I don't know of another way to depend on God and not make yourself vulnerable at the same time. then that calls for what? Faith. You're not gonna get away. That which does not have faith, says the Apostle Paul, is sin.
pretty heavy stuff to lay down. on a church, on the individuals. And so, yeah, you delight when people say, you know, I want to do this, because you know. The chances are very high. It's the Holy Spirit.
at work in them, not you. 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.
Now, here's Pastor Rick in Leviticus chapter 9 with today's edition of Cross-Reference Radio. These are ideas and practices And movements For the royal priesthood that would be us, we are a royal priesthood. to learn from. There are things that have to be taken away. They're no good.
They're not to be integrated into our system of faith, as Jude said, once delivered. to the saints, to the church, This is what Paul was trying to say in Colossians 2:8. You have no need of these things. You're complete in Christ. Why would you look to the world to learn how you should?
live morally and spiritually. You're complete in the scripture. Stop trying to salvage so you can integrate. In a single word, leaven. Mix in.
to what God has done?
some things people have done.
Well, that's what's going to come out in chapter 10 when Nadab and Abihu look to mingle in.
Some hot stuff. With God. and are killed on the spot. It was imperative. that the sin offering be properly finalized.
Of all the offerings, this one's a little different. even from the trespass offering. The cross of Christ was not treated with the the honor. Of those offerings outside the temple.
So I'm connecting the cross of Christ with the sin offering in the Levitical. Priesthood. and for the people under the Levitical priesthood. I'm making that connection. And it was proper.
That The flesh and the hide be taken out. And that'd be pretty heavy stuff again. These aren't these aren't little pigeons we're talking about. The bull or the go or the or the goat. The other sacrifices got to stay where the temple was.
But not this one.
So the cross of Christ was not given that same honor, and here's where it comes to life. Christ is that sin offering. Isaiah 53:10. Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has put him to grief.
When you make his soul a sin offering. One of the problems with Israel trying to say, well, you know, Isaiah 53 is talking about us, Israel. How flattering, self-flattering. Not true. We can love Israel, we can love the Jewish people.
But we do not agree. With any system. that does not exalt Jesus Christ as the Son of God. And we're not going to do them any service by caving into anybody.
So there we know Isaiah 53, Jesus is the sin offering. It tells us right there. The offerings for sin, the flesh, the hide, were taken outside. That's important. John's Gospel chapter 19 verse 20.
Then many of the Jews read this title, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city. That means it wasn't in the city. It was outside the city. That's where you take the sin offering, the flesh.
And the hide. And that's really all they could. crucified was the flesh Of Christ, they could not harm his soul or spirit of who he was. Much more than a soul and spirit, the essence of who he is, God, self-created.
So he's taken out of the city. And It was what do we read in Hebrews? Despising the shame. That's Christ's attitude toward the cross. There's nothing giddy about Hebrews 12:2, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who, for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
What is that part about? who for the joy that was set before him Well, there was the delight of returning to heaven, giving up humanity and sitting at the throne of God where he belongs. But the joy that was set before him were the souls that would come to him, that would come to the cross for salvation. That's what it was all about. God choosing out of Creation People who will love him.
By faith. No one else has had this opportunity that we know of. The angels have not had this opportunity. They've seen God. The angels do not have to exercise faith.
They're in heaven, they see the throne. We do.
So, without the cross of Christ, our religion is meaningless, all of it. Without the cross of Christ, all the other offerings. Without the sin offering, all the other offerings were of no value. They would help you in no way. Your devotion offering, your meal offering for thanksgiving, your peace offering, meaningless.
Unless sin was first dealt with, and that's why it's the first offering that was made by the priests daily. Isaiah 53:11. And he shall see the labour of his soul, and be satisfied. By his knowledge, my righteous servant shall justify many. Why not all?
Because not all will come to him. for he shall bear their iniquities. I am so glad I have got somebody else. to take my punishment for me. Um I'm not good enough to take my own punishment.
I'm not good enough to survive it. He is, and only he is. And so, again, how the scripture snaps together, you cannot find some happy country place and sit down as a creative writer and author the Bible. It can't be done. There's too many parts to it.
