Leviticus chapter 7 verses 22 through 38, these are God's words. And Yahweh spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel saying, you shall not eat any fat of ox or sheep or goat, and the fat of an animal that dies naturally and the fat of what is torn by wild beasts may be used in any other way, but you shall by no means eat it. Whoever eats the fat of the animal of which men offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, The person who eats it shall be cut off from his people. Wherever you shall not eat any blood in any of your dwellings, whether a bird or beast, whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people. Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, He who offers the sacrifice of his peace offering to Yahweh shall bring his offering to Yahweh from the sacrifice of his peace offering. His own hands shall bring the offerings made by fire to Yahweh. The fat with the breast he shall bring, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before Yahweh. And the priest shall burn the fat on the altar But the breast shall be Aaron's and his son's. Also the right thigh you shall give to the priest as a heave offering from the sacrifices of your peace offerings. He among the sons of Aaron who offers the blood of the peace offering and the fat shall have the right thigh for his part. To the breast of the way of offering and the thigh of the heave offering I have taken from the children of Israel from the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons from the children of Israel by a statute forever. This is the consecrated portion for Aaron and his sons from the offerings made by fire to Yahweh on the day when Moses presented them to minister to Yahweh as priests. Yahweh commanded this to be given to them by the children of Israel on the day that He anointed them by a statute forever throughout their generations. This is the law of the burnt offering, the grain offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the consecrations, and the sacrifice of the peace offering. which Yahweh commanded Moses on Mount Sinai on the day when he commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings to Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai. So far the reading of God's inspired and inerrant word. may feel like we've been sprinting through Leviticus. It may feel to you like we've been going quite slowly. I'm not sure how it feels, but so far we've just had really three main sections. The first main section containing the ascension and the tribute and the peace. And you remember that as we went along We pointed out that the word offering wasn't actually in those things, it's the ascension, the tribute and the peace, the way by which God brings us near to himself a substitute. And then in order that we might be able to come by way of the ascension and the tribute and the peace, We heard from chapter 4 through chapter 6 and verse 7 about the atonement and the trespass, or sorry, the sin and the trespass. Those things for which the priest was to make atonement, and that wonderful statement, while the priest is the one who makes the atonement, it shall be forgiven him. the divine passive there. God, not the priest, is the one who does the forgiving." And in those two sections, the instruction had been for Moses to speak to the children of Israel. Then last week, from chapter 6 verse 8 through chapter 7 verse 21, we noticed that he went from telling Moses to speak to the children of Israel to telling Moses to speak to Aaron and his sons. And he gave them instruction that was for the carrying out of the various sacrifices, but he especially highlighted to them what their portions were. That as they were the ones who kept, in particular, the Ascension burning all the time, the Lord displaying by fire and smoke to his people right outside in the tabernacle complex in the midst of the people, that the way is always open to him, that those whom he had given such a duty and such a privilege, he had given a portion, especially from the sin and trespass offerings. And one of the main themes then that we saw in each part and now is concluding again in this third part, and really this is the conclusion to all three. As he turns again, you see in verse 22 and 23, in verse 28 to 29, one of the main themes has been what is reserved for the Lord. The first section ended commanding that No fat or blood should be eaten. The fat parts were not to be eaten and blood was not to be eaten. It is reserved for the Lord. And here again, we have that warning, that prohibition in verses 22 through 27. In fact, this is reserved for the Lord in a very serious manner. And then in the middle of our passage today, we see what is reserved for the Lord's priest in verses 28 through 29. well really through 36, but 34 and 35 and 36 all being kind of increasing summary statements. And then we see the identification of this day as a day that is bringing to a conclusion and we'll actually see the anointing and the consecration of the priests in chapter 8, but this is bringing to a conclusion God's great work to his people among his people at Sinai. So first we see that which is reserved