LEVITICUS 1-11 THE SACRIFICES2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Leviticus 1-11 The Sacrifices

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012.

Well, this evening we're starting in chapter 1 of Leviticus and working our way through chapter 11. And as we do, I want to remind you of some of the background of the book of Leviticus. The word Leviticus simply means of the Levites or pertaining to the Levites. It is a book that is dedicated to the work, the ministry, the functions of the Levites.

We'll talk about who the Levites are in just a second. But Moses wrote the book of Leviticus during the time that the children of Israel were in the wilderness. And again, the focus is on the priestly ministry, the ministry of the Levites. And we'll see that as we go through the book together. Well, here you have a chart of the tribes of Israel.

Now the tribes of Israel are based on the sons of Israel. His name is also referred to as Jacob. The Lord changed Jacob's name to Israel. So the sons of Jacob, also the sons of Israel, are these 12. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun. Then you have Joseph and then you have Benjamin.

The ones in green are the ones who become the tribes of Israel because Jacob adopted Joseph's sons as his own. And so it actually splits up into 13 tribes of the nation of Israel. And all of these sons become heads of tribes or families within the nation of Israel. And so there's this division of 13 families or tribes of the nation of Israel.

Well, the tribe of Levi has a particular significance because it's the tribe of Levi that is responsible for all the things pertaining to the tabernacle. Now, we spent the last couple of weeks looking at the tabernacle and rearranging the sanctuary and showing you the model. So hopefully you have a good picture of the tabernacle. And you might remember that all of the tabernacle articles, the furnishings within the tabernacle,

had poles that would connect to them and go through them and that was so that the Levites could carry those furnishings through the wilderness because the tabernacle was a temporary place of worship and so they would camp and set up the tabernacle then when the Lord moved on then they would break down everything the Levites would be the ones responsible for packing everything up carrying it to the next spot where God led them and then setting up the tabernacle again and

And so they were responsible for taking care of the moving, the rearranging, the packing up, the setting up. Later on in the temple, they continued to be responsible for the maintenance of the temple and the things around it. And so the Levites were fully dedicated to the work of the Lord in the tabernacle and then later on in the temple.

Well, also within the tribe of Levi, you had a man named Moses. And so he was a descendant of Levi, Jacob's son. And Moses, of course, is the one who we're talking about. He's the one writing these books. He led the people out of the land of Egypt where they were in bondage for, you know, for some time.

Moses' brother, his name is Aaron. And Aaron becomes the first high priest for the nation. So the priestly line comes also from the tribe of Levi.

And so Aaron becomes the first high priest and Aaron's sons become the other priests. And so you have a multitude of priests with one high priest at a time. And then that would be passed on to the eldest son as that high priest would die. And so the tribe of Levi was devoted to the maintenance of

setting up, breaking down everything related to the tabernacle. And then also within the tribe of Levi, you had the line of priests that was Aaron's family and his descendants only. And so when we're talking about Leviticus pertaining to the Levites, we're talking about the tribe of Levi. We're talking about the tabernacle. We're talking about the priestly service and the priestly duties. And we'll be studying through that all throughout our time in the book of Leviticus over the next couple of weeks.

Well, on our timeline, as we look at the book of Leviticus, we started in Genesis, of course, with creation. We worked our way through the flood, through the Tower of Babel, through Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, through the time in Exodus there in the land of Egypt and then coming out of Egypt.

And now as we're in Leviticus, we're in this time of period, which is indicated on here with that brown bar that goes all the way across from top to bottom, which is the time that Israel is in the wilderness. They spend a total of 40 years or 41 years in the wilderness.

And so this is during the first part of that time when they're in the wilderness. In fact, here if you look at the time frame as we're talking about Israel in the wilderness, you have Israel coming out of Egypt and as they leave Egypt within that first month as they leave, they're given manna and provided for. They arrive at Mount Sinai two months after they leave the land of Egypt. And then here this...

Gold bar, yellow bar in the middle is kind of the time frame in which the book of Leviticus is taking place. And so all the things recorded here are happening during this time that they are camped at Mount Sinai within that first year of leaving Egypt. So they go straight to Sinai when they leave Egypt and they're camped there for about a year. And it's during that time that they're getting the instruction for the tabernacle. They build the tabernacle. They set it up.

And now that brings us to Leviticus where now the priestly ministry is going to begin. And so God is giving to Moses all of this instruction for how to carry on the priestly ministry and do the service of the tabernacle. So at this point in Leviticus, the tabernacle is set up and they're about to kind of inaugurate it and begin the services there within the tabernacle.

Well, the geography of Leviticus is very simple because it's all in one location and it's not really about moving around or looking at other places. It's just centered around the work there at the tabernacle. So Egypt is there on the left. Of course, that's where they were. They're not there anymore. They were led out by Moses. They crossed the Red Sea. They're in the wilderness. And then Mount Sinai is down there towards the bottom in the Sinai Peninsula. And then Mount Sinai is down there towards the bottom in the Sinai Peninsula.

