What do you take away from the book of Leviticus once you've finished it? LSI from a woof, got that done. You take away The mind of God, what He thinks about sin and sinners, it's right there. Again, the New Testament makes it clear from Acts 2, the day of Pentecost, when the church was born and the new covenant was unleashed. that the authority of the New Testament would be What defines the old.
And that is important if you write songs, if you write poetry, if you preach sermons, if you share your faith, to understand. Uh I'm sorry. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Leviticus.
Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Hebrews, chapter 9. He'll start there today and then continue on into Leviticus on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. If you read through without stopping, you start picking it up. Wow, keep reading that word.
Keeps showing up. Hebrews 9 verse 9 It was symbolic. For the present time. In which both gifts and sacrifices are offered, which cannot make him who performed the service perfect in regard to the conscience, can't free his guilt. Paul's pointing back at the Old Testament.
He's saying it was symbolic. For the present time, the time they lived in, the gifts, the sacrifices offered. But they couldn't cleanse the conscience. The conscience still knew it was sinful, guilty. It still had impure thoughts, at the very least, not to mention actions.
was not guilt-free. Because those sacrifices were pointing to the Lamb of God that would take away the sin.
So the Levitical system. was a story. A visual lesson. of what was to come in Christ. God's system of cleanliness.
which offers just looking at the system Profound insight into the mind of God. Do you know how many? People have written worship songs, not even aware, maybe, that this process was taking place inside of them. God doesn't wait for us, oh, you figured it out.
Now I can do something with you.
Well, sometimes, yeah, that is true.
Sometimes this God just can't do certain things with you because you haven't figured it out. But there are other times when God can. And this is a testimony to his sovereignty. Or else, what would he ever get done, really?
So this. All of this surpasses the ceremonies themselves. That is the takeaway. What do you take away from the book of Leviticus once you've finished it? Aside from a woof, got that done.
You take away The mind of God, what He thinks about sin and sinners, it's right there. Again, the New Testament makes it clear from Acts 2: the day of Pentecost when the church was born and the new covenant was unleashed. that the authority of the New Testament would be What defines the old. And that is important if you write songs, if you write poetry, if you preach sermons, if you share your faith, to understand. How these things have Emerged and evolved for us as believers.
In Paul's day as the Gentiles were flooding into the church, Many were moral slobs. They were fresh out of idolatry. Not fresh out like there's no more idolatry. They were coming fresh. from idolatry.
into the church. And they still didn't figure out a lot of things they were bringing with them. Spiritual cooties. And the apostles had to deal this, to get this stuff out. Paul offered them the same cure all.
For this Spiritual misfits. that Moses offered the Jews who were fresh out of the brick yards of Egypt. Holiness That's the cure all. Second Corinthians chapter seven Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh, perfecting holiness in fear of God. That's our text.
From Leviticus 27, I'm going to reread it again, bites into time. That's what we're talking about. It's just that when we talk about holiness, and cleansing The themes of Leviticus. When you get to the book of Leviticus, that flashes. That's what's flashing.
It's not the applause sign that's flashing, it's holiness. Cleanliness. That's what God is saying. By the way of blood, this is the predicament we've landed in because of sin. And so as we consider the Old Testament, Behind Paul's statements about sacrifice.
They are in the first seven chapters of Leviticus. are nothing but sacrifices, They are the sa the burnt offering. which is the dedication, it's a free will offering. There's no Pressure to bring this to the temple. It is first covered in chapter one concerning the individual.
Whether they're a priest or a person, and then later in six or seven, it's the priest and what they have to do on behalf of the nation. Every morning they offer up a burnt offering. Every sundown they offer a burnt offering and other offerings too. The grain offering. It's an offering of gratitude.
None of this has stopped. There's no terminus on this behavior. The dedication of a free will, the gratitude and the grain offering of a free will. The peace offering. You know, if you see a priest do a wave offering, where he takes the offering and waves it, you don't forget that.
It sticks in your head, that image. Because it's profound to you. It means something. Peace offering is fellowship with God. Possible to have fellowship with God.
Then there's a sin offering. And the trespass offering. It's difficult sometimes to make the distinction, but it's there, and we'll get to it. The sin offering has to do with the principle of sin. Even an unintentional sin, even.
