LEVITICUS 9 BEGIN YOUR PRIESTLY MINISTRY2021 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Leviticus 9 Begin Your Priestly Ministry

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 2021.

and ready to journey together through Leviticus chapter 9. It's the portion that we read today as we work our way through the Bible in three years, and so we'll be considering this chapter and the things that the Lord has for us through it. Let's get started just by reading verses 1 through 6 here in Leviticus chapter 9. Here's what it says. It came to pass on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel.

And he said to Aaron, take for yourself a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering without blemish and offer them before the Lord. And to the children of Israel, you shall speak saying, take a kid of the goats as a sin offering and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year without blemish as a burnt offering.

Also a bull and a ram as peace offerings to sacrifice before the Lord. And a grain offering mixed with oil, for today the Lord will appear to you. So they brought what Moses commanded before the tabernacle of meeting. And all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord. Then Moses said, this is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do. And the glory of the Lord will appear to you.

Here we get to kind of jump into the next segment of something we looked at a few weeks ago in the book of Exodus, where we looked at the consecration ceremony or the dedication ceremony for Aaron and his sons, the priests.

And as we looked at that, we kind of really began a series that wasn't intentional. But over the past several weeks, the Lord really just focused on that theme of service unto the Lord. And so it was that preparing to serve that we saw in the chapters escaping me. It's Exodus 23 or maybe 32. When we looked at that, it was a few Wednesdays ago. But we saw the description of the dedication ceremony there that God gave to Moses for Aaron.

Well, yesterday in Leviticus chapter 8, we saw the carrying out then of that ceremony. And so chapter 8 of Leviticus feeds into chapter 9 in that the last seven days, Aaron and Moses and Aaron's sons have been engaged in this dedication service, this consecration of Aaron as high priest and his sons as the priests, and they've been engaged in this dedication service.

in preparing them for their next segment of their lives, and that was to live out as priests of the Lord. And so now we get to see in chapter 9 the beginning of their ministry.

And so I've titled the message this evening, as we consider it for ourselves, Begin Your Priestly Ministry. And I want to encourage you to consider that and think about that this evening, that you, like Aaron, like Aaron's sons, have a calling that is a priestly type of ministry. Now, obviously, you know, I'm not suggesting that, uh,

We have the exact same ministry. We are not under the old covenant any longer. The covenant has changed, right? And so there are some differences, and yet there are some similarities as well.

We know that Paul tells us in 1 Timothy 2, verse 5, there is one mediator between God and men, and that is Jesus Christ. And so we need to be very careful as we think about the priestly ministry not to, you know, kind of apply to that some of the other concepts of priests that are, you know, in various types of religions and such. But

But the idea of a priest was really to represent God to people and represent people to God.

Not as a mediator in the sense of, you know, there is no access to God except, you know, that you come through us. That's not the kind of priestly ministry that God has given to us. There is one mediator, that's Christ. And every believer has direct access to the Father through Jesus Christ. Every believer has direct access to Jesus and to the Father through Jesus. And so we don't need to be priests in the sense of, you know, that kind of access to God.

But at the same time, we have the opportunity to minister in a priestly style or a priestly type ministry. And so I would put it this way. Every believer has direct access to God, but also every believer gets to participate in the spiritual life or the spiritual growth of others. Now, Peter refers to this in 1 Peter 2, verses 9 and 10.

And I've quoted this a couple of times over the past couple of weeks because we've been looking at these things and serving the Lord in this way. 1 Peter 2, verse 9, Peter says,

And Peter here is drawing the contrast. We were in darkness without mercy, but God has called us out. And so now we have this new identity in Christ. And we have this new identity in Christ.

and we are a chosen generation. And part of that means that we are a royal priesthood.

You can tie that into some of the passages there in the book of Revelation where you have the 24 elders and they have the songs that they sing that refer to themselves as kings and priests of the Lord, which represents the church in heaven before the Lord. And so we have this opportunity as this chosen generation, this chosen people that we get to serve today.

And what does that priesthood involve? Well, he goes on to say there in verse 9, Part of our priestly ministry is to proclaim the praises of God.

Declare what he has done. Declare how he has brought us out of darkness and into light. Now, maybe another way to look at this is the way that Paul says it in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 20. He says,

And so there is this idea of priest's ministry. There is this idea of ambassador. You can kind of look at it from a couple different angles, but understand there is this relationship that we have with God and relationship with others around us where God desires to work through us

to minister to people in our lives. And so every believer has direct access to God, but also every believer gets to participate in the spiritual life and the growth of others. And so again, this evening, I want to encourage you to begin your priestly ministry and really engage in this opportunity and this role that God has for you. And so we'll look here in chapter 9 and see four steps to get started in this priestly ministry.