As I mentioned in previous weeks, that's the traditional location of Mount Sinai. There are other options and possibilities, but just kind of sticking with the traditional location, Mount Sinai would be there. And then the land of Canaan up there on the right, that is...

what God has promised to his people. And so eventually they're going to get there. We've got some time before that happens, but that's what God has promised to them and that's where he's going to lead them. It won't be until the book of Joshua that they actually enter in to the land of Canaan though.

So Leviticus is the instruction that God gave to Moses, to Aaron and his sons, the things of the priesthood and the tabernacle, while they're camped at Sinai, just after they had set up the tabernacle. Well, the first thing that we see in the book of Leviticus is the different offerings that are given.

commanded or given instruction for. And so the first five chapters talk about five different offerings that the children of Israel would be offering.

We'll take them one at a time, but this is a quick overview. So they would offer the burnt offering, and you see that in Leviticus chapter 1. They would also offer the grain offering. Then they would offer the peace offering. They would also offer the sin offering. And then the trespass offering in Leviticus chapter 5, or it's also known as the guilt offering.

Now this was basically the core of the sacrificial system for the nation of Israel.

surrounding the tabernacle and later on the temple. This was kind of the foundation of all the sacrifices that were going to be taking place. There's a couple special sacrifices that take place regarding some of the feasts and things like that. And so those will be talked about later. But this is, you know, the foundation. All the sacrifices are really spoken of here. And then there's a couple other exceptions later on. So

So these are the sacrifices that the children of Israel would be participating in. This was an essential part of the law that God was giving through Moses. Through this covenant that God was making with this people, the sacrifices were essential because, as you and I well know, it was impossible for people to keep the law.

God had been making his covenant with his people. We already saw it in the book of Exodus where he says, here's the covenant. I'm going to bless you. I'm going to go before you. I'm going to work on your behalf as long as you do what I've commanded you. And the people said, we agree. We'll take that covenant. We'll do what you say. And then you can work in our lives and bless us and be with us. But the problem was...

You and I, as sinful beings, were not able to do what God has said. And so we're not able to keep the law. And so because the law would be broken, because they would violate the commands that God had given, even though they agreed to do them, there needed to be a way for them to make amends, for them to be reconciled to God. And so God provided this sacrificial system for the people.

Many of you were able to go down to Saddleback there in Orange County a couple weeks ago when they had the tabernacle set up. It's since moved on, but while it was there, some of you went, and I remember talking with Larry about it afterwards, and he was making his comments. And one of the things I thought was interesting that he said was, you know, it wasn't very accurate because it wasn't very bloody. Right?

And, you know, that's really true. I mean, they did a good job of, you know, many of the things. But one of the things that we need to understand about the tabernacle is the sacrificial system. And when you begin to understand the sacrifices that were going on, you will be astounded. You will be blown away at the amount of blood that was shed in order to

to atone for the violation of God's law. Well, as we look at these offerings, you know, it is appropriate to consider and wonder, why would we study these things? I mean, we're under the new covenant and Christ has come and it's a whole different picture now. So what is the importance of us studying these things? Well, as I shared with the things regarding the tabernacle, I would encourage you in this and that is that

Well, Christianity is the completion of the old covenant. Jesus said, look, I didn't come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it. And so these things are a very important part of our foundation in Christ. It's important because Christianity, what Christ provided for us, is the fulfillment of these things. And so we need to understand that.

The reality of what Christ has accomplished and we can do so by understanding what he came to fulfill. Also as we look at these things, it gives us a better understanding and a better appreciation for the new covenant and how amazing it is what Christ has done for us because no longer do we have to approach God through this same sacrificial system but we approach God through faith in Jesus Christ.

I would also add to those things that it's important for us to study these things so that we understand the severity of sin. You know, there is a tendency in our lives to kind of water down sin and not think too much of it and not, you know, be very broken over it. But that would have been very difficult to do for someone living under the old covenant, as you'll see, because they had to be personally involved in the sacrifices that would go on.

And so this is a great reminder for us to help us understand what sin is really all about. What it is, well, how costly it is, I should say. The cost of atonement. The final thing I would say, the important reason to study these things is so that we can learn to discern between what is holy and what is unholy. We need to have a good understanding of what is clean and unclean, holy and unholy.

And that is something that sadly is lacking among many believers today, that there's not a distinction between what is of God and what is not. And it causes us, when we don't understand what's holy and what's unholy, it causes us to live in ways that, well, are destructive to ourselves, that are destructive to our witness as Christians, that...

It just wrecks havoc and it causes major problems in our lives. And we need to have a good grasp of the holiness of God and the things surrounding that. So these are the offerings that we're going to be looking at and we'll pick it up now in chapter 1 of Leviticus. The key verse is verse 3. If his offering is a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish. He shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord.

So the first sacrifice that we look at here in Leviticus, in chapter 1, is the burnt offering. The burnt offering consisted of a bull or a ram or a male bird. Or if you were poor, you could offer a dove or a young pigeon. Now the burnt offering was unique in several ways. First of all, it was completely consumed.

That's why it was called a burnt offering. It would stay on the altar. The whole animal would be put on the altar and it would stay on the altar and be completely consumed on the altar by the fire. It wouldn't be taken off until it was just ashes were left. And so it would be completely consumed there on the altar.

