I knew that I was in the presence of glory. There was nothing like that. I wasn't reading anything else. That's all I wanted to read was the Bible, all of it. And thank God I haven't lost that.
Strange thing with the scripture. Even when you don't Fully get what you're reading, you know it's glorious. You just say, Well, I know somebody's got the answer to this one, and you just keep going forward. That's the Revelation, the book of Revelation is very much like that. 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. Leviticus chapter 3 is the text Pastor Rick will be teaching from on today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Verse 16, then the priest shall burn the memorial portion, part of its beaten grain.
and part of its oil with all the frankincense As an offering made by fire to Yahweh.
So the roasted. It's a dry fire. And what it was meant by a dry fire is you don't put fat or oil on it to cook it. It's, you know, it's just the heat is. Is you're just using the heat.
Uh so just to review the grain offering It's presentation at the altar. In one of five. Forms So you have the Fine flour. You have the Oven baked the griddle, the pan covered, and finally the roasted grain.
So that's chapter 2.
Now we come to Leviticus chapter 3. Do you think we can make it to chapter 25? Not a chance. Even God would say, I don't have any miracles like that. Leviticus chapter 3.
Now we come to the peace offering.
So, moving past the meal offering, which was an offering of gratitude, we come to this one of peace, which is fellowship. Two can't walk together unless they're agreed. Uh this um All of these, of course, are shadows. Of the reality of Christ. The whole burnt offering, which expressed personal devotion to God.
So the Jews, even before Messiah, they were capable of devotion to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? The personal gratitude offering just covered in chapter two, and this personal fellowship with God, personal. And we say that when we know, do you have a personal relationship with God? If not, why not? And if you do, which God is it?
And if it is a go you've if you can name that God, where'd you get him from? And what evidences do you have that he is? The God that you say he is.
So, when I look at the peace offering, I say to myself, may I not rob my surroundings of peace? But You know, if that means telling the truth robs the surrounding of peace, and it's my turn to tell the truth, then I will rob the surrounding of that false peace. But a godly peace, I don't want to be the guy that. comes in and just takes away the comfort from everyone because of The fl my flesh. This is the last of the first Three offerings which were Free will offer.
The other two that come after this, the sin and the trespass, of course, they're based on. The behavior. uh a wrong behavior. These three are based on the behavior of the heart. Verse 1: When his offering is a sacrifice of a peace offering.
If he offers it. Of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before Yahweh.
Well, the peace offering came by way of violence to the victim. the animal, and here the option is uh is given. With the whole burnt offering, there were only to be males from the herd of the flock. But here you could bring a ew or a ram, male or female. It was, um up to the individual.
And it was totally To be eaten by the person making the offering, but the priest would get a share also, and God would take his portion. That had a health benefit to it, actually.
So it says here in verse one. Without blemish before the Lord.
Well, a substitutionary sacrifice must be a suitable victim, which. It's Christ ultimately, but in the Old Testament, it had to be a compliance with the restrictions of God's law. There were clean animals that you couldn't bring. and you could bring no unclean animal. And uh Repeatedly Malachi Well, repeatedly, this was dealt with.
But Malachi, you know, he dealt with it head on. Don't go bring in your blemished offerings to God. Try that with your. human leaders with your governors. That's amazing how.
People think they can Get a get away with you know, it's the guy that, um tells his wife a It's Cow Jad. Two calves is going to dedicate. One of them to the Lord. And she says, Well, when are you going to do it?
Well, we'll wait for them to get healthy and stronger and just more of a fitting sacrifice. And so the cows are growing and it's fine. And he goes out one day. And one of them died. And he goes in and tells the wife, it's too bad, the Lord's cow died.
I think I told it right. I don't think it's me, right, Lord? Anyway. You know, that kind of underhanded stuff. You make a vow to the Lord, I'm going to give this to the Lord, you better do it.
He takes it very seriously.
Well, they asked Sapphire and Ananias. Oh, right, we can't. But we know the story.
So, as we come to these Old Testament sacrifices, we are to be no less.
Sober-minded in our approach to the Lord. Verse 2: And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it. at the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall sprinkle the blood all around the altar.