from the Lord, and we see that it's both a consecrated reminder and a constant reminder. It is first a consecrated reminder that the fat parts we know belong to the Lord, that is the Lord's portion. And so he repeats, you shall not eat any fat of ox or sheep or goat. Even if the animal dies naturally or is torn by wild beasts, they were not to eat the fat parts. And the fatty lobe attached to the liver and the fat that was on the kidneys. And you remember the various fat parts that were reserved for the Lord. These were to be burned to go up as a soothing aroma to the Lord if it was in the peace offering, then the flesh would be for the people and for the worshiper. We'll get to that in a moment. But you remember in the sin offering and the trespass offering, it was especially for the priest. But the fact was lords and blood also. was a reminder that the Lord gave life of the creature to be in its blood and that when the people were substituted in this hand-leaning ceremony, that God would take their life that had been atoned for by blood and that God would apply their life to those things that represented him, taking that which represents them and that which represents him and bringing them together. communicating to them that he was bringing them near. But the fat parts then were a consecrated reminder and so holy were these fat parts that sinning, whether against the eating of the fat part or the eating of the blood, was grounds for excommunication. Some people think perhaps even execution, but verse 25 and 27 mean at the very least excommunication. Whoever eats of the fat of an animal of which men offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh, the person who eats it shall be cut off from his people. Whoever eats any blood, that person shall be cut off from his people." To eat of the fat part, to treat it as if it were a common thing instead of a consecrated thing, would be to take lightly the glory, the grace that the Lord had made a way for bringing his people near. And so the penalty for taking lightly or making light of the way that God had given for bringing his people near was to take away the privilege of being among the holy people whom he had brought near. It's a consecrated reminder. And then it would also be a constant reminder. As we've already mentioned, even when it was not offered to God, the fat parts of the ox or the sheep or the goat were still so reserved from the people that they weren't permitted to eat in it. So that means, children, I know you don't get to see ox or goat or sheep That often, in fact, has been rare enough in our children's lives that if they see ox or sheep or a goat out the window in the car, someone will say, oh, there's a goat, or so forth. We've seen a few more since we came to Middle Tennessee. But still, this was a society in which these animals were all over the place. And everyone they saw, they would remember, that's one of the animals that you can't eat the fat of. because that's one of the animals that the Lord has given for these sacrifices by which we are brought near, whether the ascension or the peace or the sin or the trespass offerings, all of those ways by which the Lord was bringing them near. So every time they saw an ox or a sheep or a goat, they would be reminded, God is a God who brings us near. There's a constant reminder that way. Every meal was a reminder that they have a God who is God over all of their life and who forgives sin. You remember the first reason that they couldn't eat an animal's blood in Genesis chapter 9 was because the life of the animal was in the blood. And they were to view their life not as coming from an animal, but as coming from God. But the second reason now is because of the use of the blood in all of these applications, in atonement for sin and in consecration of the worship, the drawing near to God and His having drawn near to them. And so they would remember both by not eating blood. One, they would remember that God is all of their life, that the food is not their life, the animal does not give them life, God gives them life by way of the animal. And to remember that God is a God who forgives sin. And so they were very much unlike the other nations, the other cultures around them who would eat blood. So we see that all of life then was to remind them that the Lord was the Lord who had brought them near. Now, you have another reminder, and that is your constant access to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Because His blood was spilt once for all, and He has ascended, and He is your representative in heaven when you believe in Him. It is as you doing that leaning ceremony and resting upon Him. And so one of the things that the Lord has given to you is to follow the instruction, 1 Thessalonians 5, to pray continually, everything that you do. You do like Johann Sebastian Bach when he would compose a piece and he would write at the top and the bottom, dedications unto the Lord. So you do that by prayer in your heart, everything you do. whenever something happy happens or something wonderful happens. Your second thing is to text your wife or however, store it away to tell your wife when