Leviticus 6-8

To log onto UNITYINCHRIST.COM’S BLOG, Click Here

Share on Facebook

Leviticus 6:1-30

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour; 3 or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it, and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein: 4 then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, 5 or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it pertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering. 6 And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: 7 and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein. 8 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 9 Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. 10 And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. 11 And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. 12 And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings. 13 The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out. 14 And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar. 15 And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat [grain] offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even a memorial of it, unto the LORD. 16 And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. 17 It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. 18 All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the LORD made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy. 19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 20 This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the LORD in the day when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night. 21 In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto the LORD. 22 And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute for ever unto the LORD; it shall be wholly burnt. 23 For every meat [grain] offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten. 24 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 25 Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering: In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy. 26 The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. 27 Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place. 28 But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. 29 All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy. 30 And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.”

Introduction: Sinning Against The LORD By Sinning Against Your Neighbour

[Audio version: https://resources.ccphilly.org/detail.asp?TopicID=&Teaching=WED567]

“Chapter 6, in some way attached to the things that we have been looking at previous to this, God does something interesting here in this 6^th chapter in the first 7 verses in regards to sacrifice, it says “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie unto his neighbour…” Now in these verses we’re going to have something very interesting take place, and that is the picture of sinning against the LORD by mistreating your neighbour, the person that is next to you. And God’s instruction then, relative to that, that to sin against your neighbour or your brother is to sin against heaven, that they’re inseparable. Our study on Sunday, ‘Master, what is the great commandment in the Law?’ ‘To love the LORD with your heart, your soul, your mind, and the second is like unto it, to love your neighbour as yourself, and in these two all the Law and the Prophets are fulfilled.’ So you have a very interesting theme here, “If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD,” and here’s how, “and lie unto his neighbour in that which was delivered him to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or hath deceived his neighbour;” (verse 2) so if he’s taken something by violence, if somehow in fellowship he’s sinned against his neighbour, deceived him in some way, something was given him to keep and he tells his neighbour ‘Oh I lost it,’ he’s violated the right of private ownership, he’s sinned against another human being, the LORD is going to address that. “or have found that which was lost, and lieth concerning it,” he found something that his neighbour lost, “and sweareth falsely; in any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein:” (verse 3) and instead of giving it back, he lies concerning it, “then it shall be, because he hath sinned, and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he hath deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it pertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering. And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest:” (verses 4-6) Isn’t it interesting, as we go further into Leviticus it becomes more apparent that God really stoops down to us. Doesn’t he? He knows us so well. He says ‘What about that thing your neighbour gave you to watch, and you tell your neighbour it’s lost, when you really have it, or what about the thing your neighbour lost and you found and you haven’t told him that you have it? Or what about the thing you took away deceitfully?’ It’s so amazing that God stoops down to us, he knows us in our fallen state, and he covers all of those things. Look, he’s going to stoop to the heart and to the home, to the kitchen, to the pot, he’s going to say if you find a dead mouse in your pot of grain, don’t then give the pot to your neighbour as a present, break it and throw it away. I mean, does he know us? I mean ‘Oh, we can’t use it, what we can do, we can, we’ll regift it, we’ll give it to somebody else for Christmas,’ I mean, it’s amazing that he stoops down to us in these things. The Bible is a domestic book, God never separates our treatment of our neighbour from our responsibility towards heaven, and how, including myself we’re all learning that. And what he’s going to say in these passages here, if you’ve done any of these things, don’t come offer your sacrifice. It’s not ok to offend your brother, to sin against somebody and just come to church like nothing’s going on. What he says here is, unlike the other offerings and sacrifices we’ve been through, what he says here is ‘Go to that offended person and restore that which you stole by deceit or violence, that which you snuck away, restore, and then as a matter of fact, add a fifth to it, add 20 percent more. Then come and offer your sacrifice at the altar.’ And Jesus will say ‘If your brother has something against you, go make that right first, and then come and worship, then bring your gift to the altar.’ And the same principle is here, God is saying ‘You’re not going to lie and cheat and sin and deceive, and to treat each other that way, you’re all created in my image and likeness, and then come to me like nothing’s wrong.’ That’s been going on since Eden, since Cain killed Abel, that’s not gonna happen. Restore first, make things right, go apologize, go give back, add a fifth to it as a matter of fact, and then come, and then offer a trespass offering, because in sinning against your brother, you have trespassed against the LORD. It’s really incredibly practical. He says, “or all that about which he hath sworn falsely; he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto, and give it unto him to whom it pertaineth, in the day of his trespass offering. And he shall bring his trespass offering unto the LORD, a ram without blemish out of the flock, with thy estimation, for a trespass offering, unto the priest: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he hath done in trespassing therein. (verses 5-7) So the LORD says you go and make this right with your brother and then come and offer a trespass offering. There was the sin offering, there were the voluntary offerings, the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering. These [now] are mandatory offerings, the sin offering and trespass offering had to be offered if you had sinned or you trespassed, they were not voluntary they were mandatory. And he says, in this stipulation where you’ve sinned against another individual, you haven’t just sinned against God in something you’ve done, one of his ordinances or ritual or something. When there’s a moral failure on the horizontal, go and make that right, and then come and worship. It’s not ok to play Christian, not ok to play church, not ok to play the believer, if you got somebody out there bleeding in some way or another, and you need to say forgive me, I’m sorry, go do it. And if you’ve taken something, restore it. And in fact, he says, add 20 percent to it, and then come, and then offer your trespass offering, and then you’ll be forgiven. Isn’t it interesting? Incredibly practical as we look at this. Now by the way, it’ll tell us in Numbers, if the person you stole from is dead, then you have to return what you stole to the priest and that 20 percent, you’re not off the hook, there’s still a way you can go and offer that to the LORD and say ‘LORD, this should have been done while this person was here and it wasn’t,’ there’s still a way to make that right, it says. Look, we’re not under the Law [there’s a debate between the differing parts of the Body of Christ, as to how much under the Law Christians are, this is Calvary Chapel’s take on it (for a more complete explanation of Law & Grace see https://unityinchrist.com/whatisgrace/whatisgraceintro.htm)], I’m not laying any trip, you don’t have to come and bring a cuckoo clock you stole from your grandmother before she died or something, that’s not my point. You know, as we sit before the Word of God, it’s incredibly practical, and it deals with our heart, and we can sit there and say ‘Lord, you’re so right, I’m such a knucklehead, I can hold a grudge, I can be mad, I took something from someone, it needs to be fixed, and Lord, if it delights you, I’m going to go do it. And then I’m going to come and confess my sin, and know that the blood of Christ.’ You know, it says confess, and then come, and the blood of Christ continually cleanses us. Just great stuff I think.

