Through the Bible Study

Leviticus chapter 9. Leviticus chapter 9. The last time that we were together, we were looking at the consecration of the priests. They were going through a seven-day process of ritual washings and sacrifices that were to be done. Well, we now come to the end of that seven days, and there's two different things we're going to look at as we look at both chapters 9 and 10 of Leviticus tonight.

We're going to look at the priestly ministry, but then we're also going to look at profane faith. Because at one moment, it's going to be the highest of heights as far as the spiritual experience of the presence of God is concerned. But in the very next chapter, we'll see the lowest of lows. But in all of it, hopefully we can bring it together and pull some lessons that we can take as New Testament believers home with us tonight.

So we pick up in chapter 9, verse 1, and this is what it says. Now, it came about on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel. He said to Aaron, Now, this is the eighth day. So they've just gone through their seven-day consecration process. And if you want to know a little bit more about it, you can look back at Leviticus chapter 8

to see more about that consecration process. We won't go back to that tonight. But they've just gone through their consecration process, and now it's the eighth day. It's kind of interesting that he specifies that it's the eighth day, not just because it means that it's directly after their consecration. But you may or may not know this. There's a lot of significance,

with biblical numbers. First of all, the eighth day had a great deal of ceremonial significance to it. The eighth day was ceremonially significant because when a child was born, the firstborn was to be dedicated to the Lord on the eighth day. When a male child was born, it would be unclean for seven days. But then on the eighth day, you would go and present yourself with your sacrifice

for cleanliness before the Lord. And so as you look at numbers in the Bible, you realize that the number of days is not the same as the number of days The number eight is the number of new beginnings. Our life constantly, we're looking for a new beginning. We know there's something else significant about the number eight. Because if you think about it, what day was Jesus raised from the dead?

We just started a new year, and somebody asked me on Monday when I was at the gym, they were like, hey, how's your new year going? And I was like, not as well as I'd expected so far. Because that's just life, right? There's difficult things. We're all looking for that new beginning. Our new beginning is found, every day in Christ. Because every day in Christ,

as we're told in the book of Lamentations, is a brand new day for him to show us his mercy. And so as we look at this eighth day, this day of new beginning, we realize that our ultimate new beginning is found in Christ. And so as we start this, we realize commands warmed by these brand new priests. And so there's a lot of significant things. And so we see that Aaron was first offering,

both without the first act of worship, is you must first deal with the things that are in your own life. Now, it's kind of an interesting thought, isn't it? Because what have they just gone through? They've just gone through seven days of consecration. Seven days of consecration. And yet in order for Aaron and his sons to take part in this first act of worship,

they must first deal with themselves. And there was two ways they were supposed to do it. The first way was through the sin, and the second way was through the sin offering. Now you think to yourself, seven days of continual offerings before the Lord, and yet they still have to make an offering before the Lord. Well, there's a couple of things I'd like to point out to you about that.

The first thing that I would like to point out to you about that is, remember, none of the offerings that they offered in Leviticus were significant enough to completely take away sin. They only covered sin until that next time. There was only one offering, that would completely take away sin. We're told in the book of Hebrews that that one offering that took away sin was the offering of Jesus Christ once and for all upon the cross.

And so there is theological significance as we pay attention to the fact that here this high priest who has to continually, as we're told in the book of Hebrews, offer sacrifice for his own sins before he can sacrifice for the people. There's theological significance because we have the understanding that as New Testament believers, we don't have to continue to offer. We don't have to offer a sacrifice for sin because Jesus made that one sacrifice for us, once for all. However, I believe there's also a practical application to this.

And the practical application to this is that we will never reach a place of perfection. Even as being in the position of a high priest, you'll never reach the place of perfection. I remember a teacher sharing this at a pastor's conference I went to a few years ago and that this pastor, this is a very freeing statement for me. He said, remember, at our best, speaking to a bunch of pastors, at our best, we are men.

