You know, we had, just previous to this service, we had a General Assembly report right here in the chapel. The General Assembly is our national meeting of the Presbyterian Church in America, which is the denomination that we're a part of as a local congregation. It was good to meet several new faces. Some of you are new faces with us this morning. Thank you for being at that report. I had a member say this morning to me that, The work of the expansion team is gonna get a lot easier. We've been studying, working hard as a committee with exploring how the Lord is growing this congregation and what the Lord might have next for us as a local congregation. As we think about the days to come, the Lord continues to draw his people into this space and we're thankful for that. And one member just said it's going to get a lot easier in the expansion team because you're going to weed a lot of people out with this series on Leviticus. Now, I really hope that that's not the case. I hope that this series in the book of Leviticus will be encouraging, challenging, comforting, stretching for all of us, but something that you're looking forward to with expectation, maybe even relishing the fact that you get the chance to sit together as a congregation over an extended period of time in a book, let's be quite honest, many of us have never read. And if we've read, we've probably not understood. And so what do we do about that? Well, we study it together. We submit ourselves to the Lord and to his spirit in the midst of the assembly of the upright, as the psalmist would put it. And we ask him to teach us great and mighty truths. It's really our hope as we start into the book of Leviticus this morning. Now, again, another member, because you're all the encouraging type out there, another member said, I noticed we're studying one verse. To be quite honest, not even the whole of one verse from Leviticus this morning. So how long exactly is this series going to be? Well, you'll notice in the pastoral notes, I didn't publish how long this series is going to be because no one knows how long this series is going to be. Only the sovereign Lord knows how long it's going to be. No, I have planned it through maybe February of next year. Now you will just take heart if your heart just fell in your stomach, as I said that. Take heart because we're gonna take a break during Advent leading up to Christmas so you can catch a breather during that season and then we'll start back the second week of January into the final few chapters of the book of Leviticus, but I am thrilled and excited about beginning this journey with you. And I want today, as you can see, unusually, again, if you're visiting with us, unusually, we have three texts from three different books. It's not normal. This is really an introduction into the book of Leviticus today, an overview so that we can get a handle on this book. And then next week, we'll begin to move about the trees of the forest, so to speak, and learn about the details of the book of Leviticus. But today, an overview. sort of grasp what it is that the Lord is doing with this book. Why did God put this book in the canon of scripture? And what benefit might you, a 21st century North American type, many of you, what benefit might you gain from this archaic book with excruciatingly detailed laws of which seem to have very little relevance to you and the questions and concerns of your life? How could we benefit from the book of Leviticus? Well, I hope to surprise you. over the course of our time together today, as well in the weeks to come as we move through the details of this book. But let's do introduce it by looking today at Exodus chapter 40, the very end of the book of Exodus. Yes, a partial verse of verse one in Leviticus chapter one, and then Numbers chapter one in order to grasp the importance of this book. Let's give our attention to the reading of God's holy word. 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. The Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting. And the Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting on the first day of the second month in the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt. The grass withers and the flower fades. but the word of our God will stand forever. Father in heaven, we ask you, as we come today to open up your word, would you come by the power of the Holy Spirit to open up our mind and our heart? Would you give to us a true and transformative glimpse into your holiness, into your justice, into your mercy, into your love? Would you clear away every distraction that would seek to steal our attention from this your word and your presence among us? And would you captivate us with the brilliance and the wonderful truths that's laid before us? And we ask all of this in the name of Jesus, our great high priest. Amen and amen. Well, when you start a new sermon series like we're doing today, it's always appropriate to begin with a kind of overview message, a message that gets to the main point of this particular book that tries to unfold its purpose, that explores the unique contribution of this book in the