Before we begin, let me say a quick word of gratitude to all our veterans. If you have served, we are so grateful to God for your service and sacrifice for our freedoms. If you haven’t yet, in the greeting courtyard after the service, there is a video playing showing some pictures of our members and former members who are service men and women and we want you to know how deeply grateful we are to God for all of you.
Now that said, if you would take your Bibles in hand please and turn with me to the book of Leviticus as we continue our studies of Leviticus on the Lord’s Day mornings here at First Church, Leviticus chapter 6, and we’re going to read from the eighth verse. We’ll read selections of this because it’s a long portion, running all the way through the end of chapter 7. You can find that beginning on page 84 of the church Bibles. This passage summarizes the five essential sacrifices that form the core of the regular rhythms of ancient Israelite worship that we’ve already studied in the first six chapters of the book. Only this time, as it recapitulates all of that teaching, this time it does it with special instructions for the priests, whose responsibility it was to administer and to conduct these sacrificial rites. So that means this part of the text, the second half of chapter 6 and all of chapter 7, really functions as kind of a ministry manual to direct the priests as they led the people in worship.
And it would be tempting, therefore, to focus the message this morning on the nature and requirements of the Gospel ministry, particularly when you realize that the New Testament itself takes its cues from this part of Leviticus to make precisely that point. For example, the apostle Paul alludes to the teaching of this part of the book of Leviticus to remind the Corinthians of their duty to provide for pastors in the new covenant age, because like the priests of the old covenant, pastors are committed to full time ministry and have no other means to provide for themselves. As we read the text, actually we are going to see, if you cast your eye over it, you will see especially in chapter 7:28-36, a particular emphasis on providing for those dedicated to full time ministry to ensure that their ministries were maintained. And so for example, Paul says, 1 Corinthians 9:13-14, “Do you not know that those who are employed in the temple service get their food from the temple, and those who serve at the altar share in these sacrificial offerings? In the same way, the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the Gospel should get their living by the Gospel.” So given that the New Testament uses the principles taught here, and given the stewardship charge you’ve just heard from Robert Leard, it’s really tempting for me to focus our attention this morning on the duties of the Gospel ministry and on the responsibility of God’s people to provide for that ministry financially and practically. I think that would be a legitimate way to go with this text.
But I think it would miss the much richer way that the New Testament reflects on the role and significance of the priesthood as mediators between God and His people. And so rather than 1 Corinthians 9, I think texts like the one we used for our call to worship this morning, or passages like Hebrews 7:23-25, actually give us a much better interpretive key to unlocking the teaching of this passage. So Hebrews says, “The former priests,” meaning the priests we will be hearing about in our passage, “The former priests were many in number because they were prevented by death from continuing in office but He, Jesus Christ, holds His priesthood permanently because He continues forever. Consequently, He is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” In other words, Jesus is the true and the perfect and final Priest.
And so when we read about the work of the priesthood in the old covenant, yes, no doubt, there will be secondary lessons to learn for the church today and for pastors about the nature of God’s continuing work of ministry. But the primary lesson the Old Testament priesthood is meant to teach us isn’t about our ministries or about the ministry support in which we are called to engage to maintain the work of others. The primary lesson is about the ministry of the one of whom all the previous priests were mere shadows and types. We are being taught here about the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Priest, who always lives to intercede for us. And if that is our interpretive grid, it means that actually this chapter, that seems very strange and foreign and distant and remote to us, is laden, like a fruit tree whose branches are just bent over under the weight of Gospel fruit, it’s full of the Gospel. It’s not focused mainly on what we are supposed to do for God in ministry or on our giving to support the ministry of others. It’s focused mainly on the work of Jesus, our great Priest.
And so that’s our approach to the text as we study it together this morning. A quick glance at the passage you will notice it follows in its structure the five main sacrificial rites we have been looking at the first six chapters of Leviticus – there’s the burnt offering in 6:8-13, the grain offering, 6:18-23, the sin offering, 24-30, the guilt offering, 7:1-10, and the peace offering, 7:11-18. And as we examine all of that, I want to pull out four Gospel themes. Four Gospel themes. First, in 6:8-13, the big idea is that atonement is constantly available through the priest. Atonement is constantly available through the priest. Then 6:14-23, consecration, dedication to God, is only possible through the priest. So atonement is constantly available, consecration is only possible through the priest. Then 6:24-7:10, forgiveness is always accessible through the priest. And finally, 7:11-18, worship is truly acceptable through the priest. Alright, so have you got all of that? Atonement is constantly available, consecration is only possible, forgiveness is always accessible, and worship is truly acceptable, but only, all, through the work of the priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before we unpack those themes, let’s pray and ask for the Lord to help us and then we’ll read some selections of this long chapter together. Let us pray.
