My senior year in college, it was a really huge event when the school got its first computer. That was quite a few years ago. And it was a big thing. It was for the math and the science departments. And one of the great things you could do with it, even at that time, was to simulate a manned space flight to the moon, just like what NASA had done that same year as they put the first lunar land rover on the moon. And so I tried my hand at it a few times. But even though the moon is only about 250,000 miles away, I couldn't get any closer than about 30 or 40,000 miles wide of the moon. And I kept on going until I got lost in space and I never got back. So anyhow, computer models and prototypes of all kinds are a pervasive part of how a lot of things are done these days. We have concept models for cars and aircraft and buildings. And when our resident sculptor, Bruce Nini, competes for commissioned work, he often makes a scale model to help the potential clients get a better feel or better visualization of his proposed work. Now, Bruce isn't God, but God uses prototypes too. In our current series, Jesus Before Joshua, were examining the prototypes, the patterns, and the predictions that God laid out for his newly redeemed people Israel that ultimately lead to Christ. This is when they were first brought out of Egypt, delivered from their slavery there, and he established them as a nation, as his redeemed people. Now that means, in going over that, we're covering the sweep of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. That's a big sweep. But we're running through it pretty quickly. Last Sunday, Terry Gandy took us on an illuminating tour of the tabernacle. In Exodus 25, chapters 25 to 40, when God gave Moses detailed instructions for the building, for this movable structure, and then it was precisely, exactly built, God made it clear to Moses that the tabernacle and the system of worship was a copy of something more. This is what he said to Moses, exactly as I show you concerning the pattern of the tabernacle and of all its furniture, so you shall make it. See that you make them after the pattern for them which is being shown you on the mountain. The tabernacle was a pattern of something greater. The tabernacle was the means by which God would dwell in the midst of his people, a marvelous thing. And every part of it, emphasized that God is a holy God. And yet, as we saw two Sundays ago, even as Moses was out on the mountaintop receiving the tabernacle pattern from God, the people were rushing headlong into idolatry down below at the base of the mountain. The tabernacle pattern, therefore, also emphasized two things about us as humans. We're imperfect. We're sinners. Secondly, we must seek righteousness, perfection in the eyes of God from a source provided by God outside of ourselves. We have to do that in order to have fellowship with Him. Terry showed us how, at every turn, the tabernacle pattern ultimately points to Christ as that source for us. Now today we're examining the pattern which God detailed to Moses in Leviticus chapters 1-6. It comes on the heels of God's inaugural filling of the tabernacle in Exodus 40 verses 34-35. This is what it says, Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud settled on it. And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. It was so great. Remember, on the mountain he was able to go in the glory of God. God called him up. But now he couldn't. The power of it was so great. Which raises a perplexing question for us. How do a sinful and a defiled people maintain fellowship with their covenant God? For as we saw two Sundays ago, if you remember, those of you who were here, God's holy presence is positively dangerous if you're a sinner. Now God's answer to that is His pattern of the sacrifices. Jesus Christ fulfilled for us all the goals of the five major offerings or sacrifices needed to approach God in the sacrificial system He laid out in Leviticus chapters 1-6. The pattern of these offerings help us to better understand, to better grab hold of what Christ accomplished for you and me on the cross. Reading Leviticus chapter 1 verses 1 through 9. We're not going to read everything in those six chapters. I'm going to take a few selected things to kind of set the model for the rest. Chapter 1 verses 1 through 9. The Lord called Moses. Remember? He's just filled up the tabernacle. Moses is outside. He can't get in. Nobody else can, of course. And the Lord called 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. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, He shall offer a male without blemish, that would be a bull. He shall bring it to the entrance of the Tenth 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. And then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons, those are the priests, they shall bring the blood, and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting. And then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces, and the sons of Aaron the priests shall put the fire put fire on the altar, and arrange wood on the fire. And Aaron's sons, the priests, 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 priests shall burn all of it, all of it on the altar, as a burnt offering, a food offering, with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Now it goes on with several other instances of other of the permitted animals that were to be brought by various individuals. A central theme of the sacrifices in these chapters is that in order to approach God, you must be wholeheartedly devoted to him. There must be a complete submission to him, complete commitment. This is particularly emphasized in the burnt offering. It might be offered on occasions of