whole of the canon of Scripture. I do think it's wise to do that in any book study of the Bible. And it is our tradition as a local congregation to work our way through books of the Bible. And so very often we'll seek to overview at the very beginning of a series. But I think that's especially true when it comes to a book like Leviticus. Because the reality is Leviticus is one of the least read and most misunderstood books in all of the scripture. Just this week a number of you have confessed to me you have never read the book of Leviticus. Some of you tried and you didn't make it. Leviticus is where Bible reading plans have gone to die so many times. Many of you have also said to me, I'm excited about the fact that you're going to preach through Leviticus because I've never heard a sermon series on the book of Leviticus. I imagine that testimony can be multiplied and echoed throughout so many of us here in this room. But the truth is, you've not heard a sermon series on the book of Leviticus, because Leviticus, for many preacher types, is kind of like the redheaded stepchild of the scriptures. No offense to redheaded stepchildren, you understand. Now, why is it it's the redheaded stepchild of the scriptures? Why is it neglected? Why is it avoided? Well, I think there's several reasons. Number one, Leviticus is neglected, I think, by some preachers because it's failed to be, in large part, irrelevant to our time. They understand, preachers that is, understand it was critically important. Israelites, those who lived under the Old Covenant when they kept the annual fasts and feasts of the calendar and when the tabernacle and later the temple was front and center That time has completely passed with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. We don't keep these Levitical laws anymore. They have been fulfilled in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ or abrogated because of his fulfillment. They've been done away with. And so here you are. 2,000 years removed from Christ, this book thousands of years before the coming of Christ, and here we are in the United States of America in the 21st century. What in the world does this book have to say to us? How does this book actually address real questions and real concerns that matter for people in our own day and time? Now, this book is largely irrelevant. Other preachers have drawn the conclusion, not that it's irrelevant, or at least have drawn that conclusion alone. They've drawn the conclusion not to preach through Leviticus because, quite frankly, I'm just going to peel back the veil with you, they don't understand it. They don't understand the book of Leviticus. Yes, they've read it. Someone along the way, of course, made them read it, and they probably had to study it in seminary at some detail, but they never really got the message of Leviticus. It never really registered to them. The penny never really dropped in their mind about what role it plays in redemptive history, why it is still important, how it fits in to the person and the work of Jesus Christ. Yes, there may be a few correspondences between sacrifices and Jesus on the cross and the priesthood and Jesus being our high priest, but oozing sores and touching corpses like that has nothing to do with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ or so it goes. And so many preachers are just unsure of what to do with the content of Leviticus and so they completely neglect it. I think there's another reason. Not only is it considered irrelevant, they don't understand it, but another reason is, and this is a fear, is that they will bore the people to death. They will bore the people to death with the preaching of Leviticus. Now they know that all Scripture is profitable. And for teaching and reproof and for correction and for training in righteousness, they know it's God's word. They're not rejecting that. They know it's vital in the unfolding of redemptive history. Some have connected those dots. But at the end of the day, when you think about the people whom you love, this precious congregation, am I really? going to take them through, verse by verse, the book of Leviticus. In a day and time in which is entertainment saturated, Netflix field, three to five seconds of attention given to most things, am I really gonna take them through the book of Leviticus? I had a pastor once say to me, yeah, I guess I could preach Leviticus, but I'd feel like I need to apologize every week for doing so. Friends, I understand that sentiment, I understand that it fell to reality, but no minister should ever feel like he needs to apologize for preaching the Word of God. And no preacher should ever feel that the Word of God, any portion of it, is unprofitable or unhelpful to the people of God. God has not spoken a word to you or me in the Scriptures. that is not vital for your understanding of who he is, what he's done, and what it means to live the Christian life. In any series that's preaching faithfully through the word of God is not boring. God's word is never boring. Now, I understand you and me, we get bored with it. But that says more about us than the