But we are men at best. And it's such a good reminder for all of us, whether you're in the position of a pastor or a position of the fact that everybody's an ambassador for Christ, the best that we can be is sinners that are saved by grace. And there never comes a point in time where we achieve perfection. There never comes a point in time where we don't need to continue to come to the Lord, confess the sins that we have in our lives, and allow that blood of Jesus Christ to continually cleanse us from all sins.

And so the first thing that Aaron was supposed to do was to bring a young bull for a sin offering. The second thing that he was supposed to do was to bring a ram for a burnt offering. Now we've gone over this quite a few times. The burnt offering was the offering of complete devotion or dedication unto the Lord. Now again, you would think to yourself, he just went through seven days

of continual offering. How much more devoted can he be? And there's an interesting, again, I think practical application to put down in our lives right now. As long as we're on top side of planet Earth, there will never ever be a time in our lives where we are wholly devoted to the Lord. There will always be more of us that we need to continue to give over to the Lord.

Because whether we like it or not, whether we want to admit it or not, there will always be a portion of us that we hold back. No matter how much we like it or not, no matter how much consecration you've been through, how many Bible classes you've been through, how much scripture you've memorized, how long you've walked with the Lord, you will come to that distinct understanding that there is still a part of me that I need to surrender to the Lord. I'm telling you, I come back to the second most freeing statement I've ever heard in my life. That was by my good friend Truman Page, who about six months before he died said, I'm more aware now of my need for the grace of God than I ever have been in my entire life.

You know why? Because he realized that there was still more of me that I need to surrender to the Lord. More of him that he could devote to the Lord. Brothers and sisters, we'll never reach a time in our lives where our hearts will be as fully devoted as they should be to the Lord. That's why this surrendering process is a process that we will go through for the rest of our lives.

The pastor that I served under in Johnson County, who was incredibly significant to me this year, or this last year when he passed away, always said, there will always be more of me that I can give to the Lord until the day that I graduate. In other words, the day that I go home to be with the Lord is the day when I will have finally devoted it all to him because I will have graduated. And so I got to tell you, the day that he went home to be with the Lord, all I could think about, Pastor Rick, was he graduated. He is fully devoted to the Lord.

I thought the same thing yesterday. Most of you probably don't know about this. I didn't send it through the email thing, but there was a pastor of a church in Southern California. His name was Ray Bentley. Ray Bentley was an amazing Bible teacher. I say was because he went home to be with the Lord yesterday afternoon. Ray was one of my teachers at Bible college.

I graduated with his son. And Ray was one of the more faithful, one of the most faithful servants of the Lord that I know of. One of the most humble men that I know of. One of the greatest Bible teachers that I know of. And he's wholly devoted to the Lord now. I shared with a group of kids this morning, I said, he's more alive than he's ever been as long as he walked on this earth.

Because now, now he knows what it is to be alive in eternity. And so they were to bring this bull for the sin offering and the ram for the burn offering. But there wasn't just instructions for Aaron and his sons here. There was also instructions for the children of Israel. They were to bring a portion that had already been laid out in the book of Leviticus for all of the sacrifices

except the sacrifice of the trespass offering. Because those were not to be public sacrifices. That was to be a private sacrifice where restitution was not a public sacrifice. Restitution was made for whatever issue you had done wrong. So four of the sacrifices they were to bring. And then he explains why it's important that they bring these. He says, you need to bring all of these sacrifices.

Why? For today, the Lord will appear to you. Today, the Lord will appear to you.

That day was to be the day that all of Leviticus had been building up to. And if you think about it, that day was to be the day that everything that they'd gone through, through the exodus and everything else, was building up to. Because that day, the Lord was going to appear to them. Why had they been learning about all of these sacrifices? Why had they been learning about all of this consecration?

Why had they been learning about the importance of the priesthood? Because it was God's desire to dwell among them. And it was God's desire to reveal himself to them. But in order to do so, they must be ready. And in order to be ready, they had to know all about all these sacrifices. It's what everything had been leading up to. And so he says, the Lord's going to appear to you.

