Okay, so we're continuing on just book by book through the Bible. I've got one, yeah. Really just giving a very big bird's eye view of the whole of each of these books of the Bible. So really just a very quick survey going through what each of these books of the Bible is about. And so we come today to Leviticus. Well, establishing Moses as the author of Leviticus is relatively easy because we have at least 30 times in the book a phrase that says, and the Lord spake unto Moses, or some really tight variation of that particular phrase. And so we've looked at this in each of the different books so far, but really establishing Moses as the author of the Pentateuch as a whole establishes him as the author of each of these. I'm going to take these to the back. No, the ones left over. Or is Stephanie coming back? Oh, yeah. There's more people coming in. Can you just walk this? Well, there's just one, so. OK. I mean, I can share with Stephanie. OK, here. I need to print more. OK. Several people just walked in, so make sure they have one. But establishing Moses as the author, like I say, is pretty easy. 30 times the Lord spake unto Moses, and Moses writes these things down. If you will, turn to the very last page of the book of Exodus. And so we did this last week when we looked at how Genesis flows into Exodus. And so if you go to Exodus chapter 40, and just take note of how Exodus flows right into Leviticus. So Exodus 40 in verse number 38, the last verse of the book, says, for the cloud of the Lord was upon the tabernacle by day, and fire was on it by night in the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. And the Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying..." And so just as we saw Genesis ends and Exodus picks up pretty much exactly where Genesis left off, we see the same thing in the book between Exodus and Leviticus. Exodus ends, and Leviticus picks up right exactly where the book of Exodus left off. teaches us something and proves for something of the continuity of the Pentateuch. And so just to remind you, we have looked at the fact that when we come to the New Testament, Christ and others refer to these writings as the Book of Moses. Not books, plural, but the Book of Moses indicating the whole of the Pentateuch. If we look at some contrasts between the book of Exodus and the book of Leviticus, I put just a little chart there and just really two main things, but I tried to set it up for you this way so you can just see these things side by side. When we come to the book of Exodus, really the end of the book of Exodus, so from chapter 24 or so to chapter 40, Exodus gives the people of Israel instructions about how to build the tabernacle. But then when we come to the book of Leviticus, it gives the people instructions as to how to use the tabernacle. And so Leviticus is a book full of laws. And so the word Leviticus simply means pertaining to the Levites. So you hear Levi, Levites, the Levites were the priestly tribe, and so this is a book pertaining to the Levites, and it is primarily filled with instructions on how the priests are to perform their particular duties in the sacrifices and so forth. So Exodus taught them how to build it, Leviticus teaches them how to use it, And so, in the book of Exodus, the people are taught the terms of the covenant between God and men, and then in the book of Leviticus, they're taught how to maintain that covenant in an ongoing relationship. And so they're taught how to worship. And so it really brings us to the point that what Leviticus is teaching us is that people must regularly approach God. They must regularly come into God's presence. Now, in the book of Exodus, we learn that God had manifest himself with his people in the tabernacle. The book closes with the Lord's glory overshadowing the tabernacle, even so much that Moses couldn't go in there because of this cloud of glory that was overshadowing it. But yet, Leviticus is teaching how to come and the need to come into the Lord's presence. And so after the story of redemption that we see in Exodus 1 to 19, and then God giving his people the instructions of building that tabernacle from Exodus 20, but really farther on, you know, 24 or so to the end, Leviticus teaches the people how to worship. And so, I'll read you a quotation, I have it in your notes here, from W.H. Griffith Thomas, a commentator on the Pentateuch, but here on this book of Leviticus. He says, God's order must always be preserved. As Leviticus follows Exodus, so communion, understand that, communion with God, and holiness and worship must follow, but cannot precede pardon. And so we learn that in the book of Leviticus, and it teaches us by object lesson in the sacrifices and so forth, how a person is pardoned by the shedding of innocent blood as a substitute. And so the main lesson that's taught in the book of Leviticus is a lesson of holiness. And we can establish that simply from the fact, if you see in the second paragraph there down under the chart, the main lesson taught in the book is the lesson of holiness, because we see the word holy and its cognates. Now, if you're not familiar with that word cognate, I think most of you probably are, but if you're not familiar with that word cognate, it's simply a word that's derived from the word holy. And so you wouldn't