What’s The Greatest Danger To The Church? -- Dead Orthodoxy, Altar Without Fire

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it.” (verses 8-9) Now we’re going to move through these. We’ve gone through them earlier, we went through the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and then the trespass or guilt offering. Now we’re going to go through them again, but it’s relative the priest and the priest offering those things. So it’s short, some of it’s repetitious, but we’ll just move through these things. He says “Command Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering: It is the burnt offering, because of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen breeches shall he put upon his flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. And he shall put off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth the ashes without the camp unto a clean place.” (verses 9-11) So there’s a new stipulation put in here in regards to the burnt offering, in regards to the priest’s service, that in the morning, the fire’s to go [burn] perpetually, when he has to come and clean up ashes and clean up what’s left burning all night, that he would take his priestly garments off, put his civilian clothes on, because those priestly garments are anointed, they’re sanctified, they’re set aside for one purpose, and then put on his regular clothes, then go outside the camp to a clean place, dump the ashes, then come back. “And the fire upon the altar shall be burning in it; it shall not be put out: and the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order upon it; and he shall burn thereon the fat of the peace offerings.” (verse 12) And then a great verse here “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” (verse 13) Now if you turn over to chapter 9, verse 24, it tells us there, when all of these things were ordered, and the priests were consecrated and they came before the LORD, and they laid the burnt offerings on the altar and so forth, it says “And there came a fire out from before the LORD and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat, which when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces.” I don’t know if they shouted ‘Praise the LORD,’ or ‘Whoa! Whoa!’ fire came from the presence of the LORD. So the fire that was burning on the altar was divine fire, the fire that was burning on the altar, what began the fire, was eternal fire, and therefore it was never to go out, it was to be kept burning, the priests had a responsibility. It should never go out. And I look at that and I think it speaks of the human condition. It isn’t like God says ‘One of these days, when everybody gets my Law under their belt, and there’s going to be a day when there’ll be no sin, and you guys can let that fire go out.’ No, it doesn’t say that. He said “the fire shall never go out.” It speaks to us of the human condition, mine and yours, but it speaks to us of God’s grace too. You know John will tell us ‘If we walk in the light as he is in the light, that the blood of Jesus Christ continually’ those are the tenses, ‘cleanseth us from all sin, if we walk in the light.’ The fire shall never go out, both God’s commentary on the condition, the human condition, and God’s commentary on his grace, it will never go out, it’s always there to do its work. Altar and fire, the altar was described in great intricacy, the brazen altar with all of its parts and all of its utensils and its stand and so forth, altar and fire, both necessary. Altar without fire never accomplishes anything, creed, tradition, liturgy, dead orthodoxy, without fire from God never produces anything. In fact, again Don McLure told me when he was a young man and talking with Wilbur Smith, he said “What do you think is the greatest danger to the Church in America?” and Wilbur Smith said “Dead Orthodoxy,” altar without fire, great detail, building place, stone, marble, stained glass windows, everything, altar without fire, wrong. It has to be reality. Fire without altar is also wrong too, there is order, we’re not to neglect the gathering together of ourselves, there is an order that God has given, we read the book of Acts, we look in the Epistles, there is to be order to worship, all things are to be done decently and in order, both things are necessary. There is a place, and there was one place on the planet where true worship was to take place, there was one altar. Because there were many pagan altars, and there was pagan worship all over the world in this day, and they were trying to placate their gods, their gods were cruel, and by sacrificing an animal or sometimes their son or their daughter, or sacrificing another human being, and it was a perversion of the One True God, it was a perversion of something that took place before the world was formed, and Satan knew that. But God is now prescribing one place on the planet, where true worship, before the True God, takes place in true order, with true fire from heaven, eternal fire. And don’t let the fire go out. And I think it’s a real exhortation to us also, we have the Truth, we have the True God, we have the promise of his Spirit, and not to let the fire go out, we’re always in need of renewal, I am in need of renewal, adding fresh fuel to that fire that God lit in the Day of Pentecost in the Book of Acts [see https://unityinchrist.com/history2/index4.htm and https://unityinchrist.com/Acts/Acts_2_41.html]. And certainly we want reality, we don’t want just altar without fire, and there’s enough strange fire, we don’t want fire without order, we don’t want that either. But this is an incredible picture, God is keenly aware of the condition of the human heart, and he’s keenly aware of the grace that’s been provided to deal with that, and he says here, “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” (verse 13)

