Every false religion is entirely man-centered in its theology and worship. What separates true Christianity from every other religion is the fact that it is entirely God-centered. It is the Lord who initiates, regenerates, saves, justifies, and adopts us; he will sanctify and glorify the believer. We will spend all eternity in awe of his greatness in God-centered worship. It is God-centered worship that not only regenerates our soul but also revives, strengthens, nourishes, sanctifies, grows, and prepares our soul for heaven. We worship a sovereign God to whom all glory goes.

Today’s churches are filled with a cursed, man-centered worship where people know nothing about this sovereign God. It is all about the preacher; about the felt needs of the people; it is all about their devotion, their self-righteousness, and what they can get from God. Some places are almost like Jesus has to thank them for their worship and faithfulness, and sometimes even ask for forgiveness for allowing suffering in their lives.

These are not small churches; they are the biggest churches in our city. It may outwardly seem harmless and appear as if they teach the Bible in a very enjoyable and practical way. It is in fact very natural for unregenerate people to enjoy such worship, feel so good in man-centered worship, be attracted, and feel that everything is right there. This is because we are born worshipping ourselves. That is why so many people crowd to go there; it mostly attracts huge numbers of young people, and these preachers cater to their base, unregenerate instincts of man-centered needs. It may seem good and harmless and appear as though the Bible is practically taught, but it has a terrible, devastating impact on the souls of those who participate in such worship. Just to state a few:

• No soul connection with the true, living God. The soul regenerates and grows in spiritual life by connecting with God in worship. God-centered worship is born when the theological truths of who God is and what he has done are clearly taught from the scriptures. They are never taught that; it is all the “Bible made practical.” Because of this, they develop a distorted view of God and never learn the true attributes of God. The most blessed truth of the sovereignty of God is always hidden from them, so their soul can never make a true connection with the living God, but with this distorted mental idol. You don’t see them prospering in soul, or growing in the knowledge of God, grace, or prayer and meditation on God’s word.
• Man-centered worship will make souls unconsciously reject God’s truth. This is a great ruining of the soul. If there is one thing that stops our soul’s destruction and heals and saves our soul, it is found in James 1:21: “receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” Man-centered worship completely blocks our reception of the word and so never allows their souls to be saved. This is because man-centered worship is based on speculative theology on what the preacher teaches to appeal to the flesh, which is a kind of idol worship. It creates a distorted mental image of God in people’s minds. This mental picture makes them think they know God. Such a mind will inevitably take their theology from men, will not make any attempt to understand revelation, and will neglect God’s revealed will at every point. Such a mind will never be interested in any serious Bible study. You observe all these people have no interest in understanding the Bible; the mental idol blocks any interest. This is a great danger Moses warned against in Deuteronomy 4. He sets two things against one another: mental images in opposition to heeding God’s word. They are completely exclusive of each other. He reminds the people that at Sinai, though they saw tokens of God’s presence, they saw no visible representation of God himself, but only heard his word, so he exhorts them to continue to hear his word and not allow any mental image before their eyes to distract them. If you allow any image, you will not listen to God’s word.
• Man-centered worship brings God’s worst soul judgment. We saw that 1 Thessalonians says, “because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”
• Man-centered worship can lead to depression. God’s word shows that true joy and blessings come to us by looking to him and glorifying him, not by focusing on ourselves. But this worship trains us to always look at ourselves, our needs, and how God is just a genie to resolve our needs. It never lifts them above their situation. These preachers make people believe the world should revolve around them. All good things will happen to me; God is going to bless me; everyone will admire me; God is going to turn water into wine; I am special. None of that actually happens, so they are most times depressed. They are never taught about the sovereignty of God or the providence of God. Even small problems in life or sickness make them completely depressed, fearful, and tense. They feel guilty they are not blessed, and feel helpless and weak, with no strength to manage. See how the soul suffers and destruction happens.
• Man-centered worship leads to pride and wrong relationships with others. Instead of teaching how depraved we are as sinners and that “blessed are those who mourn,” and “poor in spirit,” it is only mourning for our sin and being poor in spirit that makes us blessed, as the next beatitude says, “blessed are the meek.” This meekness will teach us to be gentle and patient with others’ sins and weaknesses in family and other places. But these people don’t teach any mourning of sin. They fill us with a sense of self-worth and pride, minimizing our sin and maximizing the sin of others. So this leads to terrible relational problems and impatience with spouses and others in families. When someone offends us, oh, how offended they become; how impatient and barking they become. Notice how there are almost always fights in the homes of those who go to such places. They become giants of anger.
• Man-centered worship becomes noise in the camp, not worship. When the Israelites kept the calf idol and said, “This is Jehovah, let us worship him,” Joshua said to Moses, “there is a noise in the camp.” Today, in the name of worship, there is noise in the camp, not worship of the living God. This is because the crowd comes as consumers; they don’t come to worship God; they come to be entertained and served. So, church services are more like rock concerts. Sermons are all about the preacher; the autobiography of preachers; what he thinks, what he feels, what he experienced. It is all hundreds of his stories, not what God says.

I can go on. We will see more in application, but man-centered worship completely hardens the soul and ruins it completely. I speak out of a great burden, not to accuse anyone. But there is “noise in the camp.” We have to stop that noise by preaching and breaking the tablet law on their heads.

If you have any man-centered worship, think of this: If there is one sin which God sees as hating him, one sin that makes God jealous, one sin whose consequences affect not only me but also my children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and their children, what a horrible sin that must be. It is not murder or adultery. It is the sin of wrongly worshipping God. It is breaking the second commandment. Why does God so much guard his worship that he says he is jealous? If I am jealous about something, no one should touch that. Why does he give the greatest threatening consequences not only to me, but to the whole family group, community, and tradition that comes from me? They will be punished and cursed. We see the effect on many whose forefathers were in the wrong traditional church worship. Whatever you tell them now, even if it is a den of thieves, it is as if a curse holds them there. They cannot come out. Those who attend such worship not only destroy their souls but also bring curses on their children and their children’s children.

Someone said you are all preaching the Old Testament. But if there is one time when the humble, loving, infinitely patient Jesus was so very angry with red-hot eyes, and even took a whip and vehemently drove people out and turned tables, it was when he said, “My Father’s house is a house of prayer,” meaning a sacred place where souls communicate with God and grow in the image of God. But “you have made it a den of thieves,” where people are exploiting others for financial gain, giving false promises that God will prosper them, and teaching them how to be rich, successful, and healed. Hear me: God will not bless you, but your soul is ruined by such places.

You don’t believe the second commandment’s serious threat? God not only threatened with his second commandment, but also executed it when people broke it. We saw that in Leviticus 10. I have been cruising through Leviticus until here, but I am not able to move from here because I think we need to sound this alarm when we hear this “noise in the camp,” where God’s worship is abused. So, we will see this point by point in this chapter. This chapter brings all these points. God is using a teachable moment again to teach the Israelites the seriousness of the regulative principle of worship by the death of two sons of the High Priest Aaron, the death of Nadab and Abihu.

Today’s worship lesson is from a sobering funeral procession: by their funeral, we learn that worship should not be man-centered, but regulative worship should be God-centered. God should be the center of regulative worship.

We learn that lesson from a sobering funeral procession in 4 through 7. Imagine someone dies in our church in the midst of our worship. What will we do? We will forget about all the service, stop the sermon, and then look at the person and their family. In some cases, we may be right to do that. But see here what happens in the midst of worship: two men, not just any men, two sons of the High Priest, are dead in the church. All about them were struck with horror, and every face, as well as theirs, gathered blackness. Great consternation, no doubt, seized them, and they were all full of confusion but were about to burst into lament and crying. Whatever the rest were, the man of God, Moses, who is a matured saint and knows more about God, was composed. Notice what he says: “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.”‘”

God must always be worshipped with holiness and reverence and exactly according to his own appointment. If anyone plays in worship, it is dangerous. We come to him in worship. Come very reverent and serious in all acts of devotion, to perform every religious exercise as those who believe that the God with whom we have to do is a holy God, not carelessly or casually as we like. By the way we come to worship, we glorify him before all the people. By the way we come near him, others also should be affected with it. Our neighbors should see how serious we are. Our unsaved children should see that we seriously come to the temple. By the way we behave and pray, they should get the impression that the living God is in our midst. Not playing, disorderly, or careless, as they get the impression we ourselves don’t believe God is holy.

Verse 4 says, “Then Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron, and said to them, ‘Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp.'” Verse 5 says, “So they went near and carried them by their tunics out of the camp, as Moses had said.” Two cousins of these two, Mishael and Elzaphan, he tells them to scoop up these two men.

See how he brings focus on God even at this time. Though it touched him in a very tender part—they were his brother’s sons, like his sons—this is the worship of God; there is no room for personal emotions or affection. In the temple of God, we should keep good order and a due decorum in the sanctuary. To keep the focus on God, he calls two cousins, Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Uzziel the uncle of Aaron. They were Levites only and might not have come into the sanctuary; he tells them to carry the body.

We could see it maybe in our mind’s eye, cradling them, one arm behind the neck and the other arm under the knees as they carry each of their cousins out. The limp, fire-struck, thirty-year-old dead bodies. Leviticus keeps telling us that at the age of thirty years old, a man qualifies to be a priest in the service of the living God. Whenever we hear death news, we ask how old they are. These were young men in their thirties who were in the full flush of their strength. It is twice noticed in scripture that they died childless, which is very sad. God justly blotted out their names and laid that honor in the dust for playing in worship.

These men are carried out of the tabernacle, their dead bodies. Remember, the whole nation is standing around the tabernacle, probably a narrow corridor that had been formed by the silent multitude of the stunned Israelites. Doubtless, it was a very awful and affecting sight to the people. They all see the children of the High Priest carried as dead bodies, still in their priestly garments. None of them moves from their place.

All saw them grandly dressed going inside the temple. Now their dead bodies come out. They saw their presumption going with strange fire, and now all see their doom. God made all to see with their own eyes what will happen if you play in the worship of God. All saw God’s worship dishonored by their hands, and all must now see God’s worship honored in their death.

Think of what a heartbreak this was to the people. Now Moses and Aaron are old and are going to live only a few years. After them, people may have thought the next great leaders are Nadab and Abihu. They became very great and honorable among them. They were now lifted to the priesthood with a special dress and honor, and were looked upon as the great favorites of heaven. Now all hopes are gone, as they see two dead bodies. They were carried with grand priestly dresses, with the visible marks of divine vengeance upon them, as sacrifices to the justice of God. Thus the impartiality of God’s justice was proclaimed, and all the people were made to know that even the priests’ garments would not protect an offender from the wrath of God. And it was easy to argue, “If they escape not when they transgress, can we expect to go unpunished?” They could not help but cry out, “Who is able to stand before this holy Lord God?” (1 Samuel 6:20).

Maybe only a few relatives went out, tore their clothes, and followed the sobering funeral procession. They all had to go outside the camp in the wilderness and bury their dead bodies. They carried them out (and probably buried them) in their coats, and the garments of their priesthood, which they had lately put on, and perhaps were too proud of. And the priests’ clothes were so soon made grave-clothes.

Moreover, imagine Aaron, the father who sees his two eldest sons’ dead bodies. Look at what Moses tells them in verses 6-7: “And Moses said to Aaron, and to Eleazar and Ithamar, his sons, ‘Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, lest you die, and wrath come upon all the people. But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled. You shall not go out from the door of the tabernacle of meeting, lest you die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.’ And they did according to the word of Moses.”

Moses tells Aaron and the surviving sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, and he prohibits them from doing something that would be very natural. He prohibits them from participating in the mourning and weeping over the death of their sons and brothers.

Notice in verse 6, there is a threat that is given. “Don’t uncover your heads, don’t tear your clothes that you might die,” is the threat. If you do it, you will not only be struck dead like them. If you do it, Jehovah’s wrath will come out against the whole congregation. “Lest you die likewise, and lest wrath come upon all the people, who may be in danger of suffering for your irreverence, and disobedience, and ungoverned passions.” Verse 7 says, “And therefore, they are told that they are to not go out from the doorway. They are to stay in the tent.”

They are not to follow the wailing procession to the outskirts of the camp. Now, it may have been in the hearts of these three a question in their grief. Why? “Why, Lord, must we damn up our swelling hearts? Why must we hold in this natural, heart-bursting of our souls?” We even think of the pain of Aaron. Imagine a loving father with all fatherly compassion for his two elder sons. How it must have been a striking grief to Aaron. These are not rebellious sons like Eli’s children, but good sons who followed their father and became priests; and were given the work of a priest. In their first worship, they are dead. Aaron was not like a European or American who swallows all their grief and is very silent in funeral homes. No, Aaron was a Jewish individual like Indians whose hearts and whose emotions are very passionate and very volatile. They express it strongly by tearing clothes and throwing mud on their heads and hair. But he is told that he is to hold it all in. Why?

Why were they silently carried away? Why should Aaron and his brothers control their natural affection and emotion? Why? Because in the regulative worship of God, God should be the center of the worship. Moses, now a matured man, remembers how he was fearful, giving excuses for going to Egypt. All these years he has learned about the glory of God and seen the holiness of God, and he knows this is God’s worship; the focus must be 100% upon God and his glory. It is God’s day. The worship is to be God-centered, and these two dead men are not to have the primary focus. Though these are cousins, his brother’s sons, he kept the focus on God and told them to carry their body.

The responsibility to make it centered is the job of the priests, leaders, and today’s pastors. Well, the rationale is given in verse 7b: “for the Lord’s anointing oil is upon you.”

The reason why you must not mourn like the rest is because you have been elevated to a high position as representatives and priests of God. And this is a unique position as his priests. It is your primary duty then, God is saying, to identify yourselves entirely with my viewpoint as my representatives and as my mouthpiece. The honor of which must be carefully preserved by your doing the duty of your office with cheerfulness.

You are not to arouse any suspicion in the minds of the people of God that you condoned your sons’ sin. It could be that if they were left to grieve and to wail, the congregation may illegitimately interpret this as either a countenancing or an agreeing with their sin. And on the other hand, it could be interpreted as a disputing with the justice of the living God.

And therefore, there was silence. There was silence and submission from these three men, that believing father and those aching brothers. And this silent submission was an eloquent testimony of their ultimate allegiance to Jehovah at whose altar they had been commissioned to serve.

Aaron and his other sons must neither be diverted from nor unfitted for the great work that was now upon their hands. “Let the dead bury their dead,” but they must go on with their service; that is, “Rather let the dead be unburied, if there be nobody else to do it, than that work for God should be left undone by those whom he has called to it.”

They were now actually waiting, doing a great work, which must by no means cease. Moses says in verse 6B, “But let your brethren, the whole house of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord has kindled.” Not only the loss of their priests, but especially the displeasure of God which appeared in it. They must bewail the burning that was kindled, that it might not burn further.

Let me give a few applications here.

1. God should be the center of our worship. Worship is done primarily to glorify God. Do you realize why we do what we do? Only seven things God has commanded in the New Testament:
   1. Prayer – 1 Timothy 2:1, “I exhort therefore, first of all, that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.”
   2. The reading of the Scriptures – 1 Timothy 4:13, “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.”
   3. Preaching of God’s word – 2 Timothy 4:2, “Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.”
   4. Singing – Ephesians 5:19, “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns.”
   5. The Lord’s Supper – 1 Corinthians 11.
   6. Baptism.
   7. Offering – 2 Corinthians 9:7, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
   This is the only recipe of our worship, only seven things. Do it orderly, earnestly, full of the Holy Spirit, nothing else. The recipe is not determined by the wills and the wants and the appetites of men. If we bring anything else, even with good intentions, it becomes man-centered. Do you know why we even stopped wishing people and giving birthday cards on Sunday worship? God is the center of worship.And we are hereby taught, when we are serving God in holy duties, to keep our minds, as much as may be, intent and engaged, and not to suffer them to be diverted by any worldly thoughts, or cares, or passions. Let us always attend upon the Lord without distraction.

I titled this message, “Man-centered worship will ruin your soul,” because as we saw, God’s divine redemptive presence comes to us when we worship God according to his word. As we saw in chapter 9, there is a blessedness of redemptive presence. That presence revives our soul, strengthens our inner man, makes us grow in grace, and nourishes our soul.

What happens in man-centered worship is the ruining of souls. As we saw, it makes us reject the only saving means for our soul, but also the healthy soul food for our soul, which is God’s word. Preaching of God’s word becomes boring to such people attending such places. The soul is blessed when it connects to the living God, but this worship never allows us to connect by giving us a distorted view of God, and we connect with mental idols, not the living God. This diminishes His holiness, sovereignty, and the true purpose of our relationship with Him.

See how wrong the priorities are. The entire focus of such worship is on feelings over truth. It’s about emotional hype rather than genuine heart transformation and reverence for God. It prioritizes emotional experiences and “felt needs” over a deep understanding of God’s Word and His character. This hinders genuine spiritual growth because the emphasis is on our needs and desires rather than on learning God’s will and becoming more like Christ. False, distorted biblical truth: To make worship more appealing to people’s preferences, churches might downplay or ignore challenging teachings in Scripture and the call to discipleship, leading to a distorted understanding of God’s truth.

It ruins the soul by making us more self-absorbed. The focus shifts from glorifying God to getting something from Him. People treat God as a means to an end. It weakens the soul with a lack of spiritual depth or resilience to face trials and persecution. This leads to a very shallow, false faith that is easily swayed by emotions and circumstances. Such people, when they have a small problem in life or sickness, have no strength or hope; they become very weak and run to towers and pastors.

Curses: The primary purpose of worship is to glorify God, not to make us feel good. Man-centered worship misses this fundamental point, robbing God of the honor and praise He deserves. Romans 1 curses are all effective in such worship. Given up to a depraved mind and lusts: “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”

Such churches or believers never have a gospel burden or interest. They have no sight of its mission to reach the lost and make disciples. This hinders the spread of the Gospel and the advancement of God’s kingdom. The main thing is to get the crowds, not spread the gospel.

Contrast this with God-centered worship: It exalts God. It recognizes His holiness, majesty, and sovereignty. It makes us truly know God, who our God is, and fills us with confidence and faith. It focuses on His Word. It is grounded in Scripture and seeks to understand and obey His truth. It leads to transformation. It produces genuine spiritual growth and Christlikeness. It empowers for mission. It fuels a passion to share the Gospel and make disciples.

I think it was Martin Luther who said, “A great differentiator is this: is this the devil’s worship/teaching or God’s teaching?” Does it lift man or God? Ask wherever you are attending, “Is this worship truly focused on God, lifting God or lifting man?”

Do you see how perverted worship is today? In the name of worship, notice all the songs; it is not about singing great hymns about who God is. One of the impressions I have nearly every time I read the Psalms is how God-centered they are. We worship God; it is all man-centered songs, not about how much God loves, but how much we love God. All the focus is on who we are, not who God is. Just listen to all the songs; it is all about me. The lyrics in our worship music are filled with “me-isms.” Notice how many times “I,” “me,” and “we” are included, and how little “God” is mentioned. For example: “Oh God, I need you, I love you; you are my everything; I desire you.” A large portion of the words of many of these songs are about ME. My feelings. My needs. My fears. My future. My Jesus. My heart. Instead of “you are glorious, you are loving, blessed.” Notice the focus is not us, but God. Our focus should be God and who he is in regulative worship. We have to search for theocentric (God-centered) lyrics over anthropocentric (human-centered) words. Only these songs are distracting the focus away from our Great God and onto self.

When the sermon starts, what is the sermon focused on? Who God is, and what God says. See the truth of God, and in the application, see how we are sinning against God, and we need to change and repent. We need to learn. No, it is all focused on felt needs. It is all about tearing Bible verses from context, with no care for the literary context or any hermeneutics, twisting the Bible and saying something that makes you feel good. You call this the Bible preached practically. The Bible is fully twisted practically. Most of the points from Bethel AG guy are all techniques from self-improvement and personal success stories over theological truth. I have never heard challenging teachings of the Bible or calls to repentance, but only watering down the message.

They don’t teach how you can live to glorify God and obey God’s word, but how you can use God to solve your problems and become rich. They just give feel-good messages instead of making them deeply think of God’s truths. Is this worshipping God in spirit and truth? This is idol worship. That is why some people come here and say, “Oh boy, this is a very tough teaching.”

Then, they have these celebrity preachers who know how to entertain people. Most of the time, his sermon is nothing but the autobiography of this preacher fellow. “Where I went, what I felt, what I did.” The focus is all on him, not on God.

So brethren, the reason I share all this is we need to recognize that the religious air we breathe is thick with the toxic fumes of soul-killing teachings. Shunning a God-centered worship that glorifies God and edifies man, they are instead infected with a man-centered gospel that extols the preacher, misleads the hearer, and damns the soul. We should watch in our worship and church. God should always be honored. Yes, we have to be compassionate and kind to people, but God and his honor are the center of worship, not people.

But how will people come? Paul is evidently teaching that the regulative worship of God’s people on the Lord’s Day is a more powerful evangelistic tool than preaching things attractive to the unsaved and unchurched. They may gather a crowd, but not grow the kingdom.

The problem today is people lack discernment. Discernment is like the immunization of the soul; you know what to allow into your soul and what not to allow. That discernment comes from scripture. But what to do? These people never give time to learn the scriptures because they lack this. All kinds of soul-destroying teaching and worship are allowed. It comes by knowing the truth. Because they don’t spend time, they cannot attend classes like the 1689 confession, and so they never get discernment and allow their souls to be ruined. My heart breaks to see that.

Long gone are the days of Berean Diligence, when serious-minded believers went back to Scripture to authenticate, corroborate, and validate what they heard preached. These days, a vast number of Christians no longer even bother reading the Bible anymore. Watch all these people in such churches; they are all Bible-ignorant people. If they knew the Bible, they would not continue there. Stay away from such people. Their man-centered theology will bring your soul to ruin.

The second lesson: As true worshippers, our loyalty and allegiance to our Lord supersedes that means it goes beyond our loyalty to anyone, even the most intimate family relationships. Do you see it in the passage? In serving Christ, brethren, our Lord, our Master, our loyalty to Him is to be so steadfast that we are willing to dispense with our heart’s most darling objects, to dispense with our most natural affections in order to serve Him and worship Him.

Now we may see this principle that is drawn in faint colors in this passage. It is drawn in more very bold colors in the New Testament with the Lord Jesus’ comments on this theme in Luke chapter 9:59. A man says, “He said to another, ‘Follow me.'” This is Jesus speaking. “But the man said, ‘Permit me first to go and bury my father.'” “But He said to him, ‘Allow the dead to bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim everywhere the kingdom of God.'” And another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first permit me to say goodbye to those at home.” But Jesus said to him, “No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”

What kind of allegiance are we to have to the Lord Jesus Christ as His servants? An unconditional loyalty and allegiance. He is to have our supreme allegiance, even over our most natural affections, like our children, wife, parents, and our family. In Luke 14:26, Jesus says, again to great multitudes following, “fair-weather followers, if anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple.” “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” You see, what kind of allegiance does Christ require of us? It’s an allegiance that says, “nothing in this world, as Aaron had to give allegiance, even my own flesh and blood,” oh, the passionate love that we have for those who are dear to us in the flesh.

Doesn’t it sometimes, fathers and mothers, make you afraid about the intensity of that love that we have for those who are dear to us in the flesh? But nothing in this world is to approach the supreme possession that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul says, “I consider all things to be lost in comparison to knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.” And so too, very practically, it may be that in our kingdom service labors, it may be simply as a Sunday school teacher, or as a deacon, or pastor, or maybe a future missionary. It may be that allegiance to Christ may call you not to sinfully neglect your family.

But it may call you to profoundly and painfully inconvenience your dear family for the cause of the kingdom. Inconvenience in a painful way. We may not be able to do some things they desire and may have to deny their wishes and desires. When fulfilling a wife’s, husband’s, or child’s desire clashes with Christ’s word, we should choose Christ.

God’s kingdom is always built by such Aarons, who continue the work of worship even when facing the death of their two sons. I think of Pastor Bala, who leaves his sick wife and the facilities of a developed country to travel a long distance and come to build a church. Pastor Pitch, for his 70th birthday, you know his children and grandchildren all wanted him there, but he said, “I have this missionary work to go to.”

Shouldn’t we be able to make these small sacrifices, when our Lord Jesus Christ left his eternal Father’s home and came to us, even to die on the cross? Think of his mother, Mary, right in front of him; her firstborn hanging on the cross. What heartbreak for her, and the swords and the spears that struck her soul at this time. How much she would have tried to stop him. No, it is my Father’s will. But notice, he didn’t fail in his duty as a son, did he? He made preparations for her to be taken care of. But he didn’t give room for all her desires at the expense of disobeying the Father’s will. That is the difference. The Lord Jesus’ loyalty to the Father is supreme, even above his own comfort and his own will. Remember Gethsemane, “pass this cup; but not my will, but yours be done.” I will say, “do not sinfully neglect those who are near and dear.” Allegiance to our Lord superseded even the most intimate of family relationships.

There was a man. He was converted, came out of a Roman Catholic church. We find that he found a God-honoring church in the Reformed Baptist church. His soul was being fed, but his wife, who wanted nothing to do with this new form of religion, threw tantrums and threatened divorce. What should the man do? He was godly. He considered allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ to be supreme, even among his most intimate relationships. And he steeled himself against her crying and he made a decision that was seeking the kingdom of God first above all. Later I heard the wife came to his wife and started attending church and was saved. It is when we become spineless disciples that we destroy ourselves and our families.

Or it may be, brethren, that there is some darling habit that you have. In fact, this habit may be so darling that to lose it might be like the death of a close relative to you. It may be as dear as your wife to you. Maybe it’s watching a match on the Lord’s day. We have to steel ourselves for the purpose of seeking the smile of the living God. Allegiance to Christ, brethren, tramples our most intimate worldly affections.

But let me give what would be the most direct application of this theme. Allegiance to our Lord supersedes even the most intimate family relationships.

I believe the most direct new covenant application would be the event of church discipline or excommunication having been leveled against one of your family members. These men, Nadab and Abihu, were cut off from the covenant in their death, struck dead. And we find in the New Testament when an individual has turned away from the Lord Jesus Christ and committed a sin so heinous without repentance, they are to be excommunicated.

They are to be declared as being dead spiritually. In First Corinthians 5, they are to be handed over to Satan. They are to be buried in the minds of God’s people, as it were, outside of the camp of God’s blessing. And you think about it. Who is the one that we’re speaking about? It may be mothers. That dear son that you nursed at your own breast. And now here he is. He’s 21 years old. He’s gone to the waters of baptism and now he has defied the government of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Dear mother and dear father, you watch this child as the screws of alienation are tightened upon him, as God’s people rightfully don’t speak to him, as he needs to weigh the gravity of his sin. It’s that moment when it’s like this, brethren, that your allegiance to Christ, for God forbid that it would ever happen, but your allegiance to Christ would be stretched to the limit. And there would be a great temptation to disaffection.

Now I assure you, brethren, this is no theory. No mere theory. This is reality. I know families in other churches who have gone through this. And if I could bring each and every family in front of you, they would say that the pull to sympathize and take the side of my son or my daughter over the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and truth was very soul-sifting for me. In fact, some, a couple in particular, came to the very precipice of apostasy because there was this question, “my dear son whom I love” and “the clear principles of the word of God.” It was too painful for me to steel myself because of giving allegiance to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Would to God that it would never happen to us as a church, but we would be naive to think that we would be invulnerable to such a thing. Put away in your own mind the heroics of Aaron here who did not flinch. And you resolve in your mind, maybe while your children are still in their fours, fives, and sixes, that if such a thing would ever happen, ultimate allegiance would be given to the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the last chapter, chapter 9, we saw the blessings of God-ordained worship, all the wonderful blessings that flow from God’s redemptive presence. People who experience that will not fall for any cheap, worldly, man-made tricks. But sadly, when churches became very sinful, disobedient, and went away from the truth, they lost the redemptive presence of God and became dead. Services were very boring, and traditional churches were losing people. Instead of turning to God and pleading for His presence, a new generation of false teachers rose, trying to get even unbelievers into the church.