Well, there's a lot here in this verse. The sacrificer's responsibility. They have a responsibility. Other than just the selection of the animal.
Well, as we covered it, the whole burnt offering, this was done at the temple, it was public. True devotion cannot be hidden from the eyes of witnesses.
Somebody's going to see it. And it's likely going to be somebody who also is Where you worship the Lord. or in tune at least The Hebrew verb here where it says he shall lay Uh that uh There's one word in the Hebrew. And it does not mean to merely Touch or rest the hand. On the animal.
It means to press heavily on the victim. It was a distinct action.
So if someone was walking by and they saw you come to this Portion of your dedication, they would see you pressing your hand on. That uh sheep or that ox, whatever you were were offering. And you were thereby Dependent upon the sacrifice to cover your sin by leaning your weight. on this animal. These are, of course, as we know, types of the innocent victim to come.
The Christ, the ultimate innocent victim who paid the penalty. to denounce sin. which is death. 1 Peter, and I love how to just, you know, the Old Testament, New Testament just dovetail right into each other. For Christ also suffered once for sins.
The just for the unjust, which is the animal being sacrificed. The animal committed no crime. But yet he's the one that's got to die, the just for the unjust. That he might bring to a us That he might bring us to God. being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit.
Well, none of those animals were resurrected. Christ, of course, is. Matthew twenty twenty eight, Jesus speaking, Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, But to serve and to give his life a ransom for many and it's many there, because not all will receive it.
So the offerer's part, the sacrificer.
Now done. Pressed on his animal, he's dedicated it, it's going to atone for him.
Now the work of the priests kicks in. The sprinkling of the blood. on behalf of the sinner. as a type of Christ again. The one that offers, makes the offering, doesn't get to handle the blood.
The priests do Hebrews chapter 9, verse 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.
Well, we like that. Eternal redemption. I can remember in coming to Christ, reading the Bible, first reading the Bible, and reading, getting through Leviticus. I knew that I was in the presence of glory. There was nothing like.
I wasn't reading anything else. That's all I wanted to read: the Bible, all of it. And thank God I haven't lost that. The strange thing with the scripture. Even when you don't Fully get what you're reading, you know it's glorious.
You just say, well, I know somebody's got the answer to this one. And you just keep going forward. That's the Revelation. The book of Revelation is very much like that. Verse 3 of Leviticus chapter 3.
Then he shall offer from the sacrifices of the peace offerings, an offering made by fire to Yahweh, the fat that covers the entrails. And all the fat that is on the entrails, verse 4, the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them. by the flanks. and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys he shall remove.
Now if you wanted an exhausted study on Leviticus, we'd be a long time. There's so much stuff to say about all these things. We're trying to just get the main in the easier points.
Well The animal is slaughtered by the one bringing the animal. The animal is butchered by the one bringing the animal, but ultimately it is offered by the priest. and the fat portions primarily from around the organs is what he's talking about here, including the entrails, the liver, and the kidneys. consumed by the fire. They weren't to be eaten.
And there are underlying health benefits to that.
However, the fat attached to the muscle, to the meat, that you could eat. And there's more to it. I'm going to get to it, so let me keep going, try and look for more to squeeze out of it. That's good enough. The fact in Scripture, in this usage when it comes to devotion, synonymous with the best Giving God the best.
Genesis 45, this is Jacob saying to his brothers, Come to Egypt, I'll take care of you. Genesis 45, verse 18, bring your father and your households. And come to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt. and you will eat the fat of the land.
So we're getting into how the people thought. What these things meant to them. We have similar things. We talk about, you know, I have a gut feeling. Oh, you know, it takes guts to do that.
You know, we have similar things that we get right away.
Well, they did too. They're symbolizing here the dedication of The worshipper offering their best and deepest emotions. And that's in this.
So let's go forward and pull it out of the verses. Verse 5: And Aaron's son shall burn it on the altar, upon the burnt sacrifice, which is on the wood, that is. On the fire as an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. But one part was to be burned with fire. and offering directly to God But another part was returned from the altar to the worshipper.