Maybe you have started and you're down the pathways. Some good reminders here. And these things are really a cycle, not just, you know, four steps and then you're done. But, you know, you get to step four and then you start over back at step one and spend some time there and then work your way through again. And so these are things that are important for us as we seek to serve the Lord and minister to people around us. Well, the first thing to consider found here in verses one through six. Here's step one. Prepare for the Lord to appear.

Prepare for the Lord to appear. What I found interesting here in these first six verses is that there was some preparation that had to be done. Before the actual, you know, practical, visible ministry could take place, there was some instructions that had to be given. Notice again at verse 1, it says, "...and it came to pass on the eighth day that Moses called Aaron and his sons and the elders of Israel."

Now, just to stop and reflect on the timing for a minute, it came to pass on the eighth day of

So again, chapter 8 records for us the seven days of consecration and that whole ceremony that God had prescribed for the priests to begin their ministry. And so for the last seven days, Aaron and his sons have been in the tabernacle compound. They have been in God's presence. They've spent time in active obedience. They've spent the last seven days obeying God, staying put,

offering their time to the Lord in this way. And their time in God's presence, I would suggest, was a time of preparation for them for the ministry that was about to take place.

The time in God's presence over the last seven days was at work in their hearts and preparing them as they were receiving this and obeying in this. And so you can look at the active obedience that they were engaged in for the past seven days, but also the time in God's presence as things that were necessary steps for them to prepare them for what was about to happen today. And the rest of the chapter is all what happens on that eighth day.

And so they spent seven days doing nothing in one sense, right? And then day eight now comes, you know, all of the work all in one day that they were to do that day in their priestly ministry. And so it was the seven days of consecration that led up to this time so that they were prepared for and ready for the ministry that God had set for them.

Now Moses goes on to give them instruction. First of all, to Aaron, it says in verse two, he said to Aaron, take for yourself a young bull as a sin offering and a ram as a burnt offering without blemish and offer them before the Lord. The actual offering of these animals we'll see in a few verses down. But the preparation part here is Moses tells Aaron, go get a bull as a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

The instruction was for Aaron to physically move his body, go to the corral or wherever they kept those animals, lasso one perhaps, and pull him in, and to bring these two animals to the tabernacle for the purpose of being sacrificed before the Lord. And so again, I see this as a practical preparation thing. They spent seven days doing nothing,

But now, before they can actually do the work of the ministry, there's some practical things to do. They got to go get the animal and bring it so that they can offer it as a sacrifice. And similarly, Israel has some preparation as well. In verse 3 and 4, he says, "...to Israel you shall speak, saying, Take a kid of the goats as a sin offering, and a calf and a lamb, both of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering."

And so the people were given similar instruction. Get to work making all this preparation. A couple animals for a sin offering.

Find them, right? Remember the sin offerings? Well, all of the sacrifices had to be, you know, without blemish. They had to be examined. They had to be checked out. Again, it's very practical what's about to happen here. The people are going to go inspect some animals, find the right one, bring it, you know, to the Lord for the sin offering. Then for the burnt offering, they were to find these two animals, inspect them, make sure there's no spots, no blemishes, and then they're going to go to the Lord.

they're taking these steps. Then for the peace offering, they had to inspect the animals, make sure there's nothing wrong with them, that they meet the standard that God had prescribed, and then bring them, and then the grain offering. And it doesn't say exactly what grain offering they're going to offer, but we saw last week in Leviticus chapter two, it could have been just a bag of flour, or it could have been something baked, something prepared, something cooked. And so whatever form that offering

took place in, we don't know for sure, but there was the preparation, the grinding of flour, the gathering of these materials. And it caused me to stop and think and just kind of consider, I wonder how much preparation for these sacrifices happened on the way to offer the sacrifice, right? Because, of course, we know the sacrifices...

you know, were not so much about the animals as far as the Lord was concerned, right? It was about the heart of the people and their relationship to God. And so I'm just kind of picturing myself, right? If you're in that environment and that's kind of a, you know, your scene, you're, you know,

What's that called? There's a word for it that I can't think of. But you care for flock and cattle. You're a shepherd. You're a cattleman or a rancher, whatever, right? You're in that scene, right? So this isn't like some strange thing to them, go get a ram. It's like, okay, yeah, I know how to do that. I've done that a thousand times before. I've taken care. I've herded rams and brought them about to where I needed them to be. No problem. It's something that I've done many times. And yet at the same time, there's something special about this one, right?

Because you're going with the mindset, even if it only takes you 10 minutes. You're going with the mindset, all right, yeah, that's the ram I want to offer to the Lord. He checks out, he's good. And so you're thinking about the offering, the sacrifice, even before it gets to the altar. There's some preparation that happens in your heart and in your mind, right?

In the gathering of the materials and then in the bringing forth of them, it takes time to transport the animal from wherever your corral is to the tabernacle. And so the idea here that I'm just kind of visualizing and picturing here is this preparation that would happen as the people would go to prepare their sacrifice, prepare their offering.