Lord our God, would You give us light and understanding? Open our hearts to believe the Gospel, to receive and rest on the finished work of Christ, the great Priest over the house of God. For we ask it in Jesus’ name, amen.
Leviticus chapter 6, beginning at the eight verse. This is the Word of God:
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth on the altar all night until the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment and put his linen undergarment on his body, and he shall take up the ashes to which the fire has reduced the burnt offering on the altar and put them beside the altar. Then he shall take off his garments and put on other garments and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.
And this is the law of the grain offering. The sons of Aaron shall offer it before the Lord in front of the altar. And one shall take from it a handful of the fine flour of the grain offering and its oil and all the frankincense that is on the grain offering and burn this as its memorial portion on the altar, a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the rest of it Aaron and his sons shall eat. It shall be eaten unleavened in a holy place. In the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it. It shall not be baked with leaven. I have given it as their portion of my food offerings. It is a thing most holy, like the sin offering and the guilt offering. Every male among the children of Aaron may eat of it, as decreed forever throughout your generations, from the Lord’s food offerings. Whatever touches them shall become holy.’
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘This is the offering that Aaron and his sons shall offer to the Lord on the day when he is anointed: a tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a regular grain offering, half of it in the morning and half in the evening.’”
And then there are instructions for the grain offering for the ordination of the priests, and then we pick up the reading at verse 24:
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering. In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the Lord; it is most holy. The priest who offers it for sin shall eat it. In a holy place it shall be eaten, in the court of the tent of meeting.’”
And then there are instructions about the sin offering, and we pick up the reading again at chapter 7 verse 1:
“This is the law of the guilt offering. It is most holy. In the place where they kill the burnt offering they shall kill the guilt offering, and its blood shall be thrown against the sides of the altar.”
And then the instructions proceed on, as we have seen in previous chapters for the guilt offering. Picking up the reading now at verse 11:
“And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings that one may offer to the Lord. If he offers it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the thanksgiving sacrifice unleavened loaves mixed with oil, unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and loaves of fine flour well mixed with oil.”
And then again, turning to verse 19:
“‘Flesh that touches any unclean thing shall not be eaten. It shall be burned up with fire. All who are clean may eat flesh, but the person who eats of the flesh of the sacrifice of the Lord’s peace offerings while an uncleanness is on him, that person shall be cut off from his people. And if anyone touches an unclean thing, whether human uncleanness or an unclean beast or any unclean detestable creature, and then eats some flesh from the sacrifice of the Lord’s peace offerings, that person shall be cut off from his people.’
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, You shall eat no fat, of ox or sheep or goat.’”
Then verse 28:
“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever offers the sacrifice of his peace offerings to the Lord shall bring his offering to the Lord from the sacrifice of his peace offerings. His own hands shall bring the Lord’s food offerings. He shall bring the fat with the breast, that the breast may be waved as a wave offering before the Lord.’”
And then verse 37:
“This is the law of the burnt offering, of the grain offering, of the sin offering, of the guilt offering, of the ordination offering, and of the peace offering, which the Lord commanded Moses on Mount Sinai, on the day that he commanded the people of Israel to bring their offerings to the Lord, in the wilderness of Sinai.”
Amen, and we praise God that He has spoken in His holy Word.
Well let’s look together at chapter 6:8-13 first of all – atonement is constantly available through our Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ. The subject of these verses you will see in verse 9 is the burnt offering, which we looked at in detail back in chapter 1. The central message of this sacrifice, remember, is on satisfying the wrath of God by means of the death of a sacrificial victim that was wholly consumed in the fire of the altar. It’s about atonement. Sin being forgiven because judgment fell, not on me the sinner, but on my substitute, the sacrificial lamb.
But did you notice the special concern in this passage now for the priest’s conduct and behavior? He is to wear specific clothing to perform the sacrifice and to collect the ashes, in verse 10. Then he is to change clothing after the sacrifice is concluded to dispose of the ashes in verse 11. And then we read this in verse 12. Look at verse 12. “The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. It shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.” And these words really form bookends with a similar statement at the beginning of the section in verse 9, “The burnt offering shall be on the hearth, on the altar all night until morning; the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it.” And so three times over, at the beginning and then twice again at the end, bracketing this passage, the text emphasizes that the fire on the altar must be kept burning and never allowed to go out.