As for their own nourishment, for their own food. This is the peace offering, the fellowship offering, where you would get to eat part of what you were bringing before the Lord. but not those organs and the fat attached to them. Uh verse 6. If his offering As a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord is of the flock, whether male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.
Verse 7. He offers a lamb as his offering. Then he shall offer it before Yahweh. Verse 8 now. And he shall lay his hand on the head Of his offering and kill it before the tabernacle of meeting, and Aaron's son shall sprinkle its blood all around the altar.
Okay, so this is. the same process that was involved with offering the animal from the herd. Um Fowl weren't part of this offering. Because they're too small to share. I mean, well, the priest gets the wing.
Well, not on a pigeon. I mean, it's just not an important thing. There are practical things in these offerings, of course.
So, not enough meat to go around for a fellowship offering, which defeats if you wanted to just have the whole animal consumed, then you do the whole burnt offering. But if you want to share in this before the Lord, then you do this one. Again, voluntary. Verse 9: Then he shall offer from the sacrifice of the peace offering as an offering made by fire to Yahweh, its fat, and the whole fat tail, which he shall remove. Close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails, and all the fat that is on the entrails.
Well, we got that. Evidently the Breed of choice I've read is some Oriental fat-tailed sheep. Because not all sheep have fat tails. And uh this one some of them they said to weigh fifteen pounds, and that's put on the altar and burned up. Um anyway The priests would receive from this offering the breast and the upper right thigh, and that's in chapter 7.
Verse 10 now. Two kidneys, the fat that is on them by the flanks, and the fatty lobe attached to the liver above the kidneys. He shall remove.
So the butchering continues, but kidneys, as I mentioned, these have some other deeper meanings to them. Kidneys have a dual meaning. First meaning is it's the organ we call kidney. That's number one. But the second, the figurative language applied in Scripture is to the state of mind.
And the heart. They would use this identical word. Let's consider the Hebrew use of this word. Job chapter 19 verse 27 is a favorite verse. He speaks about, you know, I know my Redeemer lives.
And he goes on to say, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another, how my heart. It's the same word as here translated kidney. How my heart yearns within me It's poetic language. When we say, you know Boy, my heart went out to the person.
Well, we know the heart doesn't because you couldn't finish a sentence if it did.
So these expressions have been meaningful. And they're showing up here with all their meaning. The idea is that the kidneys, the offering, the worshiper is saying, I'm pouring my heart into this offering. Because, what use would this be if it were just, yeah, go take it to the temple, I don't care, whatever. That attitude doesn't find any place in what Moses is talking about.
Let's take another one. Psalm seventy three. Thus my heart was grieved and I was vexed in my Mind mind there is kidney, the same word. The Jews reading these things, they understood this is getting deep into me. Psalm 23, verse 16.
Yes, my innermost being, there it is. Kidneys But he's not talking about the Oregon. He's talking about these things that are deeply affecting him. Yes, my innermost being will rejoice when your lips speak right things. You can say that to somebody, right?
I'll be very happy when you say right things.
So, the liver is another word, figurative in the language in Proverbs 7:23, shall pierce his liver. It's the life, it's used. poetically of The life. Lamentations chapter two.
Now, Lamentations, you should know, is of course Jeremiah the prophet. looking at the ruins of Jerusalem, All of it was avoidable. He was the voice saying to everybody, just surrender to the Babylonians. God will take care of us. They called him a traitor.
They hated him. They tried to kill him on multiple occasions.
Well finally it all happened, just as he prophesied. The city was destroyed. And the lamentations is his Cathartic outpouring of how devastated he was.
Well, in the second chapter he says my eyes filled. Fail with tears. My heart is trouble. My bile, there's the word, my life. The kidney is the same.
Word translated kidney here in Leviticus. My bile is poured on the ground because of the desolation of the daughter of my people. And so, as we do in our language, we certainly have to look for the context and what's going on. And we get it. When God is emphasizing this word kidney, he's Talking about the fat that's given, the best and the deepest part of our approach in worship.
