In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Okay, we're in the book of Leviticus this morning, and the title of my sermon is a synopsis
of Leviticus, a synopsis of the book of Leviticus.
And so this morning, I'm going to be giving you a bird's eye view of the book of Leviticus
and try to give you an understanding, a simple understanding of what the book is about.
Now one of the reasons I want to do this this morning is because of the fact that, you know,
a lot of times when Christians, especially if they're reading the Bible for the first
time, they often faint in their minds once they get to like the book of Leviticus, Numbers,
Deuteronomy.
They have a tendency to kind of breeze through Genesis because it's a lot of stories, you
know, there's a lot of interesting things in the book of Genesis and even in the book
of Exodus.
But once you start getting into the laws and the ceremonies and the details regarding those
things, you know, people begin to lose interest a little bit.
And so they have a hard time enduring a lot of the meticulous details that God gives regarding
his law.
And so but the fact of the matter is, is that the book of Leviticus is a very interesting
book, very powerful.
And I'm going to show you that it's actually written in such a way that, well, I don't
want to get into that just yet.
I don't want to spoil this spoiler, a spoiler alert.
But it's a very powerful book.
And it's actually written in such a way that it's really meant to kind of focus in on Jesus
Christ and what he's done for us.
And obviously, we know that because of a lot of the sacrifices and offerings that we see.
So this morning, I want to put the cookie known as the Levitical law on the bottom shelf
for us to understand.
Now, obviously, we know that the reason it's referred to the book of Leviticus, because
Leviticus literally means of the Levites and the Levites were obviously the ordained priests
in the Old Testament to teach God's law and preach God's word, but also to fulfill the
ordinances that were instituted by God in regards to the sacrifices in the feast days.
Now, what is the purpose of the book of Leviticus?
Well, if when you look at the timeline of what we're looking at here, we know that the
children of Israel have come out of Egypt.
God has delivered them by the hand of Moses out of Egypt, which is a picture of the world.
He brings them through the wilderness and he gives them this law at Mount Sinai.
And it really, when you think about it, it's God teaching his people how to be holy because
of the fact that he's bringing them out to bring them in.
He saved them.
Of course, he delivered them, which is a picture of our salvation with the Passover.
He brings them through the Red Sea.
And now he's going to teach his people how to be a separated people.
And so the theme of the book of Leviticus is simply put, is basically God preparing
his people to be a holy people.
That is the major theme of the book of Leviticus, is to teach God's people how to live holy
lives.
And he does it through literal commandments such as the moral law, but he also does it
through symbolic means such as the animal sacrifices, the meats, drinks, and diverse
washes.
Look at Leviticus chapter 11 and verse 42, verse 44, excuse me.
He says in verse 44, for I am the Lord your God, ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves.
What does it mean to sanctify?
It means to set apart, okay?
And ye shall be holy, for I am holy, neither shall ye defy yourselves with any manner of
creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, for I am the Lord that bringeth you out of
the land of Egypt to be your God, ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
And again, this is the overriding theme of the book of Leviticus is God telling his people,
you need to be holy because of the fact that I, who am your God, am holy.
If you're going to be like unto the Lord, if you're going to take on his divine characteristics
and be a partaker of his holiness, you need to be a holy people.
You don't have to turn there, but in chapter 19 and verse number one, it says the Lord
spake unto Moses saying, speak unto all the congregation of the children of Israel and
say unto them, ye shall be holy for I the Lord your God am holy.
Chapter 20 verse number seven says, sanctify yourselves therefore and be holy for I am
the Lord your God.
So this is very important because of the fact that, you know, a lot of people think that
the way God operates, whether Old or New Testament, is that God lowers his standard of holiness
for us, right?
This is basically something like someone like that Pastor Furtick would say, right, that
God broke the law for love or something, that somehow he lowers his standard of holiness.
He lowers himself and sins and does all this manner of evil in order to be like unto us,
when in reality, his standard has never changed.
He expects for us to go up to his standard, but the truth is, is that for all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God.
So because we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, we need someone who's
already met the standard and be a partaker of that.
We need the righteousness of Jesus Christ to be imputed upon us.
Therefore, so that God can accept that manner of righteousness and holiness.
So really what the Book of Leviticus is teaching us is that the reason God is so meticulous,
the reason he's so detailed, the reason he's saying this is exactly how it needs to be
done, it's showing us how perfect God wants us to be.