Now, I think our tendency is to think that all the offerings were like that, but that's not the case. This was unique because it was the one that was completely consumed on the altar. An important characteristic of this also is that it was voluntary. You see that under the purpose there. It was a voluntary act of worship. Again, in verse 3, it says, "...he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord."

And so they would bring the offering into the courtyard of the tabernacle and they would take it to that altar that was right before the tabernacle. And it was a voluntary offering. It was a free will offering. This was not a requirement. You must, thou shalt offer a burnt offering. It was as you want to, as you feel led, whenever you're willing, then bring this offering to the Lord. And it was an expression of devotion.

Because the entire animal would be placed upon the altar, it was...

That type of expression for the Lord, saying, I want to be completely given over to the Lord. It was this type of devotion to God, saying, I want to follow Him. I'm going to be completely given to His things, devoted to Him, and not divided between other things. And it was just this complete giving over of oneself to the Lord, and expressing that desire through this offering.

Now we also see in chapter 1 the method for the burnt offering. And this is where hopefully it begins to kind of sink in the type of sacrifices that were going on and what it involved. Because you'll see here that the worshiper is the one who kills, skins, and cuts the offering into pieces.

So here you are with your young bull, you're offering, you're saying, hey God, I want to just give myself over to you completely. And you would lay your hand upon the animal that you're offering and then slit its throat. Could you do that? I think it'd be difficult for many of us who live in the city, right? But some of you, you know, you do hunting, you know, whatever, go fishing. I don't even, I can't even scale a fish, you know, that kind of thing. Like I would have a hard time with this, but...

But they were, they were personally involved in this. If you wanted to devote yourself to God, this is what would be required. You would bring this animal and you would cut its throat. Now the priests would be around you to help you. They would catch the blood and they would distribute the blood. So you see the priests would administer it. They distribute the blood around the altar the way it was supposed to be. They'd, you know, pour out the blood before the altar in the way that they were supposed to.

And they would help you, but then you would be involved in cutting it up and skinning it, and then the priest would then put it on the altar and it would be completely consumed. And so this would be what the people would do when they would want to offer themselves and say, God, I'm completely devoted to you. And through all the sacrifices, you'll see the worshiper is personally involved in

In the sacrifice. It's not that you just, you know, brought the animal. Okay, priest, there you go. Take it. But you were involved. You were not only close by, but you were the one who did the killing. You would place your hand upon the head of the animal in order to identify with that animal and say, this animal is taking my place.

Dying a death that I deserve. Being offered in a way that, well, I deserve this type of action to be put to death. And so the burnt offering was of devotion. It was also for atonement we see there in chapter 1. And so they would devote themselves but also atone for their sin through this burnt offering that could be offered to the Lord.

So that was the burnt offering there in Leviticus chapter 1. In chapter 2, we have the grain offering. Verse 1 is the key verse. It says, So here we have

The instructions for the grain offering. Now, the elements that would be used in this offering were grain, flour, olive oil, incense, bread, and salt. And the grain offering could be unprocessed grain, you know, that would be brought. It could also be baked. So you could bake a cake or something and, you know, take it to the Lord. It had to contain no leaven. So I don't know if there's any good cakes that contain no leaven, but...

It would be this offering that you would give to the Lord and the purpose of it, similar to the burnt offering, it was a voluntary act of worship. It was meant to be of your free will as you desired to

present this offering to the Lord, you would do so and it was in recognition of God's goodness and provision. It was a thanksgiving offering. It was a thanks God for providing for us bread. Thanks God for providing for us the food that we need. Thanks God for your work in our lives and your continued provision.

And so this grain offering would be offered. The worshiper would bring the offering and then the priest would administer it. Now, what's interesting about the grain offerings is the priest would take a sampling of the offering and offer that on the altar.

The rest of the grain offering would then be used to provide food for the priests, their families, those who were connected to the priests. And so it would be the provision of food. It was one way that God provided for the priests and it was kind of the payment for their services. And so they would be able to eat the remainder of the grain offering that wasn't offered upon the altar.

Well then in chapter 3, we have the peace offering. Verse 1 is the key verse. It says,

So the peace offering consisted of any animal of the herd that was without defect. So, you know, if it was lame or blind or, you know, had some type of physical disfiguration or something, it was not acceptable to be offered. But any other animal that didn't have a defect could be offered as a peace offering. The purpose of this offering, notice also, is a voluntary act of worship.

And so it was not required, a forced type of thing. And it was for thanksgiving and for fellowship. The peace offering was not something that you would offer in order to get peace with God. It was something that you offered to enjoy peace with God. To get peace with God, well, we'll be talking about that next. It was the sin offering and the trespass offering.

But the peace offering was, well, it might be a little bit too casual to say it this way, but you'll get the point. The peace offering was much like a barbecue. You would offer a portion of the sacrifice,

To the Lord. And the priest would get a portion. But there would also be a significant portion that would be for you and your family to enjoy and to feast on together. And so it was a feast as you offered the peace offering. It was a time of fellowship with God where you would celebrate his goodness and your fellowship with him.