Not only are the types and the illustrations, but you have the prophecies, you have the morals, you have the wisdom of the scripture. It is. Too much. for man to produce And now we come to verse twelve. And he kindled the burnt offering, and Aaron's sons presented to him the blood, which he sprinkled all around the altar.
Which again, as a picture of Christ, the disciples. Did not sprinkle the blood of Christ on the cross. It was Christ who was there. How did he do it? By permitting it.
They could have called legions of angels and put an end to the whole thing. Verse 13. Then they presented the burnt offering to him with its pieces and head, and he burned them on the altar.
So his sons butchered the animal, but Haran placed it. Which is again. Linked to our high priest Christ Jesus. Both Aaron's and the people's sacrifices were lengthly. And Involved hard work.
We can't lose sight of that. It's helpful, I think, healthy for a church to understand. The church does not need anybody to serve. The church wants people to serve, of course. And if you see a need and you feel prompted to answer that need, that's the Holy Spirit at work.
These things are out of our hands. Otherwise, you have. The pastors Or the leaders of the church trying to drum up business and guilt you into serving and call you up. Hey, we need, and now it's, you know, not Holy Spirit-led, it's man-driven. That's my take on it.
I don't care for that. I don't find it in the New Testament, I don't find it in.
Some of the old school Calvary chapels, I find this dependency on the Lord. And to depend on the Lord is to make yourself vulnerable. I don't know of another way to depend on God and not make yourself vulnerable at the same time. Then that calls for what? Faith.
You're not going to get away. That which does not have faith. Says the Apostle Paul is sin. a pretty heavy stuff to lay down. On a church, on the individuals.
And so, yeah, you delight when people say, you know, I want to do this, because you know. The chances are very high. It's the Holy Spirit at work in them, not you. And you get much done that way. That can offend another church that's not doing it that way.
All I can say is this is how we try to do it. And sometimes it's kind of spooky. Because We can see we have All our eggs in one basket in certain places, and there's nothing we could do about it but trust God.
Now there's an idea. Look, when we get to heaven, one thing we're going to be glad to be rid of is faith. We won't need it any more. will be complete, will be like him. We'll be on the next level.
We'll be glorified. That's the word, glorified. And there'll be no risk of losing anything. Ever again. And I can't wait.
Now, this is not a rebuke on faith. Again, faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Well, we're going to have the evidence. We're going to see him. We're going to be there with him. And so it is a glorious thing to pursue the day. where we will not have to.
Go sight unseen. Let me ask you, would you like to go through all eternity? Exercising faith? I would like to just uh Be there with the shepherd. And the apostles, you know, Jesus primed them.
He says, I'm not going to be here with you forever.
Now you can see me, you can touch me. John laid his head on his bosom. He was right there. What a void when he was no longer there.
Now, what are they doing? Scrambling to believe. Drawing from his teachings. How do you think it was with Peter when as he aged before they Martyred him, and I believe he was.
Well, I know he was martyred. I have no doubt Jesus said he was going to be martyred. What about those times when those lonely moments where he had to question himself? Is he in the right place? What about when he's just exhausted from trying to serve and trust the Lord?
Paul said at one point we despaired even of life.
So these things are encouraging to us. Verse 15. Then he brought the people's offerings and took the goat, Which was the sin offering for the people, and killed it and offered it for sin. Like the first one. That was the first one, it's his offering.
So Aaron's personal sin offering as the high priest matches the people's sin offering. Verse 16, and he brought the burnt offering. offering according to the prescribed manner, Vital. You know, people complain, you have too many rules.
Well, For every rule. That you want taken away, you just created a rule to match it. I know I covered this before. There's no such thing as life without rules. And if you've ever been on An interstate when they've just paved it and haven't gotten to put the lines down yet.
It is a madhouse. I said, oh man, this is crazy. Who did this? Who opened this road up? And there are people all over the place.
We need we need rails to stay on. Anyway, verse six seventeen, then he. brought the grain offering, took a handful of it. and burned it on the altar besides the burnt sacrifice of the morning. And so there we we go.
He's, you know Yes. The morning, that's what I get out of that. Even if it's not, they're going to be there a long time. He also killed the bull and the ram as sacrifices of peace offerings which were for the people. And Aaron and his sons presented to him the blood, which he sprinkled all around the altar.