you get home. I don't know if they're like anti-texting people. But your first recourse, everything good, is to give thanks to God for it. Every anxiety, you lift to Him. Everything that you set out to do, you go to Him for your strength in it. Every grief, you bear to Him. He's given you, of course, an entire book of Psalms. You've just finished singing at least a half an hour's worth of Psalms, and He gives you always and every one of these things. How do you come to Him? You come to Him by yourself? No, of course not. You don't come to him as you are, you come to him through Christ as he is, with his righteousness and his blood having been spilt. And every time you bring anything to God, it comes through Jesus. It's very similar in kind, isn't it? And so we should have this coming to God through the Lord Jesus Christ in prayer, this application of the way by which the Lord has given us to draw near. Now conscientiously aware that it's through his son and through his completed work, through his resurrected life where he sits in glory, every one of your prayers is mediated that way. And so we come, not just saying in Jesus' name at the end, but aware that God has brought me near in Jesus Christ. And so he gives us that continuous reminder, even as he has given us to have a consecrated life. No longer does he say, you can't have the fat parts. He says, and this was always true, of course, it's even more explicit now. He says, your whole body is a living sacrifice now. God lays claim to you as holy because you have been joined to Jesus Christ. This is what the mercies of God have gotten for you, as we'll be hearing not too many midweeks from now in Romans chapter 12. And so that's what is reserved for the Lord. And then there is what is reserved for the Lord's priest. Of course, the Lord had given the priest many portions, but there's one offering in particular, one way of coming near to God, that which he called the peace, in which the Lord has given the fat portions and the worshiper is given the meat portions, almost. Here we have a raising ceremony and when he brings the fat then in verse 30, the one who offers it by his own hands. He brings the fat with the breast so that the breast may be waived. And the word is one that comes from the idea of raised. And it's coming with the fat recognizes that the breast portion is really a portion for Yahweh, a portion for the Lord. It's lifted up. along with the bringing of the fat, so that when that becomes the portion that the priest may have, Yahweh is, as it were, giving his portion to the priest. But then this second part that is here called the heed, which is really just a word for contribution. And it's not a heave offering, there's not some sort of gesture that is done with the right thigh. He is supposed to just hand it directly to the priest is what it says here. And so what you see is this fellowship meal, if you remember back to the peace offering that takes place where the fat parts go up to God and the meat is for the worshiper and God gives a portion to the priest and God gives the worshiper to give also a contribution to the priest. And so the priest, as it were, is being honored by God for officiating this. The breast portion could be for all the priests generally, and the right thigh portion that was just handed directly the contribution. I hesitate to use such a mundane word for something so rich and holy. The tip for the officiating priest of the right thigh, appreciating the role that God has given him in officiating. And so from the peace offering, the priest would get both. The Lord honors his servant and he teaches his people to do the same. And how much more, if this was true, for priests on earth who had to have sin offerings for their own sin and who were prevented from continuing in their priesthood by their death, how much more for our great high priest, who had no sin of his own to offer for and who always lives to intercede for us. Don't we love for Jesus to have his portion? We see throughout the New Testament how much the Father loves to honour his Son. And he leads us, doesn't he, his people, in honouring his Son, our priest, as well. So that which is reserved for the Lord and that which is reserved for the priest. And there are some forevers here, of course, that are forever throughout their generations and forever so long as their priesthood continues. But this kind of capstone then, not just on Leviticus 1-7, but really a capstone that goes all the way back from when Moses returned up the mountain God said that he would indeed go with his people and he brings Moses back up the mountain a second time and gives him all of the instruction for the tabernacle. This is capping all of that and what we see is the crescendo You have in verse 34 referring to the breast and the thigh from the peace offerings and he says, I have given them to Aaron the priest and to his sons and the children of Israel by a statute forever. And then not just this idea of this perpetual statute so long as their priesthood continues. but Moses presenting Aaron and his sons themselves unto Yahweh. And so you have in this context the raising of the breast to the