And there's preparation that's happening in their mind and their heart as they're thinking about the sacrifice. They're thinking about what it means. And they're bringing that before the Lord. And it was after all the preparation was done, after they gathered together all these things. Aaron gathered together the animals that he needed. Israel gathered together the animals that they needed. And then in verse 5, So they brought what Moses commanded before the tabernacle of meeting. And all the congregation drew near and stood before the Lord."

After all the preparation was done, then they gathered. They did all of the preparation. They gathered everything that they needed. Everything was in place. And then they gathered together. And as I was thinking about this and meditating on it, it really just reminded me of the importance for us, thinking about these things today, to prepare for the Lord to appear. That, you know, sometimes it's easy for us to show up at the tabernacle unprepared, unprepared.

Having not spent 10 minutes preparing our minds and hearts, thinking about the sacrifice that we're about to offer. Having not spent some time thinking about the different things that are needed in our relationship with the Lord. Having not spent time preparing ourselves

for the gathering. But here we see that in a very practical way, there was preparation, physical things, you know, things to do, and then they would gather together. And Moses tells them in verse 6, this is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you. And so there is this promise of the appearance of God, and the glory of God, the presence of God is promised. And it's attached to

This preparation that happens beforehand.

I would just encourage you to consider that for a little bit. You know, sometimes we can walk away from a gathering together of believers and be somewhat unmoved by what took place, you know? And maybe it doesn't feel like there was an appearance of the Lord. Maybe it doesn't feel like the Lord met me. Maybe, you know, there wasn't that glory of the Lord. Now, I'm not saying that every time that we gather has to be some supernatural event and like the end of the chapter, fire comes down from heaven, right?

But at the same time, if we're always gathering, but there's no glory, if we're always gathering and the Lord's not appearing and we're not knowing the Lord in a greater way, we're not encountering the Lord in some capacity, then I would kind of step back to here and say, hey, maybe there needs to be a little bit more preparation on our parts in advance of the gathering. That

that in order for the Lord to appear in glory, that we need to prepare our hearts and our minds to receive from the Lord. Again, I would suggest to you that every believer has direct access to God, right? And yet at the same time, we need to take advantage of that access to God that we have.

And we need to approach God. And sometimes, although we have access to God, we don't actually approach God. In a similar way, as we have the opportunity to gather, sometimes we gather, but we're not actually approaching God. We haven't prepared ourselves. We haven't sought to know the Lord, to worship Him, and to spend time with Him in His presence.

And as we gather together as believers, again, every believer has direct access to God and every believer gets to participate in the spiritual life of others. As we gather together, there's a meaningful part that we play. There's an opportunity that we have.

to be a part of one another's lives. And I'm saying this to a camera and to a couple people in the room, right? So this perhaps requires a little bit of prayer on our part for those of you who are watching online or unable to attend or those kinds of things. There are ways for you to engage with the body of Christ. There is definitely opportunity for you to continue to participate in the spiritual life of others, right?

But it comes back to, it starts here. Step one is preparing for the Lord to appear. And I think it starts with really believing that God will reveal himself as he promised. You know, the Lord said that as we gather together, two or three, right? He is there in our midst, that we are in the presence of the Lord as we gather in his name. And so first of all, we need to believe that. And we need to believe that as we gather together, as we devote these times together,

for the Lord. And whether that be, you know, our services on Sunday, Wednesday, or, you know, a Bible study that you might have on a different day or a different time, you know, a gathering together of some sort in seeking the Lord whenever it might be, that there is the opportunity for us to prepare in advance. Not to just show up and then, you know, expect the Lord to show up, but to show up in advance having prepared our hearts. Again, here the

The priest, Aaron, and his sons spent the last seven days preparing and just spending time in the presence of God so that when the gathering happened, they were prepared for what it was that God wanted to do. And so time in God's presence is important before we gather, not just when we gather.

Time in active obedience. Throughout the chapter and really the whole book of Leviticus, you'll see as the Lord commanded, as the Lord commanded, as the Lord commanded, that there was this active obedience to what the Lord said that prepared the people for the work that God was going to do. Well, preparation or preparing for the Lord to appear, I think similarly can take some just real practical steps for us.

as they would just go grab a rope and rope up a ram and pull it and bring it to the tabernacle. Very practical, physical thing, right? In a similar way, we can prepare ourselves for the appearance of the Lord. And perhaps one way to do that, I'm just going to give out some different examples, but there's much more perhaps that the Lord would lead you in preparation of. But perhaps one way for you to prepare practically is to have a pen and paper prepared.

prepared and ready for when you gather with God and with his people. Pastor Dylan used to always encourage us in that, that, you know, if I show up and I'm expecting God to speak, well,

then I should be ready to receive and to capture what it is that God's going to say, right? And so there is that opportunity to take notes. Now, maybe it's not a pen and paper. Maybe it's a notebook. Maybe it's learning how to use a note system in your mobile device or something like that, but some practical preparation to take

To write down, this is the instruction of the Lord, this is the word of the Lord, this is what God's saying, because I'm expecting God to speak. And I want to follow through with what he says to me and meditate on what he puts upon my heart. Practical step to take might be to show up.