To get crowds and make worship interesting, churches, mainly Pentecostal groups, learning from American Word of Movement preachers, started competing with worldly entertainment programs and movies. They made church services vibrant with music, action, drama, dance, and singing. This approach aimed to attract those who might find traditional services dull. All they were doing was prioritizing emotional stimulation over spiritual depth. Very sadly, we have a generation who do not recognize the difference between true worship and wrong worship. It is all entertainment-driven services. The stage and building are designed to create a highly entertaining atmosphere with lights and flowers, as if it is a marriage hall, with concert-like music. There is a glossy amusement fixation, sparkling handheld microphones, and transparent podiums. The pastor has to laugh every five minutes like a joker, creating laughter and a general feel-good atmosphere.

There will be a group of musicians with different instruments in the center of the stage, not worshiping, but doing a performance. If you look at the content of the songs, instead of great hymns based on truths that give us big thoughts about God, all these songs are all self-focused, and most of the lines are heresy. Without people realizing it, through music and this atmosphere, false teaching is sown in the minds of the people. That place completely quenches faith in the invisible God, and that emotional, mob-charged atmosphere doesn’t allow people to think, but only to feel, so there is no room for clear, in-depth Bible teaching. You see that live in the YouTube videos of Bethel AG Church and Full Gospel Church. All sermons are stories, punch dialogues, and anecdotes, with no attempt by the preacher to make people understand what the Bible says in the text. These have become mega-churches today, the largest in the country.

This was all learned from American churches and preachers like Kenneth Copeland, Joel Osteen, and Paula White. People saw that by doing that, they could get crowds and make a lot of money. So many, in the name of growing the church, are following their practices today. All that happens at Bethel AG and Hebbal Full Gospel is based on their principles. Peter Wagner, who is the father of the church growth movement, says that the church growth movement is based on the principle of pragmatism. He calls it “consecrated pragmatism.” “We make decisions about worship on the basis of what pragmatically works, which ruthlessly examines traditional methodologies and programs, asking the tough questions,” says Wagner. He goes on to say, “If some sort of ministry in the church is not reaching the intended numerical goal, consecrated pragmatism says there is something wrong which needs to be corrected.”

“What’s the big problem if we do that, Pastor? We also can grow a big mega-church, right?” a nice question. This may all seem good if it is a business or a worldly thing or even worshiping an idol or some other religion, but these people don’t realize the horror of playing with the living God and His worship. God so strictly warns in His first tablet of the law, with a terrible threat, that he who plays with His worship, not only he, but his children and children to the third and fourth generation will be cursed. It is a horrible thing to play with worship.

Today we will see the curses of man-invented worship. We have a sample of this in today’s passage. We will see what happens to two men, not just ordinary men, but two sons of Aaron, trying to play with God’s rule all with good intentions.

Three headings:

Arrogant Innovations

Verse 1: “Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the Lord, which He had not commanded them.”

Let us ask three questions under arrogant innovation: What did they do? Well, the ordained sons of Aaron, the two oldest sons, each of them took his own utensil called a censer. Now the censer would be choked full of red hot coals. And then what they did is they sprinkled upon those red hot coals an aromatic incense, a powder of sorts, as it had been finely ground. And when they took that incense and put it on those coals, there was a very bright and strongly scented burst of flame that went up. And they presented this burst of flame before the Lord and before the people as it provided the seasoning accent to the soothing aroma provided in the sacrifice. That’s what they did.

The second question is, what was their sin? One reads through and marvels that God struck them dead. Some say they were proud and did what Aaron was supposed to, and some say they were drunk. But we don’t have to imagine all that. The passage clearly tells us their sin. I believe their sin was innovation. Innovation means to creatively try to do something new. That was their sin: innovation. Because notice right within the text, the explanation is given. At the end of verse 1, “they offered profane fire before the Lord.” The word “strange” does not necessarily mean contorted, perverted, or evil. Strange faces mean faces which were not seen in the past, uncommon or foreign. This is the essence of the problem. There was a strange fire offered before the Lord. Why was something strange, uncommon, or unexpected? It was unappointed. The reason is because there was an expected and appointed type of incense which God required them to bring. Notice what it says in Exodus 30:34. This is describing the recipe for the appropriate incense before the Lord. Notice then the Lord said to Moses, “Take for yourself spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum, spices with pure frankincense; there shall be an equal part of each. There’s the recipe for the incense God wants. And with it you shall make incense of perfume, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, and holy. And you shall beat some of it very fine, and put part of it before the testimony in the tent of meeting, where I shall leave with you. It shall be most holy to you. And the incense which you shall make, you shall not make in the same proportions for yourselves. It shall be an incense wholly to you for the Lord. Whoever shall make any like it to use as perfume shall be cut off from his people.” That was the familiar and appointed incense, but these fellows brought another kind of incense, a strange incense before the Lord. They brought something unappointed, foreign to what God had asked for. This is a human innovation added to the recipe that God had given for appropriate worship before Him. We see this theme of bringing something that God had not required verified by the context. Also, what was the drumbeat that leads up to this passage? The whole of chapters 8 and 9. They did it how? “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” “Just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” It comes again and again, which makes us frustrated in our reading. Why? Because we find in 10:1 there is a striking change in their approach to God as it says they placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the Lord and notice, “which he had not commanded them.” It doesn’t say He prohibited it; it says “which He had not commanded them.” It was a human innovation. We find it was not something God asked for. It wasn’t something forbidden. God simply wouldn’t ask for this. Just an example: A great king on his birthday tells his cook to make a fruit punch mixed with mango, strawberry, and grape. This chef, maybe new, wanting to impress the king, likes kiwi fruit. So he says, “I will mix kiwi flavor and the king will be very happy.” But mixing that acidic fruit made it bitter, and the king’s stomach was upset. It spoiled the whole thing. We find, to clarify, that the nature of this sin was not bringing something God had forbidden, and the king never said, “Don’t add kiwi.” But we see that the sin of Nadab and Abihu was adding something that God had not asked for. Where something God had not prescribed was added, it was, therefore, a strange, unappointed fire. So we’ve asked, “What did they do?” We’ve asked, “What was their sin?”

Thirdly, let’s ask the question under arrogant innovation: What motivated their sin? Do you think this was on purpose? They wanted to disobey God and arrogantly defy Him and see what He does. This would have been a suicidal challenge of consuming fire. These men were not offering up pagan incense to a false god. Consider the situation of these men. They were from ordinary families, but now God raised them to become the most noble family in Israel. They have just reached personal mountain peaks for themselves. Out of thousands of families, God has chosen them, and they have been placed in prestigious positions among the nation. They have just seen the fire of the living God come down in power and filled their circuits of senses with awe. God is confirming their ministry and blessing. These men were filled with joy, adoration of the living God, and gratitude. They were rejoicing and enjoying God’s redemptive presence. I believe the motivation for this activity was not defying God’s orders, but rather it was an act of goodwill toward God on their part. They wanted to somehow express their gratitude and appreciation for Jehovah, their God. I believe it may have even been that this was their favorite scent that they themselves brought in. They thought God will enjoy this and appreciate their innovation and initiative. “Good job!”

Like the chef trying to impress the king with his favorite fruit, they were expressing their own personal joy in their own personal way. So I believe it was an act of goodwill. And you say, “Pastor, how can God kill someone when they did something with an honest and good will act toward God as an expression of love to God?” Let me show you. Turn with me, please, to 2 Samuel 6:6. Notice what it says here. A man named Uzzah had goodwill toward God. Listen very carefully. Second Samuel 6 and verse 3: The Ark of the Covenant is now going to be brought to Jerusalem. There it is on a new cart in verse 3. “And they place the Ark of God in the new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart.” “So they brought it with the Ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill, and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark.” “Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord with all kinds of instruments.” But notice this: “When they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out toward the Ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it.” Now, if ever there was an act of goodwill toward God, this was it. But no. Verse 7: “Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.” Even David did not understand and he became angry. “How can God do this?” But people realize this is God we are dealing with. You play with His worship and you risk a big curse and even lose your life. The sin of Nadab and Abihu is like this sin. These men were attempting to help God in the context of worship. Like Uzzah, both were interpreted by God as arrogant innovations. The introduction of man’s will into the worship of the living God. Mr. Kellogg said, “We have to do with a God who is very jealous. A God who will be worshiped as he wills, or not at all.” The Holy Scriptures teach that He is such a being who demands His inalienable right to determine and prescribe how He will be served and how He will be approached. Not with arrogant innovation, but with submissive preparation. So, arrogant innovation.

Punitive Execution

Secondly, we come now to punitive execution in 10:2: “Then fire went out from the Lord and devoured them, and they died before the Lord.”

Now, isn’t it amazing, this is the same fire which moments before burst forth as a blessed token of God’s redemptive love. Instead of falling on all people, it fell on the sacrifice and accepted that sacrifice and blessed the people. And now we find that this bursts forth as a furious expression of God’s anger. This was a violent outbreak of God’s wrath. It consumed the childless high priest’s sons instantly. Other passages say these men didn’t even have children to provide offspring for their wives and for Aaron. You see, they were fatally arrested in their misguided course. Now, in reading commentators on this passage, some people say we see God is unfair, a severity that is unworthy of God. How can this be your God of covenantal loving kindness? How can this be a God who is merciful and gracious to His people and forgiving?

Listen to what Calvin says in responding to this: “If we reflect how holy a thing God’s worship is, the enormity of the punishment will by no means offend us. Besides, it was necessary that their religion should be sanctified at its very beginning, for if God had allowed the sons of Aaron to transgress without punishment, they would have afterwards carelessly neglected the whole law. This, therefore, was the reason for such great severity. That the priest should anxiously watch against all disobedience and profanation of worship.” At the beginning of worship, the establishment of the Tabernacle worship of the living God, there was a slight deviation. For those who are gun training, if there is a slight deviation in the gun target, when you shoot 50 meters, it is a big deviation. And so, a slight deviation at the inception of worship in the first generation. What kinds of aberrations and perversions will take place in succeeding generations if God does not correct the deviation at the beginning? We can answer that question because in our day, in our age, we are seeing these deviations and perversions and abuses in public worship. Why? Because this principle that is found in this passage has been forgotten and lost. In our day, we see reckless, careless, and cavalier innovation that disregards this consuming fire principle about the living God as people supposedly worship God publicly.

Arrogant innovation, punitive execution.

Mosaic Warning

Now finally, the Mosaic warning. Here, the spokesman for the offended God utters verse 3: “Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘It is what the Lord spoke, saying: “By those who come near Me I must be treated as holy; and before all the people I will be honored.”’ So Aaron therefore kept silent.” Listen to what the Lord says, “I will be treated as holy.” That’s what God wants. Holy means God is saying, “I am lofty in majesty. I am exalted in glory. I am the set apart sovereign over all. And because I am holy as I am holy, no mere man dare approach Me on his terms, his likes and dislikes, but only on My terms.” You hear that? God is holy. We approach Him on His terms, not on our terms or likes. God is saying in these words, even as I am the covenant God of tender loving kindness, and even as I condescend to dwell in love with sinners, God is saying to man here, “I am not your casual pal, whom you are to treat with a backslapping, nonchalant attitude. No. I am the Holy God and I ever remain your exalted Lord whom you are to treat with awe-filled reverence.” You see, many in our day think they can backslap the living God with their casual nonchalance and God says no, “I will be treated as holy by all who approach Me.”

Bishop Hall says this, “It is a dangerous thing in the service of God to decline from his own institutions. For we have to do with the God who is wise to prescribe his own worship, just to require what he has prescribed, and powerful to avenge what he has not prescribed.” You see the God of the Bible? You see the living God of heaven? In this passage, Aaron saw Him, and Aaron learned a lesson that he as the high priest would never forget for the rest of his days. He should not play with God’s worship. We see even in Aaron’s keeping silent a striking picture as the father is looking on the corpses of his own sons. There he stood, tearless and silent. Think of that. I believe we see in Aaron a great display of godliness. He was silent and knew that even the tenderest affection must be silent when God smites for sin. He didn’t say anything. I think if he spoke anything, it would have been something like this: “The honor of God is more important even than the lives of my sons.” For this, brethren, he clearly conveyed to all who saw him, even though his heart was breaking inside. But the honor of God was more important even than the lives of his sons. So what a lesson for us. So there then is the exposition.

Application

A striking model for appropriate awe in the worship of God. This is a model for temple worship. We are a New Testament temple, gathering together for a redemptive visitation of God’s presence, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who is in heaven, visits with us through His Holy Spirit walking among us. We find a model here for appropriate awe. Yes, there should be shouts of joy, spontaneous heartfelt praise in song, and prayer. We say something glorious about God, there should be a shout of Amen. But at the same time, there should also be among us an expression of awe-filled prostration and holy fear. “Oh, Pastor, that is all Old Testament, New Testament God is our pal.” Oh, is it? Has God changed now? Is He not holy now? Let us see the New Testament God. When the living God came to the New Testament temple through the Holy Spirit, how did He come? The Holy Spirit came as flames of fire, evidencing God is dwelling not only among His people, but now inside His people. What was the tone of worship there when God visited them in fire in the New Testament church? They were filled with the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:42: “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Verse 43: “Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.”

We see God never changes. He is holy as He was holy in Leviticus, so therefore we should come with fear and reverence. There was awe when God was in our midst. “Oh, it was all Old Testament. New Testament, we can just be careless and do what we want.” Is it? When someone tried to play there, Acts 5, Ananias and Sapphira. They lied to the fiery Holy Spirit. The husband died first, and then the wife. Acts 5:10: “Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband.” Verse 11: “So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things.”

We come to worship the God of fire who is still among us. “Oh, that is just in the beginning; now we can play.” What happened to the Corinthian church? 1 Corinthians 11:30: some were playing at the communion table. Because of their lack of reverence, some were weak, sick, and a number had fallen asleep. Death came to the Corinthian church because of their trampling. People, He can punish and even kill people today if you play with worship. The Christ in Revelation looks at churches now with laser eyes and warns them, “Repent or I will stamp you with bronze feet,” which is very painful. Then don’t cry. Don’t play with God’s worship.

Hindus are so fearful before dead stones. But this is the place of the living God. Be careful. Don’t get caught. It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Brothers and sisters, children, this is why our services are characterized by solemnity, not by backslapping, carelessness, and jokes. The living God, a consuming fire, is in our midst. That is why you should stop coming late or coming like you are going to a cinema theater and sit. Stop tripping and skipping irreverently, entering the worship of God in a careless way without any preparation. Instead, come 5 or 10 minutes before and sit and pray and prepare. As deacons and other men, we should be zealous to guard the worship of God and not allow people to disorderly disturb our worship like that. In our worship, our faces should be delightful and joyful, not with loose joking or carelessness. Our content should not be jokes, smiling, and happy, but serious. We worship a holy God. That is why children should sit properly. Children, you know why we want you to sit and listen? Not to impress the church or the pastor, but because the living God is in our midst. You are sitting in His house.

Secondly, previous chapters 9 and 10 teach us a regulative principle, not a normative one. The idea that “whatever God has not forbidden is allowed” is not correct. So bringing dancers, wrestlers, or performances is not allowed in worship. It clearly teaches the regulative principle. Chapter 22, “Religious Worship”: The light of nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and does good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. It also shows that when we worship Him as He has commanded, with submissive worship, there is a promise, just like the fire came down on the sacrifice, not on the people. It blessed the people with His redemptive presence. There will be wonderful redemptive blessings in the midst of God’s people if we worship Him according to His word. Not artificial stirring of emotions by music, but by truth and the Holy Spirit. That worship is not just when we are inside the church for one hour; but we go home with peace and joy, feeling that God met with us and spoke to our hearts. The fire keeps burning in our hearts. When we worship like that, when God is in our midst, even when unbelievers come among us, as it says in 1 Corinthians 14:25, they will not say this is mental blabbering or a nice dance like a movie theater. They will fall prostrate, saying, “The living God is truly here.” God will convert unbelievers and our children by His redemptive presence. This will not happen with programmatic, man-invented worship. The blessing that comes from the redemptive presence of God is to submissive, regulative worship. Oh, here we will experience visitations of the living God. To enlighten our eyes, to purge out fleshy attachments to sin, and to kindle hearts of burning devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ. And you know, I would not trade away this kind of biblical worship for all the impressive big stages and 10,000 crowds.

Let me say a few things about the curses of man-invented worship. The most serious crimes against God occur in corrupt worship. If God’s 10 commands have weight in the order of which commands are important, the first tablet is most important, right? The second tablet only punishes man. Breaking that, which relates to worship, brings generational curses, curses on families and even whole communities and nations. At the golden calf, God killed thousands of Israelites. You see that when whole Philistine cities suffered with plagues when they played with God’s ark in 1 Samuel.

This morning we studied the temple of Artemis and how it was brought to ruins by the power of the gospel. I think the temple of Artemis is the Pentecostal churches around us. I think the main enemy for the gospel today is these Pentecostal churches. MacArthur wrote a book, “Strange Fire.” Let me share what he says. He says the “strange fire” church today is the Pentecostal church. They don’t do anything but offer strange fire to God, breaking all the first tablet commands. They worship God in man-invented ways and take His name in vain by attributing to God things He would never do. Groups in Pentecostal churches today continually dishonor God in its false forms of worship. It dishonors the Father. It dishonors the Son. But most specifically, it fully dishonors the Holy Spirit. With irreverent ideas, irreverent actions, untrue beliefs, false claims, false promises, and fleshly behaviors. They have a different spirit. It is not the Holy Spirit of the Bible who convicts sin or teaches truth, but their spirit knocks us down, gives them blabbering, makes them laugh in a silly way, amps up our body heat, gives us the hiccups, convulsions, makes us drunk, causes us to fall down, speak gibberish, make primal sounds, jump, roll. Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. All these acts, sometimes even of demons, are attributed to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Truth. He uses the preaching of truth to grow true Christianity. No movement has done more damage to the gospel than this movement, no movement. It has made unbelievers think they are believers, chasing carnal desires and false promises, with little or no understanding or interest in the true gospel, true repentance, the true Christ, and true salvation. Its success comes not from its connection to the truth, but its success comes from its connection to the kingdom of darkness, full of lies. It is successful because it is promising what unregenerate sinners already want. We saw how Paul changed Ephesus by the gospel. True Christianity grows by gospel truth. When truth is clear, people understand what the Bible teaches about God and Jesus Christ. The power of the gospel works by truth. Out of all the different Christian groups in church history, this group has added no clarity to scripture truth. They have only successfully confused people fully, confusing people about faith, prayer, worship, praise, and blessings. They have fully confused millions of people so much; they will never come to the knowledge of truth and be truly saved. That is their victory. They have made no contribution to biblical clarity. It has made no contribution to biblical interpretation. It has made no contribution to sound doctrine. We can say that 80% of the Pentecostal religion is not Christianity. But Evangelicalism has thrown its arms open and welcomed the Trojan Horse of the group into the city of God, and its troops have taken over and placed an idol in the city of God, not the truth. Is there anything more serious than this? It is a den of thieves where everyone who doesn’t know the Bible properly hides, where those who don’t meet Bible qualifications for pastors hide. Frauds go there, greedy deceivers, and drama ends up there. Where you find liars and those who misrepresent the truth, false miracles, false visions, false prophecies, false anointings, and bizarre, mindless pandemonium breaking out. All in the name of the Holy Spirit. Anything attributed to God that is not of God is taking His name in vain. Hebrews 10:29: “How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace?” “Audacity, insolence, a violent insult, or an outrageous insult.” These people are doing this to insult the Spirit of grace. Yahweh’s Ruach. This is the breath of the Almighty. We feel so much unbearable anger. The Lord says, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.” “It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Read our Lord and the apostles’ rebuke and punishment that will come on these people. All the woes of the Lord in Matthew 23 will come on them. “Woe to you, blind guides! You do not enter, neither will you allow others to enter.” “Woe to you, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.” Verse 25: “Woe to you, whitewashed tombs. You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.” Verse 33: “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?” 2 Peter 2 describes their destruction. Verse 2: “Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.” Verse 3: “In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories. Their condemnation has long been hanging over them, and their destruction has not been sleeping.” If God didn’t spare angels, these unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like animals, they too will perish. Verse 13: “They will be paid back with harm for the harm they have done. Blackest darkness is reserved for them.” Verse 22: “Of them the proverbs are true: ‘A dog returns to its vomit,’ and, ‘A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.'” They will receive the worst judgment, the hottest place in hell. What about people who attend there? Yes, they will be punished. But do you know it is God’s judgment already on them to give them up to go and listen to such preachers? In the Old Testament, one form of punishment in Ezekiel and Jeremiah, and 1 Kings 22:20-23, is that God sends a deceiving spirit into men so people listen to them, not to be saved, and fall into God’s punishment. The Bible points to terrible consequences and curses of man when you participate in man-invented worship.

1. Worshiping God in unbiblical ways with wrong and unworthy thoughts of Him is idolatry, and we will face all the consequences of idolatry. Man-invented worship often involves creating idols or focusing on created things rather than the Creator. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind and uncleanness to do those things which are not fitting. Verse 29: “being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful.” Verse 32: “who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.” Don’t we see this curse today? You wonder why people go to church but it never impacts their life. They are no different from people who worship idols. It is the curse of today’s Christianity, the result of man-invented worship.
2. God gives them up to Spiritual Blindness and Deception. This is terrible. 2 Thessalonians 2:9-12: “The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Satan, with all power, signs, and lying wonders, and with all unrighteous deception among those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this reason God will send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, that they all may be condemned who do not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness.” Don’t we see this curse today? Spiritual blindness and deception. They do not have a love for the truth, so they cannot be saved. For this reason, God will send them a strong delusion, that they should believe the lie, so that they all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness. They believe only lies.
3. Spiritual Confusion and Division: Man-invented forms of worship often lead to conflicting beliefs and practices, causing confusion and division among people. They never have clarity about the truth or their lives. There is no guidance in life. They are always confused but cannot get out.
4. Vulnerability to Evil Influences: When people turn away from God’s truth, they become more susceptible to negative spiritual influences and deception. This can lead to further spiritual decline and harm. We see demonic mental torture, horrible dreams, and visions. It is a hellish torture in and of itself, with so many negative things going on, demonic oppression. In Revelation, we see things like scorpion bites; sometimes cases even involve possession.
5. The saddest part is Missing Out on God’s Blessings: True worship, based on God’s truth, opens the door to His blessings and favor. Rejecting this truth means missing out on the spiritual blessings and abundant life that God offers. They really don’t know what they are missing by rejecting the truth and living in deception.
6. Do you see how dangerous so many worship places are, full of strange fire? So brothers, let us come with fear and awe when we worship. Hebrews 12:28-29: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire.”

Our Lord said the worship God accepts is worship in spirit and truth. As a church, worship is an eternal duty, privilege, and priority. The most serious activity anyone will ever do is worship. It not only affects our life now but also all eternity. It is going to be an eternal work. To offer the wrong kind of worship will not only get us Cain’s curse in this life, but it will also send us to eternal destruction. So, nothing is more serious than worship.

Today’s churches’ main focus is on how to get more crowds, increase attendance, and maximize revenue. Because the main rule of church service is not to worship God according to the Bible, but pragmatism rules today, meaning, “do what works,” what will get crowds, what will interest young people; what will give us an increase, and bring more money, whether it is right or not. The more pragmatic they become, the more people come and grow, and now they have grown to be mega-churches in our country. The only thing that happens there is man-invented worship. Worship has become frivolous, superficial, shallow, and trivialized. There is a great deception that goes on there. People participating in such worship don’t even realize they are under deception and God’s terrible curse and will experience terrible punishment, as we will see in chapter 10, which is what happened to Aaron’s two sons when they brought strange fire into God’s worship which he didn’t command. Serine is one of my gospel partners, and we decided to do regular posts just on one objection they give and a Bible answer to that.

Today, we will focus on chapter 9. I have titled chapter 9 as “Blessings of God-ordained Worship.” The next chapter is “Curses of Man-invented Worship.”

In redemptive history, after humanity completely destroyed themselves by sin and made them unfit to come into God’s presence, in this early book of the Bible, God is revealing to the Israelites in types the secret of how sinful men can come, find acceptance in his holy presence, and worship him. Leviticus chapters 1-10 show that there are two primary means revealed to find acceptance with God: 1-7, Sacrifices, and 8-10, Priesthood. Any man can come to the true God only through these two means. These are the only God-ordained means to come to God. Anyone who tries to come some other way, we can say, is doing a Cain/vain worship, worshiping the true God in a wrong, man-invented manner, which is not only unacceptable to God, but results in the curse of God, as we will see next.

We have already studied sacrifices, and we saw the anointing of the High Priest’s ministry in chapter 8. Now in chapter 9, we have the inauguration of the first assembly church Tabernacle worship of the people of God. In this chapter, we are shown the foundation stones for all God-honoring, God-accepting worship. This chapter beautifully shows that when we come to God according to his appointed means, we see the high point of the chapter in verse 23: God’s acceptance of the worship by fire coming from and consuming the burnt offering, and God’s Shekinah presence and blessing revealed in the midst of his people. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces. Wherever people worship God as per his ordination, God’s presence truly comes into their midst with all his redemptive blessings. May God help us to build our worship on the rock of these perpetual truths.

Let us understand this chapter with three headings: Obedient Preparation, Goal, and Result of God-ordained worship.

Submissive Preparation

Submissive preparation is found in 9:1 through 21. I say submissive preparation because the most striking and outstanding feature of this worship is its fastidious, very attentive, careful accuracy and detail, and submission to the commandments of God. Just review with me, turning to chapters 8-9, we find 10 times the phrase “just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Verse 4 says, “So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.” Moses gathers all the nation in verse 5, and “And Moses said to the congregation, ‘This is what the Lord commanded to be done.’”

So Moses did just as the Lord commanded him. It says in verse 9, “And he put the turban on his head… the holy crown, as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Verse 13 says, “Then Moses brought Aaron’s sons and put tunics on them, girded them with sashes, and put hats on them, as the Lord had commanded Moses.” In verse 17, the bull was burned “just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” The burnt offering and the aroma went up before God, “just as the Lord commanded Moses,” in verse 21. In verse 29, the wave offering was done “just as the Lord commanded Moses.” Verse 31 describes the boiling of the flesh “just as the Lord had commanded.” In verse 34, “the Lord has commanded to do as has been done this day,” and in verse 36, “Thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded through Moses.” It’s a drum beat. Throughout the passage, there was to be submissive obedience to the commands of God in this worship. But now we find that after having had that day of submission to Moses and then seven days, remember, in the Tabernacle of the offering, these sacrifices were to be repeated. How? “Just as the Lord has commanded Moses” so that the anger of the Lord would not strike out against them and they would die. This is all preparation.

We come to the 9th chapter. The first temple worship starts. It starts with a set of four sacrifices: a sin offering, a burnt offering, a grain offering, and a peace offering. Aaron gives for himself, indicating he is not perfect, and then a set of sacrifices he gives for the people. First, these sacrifices are given, and we see the High Priest’s intercession and blessing. Then in verse 22, “Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down from offering the sin offering, the burnt offering, and peace offerings.”

So we see two acts in the first worship: four sacrifices and the High Priest’s ministry. How was all this given? It was with the same theme of careful submission. Look at 9:5: “So they took what Moses had commanded.” Verse 6 says, “Then Moses said, ‘This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.’” We find in verse 7, concerning this burnt offering, at the end of the verse it says, “just as the Lord had commanded.” In verse 10, “The fat and the kidneys and the smoke went up just as the Lord had commanded Moses.” Verse 21 says the breasts and the right thigh were a wave offering “just as the Lord had commanded.” These were offered for the atonement of their sin.

The first outstanding feature of the first corporate church worship of the people is that everything was based on what the Lord had commanded. In other words, it was 100% regulative worship. This is God-ordained worship. There were two prominent things: sacrifices and the High Priest’s ministry, all done according to the command of the Lord.

Imagine this was the first institution of God-accepting worship. Every worship that always goes forward should follow this pattern. How wonderfully this is all fulfilled in the New Testament.