Now why is it so important that it should receive such emphasis? An extraordinary amount of effort, fuel, manpower, attention would have been required to keep these fires burning round the clock like this. So why? I think in part it makes the simple point that atonement, which was offered on this burning altar, atonement is to be always available. That’s the point. It’s always available. The fires are always burning. I read a 2011 article this week about Cameron’s 24 hour store, a convenience store, apparently beloved by the community, located on the corner of Elmwood and Bird in the city of Buffalo, New York. Remarkably, the store, affectionately and understandably known locally as “We Never Close,” has stayed open for every one of the 8,760 hours in a year every year since 1977. So I was impressed. And I went to see if I could find out more about this, “We Never Close” store. Eventually, after some internet detective work, I found a business listing telling me – guess what? Cameron’s 24-hour, “We Never Close” store is now closed. Nothing human beings do lasts forever.
In fact, despite the priest’s best efforts, not even the fires on the altar of the sanctuary stayed lit forever. There is no sanctuary anymore. No temple. No burning sacrifices. But the reality to which the symbol of the always burning fire on the altar points us, that reality truly is never ending. Do you see the Gospel reality being preached to us here? Jesus Christ has no closing time. He has no business hours. His mercy never shuts down. Atonement for your sin, for my sin, is constantly available. The fire is always burning. Whenever we need it, it’s there for us in Him. The atoning blood of Christ is never inconvenient. It’s not hard to access. It’s not out of reach. Jesus is freely available to you, right now. Don’t hang back. Don’t hold off. Don’t stay away. Come to Him and He will deal with your sin now, today, by His blood. The fires of mercy that blaze in the heart of Jesus Christ for you never go out. They never go out. You can come to Him. It’s never too late. It’s never too late. Atonement is constantly available in Jesus Christ, our Priest.
Then secondly, look at verses 14 through 23 and the instructions given to the priests now related to the grain offering. You will remember the grain offerings were symbolic of a person’s devotion and consecration to the Lord. It was a symbolic way of saying something like, “With the basic stuff that sustains my life, with my daily bread, I honor and serve You, Lord.” Verse 17, notice verse 17 says the offering is “a thing most holy.” And verse 18 adds, “whatever touches them shall become holy.” So holiness, consecration, devotion to the Lord is the theme. But in verses 19 through 23, there is a special case, a special kind of grain offering. Do you see it? It was offered in connection with the consecration and ordination of a new priest. And unlike the grain offerings of the ordinary people, a portion of which the priests were to eat, when it was offered as a part of the ordination service, the consecration and anointing of a new priest, the whole offering was consumed and burnt up on the altar. None of it was eaten, because the priests were to be consecrated entirely and without remainder to the Lord and to His service.
So when you brought a grain offering in the old covenant, the priest’s consumption of a portion of it was to be a symbol to you that your offering of dedication and consecration to God had been accepted. Your act of personal consecration was welcomed by God and enjoyed, as it were. But when the priests brought their grain offering at the moment and occasion of their ordination, God took it all. They didn’t get any of it to eat. And I think part of the point is that the priest’s total consecration to God provides the basis and foundation for the individual Israelite’s consecration to God. The priest being devoted to God in this complete way symbolized by his offering being entirely burned up, is the foundation for the ordinary Israelite being devoted to God, even though their devotion is only ever at best imperfect and incomplete.
And I think again the typology and symbolism of that is beautiful and profound. The Lord Jesus, our great Priest, is entirely devoted to God, and in His consecration, His perfect consecration, we are consecrated to God also. Our imperfect devotion is only acceptable to God because His devotion is perfect and complete and total. Think about this now. Nothing is quite so paralyzing, is it, as the thought that the only holiness God will ever be pleased with in the lives of His children, the only holiness that will ever please Him is perfect holiness. That’s paralyzing because that would mean that God will never be pleased with my obedience, which can only ever hope to be imperfect and partial and incomplete this side of heaven. Right? After all, that’s all I’ve got to offer Him; that’s all you’ve got to offer Him – at best, imperfect, partial, incomplete obedience. If He’s only ever pleased with perfect obedience, I can never please my heavenly Father.
And some of you have had earthly fathers who were just like that. There is nothing you did or ever could do to please them. And eventually, what happens? You start to resent it and you just quit trying to please them. Now is that what God is like with His children who trust in the Lord Jesus? Is that what God is like with you? You can never please Him, no matter how hard you try, because your obedience will always be imperfect and incomplete. It would be a terrible disincentive to ever even try. You will begin to resent Him and resent His call to be holy and obedient, wouldn’t you? But brothers and sisters, the wonderful truth is, if you are trusting in Christ today, God is delighted with your effort, your every effort to honor Him, not because your efforts are perfect but because Jesus our perfect Priest was entirely sinlessly devoted to God and His obedience covers every defect in ours. His obedience covers every defect in ours.