Now the way that this sacrifice would happen was similar to the burnt offering. The worshiper would bring the sacrifice and would kill the sacrifice. The priest would then administer it on the altar and take the appropriate portions that were to be put on the altar and then given to the priest. But then the worshiper would eat the rest of the sacrifice and

In fellowship with God. And so it was a time of feasting. Or communion. Or fellowship with the Lord. As they consumed the sacrifice. In 1 Kings chapter 8. Solomon offered many, many, many peace offerings. Upon the dedication of the temple. You can kind of get the picture here. He offered about 22,000 cattle.

and 120,000 sheep. So total of about 142,000 animals he offered to the Lord as a peace offering. And then as all the people were there to celebrate what God did in building the temple, they were enjoying that fellowship with the Lord. And so it was that time of feasting and fellowship with God and rejoicing in that relationship with him.

Well, then Leviticus chapter 4, we have the sin offering. The key verse is verse 28. It says,

Now the sin offering becomes a little bit detailed and somewhat technical when you begin to look at it because there's different animals that are offered depending on who it is that has committed the sin. And so if you were the high priest and you committed a sin, then you would have to offer a young bull and there was particular things you had to follow along with that.

If it was the congregation of Israel, so the people as a whole had committed sin, then they would also offer a young bull. But some of the details of how that sacrifice would be administered were a little bit different than when it was the high priest. If it was a leader of the people, God instructed that it was a male goat that was to be offered.

And there was particular ways that that was to be administered. If it was a common person, so they weren't the high priest, it wasn't the nation as a whole, they weren't in charge of anybody, they were just one of the people of the nation of Israel, then they would offer a female goat or lamb and given the appropriate instructions for administering that as well.

Now, if you were poor, you could offer a dove or a pigeon as a sin offering as well. So God wanted to make sure that forgiveness was not just for the well-off or the wealthy. In fact, he even made provision for the very poor. They could give a tenth of an ephah of flour. So it was just a small amount of flour that they could offer as a sin offering if they had nothing else. And so God was making sure to offer provision for sin as

from, you know, the high priest all the way to the most poor person of the nation. Now, one of the significant things about this, well, let's just finish up this part here. So the purpose was that it was mandatory. This was not like the previous three. This was required. This wasn't optional. If you sinned, you had to offer this sacrifice. It was required.

And the way that you would offer it, well, the guilty person would bring the sacrifice. And as we've seen before, they would be the ones responsible for killing the sacrifice. Again, the priest would be around to help administer it, to help catch the blood and put it in the appropriate places. But the person who is guilty would lay his hand upon the head of the animal and say,

his sin to that animal. Confess his sin and identify with that animal and recognize this animal is dying in my place because of the sin which I committed. And this, again, is really important for us to understand that personal involvement and identification

That sin is not something to be trivial about, but that there's a very serious cost that's associated with sin that sometimes you and I today can be a little bit disconnected from. But they would have this strong connection because they would be looking the animal in its eyes as they slit its throat. They would be, you know, right there connected to it and recognizing, I fall short of God's glory and I need someone to be a sacrifice on my behalf.

Now, of course, for us today, it's the same principle. You and I fall short. And there has to be that sacrifice. But for us today, we have the benefit, the blessing of Jesus being that sacrifice for us. And so as we identify with him, as we lay our hands on him and we say, he is dying in my place for my sin. Well, that's where we have the forgiveness of sin.

And so it's the same principle, it's just carried out or fulfilled in different ways. Well, this sin offering was mentioned many times here in chapter 4. It was specifically for unintentional sin. And this is something to pay attention to. Unintentional sin was sin that was done unintentionally. It wasn't planned out. It wasn't, you know...

It was something that happened in the midst of the moment. Something that happened accidentally. It was a sin that was done without realizing that you were sinning. The opposite of that, we would say, would be presumptuous sin. It would be the idea of knowing it's wrong and doing it anyways. Knowing it's wrong and making the choice to deliberately say,

I'm going to engage in this activity even though I know God has declared that I should not. So this sacrifice was not for that kind of sin. This sacrifice was for the kind of sin that was unintentional. It was accidental. It's things you can relate to today, right? I mean, we all sin and fall short of the glory of God, and we all have unintentional sin. But we need to be careful not to have outright rebellion because, as we'll see here in the law,

There's not sacrifice provided in the law for outright rebellion, at least not here. On the Day of Atonement, there's a special sacrifice that's provided, and we'll get to that later on in the book of Leviticus. But there is not a sacrifice that would be offered by an individual for practicing rebellion. You had to be seeking after the Lord. You had to be pursuing Him and not pursuing after sinful activity.

Well, in chapter 5, we have what's known as the trespass or the guilt offering. Verse 6 is the key verse. It says, And he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord for his sin which he has committed, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid of the goats as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for him concerning his sin.

This trespass offering is very similar to the sin offering. They're very closely related. In fact, sometimes it's a little bit hard to discern which one is which. But the elements that would be included in the trespass offering would be a female goat or a lamb. If you were poor, you could bring a dove or a pigeon. And these are the animals that would be sacrificed.