And yes, we have the great opportunity to, you know, live stream. And for some, that's a need, right? For some, that is an important thing, and the Lord wants you to be live streaming. But for some of you, live streaming is just kind of the easy substitute for actually getting dressed, getting in the car, driving to church, and doing

participating and engaging with the Lord in that way. And perhaps there's some practical steps to take to just show up and to assemble together. Preparation for Sunday morning, you might want to consider, it might start Saturday night in that, you know, maybe I change my schedule or I say no to some things so that I can have a good night's rest, so that I can be ready in the morning to be awake enough to hear from the Lord during service. I know that can be a challenge for some.

And so maybe, you know, Saturday evening is really the beginning of the preparation, and perhaps that's something the Lord would want to speak to you. Now, maybe God does have you watching online, streaming from home. I would suggest to you the same thing applies, that there's probably some practical things that you need to do to prepare for the Lord to appear. And maybe at home, there's some different challenges and different steps to take. Maybe it's a

You know, in your own home, you can be more easily distracted, right? There's a lot more things to get your attention. So in the middle of the time of worship, you know, that you're drawn out of or pulled out of the time of worship because there is this, you know, other thing happening. And so maybe you need to take some practical steps to protect against those kinds of distractions. I think watching from home

It's more easy to be disengaged. You know, hey, you can show up for service. I can show up for service and be, you know, just here in body and my mind is, you know, completely somewhere else and I'm just, you know, getting through it. And you can do the same thing at home. So I'm not saying, you know, one is only happening in one place or the other. But, you know, at the home, you know, I can imagine for me personally, if the TV is on,

I usually have another device in my hand and I'm doing something else, right? And I could see myself, although I'm teaching the service, so I'm not able to experience it from home, right? But the idea is I could understand, I could see, you know, having something on the screen and it'd be just easy for me to

to be hearing it, to be watching it, to be listening to it, but also to not be that really engaged. And so maybe some practical steps need to be taken for you to really engage and be part of the service as we're gathered together. Now, I'm spending a lot of time talking about services, and that's because of the gathering that happened here with the congregation. But I

I would encourage you to take this beyond those things and just stop and think about and allow the Lord to speak to you about things that you need to do to prepare as you're looking forward to, as God is calling you to or gathering you together, giving you times and opportunities to spend time with him. What are the things that should take place for you to prepare for the Lord to appear?

And so something to consider in order for us to begin our priestly ministry, there needs to be some preparation. There's going to be some practical things to do to get things ready so that we can be in a state, in a condition where we are ready to meet the Lord, to serve the Lord, and to see his glory. Well, continuing on in verses 7 through 14, we get the second step for beginning our priestly ministry tonight, and that is to maintain your walk with God.

Even though we're talking about this idea of a priestly ministry that we have and the opportunity to represent God to people and to be part of the growth in the spiritual life of others, well, there also needs to be, and we can never forget, that importance of maintaining our own walk with God.

that we need to minister to ourselves first in a sense. Not in a selfish way, but in the sense, the idea that, hey, if I'm not right with God, I'm gonna really mess things up when I try to help you be right with God and minister to your needs. Check out verse seven here of Leviticus 9. Moses said to Aaron, "'Go to the altar, offer your sin offering "'and your burnt offering, "'and make atonement for yourself and for the people.'"

Notice the first thing that Aaron is called to do. Now up to this point, again referring back to Leviticus chapter 8, there's been some sacrifices already that have been happening as part of this consecration process and Aaron beginning his ministry.

But up to this point, Moses has been the one offering the sacrifices. And so now this is Aaron's turn. And his first sacrifice, his first offering is for himself. And I think that speaks to us about an important priority that we need to have.

The first sacrifice needs to be for ourselves. And again, not in a selfish way, and don't try to take that and give it a license to disobey something that God's putting upon your heart. But the idea is that we need to maintain and care for our own spiritual health. That there is no high priest who was ever in a place where they didn't need to have these sacrifices for themselves.

This wasn't the last time that Aaron is going to be offering these sacrifices either. This was going to be ongoing. He was going to be offering sacrifices for himself. And then he would be able to offer sacrifices for the people. Again in verse 7, Moses tells Aaron, go to the altar, offer your sin offering and your burnt offering and make atonement for yourself. Aaron, there needs to be that atonement there.

that happens for you before the Lord. You need that, Aaron. And so he offers the sin offering in verse 8, and that's interesting to consider. It points out, it's very clear at the end of verse 8, which was for himself, right? God makes it very clear. This sin offering, Aaron says, it's for me. The sin offering was for myself. The sin offering was because I need to offer a sin offering.