But obviously we fall short of that perfection.
And so he wants his people to be holy.
He wants them to be separated.
He wants them to be sanctified.
He wants them to be different than every other nation on the face of the earth.
So over and over, we see this command to be holy, to be sanctified, to be separated.
Now the Book of Leviticus is essentially broken up into seven segments.
And I have some, I'm going to call some men up here to kind of help illustrate this.
So it's broken up into seven corresponding segments.
And I promise you, after this, you will have a better understanding of the Book of Leviticus.
You'll be able to, when you read it, you can see these things in it.
So it's seven corresponding segments.
And these seven segments are composed of four different categories.
So seven corresponding segments of chapters, and then four categories of subjects.
These four categories being the offerings and feast days, the priesthood, the ceremonial
and moral law, and then the fourth one, I'll leave until the very end of the sermon.
And so you have these seven corresponding segments that correspond one to another, different
portions of chapters in the Book of Leviticus, and they are composed of four categories of
subjects.
So let's look at these four different categories here.
We're going to look at the offerings and the feast days.
Turn with me if you would, and go to Leviticus chapter number one, if you would, Leviticus
chapter number one.
All right.
I need, I need, I need, Brother Alex, come on up here.
You looked at me.
Stand right here.
So chapters one through seven really highlights the offerings that God has instituted for
the children of Israel in the Old Testament to perform.
These are the different offerings.
We're going to go over these in just a bit.
So this is chapters one through seven.
Now I need another one.
Who's going to look at me?
Oh, John, you look.
Stand over here, John.
At the end of the Book of Leviticus, you have chapters 23, there you go, 23 to 27.
You have the feast days.
So this is the first category in the Book of Leviticus.
You have chapters one through seven dealing with the offerings.
And then you have chapters 23 to 27 dealing with the feast days.
These are corresponding one to another.
These kind of cover the same exact thing.
So you guys stay there for the entire sermon.
So let's talk about the offerings, because this is where people kind of get lost after
a while.
They start reading chapter one, chapter two, and they're just like, the kidney and the
call and the blood and the dividing.
And they're just like, man, this is like a slaughterhouse.
And then they're just kind of like, especially if you're a new Christian, they have a tendency
to lose a little bit of interest in the Bible because of the meticulous details that God
is giving to basically take care of these offerings or how to perform these offerings.
So the first offering that we're going to look at is the burnt offering.
Now this is quite frankly, one of the most important offerings in the Bible.
And the reason we know that is because the burnt offerings were actually instituted even
prior to the Levitical law being imposed.
We actually see it in the Book of Genesis.
With Abraham, he offered and he burned the offering there.
And it could be said that possibly maybe even Abel, when he offered his sacrifice, also
did it as a burnt offering, because it's the most common of all offerings.
It's very basic, it's very common, and it's very easy to do.
You just burn it until the even.
Everything needs to be completely, and in fact, the word there is whole burnt offering.
In other words, everything needs to be burnt.
Now this was done morning and evening.
It was done every Sabbath.
It was done at the beginning of each month.
It was done during the Passover, and it was actually done during some of the feast as
well and at the new moon.
So this is done quite frequently.
This is something that the children of Israel were very familiar with because they did it
all the time.
Animals are just dying left and right, all day, every day.
Peter would just like have a heart attack, okay?
You know, obviously God does not care for animals as people think he does today.
Millions of animals have died at the hands of the Israelites due to God's commandment
to offer the burnt offerings, okay?
It probably just smelled great too, all day, every day.
Okay, yeah, barbecue.
So with this burnt offering, the animal was killed at the entrance of the tabernacle.
The blood was then drained and then sprinkled around the altar.
It was cut in pieces.
The inward parts as well as the legs were washed, and then it was wholly burnt over
the altar overnight, okay?
Because it took quite some time to burn the entire thing, all right?
And then the skin was, prior to all this, the skin was actually removed, the hide was
actually removed, and it was actually given to the priest as kind of like a recompense
for their labors, you understand?
So the skin was removed, and then that was given to the priest as a salary or as a payment
for them to have because of the work that they did.
Now here's the interesting thing about this offering.
The reason I say it's one of the most common offerings is because it didn't require any
meticulous details.
There's nothing that was supposed to be added to it, okay?
And in fact, God strictly commanded not to add anything to the burnt whole offering.
It had to be completely pure.
You see where I'm going with this, right?
