Leviticus 1–2

together, Lord. We want to lift up all that's going on in our fellowship this evening with the nursery workers, with the youngsters, Lord. Bless that time with them as the ushers usher with them. You would give them wisdom and sensitivity of what's going on around us. Youth group, Lord, we lift up them as they will be growing in your grace this evening, Lord.

Bless the children's church area, Lord, as they'll be growing too in your grace as we spend time this evening with you, Lord, as a fellowship. Bless now our time as we worship in the study of your word. We ask for your anointing on Pastor Ryan by the Holy Spirit. We give you thanks in our hearts. We know if there's anything in the fellowship this evening by your Holy Spirit, move, done this evening. Bless your word as it goes forth.

Let it do its work as we know you will. Give us a desire to have ears to hear, eyes to see, hearts to perceive, and that willingness to obey as you work it in our lives because you first loved us. We love you. That's why we want to obey. By works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to your mercy, you have saved us, Lord. You've regenerated us, Lord. So give us

that hunger for your word and the desire for thanks. In Jesus' name, Lord, bless you all.

Good evening. If you would, open up in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus chapter 1.

Leviticus chapter 1. I've got to be honest with you, for as much as I love the book of Leviticus, this is the first time I've ever actually taught it. So this is an adventure for all of us together, but I think we're going to enjoy it. So before we get into the text itself, I want to give you a little bit of background information about the book of Leviticus.

The word Leviticus actually means pertaining to the Levites. That's what that word actually means. Of course, we know that it's written by Moses, much like Genesis and Exodus, one of those first five books, the Pentateuch there, written by Moses. Leviticus was written to be a manual for the priests. God on the mountain had given Moses a lot of different sacrifices and things that needed to be done. And so this book of Leviticus

goes into greater detail about those. And so it's a manual for the priests, but it also has great of Israel for the entire nation. There were things that they needed to learn from this entire thing. And of course, the emphasis of the book of Leviticus is on the holiness of God. There's some key words and thoughts that you need to pay attention to. Some of the key words to pay attention to are the words sacrifice, which is used

quite frequently throughout the book. The words priesthood, the blood, the word holy, and the word atonement. Those are words that you're going to really key in on as we go throughout the book of Leviticus. Leviticus. It's a book that explains to us both access to God and God's holiness. And believe it or not, the book of Leviticus is referenced over 90 times in the New Testament.

So we do know that Leviticus does have real importance for us. But what really got me is I was reading back through some commentaries over Leviticus and over the introduction for the book of Leviticus. And I came across this quote by J. Vernon McGee. And this is about the paragraph or so of his introduction of the book of Leviticus. So if you will, think about his voice

in your mind. And I'm going to read this to you because I think it's important for us to pay attention to. Now, friend, that's how he would say it. Many years ago, I read a statement by Dr. S.H. Kellogg saying that he considered the book of Leviticus the most important book in the Bible. I felt that he must have had his tongue in his cheek to make such a statement like that.

Then I heard a great preacher in Memphis, Tennessee, Dr. Albert C. Ludley say that he considered Leviticus the greatest book in the Bible. So several years ago, I made an experiment on our radio program. Actually, I didn't know what would happen as I began teaching through this book. I wanted to study it and I wanted to see if it was such a great book. And I must confess that I had misgivings as to the value of Leviticus

for a popular exposition on the Bible. However, I discovered that it is a thrilling, book. And not only that, but I can now honestly say that I consider the book of Leviticus one of the most important books of the Bible. If it were possible for me to get the message of this book into the hearts of all people who are trying to be religious, then all of the cults and the isms would end. A knowledge of the book of Leviticus would accomplish just that.

Now, I remember reading that paragraph as a very young man, starting off in the ministry. I don't know what prompted me to start studying through Leviticus with J. Vernon McGee, but I did. And I remember reading that paragraph and thinking, that's the dumbest thing I've ever read. Who on earth looks at the book of Leviticus and says, this is the most important book in the Bible? But it did sort of stir my thoughts as to why that would be the

case. And may I also say that I agree with J. Vernon McGee and those other two guys that he mentioned as well. I do think it's one of the most important books in the Bible. As a matter of fact, it's the book that God used to show me salvation more than any other book of the Bible that I've ever read. Because for me, and the things that I was going through as I was asking God, Lord,

what does salvation look like? What does it mean that Jesus saves? And he took me to the day of atonement, how the priest would confess the sins of the nation as he laid his hands on the head of that scapegoat. And then they would, after confessing, confessing the sins of the nation on the head of that scapegoat, the scapegoat was released and it ran outside of the city, out of the sight of everyone. And I felt like God said at that time,

because that's what I did with your sin. And for me, Leviticus all of a sudden became the most powerful book in the Bible because to me, it gave the greatest picture of my access to God. It gave the greatest picture of the holiness that I have in Christ. And because of that, it became a worship manual for me because it's where my true worship of God would spring from.