The Meal or Grain Offering

“And this is the law of the meat offering: the sons of Aaron shall offer it before the LORD, before the altar.” (verse 14) the grain offering, which was in regards to service. “And he shall take of it his handful, of the flour of the meat offering, and of the oil thereof, and all the frankincense which is upon the meat [grain] offering, and shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet savour, even a memorial of it, unto the LORD. And the remainder thereof shall Aaron and his sons eat: with unleavened bread shall it be eaten in the holy place; in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation they shall eat it. It shall not be baken with leaven. I have given it unto them for their portion of my offerings made by fire; it is most holy, as is the sin offering, and as the trespass offering. All the males among the children of Aaron shall eat of it. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations concerning the offerings of the LORD made by fire: every one that toucheth them shall be holy.” (verse 15-18) The tribe of Levi, not given an inheritance in the land, the tribe of Levi, not farmers, not herdsmen. When we get to Numbers and Joshua we’re going to see that there were cities of Refuge in the land, the priests lived there, and the Levites, they lived off the offerings that came to the sanctuary, God made provision for them. They were serving him, God’s precept was you don’t muzzle the ox that treads out the grain, and he would take care of Aaron and his sons, the Levites, so this is part of that, they’re living off the offerings here, it talks about that. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, This is the offering of Aaron and of his sons, which they shall offer unto the LORD in the day when he is anointed; the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a meat offering perpetual, half of it in the morning, and half thereof at night. In a pan it shall be made with oil; and when it is baken, thou shalt bring it in: and the baken pieces of the meat offering shalt thou offer for a sweet savour unto the LORD. And the priest of his sons that is anointed in his stead shall offer it: it is a statute for ever unto the LORD; it shall be wholly burnt. For every meat [grain] offering for the priest shall be wholly burnt: it shall not be eaten.” (verse 19-23) So the ones that the priests offer for themselves, they don’t eat of it, the ones they offer for the people they’re allowed to eat of, the ones they offer for themselves are completely burnt, it’s a signature of their willing service, a meal offering [given by the priests].

The Sin Offering

Ah, we come to the sin offering now, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and to his sons, saying, This is the law of the sin offering:” (verses 24-25a) and this is going to go down to verse 30, it’s short, be encouraged, don’t sin. “In the place where the burnt offering is killed shall the sin offering be killed before the LORD: it is most holy. The priest that offereth it for sin shall eat it: in the holy place shall it be eaten, in the court of the tabernacle of the congregation. Whatsoever shall touch the flesh thereof shall be holy: and when there is sprinkled of the blood thereof upon any garment, thou shalt wash that whereon it was sprinkled in the holy place.” (verses 25b-27) So as the priest’s garments get covered with blood from sacrificing and serving, he’s saying, you don’t go to the laundromat, you wash the garments inside the Tabernacle precincts. “But the earthen vessel wherein it is sodden” where it was boiled, “shall be broken: and if it be sodden in a brasen pot, it shall be both scoured, and rinsed in water. All the males among the priests shall eat thereof: it is most holy. And no sin offering, whereof any of the blood is brought into the tabernacle of the congregation to reconcile withal in the holy place, shall be eaten: it shall be burnt in the fire.” (verses 28-30) Chapter 7 takes us to the trespass offering, hold on, here we go.”

Leviticus 7:1-38

“Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering: it is most holy. 2 In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass offering: and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar. 3 And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof; the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, 4 and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away: 5 and the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a trespass offering. 6 Every male among the priests shall eat thereof: it shall be eaten in the holy place: it is most holy. 7 As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering: there is one law for them: the priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it. 8 And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered. 9 And all the meat offering that is baken in the oven, and all that is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it. 10 And every meat offering, mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as much as another. 11 And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the LORD. 12 If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. 13 Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering. 14 And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the LORD, and it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. 15 And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered: he shall not leave any of it until the morning. 16 But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten: 17 but the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire. 18 And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity. 19 And the flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof. 20 But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. 21 Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain unto the LORD, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. 22 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 23 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat. 24 And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it. [God knew that eating fat raises cholesterol, a major cause of heart attacks. Dr. Paul Dudley White (the famous heart specialist, who was also my next-door neighbour while I was growing up) was always quoting Leviticus 7:23] 25 For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people. 26 Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. 27 Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people. 28 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 29 Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the LORD shall bring his oblation unto the LORD of the sacrifice of his peace offerings. 30 His own hands shall bring the offerings of the LORD made by fire, the fat with the breast, it shall he bring, that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before the LORD. 31 And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar: but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. 32 And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. 33 He among the sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, shall have the right shoulder for his part. 34 For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel. 35 This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister unto the LORD in the priest’s office; 36 which the LORD commanded to be given them of the children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them, by a statute for ever throughout their generations. 37 This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meat [grain] offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the peace offerings; 38 which the LORD commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai.”

The Trespass Offering

“Likewise this is the law of the trespass offering: it is most holy. In the place where they kill the burnt offering shall they kill the trespass offering: and the blood thereof shall he sprinkle round about upon the altar. And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof; the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a trespass offering. Every male among the priests shall eat thereof: it shall be eaten in the holy place: it is most holy. As the sin offering is, so is the trespass offering:” it’s kind of an overview here now, “there is one law for them: the priest that maketh atonement therewith shall have it. And the priest that offereth any man’s burnt offering, even the priest shall have to himself the skin of the burnt offering which he hath offered.” (verses 1-8) So, the priest got a portion of the sin offering and the trespass offering, all the priests got from the burnt offering was the skin. Interesting, I don’t know if that was to remind the priests that in the Garden of Eden, when God came and dealt with Adam and Eve in their sin, it says ‘He brought them, he made them garments of skin,’ he brought them the skin of some animal that he sacrificed, there was some atonement, very primitive, some animal was sacrificed because of their sin and they were covered with the skin of that animal. And maybe in the burnt offering, and that was the first burnt offering in the Bible, every priest was reminded that this has been going on since man fell in the Garden of Eden, I don’t know.

