Turn with me now to Leviticus chapter 1 and we're going to begin class 2 in the book of Leviticus and we will start again in verse number 1. We made some introductory statements in the last class and basically had an introduction to the book of Leviticus, a small study on the law and its connection to the book of Romans. Today we're going to look and begin to cover the actual passage. In chapter 1 and verse 1, it says, And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, he shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering. It shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullock before the Lord. And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation." Now there is a lot of information here. First of all, as we touched on last week, the Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation. Now this is the place where the Lord's presence is, of course, but the Lord does his business with Moses from his place of authority. At one point, as we saw coming through the book of Exodus, that was on Mount Horeb, the Mount of the Lord. And he said, come up into the top of the mountain. He had a place to speak. Moses from and then in this place God has given him a pattern to look at. You'll see that in the book of Hebrews and the Lord said make it according to the pattern and now God is speaking to Moses out of that tabernacle. God spoke to Moses at one point from a burning bush and that was a miraculous thing. Moses turned aside to see that marvelous image of power of God's power a marvelous display of God's power would be a better statement to make on that but it was certainly a display and this tabernacle of the congregation is certainly a great display of God's presence and of God's God's leadership to the children of Israel and he's speaking to Moses now and he says speak unto the children of Israel so there's a relay of information and this relay of information is still present today. God is speaking to a man. The man is speaking to the people. That's called a prophet in the Old Testament. The New Testament prophet is we call them a preacher and the Bible calls them preachers and prophets and also the Bible tells us and teaches us very clearly that God uses the Word and the Bible says matter of fact that He magnified His Word above all His name. Now He doesn't magnify His preacher above all His name and so the preacher is always going to be less in stature than the Word of God. The Word of God is supreme. God speaks to men by the Holy Spirit and that's God Himself. God can speak to you straight from his own mouth, but he does that by the Holy Spirit, his presence, his unseen presence. It's not an unfelt presence, but it's an unseen presence. But God still does this, this basic pattern of communication just the same as he did in the book of Leviticus. He does the very same thing today. He speaks to Moses, verse 1, speak unto the children of Israel, verse 2, and of course this message that is given the children of Israel through Moses ultimately becomes the Word of God. Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, and of the flock. And I should point out I say that it ultimately become the Word of God. I say that because Moses told the people and Moses penned it down and it is the scripture, but the Bible also says that the scripture said to Pharaoh. Now there was no written scripture at the time, but the scripture has been forever settled throughout all eternity the truth is the truth and the Word of God was not only planned but it was fulfilled and preserved and that the scriptures always been around whether it be in written form or truth form or principle form whatever the case might be the Word of God has always been and so verse number two speak unto the children of Israel and saying to them if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord you shall bring your offering of the cattle even of the herd and of the flock And as the book of Leviticus goes on it it gives you some other Creatures that can be offered that can be sacrificed cattle here lambs, of course and Turtle doves and such as that there's different offerings that can be made But we want to realize and pick up right away that since this is a law you don't want to be Bring in a moose or a dog or a pig or any such animal as that. You want to always bring If you were in this Levitical economy, you always want to bring the animals that God has prescribed. And the same in the Christian life. You want to do things as God has prescribed. We don't want to use our own methods. We want to use God's method. The Bible says God chose the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. And certainly we want to stay with preaching. Now lots of times you might be tempted to do it another way. But just stick with the way that God has prescribed and you'll always be carrying out the very best plan that can possibly be carried out. Verse number three, if his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. Well, this is the best I've gotten. It's got a little blemish, but God will take it anyway, won't he? No, he says, if his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. If you offer a male that has a blemish, and that's all you have well then you're going to have to realize that that's not going to be an acceptable offering and that you need to do your best to get one that doesn't have a blemish if you're going to offer and of course he says let him offer a male without blemish he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle." You can do something that God lays on your heart, and if God lays on your heart to do a thing, you certainly can do it, but do it right, do it correct, and if it can't be done right, and if it can't be done according to the scripture, It might be commendable that you had it in your heart and mind to do it, but God doesn't want it done. If it's not ruled by the scripture, if