Dads, think about when you come home at the end of the work day and your four-year-old comes running up to you and says, “Daddy, I drew a picture of you.” And frankly, judged on its artistic merits, this is a dreadful portrait of you. You have a giant nose, you have purple hair, you have ears like an elephant, big, googly eyes, little tiny stick legs. Now you’re not outraged at the terrible insult that your four-year-old has paid to your paternal dignity and tear it up and throw it in the air and stomp off to sulk in a corner someplace. No, no, no! You are thrilled, aren’t you? You take a picture of it on your phone; you send it to all your workmates. You’re one of those dads. They all go, “Here he goes again! Another picture from the four-year-old!” You’re a proud father. You pin it to the fridge. You sweep your four-year-old up in your arms. You tell them how much you love it and how proud you are of your little girl or your little boy. Your love for your child makes their terrible picture beautiful in your eyes, doesn’t it?
Brothers and sisters, Jesus’ obedience does the same for our heavenly Father. When He looks at my inept, bumbling, partial, meager efforts to please Him, He loves it. It’s beautiful with the beauty of Christ’s perfect consecration. That’s how God sees your Christian obedience, imperfect though it is, partial devotion though it is. And when you know that, doesn’t it make you want to keep obeying and get better at obedience because you want to please Abba Father? So first, atonement is constantly available through Jesus our Priest, and consecration is possible and pleases God, though it is imperfect, through Jesus, our perfectly consecrated great Priest.
Then thirdly, look at the long, central section in 6:24 through 7:10 where the rituals for the sin offering and the guilt offering are laid out. As we have probably noticed I’m sure, over the last few weeks together, both of these rituals have closely overlapping themes. They both focus on securing forgiveness through sacrifice, which is why both of them are treated together here. And chapter 7 verse 7 even says the guilt offering is just like the sin offering. There is one law for them. What is especially useful for us to notice in connection with these two rituals is the discussion of what we might call contagious holiness that we find in this passage. Contagious holiness. Look at chapter 6:27-29. Chapter 6:27-29. Notice how the priests who eat these offerings become holy. Whatever touches them becomes holy. Garments that get blood from these sacrifices on them are holy and they have to be washed carefully. Pottery vessels used to cook the meat were likewise holy and they may never be used again for any other purpose, and so they are smashed and shattered and put beyond use. Bronze vessels used for the same purpose are holy and have to be scoured and rinsed carefully.
The point is that the holiness of the sacrifices is contagious. We are used to thinking about sin as contagious, aren’t we? And to be sure, in chapter 7:19-27, we have a reminder of that very point – unclean things, unclean food, unclean behavior can cut people off from the covenant community. Sin is polluting, contaminating, contagious, and I think we get that. But here we are being taught that holiness is contagious too, at least the holiness of the sacrifices, especially the holiness of the blood is contagious. It is communicated to everything with which it comes into contact. Sacrificial blood makes holy priests and holy garments and holy food and holy vessels.
Now what is the message? “Would you be whiter, yet brighter than snow? There is power in the blood, power in the blood. Sin stains are lost in its life giving flow, there is wonderful power in the blood. There is power, wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb, in the precious blood of the Lamb!” That’s the message, isn’t it? There is power in the blood. It deals with sin and guilt. It makes unholy things holy. It takes sinners and makes them saints. There is a beautiful picture, actually, of this very thing in Luke’s gospel chapter 8. Jesus makes the unclean, clean and the unholy, holy. Luke chapter 8. Do you remember the story of the woman with the flow of blood for 12 years? The power of the story is not just that she is hurting, which she was, but that her blood made her unclean. Unclean for 12 years. If you are unclean, you make everyone and everything you touch unclean, and so likely she has been a pariah for 12 years. She hasn’t been touched for 12 years. Her children haven’t hugged her, her husband hasn’t held her hand for 12 years. She has been unable to go to worship for 12 years. Her uncleanness excluded her, marginalized her.
But do you remember when her fingertips brushed the hem of Jesus’ garment? Do you remember what happened? “Power,” Luke says, “Power went out from Him.” She was healed. Her touch did not make Him unclean. No, no. His touch made her clean! That’s always what Jesus does. Even the barest touch, with the fingertips of faith, obtains the contagious holiness of Christ whose blood can make the foulest clean. You don’t need great faith, strong faith, bold faith before you dare approach Jesus in the hope that He would show you His mercy. You just need real faith. Trembling and small though it may be, look, you can go to Him with that, can’t you, with the bare fingertips of faith. If you will, you will take hold of His mercy. You will. You can reach out your trembling hand. There is power in the blood. Wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb. Contagious holiness. His holiness will make you clean. Come and get clean.