recognize this in English, but in In Hebrew, the word sanctuary is a derivative of the word holy. It would be really very literally translated a holy place. And so as we come into the sanctuary of the Lord, we're coming into the holy place of the Lord. And so that would be one of the cognates that's derived from that word holy. So that word occurs 131 times. And then the word clean, or cleanness, or some derivative of that, or even dealing with that which is unclean, so that would all be in this cognate family, 186 times. And so this theme of holiness and how can a person be holy before God, what does God consider to be holy, what does God consider to be unholy is one of the major themes in this book of Leviticus. And so it's in this book that we read things of the laws of cleanness and uncleanness, and the different foods that were clean and unclean, and what made a person unclean, and how a person could be cleansed from that uncleanness. And so, when we see this key lesson about holiness in the book of Leviticus, one of the primary ways that that is taught to us is in the lesson of separation. There is both the separation from evil, and then a separation to God. And so that can be illustrated if you turn to Leviticus chapter 16. So, if you're a master of chapter content, when you say of Leviticus 16, you immediately know that that is the instructions for the Day of Atonement, one of the most important chapters in the book. But we have something of this separation idea illustrated. I'm gonna skip around in some reading, but let's start in verse number eight. So in this process, in the ritual of the day of the atonement, it says in verse eight, and Aaron shall cast lots upon the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for the scapegoat. And Aaron shall bring the goat upon which the Lord's lot fell, and offer him for a sin offering. But the goat on which the lot fell to be the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement for him, and to let him go for a scapegoat into the wilderness." Skip down to verse number 15. Then shall he kill the goat of the sin offering that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with that blood as he did with the blood of the bullock, and sprinkle it upon the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat. And he shall make an atonement for the holy place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions and all their sins. And so shall he do for the tabernacle of the congregation that remaineth among them in the midst of their uncleanness." And now down to verse number 21, And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, and all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat, and shall send him away by the hand of a fit man into the wilderness. And the goat shall bear upon him all their iniquities unto a land not inhabited, And he shall let go the goat in the wilderness. So the imagery there is there's two goats on this day of atonement. There is a bullock that's offered in verse number 11 as part of the sin offering. But there's two goats that are brought into the tabernacle area, and the lot is cast. One becomes a goat for sacrifice. The other becomes the scapegoat. And so the goat for sacrifice, after the bull has been slain and the blood applied from that, according to the ceremonial rituals, that goat that the lot was cast on that was for the Lord was slain as a sin-offering sacrifice. The other goat that remained alive by object lesson and illustration, the priest laying both hands on the head of that scapegoat was a picture of the transfer of the sin of the people onto the head of that goat. And then that goat was to be led out into the wilderness by the hand of a fit man far away and let go to wander and never to be seen again. and I think you can conjure up in your mind that passage of scripture that talks about our sins being cast as far as the East is from the West. You get to the North Pole, and you go past the North Pole, and you keep walking, and now you're walking South. But if you stand where you are and you start walking West, and you keep walking, you're never walking East, you're always walking West. And the imagery there is tremendous for us. How far away does the Lord cast our sins away? Well, as far away as they can be cast, never to be seen again into the depths of the bottom of the sea. And there's all these different illustrations of that in the scriptures, but the scapegoat illustrates that separation from evil, the sin is taken away, it's gone, the sacrifice is a separation to God, a devotion to Him, and a service and a worship to the Lord. And so we see that as one of the primary lessons through the whole book. So outlining the book, I give you two different outlines here, a very quick divide by two kind of outline, and then a little bit more detailed one. And so chapters one to 16 really outlines for us the way to approach God. The main theme or lesson that rises to the surface from that is our need for a mediator. one to go between us and God. And then that lesson of the need for a mediator, it comes to its crescendo at the Day of Atonement in chapter 16. Well then, chapter 17 to the end teaches us the way to abide with God. And there the main lesson is that of consecration, making something sacred or dedicating something as holy or