The purpose of this sacrifice was like the sin offering, a mandatory atonement for sin. And the method was the same. The guilty person brings the offering, kills it. The priest would help them administer it, put it on the altar, and offer it to the Lord in that way. Now there's some examples of when this type of offering would be appropriate and when it would be required. So in verse 1,

He talks about if you hear an oath and you don't make it known. So the idea is you are an eyewitness to something that happens and then there's somewhat of a trial or there's somewhat of a dispute and you know the truth but you don't tell what really happened or you don't speak up. So you just stay quiet and you don't testify of what you saw, what you were eyewitness to. Then...

That would be a trespass. That would be a sin. And you would have to offer this offering. If you, in verse 2, touched an unclean thing. We'll be talking about unclean things this evening and next week as well. So you were to not have contact with certain types of things.

animals and things like that. And so if you came in contact with that, then that would be a trespass and you would have to offer this offering to the Lord. If you made a thoughtless oath, a thoughtless oath is basically a promise that you make without really thinking about it. And then you find that you're not able to keep your promise. Anybody ever done that? You would be responsible to offer this type of offering. It was for that type of sin that

Also, we see later in the chapter, if you accidentally harmed some of the holy things. So, you know, you accidentally stepped on one of the shovels for the altar and bent it or, you know, something like that. Something that was dedicated to the Lord and you damaged it somehow. That was a trespass. You had to offer this sacrifice.

And then going on into chapter 6, we see that this offering would also be offered for violation of property rights. So if you, you know, found your neighbor's goat and you lied about it and said, oh, I didn't find it, but you kind of kept it for yourself. And then, you know, when it's discovered or when you're guilty and you want to get right with the Lord, then this type of offering would be offered along with restitution. And we'll see that in chapter 6.

Now one of the important things to understand in verse 17, it says, if a person sins and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he does not know it, yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity. So God's making it very clear here that trespass, the sin, is not just when you know that it's wrong. Even if you don't know that it's wrong, you're still guilty of sin.

Now again, these are the same principles that apply to Christianity, except for the sacrifice is Christ. But the point is, if you violate God's law, you're guilty. Whether you know it or not, whether you agree with it or not, whether you think that it's right or not, you're guilty. You are held accountable to God's law. And that's why we need the sacrifice. That's why Christ died for us. But whether we know it or not, ignorance is not an excuse. You can't say, well, I didn't know.

Paul makes the point in Romans chapter 1 that there is no excuse for ignorance. That God has revealed himself through creation so that man is without an excuse. So ignorance is not a valid reason to say God should not judge me. Chapter 6.

Verse 9 is the key verse. It says, Command Aaron and his son, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth upon the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. Well, now as we go forward in the next couple of chapters, we're still looking at the offerings, but we're just getting a little bit more instruction for the priests regarding those offerings. Verses 1 through 7 deals with the laws of restitution.

So this is what we were talking about just a moment ago. If you found your neighbor's goat and you lied and said, well, I didn't find my neighbor's goat. Well, when it comes out or when you're convicted by God and you want to make things right, the appropriate or the way to make things right is not just to give them back to the goat, but God is instructing here that restitution must also be made. And that was one-fifth.

of whatever it was that you violated the property rights of that person. So if you stole something, if you kept something back, if you lied about something, you would have to offer this sacrifice, the trespass offering, and at the same time, on the same day, you would have to make it right. So you'd have to give them back what was theirs, or the equivalent of that, plus 20% of

to make things right. And so you could not just offer a sacrifice to God and say, I sinned against this person over here. You had to make it right with that person. And so this idea of restitution is something that God established in his law.

David Guzik says, this powerfully demonstrates that one could not get right with God without also making his wrong right with men. And there needs to be that understanding. Remember Jesus said, if you're at the altar and you remember that your brother has something against you, go make it right and then come back and offer your sacrifice to God.

And sometimes we get confused and we think, hey, I can offend everybody and it doesn't matter what they say. I just, you know, it's just me and the Lord and I'm right with Him and it doesn't matter that all those people are upset with me at what I did. No, God is declaring here in His Word, restitution is appropriate. You need to make things right. So go make things right and then come back and offer your sacrifice or your offering back.

to the Lord. Well, here in chapter 6, we also see the law of the burnt offering, the law of the grain offering, and the law of the sin offering. So there's a little bit extra detail here. The burnt offering is to burn all night. The ashes, after it's been burned completely, are to be carried outside of the camp, and they're to always have the fire burning on the altar.

So they would offer the burnt offering whenever people would bring it. They would also offer a burnt offering every morning and evening. That was part of the instruction that God had given to the priests. That was part of their duties. And so there would be this continual burning of these sacrifices, these burnt offerings to the Lord. The grain offering, here we have the instruction. They were to burn a handful on the altar. The remainder was to be eaten by the priests. So it's provision for them.

God also points out it must not have leaven within the grain offering. And if it was a priest that was offering the grain offering, then it was to be completely consumed upon the altar, not partially taken away. So if the people brought a grain offering, they just offered a handful, the rest was the priest. If the priest was giving a grain offering, it had to be completely consumed upon the altar. They couldn't eat the remainder.

Well, then we also see the sin offering.