Thanksgiving, of repentance, of prayers, a petition, making a vow, a self-dedication, a host of things. It's often combined with other offerings as well. And anyone could do it. You might choose a bull from your herd if you were better off, if you were wealthy. You might choose a sheep or a goat from your flock if you were like most, or if you were poor, a turtle dove or a pigeon would do. But whatever your station in life, it was the most costly gift for a blood atonement for you. Look at what verse 3 and verse 10 say. It had to be a male. Males were valued over the females. Sad to say for you ladies, but that's the way it was. And it had to be one without blemish that is perfect, of the highest quality, the very best, So the burnt offering was not cheap. It was a costly gift. It was also a drama with you as a key player. Before you split the animal's throat, picture yourself in this situation. Okay? You've got the bull there or the sheep, or maybe you'll settle for a turtle dove. We'll give you a lamb or a sheep, okay? Why don't you figure that? Okay? You're standing there. And before you split the animal's throat and skinned it, if it was a bull, and cut it in pieces, you'd have to do that now. Verse 4 says that you were to lay your hand on its head. They sometimes thought that that symbolically transferred sin to the animal, but that's only indicated with the scapegoat on the Day of Atonement in Leviticus 16, which wasn't sacrificed on the altar, but driven far away. You see, anything sinful on the altar would desecrate it. Rather, by this action, you identified yourself with your animal so that you offered it as your formal substitution. That's the idea there. You identified yourself with the animal and it was offered as your substitute. Verse 4 says that the goal of this offering was atonement. That is, removing God's wrath against you and reconciling you to God. As God's mediators, the priests took the blood and they threw it against the altar. They were applying it to the altar that was part of the atoning sacrifice that signified that your substitute had died, your precious sheep or turtle dove or your bull, whatever it was, that it had died and its life had been surrendered up to God for you. The blood was an essential part of this atoning gift. Leviticus 17, 11 states, For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood that makes atonement by the life. The burnt offering didn't remove sin, but it turned away God's wrath and made fellowship with Him possible. Furthermore, your costly gift, as you're standing there watching, was completely burned up to the Lord. You see that in verses 19, 9, 13, and 17. Now it wasn't simply that the life of your animal was surrendered when its blood was shed. The completeness of that surrender is seen in the way the blood was applied to the altar. It wasn't just poured out on the ground, as with some sacrifices. Verses 9 and 13 and 17 further stress that it was the whole body that was consumed by the fire of the Lord on the altar. It meant your complete surrender. Remember, this is your substitute. You identified with it. It meant that as you were doing this, you were completely surrendering yourself up to God. Both the entire body and the blood of your animal were surrendered on your behalf and your place. And, praise God, it was accepted as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Again, verses 9, 13, and 17. Now the whole point of it, as verse 3 makes clear, is for you to be accepted before the Lord. That's what you were there for. That's why you came to the tabernacle, to the place of offering, was to be accepted by the Lord. There is something to come up and something you need to clear up. And so he did that. The phrase, the pleasing aroma before the Lord, means that he extended his favor to you. Imagine, you're there and you can smell that aroma. You know, these animals smell great when they're cooking. Okay? It's a pleasing aroma to God, and you're taking that in. And it's telling you, God is accepting your offering. God's accepting it. So the burnt offering indicated on one hand that in order to be accepted by God, you had completely surrendered yourself to Him. And on the other hand, it indicated that God and His holiness had been satisfied by what the gift offering represented. His wrath was turned aside, and you are now fully accepted. For you, it was an act of faith in His provision. For Him, it was an act of mercy and grace. And a pleasing aroma to the Lord means that He did it with pleasure, with pleasure. He enjoyed doing that. You know, He enjoys saving us. He enjoys forgiving us of our sins. He enjoys delivering us. Christ, you see, is your perfect blood atonement, fully accepted by God. It was costly, infinitely so. 1 Peter 1.18 and 19 says, You were ransomed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without spot or blemish. He offered this precious gift willingly for you and wholly, his whole being, and it was most pleasing to God. Ephesians 5-2 refers to this when it says, Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. The same as what it's talking about here in Leviticus. And Him is the precious, perfect gift we need to have turn God's wrath away. He's what the burnt offerings cried out for. It was God's rescue plan and God's love. I am loved. I am loved. That was a song that we heard, isn't it? I am loved. This is the proof of it. In 1 John 4.10, John tells us, And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins, that is, the sacrifice that turns His wrath away. And so, in Romans 12.1, it reminds us that Paul does, that we have the priceless privilege of offering our own bodies up as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable. To offer it up back to the