Lord while Moses presents the men to the Lord. This is the consecrated portion for Aaron and his sons from the offerings made by fire to Yahweh on the day when Moses presented them to minister to Yahweh as priests. And then you have the statute forever and the presentation to Yahweh. And then you have the day, not just that he presented them to Yahweh, but that Yahweh presented them to the people by way of anointing. And this is in verse 36. Yahweh commanded this to be given to them by the children of Israel on the day that he, that is the Lord, anointed them. by a statute forever throughout their generations. And so this provision of the priest, this presentation of the priest to the Lord, this presentation by the Lord of the priests to his people, this is the conclusion to the last half of Exodus and the first seven chapters of Leviticus. So this is in verse 37, this is the law of the ascension, the tribute, the sin, the trespass, the consecrations, the peace. the sacrifice of peace, which Yahweh commanded Moses on Mount Sinai on the day when he commanded the children of Israel to offer their offerings to Yahweh in the wilderness of Sinai. And what does he do here? He reminds us of where we are. We spent so much time getting instructions about the tabernacle, and then constructing the tabernacle, and then getting instructions about the sacrifices that we might have lost track of the fact that Israel is still at the mountain to which the Lord had brought them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. And so this becomes a conclusion not just to these seven chapters, but really to the whole of the book of Exodus and Leviticus up until this point. Here at Sinai, God provided a consummation of his deliverance of his people. It was not just, let my people go so that they may be free, but let my people go so that they may serve me. And he brought them out of Egypt to bring them to himself. And this he did at Sinai. At Sinai, he gave them his law. At Sinai, he gave them his dwelling among them by way of the tabernacle. At Sinai, now in Leviticus, he has provided for their drawing near by the ascension and the tribute and the priests and the atonement and the forgiveness. And he has given them anointed priests. Now for us, we can look back and we can say, behold, how merciful the Lord was to these people, how powerful, how gracious. But shall we not then look at ourselves and say, how much more? We marvel not only at the greatness of his provision to them, but the Lord has brought us near in Christ. The Lord has spoken his law to us in Christ's mouth. He calls it the royal law. He calls it the law of Christ. It's the same law, but it comes now to us particularly from the mouth of our Redeemer, the God-man, who being the God of the law has also been for us the man who kept the law and in whom we have righteousness. God has come to tabernacle among us in the Lord Jesus Christ and God has made it possible for us to draw near to him in the ascended Christ who is the tribute that we bring. We come with him in the hand of faith and he is for us peace with God and reconciliation and he is our atonement and the one who continually cleanses our conscience by blood that was shed once for all and still sprinkles our hearts clean even to this day, and he is the priest who applies all these things to us. Jesus is not just sitting taking a break in glory until his enemies are made his footstool for his feet. He is always living to intercede, saving us to the uttermost by the power of his indestructible life, continually by his spirit applying to us the work that he has done. And we long for him to have his portion, even as God has given him his portion, and his portion is, of course, heaven and earth, and all that is in him, all that is in them. But most of all, he's taken for us himself a bride that he purchased, and that he's perfecting, and that when he is done, he will present to himself as his portion. We can hardly believe, and only by the grace of the Spirit begin to believe, the privilege that the Lord has given us to be even our priest's portion. Shall you not love the God who has brought you near and the God man by whom he has brought you near? Let us marvel not only then at the greatness of his provision here to Israel, but the greaterness of his provision to us in giving us all of these things in Christ. Amen, let's pray. Father, we thank you and praise you that while every priest is selected from among men, you gave your son to become a man. in order that he might be our priest and that you have given him this charge and that he, for the joy set before him, not only offered the sacrifice, but was and is the sacrifice. And we pray that as you open our eyes to see the greatness of your grace to Israel, even by the shadows of the picture book, that you would open our eyes all the more to see your great grace to us, that our hearts would be full, and that you would enlarge our hearts to enjoy and thank you and praise you all for ourselves with all that we are, who have done the full and final redeeming in your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. So grant these things we ask in his name, amen.