At most, two classes a day.

Usually in the morning, I would have the rest of the day off. And here I am, eyes wide open by God's grace, sealed with the Holy Spirit, enjoying my walk with my savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Everything looked different. Everything. Not just my sin.

My textbooks looked different. Everything. And so I did my best to pay attention in class and do what the teacher told me to do, but I couldn't wait for that session to end because I would make my way to my apartment skipping. Why? Because I get to read my Bible.

And I get to close my bedroom door in that two bedroom apartment and turn that little bedroom into the holy of holies. And at the time, I also lived by the lake. And so I would put headphones in and blast praise music and make my way to a designated spot that nobody else knew about. At least, I believe nobody else knew about. And I would sit on those big rocks, and I would just lean back on one of them and talk to God, love him, worship him.

But as it is for most of us as time went on, responsibilities pile up. You wanna graduate? You need an internship. You gotta work. Okay.

So I gotta work. So here I am from having all this free time to not having virtually no time. I went from skipping to my apartment to running from my apartment to get to the bus so that the bus could take me to the train, so that the train could take me to the street car. Why? So I can get to my workplace in Downtown Toronto.

What did my schedule look like then? 6AM wake up and get back by 6PM. And here I am wondering to myself, how long is this going to last for? And so I remember so clearly in the middle of winter during that season, getting off of one of those buses, making my way to my apartment, shivering and thinking to myself, oh, I missed those days where I had so little to do and I could spend as much as time as what I wanted to be in your presence, Lord. Can you change my schedule, please?

Can you make some kind of adjustment? Because here I am, I only have a few hours left before I have to go and sleep so I can wake up and do the whole thing again. And there's only so many pizzas that you can get across from the campus. You got to change your diet up a little bit. So I got to make dinner.

That wasn't easy as a college student. And there are other things I got to run around and do errands. Do I go to the gym? Do I not go to the gym? If I go to the gym, I have less time to do this and that.

When am I going to when am I gonna spend deep genuine time in prayer? When am I going to study the Bible? And this is a genuine struggle. And since those initial months of coming to Christ in college, it's never really been the same in terms of availability and freedom. And one day, one day, God opened my eyes to Leviticus one.

And I'm reading these verses, and it dawned on me. If you can't give a bull, give a goat. If you can't afford a goat, give a bird. And here's what's amazing with each of these offerings. Look at verse 13 after the goat is prescribed, the last part of verse 13, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

Look at the last part here of verse 17, after the bird is prescribed with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Though each offering was different in size and value and cost, they were all a pleasing aroma to the Lord. So here's what I learned. When circumstances are outside of your control, when you really really wanna give more, you wanna give a bowl. But because of other things that are demanding your time as a mom, with children that you have to feed and nurse and teach or as a father, you're working two jobs and your soul is aching because you can remember a day when there is less demand on your time and on your energy.

Give God what you can give him. If you can't give a bull, give a goat. If you can't give a goat, give a bird. And if you're doing it from a place of sincerity and honesty, God sees it all as a pleasing aroma to him. This changed my life because as seasons come and go and some months are busier than others, regularly, I come before the Lord and say, Lord, you I can't change this.

I I can't, but I come to you by faith now and I give you a goat. Receive it as a pleasing aroma, please. And Lord, it's getting even crazier. So for the next few weeks here, I'm gonna give you a bird. And by faith, I trust that he sees me and he goes, son, it's a pleasing aroma to me.

So what it look like for me? Well, here I am going to work and I recognize, okay, my evenings now are different, but I have three breaks. Two of them are fifteen minutes. One of them is a longer lunch break. I'm gonna take those fifteen minute breaks, get alone somewhere in this grand building, and just commune with him.

Here's my bird, Lord. I worship you. I come to you now in your word. I seek you. Oh, I wish I could stay here longer, but I have to work.

Bible says if you don't work, you don't eat. So I'm gonna honor you in my work. Receive this, Lord. Do you sense the freedom in that? Do you sense the liberty in this?

Do you see God's grace in the book of Leviticus? I do. I hope you see it too. And don't for a moment feel guilty if you can only give so little. Do you remember what Mary and Joseph gave when they went to the temple to dedicate Jesus?

Maybe you don't. So go to Luke chapter two with me. Luke chapter two and look here at verse 22. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up, that being Jesus, to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.

This is a different kind of ritual. It was a purification ritual for those who bore a son or a daughter. This is what Mary is observing. But look here at the request of God. And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.

We don't have time to do it because we have to look at a couple more things. But if you go back to Leviticus chapter 12, that is where the purification laws are described in the greater detail. And the the first instruction that is given in order to honor this was that you were supposed to come with a lamb. A lamb for a burnt offering and a bird for a different kind of offering. But if you could not afford a lamb, in Leviticus 12, you read that you come with two turtle doves.