That understanding that all of the sin and all of the guilt and all of the weight that I can easily carry around my neck like a noose, God gently slipped off of me and carried it as far as the east is from the west on the back of his son, Jesus Christ. And so J. Vernon McGee went on to say something interesting. He said, in the book of Genesis, and I, Heather put this up there because I thought it was kind of, at least I think I did. I tried to.

Did I have you put it up there? Good. The book of Genesis, we see man ruined because after God creates man, we see that man falls into sin and we see the degradation of sin in the life and the culture of humanity. And so in Genesis, according to J. Vernon McGee, we see man ruined. In the book of Exodus, which is of course what we just studied, we see man redeemed because that's what God did

with the nation of Israel. He purchased them back. And we saw that beautiful, beautiful picture of redemption with the Passover lamb. He said, but in the book of Leviticus, we see man worshiping because that's what Leviticus is. It's a manual for worship. It's a manual for worship for the priests so that they would know how to properly lead the people into the worship

of God in the way that he prescribed in the Old Testament. And it's a manual for worship for the people so that they would understand not only their access to God, but the very holiness of God that would cause them to worship him both in spirit and in truth. And so that's what we see here in this book of Leviticus. Now, in general, the book is broken down, I think, in two ways. And I'm using

the Ryrie Study Bible's breakdown of this. I saw several different breakdowns, but to me, this made the most sense. In chapters 1 through 10, we see sacrifice the way to God. Sacrifice the way to God. And then in chapters 11 through 27, we see sanctification. Sanctification, the walk with God. Because in those first 10 chapters, he's going to talk about the different sacrifices. And in those chapters 11 through 27, he's not only going to

go through the dietary laws, which were important for worship, the health laws that were important for worship, but also the different feasts that the children of Israel were supposed to take part in, which was their manual for worship. And so it's really that sanctification, that walk with God that we see in the book of Leviticus. Everything that we do tonight and everything that we do in our study in this book, much like Exodus, I will do everything within my power to show you Jesus as he is presented to us through all of the sacrifices. Because as we discussed in the book of Matthew and the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, I did not come to destroy the law. I came to fulfill the law. And not even the smallest

pinstroke or the dot of an eye will fall down until I have fulfilled everything that it says in the law. And so we pick up in Leviticus chapter one, and this is what it says. It says, Then the Lord called to Moses, and he spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, Speak to the sons of Israel and say to them, When any man of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring an offering of the animals from the herd or the flock. If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer it a male without defect. He shall offer it at the doorway

of the tent of meeting, that he may offer it to the man without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the tent of meeting, that it may be accepted before the Lord. He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, that it may be accepted for him to make atonement on his behalf. He shall slay the young bull before the Lord. And Aaron's sons, the priest, shall offer up the blood

and sprinkle the blood around on the altar that is at the doorway of the tent of meeting. He shall then skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. The sons of Aaron, the priest, shall put fire on the altar and arrange the wood on the fire. Then Aaron's sons, the priests, shall arrange the pieces, the head, the suet over the wood, which is on the fire that is on the altar. Its entrails, however, and its legs he shall wash

with water. And the priest shall offer up in smoke all of it on the altar for a burnt offering, an offering made by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. Now, I hope you took note of the thing that I took note of, and that's in verse one, we see that God is actually speaking to Moses, but you'll take note of where he's speaking to him from, because the Lord speaks to him no longer from the mountaintop, because that's where we've seen God speak to Moses from all throughout the book of Exodus, at least that last half of the book of Exodus. God was speaking to him from the mountaintop. But if you remember, last week we looked at Exodus chapter 40,

and in Exodus chapter 40, in those last handful of verses, we saw that the presence of God filled the tabernacle, the cloud settled on the tabernacle, and God dwelt in the presence of God. In the tabernacle, if you will, his presence was there. And so now, no longer was God speaking from a mountaintop where only Moses could approach. He was now speaking from the tabernacle, which would always be that picture of the visible presence of God among the people.