More About The Grain & Thanksgiving Offerings--How To & How Not To Approach The LORD With These Offerings

“And all the meat offering that is baken in the oven, and all that is dressed in the fryingpan, and in the pan, shall be the priest’s that offereth it. And every meat offering, mingled with oil, and dry, shall all the sons of Aaron have, one as much as another. And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the LORD.” (verses 9-11) This is the law of the sacrifice now of the peace offerings, fellowship offerings, and in the fellowship offerings, part of it is offered to the LORD, part of it the priests eat, and then part of it the worshipper eats. And it was a willing, a voluntary offering, it wasn’t demanded, and it was just something when someone came with their heart and said ‘LORD, I just want to draw close to you, LORD, I want to fellowship,’ there was this fellowship offering that was offered, and all three then, the LORD, the priest, and the worshipper partook. “If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried. Besides the cakes, he shall offer for his offering leavened bread with the sacrifice of thanksgiving of his peace offering.” (verses 12-13) He’s just coming, his heart is filled with thanks, and that’s why he’s offering the fellowship or the peace offering, “And of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for an heave offering unto the LORD, and it shall be the priest’s that sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings. And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered: he shall not leave any of it until the morning.” (verses 14-15) Now normally it was unleavened bread, when it went to the priests it was unleavened bread. Evidently when this offering comes and there’s thanksgiving in the heart of the worshipper, he can offer it with leavened bread, because only a portion of that was taken and burnt, and the rest of the family and the worshipper would eat together. They’d have leavened bread, they could have regular bread, and they could have a portion of the sacrifice, the priests would take their portion, and the rest would be offered to the LORD. Let’s start over in verse 15, “And the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings for thanksgiving shall be eaten the same day that it is offered: he shall not leave any of it until the morning.” because you couldn’t take and throw it in the refrigerator and say ‘Aunt Jane’s coming over in two days, we’ll cook it then.’ You killed an animal, you wanted to eat it that day. Any of you who’ve been to Israel, it’s one of the interesting parts of the trip is to go down into the old Arab market, to the Shook, where there’s a whole row of butchers there. Now when you say “butchers” you have one thing on your mind. But there, there’s no refrigeration, so you go through there, and they’re all down there smoking those waterpipes, you know, it’s just, I think it’s a strange combination of experience to me personally. There’s laying on the counter, heads, goat heads, entrails, livers, there’s stuff hanging, there’s flies everywhere, you’re hearing them sucking away on their waterpipes, I can’t imagine what your dreams are like, I can’t imagine doing that every day, very interesting. But they killed the animal that day, it’s sold that day, you can’t leave that around in that heat and that humidity, so eat it the same day. “But if the sacrifice of his offering be a vow, or a voluntary offering, it shall be eaten the same day that he offereth his sacrifice: and on the morrow also the remainder of it shall be eaten:” (verse 16) but after it’s cooked, they’re assuming that some of it would still be good the next day, “and the remainder shall be eaten.” “but the remainder of the flesh of the sacrifice on the third day shall be burnt with fire.” (verse 17) Now you don’t have to tell me that, if I’ve got a piece of meat sitting out in the heat and humidity for three days, I’m ready to burn it with fire, I think by the third day the smell of it is telling you the same thing. “And if any of the flesh of the sacrifice of his peace offerings be eaten at all on the third day, it shall not be accepted, neither shall it be imputed unto him that offereth it: it shall be an abomination, and the soul that eateth of it shall bear his iniquity.” (verse 18) And many scholars feel the sentence was death [or food poisoning the killed you. My uncle died of food poisoning from bad meat]. “And the flesh that toucheth any unclean thing shall not be eaten; it shall be burnt with fire: and as for the flesh, all that be clean shall eat thereof. But the soul that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, that pertain unto the LORD, having his uncleanness upon him, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.” (verses 19-20) So the point of a peace offering, a fellowship offering, was you were coming to the LORD, to pour out your heart before him, it was a willing offering. And it’s saying ‘Don’t come unclean, don’t come ceremonially unclean, don’t come after you’ve done this,’ there are many stipulations in the Law that describe that, it’s saying to the offerer, ‘Prepare your heart, prepare your physical frame, prepare yourself, bathe, clean yourself, then come with a right heart, right attitude, the right presentation of yourself and your offering, and the LORD loves it, he receives it. But if you come defiled by something, you come unclean, you don’t come into the LORD’s presence that way just to think you’re going to find fellowship, that’s an abomination.’ “Moreover the soul that shall touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which pertain unto the LORD, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.” (verse 21) Now there’s some regulations as it goes down here. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall eat no manner of fat, of ox, or of sheep, or of goat. And the fat of the beast that dieth of itself, and the fat of that which is torn with beasts, may be used in any other use: but ye shall in no wise eat of it.” (verses 22-24) No problem, you don’t have to tell me that. You could use the hide, you could use the fat for different things. So if you come out, you find road-kill, you find a dead animal on the side of the road, don’t eat the fat of the dead animal [don’t even eat the dead animal]. This is stooping way down, this is past me, you don’t have to tell me this stuff, I understand that. “For whosoever eateth the fat of the beast, of which men offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD even the soul that eateth it shall be cut off from his people. Moreover ye shall eat no manner of blood, whether it be of fowl or of beast, in any of your dwellings. Whatsoever soul it be that eateth any manner of blood, even that soul shall be cut off from his people.” (verses 25-27) Now you don’t have to tell me that either. Some of the cults get their idea that you should never get a blood transfusion, this is one of the verses they use, it’s not talking about blood transfusions, but this is one of the verses they use to substantiate their position, and they’ve lost many members through that “doctrinal” position. Now look, I’m German. So I can pick on Germans. OK, if you’re German out there, don’t gripe to me, I’m one. I didn’t speak English till I was 5. My mom’s side are all Schobe’s and my dad’s side are from my Grandfather, my dad’s side spoke Hungarian, Romanian, German, English. But Germans don’t throw anything out, they eat, you kill a pig, they eat everything. You know, some of this stuff, blood pudding, I grew up seeing that stuff. Now I might think after dinner, vanilla pudding [loud laughter], chocolate pudding, I never think ‘Give me some of the red stuff,’ and they have pigs knuckles, they have head cheese, they have stuff that, I was an unsaved kid and I knew you weren’t supposed to eat that. And there were a lot better reasons, you know, the blood had a special purpose in the sacrificial system. [Comment: blood carries all the toxins away, out of the body, just like shell fish eat the garbage, dead things of the ocean, or are the filters that filter impurities out of the water, lobsters and crabs have dioxin nerve agent in them, sharks cannot urinate, so the urea goes into and thoroughly impregnates their flesh as they get older. God who designed and created all of this knows this.] But I don’t know about you, you know, chicken livers, you’re not going to find me eating that, snails, escargot, you can call it a French name all day long, I am not eating snails, and I know some of your are Yuppies and you’re into Sushi but put a fish on a barbeque, please, would everybody you know. So a lot of this stuff, nobody has to tell us. Right? Don’t eat any blood, don’t eat any fat off a dead animal you find on the side of the road, God’s really covering everything here [as he did in Leviticus 11].