This was all pointing to New Testament worship. The very first verse says which day this was instituted: the eighth day. Isn’t the seventh day the Jewish Sabbath? This day itself indicates that it is talking about a future fulfillment. That the Lord Jesus Christ will rise from the dead on the eighth day, and it will become the Christian Sabbath, which will be the first day of the week, and the church will gather on that day and fulfill this worship.

Think of sacrifices. All these sacrifices were fulfilled in our Lord’s atoning work, so we don’t have to come with any animals. We come to God only through the sacrifice of Christ. We have to come with a deep recognition of our sin and unworthiness, which is what makes Christ’s sacrifice very precious to us. See how that is reminded to Aaron in verse 8: “Aaron therefore went to the altar and killed the calf of the sin offering, which was for himself.” But if you remember a big position like the High Priest, Aaron’s sin offering has to be a bull, so why a calf here? I think it is a reminder of another calf, a reminder of Aaron’s sin when he made a golden calf, and he should have been burned, but his guilt is transferred to that calf.

When you come to God to worship, do you come with a deep recognition of your sin that was laid on Jesus Christ to make you acceptable? Every time you sin and confess those specific sins, imagine, like an Old Testament Jew, that you can only be forgiven when you place your hand on Jesus’ head and transfer your sins, as if Jesus did those very sins, whatever horrible sin you committed. You transfer it to his head, and Jesus lays his hand on you and transfers his righteousness to you, and you become acceptable righteousness before God. Oh, this is what crushes and breaks our hearts and makes us contrite in heart.

You know that is the acceptable way to come to God. You don’t come strutting your peacock features like a Pharisee, talking about how godly you are, how much you love him, how devotional you are, or how you fast and tithe. No, you say, “God be merciful.”

Psalm 51:17 says, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”

Isaiah 57 says, “I live in a high and holy place, but also with the one who is contrite and lowly in spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly and to revive the heart of the contrite.” Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who mourn.

It is these people who come to God not interested in feeling good, praising themselves, or thinking how good they are. They want to hear what God will give, blessings, blessings. But they come to worship the Lamb. They come to praise the Lamb who took all our sins and was cursed and who gave all his righteousness and made us blessed. Their worship, singing, and sermons are all about the sacrifice. That is acceptable worship. Acceptable worship is when we come to God recognizing what sinners we are and not deserving to come before his presence.

Not only do you see the Lamb, but you also see the High Priest’s ministry. Verse 22 says, “Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them.” Do we see a beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus in this, both in sacrifices and in the High Priest’s work? All these sacrifices point to Christ’s work on the cross. After he offered himself, we studied in Luke 24 that he lifted up his hands and blessed his people as he ascended to heaven. His last posture before leaving this earth was blessing. He continues to bless us as a High Priest, Prophet, and King.

We see the outstanding features of sacrifices and the High Priest here. So all God-ordained worship should come with the recognition that we are sinners who do not deserve to come to him, and the only basis for coming to him is by the sacrificial atoning work of Jesus Christ and his present High Priest work. It is not our self-righteousness, feelings, or our devotion; it all has to be based on his work and his person. You see, even in the shadow worship, it is all about the sacrifice and the High Priest’s ministry. It is Christ-centered worship.

Can you imagine what horrible worship must be happening in these churches with songs all about their feelings, their love, their righteousness, and sermons about their lives and blessings? There is no place for the Lamb there.

Goal and Result of Such Worship

What is the goal of all this worship? It is repeated twice in this chapter. The goal of all true worship is this: all this God-ordained sacrifice and High Priest’s ministry paves the way to this great blessing, toward a particular goal. The end of verse 4 says, “He said, ‘The Lord will appear to you today.’” All this preparation was done with the anticipation that God would visit them. Again, in verse 6, “Then Moses said, ‘This is the thing which the Lord commanded you to do, and the glory of the Lord will appear to you.’”

You see, there was an expectation on the part of the people of God that God would visit. God would come in their midst. Now, the children’s catechism says, “Where is God?” The answer is, “God is everywhere.” That is a scary thing for sinners; he is everywhere and watching all we do. But you know what we need? We need God’s redemptive presence.

In this, He reveals himself not to judge and kill us for our sins, but to deliver us from all our sins, enemies, and troubles. The Israelites experienced God’s redemptive nearness in the past in Egypt when he delivered them from 400 years of bondage, when they were standing on the shores of the Red Sea, hemmed in by the Egyptians who were coming to destroy them, and the sea was on the other side. There was no escape. The Lord redemptively came near and did the impossible miracle of parting the Red Sea and delivered them to go through safely.

We find that this pillar of cloud and fire depicted the presence of God. It led them through the wilderness, fire by night, and a cloud by day. This presence led them to the promised land. This presence gave them victory over all their enemies. This presence made the Jordan part and make way for his people. This presence made the great walls of Jericho fall before them. This presence gave them victory over all their enemies and led and took them to the promised land. This is the glory of the Lord that depicted Jehovah’s profound covenant presence with his people. God is showing himself to be redemptively near to his people.

Here, the expectation is that the glorious redemptive covenant presence of God would come into their midst. And now their expectation is that because they have built the Tabernacle, God graciously comes down and was going to dwell with his sinful people in fellowship, walk, and talk with them. Profoundly in the Garden of Eden, God walked with man in the cool of the day, but man sinned and made himself unfit and was chased from the holy presence. But now God was going to walk among his people. Though they are sinful, he has found a redemptive way to do that. And that is what they were anticipating: that in this Tabernacle, with all of its intricate handiwork and craftsmanship, that God would visit them.

It would not be important to us if it were merely hooks and bars and curtains, no matter how grand the materials, just like today, however big the crowd, however great the rock concert music, the lights, the colorful stage, or however glorious the place is. Oh, if there is no redemptive presence of God, all the Tabernacle and worship are meaningless. All this preparation—the building of the Tabernacle, the sacrifices, and the priesthood—was done with one goal: that God would redemptively visit them.

This is the blessing of God-ordained worship. God would be profoundly and redemptively near to us. That is the goal of New Testament worship. As we come and are gathered, prepared, leading worship, praying, reading his word, and his word is preached, in the dynamics of these means, God would redemptively manifest himself in our midst. A presence which will not just condemn and kill us for our sins, but forgive our sins, accept our persons, and let us experience his love and grace, and his strength and eternal life to live transformed lives. God would appear in spirit and bless us with all the graces of love, joy, and peace, and by his Spirit’s presence and truth, sanctify us. That is the presence we need.

When we gather together corporately, how do we have any warrant to believe that God is going to be redemptively and especially and profoundly near to us as we meet? Jesus promised us in Matthew 18 that where two or three of us are gathered in his name, there he is in our midst. In Revelation chapter 2, we find it is the ascended Lord who walks among the lampstands, his churches, profoundly present. And therefore, brethren, we want the profound presence of God to be among us in our worship.

Result of God-ordained Worship

Thirdly, the result of God’s ordained worship. We see a glorious visitation in 22 through 24.

When his people come to God through his appointed means of sacrifices with contrite hearts and the High Priest’s blessing, as soon as all four sacrifices had been offered up, and Aaron blesses the people in verse 22 with outstretched hands, Moses and Aaron entered into the tent of meeting. They were at this point in the outer court, which was a large, wide-open area where much of the congregation was present. And then they went from the outer court, presumably into the holy place, which is called the tent of meeting, to commune with God.

Behind them, all the sacrifices were burning on the bronze altar in the courtyard, and smoke was rising up. Verse 23 says, “And Moses and Aaron went into the tabernacle of meeting, and came out and blessed the people,” with arms outstretched. A stunning thing happens. Verse 23 continues, “Then the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people.”

Wow, the presence of the very living God in the midst of people. Oh, all these are sinful people. Will his holy presence burn them? They deserve to be burned. But this is the glory of his redemptive presence. See, instead of the holy fire falling on the people, where does it fall? The scripture says, “And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat.”

It falls on the substitute. They are saved, they are accepted, they are loved only because of the burnt offering substitute on the altar.

Imagine in your mind’s eye what a staggering scene. The presence of the holy, burning presence of the living God, instead of burning them, falls on the substitute and says, “I accept your sacrifice, I accept your worship, I am the true living God, I am redemptive in your midst.” What is the response of the people?

The people saw it, and they shouted for joy and fell on their faces.

Goosebumps. What a scene. Like 1 Kings 18, Mount Carmel, God visited the nation. Elijah rebuked the nation, “How long will you go on limping between two different opinions? If Baal is God, worship him; if Jehovah is God, worship him.” Elijah said, “I will show you Jehovah is God.” All the Baal prophets became tired of calling on Baal. Elijah put sacrifices on the altar and filled them with water. He prayed. The Shekinah presence of God came down, fire came and burned up all of the offerings. The people saw it and fell on their faces, prostrate, and screamed, “Jehovah, he is God.”

So here, not with manipulated music or drama or anything, people sense God’s presence. There was a spontaneous shout of joy, and all the people saw it and instinctively they shouted. The sight was overwhelming to their human senses. They could not bear it.

God’s redemptive presence is in our midst. We feel the fire of Jehovah’s enlightening truth that burns our hearts. Jehovah’s love kindles a fresh fire in the hearts of his people to love him. His fire of holiness cleanses and purifies and sanctifies our minds and hearts. People of God experiencing all this reflexively shout and fall on their faces, realizing we have received a special token of God’s undeserving favor and God’s presence. This is what the presence of God does to people then and even now.

Notice, brethren, how this glorious visitation of God’s presence among them did not spawn a giddy and light-hearted celebration, dancing, jumping, or whistling. Not at all. But rather, it spawned a reverent and solemn prostration before him. There they were, on their faces in the presence of God.

This is the redemptive presence of God in the midst of people. Oh, it is something that cannot be explained or preached; there are no words. When we experience God in our midst, oh, what bliss. Every God-ordained worship brings wonderful blessings into our life.

• A closer relationship with God: Authentic worship allows us to connect with God in a deeper, more meaningful way.
• Spiritual growth: Regular worship helps us to grow in our faith and become more like Christ.
• Joy and peace: The presence of God in worship brings joy, peace, and a sense of well-being.
• Renewed strength: When we worship God, He renews our strength and gives us the power to face life’s challenges.
• Guidance and direction: God speaks to us and guides us through worship.
• Healing and restoration: God can heal our emotional and physical wounds through worship.
• A sense of purpose: Worshiping God reminds us of our purpose in life and gives us a sense of belonging.
• Unity with other believers: Corporate worship unites us with other believers and strengthens the bonds of fellowship.
• Blessings in other areas of life: When we put God first through worship, He blesses us in other areas of our lives as well.

Do we need the blessings of God-ordained worship? Do we want to experience those blessings?

Come with obedient preparation as these Israelites and come with faith and expectation that God will visit us. Do we come with that expectation and faith? Our meetings are absolutely useless and meaningless without this presence. In fact, they are downright boring without this. Why do we come? No lights, no music, nothing, bare walls. We have great hope that God will indeed visit us.

If we want to experience God’s presence, we have to follow this pattern, determined to do only what God has commanded in worship, nothing else. This is a beautiful historical picture of the regulative principle of worship. What is the principle, brethren? That is to be used in determining what should and what should not be brought into public worship. Oh, if we make a dance skit for children, how smiling and engaged they will be? Music, concerts, orchestras, how do these enhance our worship? What is wrong with music? I couldn’t stop; I was singing, can it be a means of worship?

We follow the regulative principle, not the normative principle. Reformed Baptists and Anglicans fought on this. Anglicans said everything is allowed in the word of God as long as it is not expressly forbidden. If it matches with pragmatism and will increase the stats, it’s acceptable. The regulative principle comes to us in our own 1689 confession, and Chapter 22, paragraph 1 says, “The acceptable way of worshipping the true God was instituted by himself and so limited by his own revealed will. That he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed, not requested, not required in the Holy Scriptures.”

See this passage. Does the Bible teach the regulative principle or the normative? Nothing is allowed in worship unless God requests it, for if it is a human innovation, it is “strange fire,” detested by God as a stench in his nostrils.

Brethren, we drift off, cutting ourselves off from this anchor into a sea of pragmatism. Scripture allows only seven things in worship: singing, prayer, public reading of Scripture, preaching of the word, offering, and the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. This is the only recipe for our worship, only seven things. Do it orderly, earnestly, and full of the Holy Spirit, nothing else. The recipe is not determined by the wills and the wants and the appetites of men. If we bring anything else, even with good intentions, we will see next what happens.

Many today with good intentions in the church growth movement have brought in strange fire. Pragmatism has replaced God’s regulating word in worship. And what’s happening in the church? The church is competing for the attention of unbelievers with worldly rock concerts and sports movies. You have a band music; we will give that, come to church. So now worship leaders are punk rockers, a loud, fast-moving, and aggressive form of rock music, and ventriloquist dummies and special music and clowns, magicians, comedians and dancers, rap artists and knife throwers and humorous skits and even professional wrestlers and weight lifters and bodybuilders, actors and show business celebrities all fill the worship stage in what they call the house of the living God. And it is all strange fire. God’s estimate of it, though they may be a mega-church with a big crowd, is that it is a stench in his nostrils. So beware. This passage in its principles ought to be remembered for all time among the people of God.

First: Don’t look for outward things which God has not commanded to help you in worship. Come only through sacrifice and the High Priest’s ministry, not based on anything. Today, if we have to come like that, the only way we can come is through faith. We wish worship was more lively with a rock band, big lights, a dance choir, and whole surround music. All that makes us feel, but that is strange fire.

Because all of it is a distraction to faith in the sacrifice and the High Priest. That will divert our attention from the Lamb and the High Priest and focus on our feelings. Hebrews 11 says in verse 4, “By faith Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain.” It is impossible to please God without faith. Faith itself is not what I feel, or how the music band makes me feel, but to focus on the Lamb and the High Priest.

Don’t look for outward things which God has not commanded to help in worship; come in faith.

Second: Coming in faith is not easy. We have to come with obedient preparation. With all our worldly responsibilities and distractions, we can become very weak in faith and our focus goes away from the Lamb and the High Priest. We come with unprepared and distracted minds, and we can never experience that redemptive presence.

So, it is very important that before we come, we spend some time to prepare our hearts with obedient preparation. We have to take coming to church very seriously, that we come to worship the ascended Lord Jesus who is at the right hand of The Majesty on high, who descends down and visits with us through his Holy Spirit, walking among us and doing his High Priest, Prophet, and King ministry.

With this goal of God visiting, we should submissively prepare our hearts, examine our hearts, and confess the specific sins we committed. With a true sense of sin, confess it to God, and realize the horror of sin, as if transferring it to the head of Jesus Christ, and he suffered for those sins, and realize it is only his atoning sacrifice and High Priest ministry that we can come to God.

Those leading should come with a cleansed conscience, faith, and joy from the presence of God, so they can lead others to that, expecting God to come into our midst. Those reading the scripture should prayerfully prepare and read, “I am going to read with the help of the Holy Spirit, it should hit people’s hearts.” Preachers should prepare carefully with that goal, and people participating should come with prepared hearts. Oh, if we come with prepared hearts in faith, we will see the result.

Joy and Fear: When we come and we sing, pray, and hear God’s word, something the Holy Spirit uses to touch our hearts, we should hear shouts of joy and Amen. There should be spontaneous, heartfelt praise that would erupt from the mouths of the people of God. Our faces as we worship God should not be as if chewing ginger or lime; they should be pleasant and full of joy.

Fear: But there should also be among us profound expressions of awe-filled prostration and holy fear. We see that in New Testament worship: they were all filled with joy and awe. Fear and joy are strange, contrary feelings, but God’s presence brings both of these. When the Corinthians came to church unprepared, even for communion, God punished them because of their irreverence. This is why our services are characterized by solemnity and not by backslapping, nonchalant, casual, and relaxed behavior. That’s why in the stage, as much as possible, we avoid silly, careless jokes and drama. We say only what is related to the topic and engage people only as needed.

That’s why growing churches make it a practice to come in here for five or ten minutes before the service starts so that the heart may be prepared so people are not tripping in and skipping. So we don’t irreverently enter the worship of God in a cavalier way without having prepared.

We want to make it a practice for our children to sit and listen. It is a big testimony and commendation among the people of God when people come and visit and say, “I’m really amazed at how the children sit in such a way and listen to the message.” In our church, we throw them all in children’s care and come.

Children, when you are sitting quietly, not just people appreciate it, but God sees it. Even though it is sometimes boring, if you sit quietly and obediently, God will open your spiritual eyes and save you and give you grace to enjoy messages.

I imagine that honestly some of you may be thinking, “Pastor, I’m struggling in my family. I have financial problems. I’m trying to raise kids in this evil world! I’m wrestling with personal problems, struggling with sin, mental stress, and tension. And you are teaching Leviticus rituals and today about the high priest. Can’t you help us study something practical and relevant? Do we need this study on the priest now? I don’t see any relevance.”

Some have said, “Why is the Christian life exciting for some, and a burden for others? Why do some Christians enjoy peace and joy regularly, and others only once in a while? Why do some Christians face troubles with faith and overcome, and others are discouraged, full of doubts, and a failure?” The only difference between these two types of Christians is an inadequate, low understanding of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. They don’t understand who Jesus is, how big He is, what He has done, what He is doing in their lives, and they fail to connect with Him in their daily lives.

Have you thought about why God took so many years to send His son into the world? One main reason is that God took thousands of years to make us understand the heavenly Savior who would come and save us. The whole history of Israel for 2,000 years, from Abraham to Jesus, was orchestrated to explain who Jesus is and what He will do for us. So when we study these Old Testament passages, it is not an unrelated topic for our lives. More than anything, you and I need to learn to see the glory of Jesus in these lessons. One of those is our understanding of Jesus’s priestly ministry. You may say, “priest,” and find it not interesting or appealing.

Calvin said until one gains an adequate sense of the overwhelming majesty of the thrice-holy God and simultaneously a true sense of one’s sinfulness and unworthiness (as Isaiah did [Isa. 6:1-5]), one is not in a position to understand or appreciate the importance and value of priests and their work. Our failure on these two points is probably what makes the idea of priesthood unfamiliar and without apparent significance or meaning.

This is one of the most important spiritual truths that you have to continuously learn to grow in the Christian life: how holy God is and how sinful you are. That is what will make the ministry of Christ very precious to us. That is what Leviticus is teaching us. Remember, we did a rapid study of Leviticus 8. This chapter is like a maze; you go inside and don’t know how to come out—a complex maze of rituals for anointing Aaron as the high priest for Israel. We did a quick survey of the seven components in this chapter.

Firstly, the first of the seven is the assembled congregation in verses 1 through 5. The whole nation gathered around the tabernacle. Aaron and his sons are paraded by Moses to the doorway of the tabernacle.

The second major component is the uniform of Aaron in verses 6 through 9.

The third major component then is the anointing of Aaron in verses 10 to 13. All vessels and then Aaron were fully anointed with special oil.

Fourth, there was the sin offering in verses 14 through 17.

Then fifthly, the burnt offering in 18 through 21.

Sixthly, then, the peace offering in 22 through 30.

Seventh, the final instructions in verses 30 through 36. There we read about more anointing with oil, more sprinkling with blood, and more complex rituals happening. For seven days, they repeated all the rituals and stayed. Verse 31: “And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, ‘Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and eat it there with the bread.'” Verse 32: “‘What remains of the flesh and of the bread you shall burn with fire.'” Verse 33: “‘And you shall not go outside the door of the tabernacle of meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration are ended. For seven days he shall consecrate you.'” The warning was that you will die.

What is God teaching with all these complex rituals? One important lesson I highlighted that this passage teaches about God is His burning holiness. We see His requirement for purity is striking and relentless. He is holy, holy, holy. How many things He orders here. On one side, we learn God’s holiness; contrasting that, on the other side, it teaches how utterly depraved and sinful humans are. Man is natively fully, from head to toe, unfit even to cross the threshold and enter even the outer court of this heaven-sample house, let alone commune with the living God, because man is totally depraved and God is totally holy.

Only when we sense these two tensions in our hearts will a great question arise: “How can I, a defiled sinner, forget about communion, even enter and survive before my holy Creator without whose love, presence, and peace my life is cursed and miserable?” That is when the ministry of the priest becomes very, very precious in our sight.

Today, I want to show us the colossal value of this priestly ministry. Our sin blindness may prevent us from realizing how important it is, but this passage shows the colossal value in a loud, eye-twitching, visible way. Why was the entire nation gathered in a solemn manner, and Aaron paraded before the eyes of every Israelite? The impression in their minds was that a great, important ministry office was being ordained and anointed.

Secondly, we notice that the garments that are spoken of a bit here are spoken of more in depth in Exodus 28 and Exodus 39. Just look from his feet to his head; the man is decorated.

1. He put on him the tunic, a white pure linen garment.
2. He clothed him with the sky blue collar robe and girded him with the sash.
3. He put on the ephod.
4. And then he put on the skillfully woven band of the ephod.
5. Verse 8, “And he put the breastplate on him, and he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim.”
6. Verse 9, “And he put the turban on his head; also on the turban, on its front, he put the golden plate, the holy crown.”

There is a lot of gold, gold chains, and embroidery all in gold. The gemstones are rare and very costly. The breastplate has four rows: sardius, topaz, carbuncle, diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, and jasper. These costly stones. Anyone who would look upon it would say, “That is a grand dress, a fortune’s worth of a wardrobe,” with a value of billions. For example, in olden days, ladies wore all their wealth on their bodies: head crown, shoulder chain, full chest of gold, belt, down to their legs. What is the woman saying? “I am very valuable, my net worth is great, I am very rich.”

God specifically said in Exodus 28:2, these garments had to be for glory and beauty. The garments were purposefully to be striking and spectacular in appearance, to be impressive, to impress the people of God. He stands in the midst of hundreds of thousands of people, so he should look very special and valuable. What is God saying by decorating this man like this? He is visibly telling us in this picture the great, infinite value of his ministry to the nation.

There is no greater ministry than this, for he was the mediator between God and man who could secure atonement for the nation’s sins. Even the old shadow ministry of Aaron was of infinitely greater value to the nation. You see, without the high priest, the tabernacle would do nothing but bring wrath and plagues from the eternal God upon the people of God. God would break out in wrath like he did among the Philistines when they took the ark of the covenant, with no priests there. But when there is the ministry of the high priest, not only is God’s anger turned away, but the nation and each worshiper can come to God and offer his sacrifices through the priest, and receive blessing, and experience the presence, blessing, and love of God. The high priest’s ministry was of colossal value. Israelites gave a lot of value to the high priest’s ministry.

If the old shadow of Aaron’s ministry was so valuable, God wanted to show through this visible lesson the infinite value of Christ’s priestly ministry. We have never really studied the great value of His priestly ministry. We are so carnal and visual, that when something is spiritual and invisible, we don’t realize the value until we see it. The spiritual high priestly ministry of Jesus Christ is of infinite value to believers. God, here in a shadow and visible form in the Old Testament, shows the infinite value of the priestly ministry of Jesus Christ. All that He did and does for us even now in heaven, we can see here.

The Lord Jesus Christ and His priestly mediation on our behalf are the great treasures of our lives. That is the celebration of the book of Hebrews. Those to whom he wrote were persecuted, so much that their properties were taken and their lives were at risk. They were tempted to go back. The writer shows that the glory of our high priest and his ministry is greater than all. It is worth more than losing all. You can even lose your wealth, even your life, but don’t lose this ministry. If the Holy Spirit helps us grasp this truth, we will see that in the whole universe, there is nothing more valuable. An enlightened Christian, even if given all the wealth of Adani and Ambani, will not give away this privilege for the whole world. Aaron just outwardly foreshadowed this, but can we look at each of these shadows and see the glory of our high priest? May the Holy Spirit open our eyes.

Lift up your eyes and behold your high priest. As you look at Aaron, look at him from feet to head. Everything shows the glory of Jesus Christ’s priestly ministry. Imagine:

1. Appointment. He stands there. Who brought him? We saw Aaron was selected by God. Hebrews 5:4-6 says this is the high priest’s role: “The appointment of the high priest: No man can take it upon himself, but must be called by God (5:4). Appointed by God: The high priest must be called and chosen by God for this sacred role.” Didn’t our Lord repeatedly say, “I didn’t do this work on my own, but my Father appointed me. My Father gave me this command, my Father sent me”? So He is the authorized and appointed high priest by God. It was not Jesus who did something emotionally out of love, but God appointed Him to do this work. This appointment gives divine, authentic authority and acceptance for His priestly work on our behalf.
2. Anointing. We see here Aaron was first bathed and then he was anointed with oil. How marvelously we see our Lord Jesus Christ was baptized by John, and as soon as He came out, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit without measure, which is foreshadowed in the oil.
3. Humanity. Then we see from down to up, first we see his feet. He has two legs. Wow, this great priest is not some spirit or angel. He is a man like us. Hebrews 5:1-2: “The high priest must be human, so he is able to empathize with human weaknesses and limitations.” Our Lord Jesus Christ, though He was God, an eternal spirit, He took on human nature to fulfill this qualification, to become an eternal priest for us. We all celebrate that this month, the wonder of God becoming man.
4. Pure Garments. Then look at each of his clothes, how marvelous it represents what our Lord does for us. Lift your eyes and the first thing you see is his inner garment. Verse 7: he wore an inner garment, a tunic. All inside was covered with a white cloth, even a headpiece, a completely pure linen white garment that covers his full body. It is pure white. It represents purity and sinlessness. Hebrews 7:26-28: “The high priest must be without sin, able to offer a perfect sacrifice.” Aaron was not pure, but his inner garment was a shadow of Christ who was pure, and he was showing by that dress the one who will be a perfect high priest. Doesn’t it beautifully show that our high priest, Jesus Christ, has absolute purity? He was fully pure and holy. Who is sinless like Him? No one, His relatives, disciples, enemies, religious, or government leaders, could find one fault in Him. He is pure from head to toe, inside and outside. A completely immaculate, pure high priest. He offered Himself as a perfect, blameless sacrifice. He Himself was the sacrifice, and He Himself was a priest who offered Himself as a spotless lamb.
5. Sash. The sash symbolized strength, authority, and readiness for service. How it represents our Lord Jesus, who is the embodiment of divine strength and authority, and how ready He was to serve humanity! “I came to serve, not be served.” He took the towel and wrapped it and served. Now He stands with all strength, power, and authority over heaven and earth, an almighty high priest with a sash around Him. What a high priest! Hebrews 7:25: “Therefore He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God.” Which sin may have dominion? Even if all the demons and devils try to drag us to hell, no one can pluck us from the hands of such a priest. Behold Him sashed with almighty power and the strength of this high priest. He can save us to the utmost, to the end, and take us to heaven. No power in the universe can hinder His high priestly ministry. Our confession says, by His present ministry, He is overcoming all their enemies by His almighty power and wisdom, in such a manner and ways as are most consonant to His wonderful and unsearchable dispensation. We have such a high priest.
6. Blue Robe. Then lift up your eyes and see the blue robe. All blue. A long, flowing garment symbolizing majesty and royalty. Blue symbolizes that He is not just a man, but He is of heavenly origin. The color blue was associated with the heavens in the Bible. The blue robe signified that the high priest is not just a man, didn’t come from earth, He came from the blue heavens. He possesses a divine nature as God. His divinity and all other attributes surpass any earthly high priest. He is preeminent and supreme. He is not only God, but He created all things, sustains and controls all things, and will judge and destroy all things. Imagine such a one, with all these infinite amazing attributes, took on the work of a high priest for sinners like you and me.
7. Urim and Thummim. Then you see the high priest held the Urim and Thummim, used for divine guidance for Israelites to tell them God’s will. Oh, how our high priest fulfills guiding and leading us in the divine direction in heaven’s path, showing which way is wrong and which is right. Does He do that by His prophetic ministry by teaching us from His word and guiding us? By His Spirit, He indwells believers and provides a personal witness to the truth. This inner witness guides and directs, fulfilling the role of the Urim and Thummim in a spiritual way. Our confession again says, “revealing unto them, in and by his Word, the mystery of salvation, persuading them to believe and obey, governing their hearts by his Word and Spirit.”
8. Precious Stones. There are shoulder stones on both sides, where all the names of the tribes are engraved, six on one side and six on the other side. And on the breastplate, there are 12 stones, in four rows: sardius, topaz, carbuncle, sapphire, diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, and jasper. What does that say to you? It says 101 things. Such a glorious priest is sitting in heaven. a. He represents me in heaven. He has united me to Himself in spirit; we both are one. In union with His people, He appears there in heaven on our behalf. He has reserved a place for me in heaven and continues to every second intercede for my grace, my worries, my sins, and my needs. b. You think, “I forget you,” but not for one second. He is bearing us on His shoulder and chest. What kind of intercession is this? We are not to imagine the Father is unwilling and Jesus is forcing the Father to bless us by interceding. No. His intercession may not be vocal, but by His presence. Just His presence, His risen, sin-atoning, hell-and-death-conquering, Satan-victorious presence, contains every conceivable blessing that His people could ever ask for. He has already blessed us with every spiritual blessing. His presence of nailed, pierced hands and feet are His intercession. We may imagine as a representative of a nation sits in the senate to secure blessings, just their presence will ensure all is decided to the advantage of his nation. Remember, He is not just spirit; He sits with flesh and blood before the Father. As the Father beholds the atoning glory of His Son, He sees a life that has won everything good for His people. He beholds His Son and in His Son beholds all the elect whom He has united to one who by His obedience and death has won everything conceivable blessing for His people on earth and in the heavens beyond. As the Father beholds the risen glory of the Son, He inevitably, without vocal cries, blesses His people. The glorified Lord has secured everything good for all those who put their trust in Him. c. Just as Moses prayed, the Israelites won. Do you realize any victory we have against sin, Satan, or any growth? It’s because our high priest is holding up His hands in heaven on your behalf. You and I would have collapsed in despair and unbelief many years ago, filled with emotional sadness. In the midst of thousands of invisible snares, temptations, and hindrances of the devil and demons, the reason we continue in faith is only because He prays. If you are still standing, it is only because He is praying. Thousands of invisible nets are cast every day by spiritual forces of wickedness in heavenly places, your enemies, and you don’t even know about it. They were caught up in their own nets while you passed by safely. Why? Because there is one who is interceding on the mountain of the presence of God on your behalf. d. All these precious stones also talk about how much value we are to Him. We are precious to Him, so precious that He shed His blood. He keeps us in His heart. We are not worthy in ourselves, but His love places such value on us. Oh, it speaks of His sympathy and love for us.
9. His crown talks about His exaltation. He is exalted above every name, as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

So the picture shows what Jesus Christ is doing for us. Is He not valuable? Garments of the high priest for Aaron are given not because he is good; it is given because he is a sinner. So all these clothes represent someone who is going to perfectly fulfill all this. Aaron was a shadow, one who is pure and white, who is going to come in human form and live among man. We may not see the physical beauty of our high priest’s dress now, but what Christ is doing spiritually is infinitely more valuable than Aaron’s ministry. The beauty is all spiritual, and to the eyes of faith, it is very, very precious.