Nobody was to touch this blood but the high priest, as far as ministering the blood. Um Of course they all had blood on them. But he was the one in the official position. Verse 19, and the fat from the bull. And the RAM You never thought this would be exciting, did you?
The fatty tail. A greedy beast What covers the entrails, the kidneys, the fatty lobe attached to the liver. I wouldn't be reading this to you if I didn't hear him doing it in the Old Testament. They see if he could do it. He's not even teaching it.
And they put the fat on the breast. Then he burned the fat on the altar. Verse twenty one. But the breast of the right and the right thigh, Aaron, waved as a wave offering before Yahweh, as Moses commanded.
Well, they put the fat on the breast, but they didn't burn it. Uh they they waved it before the Lord, but burned the fat. But the priests, of course. Who ministered, and it would be Aaron in this case administering the blood, he would get to take that home.
So the order teaches. Fundamental Princi Principles of Christian Doctrine. Sin has to be dealt with first. Devotion by choice is the outcome. Because remember, the whole burnt offering was a free will offering.
You didn't have to do it. The sin offering was mandatory if you're going to get anywhere with God. Then the thanksgiving offering. Which expressed thanksgiving, gratitude. And that English, our English word, Thank is related to our other English word, Yeah.
And so when someone is thoughtless, they're not thankful. And when you are a thoughtful person you are expressing your gratitude. And this is how we ought to be with the Lord. And it's very difficult to do that with the Lord and then show the cold shoulder to people afterward. The conviction will then nudge you not to do that.
And if you ignore that conviction, After a while it will go away. And then you'll just be carnal. The peace offering is the outcome of it all. Verse 22. Then Aaron lifted his hand toward the people, blessed them, and came down.
From offering the sin offering. The burnt offering and the peace offerings. He came down. Yeah, 'cause the priest also is elevated. But even if it weren't, the language would be perfect because it is a high position and a high work.
So um This is the first of two blessings Aaron lifted his hand toward the people and blessed them. And he's elevated like a a platform, a chance. like I'm standing on at the moment. which shows up again in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. A specific Benediction was given by God.
to the high pri to Moses to give to the high priest. Numbers 6:23 speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, This is the way you shall bless the children. Of Israel, say to them, the Lord bless you, the Lord keep you, make his face to shine upon you.
Well, because what's the opposite of those blessings? The Lord not keep you? The Lord frown upon you in wrath.
So it's very, when you think about it that way, look, you know, look at what it could have been. Had I had my sin rested on me, then he could not lift his countenance upon me in peace. It would be a violent exchange. Verse twenty three, Moses and Aaron went into the temple tabernacle of meeting and came out and blessed the people. Then the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the people.
So this is a second blessing. The first one is verse one. He blesses them from the Alter. Elevated position, and then he and Aaron. Moses and Aaron go inside the tabernacle, in the tent.
And then when they come out, the second benediction is given. We don't know what took place inside the temple with Moses and Aaron. We're just not told. Uh but his work was completed and So he comes out and After the blessing, and then he comes out and gives another blessing. the glory of Yahweh appeared to all the people.
This visible manifestation it was his glory. And it was in such a way that everybody knew this was God responding to the offerings. Oh so when you confess Christ as Lord and Saviour, you How do you know he accepted you? Because we have the promises. And when Jesus said, What you bind on earth, I'll bind on earth.
I'll bind in heaven. He's saying, When you give the gospel, I'm going to back this up. It's not going to bounce. If the person is sincere.
So we have authority when we share it. When we say to somebody, if you receive the Lord Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you repent of your sin. You will be saved. That authority is given to us as it was given to the apostles, and it shows up here in the Old Testament with the blessings and the manifestation of God saying, I'll take this. Because he could have put if he did if just to say it was lightning.
Let's just say. He could have just wiped him out. But he does not. This will be duplicated by God at the dedication of Solomon's temple. 2 Chronicles.
The greatest blessing and expression of God's glory, of course, is the expression of Christ. And so, John 1:14, the word became flesh. dwelt among us.
Now there of course is the First definition of flesh in the New Testament. flesh and blood as opposed to a behavior that is not spiritual Spiritually in rhythm with God, but out of rhythm. Because when we say you're in the flesh, we're saying you're behaving the way Christ doesn't want you to behave. I would just love, again, I said it before. I'd love to just let Jesus drive me around town to see how it's done.