A Portion Of The Peace Offerings Were For The Priests--A Deep Spiritual Picture Is Attached To The Waving Motion Of This Offering

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, He that offereth the sacrifice of his peace offerings unto the LORD shall bring his oblation unto the LORD of the sacrifice of his peace offerings. His own hands shall bring the offerings of the LORD made by fire, the fat with the breast, it shall he bring, that the breast may be waved for a wave offering before the LORD.” (verses 28-30) So they waved the breast of the sacrifice, and the Hebrew scholars tell us the wave offering went back and forth. “And the priest shall burn the fat upon the altar: but the breast shall be Aaron’s and his sons’. And the right shoulder shall ye give unto the priest for an heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings.” (verses 31-32) And the Hebrew scholars tell us the heave offering, it went up and down, it was lifted up and down before the LORD, the heave offering of the sacrifices of your peace offerings. So the priests from this peace offering, what was theirs, it says here, was the breast and the breast was a wave offering, it went back and forth. And the shoulder, the right shoulder it says, was a heave offering, it went up and down. And no doubt the Father in heaven, considering the peace offering, the fellowship offering, seeing a picture of his Son on the cross, and the breast waving back and forth, struggling to breathe, and the shoulder, being lifted up as he pushed on the spike to be able to take a breath, the shoulder coming up towards heaven, the breast heaving and waving trying to, no doubt the Father in all of these things saw what was necessary for you and I to have fellowship, to have peace with God. [That goes deep, great spiritual depth to that observation. Because all these offerings were blood sacrifices, picturing Jesus’ sacrificial death, which brought forgiveness, and now peace between God and the worshipper, the believer.] The Bible tells us all these things were a shadow, that Christ was the body that cast out of eternity, that cast that shadow. So interesting pictures here. “He among the sons of Aaron, that offereth the blood of the peace offerings, and the fat, shall have the right shoulder for his part. For the wave breast and the heave shoulder have I taken of the children of Israel from off the sacrifices of their peace offerings, and have given them unto Aaron the priest and unto his sons by a statute for ever from among the children of Israel. This is the portion of the anointing of Aaron, and of the anointing of his sons, out of the offerings of the LORD made by fire, in the day when he presented them to minister unto the LORD in the priest’s office; which the LORD commanded to be given them of the children of Israel, in the day that he anointed them, by a statute for ever throughout their generations.” (verses 33-36) So we went through again quickly the burnt offering, the meal offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering and the peace offering. And now more specific than we had in the earlier chapters, the part that the priest played in that, and the specific duties attached, and the parts of it that belonged to the priest for his sustenance. Ah, verse 37, “This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meat [grain] offering, and of the sin offering, and of the trespass offering, and of the consecrations, and of the sacrifice of the peace offerings; which the LORD commanded Moses in mount Sinai, in the day that he commanded the children of Israel to offer their oblations unto the LORD, in the wilderness of Sinai.” (verses 37-38)

Leviticus 8:1-29

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 2 Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread; 3 and gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 4 And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 5 And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the LORD commanded to be done. 6 And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water. 7 And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith. 8 And he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim. 9 And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the LORD commanded Moses. 10 And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them. 11 And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. 12 And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him. 13 And Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and put coats upon them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the LORD commanded Moses. 14 And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering. 15 And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it. 16 And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar. 17 But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the LORD commanded Moses. 18 And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. 19 And he killed it; and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. 20 And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat. 21 And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses. 22 And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. 23 And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. 24 And he brought Aaron’s sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet: and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. 25 And he took the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder: 26 and out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder: 27 and he put all upon Aaron’s hands, and upon his sons’ hands, and waved them for a wave offering before the LORD. 28 And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 29 And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the LORD: for of the ram of consecration it was Moses’ part; as the LORD commanded Moses.”

