1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:11,560 Hello, teachers. We're in the session number 11 in our study in Exodus and Leviticus. 2 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:15,160 Today is not the first time we've looked at Leviticus at all, but it's the first time 3 00:00:15,160 --> 00:00:22,800 we're where we are exclusively in Leviticus in this study. And this goes into chapter 4 00:00:22,800 --> 00:00:31,480 number 9, verse 15, all the way to chapter 10, verse 3. It's really describing when the 5 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:40,080 priests were first in the tabernacle beginning to offer sacrifices to God. This is in and 6 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:45,440 around the first time that the priests, the Aaronic priesthood, the Aaron's sons and Aaron 7 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:52,800 himself, our first sacrificing to the Lord. Leviticus really is about, in a large part, 8 00:00:52,800 --> 00:00:58,760 about the offerings that were offered to God. And really, it serves its main value, although it may 9 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:04,720 seem like a—it's the place so many people stop when they're going through the Bible. Reading the 10 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:09,560 Bible in a year, they get to Leviticus, and it's talking about grain offerings and peace offerings 11 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:15,040 and burn offerings and all these different things. It's going to talk about in today's text. But 12 00:01:15,040 --> 00:01:23,760 what we're learning about God through these offerings is that there's a vast gulf separating us 13 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:38,480 from God, that we need atonement, we need cleansing, that we need to avoid being defiled by our sin, 14 00:01:38,480 --> 00:01:45,080 that we need to be cleansed from our sin, and what we do to offer God proper worship when that takes 15 00:01:45,080 --> 00:01:52,560 place. And so, we see that described today as they offer worship to God in this tabernacle through 16 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:58,880 these offerings. And so, it connects with us in terms of worship by seeing that if we want to 17 00:01:58,880 --> 00:02:07,280 worship God, exceptively, several factors must be involved and must be related to. So, 18 00:02:07,280 --> 00:02:12,000 the first thing we're going to see is that sin must be atoned. We're going to start to see that in 19 00:02:12,000 --> 00:02:19,960 verse number 15. It says this, and he brought the people's offering and took the goat, which was 20 00:02:19,960 --> 00:02:28,480 the sin offering for the people, and slew it and offered it for sin as the first. It goes on and 21 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:33,280 says, and he brought the burn offering and offered it according to the manner. That's a different 22 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:39,120 offering. The burn offering was the whole animal, whereas the sin offering wasn't necessary, the 23 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:44,000 whole animal, animal. Verse 17, and he brought the meat offering. Ironically, the meat offering is 24 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:50,920 the one bloodless offering. It was actually a grain offering. Meat here is the idea of food or 25 00:02:50,920 --> 00:02:57,120 grain, and he took a handful there and burned it upon the altar beside the sacrifice of the morning. 26 00:02:57,120 --> 00:03:02,600 He slew also the bullock in the ram for the sacrifice of peace offerings, which was for the 27 00:03:02,600 --> 00:03:07,560 people. And Aaron's sons presented unto him the blood, which he sprinkled upon the altar round 28 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:12,960 about, and the fat of the bullock and of the ram, the rump, and that which covered the inwards and 29 00:03:12,960 --> 00:03:19,880 the kidneys and the cow above the liver. And they put the fat upon the breast, and he burnt the 30 00:03:19,880 --> 00:03:24,520 fat upon the altar, and the breast in the right shoulder, Aaron, waived for a waive offering 31 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:33,640 before the Lord as Moses commanded. So this would have been the first day of training, the first 32 00:03:33,640 --> 00:03:41,960 kind of on-the-job training for Aaron's sons as they were serving as priests. They had this series 33 00:03:41,960 --> 00:03:47,840 of offerings that they did. All of them prescribed by God, all of them laid out in order, and you 34 00:03:47,840 --> 00:03:55,040 see their atonement offerings, peace offerings that are happening to make the worshipers right 35 00:03:55,040 --> 00:04:03,960 before God. Then there's this, the meat offering, which reflected, it's the only bloodless offering, 36 00:04:03,960 --> 00:04:10,520 it reflected the their attitude towards being thankful for what they had. And then, unlike the 37 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:16,240 whole burnt offering that was entirely consumed by the fire, the peace offerings were only partially 38 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:22,080 burnt. The burnt offerings were what was given wholly to God. Everything that was burnt was 39 00:04:22,080 --> 00:04:26,720 represented as being given totally to God. The part that wasn't burnt, like in this peace offering, 40 00:04:26,720 --> 00:04:32,760 is part that they would eat, the priests would eat, and even the priests that offered it would eat, 41 00:04:32,760 --> 00:04:42,120 too. So all of this happened in an order, and the whole idea here is that people's sin had to be 42 00:04:42,120 --> 00:04:49,360 atoned for. The sin had to be atoned, there's, there's, the people had to be covered. This is 43 00:04:49,360 --> 00:04:54,480 what was being described. And the truth of the matter is, for us to worship God rightly, we 44 00:04:54,480 --> 00:05:01,080 absolutely need to have our sins forgiven. We know as we studied in Hebrews as a church, 45 00:05:01,080 --> 00:05:06,320 and we have studied in Hebrews in the past as we've gone through the Sunday School lessons, 46 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:14,360 we've learned that the priests, that blood was necessary for the atonement for sin, 47 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:21,720 and the blood of sheep and goats could never fully satisfy sin. So these offerings were offerings 48 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:27,960 that were made on a daily, seasonally, and yearly basis. That's something that had to be, 49 00:05:27,960 --> 00:05:34,040 had to happen. And so our sin creates a barrier between us and God. As you teach this lesson, 50 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:41,360 you need to make sure that people understand what sin is, what atonement is, why atonement is 51 00:05:41,360 --> 00:05:47,720 necessary. And ultimately, fully and finally, that has to come in Jesus Christ the Lamb slain 52 00:05:47,720 --> 00:05:53,720 before the foundation of the world. And so we see that our sin had to be paid for. Number two, 53 00:05:53,720 --> 00:06:00,160 we see that the offering, once you do that acceptably, the offering, it is then that it's 54 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:07,920 accepted. And here we see that in the ceremonial way, and in this incredible way with God's presence, 55 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:16,000 the resurrection in so many ways is this showing that Jesus' sacrifice was acceptable. And then 56 00:06:16,000 --> 00:06:22,520 the Holy Spirit coming into us shows that we are sanctified and right with God. So we're gonna see 57 00:06:22,520 --> 00:06:25,360 that in verse number 22. It says, 58 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:30,040 And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people and blessed them and came down from the offering of the 59 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:34,560 sin offering and the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the 60 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:40,480 tabernacle of the congregation and came out and blessed the people. Now look what happened. And 61 00:06:40,480 --> 00:06:46,640 the glory of the Lord appeared into all the people and there came a fire from, a fire out from before 62 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:52,200 the Lord and consumed upon the altar the burnt offering and the fat, which when all the people 63 00:06:52,200 --> 00:07:02,560 saw, they shouted and fell on their faces. The fat and this burnt offering was something that 64 00:07:02,560 --> 00:07:06,760 was to be offered to the Lord. That was holy, His. There's no part of it that they would consume 65 00:07:06,760 --> 00:07:13,960 later. That was fully them, the blood, the fat that was never eaten. And so when God supernaturally 66 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:21,000 consumes this offering, in that moment, he was showing that he accepted that offering, 67 00:07:21,000 --> 00:07:28,560 that that was the right way to do it. And that in that moment, why they were offering the sacrifices 68 00:07:28,560 --> 00:07:35,880 was accepted by God. And literally it says here that the people, when they saw it, they shouted 69 00:07:35,880 --> 00:07:42,400 and fell on their faces. There was this experience of the power and the presence of God that caused 70 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:49,920 on them. And they literally fell on their faces, which is a prostrate on the face is the, is the 71 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:58,480 right posture of worship. That is an incredible thing. And so we see that if we're going to worship 72 00:07:58,480 --> 00:08:04,400 God the right way, our sin has to be atoned for and it has to be something that's accepted by God. 73 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:12,840 When Jesus said on the cross, it is finished. When Christ was raised from the dead, those are 74 00:08:12,840 --> 00:08:18,920 things that show us that Christ sacrificed for sin was accepted. And so this is part of worshiping 75 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:24,240 God. Except, except, exceptively, we have to come to him having God accepts worship from us when we 76 