I need to make atonement because I need to make atonement, right? Aaron here is confessing really his sin by offering these sacrifices to the Lord, admitting that he still needs a sin offering, that he still has sin issues. And to think about this in an interesting way, you know, the last seven days they've been living in the tabernacle. It's been seven days of consecration.

And yet, at the end of that, he needs to offer a sin offering and make atonement for himself.

not suggesting that Aaron was in outright rebellion or partying or doing something wrong, but testifying to the fact of our sinful nature that even in the best circumstances and the best conditions, we can be living at the place where it seems like there's no temptations, no difficulties, no challenges for our flesh, right? Seven days of consecration we can have with the Lord, and yet at the end of it, we still need to maintain our walk with God.

and offer a sin offering, and be washed and cleansed because we have a sinful nature and hearts and minds that are distant from God. Pastor David Guzik puts it this way, even though Aaron just spent the prior week in special dedication to the Lord, there was still more to give. And I jumped ahead a little bit. I was talking about the sin offering, point, done, sealed. Okay, now the burnt offering.

Now, he offered a sin offering and a burnt offering. That's what Guzik is talking about. And the burnt offering was, again, that giving of yourself completely and entirely to the Lord. And again, Aaron, for the past seven days, has been doing that. He's been in the presence of the Lord. He's been at the tabernacle. He's been giving himself to the Lord for the past seven days. And yet now, there's still the burnt offering to offer.

And so Pastor David Guzik's saying is, there's still more to give. This was an important experience of dedication. The idea of consecration had to be ongoing in the life of Aaron and all God's priests. This wasn't the last burnt offering that Aaron would offer. Aaron would continue to offer consecration

Throughout his ministry, sin offerings and burnt offerings, as well as, you know, any of the other offerings that were appropriate and, you know, the Lord would put upon his heart as he was walking with the Lord. But the idea is, even though he's in this role of high priest, seven days in the tabernacle,

there's still that burnt offering to offer. There's still that opportunity and the need to express once again, here's an animal on the altar. That's me, God. I'm devoted to you. I'm all yours, completely turned over. And as I consider that, it speaks to me again about our own walk with God and the maintenance that's required.

We say things like, I gave my life to the Lord, right? And we refer back to that time where we were converted and born again and had that opportunity to receive the gospel message. But in reality, the giving my life to the Lord needs to happen first.

on an ongoing basis. Not one time, you know, back in 1978 when Jerry was born that I offered my, you know, life to the Lord. But every day really needs to be a giving of my life to the Lord. That burnt offering where I'm still giving myself because, well, it often has been shared. I think I shared it last week or perhaps it was Sunday that living sacrifices, the problem with them is that they keep getting off the altar, right? You and I, we give ourselves to the Lord and

And we put ourselves on the altar, so to speak, right? We give ourselves to the Lord, and then we see this other situation that's happening over here, and we're like, oh, Lord, I'll be right back. And we get off the altar. I just got to go take care of this real quick, right? I can handle this, Lord. And so we get off the altar. We go handle things, or we go chase after things, and we need to come back to, oh, I got to get back on the altar, right? The sacrifice, the living sacrifice is

keeps getting off the altar, and that's us. You know, our hearts are prone to wander. We are prone to wander away from the things of the Lord, and we need to continually come back to this idea of maintaining our walk with God, coming back to the sin offering. All of my sin is forgiven in Jesus. That's established. That's done past, present, and future. His sacrifice upon the cross pays for all of it, but I still need to come and confess to the Lord my sin.

And because I do sin, because I am sinful, there is always that opportunity and there's that need for me to not stop doing that. Now listen, this is important because it is possible for any one of us to find ourselves distant from God, far from God, because we stop maintaining our walk with Him.

Even though we've believed in him, even though we've received his offering and sacrifice, even though we know all the right things, we memorize the scriptures, we know the scriptures, we teach the scriptures, that doesn't mean that we are close to God or where we're at or where we need to be at in our walk with God. And so there needs to be this development of our spiritual life. Maintain your walk with God. Continue to bring your confession before the Lord. Confess your sin.

Allow God and invite God to work in your life in the area of sin and to bring about a revival in your heart in those areas where you need it. And continue to offer the burnt offering, to give yourself over to the Lord. As we were singing earlier, you know, all of the dreams, all of the rights, all of the hopes, everything that I am, right? Just continue to give that because there are so many times I'm taking those things back.

So I need to come again to this place of, oh man, I forgot. I took that back. You're right. Okay, I need to give this to you, Lord. I want to give my life over to you completely and wholly. And so the sin offering, the burnt offering, we continue to maintain our relationship with God. So the priestly ministry, first of all, starts out with preparation, preparing for the Lord to appear and getting things together, putting ourselves in a good place to be able to

receive from the Lord, hear from the Lord. And it begins also with us then maintaining our walk with God and staying close to the Lord and offering ourselves to the Lord once again. Well, the third thing, step number three now as we continue on in verses 15 through 21 is help people connect with God.