So as an application, let me show you three blessings the writer to the Hebrews tells us we can experience today because we have such a high priest.

1. He has secured certain Eternal Cleansing, Acceptance, and Redemption. Hebrews 10:1-3 says, “For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come,” those who wanted to come to God, they had to offer sacrifices continually for those coming to God through the high priest. But even those sacrifices didn’t give them the assurance of forgiveness, cleansing, acceptance, and redemption. Verse 4: “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.” Think of thousands upon thousands of sacrifices. They didn’t cleanse them and make them holy. But you know what our high priest has done? Verse 10: “We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” That’s a wonderful phrase to those who understand the Old Testament repetition: day after day, week after week, year after year, having a sense of defilement always, in spite of all that, knowing they were never fully sanctified. See what our high priest has done. He has sanctified us by His body once and for all. Cleansed once and for all. The past, present, and even future sins are all eternally cleansed. So cleansed, we are eternally perfectly justified, reconciled, and even adopted by God, redeemed by His offering. What a high priest!
2. Bold and Eternal access to God. We have access to the very Holy of Holies of God’s presence anytime. It is the ugliest fact in human life and in human experience that we all feel the damage sin has done to us. It is so deep. It plows up our hearts and homes. It separates us. It damns us. It condemns us. It makes us feel ashamed to come to the only source of joy and purpose of life, God. The greatest harm sin has done to us is that it has damaged our access to God. We were created in His image, created to live in the enjoyment of God’s love, joy, and peace. The reason for all our miseries is because our connection with God is now cut. We feel His awesome wrath and awful anger in our souls. Who can deliver us? Who can save us, both from ourselves and from the condemnation, shame, and unworthiness we feel so deeply? How can we go to our God with such a face? On what basis? That is the human cry. Contrasting with the Old Testament people, who could not even enter the outer court of the holy place, see what our high priest has done. Verse 19: “Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest of All,” meaning the most holy place to the presence of God, “by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.” Wow. Now I don’t have to go to God based on my worthiness, which I can never do. I don’t have to cringe or wallow in my sin. I can go to God, even to the most holy place, by a new way based on what He has done, His sacrificial work, and what He is doing now as high priest. Verse 20: “by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh.” Verse 21: “and having a High Priest over the house of God,” not because of who you are or what you did, but because we have a great high priest. Verse 22: “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.” You hear that? We have the confidence to enter not the outer court, but even the most holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us. Oh, in faith in this high priest, you can come to the very presence of heaven and experience the presence of the living God. Experience His love, joy, and peace which your heart so yearns for. This is an infinite privilege bought by our great high priest. See what it says in verse 21: “and having a High Priest over the house of God.” Not because of who you are, or what you did. Because we have a great high priest. In Christ Jesus, our high priest, we have not only access to the outer courts of God’s presence, but into the very inner court, the Holy of Holies. We can even go into the bosom of God to feel His love for us. Oh, we can go to God! We can go even into the bosom of God and enjoy His embrace, love, and blessings, not with fear and doubts. But let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, all because we have such a high priest now. Oh, when we see all the maze of requirements, cleansings, and purifications, the rituals indicate the holiness of God. And we wonder, “How can we come to God?” Now we are able to come boldly. Why? Not because God has become less holy. No. Because on Golgotha, our high priest splashed with His own blood the horns of that altar. And then we find He cleansed His people once and for all by His sacrifice. Through our great high priest, we see, brethren, He fulfilled all the requirements of God. All requirements for purity are striking and relentless. Oh, as a believer, you can come to God boldly through His high priest anytime, directly to the Holy of Holies in faith. Experience forgiveness, redemption, justification, adoption, sanctification, and new life. Eternal cleansing and redemption, eternal access to God. Help for all our needs with sympathy.
3. A third blessing: interceding help for all our needs with sympathy. This is the cream. You look at the breastplate and the gemstones on His breast. It symbolized the high priest’s representation for all of the people of God. So that when He came into the presence of God and the Holy of Holies, He was not merely there for Himself, but He was there for the twelve tribes comprehensively, but not only the twelve tribes comprehensively, but also for each individual. He has all of us on His shoulder and bears us in His heart.

In the same way, our Lord, the high priest, represents you in heaven. See what it says in Hebrews 4:14: “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” We are on His chest. We are His peculiar treasures. He carries our names upon His heart, not on His back. That if you be one of the elect, in a profound sense, your name is written upon His breastplate as He intercedes on your behalf. It is the high priest we need who is there in heaven for us, exactly suited for our needs. We, as saved believers, are always with a faith so weak, our strength is weak, our graces are weak, our obedience is so weak. “How can I go to God?” We feel so weak, so tired. “I am in a wilderness, so weak.” So when we hear about a high priest who is so perfect, so wonderful, glorious, excellent, beyond the heavens, high and glorious, majestic and glorious, we may get discouraged. We may feel a big distance between Him and us. “He is so high and we are so low.” We don’t feel like running to a person like that.

So look at what the Hebrew writer says. He first tells us, you know what this high priest is not. Verse 15: “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses.” The Greek word for sympathy is to suffer with, to enter into fully, to get close to, to share feelings, to get into the skin of another person and feel what they feel, how they feel. He is able to sympathize, to get into our skin and feel our weaknesses. He knows we are weak people. He is gracious, merciful, and sympathetic, and compassionate. There is no weakness of ours where He Himself doesn’t come and share with us. He knows we are so weak when it comes to doing good, overcoming sin, struggling with faith, doubting, murmuring, and holiness. We are broken and profoundly weak people. We face temptations daily. We are so weak, humans. We feel lonely. We have weaknesses in our homes. We get angry. We sin. We are weak outside. We struggle every hour. He knows. Better yet, He pities us as a friend.

We have a high priest to sympathize with our weakness. Wow. That is what I need. To know that when I live day in and day out with the drudgery of life’s responsibilities, I become so tired and weak and discouraged. What wonderful news to know I have a high priest who knows all, who sympathizes with that. In His exalted position, He sees all we go through and He empathizes with all we go through. There is no iota of human weakness that we go through that our high priest does not see. He sees struggling, oppressed, discouraged, tried, tested, tempted. He sees all. There is not one tear, one sigh, that escapes the notice of your great high priest. It is more than just “I see that.” It is “I know that.” He feels. He is affected by them. It makes an effect on His soul. Because of our union, He suffers what we feel. He empathizes as a friend and brother with our weakness. He is touched with our weakness as bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh. He knows all this.

See, He is a great high priest, sitting in heaven, but realize deeply, just because He sits in heaven doesn’t mean He is removed from our life, disconnected from day-to-day problems and our suffering and temptations. No, no. He is intimately, deeply connected with every single thing that happens to you. He knows and fully feels what you are going through. He cares and feels. And you know the best thing? He can do something about it. As our all-sufficient Savior, He is able to save them to the uttermost, those who come to Him. What in the world do you need? What is it that you are feeling or going through that He is not able to understand?

Knowing this, the inevitable result of knowing and truly believing this is: Verse 16: “Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” So because He knows all your pain, suffering, and weakness, knowing how big He is, so glorious, and then knowing He is so sympathetic, the inevitable conclusion is, when you need divine help, you will run to Him. When you do that, you will get mercy, that will relieve your guilt and self-condemnation, and you will get immediate relief. That will relieve your heart for your weakness, and make you feel better. Not just that, but beyond that, you will find helping grace exactly suited for that situation. Divine, timely help suited for that situation. That will help you. Grace that will help handle that situation, that weakness, that problem. Here is hope when you feel weakness, human trouble, trials, pain, and struggling. God says this is available to you because of the high priest anytime, 24/7, anytime, without appointment. What else do we need? Absolutely astonishing. Whenever you need, you come to me, and I will give you grace and helping grace. Eternal cleansing and redemption, eternal access to God. Help for all our needs with sympathy.

See, the problem is you are seeing only down. You are seeing your weakness, troubles, struggles, and dangers. You have to learn to see up. We have a high priest, pleading for us, our representative with the Father. He has purchased eternal cleansing and redemption, given eternal access into the Holy of Holies, the presence of God, and He can give all help with sympathy. He is there for me, interceding. When you go through a health crisis, a financial or marriage crisis, or dark times, struggling with sin, Jesus Christ is there feeling your pain, sympathizing with you. He can help you.

Yes, providentially He orders all events for your good, so you should be content. But when you feel weak, your greatest need is mercy and helping grace. That is what forgives and sustains us in this life of wilderness. We use the access we have with God with boldness and with confidence. I belong to the high priest. I am in His heart. He shed His blood for me. I have His righteousness. Therefore I can go to the throne of grace with confidence. What is the confidence? We will go to heaven. No, we are strong. Our confidence is mercy and God through Jesus Christ has forgiven me. He has purchased eternal redemption. It can keep me and strengthen me all the way to the end. I have a high priest who has our very names upon His heart, who prays to His Father, “I will that they also whom you have given me will be with me where I am.” I can be sure because that high priest’s prayers are always answered. Because He intercedes on our behalf, brethren, we shall arrive home safely.

Learn a new truth: It is not only the death of Jesus Christ that saves you, but even His intercession as the risen high priest saves you. Everything that we need has been provided by the living God in this priesthood. People talk about going to the end of the world and finding that one thing that will bring happiness. The Holy Grail, which will bring happiness. Brothers, we have found that. It is the high priest ministry and mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is, as it were, the holy grail that men seek after. Paul knew that as he assessed all of his possessions. Philippians 3:8, speaking of Christ’s high priestly ministry, he says, “I count all things to be lost, everything I have, all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Jesus Christ my Lord.” That is the one thing of great value that we have, is the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ that is typified in these spectacular and expensive garments. Look at our Savior. Look at His high priesthood. Is there any need that you have as a sinner that has not been perfectly matched by His service on our behalf?

It is the Holy Spirit who can shower blessings from heaven. We pray He may bring them now. As we look at your Word, may the spirit of light give us light, the spirit of truth teach us truth, the spirit of wisdom give us wisdom, and the Spirit of holiness make us holy. Quicken my mind, and give all who are here ears to hear and hearts to embrace the truths we learn today.

We know there are billions of not only worlds, but even galaxies outside of us, so vast that no man has, forget about traveling there, been able to see them fully with the most advanced telescope. How many objects are flying there? In that vast space, sometimes a big rock, cruising through vast space for thousands of light years, crossing the sun, stars, galaxies, planets, air, and fire, crosses earth’s atmosphere and comes and falls on land. It is called a meteorite. When such a thing happens, immediately, scientists and researchers and government officials hurry to the site and eagerly study the celestial sample or specimen in order to discover answers to the mysteries of the universe. Through that rock, in a way, heaven has come down and touched the earth.

In the same way, thousands of years ago, an exact sample of the highest heaven fell on earth in the form of the tabernacle in the desert of Sinai, because the God of heaven had come down to dwell with sinners. Profoundly, heaven has come down and touched the earth. We see the sample here in Leviticus. If we are to understand heaven’s secrets and prepare ourselves to go to that heaven, we are to be like those scientists, eagerly and carefully studying this celestial specimen of the tabernacle in order to understand heavenly mysteries.

We’ve seen the first section of the book about the five major offerings. What a wonderful blessing it has been in my own life to draw closer to God. We could all recite by memory that the first approach to God is the burnt offering, the expression of our gratitude is the grain offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. We saw these from chapters 1-6:7.

If you read from 6:8 onwards until the end of chapter 7, it is another repeat cycle through the five offerings, with more ritualistic instructions for each of these offerings. In a way, 1-6:7 is the first cycle of five offerings, where we find the common Israelite’s instruction for each of the five offerings. And then in the second cycle, sweeping through each of the five offerings in 6:7 through the end of chapter 7, this is minute instructions given for the priests so they will know the specific ritual that needs to take place. You can actually read them; it is all again about the five offerings, with minute details from the priest’s side. Therefore, we are going to leap over verses 6:8 through chapter 7 and begin expounding here at chapter 8 and verse 1.

If there is one lesson we should remember, it shows how careful the Lord is about His worship, repeatedly saying, “just as the Lord commanded.” You cannot play with the worship of the Lord; He orders every detail of His worship. We must follow His method for acceptable worship. So we’ve already looked at the five sacrifices in the first major section of Leviticus.

Now, we will go to the second section of Leviticus, starting at 8:1 through chapter 11. We come to the second major section. What is it about? Remember the goal of the book: God is in the process of making man, damaged by sin, whole and perfect again as He created us and to be reconciled to God. Only God knows how to do that. For that, our first great need is a substitute sacrifice which meets the basic needs of our human life for love by the burnt offering, for joy by the grain offering, for peace by the peace offering, for forgiveness before God by the sin offering, and for the restoration of relationship with our fellow man by the guilt offering. That is what the five sacrifices of Leviticus 1-7 have taught us.

But all those sacrifices cover the sin problem from our side, but that is only half of the story. For us to be reconciled to God, we not only need an atoning sacrifice, we need someone who can take these sacrifices and represent us before God. Sin has caused so much damage in us, and we dare not go before Him with our guilt and plead for ourselves. We need someone’s help for this.

We need help with the emotional and intellectual problems aroused by the sin and struggle in his life. In our own conscience, isn’t there a voice which says, “Oh, I cannot do it myself. I fail so often, I repeatedly fail.” Repeated failure doesn’t give any confidence to go to God. “I need help. My prayer is not enough, it is so poor. My worship is not perfect. My godly life is not great. I don’t understand myself. I do what I don’t want, I cannot do what I want. Sometimes I don’t feel God’s presence. I also wonder whether I love Him. There seems even some hatred against God and holiness.” How can I come to God in an acceptable manner? We feel so inadequate with our guilt and sin.

Don’t just tell me how holy and strict God is and how sinful I am like a prophet, but I need someone who can understand my problems, understands me and my weaknesses with sympathy, with whom I can openly share all my struggles, who can sympathize with my state and problems. When I am tempted, I need his sympathetic help, and who can represent me in heaven and get grace to help me in my situation. Your heart is crying out for its great need, which is the need of a priestly ministry. You need a priest who will meet all your spiritual needs. God knew all this. He knows that we don’t understand ourselves. So He has supplied us with an anointed priesthood to meet all those needs.

Our second great need to come to God is a priest. Even though the sacrifice is provided, we cannot even take that to God’s presence. We need the help of a priest. This is the next great human need. In the Old Testament, no Israelite could offer a sacrifice by himself. He needs a priest for that. When people had emotional problems, guilt, or worries, they always went to priests. Priests were skilled at handling problems of guilt, fear, and anxiety, and man’s heart’s hostility towards God, and all the traumas and neuroses and psychoses which can arise out of these. We need a priest even today.

That is what we are going to study in our next Leviticus section. We focus on the past ministry of Christ, his suffering and death for our salvation on the earth, but we don’t realize what marvelous priestly ministry He is doing even now for us in heaven as a priest. These passages will open the window of heaven and show us that. They will make us realize how much we need that ministry.

In this chapter 8, we see first the anointing and ordination of Aaron and his sons. First, we will do a rapid survey of the 8th chapter. And here we find seven major components in this ordination of Aaron and his sons.

Firstly, the first of the seven is the assembled congregation in verses 1 through 5. The assembled congregation. We find, as I read, that the whole congregation was instructed by God, through Moses, to meet at the doorway of the tabernacle. Maybe a vast group of hundreds of thousands of people, the whole nation there, was gathered and assembled before the tabernacle to see something, as they filled the vast field in front of the east side of the tabernacle. We find that Aaron and his sons are paraded by Moses to the doorway of the tabernacle, just as Jehovah has commanded. We see that Aaron and his sons were not appointed by Moses, nor were they appointed by the common suffrage of the vast community of the people of God. This was not democratic in their appointment. We find that they are appointed by Jehovah Himself; this is a divine appointment. So that is the assembled congregation in verses 1 through 5.

The second major component is the uniform of Aaron in verses 6 through 9. Aaron himself needed to be washed (verse 6), and verse 7, “he put on him the tunic, and girded him with the sash, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod on him; and he girded him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod.” He was wearing a beautiful robe. Very beautiful. Verse 8, “And he put the breastplate on him, and he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim.” He also had a breastplate. On it were gemstones signifying each of the twelve tribes. Tucked into the breastplate was the Urim and the Thummim, two stones like dice. These were lots of sorts. When men wanted to know guidance from God, a certain way that the lots or the dice came up would indicate God’s direction in a certain manner. Verse 9, “And he put the turban on his head; also on the turban, on its front, he put the golden plate, the holy crown.” Also, Aaron had a turban placed on his head as part of his uniform, and a holy crown. Just imagine after Aaron is dressed like this. Imagine you looking at him. Now make no mistake, if we would have been there, we would have beheld a man of striking majesty in appearance, once he had placed upon himself the high priestly uniform. He was made a peculiar sight, filling the eyes of the onlookers with wonder. “Wow!” You should think of him as a watchman in a five-star hotel or Nandhana hotel. They are nothing. This was all grand. It is all gold, with gold threads, an ephod, and a breastplate. Blue, purple, and scarlet yarn: these colors were derived from rare and costly dyes, further adding to the expense of the garments. The 12 stones were rare and incredibly valuable. You can see more details of how wonderful this dress is in Exodus.

The third major component then is the anointing of Aaron in verses 10 to 13. The anointing of Aaron. We find that costly anointing oil is brought for the purpose of consecration. Verse 10, “Also Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them.” Verse 11, “He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, anointed the altar and all its utensils, and the laver and its base, to consecrate them.” Oil is sprinkled on everything in the tabernacle to consecrate them. Then the oil is poured upon the head of Aaron. Then we find that not only was it Aaron who was given a glorious uniform to wear, but also his sons were girded with striking but more modest apparel, though they indeed had a wonderful appearance.

We come now to the fourth component, and that is the sin offering in verses 14 through 17. The sin offering. You remember our discussions in the sin offering. The sin offering was for unintentional sins, and here we find a sin offering is offered up for the unintentional sin of a high priest, a man of high prominence. Therefore, what kind of a beast should be brought? Well, we know that it should be a bull that is brought. Because he is the man of supreme position, he is the man who needs the supreme sacrifice to be offered up. Verse 14, “Then Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull for the sin offering.” Verse 15, “And Moses killed it. Then he took the blood, and put some on the horns of the altar. And he poured the blood at the base of the altar.” Verse 16, “Then he took all the fat that was on the entrails, the fatty lobe attached to the liver, and the two kidneys with their fat, and Moses burned them on the altar.” Verse 17, “But the bull, its hide, its flesh, and its offal, he burned with fire outside the camp, as the Lord had commanded Moses.” After part of the bull is offered up, the other part is taken where? Outside of the camp, indicating the sin and the uncleanness that God will not tolerate in His presence.

Then fifthly, we come to the burnt offering in 18 through 21. This is the fifth component of our survey. Here it is, a ram that is offered up for a secondary burnt offering, and then we see that this is for the conscious awareness of not only known sins that the priest himself knows that he has committed in his own life, but his person as a defiled person unfit to come to God, and this burnt offering atones for his sins by a substitute. We find that that ram suffers a brutal death. Why? Because the worshipper himself, the priest, deserves that brutal death, and the ram, we find, dies in his stead.

Sixthly, then, we come to the peace offering in 22 through 30. The peace offering in 22 through 30. There we find the second ram is offered up for a peace offering. Remember we talked about the peace offering that involved occasions of great thanksgiving, an answer to prayer, a blessing of God. And certainly at this occasion of the high priestly ordination, there was a great blessing coming from God that man is going to be allowed to fellowship with Jehovah. What a blessing! And therefore there is this celebration of peace offerings. Notice verse 23, “and Moses he took some of its blood and put it on the tip of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.” He does this even for his sons. Then he does a wave offering with parts of that animal.

We come to the seventh component, and that is the final instructions in verses 30 through 36. There we read about more anointing with oil, more sprinkling with blood, and more complex rituals happening. Verse 31, “And Moses said to Aaron and his sons, ‘Boil the flesh at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and eat it there with the bread.'” Verse 32, “‘What remains of the flesh and of the bread you shall burn with fire.'” Verse 33, “‘And you shall not go outside the door of the tabernacle of meeting for seven days, until the days of your consecration are ended. For seven days he shall consecrate you.'” Moses warns about how in their feasting, as they are to stay there in the doorway of the tabernacle, they are to feast with great precision, not violating any of the Lord’s commandments. And then, having finished the sacrifices and the cleansings of the first day, they were quarantined in the doorway of the tabernacle for seven days until the ordination period was finished. And what do you think they did for those seven days being quarantined in the doorway of the tabernacle? They didn’t lie idle. They redid, each of the seven days, the cleansings that they engaged in on the first day.

Look what it says in verse 34, speaking about there being seven days in the doorway of the tent of meeting. Verse 34, “As he has done this day, so the Lord has commanded to do, to make atonement for you.” And then, notice in the finale, they are warned not to depart from any of the Lord’s commandments, but to keep the charge of Jehovah that they might not die. Verse 35, “Therefore you shall stay at the door of the tabernacle of meeting day and night for seven days, and keep the charge of the Lord, so that you may not die; for so I have been commanded.” It says in verse 35, there is danger hanging over their head: “if you fail to do anything different and leave the tent, you will die.” “Thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded through Moses.” So there is our rapid survey over the seven major components of the ordination of Aaron and his sons. I would encourage you to go home and read it again and again with this outline.

What is all this for us today?

We learn there are so many wonderful lessons in this passage for us. I cannot cover everything today. There will be part 2 of this chapter. I want to bring three important truths. We’re going to look at, first of all, truths about God that we see in this passage. Secondly, truths about Christ that we see in this passage. And thirdly, truths about believers that we see in this passage. Let me see if I can finish lessons about God today.

Come with me, first of all, to truths about God that we find here. I have three truths I want to bring to you. First of all, we see God’s burning holiness. We see His requirement for purity is striking, shocking, and relentless. Now we know that a fundamental attribute of Jehovah is that He is holy. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord our God. Archangels every second for all eternity cry in his presence, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” Habakkuk 1:13 says, “Thine eyes are too pure to see any evil.” God’s eyes cannot behold sin and have the object survive. His sight itself will destroy it. So we see in this passage, the reality of God’s holiness and His attribute of moral purity is trumpeted loudly.

Did you notice the elaborate, long, and complex purification rituals these men are involved in? What is happening here? All this for what? So that a man who is selected by God is anointed. For what? To go to heaven? No, to get to the outer court of this heaven-sample tabernacle. All these purification ceremonies that we read about, these men are to be servants whose feet are to tread the outer court in the house of God. How can they qualify to even have their feet touch the dirt in the tabernacle? It’s only after running through a veritable maze of washings and cleansings, rituals, and anointing. See, on one side, the holiness of God is declared loudly and gloriously, and in that same context, there is that contrasting man’s pervasiveness of sin. Unworthiness and defilement are emphasized. Man is natively fully, from head to toe, unfit even to cross the threshold and enter even the outer court of this heaven-sample house, let alone commune with the living God, because man is totally depraved and God is totally holy.

Look at the rituals. The whole nation has to see this. Verse 6: there had to be that washing with water, and then Aaron had to be girded with the white linen, sash, robe, ephod, and Urim and Thummim in elaborate dressing. And then the anointing of the oil on all the temple items, and then Aaron and his sons. He had to put his hands on the bull for one sacrifice, and there had to be blood splattered upon the horns of the altar. Then there had to be the hands of the high priest placed upon the ram, and more blood on the altar. Then we find that blood was placed on his right earlobe and on his right thumb and on his right big toe, and then it was sprinkled on his garments. Isn’t this relentless? It is shocking, unyielding, and detailed.

After all these preliminaries, is one day over? No. And then all of this stuff had to take place seven days over again of repetition. They had still to undergo a week’s probation in the court of the tabernacle before they obtained permission to enter the outer court of the sacred building. See, all of this was just so they could get to the doorway. During the whole of that period, the same sacrificial rites were observed as on the first day, and they were expressly admonished that the smallest breach of any of the appointed observances would lead to the certain forfeiture of their lives. Verse 35, “Therefore you shall stay at the door of the tabernacle of meeting day and night for seven days, and keep the charge of the Lord, so that you may not die; for so I have been commanded.” It says in verse 35, there is danger hanging over their head: “if you fail to do anything different and leave the tent, you will die.” “Thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded through Moses.” So there is our rapid survey over the seven major components of the ordination of Aaron and his sons.

We’re going to read in a chapter ahead about two men who did not keep the charge of the Lord precisely, and fire came down from heaven, and they were consumed, and they did die. What is God saying by all this? “Remember, remember, remember, I am a holy, holy, holy God. You are an unclean sinner, a defiled sinner, a condemned sinner.” We said this tabernacle is a sample or specimen come down from heaven through all the galaxies. As you try to go slowly and touch this, it is so hot it bursts and throws you one mile away. “Don’t play with me; I am fire. I am holy.” Do you feel the heat of God’s holiness rising from this specimen passage? All these rituals are intended to give us that feeling. Do you sense heat here? God is a consuming fire and too holy for us to even come near Him. We are full of impurity, like cotton, which will immediately burn to ashes when it comes near this holy fire.

Not only do we see God’s burning holiness, but we also see God’s infinite love. His love for the elect is vigorous and amazingly enterprising. On one side, we ought to be amazed about how man’s sinful defilement is displayed here. Man is so far from God, totally depraved from head to toe. But in a profound sense, much more we ought to be amazed at the complex enterprise that Jehovah had invented or contrived to remedy man’s plight. Man was caught in a big, complex trouble, sinning against an eternal and holy God, but look at what was devised by their God Jehovah to remedy their situation.