So Leviticus is the lockdown book for the Jews out of Egypt. And what Moses told them was essential for their spiritual growth, their identity, and that means going forward into the future. They had to know who they are. or who they were. and as survival for the people.
also the quality of life in their culture. When they followed these things, life was much better than when they did not follow these things. They needed these laws to break free and remain free from four hundred years, over four hundred years of pagan exposure in idolatrous Egypt. Heartless Egypt. that look to wipe them off the face of the earth.
That time in Egypt, those 400 years, left them with distorted views about God. and about themselves, about life, about other people. The infestation of idolatry in that Middle Eastern world when they got out of Egypt, their neighbors, the peoples, the lands that they passed through on the way to the Promised Land was infested with idolatry, wrong things about God. Where would the Jews be without the book of Leviticus? Far worse off than they are now.
It's hard to believe, but it's true. Without Holiness Unholiness fills the void. I could you could put it this way. Without a duster. Dust.
Will fill the void. It will settle. I mean, I have a shoe rack and I have to watch because dust, you know, this shoe I haven't worn in a while. There's dust all over it. It's just, man, this is the nature of.
of sin goes towards the flesh. And God knew this.
So we contrast the people of Jacob. with their Middle Eastern neighbors. Which would be Esau Ismail? Ham? Ammon?
Moab. Midian, you can just keep going down. You contrast. Among which of those people would you rather live? If you were in the ancient world, it'd be a no-brainer Ruth figured it out.
I'm not going back there. I'm coming with you, Naomi. I've had a taste of the good stuff. Oprah blew it. I'm not.
Anyway, the book of Leviticus about the title.
Now we have to get to some of them. Fundamentals of the Book. It's a slightly misleading title. It really should not be Leviticus dealing with the Levites. It does.
In a It's more of book of the priest. Who were a segment of the Levites.
So, in that sense, it's technically not wrong. And the title comes from the Latin Vulgate. Ooh, that sounds exciting. It's not.
Well, it is. The Latin Vulgate is, of course, the Old Testament. And the using the Septuagint, which was the Hebrew Old Testament translated into the Greek. And so Jerome mainly takes it and puts it into the Latin, and that's the title of the Septuagint, the Jewish. Greek writings and the Latin writings, they named this book Matters of the Levites.
But the Hebrews Vayikra. That's what they named. I know it sounds like something else that People taste that's not what it is. Anyway, the meaning comes that the Jews, which was in their habit, they did it with Genesis, you know, beginning God created. That's how it goes off in the Hebrew.
But in Leviticus chapter 1, they just take the first couple of words. And that's how they named it.
Now he. Call. That's what the Vayikra means. He called. I'm sure there's a in there because that's what Hebrew does.
It makes, it says things that you can't spell. But now he, God, called. That's how it originally. Was handed down to the Jews. And the priestly matters do dominate the book.
As we talked about the leprosy, it will be the priests who will be the ones who decide if the person is clean, if indeed it is deeper than the skin. What a powerful statement, just that little statement. Dealing with the leper.
Well, you have that with people. Is their problem deeper than the skin? Is it just a superficial thing? Was that who they are?
So these kinds of things come out at us, and they're like these little oases. You know, you're just treading on, walking on sand, and boom, you come to this oasis, like you get to chapter 10. And Moses said, This is what God said: all those that come near me must be. Must regard me as holy. What do you mean?
Well, Nadab and Abihu were struck dead. Because as priests they brought profane fire before the Lord. And God struck them, and Moses told their father Aaron, This is what it means when God said, Those who come near me, I must be regarded as holy.
So, again, these pockets of profound insight fly off the pages so we can know about God. And so the priestly book to assist the people in worship. You know informed servants should be better servants.
So God publishes what he told the priests. He calls Moses: This is what I want the priests to do for my people. and I want the people to read it. Because if they don't, why are you doing that? Oh, I can't see the logic in this.
Oh, man, they're like little kids.
So let's inform them. because the educated worshipper is our best worshipper. It's an Ethan Allen. The educated consumer is our best customer. And they're right.
I mean, you go to certain stores, if you don't know what you're talking about, you're a pain in the neck. But if you know some of what you're dealing with, you can really make things move better. Anyway.
So God is saying, I've given you a look. At the instructions to the priests, so that you can cooperate. And it will be better for us all.
Now, as to the authorship, well, 34 times we read: the Lord spoke to Moses.
Well, it's Moses. Moses is the author of the book. And he tells us what God said. In Exodus, it occurs about almost 1,500 years before the coming of Christ. when the Jews had already spent over 400 years as Most of it is slaves in Egypt.