word. God's Word is never boring. And I think that you will see as we work our way through, well, those very clean pages in your Bible, known as Leviticus, that God has surprising gifts of grace to give to you. Now all that to say, it's very important for us not to just jump in headlong into the content of this text, but instead today, get a bird's eye view, a 30,000 foot view. of the book of Leviticus and to understand these three things. It's these three things that we're going to see today. The place of Leviticus in the scripture, the point of Leviticus in terms of its message, and the purpose of Leviticus in terms of what God wants to do in your life. The place of Leviticus in the scripture, the point of Leviticus in terms of its message, and the purpose of Leviticus in terms of what God wants to do in your life. Let's start with this place of Leviticus. You know, those first five books of the Old Testament, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, those first five books of the Old Testament go by several different names collectively. Sometimes you'll hear scholars refer to them as the Pentateuch, the first five books. And you hear Penta, five scrolls or teachings or books. The first five books, these first five books that are attributed to Moses. We sometimes refer to Leviticus as being a part of that Pentateuch. Or as the Bible more commonly refers to the first five books of the Old Testament, it's referred to as the Torah. The Torah is the Hebrew word for the law. These first five books of the Old Testament are referred to as the law. Now that doesn't mean that all that's in those first five books of the Old Testament is all commands as you think of it. As you well know, we as a congregation have worked our way through Genesis and we've worked our way through Exodus and there's lots of narrative. There's lots of poetry. There's lots of story. There's all kinds of different genres inside these first five books of the Old Testament referred to as the law. The best way to understand why the Bible refers to the first five books of the Old Testament as the law is because they're foundational to everything that follows. In fact, you're completely unable to understand the unfolding of redemptive history throughout the rest of the Bible if you don't know the first five books of the Old Testament. The Bible says that, not me. Don't take my word for it. Listen to Joshua chapter one. Now, if we're in Joshua chapter one, we just finished Deuteronomy, right? If we're in our Bible reading plan, you survived Leviticus, and then you survived Numbers, and then you made it through Deuteronomy, and now you're starting in on Joshua. Listen to what Joshua says to you. Chapter one of Joshua, verse eight, this book of the law shall not depart from your mouth. but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it for then you will make your way prosperous and then you will have success. So you've just finished the law and you get to the first chapter in the book of Joshua and what does Joshua say? Go back and keep thinking about the law. Keep meditating on the law day and night. Let it be on your lips. The word there for meditate is literally to mutter. Let it form on your lips over and over again. Let it speak to you. Let it transform you. And be careful to do all that's been said in those first five books because we're not going any further with success or blessing or prosperity without meditating on the law. That's what Joshua says. Now, Joshua is what we would call the beginning of the historical books, but it's what in the Old Testament, the Old Testament writers and the Old Testament thinkers about the scrolls would have called the beginning of the prophets. I know we think about that as a genre, but they would have called Joshua a prophet. The law and the prophets. As soon as you get to the first prophet, the prophet says, go back and be meditating on the law. Now there's one more division in the Old Testament, a section called the writings, and the writings begins with the book of Psalms. How does Psalm 1 begin? Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers, but his delight is in what? The law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. These seams, these transition points in the Old Testament canon, when you get to Joshua 1 and Psalm 1, they don't say, boy, glad we're done with the law, let's get into some good stuff. They say, go back and meditate on the law, delight in the law, and be careful to do the law, for then you will find your way as blessed, blessed is the man. Then you will have success and prosperity. Without the Torah, you see, there's just no way to make sense of the unfolding of the biblical story. And as the Lord would have it, understand this, right at the center of the law is Leviticus. Right at the very center of the law, the first five books of the Old Testament, is Leviticus. Genesis and Exodus is bridged into Numbers and Deuteronomy by the book of Leviticus. If all of the law is important, then the centerpiece of the law actually makes sense of all of what Genesis and Exodus have been moving to, and then Numbers and Deuteronomy