Help people connect with God. And this is the other part, right, of the priestly ministry. That the part of the priestly ministry was with the Lord, that maintenance, that time with Him, the devotion to Him. But now connecting with the people that God has placed in our lives. Check out verse 15. It says, Then He brought the people's offering and took the goat, which was the sin offering for the people, and killed it and offered it for sin like the first one.

Here in verse 15, now after Aaron has offered his own sacrifices, now he's in a place where he can help other people in their relationship with the Lord. And so then, it says at the beginning of verse 15, then he brought the people's offering. And it's really important not to get that order mixed up, right? It's not offer the people's offering and then, you know, if there's time, then I'll work on my relationship with God. No, it's

I need to be close to the Lord. I need to have my life right with the Lord and walking with the Lord. And then I'll be able to, I'll be in a place where I will be able to help others around me and their relationship with the Lord. And so after his maintenance was done, after his life was in sync with the Lord's, then he brought the people's offerings.

And you could probably tell I'm not going into every verse and all the details here. We kind of looked at these already a few times as we've been looking at the sacrifices. But here he brings the people's offerings. And there was four types of offerings that God had instructed the people to bring on this occasion. Now, we talked about the sacrifices on Sunday. Two of them were mandatory, right? The sin offering, the trespass offering, the

The others were freewill offerings. But in this case, the Lord instructed them, bring all these offerings. So all of these were mandatory. God said, bring all of these. And so they brought all of these. And so we looked at the sin offering and the trespass offering on Sunday, chapters four and five. And this speaks of the forgiveness from God. Then they were to offer a burnt offering in verse 16. It says, he brought the burnt offering and offered it according to the prescribed manner.

And again, the burnt offering speaks of that all-consuming devotion to God. And so the people here were expressing their sinfulness and inviting God, asking God for forgiveness. They were expressing to God their devotion to Him and giving their lives to Him in the burnt offering. And so Aaron is administering that and helping the people express that to God and give their lives to the Lord in that way. They brought a grain offering in verse 17.

He took a handful of it and burned it on the altar, as we saw the instructions for that last week back in chapter 2. And so they're expressing their gratitude, their offering, you know, of what God has provided for them, and they're serving the Lord in that way. And so Aaron is helping them, administering the grain offering, and then the peace offerings in verses 18 through 21, it describes the different peace offerings and all the different details of the things that he would do as he would take apart the animals and offer them to the Lord. But

Again, the peace offering was not to attain peace, but to enjoy peace, to have fellowship and to enjoy and celebrate the fellowship that we have with God. And so these offerings to the Lord were things that the people were bringing to the Lord because he instructed them.

but also things that the people are bringing to the Lord because, well, this is what they wanted to express to the Lord, and this is what they needed to express to the Lord. They needed to connect with God in all of these different ways and to receive from God the ministry that he had for them in each of these different sacrifices. And Aaron, as the priest, and his sons as the priests,

they get to help these people connect with God in this way. They get to administer these sacrifices, which means they get to be part of the process. They're not taking the place of God, and they're not, you know, in a sense, like being the mediator in that, you know, they're the ones who access God and the people access them. No, they're helping the people connect

to connect to God. They're helping the people to offer to the Lord these sacrifices and express these things that they mean to the Lord and receive from the Lord as a result. And I think this paints a really good picture for us. Again, every believer, first of all, has direct access to God, but also every believer gets to participate in the spiritual life of others.

And so there's people in your life, I've shared this so many times, and yet we need to be encouraged and refreshed in it again, as the Lord has us here in these things. God has placed in our life those that he's called us to make disciples. God has placed in our lives people around us that we would train them and teach them and help them to know the Lord and to walk with the Lord. And so we have a priestly ministry to make disciples, to help people connect with God.

And, you know, maybe it takes different forms and fashions depending on our spiritual gifts, our role in the body of Christ, you know, our relationship to the people that God has placed in our life. This isn't trying to explore every possible method that this is accomplished, but the idea here is for you to think about and consider the people that God has placed in your life and how can you help them

Connect with God in these different ways. You know, sometimes someone comes to you and you need to spend some time with them to help them understand and receive forgiveness from God. And as a priest, you get that opportunity. As one who is called to make disciples, you get that opportunity. When the Lord sent out his disciples, he says, if you forgive the sins of anyone, they're forgiven.

Now, it's not that he was actually giving Peter the authority above everybody else to forgive people's sins, but they were authorized to speak on behalf of the Lord. And so when they understood, yes, you've confessed Jesus as Savior and Lord, you've confessed your sin to the Lord and turned from that, there was the authorization from the Lord to say, your sins are forgiven. Right?