for a higher purpose unto the Lord. And it outlines for us our need to draw near to God in praise and in worship. And so that's a big outline, just divide by two, breaking the book into two parts. But if we drill down a little bit more specifically, you see the laws of the offerings in chapters one to seven. There are five main offerings that are outlined for us in the book. And these indicate to us the means of approaching God. How do we approach God? Well, we approach Him through sacrifice. There is a main theme of a need for propitiation. That's a big 50-cent theological word that simply means the appeasement of wrath. We have to have the wrath of God quenched. And the only way to have that wrath quenched is through a mediator, through a sacrifice. And so there's five different offerings. I list these for you here. The burn offering, the grain offering, the fellowship offering, the sin offering, and the guilt offering. and then the chapters or verses where those particular ones occur. Now, there are many similarities between all these offerings and there are many differences. I'm not going to take the time, we don't have the time in a short lesson like this to get down into the imagery of all the different parts. But if we look at the main parts, the basic elements of all of these sacrifices, it begins with a worshipper bringing an animal to the courtyard and then laying his hand on that animal. I might be just dumb and really never had understood this until probably about 10 years ago. I don't know. It's kind of embarrassing to say I only realized it that recently. But I always thought, I guess I never really thought through it, but I thought that when the sacrifice happened, some Israelite father, whatever, got his lamb, took it to the priest, And the priest did all the stuff. But when you read it, that's not what happens at all. So you've sinned. Your family has sinned. You're the head of your house, whatever. You bring this sacrifice to the tabernacle. And they're basically in the door, in the doorway of the tabernacle. You're meeting there with the priest. And you lay your own personal hand on the head of that animal. So I mentioned this in the Day of Atonement, the high priest laid both of his hands on the head of the scapegoat, and it was an imagery and symbolic of the sins of the people transferred to that animal, so the high priest representing the entire nation. We're here either you, yourself, or representing your family, whatever. You are laying your hands on that animal, and you are symbolically showing the transfer of your sin from yourself to that animal. And then you took a knife. You are the one that actually killed that animal. The priest didn't kill anything. You killed the animal yourself. showing your responsibility for the need for that innocent to die on your behalf. Not that the priest killed it, you killed it. And it really illustrates to us who killed Jesus. It was my sin that killed Jesus. It was your sin that killed Jesus. We, I am responsible for him having to die for my sins. And so the priest would kill the animal, I'm sorry, the worshiper would kill the animal and the priest would be there with a bowl or a basin thing and catch that blood from the slit throat of that animal. And then the priest would take that blood, and depending upon the different type of sacrifice and the purpose of the different sacrifice, would use that blood for different purposes in different ways, sometimes sprinkling it on what the King James calls the horns of the altar. And so this would be the big, square, burnt altar. And so horns really just the corners of that altar. He would sprinkle the blood there. Sometimes he would sprinkle the blood at the base of the altar on the ground. Sometimes he would sprinkle the blood on the altar of incense that was inside the holy place. And then, just once a year, on the Day of Atonement, that blood from the other goat was taken into the Most Holy Place and sprinkled on the mercy seat, the covering of the Ark of the Covenant. And so, then, once the animal was killed, the blood had been dealt with, the priest would basically butcher the animal, dismember that animal, and the guts sometimes would be taken out into the wilderness, sometimes they would be burnt on the altar, sometimes the entire animal was consumed as a burnt sacrifice, sometimes the animal was what we would call in butchering, quartered. And the priest would keep part of the animal as his food and nourishment for himself and his family. Sometimes the person offering the sacrifice would take some of that home and they would be required as part of the ritual to eat of that sacrifice. And so just depending on one of these five and what the different ones were and what the need was, is how it all happened. Sometimes the grain offering that we see, bee there, was not an animal at all. It was flour, or oil, or food of some kind, bread, that was brought as a sacrifice. But all of these offerings indicate the means whereby we can approach God, and that means is sacrifice. We come to the second part, the laws of the priesthood, chapters 8 to 10, and so this shows us the instrument of approaching, being through the priest, and that is really what underscores for us this need of mediation. And we know that these priests all pictured Jesus Christ ultimately. They were a type, a sign and symbol of Him. And so we come to the New Testament and we learn there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. We approach through Christ. And so that touches on our understanding of prayer. When we finish our prayers and we come to the end and we say, in Jesus' name, amen, I've said this before, that is not the same thing as when you write a letter and you write at the end, sincerely, Derek Bowman. And it's not the way in a public prayer meeting to let everybody know, OK, now I can open my eyes. The prayer is finished. I can open my eyes now. No, the in Jesus' name, amen. is the way that we approach to God. We cannot approach to Him apart from Christ, apart from Him as our mediator. Chapters 11-22 give us laws of purity. So there we have laws of cleanness and uncleanness, and what food can you eat and not eat, and what can you touch and what can you not touch, etc. And that gives us a condition of approaching God. We approach Him with clean hands and a pure heart, and we learn there the lesson of separation, separation from that which is unclean. Those unclean things are pictures and symbols for us of sin, that which is opposed to God and His law. And then the book closes out with the laws of the festivals, and these are the occasions of approach to God. And they're a lesson of consecration and setting apart that which is holy, setting apart that which is special unto the Lord in praise and devotion to Him. that same author that I quoted just a moment ago, W. H. Griffith Thomas, he summarizes the book of Leviticus, you see in your notes here, the great problem. The problem is sin. The provision for that is sacrifice. The power to accomplish all that is the priesthood, but we understand what he means from the context of what he's written, a mediator. The plan, how does all this take place? Well, it's pictured for us by the imagery of the Day of Atonement. And Christ's death on the cross, his work of redemption for us, really brings into clear focus all the aspects of the Day of Atonement. It was God's plan of redemption. And what possibility does it open up for us but access to God? And we learn the principle of holiness and the privilege that we have as believers to be in the presence of God. And so that really summarizes something of the book. There was another author that I was reading on Leviticus, and he had an interesting perspective of the way the book of Leviticus is situated in the overall history of redemption, and what God has revealed to us so far. So, you know, if you could ever clear your mind of everything you ever knew about the Bible, and you didn't know anything about God, you didn't know anything about the Bible, you knew nothing at all, and you could start in Genesis and just read for the very first time, having zero knowledge of anything that the Bible teaches about anything else, never heard of Jesus, didn't know the cross was coming, had no earthly idea of any of these things. Well, as you're reading and you get to the book of Exodus, there are three pressing theological questions that arise or theoretically would arise in your mind. And the book of Leviticus fleshes out something of an answer to these problems, these questions. And so I want to finish today just by outlining this and showing you this aspect. The first question is, how can we ever get back to life? And so, he points to the fall and Adam and Eve being cast out of the garden. So, turn to Genesis 3. I've got these verses here in your notes, but Genesis 3, look at verse 23. Genesis 3.23, therefore the Lord God sent him, this is Adam, forth from or out of the Garden of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. And so there were these cherubim gates that blocked any entrance back into the Garden of Eden. And there was this flaming sword that stood in the pathway of anyone who would dare to try to enter back in. And we're told here it was guarding the Tree of Life. And so not going to get super bogged down in a lot of the theology of this, but there was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. and there was a tree of life. And as we outline and understand our view of the book of Genesis, covenant theology, when Adam and Eve ate of that forbidden fruit and they fell into sin, they became sinners. God graciously blocked them from getting to that tree of life. which would have sealed them in that state of sin and misery. It's the way we understand that. But the question then becomes, how can mankind ever get past this guardian who wields this flaming sword? How can a man ever get back to the presence of God? They were cast away from the presence of God. How can they get back there? Life was illustrated and pictured in this garden, and they were cast out of that. They were separated from God. So if you remember last Sunday night, Pastor Kimbrough, when he was preaching on that intermediate state, he gave a very good, I hope you caught what he said there about death. What is death? Its fundamental aspect is a separation. They were dead in that they were separated from God. Spiritually, they spiritually died. There was a spiritual separation. Their bodies were still alive, mind you, but they were spiritually separated from God. And so, how to get back to Him without risking death? Because the only way back was