Man has fallen in a horrible pit in 1001 ways, and it is universally impossible for him to come to God. The mind of the gracious Father has devised and appointed an astounding ministry that will lift sinful man from his deep pit and bring him closest to the heart of his God. The name of that ministry is the high priestly ministry.

Did you notice the detailed regulations that are present in this passage? There’s a great complexity that is found here, interweaving the divine principles of the various burnt offerings to deal with the reality of man’s defilement and man’s depravity, and on the other side, satisfying the wonder of God’s holiness. All of these things are complexly woven together in this passage. All this shows that God’s love for the elect is vigorous, strong, and enterprising. It is very creative. The Creator became very, very creative in saving man. Oh, what do I tell you about this ministry? A ministry that will meet every problem of this fallen and completely damaged man.

Just to give an illustration to grasp this love. Imagine a husband and wife. They lived for a few years, and the wife had all kinds of diseases in her body, not one part was okay. Then she also met with a terrible car crash and lives with a difficult problem in every part of her body. On their 25th anniversary, the husband has secretly designed and had built a new home for his dear wife. He carries her and crosses the door threshold. She sees the hall, every item in the hall. Her eyes filled with tears, because, “This is the kind of big hall I always wanted and told you about for years. This is exactly the shelf and this is exactly the color I need.” She looks at the bedroom and wardrobe and space, she looks at her husband. “That is the very thing I’ve been longing for all the 25 years that I have been married to you.” He has designed everything knowing each of her health problems. She cannot climb stairs because of hip pain, so no steps in the house; all ground floor. She can sit in the hall on one sofa and control the fan, TV, and AC, all in one place. She cannot stand for long, so in the kitchen she can sit and cook. The cabinets will automatically come to her hand every time she presses a button, with no movement needed. She has arthritis, so the bathroom is designed with a whirlpool hot bath for her to relax. Every tap has hot water for her. A design for her neck pain, a design for shoulder pain, hand pain, and leg pain. Beholding all of these things, his love for her is displayed by his vigorous and enterprising project. It is very creative. It is complex, showing much forethought. It was tailor-made for her every need. She hugs her husband and kisses him and says, “You are a lovely husband.”

And so too, brethren, as we look at the intricate details of the ministry of priesthood for depraved sinners like you and me, we see the masterful forethought of the living God and His enterprising love for sinners. We will see He matches each and every one of the sinful diseases, guilt, shame, and needs. When we see all this, our eyes should be full of grateful tears as we look at the Father who masterminded all of this on our behalf.

See, as dirty, filthy, guilty sinners, we were created to live in the love of God. We lost that love and are staggering. Here is the burnt offering to feel my acceptance and love. We lost the joy of God and being grateful. Here is the grain offering to feel that joy. Oh, how we lost the peace of God and what a tossing of a tsunami in each of our hearts all our lives. Here is a peace offering to experience God’s peace. Oh, what do I do, I sinned and I continue to sin. Here is a sin offering for your continual sins. Oh, what do I do about this terrible crushing guilt? Here is a guilt offering designed to deliver you from guilt.

But God, all my offerings are so flawed and sinful. Here is a Priest who can sanctify all that and represent you before me. God, I feel guilty. I don’t have the confidence to come to you. I cannot pray as I should, worship as I should, or thank as I should. Don’t worry, I have appointed a perfect priest for you. Here is God’s shadow of that priest, appointing Aaron. He is a type, and is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. We need washing, our reputation washed. We need an anointed priest. There it is. We need robes of perfect righteousness. It is a wonderful dress here. There they are, right in the passage. And brethren, every detail is by God’s appointment, because it says repeatedly, I believe it’s 12 times in the eighth chapter of Leviticus, it says, “just as the Lord commanded Moses.” Who was it who with such vigorous and enterprising forethought devised all of these things on our behalf, matching our every need? It was the Lord, our God, who commanded Moses, who devised this priesthood to redeem His people.

And brethren, we ought to be filled with wonder and with love as we move through this shadowy blueprint. But even more so, as we move from the blueprint of the Levitical priesthood to the reality that is found in the Lord Jesus Christ, which we will see next time. And it’s interesting, too, how none of Christ’s priestly service was of His own innovation. It was all designed by the love of the Father. Remember how Jesus said in John 6:38, “I came down from heaven not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.”

But sometimes there are individuals who have the notion that God the Father is the member of the Trinity who is the one who brings wrath. And somehow it is the Son who is the one who somehow protects us from the wrath of the head of the Trinity, the Father. This is not true. Who was it who devised all of these provisions of this priesthood in the house of God, which was a tabernacle? It was the Father. The high priest comes and says, “This is not of my innovation. I am merely doing the will of the Father.” Do you sense the love of God in all this complexity? What intense, enterprising love. We see God’s holiness and God’s love.

The final lesson under what we are learning about God, we see the height of God’s grace to sinners. Yes, God is going to send His perfect son to fulfill this great priestly ministry. But this passage shows what kind of sinners He has loved and chosen to save them through this complex, marvelous ministry.

See the selection of the first man for Priesthood: Aaron. Let me ask you, what was the last big public appearance of Aaron before there was the tabernacle erection and the priestly ordination? What was his last big, high-profile public appearance? What did he do? This is the man who forged the golden calf. That’s the last time we saw a high-profile appearance of Aaron. His last formal sermon to the people of God was in these words in Exodus 32:4. After making the golden calf, pointing to a bull, “This is your God, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And he did it while Moses was up on a mountain and the people thought, “This man is gone. He’s not coming back. We want something that we can worship with our own eyes.” There was a great sin of insubordination and blasphemy. There was a mutiny that was idolatry that was initiated by Aaron. And when Moses finally came down and had broken the tablets, he asked Aaron, “What have you done?” His lame excuse in 32:24 was, “the people, they asked me to do this. They gave all the gold, and literally, I threw the gold into the fire and out came this calf. It was not my fault.” It’s not my fault! You see this man-fearing coward in this man named Aaron? It’s the last time we saw him. He led them into idolatry. He had done such a horrible sin. He should have been crushed with all those who went down under the earth and perished eternally in hell for his sin.

This unworthy man, the next time he appears in public, God has chosen him and ordained him to the highest spiritual office of the land. Wow! What is this? But behold the height of the grace of God towards sinners.

Isn’t there a profound truth to be found in this? Brethren, we see that with the washings and with the blood, sin offering, burnt, peace, and guilt offering, even such a wretched man and a scoundrel is able to enter into the very Holy of Holies, the presence of the living God.

It wasn’t only Aaron who was such a scoundrel. Isn’t it reminiscent of a Peter? “I shall never deny you.” And then the man-fearing coward, at the cackling of a little slave girl, three times, cusses and swears and makes vows and denies the Lord Jesus Christ. But for him, too, this cowardly sinner, there is a glorious reinstatement. As the Lord Jesus said up in Galilee, “Peter, do you love Me?” And then He said to him, “Feed My sheep.” In other words, he was installed as a leader among all of the twelve disciples. There’s a benefit for us, fellow man-fearing and weak-willed cowards.

It is not just Aaron and Peter. Isn’t this a wonderful sample of what God repeatedly does in saving people? Unworthy, the worst blasphemers, idolators, scoundrels, and wretches, are elected, washed, and welcomed into His presence and given the highest position. We ought to be amazed, brethren, at the kind of a man the living God chooses to serve as a priest in His house. Men just like you and me. Idolaters, scoundrels, and unclean. That’s the kind of a man the living God chooses to be a priest and a guest in His house. Can you believe it? 1 Peter 2:9 says, “we are a royal priesthood.” “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.” We’re all priests in a new covenant church. We are all men of the cloth, as it were, a royal priesthood. And we remain in our lofty places. Like that beggar, Mephibosheth, sits in the royal palace of King David. We are chosen to sit with the King of Kings. We’ve been chosen to be in this lofty place by our merits? No, by the height of God’s grace, as a testimony of God’s grace.

Our only worth is that we are the worst sinners. God chooses weak-willed, sinful cowards and blasphemers. It’s God’s merciful appointment that makes us to be priests. After we become priests, do we walk like that? No sign. But it’s God’s long-suffering patience that keeps us as priests. We’re going to find Aaron is going to mount a mutiny with his sister Miriam against Moses in chapters ahead. But is he still a priest? Yes.

But is he blown out of the high priesthood? No, not at all. He remains because he’s been appointed by the grace of the living God.

This grace should melt your heart, make you repent, and come back to God today. You who have been idolatrous in your life, maybe even in this past week or past season of life, you’ve been forging mental golden calves, worshipping things of this world, worshipping something materialistic instead of worshipping the living God. You who have been slow to confess or have given all kinds of excuses for your sin, even like Aaron did, behold the grace of God; may it melt you into repentance. You are a royal priest. What are you doing in that gutter of the world?

Come back to the house of the living God, come back to the heavenly feast. He welcomes you, “welcome my priest,” as David says, “he prepares a table before me.”

So, there are three truths of God: God’s holiness, God’s love, and God’s grace.

Don’t miss Part 2 on this chapter; we will read marvelous lessons about the priestly ministry of our Lord Jesus.

We are often like a fish in an aquarium. It lived there for many years, it knows every inch of the box, when to turn, when to swim. It can swim innumerable times, even with its eyes closed for days, without a collision. This conviction made it feel very secure and confident, as if it knew everything in the world. Then, one day, the owner decided to leave the fish in an ocean. Imagine the shock when it jumped into the vast ocean. It caught a glimpse of the limitless, infinite, horizonless Atlantic Ocean, and it realized how foolish and ignorant it was to think it knew everything in the world.

Like that fish, each of us is living in our own aquarium. We think we have a handle on our sin, we know our sins, this and that, and how to navigate in life so we don’t collide with it. Leviticus throws us into the ocean and opens our eyes to see the depth of our own sin and the height of God’s holiness.

I was imagining what it would be like to worship and come to God in the Old Testament. You cannot come to a holy God without these offerings. Without a sacrifice, without the shedding of blood, it was impossible to come into the presence of God. All these five offerings show us how to come to God. We saw the burnt offering first, as the foundational offering for us to be approached, welcomed, and accepted by God. Then, we saw the grain offering, the peace offering, and the sin offering. It amazes us to realize that all the sins mentioned in the sin offering were sins of ignorance. Those sins we don’t even know—a number no computer can compute—even those sins defile us and need cleansing. Atonement should be given for that. It shows our great need as depraved sinners. We have to be regularly humble and make confession of sins a regular part of our prayer.

You offer these four—burnt, grain, peace, and sin offering—daily. You will see progress in your relationship with God. Our deepest spiritual needs are met—love, joy, peace, and forgiveness are met. Next, he talks about our relationship with other men. Primarily, this offering is about how we sin against one another in society, break relationships, and cause conflicts, and how to restore those relationships.

This is called the guilt offering. To feel guilty, then, means to be conscious of your liability to repay. It is knowing you are in a state of debt. We all worry about physical debt, which doesn’t even allow us to sleep. It is such a burden. Spiritual debt is much more burdensome. It is the main reason for a restless conscience and a sleepless burden. What do you do with your guilt? This section outlines the procedure for atoning for or obliterating guilt.

There are five categories of sins mentioned under the guilt offering. We saw three last time. Now two other classes of trespass sins are brought before us. The fourth is found in Verses 14-19, at the end of chapter 5, and then the fifth one. I told you this guilt offering goes on to 6:1-7. Let us look at the fourth guilt offering. It consists of sin against the holy things of God. This may not be directly against God, but against His temple, holy things, and ministers, priests, or pastors.

Verse 14, “Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: 15 ‘If a person commits a trespass, and sins unintentionally in regard to the holy things of the Lord.'” This offense involved something done in “the holy things of the LORD.” The word means things that are to be devoted to God. This means they were related to God and His tabernacle. Even in our lives, there are things God says are His, and He has rights. It could be sinning against temple rules, keeping the Sabbath, maybe a failure to attend a holy assembly as a covenanted Israelite, not following the rules of sacrifices, a failure to give sacrifices, or a failure to give tithes and sinning against priests. Part of God’s holy things might be the tithes or sacrifices. Or you might be late in bringing your offering. You might take one of the utensils of the temple, one of the spoons, take it home, and you might have used it at home inadvertently, and then realized that this is a holy utensil, it belongs in the temple.

They had different kinds of tithes and offerings. There was a tithe offering during the harvest. Maybe he did not offer what he was supposed to give. Maybe he gave a 10% tithe of the harvest, ten bags, when he counted that he got a harvest of 100 bags. Later, the count was wrong; it was 130 bags. He didn’t know, but later he realized. Maybe we saw the fat, liver, and kidney were to go to the Lord, and the thigh and breast to the priest. Maybe without knowing, his family participated in something which was holy to the Lord. Or maybe he has eaten some fat which should all be given to God.

Again, notice sins of ignorance. The person didn’t understand that what he was doing was wrong at the time. But when he learned about it, he was not merely to pass it off and say, “Well, I didn’t understand that at the time.” Blinded by the deceitfulness of sin, we may just ignore it and may not store that in our minds, but it all gets stored in the conscience and causes guilt and hardens our heart.

No, no. It is a terrible guilt to sin against the holy things of God. This is seen in the kind of sacrifice. Notice that if such a thing happens, the sacrifice is a man was to take a ram without defect (Verse 15). Now we notice with other sacrifices there was a gradation downward. If you were a poor man, you wouldn’t have to bring a cow or a ram, maybe a pigeon or a turtledove, or even flour. But here, there is no gradation downward because of poverty. In the guilt offering, there is stiff regulation. In fact, the ram that is brought can’t just be any ram. It has to be a ram of adequate size, weighed according to, it says in Verse 15, “the shekel of the sanctuary.” Not just man’s weights and measures, but God’s weights and measures of God’s temple. The priest functioned as the representative of God, for something had been stolen from God.

God strictly demands an offering of adequate payment to cover the cost for man’s heavy sin of having stolen God’s property. As stealing from God incurs guilt and requires a guilt offering, it must be adequately paid for with not a low-quality ram, but a high-caliber ram before the Lord.

So we’ve seen the incident and the sacrifice. It doesn’t stop with atonement. There is also restitution. We notice not only does God require atonement by way of an expensive ram slain at the altar, but also we find the priests need compensation. Not only has God been violated in heaven, but the priests have been violated on earth. For who was the one who was to receive that firstborn cow? It was the priests and their family. Who was it who rightly should have gotten those five measures of grain? It was the priests and their family. So it needs to be paid back.

But we notice in Verse 16, restitution must be made for that which was sinned against the holy thing and you shall add to it the fifth part of it. So a Jew failed to pay 10 kg of barley as a tithe. Because of his sin, he now has to pay with 1/5th interest, meaning 20% extra, 12 kg of barley. A 20% extra surcharge is paid back as restitution. Even the idea of time loss was paid.

But Pastor, this is so harsh and strict. Yes, for us living in carelessness of guilt, hardened by so many unknown sins, this all seems very strange and foreign to reckless Christianity. But it shows how just God is, how holy God is. Remember, God is worshipped not only for his grace and love, but also for how admirably, exactly, and justly He is, and how precise He is. The beauty of God is He is just in all things, with the exact inflexible justice of our God, which is so foreign to the recklessness of our day. God is a God of precision. Yes, for us wallowing in sins and guilt, it may seem harsh and unattractive, but this is a very attractive nature of God.

And we ought to have this educate our consciences, because one of the primary reasons for this guilt offering is to educate the consciences of His people and not allow the deceitfulness of sin to harden our consciences saying, “Oh, well, I’ll just plead ignorance.” If we think God is harsh, see the conclusion at the end of Verse 16, which says, even though a man sinned against God’s holy things and even though a man has robbed from God, it shall be forgiven him. So, that is the occasion of sinning against the Lord’s property.

Under the same category of sins against holy things, notice the second occasion, and that is the occasion of encountering a bad conscience. This is found in 5:17-19. We notice in these verses that the sharpening and honing of the consciences of His people continues.

Notice Verse 17: “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.” This is difficult. Whatever the sin was, it was a sin that the man was unaware of; it was done unintentionally, and it says he didn’t know it. Maybe this is a person who suspects that he has sinned because he has a disturbed and a bad conscience. But he doesn’t know why his conscience is disturbed and bad. Maybe some sin against the holy things of God, but he doesn’t know what. Maybe he has eaten something that should be given to God, like fat, or broken some rules of sacrifices or tithing, but he doesn’t know. And therefore, because he has this hankering that he can’t really explain, then what should he do?

You might say to yourself, “Why is this such an important thing? Surely God will be lenient at this point. I mean, there are some things that ought to be overlooked.” But we find in the Word of God here that there is no lenient forbearance at this point. There is no winking. God does not say, in such a circumstance, “Don’t let it bother you.” Instead, look what it says in 19B: “It is a guilt offering. He was certainly guilty…” It presses the word “certainly.”

What should he do, just ignore and go on? No. The text says, in such a condition, that man is indeed guilty. Verse 18: “And he shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock.” “So the priest shall make atonement for him regarding his ignorance in which he erred and did not know it, and it shall be forgiven him.” Now, we do notice that there is no call for restitution by way of a requirement here. Because he doesn’t know how much or what kind of sin he has committed. Restitution is not required.

Though he doesn’t know, but he feels guilt, he has fallen into debt before the living God, and therefore he should bring a sacrifice to cleanse his conscience. He needs to pay off his guilt and his debt to the living God. Whether this man considered it a big sin or not, God considered in the heavenly accounting books there had been a debt incurred, and the man needs a blood sacrifice to make reparation and restitution in heaven.

Now, brethren, we see here in this that, once again, the door is sprung open on our limited fish tank conception of our sin. We have this native idea of our sin that sin is only that which is flagrant and deliberate and known. But that is not the conception that God has of sin. When we have that concept of sin, we think that we can control our lives and our morality, just like our fish tank friend in the beginning. He was so familiar with every cubic foot of his tank; he knew every crack, every nook, every cranny. And brethren, what we find in this passage is that our sin is of oceanic proportion. We find in this passage, like the psalm writer says, “My sin, O Lord, when I understand Your idea of it, my sin goes over my head. Yea, my sin is as many as the hairs on my head, uncountable in number.” Because sin, brethren, is not only openly flagrant, deliberate, and known, but sin is subtle. Sin is at times unknown. So, that is the occasion of encountering a bad conscience. The fourth category we see under the guilt offering is sins against the holy things of God.

Finally, the fifth sin under this category of guilt offering is deceiving a neighbor by false swearing. In all cases, he swears falsely. Notice with me how all of these scenarios that are given here. There are four examples: deposit, cheating, robbery, extortion, and lying.

The first scenario, Verse 2, is a person who gives something to another to keep safely, such as money, things, or animals. The other person deceives his companion in regard to a deposit or security entrusted to him. Imagine a man comes in the ancient world and he says, let us use the name Cain, “My wife and I are going up to Mount Hermon for a week. Would you please take this bull and allow him to graze on your land? Keep an eye on him.” There’s a security that’s been given there, a deposit. We find then when the man returns back from Mount Hermon and says, “Cain, where is my bull?” Cain says, “Boy, sorry man. I was busy. I haven’t seen him; he must have escaped.” But Cain knows that three days earlier he had an urgent need, so he sold that bull to a man for his own profit. And when the man says, “Cain, come on, don’t you know where it is?” He says, “I swear before God that I do not know where that bull is. He must have escaped unbeknownst to me.” See, not only is it cheating the deposit, but it is also false swearing.

The next scenario is called deception by robbery. You know, in ancient days, people didn’t put their money in a bank, but they would put their money oftentimes in a corner of their field, buried like hidden treasure. Now, it may be that one day a man named Achan spied his neighbor’s treasure location and by the dark of night went and stole it and hid it for himself. When his neighbor confronted him the next morning, saying, “Achan, did you see anybody digging in my field last night?” And the man says, “No, I swear I don’t know anything about it.” This is sinning against a neighbor by robbery.

The third scenario we find here is the case of extortion. Extortion means to wrongly take something from someone, either by taking advantage of their ignorance, naive nature, or even by threats or force. Like Laban did to Jacob or Jezebel did to Naboth, taking his field. Let’s say there is a woman, Sarah, whose husband just died. Sarah is a poor widow, very ignorant of the world and things. A relative named Jacob takes advantage of this and says, “You are my daughter. What will you do to live now on? I can take care of you and your kids, but the world will say something. So sell your husband’s field to me. I’m going to give you a tremendous price for it.” He pays only 25% of its worth and so he extorts the widow, taking advantage of her difficult situation and ignorance, twisting her arm with his persuasion. Then you go and try to sell that for the full price. Someone comes and says, “Sir, did you give this small amount to this widow for the vast field?” He says, “I swear I gave her a much larger amount than that.” So that is extortion.

Verse 3: We find the fourth scenario is “or found what was lost and lied about it.” You imagine if a man says, “David, have you seen my lamb? My lamb, he was in your field only a few hours ago, someone told me. So I came running to take him, but now he is gone.” And the man says, “I swear I haven’t seen that lamb,” even though that very afternoon he knows that he ate mutton.

In all cases, we find wrong against a neighbor and then taking an oath that was untrue. On all of these occasions, when a person was suspected and confronted, they took an oath in Jehovah’s name claiming, “I am innocent.” He is guilty.

But he has cheated, and no one can find out. He can continue. But something happens to the man. Verse 4 says, he is guilty. His guilt burdens his conscience. “I not only cheated, but I also promised in God’s name.” No one catches the man, but the man realizes in his own conscience he has done wrong. Conscience is stricken with a sense of his guilt. He wants to correct it.

Let’s take our man Cain. He knows that he sold that bull for a handsome price. And we find that Jacob’s conscience begins to eat away at him and it chews him up from the inside out. He cannot sleep. And though there is no more evidence to be found against Cain, because he sold to some Midianite who went on to Egypt and they’d never find out about it. Cain, without any kind of evidence being brought against him, no further prosecution, but he comes by his own volition and confesses his sin. And Cain says, “I have sinned. I turned myself in. It was a great crime.” This is the typical scenario of the occasion of sinning and swearing an oath in vain. The same way with all these people: Cain cheating with a deposit, Achan with robbery, Jacob with extortion, David with lying, without any evidence, but because of the guilt of conscience, they want to set this right.

Now what should they do to atone for their guilt? Notice with me the required procedures. Cain, Achan, Jacob, and David have both horizontal responsibility, that is, man to man, and vertical responsibility, that is, man to God.

Look with me, first of all, at the importance of manward restitution. For the guilt, the man is to return to the victim the stolen goods, the property, the payment, whatever it was, all of the funds, plus one-fifth. Look at Verse 5: “He shall make restitution for it in full and add to it one-fifth more.” We see here that God’s justice makes sure that even though the man has confessed sin, there is to be no advantage to him by way of his possessing the property for a period of time. To man, a full restitution plus a surcharge.

So you took my books and forgot to give them back. You should pay 20% of the cost of the book and give back my book. You can pay with PhonePe, no problem. Or someone takes a vessel from our house and never returns it. One person took my umbrella and never returned it. Or I take something of someone in my house. They come to my house and say, “Hey, that is mine.” “Ah, no no, my uncle gave me that for Christmas.” You’ve transgressed, and you need to make a guilt offering.

Now, we might think this is harsh, adding 20% more, but brethren, this is really great mercy. When we think of Exodus chapter 22, which speaks of a man being convicted in court of theft, if he stole a sheep, we find he was always forced to pay back fourfold, 400%. Or if it was an ox that was stolen, he had to pay back five oxen. You see, brethren, since the person was driven to confession solely on the basis of his conscience, he only has to pay back 20% plus the full amount. And this is clearly an incentive provided by the living God that His people would maintain clear consciences.

But man not only had to pay back man, man also had to pay back God. There is Godward restoration and restitution provided here for his guilt. There is more than violating a fellow man that is taking place. In these crimes I have described, the man has violated God. The eighth commandment: stealing. The ninth commandment: taking His name in vain. And therefore, what do you think the man has to bring to God? A prime, unblemished ram before the Lord. Once again, there is exact counting. A man needs to pay it to the last farthing, to the last cent, according to the shekel valuation of the tabernacle. To the last farthing.

What is Verse 7b? The blessed outcome of all this. “The priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven for any one of the things which he may have done to incur guilt.” See, this was not a sin of ignorance. This was a deliberate sin. This was a cunning sin. But you see, this man had a conscience that was smitten by the law of God. And this man did not violate his conscience, but he honored his conscience and he repented. He was forgiven. Healing was brought when proper restitution and sacrifice was made.

So we see the fourth and fifth situations for the guilt offering: sins against the holy things of God and sins of deceiving a neighbor by false swearing.

Now, all that’s very interesting, but what has that got to do with me? What are the lessons for us today? Oh, this is all the Old Testament, the oldest Old Testament, the 3rd book. Yes, true, all may not apply, but we can learn many principles for us today in the New Testament.

Firstly, the book enters every secret nook and corner of our lives and uncovers sins that we would never think about. They uncover sins that we would dismiss in a heartbeat, and it shows all sins are sins, whether known or unknown. Every single sin renders you guilty.

The Book of Leviticus is a holiness code. It is in this book that God calls, “Be ye holy for I am holy.” I said holiness is meaning wholeness. All parts of our body function as God created us to be full like God in joy, peace, love, and holiness. It’s a book pre-eminently that teaches us what true holiness is, about the parameters of holiness, and about the structure of holiness.

I believe God is teaching that true sanctification or holiness is not just an outward show, but to maintain a clean conscience without guilt. Did you notice that all throughout this passage? In all five categories of sins, the man who committed these sins was not caught or didn’t face any consequences or punishment for sins. But what moved him was his own guilty conscience. It made him realize that the things he did were sins later and made him guilty. That is why this is called the guilt offering. All provisions in this offering are designed to impress the conscience with the sense of responsibility to God and to keep alive in the hearts of His people a wholesome fear of doing any secret wrong.

The reason for all terrible internal struggles, peacelessness, struggles, fears, and psychological problems is the terrible burden of guilt. He is training people in those old times about the importance of cultivating a clean conscience. God is training His people to maintain a sensitive conscience. If in that old time, God is training sensitive consciences in His people, how much more important this is in the New Testament. As a New Testament believer, this passage teaches us there is no more important task in the life of a Christian than the maintenance of a clean and sensitive conscience. We should reject a just outward religion that is satisfied with a clean outward moral, merely in the eyes of men. You just want to be clean before the court of men. We should strive to be clean before our own consciences!

Think. When you gave 100 Rs, the shopkeeper thought you gave 500 and gave you things for 50 Rs and gave you change for 450 Rs. You say it is providence. No, you can never take that with a good conscience. Or other small secret, small crimes. You cheat or twist rules, do some things and get a benefit, but there’s no paper trail whatsoever. No man knows anything about this. You’re never going to be charged in the eyes of man. No court, police, or IT department can punish you for it. It is not a scandalous sin; it is a small, secret sin. The church would never discipline you for that particular private sin. So you’re a member in good standing. No one knows your crime. Is that kind of religion adequate for you? Is that the kind of religion that God calls you to experience? Is that true holiness? Can God be satisfied with that kind of superficial holiness?

The guilt offering shows, no. You have to be clean before the court of your conscience. You don’t live a clean life only before the government or human courts, but before the court of your own conscience and before God.

But there is a private scandal that goes on maybe inside the doors of your heart that only you know about. But you are whitewashed clean in the eyes of men, but not in the eyes of God with a good conscience. Didn’t our Lord repeatedly rebuke the Pharisees for this kind of religion? “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.” Luke 16:15.

In this old offering, God shows the court of the conscience is the most crucial tribunal in this life. And we need to labor hard to be blameless at that tribunal. I mean the court of conscience that is enlightened by the law of God. Who cares what the courts of the world, IT, or government say? We know how low and many times wrong they are. Are we going to think we are holy saints because no one catches us and the government doesn’t accuse? The issue is, what does God know? Oh, the importance of cultivating a tenderness of conscience.