One who gave His body for us. It reminds us, in Ephesians 5, that we have that privilege of loving each other. just as He loved us. That's our burnt offering suffering, our burnt offering in Christ. The next offering that we come up to here in Leviticus chapter 2 often accompanied the burnt offering as well as the peace offering that comes after that. It's the grain offering. And its essence is gratitude to God. Chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. I'll just read that as a springboard here. When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be a fine flower. He shall pour oil at it, and put fragrances on it, and bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests. He shall take from it a handful of the flour and oil, and all of its fragrances, and the priests shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to God. but the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons." It is a most holy part of the Lord's food offering. Now if you've been reconciled to God and given access to His presence, you have a lot to be grateful for. The grain offering was a moving way to express that and giving a portion of God's material blessing, provision for you back to Him, you were gratefully acknowledged in a concrete way that everything you had and were belonged to Him as the source and the provider of all of life. Whether you brought your offering uncooked, as we just read, or cooked by whatever means, there are several ways that it lists of doing it in the following verses. It consisted of fine flour, of oil, of frankincense if it was uncooked, and salt. Only a small portion was actually burned by the priest as a potent reminder of God's bountiful goodness. The rest was also considered a most holy part of the Lord's food offering, and it was set aside as food for the priest. They got to eat somehow, and this is the Lord's provision for them. Now this was no bag of groceries, however, for the preacher. It was an act of worship to the Lord. Your gifts are to the Lord. That's what it's telling us here. And so your grain offering had to possess certain qualities. It had to be the very best presented to the Lord. We say that in these early verses and sprinkled throughout in the verses that follow. Frankincense, for example, was a costly, highly valued spice. And along with the fine flour, which was the most purified flour, It represented the best. It suggests that you were carefully preparing and presenting your finest to Him because He's worthy. He's worthy of the best. The non-requirement frankincense in the cooked offerings, however, kept it from being a hardship if you were poor. On the contrary, The common ingredient of oil suggests a gift permeated with joy because throughout the scriptures oil is often signifying joy. In all cases though, the offering was to be free of anything that would cause it to decompose or to become corrupted or contaminated. Thus, no yeast or honey. In verse 4, verse 5 and verse 11. Both of those things could cause fermentation. An exception was if you were bringing an offering of firstfruits. That was okay because that wasn't offered on the altar of the burnt offering. Nothing corrupt was supposed to be on there. The grain offering of firstfruits mentioned at the end of the chapter, however, was burned on the altar, and it too represented the first and the best of the harvest. It particularly expressed thankfulness for the Lord's provision of everyday blessings because it represented the first and best of your harvest, the crops, the everyday stuff that you supplied yourself with. The grain offering saw in the harvest God's covenant faithfulness in giving the Israelites its land, their land and the land's bounty. In Deuteronomy 26.11, it directs those who present the firstfruits to the priest with these words, You shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given you and to your house. God loves a joyful giver. You are to rejoice. That's a command. You are to have fun doing this. It is a fun thing to do when you realize all the goodness that God has done for you. In fact, covenant loyalty in the grain offering seasons the grain offering, whatever the form. Covenant loyalty. Verse 13 says, You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt." Salt is a preservative. Its quality is permanence, and its permanence in the offering underscored the permanency of God's covenant commitment to his people, and the need for that same covenant commitment to be permanent from us toward the Lord. God's part was not only fulfilled in His provisions, but also in His acceptance of their offering as with the burnt offering. It was a pleasing aroma to the Lord. Again, God had fun doing this. He had fun in this kind of worship. Christ is your bread, your grain offering for a grateful living before God. By His own words, Jesus said, The grain of wheat that falls into the ground, because it dies, bears much fruit. The ultimate reference is to himself. In his death and resurrection, he is the new covenant firstfruits of our resurrection. 1 Corinthians 5 and 22 and 23 says, For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. But each in his own order. Christ the firstfruits. And then it is coming those who belong to Him. In John 6, verse 35, and connecting that with verse 40, He said, I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to Me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in Me shall never thirst. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. Is it any wonder then that in Hebrews 13, 15, The writer urges us, through him, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. The grain offering expressed gratitude for God's general provisions. The peace offering did it usually for his specific blessings, and that's the sacrifice that follows this. The peace offering could be a thank offering for what God had done. It could be a payment of vows. It could be a free roll offering for something specifically that God had done. But the unique nature of this offering is only hinted at the end of chapter 3, and it's that the people shared in the portions of the sacrifice. Chapter 7 goes into that in much more detail, at the end of chapter 7. You know, you got to eat some of this sacrifice. It's the only one that you could do that with. It was a holy meal to be eaten together with friends and family and others that you invited in the presence of God, celebrating what He had done for you. The peace offering. is focused on fellowship with God. If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the Lord. And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And Aaron's sons, the priests, shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar. And from the sacrifice of peace offering, as a food offering to the Lord, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails, and all the fat that is on the entrails, and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them, at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. Then Aaron's son shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire." It is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to God. There that is again. The peace offering emphasizes communion in three ways. It meant peace with God. Peace with God. That's why it's called the Peace Offering. As with the other animal sacrifices, your animal had to be without blemish. But here, it could be a male or a female. You also placed your hand on its head to identify yourself with it before you slaughtered it, and its blood was applied to the altar, representing the surrender of your own life to God. It's similar to the burnt offering in that respect. The best part of your animal, the fat, the fat was considered the best, most precious part of the animal. That was reserved for God alone. Likewise, the internal organs that were associated with the seat of emotions and intentions, that was also offered up to God and reserved for Him. It all represented the best part of your own life, this is your substitute, remember, and your deepest emotions and intentions offered up to God in self-surrender. All of you. Body, mind, soul, heart. Love the Lord with all your heart. This is a concrete expression of that. That's the state of one who is at peace with God. It also meant fellowship with the Lord. We find that scattered through several verses. As we've seen earlier, that the offering ascended as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, that meant full acceptance by God. And so, sweet fellowship. Sweet, sweet fellowship. Fellowship with Him and others in the context of a joyful feast. Finally, it meant forever with the Lord. The last verses of chapter 3 state that this is to be a statute forever throughout your generations, that particularly they weren't to eat the fat and they weren't to eat the blood. Those were always reserved for God. But implied is that they could eat some other portions, and that's laid out in chapter 7. It says that this is a statute forever. God intends that your soul worship of Him and His caring fellowship with you forever is to be forever. Is to be forever. but forever isn't established by any animal's blood and body. No animal can do that. It's by the one who says to us, take, eat, this is my body, drink of it, this is my blood. You see, Christ is your peace, your peace offering for eternal fellowship with God. Romans 5 says we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, our peace meal. 1 Corinthians 10 verses 16-18 says the cup of blessing that we bless, speaking of our communion time, the cup of blessing that we bless isn't out of participation in the blood of Christ. The bread that we break isn't out of participation in the body of Christ. There's that blood and body combination there. Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body. For we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel. Are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar, meaning they're participants, they're sharers in God, whose altar the sacrifices burn and grow up to and are consumed by His fire? John 6, 54 through 56, our Lord says, Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood as eternal life. And I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in him." You can't get any closer fellowship than that. He's a peace offering. Unlike the burnt offering, which emphasizes the removal of God's wrath, by gift atonement. The fourth offering emphasizes purification by atonement. The burnt offering did the removal of God's wrath as a gift by atonement. This does it by purification. And I don't have time to go into all this now, but one of the principles that's brought out in that chapter, in that offering, the sin offering, is that sin has consequences. And I'm not just talking about if you do something bad, some bad things are going to happen to you. The consequences that it talks about in that chapter has to do with the polluting effect of sin. It makes, we could say in the Old Testament version, ritually unclean, but it has a polluting effect. Sin always does in some way. And the sins that are addressed relate to polluting effects on the tabernacle system. And those sins not only had to be atoned for with a blood offering, a substitute, But that sin, along with the cleansing work of the blood that was sprinkled on whatever was polluted in the tabernacle stuff, together they washed, they cleansed, they purified. the place as well as the person. Because our sins pollute. Our