somehow through this flaming sword that would surely kill you. So there's a big question that looms as you're reading. Well, then you come to the book of Exodus, and you see God redeeming His people. He brings them out with this mighty hand. You come to Exodus 19, turn there, Exodus 19, verse 3. And the question here is, how can we be God's peculiar treasure and have Him draw near to us. So if God has blocked the way of us getting to Him, then how can it be that we're his peculiar treasure. And so look at Exodus 19 verse three, and Moses went up unto God and the Lord called unto him out of the mountain saying, thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel, you have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bear you on Eagle's wings and brought you unto myself. Now, therefore, If you will obey my voice indeed and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people, for all the earth is mine. And so there's something of a tension that is given to us between these two ideas. On the one hand, God has put this major restriction between us and him so that we cannot draw near to him because we're sinful. But on the other hand, God has said that he desires to be near to us. And so how can we have both? And so these two seemingly conflicting problems give rise to the third question. And that is, how can sinful man endure the presence of a holy God? And so if we read in Exodus, God is holy. He thunders from Mount Sinai, and the children of Israel are terrified, and they ask Moses, you go talk to him. We can't bear this. We can't hear this. Moses does. He goes and he talks to the Lord. And when Moses comes down from the mountain, the people can't even look at Moses because his face shone so brightly from being in the presence of the Lord. And so how can sinful man endure God's holy presence? If we're restricted from getting to him, but yet God wants to be with us, well, how can this problem be solved? How can we be in his presence? Well, one author likened it to trying to bring the sun down closer to your neighborhood. You know, the sun's 93 million miles away. Well, what if the sun touched your house? How in the world would you bear it? You'd have to have, as he says, a covering and a protection of epic proportion to be able to bear the heat of the sun being so close to you. But yet God wants to be close to us, but how can we as sinful humanity stand up to that? Well, with the object lessons of the sacrificial system, the book of Leviticus really teaches us the answers to those questions. And so, through the person and work of Christ, God has made a way back to himself. And God has made a way for us to be reconciled to Him, and Him to be reconciled to us. He has provided propitiation, an appeasement of wrath. He's also provided another theological term we use, expiation. The removal of guilt. He's done that, and he's pictured that for us in these sacrifices. And so we can approach to God past this flaming sword, if you will, only through the way of holiness. And our holiness is not our own. It's a holiness that has been provided for us by a substitute. And so we can substitute that word holiness with a righteousness that's been provided for us through Christ. And so this speaks of our justification, an imputed righteousness from another. And then God can dwell with our sinful selves, because of the cleansing that has been applied by the blood of that sacrifice. And so what we learn in those sacrifices in the first seven chapters is how God deals with our sin and how we as fallen humanity repent of sin and obtain cleansing for our sin. God has provided the way. God has opened the door. He has provided a sacrifice for us. And Christ has made an atonement. That word atonement is literally the word of covering. And he's covered our sins by his sacrificial and substitutionary death. And so we can draw near to God and God can draw near to us because we have a covering of epic proportion in the person of Jesus Christ. He is able to quench all of the wrath of God that would be against us. And he's able to, if you will, kind of to change and mix the metaphor, he's able to bridge the gap between us and God, and he's able to bring us together with him. So the book of Leviticus Really, that's what it's teaching. That's what it is demonstrating to us of how God can be near to us and how we can be near to God through all these object lessons. And we know that they're ultimately and finally fulfilled in the person and work of Christ. We'll stop there. So let's close in prayer. Let's pray. Our Father, we do thank you this morning that we have a covering in Jesus Christ, that you have made a way for us to enter into your presence. You've not left us cast out. You've not left us at arm's length away from you, banished for all of eternity, but instead you have graciously brought us back to yourself And we pray that we would have a more clear and better understanding of what we have in Christ and the liberty that there is in Christ Jesus and the forgiveness of our sins. We pray that you'll bless our fellowship and our worship today. We pray for Pastor Kimbrough as he preaches, that you would fill him with your spirit, help us as we sing. We pray that you'll bless the reading of scripture and everything that takes place today. We ask in Jesus' name, amen.