Why should we get to think that when we come to worship the Lord and we hold our hands up and we're worshiping in sincerity, why should we get to think we're the only ones that can express such devotion? The Jews could too. And they did it through these sacrifices. And we do through the sacrifice of Christ. If Christ didn't die for us, uh their level of worship towards him would not be the same.
Now the Apostles, they worshipped Him, Before he was crucified, realizing who he was, he stops the weather. That was an incentive to worship him. And then, once he rose again, they worshiped him. But it was a whole deeper understanding after the resurrection. Verse 11.
And the priest shall burn them on the altar as food. An offering made by fire to the Lord.
Now the fire on the altar was to thoroughly cook the meat, That's what he puts as food, it's to thoroughly cook the meat. Not to undercook it or overcook it, they would know what they were doing, as you do with a barbecue. Most people would know. Um So And it also tells us in verses 16 and 7 as food: because I don't eat lamb. or anything you know I like a good burger.
But it's gotta be beef. Anyway, I know some of you like lamb. Do you eat it Medium rare. And so Or Uh veal.
So his answer was: yes, the veal you have to eat cook, and the lamb some people can eat a little rare.
Well, I don't think a Jew would have any when he put that in When he broke open that meat, if the blood came out, he probably wasn't going to eat it.
So they had to be cooked. And those of you who like medium rare, you know, God doesn't care for you so much anymore. I'll I'll clean that up in a minute. I'm I'm glad you know I'm just kidding. Um I'm not gonna eat it.
And people get so angry, they fight over food so much. I don't get it. I don't get it. If if somebody liked cornflakes or a lot. I wouldn't judge them.
I mean, if they go into a like a high class restaurant and say, Could I have a bowl of Frosted flakes? He would be judged. I would say, you know what, I could use a little side dish of that. Anyway. Verse twelve.
Sorry. And if his offering is a goat, Then He shall offer it before Yahweh, verse 13. He shall lay his hand on its head. And kill it before the tabernacle of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar. Then verse 14, then he shall offer from it his offering.
As an offering made by fire to Yahweh, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on them.
Now, there are going to be places as we go to Leviticus that we're going to skip. But we're not there yet. The two kidneys, verse 15. And the fat that is on them by the flanks. The fatty lobe attached to the liver.
Above the kidney he shall remove. Very clear instructions here, verse 16. And the priest shall burn them on the altar as food, an offering made by fire a sweet aroma, all the fat in the is Yahweh's.
So he gets the fat. and the people will get the meat. The fat and the blood belonged to God. The fat from the organs belonged to God again. The fat from the meat went to the people.
and was eaten by the worshipper. But it had to be consumed in no more than two days. And we'll get to some of those twists and turns when we get to chapter 7. Verse 17, this shall be. A perpetual statute throughout your generations, in all your dwellings, you shall eat neither fat nor blood.
This was a big problem in the early church because the Jews, you know, they're raised that way. No way I'm eating that. And the Gentiles, you know, come in with a medium rare burger. Why? What's wrong with this?
Have a bite. And uh it was a became a problem and the apostles Rightfully under the leading of the Holy Spirit. Just ask the Gentiles to tone it down. They didn't forbid them. It's just, you know, there's certain things you just got to remember.
You just can't. If eating meat makes my brother stumble, I will never again let him see me eat meat. No, that's not how it goes. It's, I will never again eat meat. You could not let them see you.
That would help. You So we close with this verse because You know, the diet, the symbolism. The religious reasons for the All these things. Here's the New Testaments. Final word on this.
And I wish more Christians would memorize this verse. All things are lawful for me. But not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me. But not all things make better.
That puts the onus on wisdom now. on the individual.
So, yeah, I can do this and I can do that. And that doesn't mean you can go rob banks and sin. Certainly, there's a moral code that's inflexible. But there are these gray zones that the Gentiles brought in. That the Jews would say, Well, we don't have a law for that one.
But that can't be good.
So such a verse like that would be very helpful to the New Testament church then as it is now. Close with this rereading of 1 Corinthians 10, 20 all twenty three. All things are lawful for me. But not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things make better.
Yeah. Bye, 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.