it's not directed by the scripture, it was in David's heart to build God's house. And basically God told David, I don't want you to build my house. I don't require you to build me a house. And it's a commendable thing to want to build God a house. God said I've already got a house and besides if I want a temple built I'll let somebody else do it because you don't meet the qualifications to build me a house. You've shed too much blood and I don't want your hands to be on my house and that regards as far as being a builder so he let David's son do that but God is very particular about how and when and what not just how and when but what all things are not acceptable to God and that's why we are to do as the Bible commands us in several places but just as one example the Bible tells us in the book of Philippians he says you're to approve things that are excellent and it tells us in Romans chapter 12 it says that we're to that our lives, our bodies are to be sacrifices, but that they're also to be holy sacrifices and acceptable sacrifices, just reminding us that some sacrifices are not acceptable. And so this is a free will. It's a voluntary will offering. And it's amazing to me that God begins spelling out what the law entails for these Levitical priests and how to go about it and he begins with not with an offering that is commanded but with an offering that is a free will offering so whether it's the law or whether it's the new testament no matter what dispensation or no matter what time period you live in no matter if your contemporary was Adam or Noah or Abraham or Moses or Jesus or the Apostle Paul no matter which contemporary you have your religion is to be true religion and undefiled and it's to begin with the heart and he says here in this very beginning passage of the official Procedures of the law. He says the first Sacrifice that I want to talk to you about is a free will sacrifice There to be free will offerings and those free will offerings are to be pure They are to be quality And so he says on top of that in verse 4 and he the person who is offering the offering He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him You can get confused in verse 4 and say he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and think that that He the second word in verse 4 is a reference to the priest, but he in verse 4 The second word in verse 4 is a reference to the man who is offering the offering see this offering is for the person and When the sin offering is made, the teaching, the standard teaching, and it's a true teaching, is that that Lamb is a prophecy, a picture, a type of Jesus Christ to come in the New Testament, because He is the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And that is true, that is a true saying. The sacrifice, the sin offering, in the book of Leviticus and the book of the law is a foretelling. It is a prophecy of Jesus Christ. But what you also need to understand is that lamb of the sin offering first and foremost is taking your place. You offer the lamb in your place. So whatever offering that you make, it's an offering and it's a sacrifice from you. We think about sacrifice as that In our modern day, we've come to think of a sacrifice as just something that's being slain, something that's being killed. A sacrifice is something that is costing you. The wages of sin is death, and the soul that sinneth, it shall die. That's you. And so, you sacrifice, you give up something, that it can be sacrificed in your place, that it can be lost in your place. A sacrifice is a loss. And even David himself, when he was going to make a sacrifice, he said, I can't sacrifice from something that doesn't cost me anything. Of course, you'll have to do further study to come across those passages. But at any rate, he says he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering. So if I'm in this place in Leviticus 1 and I put my hand on this lamb or on this lamb, on this cattle as it says here on on this sacrifice if i put my hand on this sacrifice's head i'm showing that i'm laying my hand upon it i'm laying who i am upon that sacrifice and it shall be accepted for him it says if i'm making the sacrifice i put my hand on it it's like The modern phrase that we use, put your stamp of approval on it. And that's what you're doing really. It's maybe not a stamp of approval, but you're putting your stamp of personality on it, your stamp of personhood on it. And it shall be accepted for him to make an atonement, to make atonement for him. It shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. So you lay your hand on it, and that sacrifice becomes for you. It becomes a substitution for you. You're the one that sinned. You're the one that needs atonement. It should actually be your death. So when Jesus Christ comes to be a sacrifice that takes away the sin of the world, He's taking away your sin and the soul that sinneth it shall die. He's dying in your place and his soul is suffering in place of your soul. And so that this free will aspect of it connects to the New Testament very clearly. Do you believe? then you must call upon the name of the Lord. That calling upon the name of the Lord is just like laying your hand on the sacrifice and saying, this sacrifice is for me. When I bowed my knee and called upon the Lord for salvation, I was recognizing that Jesus was my sacrifice. I'm identifying myself with him. I'm not just counting on some dark secret privilege that nobody understands and nobody can be sure of. that took place before the foundation of the world. The plan, the might, the power, the stamp of God's approval was placed on the crucifixion before the world began. But that doesn't erase the fact that that I must identify what that sacrifice is being made for and put myself in the place of the sinner, recognizing that it's the soul of the sinner. that must die. It's the soul of him