Look at Leviticus chapter 1, verse number 1 says,
The Lord called unto Moses and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation,
speaking to the children of Israel, and saying to them, If any man of you bring an offering
unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the
flock.
If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish.
So this is another requirement is that the animal couldn't have any defects, okay?
Couldn't have mad cow disease or whatever.
It had to be a quality livestock with no defects, no blemishes.
He shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation
before the Lord.
He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for
him to make an atonement for him.
He shall kill the bullock before the Lord and the priest Aaron's sons shall bring the
blood and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle
of the congregation, and he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it in pieces.
So this is pretty much the gist of what a burnt offering was, okay?
Totally burnt, add nothing to it.
It's burned until the even, okay?
It has to be without blemish.
Now in its most literal sense, the symbolic nature there is obviously referring to Jesus
Christ.
We know that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God who should take away the sins of the world,
but it's giving so many great details regarding his sacrifice that one of the most powerful
symbolisms of his sacrifice is the fact that he actually went to hell for three days and
three nights, okay?
You know the Bible says that his soul was not left in hell, neither did his flesh see
corruption, okay?
As Jonas was three days and three nights, in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of
Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
In the heart of the earth, according to the Bible, is referring to hell, okay?
Heart is the core, that's where you have all the magma and lava, and spiritually speaking,
that's where hell resides, it's in the lowest hell.
And according to the Bible, that's exactly where Jesus Christ went when he died, and
in fact the Bible says, what is it but that he first descended into the lower parts of
the earth?
He says, what is it that he ascended, but what is it first that he first descended into
the lower parts of the earth, referring to the fact that when he died, he actually went
to hell to be burnt holy, okay?
For our sins.
Now people, you know, they don't like that for some reason, they think it's almost like
blasphemous to say that he went to hell for three days and three nights.
But folks, you know, either number one, you've just been influenced by dispensationalism,
or number two, you just don't believe the King James Bible.
And look, there came a time when, there was a time when I didn't believe this particular
doctrine until I was confronted with it, and I said, well, I'm King James only, but Acts
chapter two says that his soul was not left in hell, I'm not going to say that the King
James translators didn't use the appropriate term there, hell is hell, okay?
It's not talking about Abraham's bosom, or paradise, or prison, or, you know, whatever
else they call it, it's not referring to some holding cell for the righteous dead, this
Christian purgatory, okay?
It's referring to hell, folks.
And look, you say, well, Abraham's bosom does exist, of course it exists.
I mean, Geo's bosom exists, my bosom exists.
Bosom just means the chest, it's referring to the literal Abraham, who was in heaven,
and Lazarus was carried into the bosom of Abraham in Luke chapter 16, and you say, no,
it was a literal place, well then answer me this, what was Abraham's bosom before Abraham?
Now if you reference the Jewish encyclopedias, which I do not recommend that you do so, they'll
tell you that it was called Adam's bosom.
Of course, he forfeited his right because, you know, he damned all of mankind, so now,
you know, the torch was passed to Abraham, it's nonsense, okay?
So Jesus Christ was sacrificed and he was burned in hell, and we know that according
to the sacrifices in the book of Leviticus, that the smell ascended up to heaven, it is
a sweet smelling savor unto the Lord.
Just as when Jesus Christ died, he descended, but he also ascended to be with the Father.
His blood was also sprinkled on the mercy seat, literally, and you got to keep in mind
that the tabernacle that the book of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy talk about
are simply a figure of that which is truly the tabernacle in heaven.
They're simply a pattern after the true tabernacle that actually is in heaven, the actual Ark
of the Covenant that is in heaven, the mercy seat that is in heaven, so when Jesus Christ
was physically crucified on this earth, he took with him his blood to heaven and he spread
the blood on the mercy seat and he actually returned thereafter.
The reason we know that is because the Bible tells us that when he resurrected, he told
many of his disciples not to touch him for he had not yet ascended unto his Father.
He then ascended, put the blood on the mercy seat, came back, and that's when he told his
disciples to touch his wounds, his hands, etc., indicating that the blood was spread
on the mercy seat prior to that.
Now keep in mind that when this offering was made, what was done with the hide?
It was removed and given to the priest, the skin, right?
Well, the Bible talks about Jesus Christ's garments being parted when he was crucified.
They're parting his garments and this is symbolically representing what?
The righteousness of Jesus Christ.
