Maybe some others have different experiences, but for me and that other pastor that I was speaking to, we shared. that they didn't have a problem with rules and these are rules. that the people are getting. You bring flour to the Lord. It better be fine flour.
You better have worked on it. When you bake these things, you bake them in your home, you make the mess and clean up in your home, and then you bring the finished product to the priest. Don't be coming there with powder all, just flour all on your face and hands. 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. And now here's Pastor Rick as he continues teaching through the second chapter of the book of Leviticus on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. Verse four. And if you bring as an offering a grain offering baked in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil or unleavened wafers.
anointed with oil. But If your offering is a grain offering baked in a pan, it shall be of fine flour unleavened mixed with oil. Verse 6. You shall break It in pieces and pour oil on it. It is a grain offering.
Verse 7. If your offering is a grain offering baked in a covered pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil.
So there you have some options. And uh But hard work is involved in all of these. And again, as with the animal sacrifices, they would be making these meals for themselves. Also Leaven mentioned here, of course, represents corruption. The influence of evil, and it metaphorically carries into both Testaments, the old and the new.
It is prohibited from all of the offerings by fire. Which this is one. Because again, there were other offerings, wave offerings, heave offerings, you know, that you could bring in leaven. But the idea is God does not want offerings. From a leavened heart With these major sacrifices, It comes this way to us in the New Testament.
2 Corinthians 9.
So let each one of you give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly. There's your leaven. or of necessity more leaven. For God loves a cheerful giver. He wants an unleavened donation.
You know, when somebody says, Well, I'm going to help the church out, that's not the kind of person that helps the church out. The one that just, I'm worshiping the Lord, of course, is going to be a help. Just understand, we need each other. But it's the heart. That counts.
And so, yeah, doing something for the Lord with a wrong motive. You may be offering something with leaven where it does not belong. Christ aggressively called out. The rabbinical leaven and the Sanhedrin and the Pharisees and the Sadducees, the scribes, he went right at them: beware of the leaven. Of the Pharisees and scribes, on more than one occasion, that is recorded for us in the Gospels.
Later, when we get to chapter seven, again, there will be a heave offering, and it will include leaven, but that's not put on the altar. And actually, there is an offering that had honey Well, juices and honey would have been part of that. That also. But again, also not presented on the altar by fire, So these Called for hard work. What is hard work?
righteously speaking. It's very it's a virtue. Laziness is not a virtue. We all have to guard against that. Oven baked cakes in verse 4.
Peg baked griddle, verse five. And pan baked in a covered pan. Verse seven. As I was preparing, I got hungry. doing this with it, put the oil on it and bake it.
I'm thinking, man. Uh anyway, these options, you know, they fit a person of choice. God's saying, I know you worked hard. Choose how you want to bring this offering to me. And maybe the culinary skills excel in one area.
Maybe I'm really good at making something in an oven versus on griddle, whatever. It's a very comfortable Offering to give to the people. Verse 8: You shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord. And when it is presented to a priest, he shall bring it to the altar. Then the priest shall take from the grain offering a memorial portion and burn it on the altar.
It is an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. Verse 10 And what is left of the grain offering shall be Aaron's and his sons? It is most Holy of the offerings to the Lord made by fire. It's in a category of holiness, just like the other four will be also.
So he's giving them rules. The very thing a lot of Christians don't want.
Now, let's go back to Roman Catholics a minute. The Roman Catholics that I have been privileged to Pastor who've come out of Roman Catholicism. have been blessings. There's there's just a lot of baggage. They don't seem to have.
That many other Christians do. Not all, certainly not all, but a lot of Christians just, you know, kind of free bouncing around and. They're not You know Against rules and regulations. They understand that. And been very supportive over the years.
And we've seen a good amount. Of Roman Catholics and come and they love the Word of God. I was speaking about this with a pastor the other, another pastor, and he is saying, Yeah, you know, they just love the Word of God. They just want the Word of God. They're not hung up with.
The tiny things as a rule. Maybe some others have different experiences, but for me and that other pastor that I was speaking to, we shared. that they didn't have a problem with rules and these are rules. that the people are getting. You bring flour to the Lord, it better be fine flour.
You better have worked on it. When you bake these things, you bake them in your home, you make the mess and clean up in your home, and then you bring the finished product to the priest. Don't be coming there with powder all, just flour all on your face and hands. I like these kinds of things in God's Word.
So again, not all the sacrifices. were a sweet aroma to the Lord. The trespass offering will not Will not find that phrase attached to that offering, which is the deliberate sin. But devotion, gratitude, peace. Sweet to the Lord.
made by fire purifying energy there's no The hint of judgment in the use of fire in this offering. It's a purification, as I mentioned, what the things they picked up and. Syria and Canaan and Egypt Had to be burned out, purged. And God is filling the void because we know what happens. When there is a void created spiritually, Satan will look to fill it.