The tabernacle would always be the focal point and the center point of the camp, because God was to be at the center of the camp. God was to be at the heart of the nation. And from this heart of the nation, from the center of the camp, from the tabernacle, God now begins to speak to Moses the instructions for how they could go deeper in their understanding of these sacrifices that he wanted for them. And so the very first sacrifice that we see spoken of, there's going to be five of them. The very first sacrifice that we see God speak about

is what's known as the burnt offering. All of chapter one is going to teach us about this burnt offering. Now, the burnt offering was the oldest of the sacrifices because it's the one that we saw not only throughout the book of Genesis, but we also saw it in the book of Exodus. You may remember that when Abraham arrived in the land after God called him, after God called him to leave his homeland, to leave his family behind and to go to a land that he would show him, when Abraham finally obeyed God and went to the land, do you remember what Abraham did when he got there? He built an altar. He built an altar to the Lord and offered a burnt sacrifice unto

the Lord. But you know, that's not even the first time we read about a burnt sacrifice. We're reminded of the fact that when Noah came off of the ark, do you remember the very first thing he did? The very first thing that he did is he built an altar and he offered unto the Lord a burnt sacrifice unto the Lord. But really, that's not even the first time we read about it.

Really, the first time that we read about some sort of a sacrifice was in the very Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve had sinned and Adam made the worst clothes man has ever made by making a covering of fig leaves. And God said, that's terrible. You've used your own actions to try to cover your sins. And so God provided the skins of animals to cover Adam and Eve. That's really the first time that

we see this kind of a sacrifice or an offering that's made. And so this is the oldest of all of the offerings. Now, this particular offering was an offering of consecration or devotion. While it did not necessarily deal with sin, it dealt with the devotion of the individual. Unto the Lord, we do take note of the fact that the one thing that will keep us from being devoted

to the Lord, the one thing that will keep us from being consecrated unto the Lord is sin in our lives. And so this burnt offering deals with sin. Now, in the instructions, we take note of a few things. The first thing that we take note of is that if this burnt offering is from the herd, meaning if it is of a bull, these are the instructions for what the burnt offering is supposed to look like.

The first thing that we take note of is that if it is of a bull, these are the instructions for what the burnt offering is supposed to look like. There would need to be inspection of this animal that was chosen from the herd, and it would need to be a male, and it would need to be completely without defect. They were to then bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting that it may be accepted by the Lord. And then the next thing that we see along these instructions is that the individual that was offering the sacrifice was to take his hands, and he was to lay them on the head of the bull. He was to lay them on the head of the bull.

He was to lay them on the head of the bull. This burnt offering. And so hopefully the same question comes into your mind that came into mine the very first time I read something along these lines. Why? Why do you have to lay your hands on the head of the bull? Well, because this sacrifice was a substitutionary sacrifice. The idea was transference. You see, when the individual would lay their hands on the head of that bull,

it was identification with that sacrifice. It was saying, while I'm not making a sacrifice of myself, this bull is taking my place in the sacrifice. And so as he would lay his hands, there would be a transference. There would be an identification, but there would also be a substitution that was placed for the individual that was about to make the sacrifice. Because as he laid his hand on the

head of the bull in substitution, the bull would then make atonement for him. Because that's the very next word that's used there. That word atonement, of course, is the word covering. And I've pointed out before that the very first time that we see this word covering, of course, is in the Garden of Eden. But the second time that we see the word covering is with Noah as well.

Because you see, when Noah had to build the ark, God told him to coat it on the inside and the outside with pitch. That word pitch is the same Hebrew word for atonement or covering, because it was to be the covering for the ark to protect from the judgment of God. And so the idea behind atonement here is that the blood of that animal would cover the sin, would provide consecration and devotion for the individual that was actually making the sacrifice. So he would lay his hands on the head of the bull so that the head of the bull could offer atonement for him. And then the person offering the sacrifice was to slay the bull.

Now, this is the first time I've really taken note of the fact that the individual making the sacrifice, not Aaron. The high priest, but the individual actually making the sacrifice was the one that would kill the animal. I've probably read it before. I've probably taken note of it before, but it stuck out to me this time. Because what it reminds me of is that my sin is what the great cost was.