The Consecration Or Ordination Of Aaron & His Sons--They Are Washed, They Are Clothed, They Are Anointed

“Chapter 8 now takes us to the consecration of the priests. As we go through, and we won’t get that far this week, chapters 8, 9 and 10 the word “commanded” is going to appear at least 20 times. And over and over, God is ordering this. The way this happens is very important to him, as we move through this. In ancient Israel they had a priesthood. In the New Testament, the Church, you and I are the priesthood. They had a priesthood, we are a priesthood the New Testament tells us, that we offer spiritual sacrifices to the Lord, we’re a chosen nation, a royal priesthood, to offer up the right kinds of sacrifices to the Lord. So as we go through this picture of the priest and his consecration and his anointing there are lessons certainly for us to learn as we look at this, as we jump into it. “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the sin offering, and two rams, and a basket of unleavened bread; and gather thou all the congregation together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” (verses 1-3) Now Moses is going to be the one offering these sacrifices until Aaron and his sons are installed, and we’re going to finally see them in chapter 9 offer the first of the sacrifices, and that’s when we see the fire come from the presence of the LORD and the priesthood is officially inaugurated by God’s fire, by God’s ordinance. But here Moses takes him, verse 3 says “together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.” I assume, we’re not given details, that’s speaking of all of the leaders of the congregation. Because you couldn’t gather between two and three million people at the door of the congregation, nobody would be able to see. I’m assuming at least all of the leaders are gathered there to see Aaron and his sons installed. Verse 4, “And Moses did as the LORD commanded him; and the assembly was gathered together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the LORD commanded to be done.” (verses 4-5) The Tabernacle is in place, it’s erected, the ordinances in regards to sacrifices have been given, everything has been put in order. Now the priesthood itself is going to be instituted and the true worship of the True God in the true place he’s appointing, all of this God being in the midst of, among his people, for the first time since Eden. You know, God walked with Abraham, and God revealed himself to Moses, but this is the first time since Eden, since Paradise God is going to manifest himself again in the midst of his people, there’s an order to this and there’s a place. “And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.” (verse 6) We’re not given details, we’re going to see three things here, they are washed, they are clothed, and they are anointed. And certainly that’s the picture of our experience as a royal priesthood, we’re washed, then we are clothed, it tells us we’re to put off the old man and put on the new, clothed with Christ, and then to be anointed. Those things are certainly applicable to us. Whenever you see the washing of water in Scripture it’s always speaking of the Word of God. Whenever you see the drinking of water in the Scripture, it’s always speaking of the Holy Spirit. ‘Any man who thirsts, let him come to me and drink, and out of his inmost being shall flow rivers of Living Water.’ Thirst and drinking water is always a picture of the Holy Spirit, washing with water is always a picture of the Word of God in Scripture. [Comment: with the exception of the spiritual meaning behind the brazen laver, where the polished mirrors of brass represented the Word of God, a mirror that shows where the dirt is, and the water in it a picture of the Holy Spirit, that enables the dirt you see to be washed off. The Law of God is always a spiritual mirror, especially in the New Testament. The Law, the Word of God never, ever in the Old Testament enabled the average Israelite to obey the Word of God. Obedience only comes through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.] So Moses brought Aaron, we’re not given a lot of details here, no doubt probably by the bronze laver, and his sons, “and washed them with water.” The putting away of the flesh, the washing of the water of the Word [the Holy Spirit, in the case of the brazen laver], which we all need, and how we all need a continual washing to wash away the dust of this world and the dirt of this world. Wherewithal shall a young man/lady cleanse his way, by giving heed unto thy Word O Lord. Jesus says in John 17 ‘Sanctify them through thy truth, sanctify their lives, thy Word is truth.’ 1^st John, ‘I’ve written unto young men, because the Word of God abides in you, you’re strong, you’ve not given into the evil one.’ All through the Scripture the Word of God has an important part in our lives, of cleansing, of renewing, and strengthening, the washing here. [This one point is the only place a tend to disagree with Pastor Joe, the Word of God, the Law of God is a spiritual mirror, as James shows in James 1:22-23, the Holy Spirit is the water which enables one to wash off what he sees in God’s spiritual mirror, his Word, his Law.] It says “And he put upon him the coat, and girded him with the girdle, and clothed him with the robe, and put the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound it unto him therewith. And he put the breastplate upon him: also he put in the breastplate the Urim and the Thummim. And he put the mitre upon his head; also upon the mitre, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown; as the LORD commanded Moses.” (verses 7-9) This is all grace, this is all grace, it is all no doubt a picture of Christ, but it’s all grace. This is the calf-maker here, the golden calf maker that’s being dressed in this heavenly vesture, that represented something remarkable, that is going to be sanctified and set apart. And it tells us in the Book of Hebrews, that it was necessary for the priest first to offer sacrifices for their own sin, before they offered it for anyone else. And we’re going to see, there’s an eight-day process where the priests sacrifice for themselves, and set their own lives apart, before they start sacrificing for the people. This is all of grace, this is Aaron, the one who made the golden calf, now being clothed with all of these things that Moses had seen when he was with God on the Mount for 80-days, all of this wonder he’s being adorned in. And look, the only way you and I can be adorned in Christ is through grace, we can never earn it, we can never deserve it. The righteousness of Christ is ascribed to us. When God looks down from heaven, he sees the righteousness of Christ, he doesn’t see our performance. Christian perfection is not a perfection of performance, it’s a perfection of relationship. That even in the day that we fail, that we can go to him and get on our knees and confess our sin and say ‘Lord, I blew it today, I come to you, I know you paid the price in full,’ and to be honest and ask forgiveness and to find his grace, that’s Christian perfection, perfection of relationship, not a perfection of performance. That never lowers the standard. Again, no husband that’s ever lived has ever loved his wife the way Christ loved [loves] the Church, but that doesn’t lower the standard, that’s always to be what we aim for. Not attainable, but aimed for. And it seems that even in eternity we will always be approaching, and never arriving at the full stature of Christ. He’s infinite and we’re finite, and even in the ages to come he’ll be revealing of his grace and his glory to us, in the ages to come when we look up at him on his throne, we’ll always see something we’ve never seen before. Heaven [the Kingdom of heaven, as God’s throne and the New Jerusalem will end up on earth (cf. Revelation 21:1-23)] will not loose its wonder, our inheritance is undefiled, it says it fadeth not away, it isn’t anything that gets old, we never get tired of it, ‘Oh here we go, singing the same song again, holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, here we go, the same routine every day,’ and the cartoon, ‘standing on the cloud, playing a harp, whoopee, can’t we do something else.’ [We’ll be doing tons of things we don’t even have a clue of. After Revelation 21:1-23 the whole universe will be our playground. We’ll get to see God recreate heaven and earth, and all the stars, all over again, and see how he did it. But before that occurs we’ll be ruling with Jesus over the whole world during the Millennial Kingdom of God (see https://www.unityinchrist.com/kingdomofgod/MillennialKingdomofGod.pdf ).] No, no, he’s unending, his beauty, his majesty, his power, his faithfulness, his mercy, his grace is unending. That’s all effective in our lives now. ‘For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whomsoever believes in him would not perish, but have’ not attain some day, ‘have everlasting life.’ The second you got saved, you may be a knucklehead tonight, maybe you’re backslidden, I don’t know, but the second you got saved, God imparted to you everlasting life. You have everlasting life, and God’s faithfulness and his grace and his mercy and his power, his infinite majesty is working in us now, and will work in us throughout eternity, unending, unending. He’s clothed, all grace.