It's the whole thing of the parable Jesus said about casting out the demon and then he looking for a place to dwell. He couldn't find one, so he doubles back, finds the place clean and swept. and brings seven more of his demon friends with him, And then the person was woke.
So Yeah, that is you're dealing with demonic activity.
So you should know that, so you'll know how to pray. You know, you get people that always want to tell you, pray for this and pray for that.
Well, I prefer to be led.
Sometimes you need a little information.
Well, this is one of them. when you're dealing with certain behaviors as demonic activity And I know the people that I am praying for that are being drawn into this Dark world, I pray God would cast the demons out of them. If I'm wrong, well, then Lord, get the one that has the demons, and he'll sort it all out. I will pray with understanding. But Paul wrote to the Corinthians, I will praise with understanding.
Well, verse 11, no grain offering which you bring to Yahweh shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven nor any honey in any offering. to Yahweh made by fire.
Well, again, the yeasted food is what's happening. Honey is a natural sweetness. And there's nothing naturally sweet about us before the Lord. And so that one's not allowed to be put on the the altar. But as I mentioned, the first fruits make some exceptions, but not on the altar.
You know what we keep out. of our faith matters. For example, Romanism has failed to do They have failed to keep out. of their religion, the things that God has forbidden.
Well, God is saying, I want you to keep leaven out of this offering. And if you fail to do that, what does that make you?
Well it makes you disobedient. It makes you. Think that you know better than God, as did Cain. Which, as I mentioned earlier, this offering is sort of the offering Cain was dreaming of. But he did not behave himself.
and in time it found its way into the law of God, Verse 12 As for the offering of the first fruits, you shall offer them to Yahweh, but they shall not be burned on the altar for a sweet aroma.
Well, again, the Barley and the wheat harvest. The first of every living thing, human, animal, plant. planet. Belong to Yahweh. And these were dedicated back to him.
And we'll get that when we get to Deuteronomy 18 is one spot that we have it. But God wants control over his people. That's the ideal.
Now, just ask yourself. Do you want God to have more control in your life? I don't want government to have more control of my life unless it's God's government. In fact, the name Israel, governed by God. We have songs of more power, more love, more of you in my life.
Lord. And take as much control of me as you want, would be my request personally. And so here we have. God controlling how the Jews were to approach him and the godly people. They line up with it.
Where do you want me to stand? I'll do it. Versus the rebel. who like Cain Um, no, I'm going to do it my way, and look what happened to him. Verse 13.
And every offering of your grain offering shall season with salt. You shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering With all your offerings you shall offer salt, Well, salt is the opposite of leaven. Leaven changes its environment. Salt preserves or works to preserve its environment. Leaven in itself is not corrupt before God, only in a symbolic setting.
There is no dietary restriction on the Jews. For leavened Food. Um yep, you're not supposed to eat um catfish. But you can have leaven. And other things.
So there are rules, of course, we know that. Salt limited, it appears, to the grain offering that's the only one that's really mentioned. And the grain offering was of the earth, most so is the salt. You are the salt of the earth, the Lord went on to say. Flavorable.
Well it you know it has it's tasty, of course. It's a preservative. Those two things make it appropriate. ingredient with gratitude. You know, again, the person that thinks they're entitled before God is the person that's going to be a problem.
And salt is an ingredient that preserves the sense of pure. Purity. Colossians 4, verse 6. Let Your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt. Watch your mouth.
You don't have the right to say anything you want, anytime you want. And when you come across someone, I just spoke my mind, well, that's all you got, that's it for you. Nothing it's not necessarily oh, sometimes you know, you want to be honest and there's a place for that and thus We have You know, the Ecclesiastes, which starts itemizing. The timing of things. And what belongs to the timing of things is routine.
And routine. It's a blessing in some areas. But I can It can put us at risk. Because we get bored. And then when we get bored, we can get into trouble.
I remember working on a job years ago. Um skyscraper. And the way the job worked is you had to wait for these large panels of flooring, concrete flooring, to come in, so we get the steel up, and then we had a day of doing nothing. We had to wait for the trucks to get there.
Well, at that day of pretty much standing around, they can't lay you off, you know, you're just there. Guys would break things. They're grown men. Just take a wrench and throw it at something and break it. I mean, so I remember that, you know, idle hands.
You gotta keep these guys busy, and it's not just for young men, I learned. You know, playing with matches, just sorts of stupid stuff. Anyhow, verse 14. If you offer a grain offering of your first fruits to Yahweh, you shall offer for the grain offering of your first fruits green heads of grain roasted on the fire. grain beaten from full heads.
Verse 15, and you shall put oil on it. I lay frankincense on it. It is a grain offering, 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 and just uh takes away the 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.
Now 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 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 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 was 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 just had 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.
Okay. 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.
Uh he takes it very seriously. As 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 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 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 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 20, 28, Jesus speaking, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, But to serve is 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, is going to atone for him.
Now the work of the priests kicks in. The sprinkling of the blood. on behalf of the sinner. There's 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. This is 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. Um Yeah. 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.