makes sense that it flows out of. Leviticus is this central hinge on which the understanding of the law actually hangs. To put it another way, Leviticus is at the heart of the Torah because the heart of the Torah is Leviticus. The very heart of the Torah is Leviticus. Now you can see then the placement of this book of Leviticus and the role that the law plays in the unfolding of the drama of redemption is absolutely critical. But how can I claim that it's actually the heart of the Torah, the very centerpiece, the section that you'd rather never read again? Well, that's because we've got to grasp the point of Leviticus. The place of Leviticus in the scripture leads us to understand really the central content of Leviticus. What is it trying to say to us? What's its point? What's its main focus? Now if you'll notice on the very front cover of your bulletin or if you're looking on on page eight in the bulletin you'll see that we've titled this series in Leviticus to dwell with the living God. Now I've titled this series to dwell with the living God because I believe that that phrase, that descriptor summarizes aptly what is the entire message of the book of Leviticus. Now how do we know that that's the central message of the book of Leviticus? How do we know it's the main point? Well that actually brings us, I know you never thought I'd get here, that brings us to our texts. Multiple as they are today. In Exodus chapter 40, that's the final chapter in the book of Exodus. The tabernacle, or as you'll sometimes hear in the text, the tent of meeting, go back and forth, the tabernacle or the tent of meeting has been built. It's been constructed. Its altar is in place. Its screen is on its gate. The courtyard has been established. And in fact, something that echoes Genesis chapter two, you remember in Genesis two, the Sabbath day, where God builds a garden known as Eden for Adam and Eve to live in. It says that on the seventh day, God finished his work from all that he had done. You know what Exodus 40, 33 says? It says that Moses finished his work. Almost reminiscent. of God's finishing work of Genesis 2. The big project is complete. We're at the end of the book of Exodus. Everything that God has commanded the people to do for building the tabernacle is complete. And then we read in verse 34, something that would have sent the hearts of the people of Israel soaring. We read in verse 34, then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. This is utterly amazing. This is the same cloud, you understand, that led the people of Israel through the wilderness all the way to Mount Sinai, where they are as Moses is receiving this instruction on Mount Sinai from the Lord. This is that cloud that rested on Mount Sinai that quaked and thundered and paralyzed the people in fear and of which God spoke from. And they were like, yeah, Moses, you go speak to him. We don't want to do that. This cloud is the cloud that Moses ascended into and disappeared for 40 days when he received the law of God, the book of the covenant, and all the instructions of the tabernacle. That's the latter half of the book of Exodus. This cloud is the cloud where Moses communed with the living God. The visible expression of the presence of God on earth. And when they finished the tabernacle, that cloud came down from heaven to dwell with his people. It's an amazing moment. It's absolutely astonishing. This very presence of God descending into the middle of the camp of Israel, filling the tabernacle with the glory of God, was the heart cry and heartbeat of every single Israelite. It's what they wanted and hoped for and were promised. That's why one scholar, as he's commenting on this moment, says this, as the fiery glory of Yahweh fills the tabernacle at the end of the book of Exodus, the drama of redemption history thus far comes to a culminating pinnacle. This is a culminating pinnacle. Now why do we say that? Because I'm looking at you and some of you are giving me that look. You're like, I don't know why this is such a big deal. Well, let's remember where we've been. The very beginning of this story in Genesis 1 and 2, Adam and Eve dwelt with God in a perfect paradise called Eden. Eden's the place where beauty and goodness came together, unhindered, without the hint of sin, without the hint of death or any kind of decay, where God walked in the cool of the day with Adam and Eve in the garden. Eden was this garden, if I can put it this way, a garden tabernacle. A place where the fullness of God's glory radiated and where the love of God and the intimacy for which we were made for with God was enjoyed. And when Adam and Eve sinned, all of that was lost. When we think of Adam and Eve sinning and all that was lost, we think of things like, oh man, yeah, this body. Like I got up this morning and my back hurt. And that wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for Adam and Eve, you know, that's how we think about it. Or I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't stress about things in the way, terrible things wouldn't happen in the world if there was, yeah, that's absolutely true, all of that