So, verse 5. They took what Moses had commanded to the front of the tent of meeting. And the whole congregation came near and stood before the Lord. Moses said, this is the thing which the Lord has commanded you to do, that the glory of the Lord may appear to you. Moses then said to Aaron, come near to the altar and offer your sin offering and your burnt offering

that you may make atonement for yourself and for the people. Then make the offering for the people that you may make atonement for them just as the Lord had commanded. So Aaron came near to the altar and slaughtered the calf of the sin offering which was for himself. Aaron's sons presented the blood to him and he dipped his finger in the blood and he put some on the horns of the altar and he poured out the rest of the blood as the base of the altar.

The fat and the kidneys, the lobe of the liver of the sin offering he then offered up in smoke on the altar just as the Lord had commanded. And the flesh and the skin however he burned outside the camp. Then he slaughtered the burnt offering and Aaron's sons handed the blood to him and he sprinkled it around on the altar. They handed the burnt offering to him in pieces with the head and he offered them up in smoke on the altar.

And he also washed the entrails and the legs and offered them up in smoke with the burnt offering on the altar. Then he presented the people's offering. Now, before we get to the people's offering there's just one quick thing I want to point out to you about the sacrifice that Aaron makes for himself and his sons. I think it's interesting. It's significant that he made this sacrifice

in the way that he did. Because remember, who all is gathered around right now? Who all is gathered around the tabernacle at the gate of the tent of meeting? The entire congregation. Now, I don't know about y'all but sometimes I can end up getting a false picture in my mind of what the whole congregation looks like. I can sometimes think of maybe a couple hundred people standing around

because that's kind of we tend to shrink the numbers down forgetting that there's probably about a million people and they're all gathered around. There's a sea of people. They can see exactly what he's doing. And what does Aaron have to do in front of this entire sea of people? In order for him to truly perform the rite of a sin offering he would have to lay his hands

on the head of the offering and he would have to be the one that slaughters the offering. Why is that important? Because Aaron is once again identifying himself with the rest of the congregation of Israel and identifying himself as a sinner. I just think this is so significant because there could be no pretense on the part of Aaron. There could be no pride on the part of Aaron.

There could be no I'm better than you. I stand above you because I'm in this place of a high priest because he had to first of all humble himself before the people before the people could be humbled in front of him. He had to first admit that he was just like them in order for him to be able to serve the people that he had been sent to serve. And I think it's significant that he had to stand in front of the number of people that he had to stand in front of because it wasn't just a select group of people.

It was everyone. So the entire nation looked and said, look, he's a sinner just like we are. He's a man just like we are. And I think that that's important for the people that God uses to serve that they make sure that they present themselves as being a person just like everybody else is. And so he stands there and he makes all the sacrifices that he needs to make.

Follows the law exactly like he's supposed to for his own sacrifices. Then verse 15, he presented the people's offering and took the goat of the sin offering which was for the people and slaughtered it for sin like the first. He also presented the burnt offering and he offered it according to the ordinance. Next he presented the grain offering and he filled his hands with some of it and offered it up in smoke on the altar besides the burnt offering of the morning.

Then he slaughtered the ox and the ram and the sacrifice of peace offerings which was for the people. And Aaron's sons handed the blood to him and he sprinkled it around on the altar. As for the portions of the fat from the ox and from the ram, the fat tail and the fat covering and the kidneys and the lobe of the liver, they now place the portions of the fat on the breasts and he offered them up in smoke on the altar. But the breasts and the right thigh, Aaron presented as a wave offering before the Lord just as Moses had commanded.

Then Aaron lifted his hands toward the people and blessed them and he stepped down after making the sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting and when they came out and blessed the people, the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. So Moses once again follows all of, or Aaron once again follows all of the instructions as he'd been given in those first handful of chapters of the book of Leviticus. He does all of the sacrifices the way that he's supposed to.