And the tabernacle, as I mentioned earlier, was finished at this point. If you reference Exodus 40, verse 17, with Leviticus 1.1, you see it flows one right into the other. The book covers about a one month period. to get this thing done.
Now those days Before Moses, the Gentiles and the patriarchs, they had a system of offerings, sacrifices. Cain brought a good one. A bad one, Abel did not. But this is now the first time that they have a defined set Of rules and ordinances regarding. How God wants them to approach Him.
One of the main reasons is to separate the Jewish people from everybody else. And the Christian snots is supposed to be just like that. That's what the word saint means, separated. Separated. Your judgment, you're separated, the sheep from the goats.
It's New Testament language, but it's an Old Testament teaching, too. And so for those 400 years, Jews in Egypt. Had only a historical record, probably an oral tradition concerning the faith and sacrifices. From Noah till Moses comes along, they had to be reprogrammed. Just like anybody who's born again, you have to be reprogrammed.
If God has to get back, you know, flip open the hatch in your back and start changing codes inside of you. to get you to walk Like the Son, to be Christ's. Like-minded with Christ.
So, God had to counter the Egyptian influences that many of the Jews clung to throughout their walk in the wilderness. And God countered that. And that's why He said, We're going to take some time here, and I'm going to tell you how I want my tabernacle built. And I'm going to give you some details. Here's what I want from the cords, and here's what I want the cover made out of.
And the blocks are to be out of silver, and they're to be this big. And I want you to overlay. And he gives them all these details. Because he's trying to eradicate to purge out of them. That thinking like an Egyptian is not a cultural thing, it's a spiritual thing.
Not that the Egyptian people were inherently evil, but they had picked up evil and they latched on to it, and God wanted it off his people, and that's true to this very day with everybody else. Lessons on sin and morality were to be instilled by God through His Word. Given to Moses. And the priests were to learn it. They were to uphold it, and the people were to submit to that system.
And there were capital crimes. It was capital crimes in some cases if you did not. The goal was to purge. and to rebirth the people And had God not done this, the Jews wouldn't have made it this far. No question about that.
Leviticus begins with God calling Moses to the tabernacle, but how does it close? Leviticus 27:34, the last verse: These are the commandments which the Lord commanded Moses for the children of Israel on Mount Sinai. You see, they were to uphold it. And one thing a lot of Christians don't like is you upholding the word of God. It's like, no, you can't do that.
But thank God that just enough. Mature Christians To know when, you know what, I gotta take this on the chin. I don't like this, but I know where God has me. Man, is that a glorious time or not? Um The nation had to understand the spirit of the law.
But what happens is, what happened? Many of those in their history began to lock on. To only the letter. They'd bring the sacrifices. They'd have their feast days.
They didn't care anything about Yahweh. That would be Isaiah 1, verses 11 and 18. That'd be Amos 5. Verses 21 to 27. They're just two places, there are more.
Where those prophets to God says, I don't want your offering, stay away from me, get away from me. You say, Well, that's pretty harsh.
Well, Jesus said, You know, get away from me, I never knew you. And it was a very sobering moment. In Leviticus, there's no movement of the people. Geographically. They don't move from this place to that.
They're all right here at the foot of the mount. of Mount Sinai with a tabernacle is Is placed, and they stay there, as I mentioned, at least a month for the giving of this portion of. The law.
Well, actually, a month later, they're still here. We know that from Numbers chapter 1.
So that's how we chart these things. The meaning, the prophecies, I've been hitting that, but I want to get back to some of the statistics. As I mentioned 35 times, be holy shows up. In the Bible. 18 of them are here in Leviticus.
Leviticus 19:2: Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I Yahweh, your God, am holy. You to be like me. We call it Christ likeness in the New Testament.
So it's ongoing. It's not like, woof, that was for those Jews glad we don't have to do anything like that.
Well, we do have to do something like that. This command is not lost in the New Testament. It is echoed in Peter, in 1 Peter. He who called you is holy? You also be holy in all your conduct.
That's pretty broad, is it not? In all your conduct. He's saying you don't get a pass. The standard's high. Rise up to it.
He says, Because it is written. Be holy, for I am holy. But he's quoting Leviticus when he says this to the people. When Christ said, be Perfect as your Father in heaven. Yeah, he's saying, be matured.