is true. But the crisis of the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter three is not just the residual effects that we experience in our bodies and in the world, it's the fact that we have been cut off from our living God. We've been estranged from the one in whom we've been made the image of. The very one in whom has placed upon us the share of communion with him, and of which we can't run on anything else, but perfect and loving communion with the living God. And that was lost. The first exile, taken east of Eden, Adam and Eve, or the first wilderness wandering, if you will, happened in that moment. And they were cut off from the presence of God. Paradise lost, you see. And it's at that moment in Genesis chapter three that the heart cry of the scripture begins to bellow forth. Will God ever dwell with man again? Will man ever dwell with God again? Will we ever know his glory? Will we ever experience his acceptance and his love? And maybe even more to the point and more painfully to the point, how is it that a holy and perfect God could ever dwell with the likes of you and me? We can't dwell with sin and we can't stand to be in the presence of that holiness. You remember that Moses even asked in Exodus 33, God, listen, I've been hearing you from the cloud, but you know what I really like? I want you to show me your glory. God does a really amazing thing and puts him in the cleft of the rock and shows him the outstreamings of his glory. And he tells him he passes by and shields him with his hand. But before he does all of those very kind things, he says, trust me, you don't want to see my glory. No man can see my glory and live. You know, those words should hit like shards in our hearts because we know that we're made to dwell with God. And now because of who we are and who he is, we can't. But now here at the end of the book of Exodus, the glory cloud is filling this tabernacle, this breaking in to new creation, so to speak. God is once again come to dwell with his people. God has been working on restoring what was lost since Genesis chapter three. And now the tabernacle is filled with his glory. This is the answer to our prayers. And then verse 35 hits like a shockwave. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting. He was not able to enter. God came to dwell with his people, but his people can't dwell with him. What was shaping up, you see, to be like the grand resolution of the problem of the human race became a moment of a deeper and more profound crisis. Just when God shows up and finally there's a bridge between heaven and earth in the tabernacle in the glory of God, we're told Moses, and this is Moses, this is the redeemer, the mediator of God's people, the one who led them out of Egypt, the one who's got the staff and the one who's got the power, the one in whom God is using to lead his people. If he can't go in to meet with God, we're in trouble. No one can go in to meet with God. This is a deepening of the crisis of Genesis chapter three and would have seen a shock wave through the hearts of the people of Israel, which is why it's really wild to turn to Numbers chapter one and to read these words. The Lord spoke to Moses in the wilderness of Sinai in the tent of meeting. At the end of the book of Exodus, Moses can't enter the tent of meeting. At the beginning of the book of Numbers, Moses is inside the tent of meeting. The crisis of the end of the book of Exodus is resolved in the first words of the book of Numbers. How did that happen? Welcome to Leviticus. Welcome to Leviticus. Welcome to the study of the gospel according to Leviticus where God takes men and women outside the tent, who can't dwell in the presence of a holy God, and he shows them how to be inside the tent with him. This is the book of Leviticus. This is the marvelous study of what it means for us to learn to dwell with the living God, you see. This is the message of Leviticus. It's teaching us how to move from outside the tent, inside the tent, to dwell with the holy God in whom we have been made for fellowship. And this leads us really to our final point this morning. We've seen the place of Leviticus and its importance. We've seen the point of Leviticus, the message, but notice the purpose of Leviticus. What might Leviticus do to transform you and me should the Spirit of the Lord make that happen in our journey? Well, if Leviticus is placed at the very center of the law of God, and it is, and if the main point of Leviticus is to teach us how to dwell with the living God, Then there's a couple of lessons that we've got to learn. They're pretty simple and it'll take your whole life and my whole life to learn them. Maybe even a whole eternity to learn. The purpose of the book of Leviticus is to lead you to despair of yourself and to trust alone in the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation. That's the purpose of the book of Leviticus. to teach you and I to despair of ourselves and to trust wholly and completely upon the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the book of Leviticus is about. Now, some of you are saying, I don't recall seeing