Not that Peter could forgive their sins, but Peter could communicate on behalf of God and say, hey, your sins are forgiven. And there needs to be, sometimes in our lives, this expression of forgiveness to others on behalf of God, that we would help them to offer the burnt offering and to bring their sin before the Lord and receive forgiveness from God. That God gives us opportunities to help people understand what forgiveness is and what right relationship with him looks like.

Or maybe it's the burnt offering. You know, and there's a conversation perhaps that's happening. There's a personal one-on-one ministry that's happening. And you realize that the Lord is bringing about this opportunity for you to help this person offer a burnt offering. To help them in the conversation, in the discussion, understand that they need to surrender themselves completely to the Lord and to bring a burnt offering. And you get to engage in helping them

Maybe praying with them, maybe encouraging them in some practical preparation things, maybe helping them to move forward in that in some way. The fellowship offering or the peace offering. You know, there are so many people who feel disconnected from God.

feel out of sync with God, feel that God is upset with them and angry with them. And so they don't approach him. They don't know how to walk with him. They don't know how to pray. They don't know how to spend time with him. They don't have devotional lives. There's a lot of people who believe in Jesus, but they don't enjoy the fellowship with God that is afforded to us by Jesus. And so there is the need for others around them to come alongside and to help them offer a peace offering.

and learn how to fellowship with God, and learn what that means, and to demonstrate what that looks like. A grain offering, service unto the Lord. There's need for people around us to be encouraged, and edified, and built up. It's part of what God has designed us to be as the body of Christ.

And it's part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to anoint us to help others, right? Of course, Ephesians chapter 4, it talks about the different roles in the body of Christ. And there were specific roles that were given to equip the saints for the work of ministry. And so, of course, you know, those roles. But again, we've all been called to make disciples. And so there is an opportunity for us as well to come alongside people and help them discover their spiritual gifts.

Now, those are, you know, kind of looking at some personal one-on-one kind of encounters, but this could take a lot of different shapes. Your role in the body of Christ may focus on one area more than the others, perhaps.

And so if you have the gift of evangelism, and so you're going to be working a lot with the sin offering, right? And the forgiveness from God and working on that gospel message and focused on that.

But if you're in the worship ministry, and you know, that's your calling, and that's the way that you serve the Lord, well, there's a priestly opportunity there. And as hopefully I demonstrated a little bit this morning, I understand, not this morning, but this evening, you know, the time of worship when I'm leading, it's just the bag of flour, right? It's not fancy. It's not amazing. But

but hopefully I demonstrate a little bit for you worship leaders out there that you can, you know, take the different concepts here that are important and necessary in our relationship with the Lord and embed them and entwine them and help people. That's our job as worship leaders is to help people connect with God in these different ways that we need. And sometimes,

I remember Pastor Damian Kyle sharing this one time that, you know, as a new believer, the worship time was so impactful for him because it taught him to express things to the Lord that, number one, he didn't know that he needed to express. But that, number two, that he was able to express things to the Lord that he didn't know how to express. And that can be really important and helpful. And so the worship ministry can engage in all of these things.

For those of you who, you know, perhaps your primary ministry that God's given to you is that of prayer, that there is a component of these different aspects of, you know, other people and their relationship with the Lord and your prayer for them.

that are at play and your opportunity then to come alongside them in that way. Or maybe your ministry is exhortation. That is a spiritual gift that you have. And again, there's that interaction. Maybe it's teaching like, you know, in this kind of environment. And so there's all of these different opportunities.

And the focus may be different and change week to week or time to time, or it might be a focus, you know, that really, you know, God's given you that ministry of fellowship with God, right? And you just are on a mission. Every conversation, every time you're engaging with believers, that that's just what the Lord has put upon your heart. You think about Pastor Chuck Smith, right?

He had the ministry of the grace of God. And it was just like all throughout his ministry, all throughout his life, all the time he was teaching, he taught a bunch of different things. He taught through the whole Bible, but the overarching theme really of the ministry was the grace of God. And so in a similar way, you might have that kind of focus from the Lord and embrace that, embrace that focus and be the fellowship with God person. And everywhere you go, encourage people, help people understand and experience the fellowship of God.

with God. Throughout the New Testament, we have those one another commands. We're commanded to minister to one another. We're commanded to be interacting with one another and be part of each other's lives in this way. It's part of our priestly ministry. Now, one other thing I want to say on that, and that is that the priests could not force the people. Aaron could only offer what the people brought.

So we can come alongside people and help people who want to offer a burnt offering, right, and give themselves to the Lord. And maybe they need some help, you know, understanding that and understanding what that looks like and how to do that and, you know, what that means and how to pray that and so on and so forth. But at the same time, we can't come and say,

You need to give yourself over completely, you know, like smash their face in it and make them be a burnt offering. Like that doesn't work, right? It's not our job to change people. It's not our job to be the Holy Spirit, to bring about conversion, right? It's our job to come alongside. Hey, you know, I would love to, I want to help you in, you know, this offering and knowing the Lord this way, expressing these things to the Lord.