The priest who performs it shall eat it is God's instruction. So the priest that's helping the person sacrifice this animal for their sin, they have a portion that's reserved for them that they get to partake of, they get to consume. So they would offer part of the animal on the altar as a sin offering, but also parts of the animal would be towards them for them to be able to eat with their family. The sin offering that's used though for sacrifice

the congregation or for the high priest, the sin offering that's offered on the Day of Atonement, those offerings where blood from the sacrifice is taken within the tabernacle,

That offering was not to be eaten at all. In fact, that offering was to be taken outside the camp and burned completely outside of the camp. So a priest could not offer, or a high priest could not offer a sin offering and then also eat of it. It was to be completely consumed for those special occasions where they're taking the blood inside the tabernacle. They were not to eat that sacrifice.

Chapter 7, verse 37. 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.

So that's kind of wrapping up a summary of all the different offerings that we've been studying. Here in chapter 7, we have the specific instruction for the trespass offering, the peace offering. He also gives instruction about the fat and the blood of the animals and also the portions that were reserved for Aaron and his sons who were the priests who served there at the tabernacle.

So the trespass offering, they were to sprinkle the blood around the altar. They were to burn the fat, the tail, the kidneys, the fatty lobe. The trespass offering was available for any priest to eat, but the priest who performs it

Gets the skin of the offering. So they would skin that offering. And the priest who performed the sacrifice. Again the worshiper would come. He would slit the throat. The priest would help him. And as payment for that service. He would get to keep the skin of that. Or you know the leather. You know that would result from it. And the food that came forth from that trespass offering. Was available to all the priests to eat. With the peace offering.

They would, that would be, you know, for Thanksgiving. It could be cakes or wafers or bread. It could also be for a vow or a voluntary offering. So if you're making a Nazarite vow, you would offer this peace offering. And there was instruction about, you know, this part belongs to the priest. This part belongs to the people who are offering it. God gives the instruction that the meat is to be eaten that same day. And so it's not to, you know,

put in Ziploc bags and saved for a later time. It was to be consumed all at that time. You had to eat all of the meat of the peace offering. And so, again, you get this idea of a feast. You know, you're fellowshipping with God and stuff in your face. You know, getting to enjoy this time of feasting before the Lord. God also gave instruction regarding the fat. They were not to eat the fat of the ox, the sheep, or the goat.

These are animals that they would offer to the Lord. And so the fat, which was considered the best portion of those animals, was reserved for the Lord and could only be offered to the Lord if they were not to eat of it, of those specific animals. They were not to eat the fat of a dead animal, so no roadkill. The fat could be used for other things, but they couldn't eat of it for those specific animals.

And then also he gives instruction for the blood. And we'll see this again in the book of Leviticus. They were not to eat blood from any animal. It was to be, you know, removed or drained from the animals before they would eat the meat. And whoever eats the blood was to be cut off from the people of Israel.

Well, God also prescribed some specific portions for the priest. And so with the peace offering, the breast of the animal was reserved for Aaron and his sons. The right thigh of the animal was reserved for the priest who's helping administer the sacrifice and the peace offering. And then the rest of the meat would go to the family that offered it for them to enjoy together. And so that kind of wraps up our

look at the sacrifices here in the beginning part of Leviticus. And here's just a recap of voluntary versus mandatory sacrifices. So the mandatory sacrifices were the sin and trespass offerings. So when you sinned, when you committed the trespass, then you had to, it was a requirement, if you wanted to be part of the nation of Israel, if you wanted to have fellowship with God, you had to go offer the sacrifice that was appropriate for the sin that you committed.

The voluntary offerings were you pursuing yet further that relationship with God, committing yourself and saying, I want to just dedicate myself to you. And so you'd offer the burnt offering. Or you'd want to just say, I thanks God for your great goodness, for your provision. And you'd offer a grain offering. And then the peace offering, again, would be that enjoying the fellowship and feasting together, rejoicing in the work of God. Now, the amazing thing as you look at this,

We don't have time to get into the details, but I'd encourage you to check it out later on, is the understanding that Christ has fulfilled all of these sacrifices on our behalf. Of course, we're familiar with the sin and trespass offerings and how he was, you know, the fulfillment of that there upon the cross, receiving the full penalty and punishment for our sin.

But there's some interesting things to consider about the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the peace offering in what Christ has done through his sacrifice on our behalf. And then, if you want to dig a little bit deeper, then look at these voluntary offerings and see what the scripture has to say about

The ability of you and I to continue to offer these kinds of sacrifices to the Lord. Not in the animals, but in praise and offering ourselves to the Lord. There's some interesting things to consider. So the mandatory sacrifice Christ has done for us, it's taken care of at the cross. The voluntary sacrifices, they're not required necessarily.

they're still available for us. And there's different ways that we carry those sacrifices out and you can find those throughout the New Testament. So those are some things you can dig into later on if you would like. Leviticus chapter 8 though, as we move forward, verse 36, it says, so Aaron and his sons did all the things that the Lord had commanded by the hand of Moses. Here we have the

fulfillment of the instruction that God gave to Moses in Exodus chapter 29.

There, God gave Moses all the details about how to consecrate Aaron and his sons to be employed in the priesthood, to be involved in the work there that God had called them to. And so this is just the following through, the carrying out of the instruction that God gave there in Exodus chapter 29. And so first, Aaron and his sons are washed and clothed and anointed. We find that in verses 1 through 13.