that sins that must die and that Christ died in my place. And I like the verse as a reference to Leviticus 1.5 or 1.4 and 5. He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering. I like that reference in 1 Timothy 2.8 of men ought to pray but the Bible says he ought to pray everywhere lifting up holy hands and my hands can only be holy because they've been laid on the head of the sacrifice that was sacrificed for me and he shall kill the bullock verse five he shall kill the bullock before the lord now before we progress through this verse i want to point out this little phrase before the lord before the lord now you'll see that reference many times as you read through the scripture And that reference before the Lord means that it was done before the tabernacle. It wasn't done 50 miles away. It wasn't done 100 miles away. It wasn't done on the internet. It was done right there before the Lord. The presence of the Lord is considered to be in that tabernacle and these sacrifices are being made before the Lord. Oftentimes you hear about Moses being before the Lord. In the New Testament, we come before the throne of grace and that's that's almost the same statement before the lord or come boldly before the throne of grace and that is uh... again as i said already uh... they're almost identical statements were coming into the presence of god and the lord said i'll put my presence in these whether you're talking about the tabernacle or the temple the lord put his presence there and he shall kill the bullock before the lord and the priest Aaron's sons, very specific, not just anybody that calls themselves to be a priest, but there's a specific group of folks that can perform these sacrifices. And the priest Aaron's sons shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. Well that's a bloody mass and it's really not distinguished and I think we're a little bit beyond that in this modern day that we should be talking about blood. Well that blood As offensive as it might be I don't know why it would be that offensive to you We're made of blood. We the life of the flesh is in the blood if you probably Probably the offensiveness of blood comes from the fact that the movie industry has made a Mockery of the blood and made blood into a gruesome mess and I don't want to see much blood either I don't want to see a lot of blood and think about a lot of bloody things and watch a lot of bloody movies. I don't want to see that, but it's amazing to me how blood is offensive in the Bible but not on the movies. But at any rate, I digress from that. I'll just point out to you that the blood in the scripture as gruesome as it may be to your sensibilities, is a reminder that blood must be shed for sin, and that sin costs you your life. The soul that sinneth it shall die. The wages of sin is death. Those are biblical quotations. Those are true and inspired quotations, and so there is a great cost for sin. The Bible says that God wanted sin to become exceeding sinful. So when we see this blood and we have to deal with this blood, it's a reminder that sin is very costly. The life of the flesh is in the blood. Then if you're going to pay for blood, then as the Lord said, if a man sheds a man's blood, his blood will be shed because it's life for life. And in the forgiveness of sins, in the making of an atonement, in the production of forgiveness, there is going to be blood involved. And we can be thankful in the New Testament that our forgiveness comes through the once-shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. verse number six and he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into his pieces and the sons of Aaron the priests shall put fire upon the altar and lay wood lay the wood in order upon the fire now this is a picture of hell and it still is in connection with a with a free will or a voluntary will offering. These are great phrases that show up here in this passage. We often run into religious folks who don't believe in a voluntary will or a free will, but it's very much important in the Bible, and it's very much connected to the offering, the fire, the blood, the sacrifice, the voluntary will connected. And even as I pointed out a few moments ago, it's connected. These voluntary offerings and blood is connected to the law, which when we think of the law, we don't think of voluntary things at all. We think of We think of things that are mandatory and things that we must do. Well, that is one of the greatest lessons in the Bible is that the things that were mandatory, we're dealing now with moral things, moral things that were mandatory in the Old Testament should be voluntary. the New Testament and then the things that are connected to the sacrifices that were mandatory that these sacrifices must be done in a specific order and they must include the blood then when we do voluntary things in the New Testament that they should also still be connected to principle they should still be connected to the blood our voluntary Christian Our voluntary Christian activities shouldn't become so social that they become disconnected from the sin sacrifice made by our Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel, the death the death, the burial and the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ should be at the center of all of our Christian service. And so let's keep that in mind. Verse number eight, the priest Aaron's son shall lay the parts, the head and the fat in order upon the wood that is on the fire, which is upon the altar, but his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water and the priest shall burn all on the altar to be a burnt sacrifice and offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And while some of these things may be gruesome in our imagination, the Bible says that these burnt sacrifices, they're free will sacrifices in this case, but these burnt sacrifices