But as your Father in heaven now makes it holy, It's more than just be matured. They're not like, just grow a mustache. You'll be fine. Be matured, be holy, developed in your walk with Christ. And so these offerings, they symbolize the worshippers' desire, the true worshippers' desire to be purged of anything that God doesn't like.
That's the expression of bringing an offering to the tabernacle there in Moses' day. Leviticus is an owner's manual on approaching God, and back to blood. The word blood. Eighty-seven times. In Leviticus it shows up.
Ezekiel, who was a priest. He's the second runner-up in the Old Testament at 47.
So Leviticus is almost twice as much as the closed runner-up. In the New Testament Hebrews, the word blood shows up 24 times. 19 in the book of Revelation. These are not meaningless statistics. They are facts that are woven into our scripture.
Hebrews 9, verse 18. Therefore, Not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood.
Well, you could actually go all the way back to Eden. It wasn't a covenant, it was an action. That set the precedent for the covenant to come. which was the slaying of innocent of the innocent to cover the guilt. of the guilty.
The entire sacrificial system declared to mankind The wages of sin is death. That's what the system says to man, and it It doesn't have to shout it. It can whisper it. because it's so profound Mm-hmm. It's effective no matter how it's communicated.
Leviticus is almost done. Leviticus is the single greatest lesson. In the Old Testament, on the sacrificial offerings And Cleanliness before God. Hebrews In the New Testament is a response to that. from the New Testament.
It is a friendly response. It does not counter it. It continues it. It clarifies, it gives us the final word. On Christian behavior in light of Old Testament offerings.
And so we read Hebrews 9:12, not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood he entered the most holy place once for all. having obtained eternal redemption.
So Leviticus is a parable in blood. as Christ's cross. is payment in blood. The way to salvation is always the same. God says, When I see the blood, I will pass over you when I see the blood Hebrews 13, 12, therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood.
suffered outside the gate. I'll just make mention Of course, Hebrew links all of these offerings and the roles also of the high priest, the offerings, the consuming fire, the altar. All of that is in Hebrews. It is clearly addressed. There's no mistaking it.
But in closing up this section, this introduction to this Powerful book. Is that if there is a lack of appeal for holiness. that causes us to drift from holiness, in our decisions because that's where it shows up. Leading to greater unholiness. Why is it?
If there is this drift, why is it there?
Solomon began so wonderfully. and ended so pitifully Apparently he was no longer moved. by holiness. When he dedicated the tabernacle, the presence of God was so pronounced they couldn't even continue functioning. Everything had to stop.
The glory of the God filled the tabernacle. The beautiful words Solomon wrote about that are unmatched.
Well, They're unsurpassed. But in 1 Kings, at the end of his life, we read, For so it was when Solomon was old. That his wives turned his heart after other gods. And that's what he said. Wait a minute, wait a minute.
What's his other wives' stuff? And the kings weren't supposed to do this. And his heart was not loyal to Yahweh his God. As was the heart of his father David.
So we have a contrast between that hot worship. And uh worship that cooled. 'Cause once it was hot. In Christ. It's a fulfillment of the parables of the law.
Because the law is a parable, it tells a story, it runs side by side with what we are experiencing in our life. And it should never be dull when we are Paying attention. But not only were the sacrifices a type of Christ's sacrificial atoning death, But also There they were parables. of his role as high priest, That's Leviticus 9 and 10. You can go there for that.
But back to Solomon. Back to the one who drifts. if we have cooled on these things. If coming to a book like Leviticus, you go, eh. I didn't get it.
Well, it could be l you know, in the beginning of your walk, or maybe you have cooled in your heart, you lack heat. Without heat there is no real fire. Don't settle for that. You don't have to put up with that from yourself. You have to work to get past that, but you don't have to put up with that for your flesh.
Just remember this. Uh An altar without fire is just a tourist site. Uh Hebrews 12, 29, For our God is a consuming fire. Yeah. Thank you.
Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is currently going through the book of Leviticus. We're glad you joined us. We trust that you're gaining some valuable insights into God's Word as we go through this Old Testament book. Cross-Reference Radio comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia.
If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast, you can do so by going to your favorite app store and downloading from there. For any additional information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreference radio.com. Make sure to come back again for the upcoming edition in the book of Leviticus, as Pastor Rick has much more to share. We thank you for being with us right here on Cross Reference Radio. Yeah.