And then the sacrifices of consecration are offered in verses 14 through 30. They offered a sin offering, which was a young bull. They offered a burnt offering, which was a ram. And then also they offered another offering, which is a ram of consecration. And they would take blood mixed with oil and put it on the right ear, the right thumb, and the right big toe of the priest to consecrate.

inaugurate them or part of the ceremony of ordaining them to the priesthood and to begin the work. And then after that, verses 31 through 36, we see that there was seven days of consecration.

And so as I was studying this, I realized we can't call George Pastor George anymore because we didn't do the seven days of consecration, George. You got to live here at church for seven days and then you can be a pastor. No, this was for the priests. So they would have to stay within the tabernacle area for seven days.

as part of this consecration ceremony. It wasn't just, you know, the first day, but seven days, and there was repeated sacrifices over those seven days as part of ordaining them and consecrating them into the ministry of the priesthood. Now, this was for Aaron and his sons, and then later on, as their sons become of age and enter into the priesthood, this same process would be done for them as they begin this work that God had called them to.

Leviticus chapter 9 verse 22 is the key verse. So what we have here in chapter 9 now, now that they've been ordained,

for seven days, now Aaron and his sons begin to carry out the priestly ministry, the sacrifices that were required of them. And so Moses gives some extra instruction for Aaron in verses 1 through 7, and then Aaron begins the sacrifices. He atones for himself. He atones for the people. And then...

Once that's done, Aaron and Moses bless the people in verses 22 through 24. So it's the beginning now. All the instructions have been given. The ordaining, the consecrating of Aaron and his sons have been given. And now they're carrying it out and beginning to practice the sacrifices and all of the things that go along with that. Leviticus chapter 10.

Key verses, verse 3. And Moses said to Aaron, This is what the Lord spoke, saying, By those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy, and before all the people I must be glorified. So Aaron held his peace. Here we have a very important and tragic account of Nadab and Abihu in verses 1 through 7. Nadab and Abihu are two sons of Aaron.

So they would be part of the priesthood. And so they've been consecrated for seven days. They're part of the services that begin as they begin to offer sacrifices. There's this glorious work of God going on as God rains down fire from heaven to accept the burnt offering that they offer to the Lord. And in the excitement of this great work of God, Nadab and Abihu...

decide, hey, we're going to go take our censers and offer incense to the Lord. Now, when they do this, they are immediately consumed by God. They're killed on the spot as they seek to do this because they sought to offer strange fire before the Lord. Now, there's some discussion that we could have about what the strange fire is. It could be that

the coal that they used to light the incense that they were offering was not the fire that God had prescribed. It could have been that the incense that they were trying to offer was a different formula, a different mix. Remember, God gave a specific recipe for the incense. It could have been that they were trying to go beyond what God had enabled them. It could be that they were trying to go into the holiest of all with the Ark of the Covenant and offer the incense there.

We don't know exactly, but it says that they were trying to offer strange fire. And so the Lord dealt with them very swiftly and severely. It's interesting to note that at the very beginning of new works of God, he often works this dramatically.

And kind of sets the foundation for, well, to set the distinction between holy and unholy. You might remember in Joshua chapter 7, remember they go into the land. God says, don't partake of the spoils of war there at Jericho. And then Achan, what does he do? He takes of the spoils. And as a result, he and his family are stoned to death because they violated the command of God. And it's this very severe, it's this very serious commandment

judgment for this sinful action done right at the beginning of a new work of God. And then in Acts chapter 5, you remember God's doing a new work in the church. And then here come Ananias and Sapphira trying to lie and, you know, pretend to be more holier than they are. And God strikes them down dead for lying to God and lying to the people regarding their gift.

Again, it was at the very beginning of a new work of God. And so he's setting the standard and reminding us the severity, the seriousness of obeying him and following him. Now what's really interesting about this is verses 8 through 11 have some instruction regarding intoxicating drink for the priesthood, for Aaron and for his sons. And so the connection...

The context, you know, as these verses immediately follow the situation with Nadab and Abihu, perhaps indicates that their mistake, their attempt to offer this strange fire, was related to the fact that they were intoxicated. And as a result, their judgment was impaired and they did not follow the things that God had instructed. And so God declares in verses 8 through 11 that,

Don't be involved in anything that would impair your judgment. No alcohol, because you need to make sure that you follow my commands so you don't die. So you know the difference between what is holy and what is not holy. And so we see there in verse 3, those who come near me, or by those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy. And before all the people, I must be glorified. And so this was the issue.

They didn't regard God as holy. He wasn't glorified by their action. And so he dealt swiftly with it. Well then verses 12 through 15, there's the instruction for eating the offerings. And then verses 16 through 20, there's a situation where the sin offering wasn't eaten the way that it was supposed to be. But Aaron explains it was because he was mourning for his sons that had just died. And so he didn't partake of that offering. Well finally, we finish up our chapters this evening in chapter 11.

Verse 47 is a key verse. It says, I had a background picture of a bunch of different kinds of footprints, but I made it too light. I apologize. Um...