And then you read Luke two and you realize the guardians of the Son of God could not afford a lamb. They came with birds. Was God any less pleased with them? Don't you dare say yes. This tells me that Mary and Joseph were not very wealthy, and Jesus chose to be under this household.

And they came in the best way that they could to honor God's law with two ducks. Give God what you can. Do it by faith, and it will please him. We come here now to look at a final thing. There's more to say, but I'm not going to say it.

The burnt offering had to be completely consumed. You and I saw that so clearly. And you have to understand what that means for for the Israelites of this time. They were in the wilderness. They were traveling station by station.

Imagine how much a bull meant to a family of that time. And remember, the burnt offering demanded every part of it. You didn't directly benefit from it. You couldn't eat from it like other offerings. So you can imagine of those who are less faithful, less devoted to God, looking at something like a burnt offering and thinking, that's kinda like a waste.

You know how much you can do with a bull? You know how much work you can get done? You know how much burden you can put on that thing? And you're just gonna throw it all on the altar and give it to God. Why?

Well, for a true worshiper because he's worthy and it's pleasing to him. But is God ultimately looking for us to give stuff? A scribe came to Jesus one day and asked him what was the greatest commandment. And Jesus quotes the Shema, and he tells him, Hear, O Israel, the Lord is one, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, with all your strength. And the second is like it, you must love your neighbor as yourself.

You remember how that scribe answered Jesus? Let's come to our final text in Mark chapter 12 in verse 32. And the scribe said to him, you are right, teacher. You have truly said that he is one, that there is no other besides him. And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength and to love one's neighbor as oneself is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.

And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. And after that, no one dared to ask him any more questions. Were burnt offerings very meaningful to God in the Old Testament? Absolutely. But here's Christ who enters into our world to give more clarity and understanding to the heart of God.

Here's this man who asked a very important question. Jesus answers it perfectly as he always does, and the man's response shows exactly what God is looking for. A heart that's completely and totally devoted to him is what God has been looking for all along, and Jesus does not correct him. He doesn't say, you know what? Burnt offerings actually are a little bit more important than that because you're not far from the kingdom.

And so that burnt offering ultimately pointed to what? Our lives being completely consumed for him. And I think it's very easy for us to say that, but consider the illustration of that sacrifice. Cut it in pieces. Look at it individually and ask, is this part really dedicated to God completely?

Is this part really dedicated to God completely? Is that part really dedicated to God completely?

And it's

good for us to do that time to from time to time, especially as we come to reflect on our own walk with the Lord. Is there any part of this offering that I am reserving from the altar, Or is everything in my life from head to toe really his? Let me end it here. I know I said that a few times, but I mean it this time. Jesus looks at the scribe, and he says, you are not far from the kingdom of God.

Here's what's so fascinating about that. The man answered Jesus rightly. The man agreed with Christ theologically, and Jesus tells him, you're not far. He didn't say you're in. There's some people who think that they are a part of the kingdom of God, that they are genuinely saved because they know how to answer biblical questions.

They know doctrine. They know things like Leviticus in and out. You can know all you want like the scribe shows. You might be close, but your knowledge of the things of God does not determine your salvation. It's what you do with that knowledge.

What Christ is saying here is you're not far because what you said is true. But is it a reality for you? Are you completely and totally devoted to the Lord by faith? Have you responded to his grace where you have unreservedly surrendered to him? If not, you are at the door of the kingdom but you are not in yet.

And perhaps for some of us here, we know a lot. But can you say this with the same confidence as some of your answers with scriptural knowledge, I know that I've put my life on the altar totally and completely. I'm his. Well, we ask that you help us reflect now as we come to your table. Speak to our hearts, Lord, and help us understand your great love for us and how you pursued us so that we can be with you forever.

In Christ's name we pray. Amen.

You may be seated As we continue to prepare our hearts to, remember our lord Jesus in the breaking of the bread, I would ask I would like us to consider again first Corinthian chapter 10, verse 16. Paul writes, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not the participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Please notice carefully what the apostle is saying. He does not say the cup that we bless is the blood of Christ.

Rather, he says it is a participation in the blood of Christ. Neither does he say the bread that we break is the body of Christ. Instead, he says, it is a participation in the body of Christ. Paul's emphasis is not the element becoming Christ's body and blood. This is not transubstantiation or co substantiation.