are of a sweet savor unto the Lord. The Lord takes pleasure in them. He certainly doesn't take place in the death of his people. but he does take pleasure when atonement is being made. And so it may cost a great deal, but he certainly takes pleasure in it. And while he turned his back on his son as he was making his sacrifice for sin on the cross, he certainly did take great pleasure and was satisfied in the death of his son in regards to the cleansing of sin. And so he says, and verse number 10 and if his offering be of the flocks namely of the sheep or of the goats for a burn up sacrifice he shall bring it a male without blemish and he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the lord and the priest Aaron's sons shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar notice the repetition repetition the priests, Aaron's sons. Verse number five, the priests, Aaron's sons. And this type of thing is done over and over again because the repetition of the thing reminds you of the principle of the thing. Not just priests, the priests, Aaron's sons. And as you go through the Bible, things become cemented into their own place So that when the Lord makes kings and priests in the New Testament, they're not Aaron's sons. It's a different order. And so these are things you'll build on and learn about as you go through the scripture. But you learn principle. You learn things that are the same and things that are different. You learn to put a division between things, as the Bible says, rightly divide the word of truth. And you're going to learn many of these things by the repetition of the phrases that God uses. offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And if his offering be of the flocks, namely of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring it a male without blemish, and he shall kill it on the side of the altar northward before the Lord, and the priest Aaron's son shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar and he shall cut it in his pieces into his pieces pardon me and with his head and his feet and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is upon the altar but he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water and the priest shall bring it all and burn it upon the altar so a sacrifice of the goat or the sacrifice of the sheep or sacrifice of the flock the herd The cattle, they're all done the same. The principle of the matter, the procedure of the matter is the same. He says, it is a burnt sacrifice and offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, then he shall bring his offering of turtle doves or of young pigeons. Sometimes you'll see that phrase as turtles, period. And I do believe that the reference is always to turtle doves. I don't believe that the Lord would accept an offering of a turtle. I do believe that to be not quite the sacrifice that the Lord would want from you. So a lot of times it'll say turtle doves or it'll say the turtle. passage in the Song of Solomon talks about the voice of the turtle is heard in our land and he's talking about a turtle dove in that situation. I'm almost positive of that. Of course, if you can correct me on it, I'll be glad to be corrected. And the priest shall bring it unto the altar and wring off his head, verse 15, and burn it on the altar, and the blood thereof shall be wrung out at the side of the altar. And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east part by the place of the ashes. and he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder. And the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord." Now when he offers these birds, I remember when he was dealing with Abraham and he made the covenant by himself. The Lord said, you come, we'll make a covenant together. And when Abraham comes, he prepares the sacrifice and falls into a deep sleep. And then the Lord comes and he passes through that row of offerings all by himself. And in that case, he divided those sacrifices up. In this case, you cleave it, but you don't divide it. I believe that's the case because that division of those sacrifices are or a type of a permanent covenant being made. The permanent covenant is being made with Abraham. Here, this covenant is soon to be replaced with the blood covenant of the Lord Jesus Christ, the blood of Jesus Christ being shed once for all. And so this is not an eternal covenant. You would say, well, the Abrahamic covenant is not eternal either, but that's a misunderstanding because the covenant of Abraham is certainly still in effect today and many portions of it certainly is just as some portions of the law are still in effect there are some curses in the law that would for certain activities that can certainly curse you and damn you in this life and so there are remnants of each of these Covenants that have been made in the Bible the Lord made a covenant with Abraham and passed through it by himself so that he only is Responsible for it and then in this passage of scripture. He says I want these Levitical priests to make certain sacrifices, but he said don't want you to completely divide them but I do want you to split them and make these offerings as he says in verse 17 he shall cleave it with the wings thereof but shall not divide it asunder and the priest shall burn it upon the altar upon the wood that is upon the fire it is a burnt sacrifice an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord of course we don't need to make these sacrifices anymore because the Lord has has certainly showed up and went through the sacrifice and went through the covenant all by himself and he has taken upon himself the sins of the world and bore those sins and become a sacrifice for those sins was buried because of those sins and rose again for our justification so what a great passage of scripture this is and we'll leave off right there and pick up in chapter two the next time