Because when Jesus Christ was crucified, it gave us the opportunity to put on the garments
of righteousness, which is a picture of our salvation.
You see what I mean?
Because the Bible tells us that our righteousness are as filthy rags in the eyes of God.
We all do fade as a leaf, the Bible says in Isaiah.
And the reason it says we fade as a leaf is because the leaf is that which Adam and Eve
use to cover their own sin, which is insufficient because it fades eventually.
Whereas the skin, the garment, the hide of the Lamb of God shall never fade.
The righteousness of God shall never fade and once it's given to us, it's imputed
unto us, we have it forever, okay?
And in fact the Bible says, he hath made them to be sin who knew no sin that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him.
Referring to the fact that we as the New Testament Priesthood are given that garment, that robe
of righteousness forever, okay?
So that is the offering, the burnt offering.
But then we also have what's called the meat offering, okay?
And meat, you know, obviously we think of meat today, we think of, you know, we think
of Jose, okay?
But meat just means food, okay?
It could also mean just grain, all right, wheat, barley, grain.
Now this particular offering was also voluntary in the sense that, you know, you can offer
it coupled with the burnt offering if you'd like to and it represented thanksgiving.
So when you would offer your burnt offering, in light of the fact that, you know, Jesus
Christ gave you salvation, you can offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving as well, okay?
And that was, it was grain, barley, it was wheat, and it can often be coupled with the
drink offering as well.
Now people have a tendency to kind of be weirded out about that because of the fact that it
talks about offering wine, but people fail to understand that it's not referring to the
people drinking the wine.
The wine was poured out unto the Lord on the sacrifice itself, okay?
And so that was the meat offering.
Look at Leviticus chapter 2 and verse number 1.
It says, and when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be a fine
flour and he shall pour oil upon it and put frankincense thereon.
Of course, oil in the Bible is symbolic of the Holy Spirit.
So in light of what Jesus Christ has done for us, in light of his sacrifice, if you're
filled with the Spirit, what are you going to do?
You're going to give thanks unto the Lord.
Your sacrifice of praise is a byproduct of you being filled with the Spirit.
You have that oil upon yourself, okay?
Verse 2 says, and he shall bring it to Aaron's sons, the priests.
He shall take throughout his handful of flour thereof and of the oil thereof with all the
frankincense thereof.
And the priests shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar to be an offering made by
fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord.
And the remnant of the meat offering shall be Aaron's and his sons.
It is a thing most holy of the offerings of the Lord made by fire.
Look at verse 13.
And every oblation of thy meat offering shall thou season with salt, neither shalt thou
suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering.
With all thine offerings, thou shalt offer salt.
Hey, God's for salt, amen?
He said, hey, make sure you put some salt on that.
Don't let it be lacking either.
You know, don't listen to these people that, you know, eggs are cholesterol and salt's
bad for you.
He's like, throw some salt on there.
Don't let it be lacking.
Now, this is obviously symbolic of what?
Us.
Because of the fact that also in the New Testament, the Bible refers to believers as a living
sacrifice to be wholly acceptable to God, which is a reasonable service.
That's what Paul said in Romans chapter number 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by
the mercies of God, that you present yourselves a living sacrifice, okay?
And this living sacrifice should have oil upon it.
In other words, to be filled with the Spirit, but it's also supposed to have what?
Salt.
Have salt in yourselves, the Bible says.
The Bible tells us that we are the salt of the earth, but if the salt had lost its savor,
wherewith shall it be salted?
It is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and to be trotted under the foot
of men, the Bible tells us.
So this is symbolic of representing Christians as well because of the fact that, you know,
we offer ourselves daily.
And the reason it says living sacrifice is because we come off the altar.
We put ourselves on the altar, we die to ourselves, but then the next day we're just doing our
own thing.
Or not even the next day, sometimes like the very next hour.
We're just kind of doing our own thing.
So we have to constantly be reminded we need to die to self, we need to crucify the flesh,
we need to make sure that we're walking in the Spirit, have that oil upon us, and the
salt as well.
Okay, so that is the meat offering.
Then you have the peace offering, okay?
And this was given as a means to thank God basically for his provision.
And it was often, or actually it was given in three instances, either as a means to thank
God for his provision, or it was given alongside a fulfilled vow.
If you think of Hannah, for example, when she fulfilled her vow to give her son unto
the Lord, she completed it with a peace offering, okay?