But we can't be trying to make these things happen. Aaron could not go get the animal and offer it on. So I offered it on the altar for you. So whether you like it or not, you're a burnt offering. And that's not the way that it works. We can't force. God doesn't force them. He gives them the opportunity. He invites them. And we need to carry forth that ministry as well. Well, finally, verses 22 through 24. Here's step four.

of our priestly ministry, and that is to express God's blessing to people. Let's read these verses. Verse 22 says,

When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. Here we see as Aaron and his sons are bringing about this service of ministry, these sacrifices to the Lord. Aaron, in his first opportunity here to sacrifice on behalf of the people, in verse 22, it says he lifted his hand toward the people and blessed them. He blessed them.

Not that Aaron was actually able to bless, right? But he is representing God and expressing blessings from God. He offered the sin offering, the burnt offering, the peace offerings, and he's up there on the altar, and there was like steps up to the altar, and so he's offering, and he turns around, he can see the whole congregation, they're gathered, and he blesses them. Now, what does it mean that he blessed them?

it's likely that he spoke the blessing that God had instructed for him to speak in Numbers chapter 6. Now, I understand Numbers chapter 6 in our Bibles comes after Leviticus chapter 9, right? That doesn't necessarily mean that the Lord didn't give it to them before that. And so Numbers chapter 6, we have the priestly blessing. Here's the blessing that Aaron was commanded to speak to the children of Israel.

He says, This was the blessing or the manner in which Aaron was to bless the children of Israel. And you'll notice all of the source of the blessing is the Lord.

right? It doesn't say Aaron bless you and keep you, right? It says the Lord bless you and keep you. So when it says Aaron bless the people, I would suggest he's saying the Lord bless you. That's how Aaron blessed the people, by saying the Lord bless you. And again, it's Aaron's opportunity here to express to the people that God has received their sacrifice. The Lord bless you. He's on your side. He's with you. He's for you. The Lord bless you and keep you,

The Lord's going to protect you and preserve you. The Lord's going to work in your life and preserve you and keep you in the place where you need to be. The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May you see the glory of the Lord. Again, Moses said earlier, today you're going to see the glory of the Lord, right? The glory of the Lord is going to appear before you. And may the grace of God abound in your life. Again, what Aaron is expressing here, this blessing is,

speaking on behalf of the Lord and speaking, you know, the Lord's desires upon them and into their lives. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. And so the Lord give you peace and grace. The Lord preserve you. The Lord protect you and do good to you. He was able to speak on God's behalf as he ministers this offering to the Lord on their behalf.

In verse 23, it tells us Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people. And so double blessing, twice blessed, is being offered here and given to the people. And here again for us this evening as we wrap this up, we have the opportunity to express God's blessing to people.

to express, hey, God's with you and God is going to keep you. God's going to preserve you and take care of you and God's gonna be gracious to you and shine his face upon you. That we get the opportunity as we minister to people and help come alongside them in their offerings, in their sacrifices, in their hearts that are getting right with God.

that we get to express the Lord's blessing. Hey, the Lord's pleased, you know, with that desire. He's pleased with what it is that's happening there, and He desires for you to know that. And so we have this incredible privilege and opportunity to engage in a priestly ministry. We're that royal priesthood as believers in the Lord. And so we can get started now.

by preparing, preparation for the Lord to appear, preparing to gather together, preparing for our times with the Lord and with one another. We can begin our priestly ministry by maintaining our walk with God, staying close to the Lord, drawing near to him, continuing to come before him with confession and giving ourselves over to him completely.

And then we can help people. Then we're in a position where we can come alongside others and help them connect to God and express all of these different things that we need to express before the Lord, represented by these different offerings. And we get to engage and help them connect to God in all these different ways. And then we get to be God's blessing to people, to just announce his blessing, announce his promises, announce his goodness and his grace toward them. Begin your priestly ministry. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for

Your word and the examples given here with Aaron and his sons, Lord, and the priestly ministry, although it's part of the old covenant and not exactly the way that you've called us to relate to you, Lord, there's so many things here that you have built in, Lord, that symbolize and point us to you, Lord, that we might know you, that we might understand you, that we might receive from you to a greater degree. And Lord, there's also so many things here that you want to speak to us, to show us,

how we can live out the life that you have set before us and called us to. And so, Lord, I pray that you would help us to see and understand. Help us, Lord, to understand the role, the ministry that you've given to us, Lord, that we might step forward in it. Help us to be diligent and faithful, to seek you, to give ourselves to you, Lord, that we might be equipped and prepared to serve one another. I pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

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