But basically, here God begins to set the standard. Now, for the next few chapters, chapters 11 through 15, God's going to be establishing this standard of clean and unclean. And here in chapter 11, we have that particular standard applied to what they were allowed to eat.

And so the animals that were allowed to be eaten, the land animals or the mammals that were allowed to be eaten, were the animals that had a divided hoof. It's a cloven hoof that was split in two. As well as it must chew the cud. And so there was particular animals that were allowed. Then God gives some examples of animals that are not allowed, like the camel.

like the rock hyrax, like the hare, like the swine. These were particular animals that they were not to partake of. They were considered unclean. But the animals that had the divided hoof and choose the cud, they were able to be eaten by the children of Israel.

Then he looks at the water. He says, look, anything in the water that has scales and fins, that's safe to eat. That's considered clean. Anything else in the water is unclean. So no eating sea urchins, no eating sea snakes, no eating shrimp or whatever it is you like to eat. According to the law, those were unclean. And only the things that were clean were the ones that had fins and scales. Okay.

The birds that may not be eaten are specified. The eagle, the vulture, the buzzard. I don't think these are particularly tempting birds to eat, but God gave the instruction not to eat them. The flying insects that may be eaten. Again, I'm not particularly tempted to eat these, but these were part of the instruction for them. The locust, the cricket, and the grasshopper were insects that were allowed to be eaten, and then he gives the instruction for those insects that were not allowed.

He also gives the instruction there for the unclean animals and handling them after they've died. And so if you were to touch a dead animal, then you would be unclean.

Until the evening. Now next week we'll talk a little bit more about clean and unclean and what that meant. But it was a ceremonial uncleanness. So it was, you know, it meant that you couldn't participate in the sacrifices. You couldn't participate in certain functions.

You couldn't be around people and have close contact with them when you were unclean. So if you came in contact with a dead animal, then you had to be, you had to wash and you had to be set apart until evening. So for a certain amount of time to, you know, to keep you separate because you were unclean. Especially the animals that were unclean, when you had contact with them, whether dead or alive, you also had to follow these same things.

Anything that their dead body touches. So if a lizard dies in your kitchen and you find it in a pot...

there's examples like that. I'm not making that up. God has that here in chapter 11. So, you know, then you would have to address that issue because, well, now the pot was unclean because there was a dead lizard in it and things like that. So he deals with that. You have to wash it. You know, food is unclean. It has to be disposed of. If it's an earthen vessel, you have to break it and you can't use it anymore and that kind of thing.

So, he gives all of this instruction between what is clean and what is unclean. And so as we wrap up our time together this evening, I want to challenge you to consider that thought. The difference between clean and unclean. Between holy and unholy. In Leviticus chapter 10 verse 10 says,

God is instructing Aaron and the priest, don't partake of anything that's intoxicating, that you will be able to distinguish between holy and unholy, between unclean and clean. Here God, in chapter 11, is giving them the instructions to discern between unclean and clean in the things that they eat. And then in the following chapters, he's going to give, you know, in other areas of life as well. And although this is the law, and although...

In Acts chapter 15, the church elders got together and realized, you know, this is not appropriate for the church. We can't lay these same requirements on the church. At the same time, I would ask you to consider Hebrews chapter 5 verse 14, where the author of Hebrews said, solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

And so God desires a level of maturity in us that we have a good grasp of His Word, including the things that we're studying tonight, so that we can discern between good and evil. And again, as I shared earlier this evening, you know, that is something that lacks within the church. There is a need for us to understand the difference between holy and unholy, the difference between being set apart for God and

and compromise and being involved in the things of this world. There needs to be discernment in us. And a lot of times we lack that because, well, we don't have this personal involvement where we're offering the sacrifice, we're slitting the throat, we're recognizing, look how serious my sinful conditions are. But we need to take stock and we need to consider.

The difference between good and evil. And recognize that sin is destructive. It's not just a little thing that you kind of dabble with and play around with. It destroys your life. It's very serious. It's costly. You may not see the cost. You may not be struck down in the way that Nadab and Abihu are. But you are struck down even if you don't realize it. There's cost involved in unholiness and practicing sin.

There's cost involved in mistakes that are wrong, that are sinful. Now, the blessing that you and I have is 1 John 1.9. If we confess our sin, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So you and I, we don't have to bring an animal to church and offer it on an altar. And we praise God for that. But we do need to confess. We do need to repent. We do need to turn away from sin.

And say, God, you're right. I'm not going to practice that any longer. You're right. I have fallen short. And so I want to challenge you to take care of those holiness issues in your life. Whatever they may be. Don't dabble in unholiness. Don't play around. Don't allow room for those little evil things. Learn to discern between good and evil. Know what's right and wrong. Know what God wants and what God doesn't want. And follow God. Pursue God.

With all your heart. Let's pray. God I do pray for our hearts. That you would challenge us. To seek after you. To pursue you. Lord to flee from sin. As you called us to. Lord I pray that you would. Impress upon our hearts. The seriousness. Of holiness. The seriousness of purity. Of knowing the difference. And discerning between good and evil. And God I pray that you would help us. To have the integrity.

The courage, the faith to come to you and confess and turn away from those practices. Lord, that we would seek after you with all that we are. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.