And then you have it also when people give it when they were delivered in a time of need.
Now this is broken up into three parts, and I know this is just interesting, way more
interesting like the robbery doctor or poster of pre-wrath and stuff like that, but you
need to make sure you pay attention because I'm probably not going to teach this again
for a long time, but we need to, you know, preach the word, I need to talk about everything
in the Bible, okay?
And so the peace offering is made up of a thanksgiving offering, a wave offering, and
a voluntary offering.
We're not going to go through those verses, but I just want to mention those there, okay?
Go to Leviticus chapter 4, Leviticus chapter number 4.
Then we also have the sin offering.
The reason I picked Alex and John is because they're the ones who fall asleep the most,
I'm just kidding.
So this is a sure way to keep them awake, I'm just kidding.
You have the sin offering, okay?
So this is actually different than the burnt offering.
The sin offering was really to restore fellowship with God.
So if you sinned a sin throughout the day, you committed some grievous sin in the eyes
of the Lord, you can bring forth your sin offering in order to restore that fellowship
with God, okay?
Look at Leviticus chapter 4, verse number 1, it says, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against
any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall
do against any of them, if the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of
the people, then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullock without
blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering.
And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before
the Lord, and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head and kill the bullock before
the Lord.
And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood and bring it to the
tabernacle of the congregation, and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle
of the blood seven times before the Lord before the veil of the sanctuary.
So what we see here is that these were offered every day as well, weekly, monthly, because
people sin every day.
People sin every single day, they sin throughout the day.
And sometimes it's not necessarily a sin that, you know, the Bible says that they were ignorant
of it.
Presumptuous sins, for example, you understand?
The thought of foolishness is sin.
Breaking God's commandments, you know, sin is the transgression of the law, etc.
So if they did this and then they had conscience of it, they would offer a sin offering to
atone for that specific sin.
Now in the New Testament, because these ordinances have been repealed, now today we don't have
to do this, but we do confess our sins daily.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us
from all unrighteousness.
And the reason why we don't need this is because Jesus Christ has already officially offered
himself once and for all.
He's almost this this perpetual sacrifice that has been, he's the perpetuation for our
sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world, which is a verse
that comes after this where he says, My little children, these things write unto you the
sin not, but if any man sin.
We have an advocate with the Father Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the perpetuation
for our sins.
Okay.
So this shows us that you know what, even though we've been forgiven of past, present
and future sins at salvation, God still wants us to live a holy life today.
He wants us to be clean today.
He wants us to make sure that we are sanctified, separated, that we, you know, search our hearts,
examine our hearts, Lord, search me, see if there be any wicked way in me, okay, making
sure that we don't just live with unconfessed in our lives.
Okay.
So what's the big deal if we have unconfessed sin, then you don't have fellowship with God.
Then have fellowship with the Lord if you have unconfessed sin in your life.
Now look, folks, there's a reason they call this the better covenant.
This is the better testament.
That's what the Bible says, right?
It's better.
Why is it better?
Because you don't have to take your rear end to some tabernacle and go get an animal or
turtle dove and just go, you got to go through that whole process.
You can literally do it right where you stand.
See now we can just get right with God anywhere.
We don't need to go to a building.
We don't need to go to a mosque.
You don't need to go to the highest mountain.
You don't need to go to the wilderness or the desert, some tabernacle or the temple.
We are the temple of the Holy Ghost.
Okay.
And we can offer this offering of confession, you know, asking the Lord to forgive us of
our sins and then move on with our life and be in fellowship with God thereafter.
You know, this is a good reminder to us all that we need to make sure that we're conscious
of that.
That we're confessing our sins daily.
And sometimes people don't want to do that because they don't want to kind of go through
the list of things that they know that they've done.
They're just like, Oh man, I don't know what I need to do.
Well, here's the thing.
God already knows.
You're acting like you're keeping something from Him that He doesn't know.
Did you know when God told Adam, you know, where art thou?
It's not because he didn't know.
It's not like Adam had this supernatural ability to be the only one in the history of mankind
to actually hide himself from God.
Okay.
What was it?
He wasn't looking for Adam.
He was looking for a confession.
That's what he was looking for.
So you know, if that helps, I hope that helps you that if you are struggling to get sin
right in your life.
Because as God already knows it, okay, he's waiting for you to come into agreement with
him to confess it, to move on in order to be right with him and to restore fellowship.