Getting Sanctified, Anointed With The Anointing Oil

“And Moses took the anointing oil, and anointed the tabernacle and all that was therein, and sanctified them. And he sprinkled thereof upon the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all his vessels, both the laver and his foot, to sanctify them. And he poured of the anointing oil upon Aaron’s head, and anointed him, to sanctify him.” (verses 10-12) So the anointing of oil, it says, sanctified. These things now, “Christ” means “the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ is the Anointed One, the priest is a picture of that, he’s now “the anointed one.” The Tabernacle, the Altar, all of that has been anointed, that means it’s sanctified, it is set aside, never to be used for common use. It is set aside for the purposes of God, and after those things are all anointed, then the oil comes down again, just imagine this outfit he has on, curiously woven, by God anointing the artisans with the Holy Spirit so they would make this breastplate and mitre, this robe and all of this intricate and marvelous and beautiful priestly clothing, more fantastic than Calvin Klien or anything you’ve ever seen can’t even come close to the weaving and the beauty and the perfection. And then they take this thing of oil and just dump it. You know how you hate to get a spot on your clothes. You know when I go out to eat Italian I wear a red shirt [laughter], because nothing even gets in my lap anymore because of the food blister I have here, and it’s on the way out. Imagine this remarkable outfit, and then just the oil poured all over it, in all of it’s beauty it means nothing without God’s anointing and God’s blessing. They poured the oil on Aaron it said, Psalm 133, ‘How good and how pleasant it is for the brethren to dwell together in unity, it’s like the oil that was poured upon Aaron’s head, that ran down upon his beard, and ran down to the hem of his garment,’ it was a lot of oil, ‘it’s like the dew of Mount Herman that comes down upon the mountains of Jerusalem.’ How good and how pleasant it is for the brothers, you and sisters, to dwell together in unity, it’s a time of consecration and it’s a time of renewal, it’s like the oil that ran down on Aaron, it’s like the dew on Mount Herman. If we do this right, the 6^th chapter, you wrong somebody, get right, then come offer your sacrifice. Don’t let the fire ever go out, don’t ever let it go out. You don’t want the fire in my life ever to go out, I’m your pastor, you don’t want me living in sexual sin, you don’t want me going out and getting drunk or something, you want me to walk with the Lord, I need you to do that too. I need you to do that, I need to say to you ‘Never let the fire go out,’ I am as dependent upon your prayers as you are upon the gift that the Lord has given you. We’re in this together. Never let the fire go out. My sons and my daughters, I will tell them, never settle for less, never settle for the status quo in Christianity, because it lays all over the surface, and there’s no depth to it [i.e. nominal Christianity is dead Christianity, dead orthodoxy]. Never let the fire go out in your heart, let Jesus be underneath of everything, let the power of his Holy Spirit be effective in your life. I don’t care what the Church says, I don’t care what religion says, never let the fire go out, that’s what I want for mine, and that’s what God wants for us. And here’s a picture of Aaron, he’s being washed, he’s being clothed, and then the anointing of God, the oil is just being poured on his life, a sinner, a golden calf maker, an idolator, the oil is poured on him. And by the way that oil, remember, it had a certain odour to it. Today you wear cologne, it’s not Poison or Seduction, you know, we have these perfumes, you know, As An Ox Goes To The Slaughter is what we should call it. And I’m supposing that we all bathe regularly, so today the scents that we put on are to give us a nice smell. In this day, when they anointed somebody with oil, they put an odour on them to cover up an odour that was always there. But the priests had a specific mixture of spices, that if you tried to reproduce that and were caught, it was the death sentence, because there was only supposed to be one person in Israel that smelled that way [I thought all the priests descended from Aaron, not just the high priest, could be anointed with this oil, and on a regular basis, so a priest would have that smell to him as well. Maybe that devolved to that practice later on], the high priest, I smell a priest. And you should be able to do that when you get alone with our High Priest, his voice is sweet, he’s tender to us, and something you should be able to say ‘I smell his presence, it’s like the smell of rain that comes, there’s something about some fragrance, about Jesus when he comes to draw close to us, it’s like the Balm of Gilead, he’s fragrant, altogether lovely, and there’s nothing else like that.’ And the priest is reflecting those things.