Jesus in the book of Leviticus. Well, you're onto something. But I think you'll see through every single chapter the outline of the person, the work of Jesus on every single chapter of the book of Leviticus. Now, despair of yourself. Why do I say that? I'm gonna be honest with you for a second. I don't know if you've noticed this. Leviticus is wearisome as a book. If you've read it, you get it. You get it. It's wearisome. Like when you're reading it, it's like, sacrifice that, don't touch that, touch that. Go here, don't go here. Uh-oh, you went there. Well, here's how you get back. Here's what you do. Here's how you recover. Oh, you did that thing. Well, here's how you're gonna have to get back. It's a lot of that. And it's really worrisome. I'm serious. By like chapter three or four, you're like, If this continues, this is gonna get tough. This is wearisome. It literally wears you out. And I want you to just think through this for a second. It wears you out, and get this, just deeply appreciate this. All you're doing is reading it. That's all you're doing. What about the people who lived it? What about the people who lived it? You think it might've been wearying to them? You think it might've been overwhelming to them? I get a few chapters into Leviticus and I just go, there's no way, like there's no way. There's no way. Like normal living makes me unacceptable to God. Bingo. Bingo. It's like there's nothing I can do to become holy and acceptable to God. Bingo, you're onto something. That weariness, that overwhelmingness, that excruciating minutia and detail of how you must do everything and do it just so is meant to wear you down. and despair of yourself. And to say, if I don't have a Savior, I'm sunk. There's no hope for me apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. You need a Savior. You need someone who is holy even as God is holy. And then you need that same someone to offer himself as a substitutionary atonement, a sacrifice on your behalf, to cover all of your sins. And you need that same one to come back to life and be the priest who will constantly stand before the presence of the Lord and give you entrance into the dwelling place of the living God. In other words, you need the Lord Jesus Christ, you see. When John opens his gospel in John chapter one, verse 14, he says this, he says, the word, and that's Jesus, the logos, the word made flesh came and dwelt among us. Let me ask you a question. If the main crisis of human history is that there is a separation between God and man that cannot be bridged. And in John chapter one, he tells us that the second person of the Trinity became man. You gotta know something amazing has happened. If the greatest crisis of estrangement between God and man is the reality of human history and God is becoming man, at the beginning of John chapter one, something absolutely amazing is happening. And John is actually, with his wonderful Greek and his beautiful metaphors, is actually hinting at something really deep when he says, the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Because the word for dwelt there, for all you Greek scholars, is tabernacle. He came and he pitched his tent with you. to dwell among you, to be that sacrifice, to be that priest, to be your savior. Don't miss John here when he's telling you that. That the word became flesh and dwelt among us and he says, listen to John, listen to John. And we beheld his glory. The glory that kept Moses. from entering into the tabernacle is the very glory that Jesus is welcoming you in to the throne room of heaven. He is made a way when there was no way through his blood, through his sacrifice, through his priesthood, through his tabernacle. We have entrance into the Holy of Holies to dwell with the living God. That God, John tells us, is full of grace and truth. Oh, what a wonderful, what a wonderful word that is to us. You see, as we get on our way in the book of Leviticus, and you begin to understand how this book fits its place, you understand its point, you get its purpose. Week after week, God, by His grace, will surprise us with new insights into the old, old truths of Christ and Him crucified. As we see the dusty, old, arcane laws of Leviticus, the clean pages of our Bible get a little gummed up, as we go deep into the book of Leviticus and find ourselves closer than ever by God's grace to our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you pray with me to that end? That the Lord would do that work in our journey in this marvelous book. Let's pray. Father in heaven, we truly ask that you would be forbearing, patient, and gracious with us, stumbling Bible readers and foolish preacher, As we seek to learn all that we can from this marvelous book, would you give us eyes to see, hearts to believe, and wills to obey, all that you would speak to us in the book of Leviticus? And would we rejoice that through the Lord Jesus Christ, even today He stands at the right hand of the Father, living to make intercession for us, that we would rejoice that we are a people who dwell with the living God. Father, hear this prayer and answer it. In Christ's name, amen.