Scripture is not teaching us a physical or mystical change in the bread or in the wine, yet at the same time, it is far more than a mere religious ritual or an empty symbol as many sometimes think. In first Corinthians 11, Paul emphasizes the memorial aspect of the Lord's supper concerning the bread, in verse 24 of chapter 11, he says, do this in remembrance of me. And concerning the cup, in verse 25, at the end of the verse, he says, do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me. That is the truth we must often emphasize as we gather around the Lord's table, and rightly so. We come to remember our savior, to proclaim his death until he comes.

But here in first Corinthians 10, the Holy Spirit draws our attention to another precious truth that is often overlooked. Paul says the bread and the cup are the koinonia, a participation, a sharing, a fellowship in the body and blood of Christ. What is Paul, through the Holy Spirit, is teaching us? The cup represents Christ's precious blood shed for us, and the bread represents Christ's body given in death for us. As we partake together, we receiving we're not receiving Christ physically through these elements.

Rather together, we confess that we all share in the value, in the blessing, in the grace secured for us us by his wands for all sacrifice. We share together in the forgiveness purchased by his blood. We share together in the peace he has made through his cross. We are together in the eternal life he has given us. We are together in our union with him and therefore, our fellowship and union with each other.

That's why Paul immediately after that, he speaks of the one loaf and the one body in verse 17 when he says, because there is one bread, we who are who are many are one body, for we all partake of one bread. We are many believers, yet together, we are one in Christ. You see, the Lord's supper is not merely an individual ordinance between me and Christ. Neither it is a family ordinance. It is a church ordinance.

A church believer assembled, like minded believers assembled together to partake in it. So perhaps we could summarize the difference between really chapter 11 and chapter two in these two things. In chapter 11 is the question, what are we doing? We are remembering Christ. Do this in remembrance of me.

And in chapter 11, the question is, what does that act delect declares? It declares that together, we share in Christ and in the blessings of his sacrifice secured for us. So as we eat the bread and drink the cup this morning, may our hearts not only remember Calvary, but also rejoice in the wonderful fellowship into which Christ has brought to us through his death. May we give thanks that we belong to him and that by his grace, we belong also to one another. The communion service is for those who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So if you believe on the Lord Jesus, if you have repented from your sins, if you have been baptized declaring and identifying yourself with Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection, and you do not live in habitual sin, this is for you. Let us give thanks for the bread. Lord Jesus, we come to worship you, to thank you for sacrificing your body for us there on the cross. But we understand it was not a cheap thing. It was very costly.

It was not afterthought, but from eternally past. The plan was made that the son of God would become a man and die for the sin of his people. And Lord Jesus, as we look at the bread now, we think of your body that was given for us. Was it broken for us there on the cross? We think of your suffering and your pain.

We think of your love and your grace. We think how sinful we were, yet Christ died for sinners like us, loved us with an everlasting love. And, Lord, right now, we break this bread and we eat it together in remembrance of you, of your love, and of your sacrifice. Amen. The night he was betrayed.

He took bread, and after he gave thanks, he broke it. And he said, eat it all of you. Do this in remembrance of me. Let us do it together. Let's give the thanks the lord to the lord for the for the cup.

Lord Jesus, as we have heard today, there's no forgiveness without the ultimate sacrifice of Christ. There's no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. And, Lord, there on Golgotha, you became our substitute. You took our place, and there you died, and your precious blood was shed on our behalf. But we are the one who deserve that punishment.

We all deserve that cross, yet because we equate the great love and mercy and grace, you desire to become our substitute. You bore our sins there on the cross. And, Lord, we thank you that by the blood of Jesus, we are forgiven. We are cleansed. We are made perfect, and we thank you for it.

In your name we pray. Let us ring it together under members of his blood that was shed for us. Amen.

Church, let's stand one more time to worship the Lord together. Lord, we thank you that you've met us in this place, Lord. You've met us in a real way. And so we are grateful, and we pray, Lord, that you would teach us how to be worshipers leaving this place. Teach us to be a living sacrifice.

Lord, we recognize that in the old testament, you required the worshiper to bring something dead, but in the new in Christ, you want a living sacrifice. May it be us, Lord. And when we have the chance, may we give a bull. And when we can, may we give a goat. And when we really struggle, help us believe that you're willing to accept the bird and that it would all be a pleasing aroma to you.

Thank you for the freedom of these things. Thank you that you don't put up barriers to worship. You make a way for us to worship. And for this, we're eternally grateful to you. Bless us now as we make our way.

Bless this member's meeting in a few moments here. Bless our fellowship and the food, and may you be glorified in all of it. In Christ's name we pray. Amen and amen. The Lord Jesus Christ, the living God be with you this week.

Members, we're here in thirty minutes, amen. Hallelujah. Enjoy your time of fellowship. There's food waiting for you, but we're gonna be here 1PM sharp, so you might have to jog down there, but it's okay. We'll see you shortly.

God bless you.