Our eternal hope of should make us live such a life.

Paul says in Acts 24:15-16, “Having a hope in God, which these men cherish themselves, that there shall certainly be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. In view of this, I also do my best to maintain always a blameless conscience both before God and before men.” He may have written that the day after he had his daily devotions in Leviticus 5 and 6. This issue of conscience was so important. We should be cultivating a good conscience before the living God. Our progress in the path of sanctification is directly related to how much we maintain a good and a clear conscience. It is not easy. Oh, what a terrible feeling. We’ve got to consider our deeds, our thoughts, our emotions, our attitudes, even our ignorance, and how much sin we have in our lives.

Sit and think of your sins from this perspective. You will realize the shock that fish felt jumping from a small aquarium to the ocean. We see the oceanic character of our sin. This guilt offering not only shows the importance of a clean conscience, but how we can have a clean conscience. We can maintain a clean conscience when we atone for our sins against our neighbor and God.

First, how, before men. If we have done anything wrong to people, it is not enough to just say sorry. To have a clean conscience, as much as possible, set things right with men. Do restitution.

We must understand when God gave a law. The eighth commandment says, “Thou shalt not steal.” God is a serious God. God is not only the protector of his own property, but He is also the protector of every man’s property. If we have cheated anyone in any way, try to set that right. That is why Zacchaeus, in Luke 19, received the gospel. What is the first fruit of his receiving the gospel? Zacchaeus says in Luke 19:8-9, “If I have defrauded anyone of anything, I will give it back four times as much,” according to Levitical law, Exodus law. And what was Jesus’ response when He heard that? “Today, salvation has visited this home.” Why? Because this man is bringing forth the fruits of salvation in keeping with righteousness. Not only did Zacchaeus confess his sin to God and ask forgiveness from God, but he also made himself right with man horizontally. John the Baptist taught the genuineness of that repentance is seen by the act of restitution. It wasn’t a cheap repentance.

If we have emotionally done harm to anyone, as we saw in conflicts, we should always set that right to have a clean conscience. Matthew 5:23, “Here’s a man who’s trying to make himself right with God, but he finds out he has a debt he owes to a man. Look what he does. Jesus says, ‘If therefore you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering.'”

That’s why we must teach our children. “Alright? You hit your brother. And now you’ve got a spanking. And now, you must pray to God, ‘Dear Lord, please forgive me of my sin.'” Is she done? No, she’s got to go to her brother and tell her brother, “I’m sorry, Robert, that I struck you. Please forgive me.” Forgiveness does not allow us to forget the damage done, but requires us in repentance and with confession to make the wrong right as far as possible. We cannot think that heavenly confession and forgiveness absolves us of earthly obligation.

The second thing is not only a clean conscience before men. “Okay, I have restored to man all wrongs I have done.” Is that adequate for a clean conscience? No. Even if Zacchaeus pays fourfold, it’s inadequate to make him right with God. The only way we can be restored before God is He needs a ram. Verse 15, “a ram without defect.”

In this book, we again look at the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ from multiple angles or multiple pictures. Consider how in the burnt offering we have a personal picture. We see that the animal in the burnt offering personally absorbs the fatal blow which is really deserved by the worshipper, and that bull is really the Lord Jesus Christ who is the substitute taking the lethal blow that we sinners deserve. That’s one angle of the burnt offering. It makes our person acceptable and loved by God.

Then we have the sin offering giving us another angle. It is not a personal picture, but a medical picture of infection. Remember how in that sin offering we saw how sin contaminates the sinner, making him unfit for the presence of God. He is defiled by sin. How can he be atoned for? God banishes him from the camp with the sacrifices. He takes the whole animal outside the camp and burns it. He is defiled and infected, but the blood of the lamb sprinkled disinfects him from his sin so that now after the sin offering, the sinner can draw nigh to God and He draws nigh to us.

But here we find a third picture, a third angle in this guilt offering. It’s not a personal picture or a medical picture, it’s an economic picture. An economic picture where we see in this, the guilt offering, that sin is a deep debt that man incurs before God and owes to God. A deep debt! The guilt offering required financial compensation according to the shekel of the sanctuary, the particular form of money that was employed and utilized in the sanctuary. And some kind of financial payment or fine was imposed for an act of sacrilege. It was a total satisfaction of every claim that sin might exercise upon the sinner.

Oh, do we see the debt of our sins? We may think it was in crores. We are not hearing about these unknown sins or conscience-defiling sins. Our debt of sins is not billions, not trillions, but infinitillion of dollars we owe to the living God. And consider God’s exact justice. God would deal with our sins according to His exact justice. Every penny will be collected. The eternal enslavement in hell with weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth that would be ours. We shall not be released until we pay the last farthing. What do we have in our pockets to pay off the living God? Nothing. We have a negative balance. It will never pay off even a penny of what we owe Godward. It’s all worthless in our trying to repay the theft that we have given toward dishonoring and robbing God of His honor and of His name. So, brethren, we are destined to an eternal agony of weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth in the quarry of hell. What a debt that is ours.

It is this desperate situation for us. Isaiah 53 says, “Christ, he became our guilt offering.” What did the Lord do? “The Lord was pleased to crush him.” “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.” Christ is the ram who can pay off that debt in full. Whatever it is that is owed to God because of our sin that renders us guilty, Jesus bore it. In fact, He’s paid it off in red. Paid in full, it says in the heavenly accounting books, according to heaven’s shekel weight.

But brethren, behold the Lamb of God who paid for the sins of the world, paid for the sins of every tribe and tongue and kindred and nation. You behold His payment, brethren. Consider how in the garden of Gethsemane, Gabbatha, and Golgotha, abandoned by the Father and shouting out, “My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” And then we see Him breathing out His last breath and saying, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head because, brethren, He paid it to the last farthing. What you and I owe, an infinitillion more dollars, we owe to the living God. Blessed be God. He paid it to the last farthing. Remember Isaiah, because he offered himself as a guilt offering, all the blessings of justification, adoption, and eternal life came to him. Praise his name.

Hebrews 10:22 says, “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”

Oh, it’s at the heart of the gospel, my friends! The substitutionary sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

“Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe.”

For a clean conscience now, we don’t bring rams or goats. We come with the blood of Jesus and look to that, to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed for me. He gave Himself up for me, in my place, in my stead. There is forgiveness. No matter what the sin, my friend, no matter how great the sin, you go to Jesus, there is forgiveness for you, a clean conscience before God, my friend. Praise God, there is. Praise God, there is.

The five offerings in Leviticus have almost become my daily prayer. It is like every day I wake and I remind myself that I have to offer these offerings in prayer. I can go to God in prayer because of the burnt offering of Jesus Christ. I offer that as a soothing aroma to God, realizing that it is because of His life and death, that in whatever state I am, I can come to God and enjoy His acceptance and love as His justified child. Then as a response to that, I offer a grain offering, offering myself to God in gratitude, and then I offer a peace offering. No matter what situation I may be facing, I for some time meditate on or feed on Christ’s “breast and thigh,” His infinite love for me and infinite power. It brings great peace. And then, I offer my sin offering, confessing and realizing we have sinned not only knowingly but also unknowingly in many ways. I confess my sins and I have to take the sin offering outside the camp and burn it. This indicates God’s wise way of dealing with sin. Not only forgiving our sins on the basis of Jesus’ work, but making us realize all those sins were put on Christ Jesus. We in a way put our hand on His head and transfer our sins to Him. We see the horror of what our sins did to Him, and that makes us sorrowful for sin, hate sin, and turn from sin, which makes us grow in sanctification. The amazing dynamics of the five offerings help us grow in our relationship with God. All that we need to grow in our relationship with God is covered in the details of those four offerings. You offer these four—the burnt, grain, peace, and sin offerings—daily, and you will see progress in your relationship with God. Our deepest spiritual needs—love, joy, peace, and forgiveness—are met.

In beautiful divine order, after dealing with our relationship with God, the fifth offering, called the trespass offering, or the guilt offering, primarily deals with guilt in a man’s relationship with another man. This offering shows how to maintain a peaceful, workable relationship with our neighbor, whether he be a member of our family or any other human being with whom we come in contact. We don’t realize how much we sin in our relationships with wives, husbands, children, and others. Because of regular sins, the relationship is broken. This is the offering which teaches us how to restore harmony to broken human relationships.

It comes last to teach us a very important lesson: only when we are regularly experiencing God’s love, joy, peace, and forgiveness can we live in harmonious relationships with other humans. You cannot get along with your neighbor until somehow you have learned to relate to your God. In God’s order, after talking about how to set right our relationship with God in the first four offerings, God gets around to talking about how we can get along with other humans. But you know, this is exactly the reverse of the way we humans usually go about it. We are concerned primarily about our human relationships: husband problems, wife problems, children problems, boss problems. In society, men are fighting. We have so many programs and plans to stop men from hurting one another, to stop family domestic violence, to stop divorce, to stop crime, to eliminate war, to correct injustices. We think if we educate people and teach them the importance and benefits of good manners and relationships, it will be more civilized, and all that will stop. But divorce is more common in educated countries. The more a man is educated, the more subtle his criminal acts against another man. There is so much cutthroat competition among educated people working in corporates and IT. We have so many conflict resolution programs, but the problem continues.

Here God shows the reason for all human relationship problems is that our relationship with our God is broken. That is why the first tablet of the law talks about our relationship with God first. Only when that is right will you love your neighbor, love your wife, not commit adultery and divorce your wife, not bear false witness, rob your neighbor, lie against, or covet anything of your neighbor. You see, it is the first tablet which provides the power to carry out the second tablet. If you have the right relationship with God, you can be a good husband, wife, parent, worker, and citizen. Mankind from the beginning has been trying to find a peaceful society by reversing that order. It is all a failure. Whatever developed civilizations, even though they had wealth and military might, they were trying to find a peaceful society, nevertheless, they crumbled and fought with each other because they had forgotten that simple relationship formula.

It is strange that we don’t understand this simple concept. Personally, the sin in us refuses to accept this truth. Without a proper relationship with God, you cannot have proper human relationships. In this guilt/trespass offering, we are dealing with sins that cause broken relationships with men. An amazing unique thing about the guilt offering is that all these are conscience-related. It is not someone who sins and faces the consequences and then repents. No, even though there are no outward consequences or terrible trouble, a man does something and sins, then his conscience later accuses him that it is wrong, and he feels guilty. So he comes and offers this so he can have peace of conscience. It is amazing. This chapter teaches us how important it is to maintain a clean conscience and how adding guilt destroys our peace.

Another uniqueness of the guilt offering is that God also orders restitution in this to bring peace to the conscience. It is not enough that you confess your sins and say sorry. There was the need to go back and to straighten up the past, as far as it was possible. A broken relationship needs repair, whether something material needs to be restored, or simply whether a hurt emotional injury done to another needs to be admitted. That is why it is sometimes necessary in human affairs to go back and clear up problems of the past.

There were five different categories of sin which were covered by this offering. In the Hebrew Bible, all verses from Chapter 5 right through to 6:7 are one chapter. I wish we could see all together, but we have to split the guilt offering into two. We will see three today and two next week.

The first one can be called the guilt of silence. Verse 1 says, “If a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath, and is a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter—if he does not tell it, he bears guilt.” This was a sin of omission. He has heard someone making an oath, and he refuses to testify. You know the truth, but you think, “Why trouble?”, and you keep quiet instead of speaking. What are you doing? You sin and incur guilt. Verse 1 says, “you will bear that guilt.” Do you know we can sin by “keeping quiet”? How often are we guilty of this sin today? We know the truth, but we keep quiet. It is the sin of not wanting to get involved! For example, “It might hurt our relationship!”, “They may not like me anymore!”, “Someone is saying something which is not correct.” We think, “Oh, it’s not right to interrupt a conversation or a discussion, or to meddle in someone else’s affairs. Someone else will deal with it!” and the list goes on. “Why should I witness for truth? They may get upset.” James says, “he who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, to him it is sin.” How much do we sin against our neighbors by keeping quiet when we should speak? Not speaking when we have to speak is sin! This is the first sin: refusing to testify for truth. Will you commit tonight to dealing with it?

Think of the public damage such a person causes. This also talks about giving witness to something wrong they have seen. A crime has happened, and you have seen it. They call you to give an eyewitness account. But if you refuse to give testimony, you are guilty of this sin. You have committed a sin, and you bear the guilt. Think: Is there anything this week you are “keeping quiet” that God is telling you to deal with, but you’re scared? Leviticus 19:17, “Rebuke your neighbor frankly so you will not share in his guilt.” 1 Timothy 5:20, “Those who are sinning rebuke in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.” Not speaking when we have to speak is sin! First, sin by refusing to testify for truth. Will you commit tonight to dealing with it?

When you refuse to testify, you sin against your neighbor and even sin against your society. Think of what a horrible society it will become if everyone sees a crime and refuses to testify and says, “Why trouble for me?” A crime has happened, a criminal needs to be punished, and the police need testimony to take action. No one comes forward. By our silence, we make criminals brave to do more wrong and commit 100 more crimes. We are part of all those crimes by keeping quiet. We have injured society by withholding testimony. We have made government difficult. Society cannot be governed when evil is concealed.

Yes, it was very important when God’s people were one nation, but even now, we pray for the city and country that there should be peace. How important this is for our society. Why is it so bad? Even leaders are doing wrong, and crimes are growing. One of the reasons we have so many problems in our society and in administering justice today is that people do not want to get involved. People are afraid. So when crime and corruption take place in our society, people just hide it. They don’t say anything to the authorities and won’t even report a crime that is committed right before their eyes. Our police are throwing up their hands and saying, “Help us, please! How can we help you if you won’t help us?” And, way back here in the Old Testament, God declared that this kind of sin injures the whole social structure and makes government impossible. So we can sin by keeping quiet, failing to testify to the truth.

The second category is found in Verses 2-3: “Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean livestock, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and he is unaware of it, he also shall be unclean and guilty. Or if he touches human uncleanness—whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled, and he is unaware of it—when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty.”

This is accidental ceremonial defilement. When such a person learns of their ceremonial uncleanness, he is expected to provide the appropriate sacrifice. That process will make sure he is more careful not to be defiled and does not repeat it again. This introduces the whole matter of unclean things, about which we will learn a good deal more as we go on in Leviticus. Briefly, to give you an idea, when the Old Testament set aside an object, an animal, an act, or a person as unclean, it was recognizing a fundamental law of what today scientists would call “ecology,” natural balance.

These are things that disturb the ecological balance. Many past generations didn’t realize that. Now everyone is talking about ecology, saving nature. Everything is getting destroyed: global warming, floods, global pandemics, and increased diseases. In those old days, God set aside something as unclean and destructive to His beautiful nature and for our body and soul. He put some laws to preserve that. If such a law were broken, there might not be any immediate effect upon the individual who broke it. But if enough people broke it, the cumulative effect would soon be to disturb the delicate balance of nature and ultimately to wreak terrible havoc against the people. That, fundamentally, is what has happened to our society today. If anyone ought to understand this law of uncleanness, it is our generation, for we are reaping the results of the fact that people in the past have ignored the basic relationships of nature. We are the generation who has to pay the interest and principal. We pay money for water. All water needs to be cleaned because most water is unclean, the air is unclean. Because we didn’t care about clean and unclean, we suffer many diseases, we face many consequences.

Did it ever occur to you that all the things which we now regard as nature-destructive and threatening to our society were, when they were first introduced, welcomed as a big innovation and as benefits and blessings? Initially, when the motorbike or car came, people were so excited. What a tremendous advance this was on the horse or bicycle. But today, apart from causing all the traffic jams and choking our lungs, babies, as soon as they are born, go inside incubators to breathe properly, learning to breathe in dirty air. Hundreds of diseases, climate changes, global warming, and ozone destruction are all because of our cars and bikes. It is threatening our whole society. We don’t know what to do with it. We don’t know how to handle it. It has become a bigger problem than we can cope with. Most advanced research shows the best mode of transport not only for ecology but even for human health is what? A horse? No harm to nature. For us, a bumpy ride makes our body completely flexible, blood flow is so improved, no heart problems, no blood pressure problems, the mind becomes sharp, it is very relaxing, no tension like a car in traffic. That is why rich people always ride horses in their garden even now!

The same way with many other inventions: chemicals in soap powder, destroying water; chemicals in food, so many diseases; plastics’ effects on society. Farmers were first so happy with fertilizers. All worms would be destroyed, and they would have more crops. But now, not only is soil acidification food from that land becoming less nutrient, but the regular use of fertilizers is destroying the soil and will become useless in a few years and not grow any crop. Those chemical foods are causing 101 diseases which were not there 50 years ago. So the new greatest trend is clean organic food. Again, only rich people can buy that. We have to eat all inorganic food and suffer diseases.

Even a mobile phone is a wonderful gift. When it came out, for many years I didn’t buy one. I read somewhere that radiation will affect our brain. People made fun of me. I bought a Reliance Jio blue color, a 199 offer. Then people forced me to buy a smartphone. Now, it takes away more of my time. It has made me addicted. I don’t know what to do. Now, more than the benefits, a whole generation is glued to their mobile, from childhood to old age. How many health and mental problems have resulted?

This is the kind of problem which God, in His wisdom, is dealing with in this matter of unclean things. He is teaching man in that early age. “Man, there are clean things that will nurture your life, and there are unclean things which will destroy your happy life. Avoid them. Today you may think it is convenient, useful, or jolly, but these very things will not only spoil your relationship with me, but your relationship with nature, and ultimately destroy you, if you are permitted to continue, and thus constitute an offense against society.”

God shows in those old days the effect of that in these ritual laws. So when we are facing a desperate ecological crisis, we had better take careful notice of what the Bible calls unclean. These are sins we commit against one another, against our society. We are all part of that. We don’t even realize them as sins, they are never in our category of sins. Recognize it first.

Third is a third category in Verse 4: “Or if a person swears, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good, whatever it is that a man may pronounce by an oath, and he is unaware of it—when he realizes it, then he shall be guilty in any of these matters.”

The reference is to an oath to do something uttered in recklessness or passion and forgotten as soon as it is uttered. The first one was not speaking when we should. This one is more like speaking thoughtlessly, rashly, and idly. Psalms 106:33.

An oath is a promise or a vow to accomplish something. A rash oath is one impossible to perform. It is a vow to do something you can’t do. And according to this stipulation, if a man uttered a rash oath—even if it were to do something good, let alone something evil—he was guilty before God. Why? Because in attempting the impossible, he was arrogantly pretending that he can do anything he wants like God and not depending on God as a man. He was forgetting that he was the creature and not the Creator. He was arrogantly talking, “I will do that and accomplish this,” as if he can control everything.

How many times daily do we promise someone something and then say, “I forgot”? Timekeeping. We say for a meeting at 10, then we go there at 10:30. It has all become usual, but we need to realize those are sins. So the guilt of silence, failing to testify, failing to speak when we should, is sin. Defilement by uncleanness is sin. The third is a rash oath and a word that I will do and not do it. All these are sins and need atonement and cleansing and forgiveness.

There are two steps of atonement.

First is confession. Verse 5 says, “And it shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing.” See, first realize and acknowledge these as sins. That itself requires grace. We just live a dodging life without realizing the thousands of things we do that have become a lifestyle and are sins. First, realize these are sins and confess these are sins. Only then do you have to bring an offering (verses 5, 6); and the offering was not accepted unless it was accompanied by a penitential confession and a humble prayer for pardon.

Observe, the confession must be particular: “that he has sinned in that thing”; not general. Deceit lies in generals. Many will own in general they have sinned so that it does not affect or shame them. No, you should feel sorrow, hate, and shame for that particular sin. That is the kind of particular confession that will help you avoid and make you well armed against that sin in the future.

Second, bring a trespass offering. Verse 6, “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.” As the atonement was not accepted without his repentance, so his repentance would not justify him without the atonement.

This was to be a female animal, which is very cheap, because here we are dealing with man in his weakness, in his submission to the laws of nature. Therefore, the female is the appropriate symbol. Verses 7-13, you see God’s great mercy. A provision was made for all economic classes. If a person couldn’t afford a lamb, he could bring turtledoves. And if he couldn’t afford turtledoves, verse 11 says he could bring just a handful of fine flour and offer that. So even the poorest were allowed to come to God and receive forgiveness and reconciliation from God. This shows that the forgiving mercy of God is available for all kinds of people. Provision is here made for the poor of God’s people, and for the pacifying of their consciences under the sense of guilt. No man’s poverty shall ever be a bar in the way of his pardon.

But the one inflexible requirement was that all persons must admit the offense. That meant that he had to see what was wrong. That was essential to the obtaining of forgiveness in the offering of the animal.

The truth that we are dealing with here is reflected in the New Testament in First John where we are told, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9). God insists upon our admitting and our confessing not because he is trying to humiliate us, but because that is necessary in order for us to receive the forgiveness which he has already provided. It isn’t that God forgives us at that moment. He has already forgiven us. But we can’t accept that forgiveness until we see and understand the truth about what has happened. That is why it is necessary to admit wrong.

The secret in human relationships is to realize what wrong we have done. We dodge, avoid that, and do everything else. We see the other person is hurt, so we say, “sorry.” But that doesn’t admit that we are wrong! But what God wants is for us to come to the place where we say, “Yes, I am wrong. I did it, and it was wrong.” It is at that point that a relationship is restored. In most broken human relationships, it is necessary for both parties to say that. And each one must start with himself, as Jesus said. “First remove the beam that is in your own eye; then you will see clearly how to remove the speck that is in your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5).

Notice how the offering is given. A female goat, though not described in the passage, it will be like the sin offering in the last chapter. He will lay his hand on it, kill it, the priest will take the blood, sprinkle it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour all the remaining blood at the base of the altar. Verse 31, “He shall remove all its fat, as fat is removed from the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a sweet aroma to the Lord,” and take the remaining parts outside the camp and burn it.

Verse 7, “If he is not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring to the Lord, for his trespass which he has committed, two turtledoves or two young pigeons: one as a sin offering and the other as a burnt offering. And he shall bring them to the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off its head from its neck, but shall not divide it completely. Then he shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. And he shall offer the second as a burnt offering according to the prescribed manner. So the priest shall make atonement on his behalf for his sin which he has committed, and it shall be forgiven him.”

Verse 11, “But if he is not able to bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons, then he who sinned shall bring for his offering one-tenth of an ephah of fine flour as a sin offering. He shall put no oil on it, nor shall he put frankincense on it, for it is a sin offering. Then he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as a memorial portion, and burn it on the altar according to the offerings made by fire to the Lord. It is a sin offering. The priest shall make atonement for him, for his sin that he has committed in any of these matters; and it shall be forgiven him. The rest shall be the priest’s as a grain offering.”

The horror of sin and the glory of Christ’s atonement.

Why, Pastor, are you preaching Leviticus? Do you know what Leviticus will do? It will point up the seriousness of sin. Why, Pastor, are you always talking about the seriousness of sin? Though our flesh hates it, it is so very important for us to realize the seriousness of sin. J. C. Ryle’s book, “Holiness,” says, “He who would make great strides in holiness must first uncover the depths of his sin.” Unless you realize the seriousness of sin, you will never grow in holiness. So true. That’s the issue. Sin is serious.

What lessons can we learn from these three categories of sins? Sin, however small it may appear to us, however ignorant, it is no light evil.

First: If you think these are smaller sins, do we realize it is because of the first sin of failing to give an eyewitness account, that our Lord Jesus Christ was crucified by the Sanhedrin? How many times do we sin by not giving testimony for truth, and are quiet when we should be speaking? How much guilt is incurred?

Second, defilement makes us realize we live in a sea of sins in our society, and we may not know. But all these things defile us before God. We should receive confession and cleansing. We may not know many of them. As soon as ever God by His Spirit convinces our consciences of any sin or duty, we must immediately confess and ask God’s grace to cleanse us and do something about it.

Thirdly, we speak rashly so much and even take oaths. Think of it, in bargaining, how much we lie. “It is naught, it is naught, says the buyer; but when he is gone his way, then he boasts” of the good purchase he has made. Proverbs 20:14. We would not rob or steal, but will yet run into debt, when they know that they have not the means of satisfying their creditors. In filing taxes, how much we lie. In paying tithes in church, yet we would be very indignant to be called thieves and liars.

How many sins are committed by being silent, in speaking, or unknowingly harming society with unclean things? None of us can think that his ignorance is any excuse for him before God: those are sins. Do we at least know these are wrong? Yet where are the consciences that are burdened with guilt? Where are the penitents applying to the blood of atonement? Most of us are praising themselves as having but little, if any, occasion to repent? In the gospel, does God give us license to ignore those sins? If sins of ignorance were not pardoned without an atonement, much less will bold, presumptuous sins be pardoned. We should pray like David, “Lord, who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from my secret faults.” Psalms 19:12. As soon as the fault or error was discovered under the law, the proper offering (whether sin or trespass offering) was to be brought; and, if the offender refused to bring his offering, his sin became presumptuous; he bears the guilt. So we should, as soon as we know, learn to confess our sins and seek cleansing from Christ’s blood. The declaration of God is this: “He that covers his sins, shall not prosper; but whoever confesses and forsakes them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13.

We should not be satisfied with general acknowledgments that we are sinners. We do so many sins. But instead of searching out our particular sins and humbling ourselves for them, we should know the whole state of our souls is sinful. He who never has seen any individual evils to lament will have but very faint conceptions of his general depravity. We should therefore “search and try our ways.” And not only say with Achan, “I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel,” but proceed with him to add, “Thus and thus have I done.” Joshua 7:20. This is the particular instruction given in our text: the person who had transgressed any law of God, whether ceremonial or moral, was, as soon as he discovered it, to “confess, that he had sinned in that particular thing.” Oh that we were more ready to humble ourselves thus! But we love not the work of self-examination. And the evils which we cannot altogether hide from ourselves, we endeavor to banish from our minds. Hence it is that so many of us are “hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

The glory of Christ’s suffering is two things. Remember Isaiah 53 is Jesus Christ offered himself as a guilt offering for us. His one sacrifice atoned for all kinds of sins. All these offerings—burnt, grain, peace, sin, and guilt offerings—depended on the sin and guilt of the condition of the worshipper. There were different offerings for a priest, different for a ruler, and different for common people. It met different spiritual needs and atoned for varied kinds of sins. The victims varied from a bullock or a lamb down to a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. We will study more of the different offerings. These were given for atonement for sins that are innumerable, known and unknown.

Do we see the glory of Christ’s one great sacrifice? Because all these varied needs are fulfilled by His one great sacrifice. All the different needs of atonement for us through varied sacrifices, for different people, for innumerable different sins and guilt, all was perfectly atoned for and fulfilled by one great sacrifice of Christ. When we read this, we understand as the writer of Hebrews says, one great sacrifice of Christ is so glorious that it can atone for any sins. Any sins, any guilt anyone can incur, now one sacrifice of Christ is enough. We take different views of the sacrifice of Christ according to our guilt, sins, and need to see it. That one is can atone for all sins.

Christ’s atonement is many-sided and operates in many directions. The mercy is that the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus is suitable to you, and equally suitable to me, and to all that come to Him by faith. The rich, the poor, the brave, the timid, the amiable, and the immoral, all find in Jesus that which fits their individual case. Each man shall find his case perfectly met by the Savior’s atonement, as much so as if Jesus were prepared for that man only, as if that man were the only sinner under heaven, or Jesus a Redeemer sent to him alone of all the family of man. Oh, the depth of the wisdom and of the grace of God in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Secondly, when you think of the sacrifice of Christ, it not only atoned for the few, maybe 1 or 2% of sins you know and realize, but the glory of the cross is that it atoned for all the infinite oceans of unknown sins you and I committed in the past, commit daily, and will commit daily. That is what God shows in this passage. Even sins of ignorance are sins that defile and need an atonement if God has to accept. Then if God accepts us as perfect in Christ, then Christ should have atoned for all sins we commit all our life unknowingly. Do we see how glorious the cross of Christ is?