We probably wouldn't get to our destination. You let another guy in, Lord. You gotta stop that. You gotta pull up a little closer next time. Anyway.
Especially in a big city. Oh, anyway, the Lord became flesh, dwelt among us, we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
Well, Christian. The Christian, are you full of grace and truth? That's why I get to that mindset of those. There are some Christians that just won't give you the benefit of the doubt, even when they read scripture. That guy's going to hell.
It doesn't say that. The rich young ruler. Just says Jesus loved him.
Now maybe he did go to hell. Maybe not. It doesn't tell us that. And I just, there are commentators that gang up on that guy. When he went away sad, but it was a question of serving, not salvation.
He says, What shall I do? He says, You know, do the commandments. These I have done from my youth.
So again, how do I think? Am I full of grace and truth? Am I looking for solutions or am I preoccupied with condemnation? It matters. It matters.
Anyway, and then doesn't give an excuse to sin ever. It does not give a pass. It stays firm with truth. Truth, then love. Not the other way around.
Well, Christ was full of grace and truth, of course, and we're very happy about that. This is seen on earth again. His glory will show up. Matthew twenty four, then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven? And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn.
You see, not all the peoples. all the tribes, which narrows it down.
Well, it kind of says it's even more than all the people, it's letting you know. It's not just limited to Whole ethnic groups. It is Everybody will be mourning the Lord. that will be spared the judgment and the tribulation, because many will not. When Christ returns, there will be a judgment period where He will purge the earth of evildoers.
They will not be all killed in Armageddon. Anyway, back to this, Matthew 24, verse 30, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
So imagine if you're in Jerusalem. In 30 AD, and you made a statement like this as a Jew. You're saying you're gonna see me coming back with the angels in great glory.
So to say that well, Christ never said he was God. No, he just illustrated it for us. And that's what he said when the guys broke through the roof and lowered the man down to be healed. And Jesus said, Your sins are forgiven. And they said, Who do you think you are to forgive sins?
He says, Well, just so you'll know. Yeah. Arise, take up your bed and go. You do that. Who else can do that?
So, anyway, this authority, we need this kind of authority if we're going to be effective. And again, all right, here's another thing: if you've been praying, God, just use me to share the gospel, and years have gone by and God is not using you.
Okay, then maybe you need to shift gears. and pray for somebody else to be used. But there's nothing wrong with that. God, the church is always there. Can you use the church more?
Can you use the pastors more? Can you use so-and-so more? Verse 24, and fire came out from before Yahweh and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar. When all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
So And act. Of reception on God's part. He receives it and it's purification at the same time. This is now fire from God, not the fire that was kindled by Moses or the priesthood. This is now purified fire.
Not coming from earth, but from heaven. And consummating the ordination of the priesthood and activating the altar. Uh through the priest. The fire was from God, But it was to be maintained by men, and it was not to go out, according to Leviticus 6:12. And that, of course, has to do with our walk with the Holy Spirit in our hearts, not to go out.
This is the first of five such events in the Old Testament. Um It shows up in the New Testament. Uh in Bethlehem. When Christ was born, Fire came from heaven. Uh but it was um It was just more of a dignified entrance than these.
Gideon. Of course, Judges 621. King David? 1 Chronicles 21, 26.
Solomon 2 Chronicles 7.1. And of course, the The God who answers by fire, He is God Elijah. eighteen twenty four. Not the year, eighteen twenty four, but First Kings, eighteen twenty four.
So to this fire Nadab and Abihu his brother, the older son elder sons of Aaron, They will add fire of human origin, Natural source and be struck dead for it.
So the continuity between Leviticus 9 and 10 is maintained, and that indicates that the two chapters are the same occasion. that Nadab and Abihu are caught up in this moment.
So in Leviticus 9, the Lord accepts the offerings as we read here. In chapter 10 he rejects the strange fire. And um Missing that part. As the Lord commanded Moses. And finally, when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
Now that shock and awe. I think this is one of those, well you didn't see that coming, did you? If you've ever been close to a lightning strike, I think that's what I you know, that's what happened. I I don't think that they just, oh man, that's great, and they just laid gently laid down. I didn't they were like, whoa.
They were frightened by that moment. The God who answers by fire, He is God. 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.