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:31,280 rightly recognize the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross for our sin. And that's an incredible thing 77 00:08:31,280 --> 00:08:36,920 too. The last thing we see is that worship should be acceptable. Worship should be acceptable. Even 78 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:43,080 after we're saved, we still have to be obedient in the way that we worship God. And God is giving 79 00:08:43,080 --> 00:08:51,800 an important lesson here in this next section to show that he has a say in how he's going to be 80 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:57,960 worshiped. We'll see that in chapter 10 verses one through three. We see this. It says, and they 81 00:08:57,960 --> 00:09:05,960 dab and abihu the sons of Aaron took either of them his sensor and put fire there and put incense 82 00:09:05,960 --> 00:09:12,840 there on and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not. So we see a 83 00:09:12,840 --> 00:09:20,040 couple of things. These are made abida by who these are Aaron's sons. He had four sons that were 84 00:09:20,040 --> 00:09:26,880 serving as priests here. Two of them decide they're going to take these implements of worship that 85 00:09:26,880 --> 00:09:34,360 they were using before this sensor and they're going to put incense. And it says literally 86 00:09:34,360 --> 00:09:44,720 strange fire. This word for strange in the Hebrew is an understanding of unauthorized or not accepted 87 00:09:44,720 --> 00:09:54,880 incense. This strange fire, he literally says in the verse, which he commanded them not, talking 88 00:09:54,880 --> 00:10:00,440 about the Lord, this is instances that he commanded them not to do. And it says that, you know, 89 00:10:00,440 --> 00:10:07,000 previously the fire that came out from the Lord consumed the offering that was acceptable, right? 90 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:12,800 That's what that's what ended up happening. And this time fire comes out again. Verse two, 91 00:10:12,800 --> 00:10:20,520 there went out fire from the Lord and devoured them and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said 92 00:10:20,520 --> 00:10:26,320 to Aaron, this is it. That the Lord spake saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me. 93 00:10:26,320 --> 00:10:34,000 And before all the people, I will be glorified. And so he's saying, this is what God said, 94 00:10:34,000 --> 00:10:40,000 you're going to do this and you're going to be holy in the way that you do this because I'm 95 00:10:40,000 --> 00:10:46,200 accepting, you have to be right with me. This part of that sin has to be atoned. Worship has to be 96 00:10:46,200 --> 00:10:53,920 done the way God prescribes. It has to be acceptable. And it literally says, and Aaron held 97 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:59,440 this peace. And if I saw two of my kids consumed in that moment, it would be hard for me to hold 98 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:06,880 my peace. And on the one hand, yeah, I'm saddened that my sons have died. On the other hand, 99 00:11:06,880 --> 00:11:14,360 I want to be acceptable before the Lord and not do anything I ought not do in worship. I think 100 00:11:14,360 --> 00:11:21,680 where that hits us today is that we need to take very seriously things that we offer to God in 101 00:11:21,680 --> 00:11:29,120 worship. Paul says that what do you not know that your body is a living sacrifice? Do you not know 102 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:35,480 that your body is a temple of the Lord that you have from God? You're not your own. You're bought 103 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:43,280 with a price glorify God in your body and your spirit, which are gods. And so we are in our 104 00:11:43,280 --> 00:11:48,440 worship corporately in our worship through our lives individually. We need to understand that 105 00:11:48,440 --> 00:11:53,160 there's a right way to worship God and a wrong way to do it. And we don't get to make up what 106 00:11:53,160 --> 00:12:01,400 needs to happen there. Man, there's a lot that could be said in this lesson. Leviticus is really 107 00:12:01,400 --> 00:12:06,800 rich in so many ways when you take it slowly, when you read it, when you think through what it means, 108 00:12:06,800 --> 00:12:13,880 not just in its context and who it's talking to, but also when you understand it in light of Christ 109 00:12:13,880 --> 00:12:21,760 and who he is and that these things are shadows and pictures of the real things that are to come. 110 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:28,800 And so I pray that I'm praying for you as you go through this. I hope that this helps you. As you 111 00:12:28,800 --> 00:12:36,280 think about how to teach this to your class, let's offer our lives purely to the Lord. Let's make 112 00:12:36,280 --> 00:12:40,840 sure that people know that their sins need to be atoned for, that they need to be saved. And then 113 00:12:40,840 --> 00:12:45,680 let's take even what happens on Sunday and our worship services seriously that we offer God 114 00:12:45,680 --> 00:13:11,600 acceptable worship. I hope that helped you and have a great week.