He follows the prescribed law, does everything the way that he's supposed to. And then notice what it says that he does right here at the, right here in verse 22. It says, Aaron lifted his hands towards the people and blessed them. Why is that important? Well, because remember the priest had a two-fold role. He first of all represented God to the people, but then he also represented

the people to God. So as Aaron makes these sacrifices and puts his hands out to bless the people, he is representing God to the people because they brought the sacrifices the way that they're supposed to and with the sacrifice came blessing because they obeyed God. And with obedience comes blessing. And so he puts his hands out and he blesses the people. And then he takes this,

all of these different offerings and he goes inside of the tent of meeting. Why did he go inside of the tent of meeting? Well, he did so with the blood of the sacrifice. Why did he take the blood of the sacrifice inside of the tent of meeting? Because that was Aaron representing the people to God. He was saying, this is the sacrifice of the people. This is the sacrifice of the people.

This is the sacrifice of the people. This is them admitting that they're sinners in need of atonement. This is them saying that they're dedicated to you. This is their desire to fellowship with you. And this is their thankfulness to you for everything that you've done for them. It was as if he was representing the people to God. You see, he was performing that two-fold role

that the high priest was supposed to perform for the people. And of course, when he comes back out after he had done both of those things, notice what it says. The glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. And then it gets really awesome. And then fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the portions of fat on the altar. And when all the people saw it,

they shouted and fell on their faces. Can you imagine being a part of this scene? Okay, so let's break a few of these things down. The first thing I take note of is that at the end of verse 23 when he comes back out after, remember, this is the first time they've used their brand new tent. Right? I mean, let's just put it like it is. I got a brand new tent for Christmas.

I can't wait to use it. It's stupid cold right now. I'm not going to go camping. But that first time that I go camp with that tent, I'm going to be really excited because it's the first time I get to use my brand new tent. Right? Well, that's kind of the way that the children of Israel are right now. They put all the time and effort into this tent and now for the first time

they get to use their brand new tent. And as they use their brand new tent, what appears to them? Glory of the Lord. I believe it was the it was R. Kent Hughes in his commentary, the preaching the word commentary that said, you could also translate this, the manifest presence of the Lord appeared before the people. I think sometimes we forget that God is full of glory.

I think sometimes we forget of the great glory of the Lord that he wants to reveal to us. We see it in his word. We see it in nature. But there's a different way I feel like he even wants to reveal it to us. Because it's revealed to us in a person. You may not realize this, but go with me one place in scripture. Go over to the book of John. Hold your finger here.

Go over to the gospel of John and I want you to look at chapter one, verse 14.

Boy, what a moving scripture when we take this in light of everything that just took place with the tabernacle. John chapter one, verse 14 says this, in the word, speaking of Jesus, and the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we saw his glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. You see, while the children of Israel

were outside of the tent, Aaron had made all of the sacrifices. It says the glory of the Lord appeared to them. How did it appear to them? I'm not totally sure how it appeared to them. But I do know that if you want to see the fulfillment of the glory of the Lord, it's absolutely found in Jesus Christ because the word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory.

The glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So how does God want to reveal his glory to us? He wants to reveal his glory to us by revealing more of who Jesus is in our lives. Do you know how he does that? He does that two ways. He does it through the power of the word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. The twin sufficiency.

The inerrant word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit. What did Jesus promise when he sent the Holy Spirit? Do you remember? He said, I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you and I will send to you a comforter, a helper. And he will lead you into all truth. He will not testify of himself. Who does it say he's going to testify of? He will testify of me.

You see, God wants to reveal his glory to us, but he doesn't necessarily want to do it by showing us sunbeams and rainbows. He does it by revealing the truth of who Jesus is. You see, I think sometimes in the world we live in today, especially in church culture, we're looking for glory in the wrong place. We're looking for glory in all of the signs. Meanwhile, Jesus wants us

to see the glory in him. He says, I've been showing you the glory this whole time and you've missed it. Sometimes we can just be, we can be just like those Pharisees. He says, you search the scriptures because you're not going to find it.