That bull is taking my place, something that would rightly belong to me. Can you imagine what it must have been like? Put yourself in that position. You lead this bull that was to be taken from the flock. And I'll explain why that's important in just a moment. And you lead it there to the doorway of the tent. And when you get to the doorway of the tabernacle, you lay your hand on the head of the bull as if to say, this bull is taking my place.

And then whether the high priest hands you the knife or you already have one yourself, you would then slit the throat of that bull. Can you imagine? It would just crumple right there at your feet because you just took the life from it. It's quite a picture that's given to us here, isn't it? I think God wants to make sure we understand the distinct sacrifice that need to be made.

The distinct sacrifice that had to be made in order to show our devotion unto him. Because as we were told, sin brings death. It was also important to take note of the fact that this animal was to be taken from the individual's herd or the flock. The reason why that's important is because this was not to be a wild animal, not just some animal that they could catch and bring in, but one that would actually cost them something. You see, if I go find an animal out on the road somewhere,

then that's really no cost to me. I just simply went and found an animal. But if it's an animal that's taken from my flock, it costs me something because it's going to take away from my profits, or it's going to take away from my food, or it's going to take away from my security because it's a sacrifice of devotion unto the Lord. And so the individual would slay the animal, and then the priest would take and cut the animal into pieces, and they would arrange it on the altar after they had removed the skin from it. The only thing that would be washed was the parts that were potentially

defiled by any sort of excrement from the animal because nothing defiled could be offered to the Lord. And then after everything was washed that needed to be washed and it was placed upon the altar, the entire animal was to be consumed with fire. It was a complete devotion, a complete consecration, a wholehearted sacrifice unto the Lord. Well, he goes on to give a few more instructions in here, starting in verse 10.

Because he's told us what it's going to be like if you can afford to offer a bull, but take note of the fact that in verse 10 it says this,

It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. But if his offering to the Lord is of a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering from the turtle doves or from the young pigeons. The priest shall offer it or shall bring it to the altar and ring on the altar. The priest shall offer it and bring it to the altar and ring on the altar.

The priest shall offer it off its head and offer it up in smoke on the altar and its blood is to be drained out on the side of the altar. He also shall take away its crop and its feathers and cast it beside the altar eastward to the place of the ashes. Then he shall tear it by its wings, but he shall not sever it. And the priest shall offer it up in smoke on the altar on the wood, which is on the fire. It is a burnt offering, an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Lord. Now it's

kind of interesting that he says, but he offers two other options of sacrifices for these whole burnt offerings. The first option, of course, was the bull, which was the very first thing that we read about. The second offering was if he could only afford to bring something from the flock or from the, uh, or, or, uh, yeah, of the flock of either the sheep or the goats, it would not be as costly of an offering, but he still gave instructions for that. And then the third option was if all he could afford was of the birds, then he would bring a particular bird and offer it as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. Why is this important? Well, because not everybody could afford to bring a bull to the Lord

because maybe they didn't have enough money to do that. And so God made a way that if you couldn't afford a bull, you could still bring a sheep or a goat. The rules remain the same, but God understood that you could only offer what you could afford, but perhaps you definitely couldn't afford a bull and you couldn't even afford a sheep or a goat. All you could afford was the most inexpensive of animals possible, the pigeons.

So you would bring those to the Lord. And from this, we learned a very interesting lesson. God was less concerned with how much they could afford, and he was more concerned with the sacrifice of their heart because whatever it was, if it was all you could afford, it was still for you a sacrifice. And so God was much more concerned with the heart than anything, as long as you followed the other instructions. And so as we look at this first chapter, we have to ask ourselves,

what does it mean to us? Well, I think that in each of these sacrifices, each of the five that we'll look at over the next couple of weeks, I think when we ask the question, what does it mean to us? There's two different things that we see. Number one, we want to look at the picture of Jesus that's presented to us. But then number two, we want to see what lessons for our own lives

we can learn. And so as we look at what this means for us, as far as Jesus is concerned, we're reminded, first of all, that Jesus was the one without spot or blemish. As a matter of fact, he was examined for three years to see whether or not he had spot or blemish. It all started off with the fact that he was tested in the way that he was by the enemy. And then it moved into how well he handled himself in his ministry, how well he handled the fame that

came along with his ministry, and then how well he handled the tests that came from the scribes and the Pharisees. And he passed all of it with flying colors because he was the one without spot or without blemish. And so he was the ultimate, the ultimate sacrifice of the burnt offering because he was the male without spot or without blemish. The second way that we see Jesus is, remember we said that this was a sacrifice.