Go to Hebrews chapter number 10, if you would, Hebrews chapter number 10, I'm going to cover
this last offering here, which is the trespass offering in Leviticus chapter five.
And then we also see it in Leviticus chapter six, let me read it to you in verse 16 of
Leviticus five, you're in Hebrews 10, it says in Leviticus five 16, and he shall make amends
for the harm that he had done in the Holy thing and shall add the fifth part there to
and give it unto the priest and the priest shall make an atonement for him with the ram
of the trespass offering and it shall be forgiven him if any soul sin and commit any of these
things which are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord, though he wished
it not, yet is he guilty and shall bear his iniquity.
He shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock with I estimation for a trespass
offering unto the priest and the priest shall make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance,
for in he erred and wished it not, and it shall be forgiven him, it is a trespass offering,
he had certainly trespass against the Lord.
Now, I'm not going to go through all the details of the feast offering.
So John, you just you're just here for looks, my friend, okay, just feast days, right there.
Okay.
The reason I'm not going to go through it because there's there's seven feast days,
and they carry a lot of details with the I'll probably preach a different sermon aside from
this one, because there's a lot of significance to it.
Let me just say this is that it pictures obviously salvation, but it also pictures the rapture.
And it even has end times Bible prophecy significance to it as well.
Okay.
And so there's a lot and in fact, spiritually speaking, the feast days have not yet been
completed.
Okay, what they symbolize has not yet been completed.
See the offerings, these have been completed through Jesus Christ.
These on the other hand, have not yet been completed.
Now look at Hebrews 10, verse number one, dispensational is hate Hebrews chapter 10.
They won't admit it to you, because it will sound bad for them to say that they hate it,
but they hate it, despise it.
You say why?
Because dispensational is believing what's this heresy called dispensational salvation,
which is the teaching that salvation was different throughout the ages.
For us in the Pauline era, or in the church era, you know, salvation is by grace through
faith.
Whereas in the Old Testament, where these two gentlemen are, it was obtained by doing
the animal sacrifices, okay.
And you can see how they would come to that conclusion in a sense, because of the fact
that it says that it was made for an atonement of their sin, the offerings are made for an
atonement of their sin.
And people would can easily twist that to say, oh, it's for their salvation.
But you won't find that in the Old Testament at all.
You'll never find that the offering was made for the salvation of a person.
Okay.
Now, do we believe that the Bible is without error?
And what I mean by that, are there any contradictions in the Word of God?
So therefore, if we find two passages that seem to say something different, we need to
reconcile the two now, don't we?
Well, let's look at Hebrews 10, verse one.
And by the way, the Old Testament is the New Testament reveal.
The Old Testament is the New Testament concealed.
So in order for us to have a proper understanding of this guy right here, and what he represents
in chapter one through seven, we need to go to the book of Hebrews.
Look at verse one, for the law having a shadow of good things to come.
Now, folks, if I'm walking, and I'm hitting a corner, and the sun is at a certain degree
where my shadow comes first, is that shadow me?
It represents me, though.
It's letting you know a physical human being is on the other side, right?
So if I'm walking this way, and this is the corner, the sun's to my back, and it casts
the shadow that way, no one's going to look at that shadow and say, well, that's Bruce
Mejia.
I knew he was dark, but, right?
They're not going to say, it's an indicator that a real person is around the corner.
The Bible is so accurate when it calls these things a shadow of things to come.
Oh, look what it says, and not the very image of the things.
So for the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things,
can never with those sacrifices, which they offered year by year, continually make the
comers their unto perfect.
So it's saying, hey, these sacrifices, if any of you thought that that saved you in
the Old Testament, I'm sorry to break it to you, but they never made you perfect.
Because they're animals.
They're animals.
It's livestock.
What was it supposed to do then?
It was a shadow of things to come.
He goes on to say in verse number two, for then will they have not ceased to be offered.
If these guys can save you, then you would only have to have offered them once.
Because then it would make you perfect.
Because the worshipers, once purged, should have no more conscience of sins.
But in those sacrifices, is there a remembrance again made of sins every year?
The sacrifices were there to remind God's people of their sins every single year.
Look at verse four.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Now hold on a second.
If in Leviticus chapters one through seven, it says that the offerings are made to make
an atonement for sin.
But in Hebrews chapter 10, it says it's not possible that they should take away sins.
This is not a contradiction.
We need to reconcile this.