sins have an effect. And what you see in that chapter is that when it happens to him, it affects a lot. Because he's in there operating in the tabernacle. When it affects the whole people, it affects a lot. And you have to have the place purified as well as the atonement made, the substitutionary atonement made. It goes down from there with the common people who are not as in much contact or as in close contact with the holy things of the tabernacle, but it is still there. And the beauty of it is, as you go through it, is this, that the atonement and the forgiveness that it brings is open to everyone. It's open to everyone. from the high priest to the whole congregation, to a leader in the congregation who's not a religious leader or a priest, to the common man, down to the poorest of the poor. No one is left out. There's a gradation of sacrifices that go down so that even the poorest of the poor is able to offer the minimal thing, the best he can do. And God will accept it. God will accept it. Christ is your purification regardless of your wealth or your status. Romans 8.3 says that God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do, by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, sin offering. He condemned sin in the flesh. 1 John 1, 7 and 9. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son does what? Cleanses us from all sin. There it is! If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, from all pollution. Hebrews 11-13 refers back to where the sacrifice, what was left of it when the priest offered it, and this was a more extreme case. The sacrifice, the body had to be taken outside the camp, what was left over of it, and consumed. The priest couldn't eat the parts, nothing like that. It had to be all consumed outside the camp because of the pollution. Hebrews 13, 11-13 says, For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned up outside the camp. That's the purification sacrifice. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate, outside the city, Calvary, Golgotha, in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, it says, let us go outside the camp and bear the reproach that he endured. Let us join him there in that. There's a call to do that and to hang in there with him with that forever. The burnt offering turns away God's wrath by gift atonement. The sin offering purifies by atonement. And the fifth and final sacrifice completes the atonement cycle by compensating the debt of sin by atonement. And there it deals with sins that are against either God and God's stuff and God's commands which cause harm, material harm or whatever, and also against those, God's people, where harm is caused to them, their property is defrauded, their reputations are defamed, all of that, where a debt is incurred, where damage is done. And with the sacrifice that is given, the atoning sacrifice, the animal that takes your place, you also had to pay some money to compensate the damage, plus 20% more. The debt had to be paid. in order to make things right, in order to become acceptable to God. That sacrifice, that compensation had to be made before you could enter into His presence again. Forgiveness was given and granted when that was done. Christ is your cancellation of all debt to God. He removes the wrath. He purifies. He makes peace. He is our thanks. and he cancels all of our debt that we have incurred, the damage that we've done, not just the pollution, not just the violation of his honor, but the damage that we've done he takes care of. Isaiah 53.10 says about the suffering servant who is a prediction, a prophecy of our Lord, when his soul makes an offering for sin, literally in the Hebrew that is a guilt offering, the offering we're talking about here, he shall see his offering. He will make that guilt offering for us. 1 Corinthians 15.3 picks up on that passage and says, Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scripture. Christ died for our sins. He provided the guilt offering that pays all the debts. Colossians 1.13-14 You who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, cancelling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands." Imagine all the debt that you have incurred throughout your life. I think I'm probably ahead of you on that. Jesus paid it all. He paid it all. He canceled the debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside by doing what? He nailed it to the cross. He nailed it for us. Hebrews 10 verses 5 through 7 and verse 10, the last passage here. The writer says, Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Sacrifices, the word there is for the peace offering. And offerings, the word there is a technical word for the meal offering, you have not desired. But a body you have prepared for me, it's not an animal body, this is a human body. And burnt offerings and in sin offerings, so we have four of the offerings that are mentioned there. You have taken no pleasure. Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O Lord. That's the complete surrender. up to God, complete surrender. I've come to do your will as it is written in the scroll of the book. And by that will, we have been sanctified, set apart, the whole shebang, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. You see, Jesus wraps up all the sacrifices written in the scroll of Leviticus into Himself as the one final sacrifice that perfectly and fully and once for all fulfills the goals of every one of them and all of them together. That's what God did for us in His love for us. That's what we can count on as we place our faith in Him, as we walk in faith in Him. Because our God, remember, has a lot of fun delivering us from sin and bringing us into holiness and righteousness. Let's pray.