Atonement, constantly available in Jesus. He doesn’t have business hours. You can go to Him anytime, right now, today. Consecration is acceptable to God. It pleases Him because of the perfect consecration of Jesus our Priest. Your Father is delighted with your imperfect obedience because of the perfect obedience of His Son. And forgiveness, always accessible through Jesus because there is power in the blood.
And then finally, look at 7:11-18 and the ritual for the peace offering. These are acts of thanksgiving, verse 12, or expressions of having made a vow to God, or they are freewill offerings on the occasion of some unusual, divine providence of blessing in your life, verse 16. But whatever the reason for the offering – again, notice the priest is to eat the meat and the bread of the sacrifice according to the requirements of verses 14 through 18, remember the priest’s consumption of the sacrificial portion is a sign that the whole offering is acceptable to the Lord. Which is why, verse 18, if the offering wasn’t eaten by the priest by the third day after the sacrifice, then the sacrifice was not acceptable, neither was the worshiper. And the priest himself, if he then ate the sacrifice, would fall under divine condemnation and he would be “made to bear his guilt.” So the eating of this sacrificial meal is the sign that your thanksgiving and your praise has been welcomed by the Lord.
Which is to say, not even our thanksgiving, not even our praise will find acceptance with God unless it is offered up through the priest. In the old covenant, remember, priests were always the descendants of Aaron. But today, the only Priest through whom we may bring a sacrifice of praise to God and be sure He will receive them is the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 13:15, “Through Jesus, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise, that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge His name.” Did you know you can’t even praise God acceptably unless you do it trusting in the work of Jesus, our perfect, true Priest, on our behalf. That’s why you can never buy God off with a bit of religious performance art on a Sunday without ever actually surrendering your life to Jesus Christ. God never welcomes or accepts worship or worshipers for that matter who try to approach Him apart from His perfect Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so we ought to be asking ourselves as we gather this Lord’s Day for worship, “What is the state of my praise, my worship, my approach to God? Is it unmediated, self reliant? Am I just engaged in some religious performance art, all for show, an attempt to log some credit hours with God to appease my conscience, buy Him off?” What are you really doing as you gather here today? Listen, if you are worshiping without relying on Christ, praising without trusting in Jesus, trying to serve God without entrusting yourself to His Son, if your worship is just a routine, do you know it can never be acceptable to God? He is not impressed with our outward show. He’s not. The only way to worship God acceptably is through the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting in Him, resting on Him. His work for you makes your praise acceptable to God.
And one last quick thing before we close. Did you notice there is an alternating pattern in this whole extended section? Did you see it? In chapter 6 there is atonement from God through Christ followed by consecration to God through Christ. Then in chapter 7, there is forgiveness in Christ followed by worship made acceptable by Christ. There is an alternating movement back and forth. It starts with God’s provision for atonement through Jesus our Priest, and then we respond in personal devotion and consecration through Him. There’s a reminder that we are forgiven our sin by the contagious holiness of Jesus our Priest. And then we respond in worship through His perfect work for us. And the key thing to see in all of that is that it is Christ’s work that comes first. The driver and the engine of our consecration and our devotion, our holiness and our worship, is God’s provision for us in His Son, crucified and risen.
In other words, nothing in the Chrisitan life, nothing is possible without a Priest. No mere man, of course, will ever fit the bill. We need the eternal priesthood and the ministry of the Lord Jesus “who saves to the uttermost,” Hebrews says, “all who come to God by Him.” He has no business hours. He’s always open. Always available. He never closes. There is atonement for you today in Him. His perfect devotion to God makes your imperfect devotion, dear believer, a delight in God’s sight. And there is wonder working power in the precious blood of the Lamb to make the unclean, clean, if you would but come to Him, even with the trembling fingers of faith. So therefore, this passage says, worship Him, adore Him, but do even this resting upon Him and His work for you that you may give Him glory and live more and more for His praise. May God help us to do it. Let’s pray together. Our Father, we praise You for Your Word. Teach us to live our lives in light of the wonderful mercy of God in Christ, for rebel sinners like us. May our worship be the response of a believing heart, of the trembling fingertips of faith that take hold of the Lord Jesus and are made clean by Him. Would You enable us, O God, to grow in our devotion to You because even our feeble attempts to please You, they please You because Jesus has obeyed perfectly for us. We ask all of this in His name, amen.