Well the dipstick just says, well, this is just wrong.
This is a different dispensation.
That's what I call dispensationalists.
I call them dipsticks.
That's really what they are.
Let's reconcile this.
This is referring to the fact that the blood of bulls and of goats cannot take away the
totality of sin.
It's impossible.
Well, how do you know that?
Because they have to do it every year.
They have to do it every day.
They have to do it on the Sabbath, on the new moon, during the Passover.
Every time they sin, they have to do it.
Why?
Because they can't take away the totality of sin.
That's how you reconcile it.
Instead of saying, well, we need to rightly divide the word of truth and, well, here,
I'll write the divider for you, Old and New Testament.
There you go.
Why don't we divide it where God actually divided it, which is the Old Covenant and
the New Covenant.
You know, these dipsticks, like Robert Breger would say, well, you can make as many dispensations
as you want.
He literally said that.
Now, why would he say something like that?
Because the more dispensations you make, the more stuff you can just make up, the more
stupid doctrines you can come up with.
Verse five, wherefore, when he cometh into the world, referring to Jesus, he saith, sacrifice
and offering thou wouldst not, but a body thou hast prepared me.
In burnt offerings and sacrifice for sin, thou hast had no pleasure.
Then said I, Lo, I come, and the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will,
O God.
Above, when he said, sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin,
thou wouldst not, neither hath pleasure therein, which are offered by the law.
Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God.
He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second, by the which will we are sanctified
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all.
Every priest standeth daily ministering, offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins.
But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand
of God, from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool.
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified.
Wherefore the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us.
For after that he hath said before, This is the covenant that I will make with them.
After those days saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds
will I write them, and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Look at verse 18.
Now where remission of these is, remission means forgiveness, there is no more offering
for sin.
What does he mean by that?
He's saying where you have been forgiven of all sins, there's no more offerings for
sins.
Why?
Because it's already been taken care of.
It's already been done.
The true remission of past, present, and future sins, once it's applied to you, there remain
no more offerings for sin.
It's a lower quality of sacrifice.
Go to Colossians chapter 2.
So we're looking at the first category of these seven segments.
These two segments here represent the first category, which is offerings and feast days.
Just keep this in mind.
This is at the beginning of the book of Leviticus, and this is at the end of the book of Leviticus.
So if we were to put a little bracket, you put a bracket like this and just tie them
together and put offerings and feast days.
Look at Colossians 2 because we're going to debunk John real quick, what John represents.
John believes like us, don't worry.
John 14 says, blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us and took it out of the way, kneeling it to the cross, to his cross and
having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing
over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or of
the new moon or the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is
of Christ.
What is this talking about?
He's saying when Jesus Christ was crucified on the cross, he was literally the culmination
of the feast days as well as the offerings.
Now, what are some of the part of these holy days?
Sabbath.
Well, according to the Bible, Jesus Christ is our Sabbath.
He is the Sabbath.
He represents some of those feast days and even the future feast days as well.
But he represents all of the offerings.
And the Bible says that he became the culmination of that when he was crucified.
In other words, the Bible says there in verse number 15, he made a show of them openly.
He was the fulfillment of those feasts as well as the offerings.
And that's why he says in verse 16, don't let anybody judge you in meat, drinks, or
respect of a holy day or the Sabbath day or the new moon, which are a shadow of things
to come.
He literally had people tell me, well, this is saying that this is talking about you judging
us about keeping the Sabbath day.
What?
Yeah, because Jesus Christ kept the Sabbath.
Of course he kept the Sabbath because he was still under Old Testament law when he was
alive.
His death brought about the New Testament.
And the reason why we no longer have to keep the Sabbath is because of the fact that in
Christ we find our rest.
We rest from our works for salvation and he completes it all.
You understand?
Yeah, but what about the Ten Commandments?
Well, let me just give you a little secret here that's not very much a secret.
Did you know there's more than Ten Commandments in the Bible?
Way more than Ten Commandments in the Bible.
So just because he puts the Sabbath in the Ten Commandments doesn't mean that we have
to keep it if it's already been repealed.
All right, let's get into category number two.
So this is category number one, offerings and feast days.
All right, let's get another guy up here.
Marcos, come on up.
You looked at me.
Stand right here.
Not on the platform right there.
You're a priest, my friend.
This is chapters eight through 10.
And then let's see who else.
Jason, that's what you get for paying attention.
Right over here.