What good news! How our heart should rejoice in the cross. To know that the Lord Jesus has made atonement for your sins before you knew them to be sins. Nowadays, I remember Paul. For everything, we have to follow him right? Paul persecuted the saints ignorantly. Does he call them lesser sins? But all his life he was mourning for those sins committed in ignorance. That is what made Christ’s cross so precious to him. “I will not boast in anything but the cross of Christ.”

Now, if the precious blood of Jesus only atoned for sins we realize and confess, we are undone. Its glory is beyond what I can ever realize in this life and even for all eternity. The atonement acts according to God’s sight of sin and not according to our sight of it, for we only see it in part, less than 1%. But God sees it all, mountains and oceans of our sins, and blots it all out because of one sacrifice of Christ. “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Those unknown sufferings of Christ have put away from us those infinite unknown sins which we may never realize all our life. Blessed be God for a sacrifice which cleanses away forever not only our glaring faults, but those offenses which the most minute self-examination has not yet uncovered.

“O Jehovah lifted up His rod for all our sins, O Christ, it fell on Thee. Thou wast sore stricken of my God. There’s not one stroke for me.” “Jesus paid it all; all to Him I owe. Sin made me fully crimson stained. He washed me white as snow.” “A debtor to mercy alone, of covenant mercy I sing.” We don’t bring rams or goats, the ashes of a heifer. We come with the blood of Jesus and look to that, to the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ shed for me. No matter what the sin, my friend, no matter how great the sin, there is forgiveness in Jesus because of the glory of the cross. Praise God, there is. Praise God, there is.

Today we can come to God and offer praise and prayer because of Him. You notice what the priest does with the blood. He puts blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord. This sets forth the influence of the blood upon our prayers. It is because of the blood of Christ that God hears our prayers. “He shall pour all (the rest) of the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering.”

All liters of blood were poured under the base of the burnt offering, creating a full sea of blood there. The first object that the Israelite saw when he entered the sacred precincts was the great altar of brass upon which burnt offerings were burned. It was at the foot of this bronze altar that the bowls of blood were continually poured out, so that the altar was crimsoned with it, and the soil around was soaked with the sanguine flood.

This displays the influence of the blood of Christ on all our service for the Lord. God hears us, accepts our praise, worship, services, and life, all because the blood of Christ supports them. All this blood is meant to give us very great encouragement and assurance whenever we come to God in prayer. Whatever state we are in, there is enough blood to cleanse us.

Lord Jesus presented Himself to God as an acceptable sacrifice; all our Lord’s service is tinged by His atoning death.

Let us learn that whenever we come to offer any sacrifice to the Lord, we must take care that we present it by virtue of the precious blood of Christ. God knows our hearts in the worship of this morning. He knows how many have really adored Him, and out of those who worship, how many of us have presented our sacrifice, thinking only of the merit of Jesus as the reason why it should be received.

In your every morning prayer, have you really pleaded the precious blood? Your petitions will not otherwise be acceptable to God. When you are praying at eventide and speaking with your heavenly Father, do you have your eyes upon Christ? If not, your devotion will be rejected.

The book of Leviticus starts with the five great offerings, and we have seen three so far, with two more to go. I have tried to show that each of these offerings is given to fulfill the basic needs of us fallen human beings. The burnt offering fulfills the need for acceptance and love, the grain offering fulfills our need for joy that comes from expressing gratitude, and the peace offering fulfills our basic need for peace. Those are the basic needs of human life. Without them, you cannot function properly as a human being.

Now we come to the sin offering. This indicates that as fallen people who are committing sins, there is a great need for us to regularly realize the horror of our sins and confess them to God. The consequences of continual unconfessed sin are so terrible in a believer’s life. It grieves the Holy Spirit, quenches his graces and comforts. We don’t realize what joy and blessing we miss. Our hearts become defiled and get hardened, leading to pride, self-righteousness, and deadness in our Christian life. Even terrible chastisements from God come when we fail to confess sins. We see that in David’s life. Growth in grace in our heart happens when our heart is always wet with tears of repentance. The secret of all fruitful Christian life is how we deal with sin. This chapter makes us realize the horror of sin and our continual need to confess. That is the only way we can progress.

Now you’ll notice with me the grand theme of the sin offering is given in verse 2 of Chapter 4. “If a person sins unintentionally, through ignorance.” This is the occasion for a sin offering. If that occurs, what does God require? That’s what we’re going to address tonight. Let me give you a blueprint of this sermon. A sin offering is given for sins committed by four different categories of people. First, verses 1-12, a priest sins; second, verses 13-21, the whole congregation; third, verses 22-26, a tribal leader or judge sins; fourth, verses 27-35, any common Israelite sins.

First of all, I’m going to engage in a fast survey: four categories of people and the sin offering, and then three main lessons we can learn from this.

Survey of the Sin Offering

First of all then, to our fast survey exposition. The first sin offering is for the anointed priest, which is found in 4:3-12. We find in verse 3 that if the anointed priest sins, his sin brings guilt on the people. This religious leader, if he has sinned unintentionally and inadvertently, what happens? His sin does not go with him; it brings guilt on the people. The way he should give a sin offering, we’ve seen the three offerings, so by now, we know some of the methods of how an animal offering is given.

The priest would bring the bull to the entrance of the tent, lay his hands upon the head of the animal, state why he has brought the sacrifice, and then slay the animal by cutting its throat with a knife. Unlike all other offerings, which were done outside the tent near the altar, with blood sprinkled on the altar, there is a unique thing for the sin offering for the priest. The priest would see the bull suffering with its throat cut for his sin. The blood flowing from its throat would be caught in a basin. He will pass the burnt offering outside and enter the actual tent of the outer court. Remember, the temple had three sections: the outer court, the holy place, and then there was a big veil. You cross the veil, you go to the most holy place, the Holy of Holies, wherein dwells the Ark of the Covenant, with the ten tablets manifesting the moral character of the living God.

Now, this priest would take the basin of blood and go inside the outer court, and then even enter the tent into the holy place and go very close to the most holy and stand before that veil. He would dip his finger in that basin of blood, and then he would sprinkle that blood seven times on the curtain. That is the curtain that leads into the Holy of Holies. This is the curtain that was torn when the Lord Jesus Christ died upon the cross. This was the barrier between God and his people, and only the priest, once a year, with the blood, could enter in. But now, because of this inadvertent sin of the priest, he would sprinkle blood upon that curtain seven times. Imagine blood stains splashing on the beautiful screen of fine linen and blue, purple, and scarlet yarn, with cherubim skillfully worked into it.

Verse 7 says while coming back, he would take some blood. Then he would come out of that tent into the inner part of the court. Now, there were certain remaining gallons of blood that were left in that bull. And the remaining gallons of blood were to be poured out on the ground before the altar of burnt offering in the large court. Notice verse 7, “He shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering which is at the doorway of the tent of meeting.”

Verses 8-10 say, “He shall take from it all the fat of the bull as the sin offering. The fat that covers the entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails, the two kidneys and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys, he shall remove, as it was taken from the bull of the sacrifice of the peace offering; and the priest shall burn them on the altar of the burnt offering.”

Then something else unique we find in this sin offering. Verses 11-12 state, “But the bull’s hide and all its flesh, with its head and legs, its entrails and offal—the whole bull he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn it on wood with fire; where the ashes are poured out it shall be burned.” These things would be collected up and transported outside the camp along with all of the ashes of that which was burned up, and then outside of the camp, all these remaining portions would be burned completely there. So that is the sin offering for the anointed priests.

Now in our rapid survey, come with me. Secondly, to the sin offering for congregational sin. This is found in 4:13-21. Now what’s envisioned here is a sin that has originated in the congregation. They become guilty. It could be a leader’s sin that leads the whole nation in that sin. We see in Joshua 9 the congregation committing an unintentional sin, not knowing the Gibeonites were part of the Canaanites, but made a covenant with them, transgressing God’s law. What should they do if they sin as a congregation? It’s time for a sin offering. A bull needs to be taken to the tent.

Verse 15: “And the elders as representatives of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord.” Then the bull shall be killed before the Lord and they are to go through the same activity as the high priest. There is a basin of blood that is collected in the outer court, blood is taken into the holy place, sprinkled upon the veil of the most holy place, blood is smeared upon the altar of incense, and all the remaining blood of the bull is poured out before the altar of burnt offering. And then what happens to the remains? The same thing. The remains are to be transported and burned outside of the camp. And remember, we’re talking about a place beyond the orbit of God’s covenantal protection and mercy, beyond the sphere of God’s grace and loving kindness, outside the camp. The remains are to be consumed. So we’ve seen the sin offering for the anointed priest and the sin offering for congregational sin.

Now, thirdly, the sin offering for the leader. And that is in 4:22-26. This is the sin offering for a tribal leader. We find it says in 4:22, “If a ruler sins and unintentionally does any one of the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt.” This leader in the Hebrew means a lifted-up one. It can be a tribal leader, as each tribe had a leader representing them. It is an important civil position for the upholding of basic order in the tribes. When a political leader has sinned, he has to offer a sin offering. We notice some differences here.

We detect concerning this leader that there is a clear descending graduation downward in the seriousness of his sin. The reason why is, look at what kind of an animal he’s to bring. Is he to bring a bull? No. He is to bring a male goat instead, as per verse 23. Instead of a great and expensive bull. One male bull, I was asking my uncle in the village, he was saying 1.5 to 2 lakhs. In those days it had more value because they used it for so many purposes. That was an expensive sacrifice at that time. But you see, this man was not a religious leader, a high priest or the whole congregation, who would spiritually represent the people of God. This man was merely a political, civil leader, and therefore he did not bring the great bull of staggering price, but rather there is a lower demand for the tribal leader. It is merely a male goat without defect.

Secondly, we find in verse 25 that this basin of blood is not taken into the Holy Place at all, or sprinkled on the veil of the most holy, but just outside. “The priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and pour its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.” Again we see a more descending graduation here. It seems that the sin of this tribal leader is not as serious in its import as the sin of the high priest or of the congregation. We find that the offense seemingly is not as heinous or as weighty or as aggravated in the eyes of God. For one, he does not need to go so near to God with the cleansing and sprinkling blood. We assume, as in the other cases, all of the remains are transported outside the camp, beyond all the tribes into the outer area beyond the camp, and there it is burned.

We’ve seen the sin offering of the anointed priests, for congregational sin, for the tribal leader, and now for the common people in 4:27-5:13. Fourthly, and finally, to the sin offering for the common people in 4:27-5:13. Here we are speaking of when a layman in Israel commits a sin. Notice what it says in 4:27, “Now if anyone of the common people sins unintentionally.” This is not a priest, a congregation, or a tribal leader. An ordinary Israelite. There is a descending guilt degree and graduation in the import as we’re going downward now. No bull needs to be offered. Not even a male goat needs to be offered, but rather we find this common man can bring a female goat or a lamb, as per verse 28, both being of considerably less value than the male goat.

You also notice here the priest does not go into the holy Place. He does not sprinkle the blood upon the curtain. Rather, he stays in the outer court. He smears blood on the horns of that burnt offering altar in the outer courts. He pours out the blood of the beast before that altar. And then we see that he takes the rest of it and takes it to the outside of the camp. Again, we see that this is an offense that is less penetrating and less heinous in the eyes of God. Verses 27-31 tell how to offer a female goat, and verses 32-35 at the end of the chapter tell how to offer a lamb.

So that then is our summary survey exposition of the passage. Now let’s use three main lessons for application. I want to put my face and your faces under mud before God.

Three Lessons

First lesson: Sin of ignorance.

This whole sin offering is for sins of ignorance. Isn’t that amazing? It reveals a shocking truth that even inadvertent sins of ignorance, even these sins, defile us and therefore require purification. All these sacrifices are for sins of ignorance. But doesn’t that strike you? What’s going on there?

God has an entire class of sacrifices appointed in the book of Leviticus for unintentional sin! Our intentional sins are enough, surely! But He sees the impurity that is brought about by inadvertent, ignorant sin, and points out to His people that that too needs purification. These are not high-handed, presumptuous sins, or premeditated sins. There can be humanly explainable reasons and excuses for these sins, and still they defile the people of God, and so they need purification.

We all thought have been thinking sins of ignorance are mistakes. How we excuse ourselves when we do wrong in the family and outside. “Oh, I did it ignorantly.” “But I didn’t mean to!” And God has a whole sacrificial class for the sins done ignorantly, because they defile us.

Oh, do we see the depth of God’s law? It shows all sin defiles us. All sin needs cleansing. And by the way, listen to that language. It’s not simply that we need forgiveness; it is that we need cleansing. We have been made impure and defiled by sin, and that sin needs to be cleansed.

Think of how differently we see a lot of things with this truth. On the Day of Judgment, will sins be excused because they were done without knowing? Sins of people who do not know, gentiles and all their idolatry. They all fall under sins of ignorance. “Oh, he doesn’t know the law of God. How can he be held accountable for the law of God?” Punished for those sins? Let me ask you a question, brethren. Does God ever suspend his physical laws for the ignorant? I mean, a little child maybe eight months old who crawls out a three-story window. He was ignorant of the law of gravity, but does God suspend the law of gravity? No, he falls just like the wise professor of physics. God does not suspend his physical laws for the ignorant, nor does he suspend his moral laws for the ignorant. If a man who has never seen one word in the Bible and is living in some remote village, all his idolatry and immoral lifestyle is an abomination before the Lord, and it will all defile him. The degree of his sin may be equal to a man who sins like him knowing God’s word, nevertheless, it is a great sin.

Think of all those people who are being led astray by a false religious leader or a false teaching. We spoke today about how so many thousands go to false churches. So many know that traditional church committees and priests are robbers, but they follow tradition and go. So many go because of a grand stage and a crowd. Maybe they are thinking a man is preaching God’s word, but he is a false teacher. Because you don’t know, you are ignorant of Bible truths, you believed him. You thought he was teaching the truth, and that false teaching leads you the wrong way. Well, whose sin is it? Well, it’s the religious leader’s sin, but you sinned ignorantly and followed along with it. God will judge and punish you even though you didn’t know the truth. Those sins affect and curse you and will take you to hell.

There are women preachers. They may be doing it with a good conscience, but conscience is not the standard. They think they are pleasing God, but it is an abomination in God’s eyes because the Lord has spoken clearly in 1 Timothy Chapter 2 that a woman is not to have authority over a man and 1 Corinthians 14 that women are to be silent in the churches. This isn’t my opinion. I know it doesn’t conform with the cultural trends of our day, but this is the word of God. See, consciences are in many ways neutral. They need to be educated by God’s word, otherwise we pile up sin to heaven.

We have to understand the humiliating truth that we sin far more than we know. See, we need to confess our sins regularly to God for a healthy spiritual life. We don’t do that because we don’t realize this truth. We have to allow this truth to affect our conscience and humble us, which will regularly make us confess our sins daily to God.

Can I bring this to our own consciences in our church, our personal lives, and our families? Will you allow me to touch your conscience with this truth?

• Church: Sins you commit by not fulfilling church responsibilities. The constitution is according to the Bible, and we all agreed. When you don’t obey, you may not realize it as sin, but it is sin. It adds guilt. It defiles you. It stands as a sin in God’s sight. It needs to be confessed and repented of. What about breaking the Sabbath? We break the Sabbath in so many ways. It may not bother our conscience, but that does not mean we are without guilt. When we break the Sabbath, we have done an abominable thing before the living God. Very practically, the Bible says you need to ensure you dress neatly and beautifully, but never allow that to be a temptation to others. The tightness of a dress, a tight chudidhar, and no dupatta. Some even expose themselves. “Pastor, you cannot talk like this. That is how I dress.” See, you may be ignorant. You may dress with a good conscience, never meaning anything. But what sins you are committing without ignorance. You don’t realize what temptations you are causing. A woman can sin because of naivete, yet those are sins.
• Family: Parenting like Eli. Knowing his sons were rogues, he shouldn’t have allowed them to be priests. When he saw them committing adultery in the temple and eating God’s sacrifices, he should have removed them and actually given them the death penalty for their treasonous crime. But instead he only came and said, “This is not a good report I hear of you, my sons.” He should have come not with a rod, but with a sword, instead of soft advice and nice talking. He thought he was doing a good job, a very kind father. You know what judgment they brought on the nation. This is a sin of ignorance. We as parents here think that they are being faithful with their children. Loving parents. When they rebel and speak things they shouldn’t speak, instead of using a firm rod and punishment, we keep giving smooth talks. We are not aware of what wrongs we are doing in parenting because we have no experience. We may be doing it in ignorance. Our love may blind us. We really believe we are trying to be a good daddy with compassion. Others may observe how wrong we are, sinning ignorantly. You see unwitting sin in parenting. Oh, we need to ask one another, “Do you see anything wrong in my parenting? If you see something, please tell us. We are all struggling.” In preaching, I tell them, “Generally they say pastors’ children are the most naughty. If you see anything, where I am going, I may not know, please help me.”
• The same is true with husband and wife relationships. We fail in our duties. We may be sinning daily, not loving wives, wives not submitting. It may not bother us at all. We are used to living like that. Those are sins in God’s sight. What about trusting God’s providence? We have gotten so much into worrying and murmuring against providence. We may not know that sin at all, but it is a sin against God’s love, redemption, and providence.

Think of this truth. James 2:10, where James says, “he who keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of it all.” You want poverty of spirit. You meditate on that. What a debt. What a staggering moral debt we have to the living God.

Realizing all this, David prays in Psalm 19:12, “Who can discern his errors? Declare me innocent from hidden faults.” This truth is a death knell to perfectionism. If we examine ourselves like David about our unknown sins, we will find an abyss of sins so great as to have neither bottom nor shore. That’s how deep and broad and far and wide our sin is before the living God.

“Pastor, you’re really pushing our faces down on the earth.” Yes, the word of God is doing that tonight. That’s a good place for us to be, with our faces prostrate before our God. Embracing the humiliating truth that we sin far more than we know.

Second lesson: Degrees of sin.

In God’s kingdom, for some because of their high position and privilege, like a high priest and the whole congregation, their sin is seen as very severe compared to the sins of a normal Israelite. The high priest has to offer a bull and blood has to go inside the holy place and be sprinkled on the veil of the most holy, a dangerous place to be close to the moral holiness of the living God, and also smeared on the incense altar. In contrast, an ordinary Israelite can bring a female sheep, and all his sin offering can be done outside the holy place.

The passages show that sin found in the spiritual leaders of God’s people are far more serious than those sins found in the normal people of God. And why is this highlighted in this passage? Well, I believe it’s because of the far-reaching influence and the high profile of the spiritual leaders of God’s people and the danger potentially in their sins. Verse 3: It says the high priest’s sin brings guilt on the whole nation. The priest sins and the people become guilty. What’s going on? The priest is the representative of God’s people. He is Israel boiled down to one person representing Israel before God. He is the agent that God has appointed to deal ritually with the defilement of Israel and to bring about purification. And if he is defiled, how will he serve that purpose for Israel?

You think of Eli. He was a priest, and he made his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, as priests, which was a mistake. He should never have made them priests. 1 Samuel Chapter 2, they were spiritual leaders of the people of God. Remember what they did in the temple? Not only adultery, but when people were offering up peace offerings, they would put them in a boiling pot because the fat was to go to whom? The fat was to go to God, but Hophni and Phinehas would take a three-pronged pitchfork and drive it in and pull out the fat for themselves and eat it for themselves. They were an abomination to the worship of the living God. They were bringing guilt on the people.

Because of their continual sin, what happened to Israel? Ichabod. The glory of the Lord departed from the people of God. Remember the Ark was taken by the Philistines off to Ashkelon. God’s symbol of presence went away from those people because of the leaders’ sin.

So brothers, I speak with trembling here. Do you see we find the New Covenant significance to such a thing? You think of how the unholiness of life in a pastor and deacon can lead hundreds astray. How it can bring guilt on the whole church. A pastor who lives in continual sin, with a broken fellowship with God, can bring a chill to the whole congregation. His preaching has no life, no Holy Spirit anointing. His sinful life will show itself in a careless attitude, talking carelessly about sin, and his careless example can spread like leaven within the church. Do you see that the people of God are severely endangered? Very soon, Ichabod can be written over the door of that church. Glory has departed. It is a dead synagogue of Satan because of the sin of that leader. Do you see the high responsibility for spiritual leaders? James says that not many of you ought to be teachers, for you shall be judged with the greater strictness.

When I read such things, I feel like running away somewhere. Like Paul, I wring my hands, “Who is sufficient for such things?” To put it in the vernacular, what in the world am I doing here? “Leave me Lord, let me run away.” Let me just bring two requests as we focus on this theme.

1. Pray for me. Even Paul in 1 Thessalonians 5:25 says, “Pray for us.” Your pastor’s holy life is a lifeline for the spiritual life of the church. If he sins, there is greater influence and punishment, not only on him, but guilt comes on the whole church. I feel very inadequate for this great responsibility. It is not just preaching, but the life we live. We are not adequate in ourselves. I have temptations like you, the same passions like you. If we have any adequacy, it comes from God as a result of prayers. Please pray for us, that we would have measures from God of this provision of adequacy.
2. Secondly, Brethren, 1 Timothy 5:22, “lay hands on no man hastily.” Meaning, don’t make anyone a pastor in a hurry. Yes, we want a plurality of elders, we want more pastors. But when we select a pastor, if we don’t want to destroy this church and make it Ichabod, it is everyone’s responsibility to make sure you we don’t select anyone in a hurry, by impatience. He has to be a man Christ appointed to be an elder. How do we recognize him? It’s not merely because he’s a man who is one who preaches and teaches in a dynamic fashion. Those individuals may be very common. Yes, he must be a man who is qualified in 1 Timothy Chapter 3 and Titus 1. He is a godly man. He is a blameless man. He rules his own household well. He is not a strong striker. He is a man who is a one-woman man. He is a godly individual. That’s what we need.

When your and my faces are humbled by our sins, we should adore the God of all holiness for his super-abounding mercy. If we ourselves, with the blindness of sin and self-love, just looking at some sins, cannot stand and fall prostrate, cannot even see our face in the mirror, imagine that is just less than 1% we see. This God of pure holiness and inflexible justice who can see all sins, how much greater evils he must know about us. He would know the infinite depth of our sins. Yet how patient he must be with us, like a scorpion always biting, but you are holding and protecting and feeding it. Not only patient, but what a marvelous way he has made us to be not only forgiven, but justified and even adopted as his children and to come to him boldly.

Think of it, if we are allowed to come to God and be accepted by God on the basis of not even our righteousness, but the realization of all our sins. Confess all your sins, known and unknown. How impossible even to come to God by confessing! If acceptance with God and a relationship with God is based on confessing and renouncing every sin, nobody would ever be saved and have fellowship with God. None of us could draw nigh to the living God when we consider the height and the depth and the breadth of the ocean of our sins.

We see God is so super-abounding in his mercy that he saved and made a way of acceptance with him by the redemption and atoning death of Jesus Christ alone. Do you see how vast, unmeasured, boundless, and free is the atoning love of the God in Lord Jesus Christ? Was every Israelite aware of all unknown sins? Maybe only a fraction he would know. But God made a provision for them to cleanse all known and unknown sins, a complete cleansing once a year, for all these sins. And that was the Day of Atonement. When once a year the priest, having slain the bull, he wouldn’t just go into the holy Place, he wouldn’t just sprinkle on the curtain, but he would go into the very Holy of Holies and sprinkle the blood of the bull on the mercy seat, and that would mop up all of the sins which were left unconfessed by the people of God for the entirety of the year.

The Lord Jesus Christ was slain on Golgotha outside the camp to cleanse us of all our sins. Do you see how the Lord Jesus’ work fulfills all these rituals? Why was the veil sprinkled with blood and the horns of the altar smeared with blood when a priest or nation sinned? When sin is in the temple or among all God’s people, the Tabernacle is defiled. We find that took place with Hophni and Phinehas because they had sinned. The Tabernacle had been defiled, and what did the Lord do? He left the Tabernacle because it was defiled. Sin makes a moral stench. And when that takes place, Jehovah departs from among the people of God. We find then that sprinkling is for purifying and for cleansing the tent of any defilement, so that it would ensure that God would not depart. To preserve the presence of God within the camp among the 12 tribes, it needs to be sprinkled with blood and cleansed. God would not dwell where there was defilement. The altar of incense represents our prayers to God. When that is defiled with sin, God will not hear our prayers, so blood is smeared there to cleanse the altar. Then what happens to the animal sacrificed? It is taken outside of the camp, outside the temple, outside the camp of the 12 tribes, outside covenant protection, and burned with ashes.

See how our Lord fulfills it for us. Hebrews 13:11, “For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp.” See, he’s referring to this sin offering we’ve been discussing tonight. How is it fulfilled now? Verse 12: “Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate.” See the infinite glory of Jesus’ work outside the camp in Golgotha. He forever atoned for all our sins, known and unknown sins. His powerful blood not only sprinkled temporarily on the veil, but his blood tore the veil and allowed us access to go to God on the basis of his suffering and death.

Oh, praise God for Jesus Christ! But people, this should stop with us rejoicing in our justification, in our standing with God. This should lead to sanctification. We should feel sorrow for sin. This truth should create a sorrow and hatred for sin in us. You think of it in your mind’s eye. A man has sinned, but an innocent bull. He transfers guilt by laying hands on it and cuts the throat. Its blood is sprinkled, and he takes the dead parts of the animal outside the camp and completely burns it beyond the sphere of God’s covenant under protection. It was a horrible sight. Why did God want him to go outside the camp and see this? I believe we have a lesson to create in him a sorrow for sin.

See when we sin, when we confess our sins, you know we receive our cleansing. We place our hands on the sacrifice, the Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever that sin, covetous, adulterous lust, or murderous anger, is considered as Lord Jesus Christ committed, the guilt is transferred to him. We have a cleansing secured because he suffered outside that camp, outside God’s presence, rejected by man and God, heaven and earth, and burning under the wrath of God. Oh that sight, how it should make us sorrow for sin and hate sin.

If we just superficially confess, “Oh God forgives when we confess,” and go on happily, what a horrible attitude. It’s important that we weigh the gravity and the just deserts of our sin. We actually place our hands upon the head of the Lord Jesus Christ and trust in his cross work alone for our salvation. But then we are not to skip away merrily. But we are also to have this dimension to our spiritual lives. We are to transport our minds, to go outside of the camp, as it were. To a place of alienation beyond the orbit of God’s protection and grace to a place where there is fire outside the camp, outside the camp, a place of fire. It was called Gehenna. A place of burning, a type of hell. Beyond the sphere of God’s protection. Outer darkness, where there are tons of fire and weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Brethren, that is our desert. And we have had our sins forgiven. It’s appropriate even at that point to meditate upon what we deserve. See even that is God making the Israelites realize. Verse 20, “So the priest shall make atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them. Then he shall carry the bull outside the camp, and burn it as he burned the first bull. It is a sin offering for the assembly.” Why after forgiveness take the animal and burn? This is intended to impress a horror of sin on the soul. Even after it is forgiven. The forgiven man is most capable of seeing the horror of sin. And therefore the people are first pardoned and then led out to see the last part.

It’s only the forgiven man who understands the heinousness and the just deserts of his sins.

And brethren, that ought to be a dimension of our lives. Blessed are those who mourn, because that is the kind of individual who will be comforted.

So when you confess your sins, remember in your meditation to go outside the camp and think of yourself laying your hands on the Lord Jesus Christ’s head. See his suffering in the privacy of your meditation. Just stroll outside the camp and meditate upon what you deserve. Meditate on hot fire. Meditate on being outside the camp, beyond the sphere of God’s compassion. It ought to make you sweat with trembling. You will see the horror of sin on one side, and you will grow in holiness, and you will bless God with tears for Jesus Christ and how his work gives you access to God. We can come not only into the Tabernacle, but with the blood of Christ sprinkled upon us, we can come not into the holy place, but the curtain is removed, so we can come into the presence of the living God and even call him “Abba, Father,” because of what we have in the atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Just like Jesus opened the eyes of the two men on the road to Emmaus by showing them his glory from the Old Testament, oh, may God open our eyes to see the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. We go home with burning hearts thinking about this.