The Ordination, Consecration Of Aaron & His Sons

“And Moses brought Aaron’s sons, and put coats upon them, and girded them with girdles, and put bonnets upon them; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he brought the bullock for the sin offering: and Aaron and his sons” notice “laid their hands upon the head of the bullock for the sin offering. And he slew it; and Moses took the blood, and put it upon the horns of the altar round about with his finger, and purified the altar, of burnt offering “and poured the blood at the bottom of the altar, and sanctified it, to make reconciliation upon it. And he took all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses burned it upon the altar.” Moses is doing all this. “But the bullock, and his hide, his flesh, and his dung, he burnt with fire without the camp; as the LORD commanded Moses. And he brought the ram for the burnt offering: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram. And he killed it;” now the sin offering first in this order, because that had to be offered before they could consecrate themselves in a burnt offering, “and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. And he cut the ram into pieces; and Moses burnt the head, and the pieces, and the fat. And he washed the inwards and the legs in water; and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar: it was a burnt sacrifice for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the LORD; as the LORD commanded Moses.” with all of the leaders in Israel watching this amazing scene. “And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration: and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram.” this is the ram of “ordination,” it says “consecration,” the priests are being ordained to their ministry also. It’s an interesting root word, it means “to set,” “to impart,” “to put in place,” it’s specifically used in the setting of gems in place, it’s very interesting. This is now the offering of “consecration,” or of “ordination.” We’re going to see why. “And he slew it; and Moses took of the blood of it, and put it upon the tip of Aaron’s right ear, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot.” (verses 13-23) Isn’t that a good way to think of your big toe, that’s my great toe down there. This is the offering of consecration, of ordination. He slew it and he took the blood and he put it on the right ear of Aaron, upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the toe of his right foot. Consecrating his life, to hear God’s voice, the blood applied to his ear. Man there are so many things to hear in this world, and so many that present themselves as “cool.” If you want to be “cool” make sure you get to heaven [or into the Kingdom of God, which will end up on earth (cf. Rev. 21:1-23)]. Because the world presents all kinds of things that are “cool.” I’ll tell you what’s cooler than anything else, is hearing his Word, hearing his voice, hearing God speak to you should blow you mind, and it blows my mind when it happens. It doesn’t happen every day, me and God walking around and having a dialogue, ok. There have been times when he has specifically spoken to me, and I knew it was his voice. I most often find him in his Word, that’s my gift, and I’ll get alone with the Lord and I’ll begin to read, and pretty soon something has brought tears to my eyes, something’s coming off the page, I know he’s talking to me, and I’ll bow my head and heart then, and begin to pray and to seek him and say ‘Lord, you’re speaking to me.’ Most often for me it’s through his Word. He talks to me in traffic once in a while, to the benefit of the person in front of me. But blood applied to the ear, God’s voice. The blood applied to the thumb, God’s work, God’s work, done in a consecrated way. Not according to man’s dictates or religious practice, but according to Christ. Why do we serve? Do we serve because of the blood of Jesus Christ? Do we serve because we are Christians and that’s what Christians are supposed to do? Trying to be a Christian a drag. [Without the indwelling Holy Spirit, I’d say is what he means.] You better serve because you love Jesus and there’s blood, as it were on the thumb of your right hand. And then on the great toe of his right foot, God’s path, consecrated for us. Our hearing, to hear the voice of God, our doing, to serve the Living God, our going, to walk the path that God has set out for us. This was the ram of consecration, of ordination. “And he brought Aaron’s sons, and Moses put of the blood upon the tip of their right ear, and upon the thumbs of their right hands, and upon the great toes of their right feet:” and how don’t we certainly want this for our sons and daughters? “and Moses sprinkled the blood upon the altar round about. And he took the fat, and the rump, and all the fat that was upon the inwards, and the caul above the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and the right shoulder: and out of the basket of unleavened bread, that was before the LORD, he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat, and upon the right shoulder: and he put all upon Aaron’s hands, and upon his sons’ hands, and waved them for a wave offering before the LORD. And Moses took them from off their hands, and burnt them on the altar upon the burnt offering: they were consecrations for a sweet savour: it is an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And Moses took the breast, and waved it for a wave offering before the LORD: for of the ram of consecration it was Moses’ part; as the LORD commanded Moses.” (verses 24-29) We’ll pick up there, Lord willing, next week, if the Rapture happens you can ask Moses and Aaron all about it. ok, look quickly, we’ll have the musicians come, we’ll lift up our hearts and our voices, we’ll sing a last song. I encourage you, if you’re sitting here tonight thinking ‘That’s me, man, I’ve wronged somebody, I know I need to make it right,’ go make it right. Don’t play church, don’t play Christianity, make it right. God never separates the one from the other. Horizontal sin is always a vertical violation, there’s just no way around it. And the world will know that we’re his disciples by the love we have one for another, that’s what the Scripture says. As believers, never let the fire go out on the altar, God doesn’t ever let it go out on his altar, it’s sufficient, it’s complete, when Christ said ‘it is finished, Tutelisti, paid in full,’ that burns forever, it never goes out. And let’s have some fire in our hearts and our prayer lives, in our service, the study of the Scripture. Because though we’re sinners, the Lord has washed us, he’s clothed us with the Righteousness of Christ [of himself, the Lord being Christ, grammatically speaking]. I heard someone say this week, and it angered me, and they were banging God’s people for money, that if you don’t give a certain way, God looks down and sees you as a bank-robber. I thought ‘You knucklehead,’ that’s as bad as I could think. God doesn’t see us with a mask over our face, like a bank robber. He sees Jesus when he looks down on us. He sees Jesus when he looks down on us. We have been clothed of grace, not because we could ever earn or deserve it. We have been washed and we have been clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and we have God’s provision of anointing and power through his Spirit. Let’s let his sacrifice determine what we hear, what we do, and where and how we walk…[transcript of a connective expository sermon on Leviticus 6:1-30, Leviticus 7:1-38 and Leviticus 8:1-29, given by Pastor Joe Focht, Calvary Chapel of Philadelphia, 13500 Philmont Avenue, Philadelphia, PA 19116]