We are looking at Leviticus and studying five offerings. All of these have beautiful symbols which affect us deeply in our relationship with Jesus Christ. You will get a deeper understanding of the cross and our relationship with God if you deeply meditate on this book. All these are God’s gracious means by which he meets our deepest needs. In chapter 1, we saw how the burnt offering meets our greatest need to be loved and accepted. Every time a guilty Jew offered a burnt offering, he would go back experiencing the acceptance and love of God. Chapter 2, the grain offering, shows the true way to be joyful is to respond to God’s love with an expression of gratitude. You can be in the midst of an ocean of people who love you, your family may love you a lot, and your friends may love you, but if your heart does not realize and respond then you are as far separated from love as though you were on a distant planet, alone, thinking no one loves you. Have you thought, if God loves us so much, why are we not experiencing that love? Because we don’t respond and express with gratitude. You experience joy from God’s love only when you respond. The grain offering shows the greatest joy we experience is when we offer ourselves to him, symbolized in the labor of our hands, the grains. People don’t realize they are not happy because they don’t respond with gratitude.

Now, chapter 3, thirdly, comes the peace offering. Peace meets another basic need of human beings. We all need peace. Do we realize we don’t have peace in our lives? We live in a sense of tension and pressure, something squeezing in our head, a mixing in our stomach, our heart beating, and a restlessness that is sometimes so intense you feel that you can’t sit down or sleep restfully, the inability to get your mind off the subject that is troubling you. No matter what you do to distract your mind, it keeps coming back again and again. You feel that you have got to do something, but you don’t know what to do. This is all a sign that your soul is screaming and telling you that your great need is peace. We can say for whatever reason for health problems today, the absence of peace brings high blood pressure, gastric problems, indigestion, ulcers, nervous weakness, and in some cases, emotional breakdown and nervous collapse can follow. God is saying in all this, “Oh man, do you realize one of your basic needs is peace?” God shows in this chapter how we can experience that peace.

Look at the marvelous divine order. The burnt offering makes us experience love, the grain offering makes us experience joy, and the peace offering brings peace. When the New Testament talks about the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22, it is no accident. It is a divine order of the great needs of our soul: love, joy, and peace. God, who designed human life, knows our deep needs and those come as fruit from the Holy Spirit when we obey God. When an Israelite truly in faith came and gave a burnt, meal, and peace offering, the result was that his life was greatly blessed and enriched by experiencing love, joy, and peace in those early days.

The word peace is a very important word for a Jew. They greeted each other with “shalom.” And that doesn’t just mean hello. It means, “May you have the wholeness of God’s love, joy, and peace, good welfare, and prosperity in life.” Shalom refers to a man experiencing God’s love, joy, and and peace without need. The peace the Bible talks about is not in the sense of no troubles in life, but in the midst of whatever happens, we have a sense of emotional stability, of an untroubled heart, a sense of security, confidence that all things are under control and that it is all going to work out in a good way. That is true peace. There was a drawing competition. One artist depicted peace as an absolutely calm and tranquil sea lying under the moonlight without a ripple on the water. But the one who won the prize pictured a turbulent mountain waterfall with its noisily plunging waters. There was a lot of sound and mist. But half-hidden behind the waterfall, in the midst of all the thunder and tumult, was a bird’s nest with a mother bird sitting, and all its chicks were quietly and serenely sleeping under their mother’s wings. That was peace. I was searching for a picture, couldn’t get one, so the best I got I put as a thumbnail for this message. Let us learn how to experience that through this chapter 3 peace offering.

1. Details of the peace offering.
2. Themes of the peace offering.
3. Occasions when the peace offering was given.
4. Applications for us.

Firstly, broadly what are the distinct features of the peace offering? A peace offering may look the same as a burnt offering. Like the burnt offering, a variety of animal offerings were permitted. If I have to give the entire chapter outline:

Verses 1-5, a peace offering of cattle. Then He explains the method of how to give a peace offering. Verses 6 -11 showed the peace offering of sheep; he repeats the same method on how to give a sheep as a peace offering. If you want to give a goat instead of a sheep, verses 12 – 17 show the peace offering of goats. As a good teacher and knowing people forget, God just repeats the same method three times with different sacrifices. The same structure is repeated with a cow (vss 1-5), sheep (vss 6-11), and goats (vss 12-16).

What is the method? As a Jew you want to give a peace offering. Firstly, it is spontaneous, no compulsion or rule. You would bring a cow, sheep, or goat. And in verse 2, you shall lay your hand on the head of the offering, and kill it at the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then in verse 3, the priest and Aaron’s sons, the priests, catch the blood and shall sprinkle the blood all around on the altar. Verses 2-4: Specific parts are consumed on the altar, bringing a soothing aroma before the Lord in verse 5.

Though the method is broadly the same as the burnt offering, I want to notice one distinct feature of the peace offering. Remember the burnt offering was fully burnt, no part was left. The whole thing went up in flames as a soothing aroma to the Lord. Now, in this peace offering, there are only three parts burnt. God only wants three things in a peace offering. First, fat. Verse 3: “the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat which is on the entrails.” They are to carefully remove all the fat in the internal intestines and offer it to God. Second, two kidneys. Third, and the lobe, the extended part of the liver, that’s all. That’s all that gets offered. We can say it’s three things: fat, kidney, and liver. Whether it is a cow in verse 2-4, it is fat, kidney, and liver. Whether it is a sheep in verse 9-10, it is fat, kidney, and liver. Or whether it is a goat in 14-15, it is fat, kidney, and liver. These are to be burnt as part of a peace offering.

Okay, God takes these three things, what happens to the rest of the meat? It was not thrown out. Both the priest and the worshiper should enjoy the remaining meat. They will always have a festive meal. Leviticus 7:28-34 says there are two important portions of the peace offering: the breast and the right thigh. They should be carefully brought and waved before the Lord. Lift hands and wave, “Lord, this is your peace offering, and we thank you for joyfully allowing us to partake in this.” And the priest will eat those two special portions. Remember the two important portions: read verse 34, “the breast and the right thigh.” Then, the worshiper gathers his family in the environs of the Tabernacle, and they all enjoy a festive meal with the rest of the meat.

So those are the details of the peace offering.

Themes of the Peace Offering

Firstly, we see the peace offering given as a spontaneous thing. Verse 2: “When anyone of you brings an offering to the Lord.” Other offerings, always after a burnt offering, a grain offering was given. It was part of the daily and weekly temple worship of the nation, but a peace offering was completely dependent on the giver. It is a spontaneous peace offering that was offered when a man was personally moved. No day, time, or event. He can give anytime he is moved to give a peace offering.

Secondly, the best is given and is to be given with deep emotions. This is indicated in the three things given: fat, kidney, and liver. Why fat? In fact in verse 17, he forbids eating fat at a peace offering. “This shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations in all your dwellings: you shall eat neither fat nor blood.” No fat during a peace offering. In fact, in Leviticus 7:24, “For whoever eats the fat of the animal of peace offering, he shall be cut off from his people.” See chapter 3:16, there is a phrase “All fat is the LORD’s.” What a comfort that is to some of us! Today with no activity and high cholesterol, we may see fat as a bad thing, but in the Old Testament, fat is always synonymous with the best. The fat in the Old Testament is always a sign of the best. The taste of the meat is in the fat. Genesis 45:18, Joseph is sending a message to his father, Jacob, “Come to Egypt with your whole family,” he promises to give the best of Egypt. And therefore, he says, “I will give you the best of Egypt so you can feed on the fat of the land.” The fat is the best. A peace offering indicates you have to give the best to the Lord.

How should you give? Not carelessly or grumbling, “Oh, not fat at all.” No, with deep emotional engagement. That is what the kidney and liver show. The kidney, liver, and intestines, internal organs, for Hebrews, are always a sign of deep emotions. In English or Tamil, we say, “I feel or love God with all my heart.” Hebrews would actually say, “I love God with all my intestines, kidney, and liver.” You see Job actually saying this. That is what David meant “bless the Lord all that is within me.” Hebrews believed emotions came from the intestines. So fat indicates you give the best to the Lord and you give it with deep emotional engagement.

First, spontaneous, give best with deep emotions. Thirdly, it was a joyful festive meal. It is also called a fellowship offering. In fact, Deuteronomy 12:7 describes the joy, “you and your household rejoice in all your undertakings in which the Lord your God has blessed you” and enjoy the peace offering meal. It need not be over in just one day. Leviticus 19:5-8 talks about that. You have to eat on the same day at the tabernacle surrounding. If you finish eating all the same day, the peace offering feast is over. But if you have some peace offering left, you can have a feast the next day. If you have anything on the third day, you shall burn it. But notice you’re not to feast on the third day and beyond, for that would be an abomination. After the third day, without modern freezers, it may be spoiled. So it was a very happy feast for the worshiper.

Remember the three themes: First, spontaneous; give the best with deep emotions; thirdly, it was a joyful festive meal. So we see details, themes, and now we will look at when was the peace offering given in the Old Testament. Though spontaneous, you see specific times it was given. If you survey the Bible, you will find mostly three times.

Firstly, most times when a peace offering is given, is when they are in danger, in trouble, have no peace, are disturbed, and want God’s peace. In Judges 20, the whole nation is in big trouble because one of the tribes, Benjamin, has become like Sodom and Gomorrah. Remember the Levite’s wife was raped in Gibeah of Benjamin. The man cut her into 12 pieces and sent them to the 12 tribes, and the whole nation was shocked. Then the 11 tribes attacked Benjamin, but they faced defeat. They are confused and didn’t have shalom. They didn’t have peace. They humbled before the Lord, fasted, and offered a burnt and peace offering, confessing their sins and they were seeking peace from the believing God. Priests were eating the breast and right thigh. And after they offered up the peace offering, we find the Lord gave them a plan for victory, how to ambush and attack. And by following God’s plan, they defeated the Benjaminites, and they had peace.

Secondly, very important, whenever they want to grow in their fellowship with God. We see David sinned when he sinned by counting people. He repented and offered first a burnt offering and then in 2 Samuel 24:25, a peace offering. Ezra and others living in Babylon away from God and his temple. When Cyrus declares the Jews can go and build the temple in Jerusalem, Ezra and others offer a burnt and peace offering to come close to God.

It is like through a burnt offering we are accepted before God as justified. And then you want to grow in our fellowship with God so we bring a peace offering. And it is called a fellowship offering because this is an offering that we share with God, a meal with God. We give a few parts to God, the best parts, a few parts to God’s priest, and gather our family to partake of that meal near God’s tabernacle and enjoyed the meal. It brings us closer communion and fellowship with God.

Thirdly, we find an Old Testament occasion when God gives answers to prayers or to celebrate any blessings they receive, they come and offer a peace offering. A classic case is 1 Samuel 1 with Hannah. She prays for a baby, God answers, she brings a bull – they were rich – and gives a peace offering. She was ecstatic because God had given her little Samuel. We know she was so filled with joy by God’s answer. She sang, “my heart exalts in Jehovah,” she was joyful God answered her prayer.

So those are the Old Testament occasions: no peace, when you want to come closer to God in fellowship, and in answer to prayers or blessings. So those are the details of the peace offering. The next time you read the Bible about a peace offering, you will know what is involved.

So we saw features of the peace offering, three themes of the peace offering, and two times it was offered in the Old Testament. Now, how do we apply it to us today? Though the need for animal sacrifice is removed in the New Testament because the Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all animal sacrifices, we can learn deep principles from the peace offering. Just as they offered a peace offering, we can offer a peace offering on a few occasions.

Application

Firstly, here we are in the New Testament. What do we do in times of danger, trouble, and times when we don’t have peace? How do we find peace now? We can find peace by a peace offering now. The animal that was sacrificed was a picture of Christ. He was the fulfillment of the peace offering. He offered his fat, kidney, and liver. He offered his best, a best sacrifice, his deep supreme heart emotions to God, loving God with all his heart. Because of his life and death, we have peace with God when we trust his sacrifice objectively. But pastor, I know I have peace with God, but how do I experience that peace of God? Subjectively, experientially, inside my heart? I believe I have peace with God because of Christ’s work, but I need the peace of God in my heart in my situations. How do I experience it?

Just like how the Israelites ate the peace offering. When our minds are all full and disturbed with 101 thoughts, we need to feed our mind with the peace offering. God in the gospel is offering a peace offering to you through his son. The only way you can find true peace of mind is when you feed on his Son. John 6:53, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in yourselves.”

What important portions are given for us to feed on as priests in the New Testament? Remember the two important portions that were waved before the Lord and eaten: the breast and the right thigh. In Scripture, the breast is a symbol of affection and love. The right thigh is always a symbol of power and strength. It is where the strength of our physical bodies is centered. I think right in that little requirement is hidden the secret and beautiful picture of how to have peace in the midst of trouble. You find peace when you depend upon the love and the strength of Jesus Christ to solve our problems in his own way and time.

When troubled, not knowing what to do, what do we do? Feed your mind with the breast of the peace offering. In faith, you have to meditate. Turn your mind. I was teaching meditation is mumbling. Take a verse that talks about the love of Christ. “Cast your cares on him, because he cares for you.” “I will never you or forsake.” “God who did not spare his son, but gave him for us, how will he not give all other things?” Keep mumbling those verses, not just from mouth to mind. It will clear all the thoughts and settle the thought of Christ’s love in our mind.

Focus your mind on the love of Christ, how he loves you, to remind you that he is concerned about you. He knows the problem you are going through. He has been through it himself. United to you, he understands exactly how you feel. And he will never abandon you. He loves you and he will be with you in it. Every time you are in trouble, just sit, maybe lean on the breast of Christ, and allow your mind to think of the love of Christ, what he did, what he is doing for a few minutes.

And then, feed on the thigh. Focus on his almighty power, to remind you that he is able to work it out in his own way and time. “All power in heaven and on earth is committed unto me,” (Matthew 28:18). He is the Lord of Lords who works all things for the good of his children. As you begin to accept that fact, and to rest upon it, to reckon it true, to count upon it, you will find peace flowing into your heart like a river in the midst of your troubled circumstance. That is the way it works.

Our problem is that we are always trying to second-guess God. Aren’t we? We think God should answer a prayer in a certain way. If he doesn’t, we assume God is not hearing, not loving. We get mad at God. We say, “Prayer doesn’t work. God doesn’t care. He’s not faithful!” We have forgotten that God has promised that he loves us, and that he has the power to work it out his own way. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” (Isaiah 55:8). “The way you think it is going to work out is not the way I am going to work it out. But if you will trust me I’ll work it out.” And if we will accept that fact, if we feed, you see, upon the breast and the thigh, upon the love and the power of Jesus Christ, he will work it out in his own way and time. And that is where peace comes from.

The New Testament teaches this very plainly. Listen to these words from John 14:27. “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you [I bequeath it to you. You can have it; it is yours]; not as the world gives do I give to you.” (John 14:25-27a) That last statement is very important to notice. How does the world give peace? You know how. When a worldly man is disturbed and upset and troubled, he tries to do one of three things. He first tries to change the circumstances, because his peace comes from peaceful circumstances. He can be at peace only when everything is peaceful around him. And so he tries desperately to change the circumstances. But they cannot always be changed. So if he cannot change them, he tries to forget them and run away, go on vacation, go home to mother, take a drug, or get drunk. That forgetfulness is the world’s way of finding a degree of peace. If he cannot do that then the third thing he tries is to blame his difficulty on somebody else. It is everybody’s fault but his. Thus the worldling seeks peace, but he never finds it that way. So Jesus says, “I’m not going to give you peace that way. Not as the world gives, give I unto you.” All that will not give true peace.

How does he give it, then? He gives it from within. He gives it as you feed upon his affection and his power. As you depend, trust, and reckon his promises to be true and turn the job over to him and leave it in his hands, then you will have peace.

In that well-known passage in Philippians 4:6-7, Paul says, “the peace of God, which passes all understanding [you won’t be able to explain how it got there — the circumstances haven’t changed, you’re not forgetting or running from the problem, nor trying to blame it on everybody else] will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7) This is the only way to find peace: eat the breast and thigh. The world may seem upside down, all falling apart, pressures so intense as to drain all natural strength. At those times, realize God loves you and he has infinite power at work in the situation.

You may say, “Pastor, yes, I have peace when I come to think of Christ’s love and power, but in one or two days, I lost it.” See another marvelous truth. You want to continue to enjoy this. The Lord told them to eat the peace offering on the first and second day, not the third day. What was the Lord saying? It is a very practical truth. He is saying that there must be no separation between the peace that you feel and the source that gives you peace, the sacrifice which provided it. You must not separate the two. In other words, you must not depend upon the feelings of peace that are given to you. Don’t try to live on those. Once peace is given as a result of trusting the work of Jesus Christ on your behalf, don’t just say, “Ah, now I feel much better! I think I can go on now, and tomorrow I’ll just expect this peace still to be here and I’ll presume or reckon on that.” Don’t shift your dependence from the One who gives peace to the feeling that is produced. What a practical warning that is! Because we all tend to do this, don’t we? As soon as the load is lifted, we think, “Well, everything’s fine now. I’ll shift back now and go on, on my own.” But if you try that, within two days you are right back into the same mess again, with a troubled heart. No, there is only one source from which peace can come. It comes by abiding in Christ, abiding in him, dependent on his love and power. That is the secret of constant peace.

You know the wonderful news is the Israelites’ peace offering meat would be over on the third day because the meat will spoil. But our peace offering meat, the Lord Jesus Christ, he did not decay on the third day, but he rose from the dead on the third day and lives forever. He lives forever, so we can ever eat this peace offering and always experience his peace. So we see like this in the New Testament, we can offer a peace offering at times of trouble, when we need peace. Whenever I don’t have shalom.

Secondly, a peace offering shows us how to grow in our fellowship with God. When an Israelite feels a sense of distance between him and God, maybe he has sinned, what does he do? The first thing he does is go to the offerings, a burnt offering, to experience the peace of God. Godly Israelites don’t stop there, they offer a peace offering, just like David did when he sinned by counting. You see, offering a burnt offering first and then a peace offering. Why? The three themes of the peace offering show how we can grow in a relationship with the living God. When God has provided a burnt offering for us through Christ and showed us a living way to have a relationship with God, whatever we have sinned, every truly forgiven soul would want to continue to grow in fellowship with God.

What kind of relationship does God want from us? The three themes of the peace offering show us the kind of relationship we should have with God. Firstly, it has to be a dynamic, spontaneous relationship. Secondly, earnest, and thirdly, a joyful relationship. Can we describe our relationship with God with these words?

First of all, it should be a dynamic and lively relationship. By that I mean not forced or dull, dead. I know there are sad marriages where a husband and a wife don’t communicate with each other much at all. In fact, when the husband comes home, there is a blurring silence in the house. That’s a dead relationship. Isn’t it? And so too, in a relationship between God and man, there ought to be a dynamic and a lively continual interaction of man with his God. Is there spontaneity in your relationship with God, as is manifested in the peace offering?

And you know what I mean by spontaneity, meaning not doing things because you have to. Even when no one expects, you do. Like a man who doesn’t buy a gift or flowers for his wife only because it’s her birthday or anniversary, but suddenly he buys something for his wife unexpectedly. Why? Just like that, or calls her urgently. The wife is anxious, “What happened?” The husband says, “I’m in love, honey.” No, it was not expected, not an anniversary, not a birthday. She may wonder, “Do you want anything?” It was just something that was spontaneous. We see that in the peace offering, don’t we? A man is moved with gratitude in his soul to offer Thanksgiving to the Living God.

Do you know that spontaneity in your relationship? Not praying or singing just because, “Oh, okay, today is Saturday, Sunday is coming, so let me read and pray.” Or in the morning you have a routine five-minute prayer. But at some unusual times, unexpected times, maybe you are busy, but suddenly you think of God. Meditate on God. When your emotions well up in adoration to the living God. You’re amazed that God has forgiven you of your sins, and you have peace with the living God. You think of a sermon, some promise. You go out and into a room, or sit in a chair. You praise and thank God. That is a spontaneous peace offering.

We don’t have to offer animals in the New Testament. The only sacrifice, the fruit of lips which praise God, is the New Testament offering. Hebrews 13 and verse 15, the Hebrew writer is talking about so many sacrifices. When God has fulfilled all that on our behalf, we don’t have to offer all that. But how regularly we should be offering praise of lips. Those are peace offerings you offer to God unexpectedly. You praise God and thank God. Maybe while driving a car, sitting or waiting for some time, woman, you are washing dishes or cooking. Just offering a peace offering, praising God. When you see your wife or husband, or children all healthy, you remember when you didn’t have children, pregnancy struggles, your marriage struggles, how God has blessed you now. All that joy they bring into your life. When you have good gifts in life, when you have good food, when you have a job, receive salary, good things of life. Spontaneously because you’re moved to make offerings to the living God. Brethren, our lives ought to be filled, speckled with spontaneous peace offerings. Our relationship with God should not be wooden, or routine, but a dynamic and lively relationship with God. Will you learn that from a peace offering? You ought to make sure that you have the peace offerings.

Secondly, a peace offering teaches that in our relationship with God, it should be an earnest relationship. A relationship that moves us and touches deeply and brings deep emotions. What is God saying by asking for the fat, kidney, and liver? Doesn’t all that depict earnestness? Matthew Henry puts it this way: “God must have our inwards.” That’s what we give to God. God must have our zeal and our affections and our emotions. God doesn’t want mere outward formalism from us. He doesn’t want a religion where we pick ourselves from bed and force ourselves to church to the worship of the Lord because that’s our duty. Yes, it is a duty. But we offer a true peace offering and experience peace and fellowship when we come with earnest eagerness. We give our innards and our emotions.

When we open our Bible or are praying, God wants our inwards. He wants even our passions and eagerness. He wants us to purify our desires. God wants earnestness in our relationship with him. See the fat denotes the best and the choicest of our emotions, souls, and of our lives to be given to God. The first command is to love God with all your heart. First and top most emotions and eagerness belong to God. Fat belongs to God. The cream of our life belongs to God. A preacher said how many Christians never experience peace or true fellowship with God because they give not the fat, but the remainders, not the fat, they give the lean to God. They keep the fat, the best fruit of their life’s activity, for themselves. It is easy Christianity. A peace offering teaches us we are to give to God the best of our time, the best of our energies, the best of our finances, our leisure hours, our skills, and we are not to habitually be spending them upon ourselves in our own leisure seeking. You see, God wants the fat. God wants the kidneys. God wants the intestines, the fact. Our earnest, not formalist religion.

Remember what it said, verse 17, “you should not eat fat as an eternal perpetual statute” and in fact, “You’re not to take your best and eat it for yourself and spend it upon yourself.” And it even says in Leviticus 7:25, “Whoever eats the fat shall be cut off from his people.” Do you see the type there? If you call yourself one of God’s people and you are found ever eating the fat, spending it on yourself, you are cut off from that privilege and you are not one of God’s covenant people. Cut off from the fellowship and communion with God. So we see our relationship not only spontaneous but earnest, giving our best to God.

Finally, in Godward communion, a joyful relationship, a peace offering is a joyful festive meal. When we think about really, what’s my relationship, what is the atmosphere of my relationship with my God? Is it that of a threatening police interview or interrogation? Or is it that of a friendly dining room? Some people have an idea that God is the supreme policeman who wants to catch us in our sin, put us in an interrogation room, and question and threaten us like guilty suspects. He should always be rebuking me always, pointing that sin in my life, this wrong in my life, making me guilty. I should be trembling and sweating. Is that our religion? Yes, there are times we become like that. We need some rebuking and warning.

Generally, see the relationship God wants to have with us through his son. He didn’t redeem, justify, and adopt us for that kind of relationship. He treats us as beloved guests in his son. He spreads a bountiful table of providence and redemption for us to enjoy. And he serves us as a host. He wants us to come boldly to his throne through the living, knowing he will welcome us and treat us as honored guests. Isn’t this what David tells us in Psalm 23, “he spreads a table before and anoints my head with oil”?

This peace teaches us, “Oh child of God, throw all your inhibitions, worries, come boldly to my table, sit at my table. I am your host. And come and sit at that table and bask in the smile of your God who has redeemed you through his son. Enjoy my redemptive table meal.” Some houses we go to, we know we are new to them, they don’t know us. Maybe we have a feeling those people don’t like us at all, half-heartedly providing a meal. Will we enjoy that food? Never. God is not like that. He knows all we need, knowing that he himself as a chef has prepared the meal in peace. He says, “Come let us eat together,” just like Jesus rose and prepared breakfast for the disciples who didn’t catch anything, were very hungry, and ate with them. A peace offering says, “Oh sinner, come in and enjoy my feast with on my smiling favor.” It is a joyful, enjoyable relationship. See you want a growing relationship with God. Remember the themes of the peace offering: spontaneous, dynamic, earnest, and joyful.

Finally, a feast offering was given during answered prayers to celebrate any blessings from God. Sometimes it was a community feast where families were gathered and enjoyed a peace offering, like Hannah.

A peace offering not only helps us grow our fellowship with God, but also with our brothers and sisters. The Lord’s Supper is a way of offering peace; we gather and celebrate the Lord’s death. But in the New Testament, I think God’s delight is to see his reconciled children happily enjoying the bounty from his hand. I think there is an application and permission here: we as a church should often have fellowship meals. As a church, we have such joy with all the items: mutton, chicken, sweets, and church fellowship dinners.

We celebrate our fellowship as a church. We don’t realize how much those events help us to grow in fellowship. Do we realize that the Lord is pleased with that? “Where two or three are gathered,” not only as a gathering assembly, but even in a feast, the Lord is there. How many times did Christ speak about feasts in the New Testament? He said, “I was eager to do the Passover feast.” Even heaven itself was compared to a meal, a feast.

We should do more of that; it should be a consistent part of our church life. Vinod is planning a picnic. Yes, we can go as a family, but it would be a blessed joy to go as a church. Those things increase our fellowship with one another. These kinds of events are like a foretaste of when we are going to eat together in the new heavens and new earth.

Not only as a gathered church, we should also regularly have mini fellowship meals in personal hospitality with other brothers. How do we celebrate God’s answers to us and celebrate blessings? A promotion at a job, a birthday, an anniversary for another year, or a special blessing in life. We should have a fellowship meal. Call a brother’s or two brothers’ families and have a meal to offer such a peace offering. I believe such a thing is wholesome when it is within economic reason and responsibility. Don’t be too lavish, always feasting, and don’t fall into debt.

Some people go to the other extreme, where they never think of celebrating and miss all the joy. Why? Expenses. They are always stingy, saving and saving. What will you enjoy in life? Like our grandparents, saving, saving, for land, but not enjoying it. In the end, no one cared for them. Yes, we should be good stewards, but I think God allows us to enjoy with fellowship. I have seen that by always spending for the church, the Lord has always blessed me more. He even said that he will not lose a reward for a cup of water. If you think, “Oh, I have no money,” whatever we can, sometimes a cake or juice or a snack, is a fellowship meal. We should have more.

We should have more Thanksgiving lunches and dinners, and bless God for a harvest and the prosperous labor of our hands.

How wrong are some people to think God is this strict, somber, and serious, and wants us to be like a sadhu or a sannyasi? No, he wants us to enjoy his blessings. There is a certain unbiblical feeling that people have that God detests satisfaction and the enjoyment of his blessings and indulgence. That is not true. Look at the peace offering. God ordained a festival meal with family near his temple.

In Deuteronomy 12:20, about this peace offering, it says, “you may buy and eat in the Lord’s presence whatever your soul desires. Whatever your soul desires.” You see, there are certain individuals who have the notion that man should never have enjoyment. Ephesians 2 talks about that false religion that says, “touch not, taste not, handle not,” don’t eat this and that.

Do you realize that not all self-denial is virtuous? 1 Timothy 4 talks about men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods “which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth, for everything created by God is good. And nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude, for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”

Biblical religion is not a “torture box” Christianity, like some people try to make it. It is liberty that Christ has purchased to enjoy without sinning or breaking his law. Here was a delightful festive meal. And there ought to be that dimension in our lives now. We need to always be careful, as we are such creatures of extreme. May God give us grace to implement that principle and see in our God not a perpetually frowning face, but a face that delights for his people to enjoy his bounty. So the first of the categories of enjoyment is in festive celebration.