Okay, so let's review real quick.
The Book of Leviticus is broken into seven segments, four categories.
First ones, at the very beginning of the book and the very end of the book, we have the
offerings and the feast days.
Thereafter, from chapters eight to 10, we have the anointing of the priesthood, referring
to Aaron and his sons.
Being anointed.
And then what we have here from chapters 21 to 22, we have the priesthood as well, but
this primarily focuses on the qualifications of the priest.
Now I think you can kind of notice here that this is written kind of uniquely, is it not?
It's all closing in on one specific thing, which we're going to look at what it is in
just a bit.
Don't skip ahead.
We have offerings, feast days.
We have the priesthood right here, okay?
Priesthood, qualifications, priesthood, the anointing.
Go to Leviticus chapter number eight, if you would, Leviticus chapter number eight.
Verse number one of Leviticus eight, it says, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take
Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and a bullock for the
sin, offering two rams and a basket of unleavened bread, and gathered out all the congregation
together unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and the assembly was gathered together into the door
of the tabernacle of the congregation.
And Moses said unto the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord commanded to be
done.
Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water.
And he put on him the coat, girded him with the girdle, clothed him with the robe, put
the ephod upon him, and he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod, and bound
it unto him therewith.
Put the breastplate upon him, also he put in the breastplate of the Urim in the tomb,
and he put the miter upon his head, also upon the miter, even upon his forefront, that he
put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.
And Moses took the anointing oil, anointed the tabernacle, and all that was therein,
and sanctified them.
Now, here's the thing, is that God had already selected the house of Aaron to be the priest.
It's already part of their inheritance, okay?
House of Aaron, Levites.
These are people who were ordained of God to only be the ones to fulfill the office
of the priest.
But if they wanted to actually do the job, they required these garments, they required
the breastplate, they required the crown, the miter, they required all these outward
clothings in order to fulfill the job, okay?
Now there's other things that they were required to do, which are the qualifications, we're
not going to go through all that, but they were to be basically a person who's without
physical blemishes.
They had to have stones, okay?
It says that their stones had to be working, which I believe to be a New Testament principle,
by the way, that I've preached on before, okay?
They couldn't have any physical deformities, they had to be intact.
Why is that?
Because they need to be fit for the master's use, understand?
Without blemish, above reproach.
This is something that we can see a pastor basically having to do, right?
Someone who's above reproach, without blemish, they're blameless, you understand?
So that's what we have for the priesthood.
So even though the inheritance was already given to them based upon what they were born
into in order for them to fulfill the job, they needed to have specific clothing on,
okay?
Now go to 1 Peter, if you would, 1 Peter chapter number 2, let me read to you from Hebrews
7 verse 11.
It says, if therefore perfection were by the Levitical priesthood, for under it the
people received the law, what further need was there that another priest should rise
after the order of Melchizedek and not after the order of Aaron?
For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.
Now this is what people don't seem to understand.
They're like, we gotta keep the Sabbath, keep the Sabbath.
Why are you trying to keep that which God said don't keep?
He says, we need to change this.
Because there was a change of the priesthood, in other words, in the New Testament, we don't
have Aaron, okay?
He's not around anymore.
His garments were actually stripped off of him because he was a lame leader, okay?
Now the priesthood is made of all believers and the reason it's made up of all believers
is because the priesthood has changed and so has the law changed.
You say, well, you know, I mean, that doesn't sound very, well, who cares?
You didn't write the Bible, you're not God.
And in fact, you know what, just to kind of tick you off even more if that bothers you,
did you know Jesus Christ who is our high priest wasn't even from the Levi tribe?
From the tribe of Judah.
In fact, it says, for he of whom these things are spoken pretended to another tribe of which
no man gave attendance at the altar, someone from the tribe of Judah offering sacrifices,
no, no, no, for the tribe of Judah in the Old Testament who was a high priest, for it
is evident that our Lord sprang out of Judah of which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning
the priesthood.
Well, I don't know if this is biblical here, Lord, you know, you've come from the tribe
of Judah.
Who cares?
He's God.
He can do whatever he wants.
He's like, I'm from the tribe of Judah and I'm going to be the priest because he can
do that.
So if he can do that, that means he can also say we're not going to keep the Sabbath anymore.
I know these Judaizers don't like that.
I know these, what do you call them, the Israel united in Christ or whatever, what's the other
ones?
The Hebrew roots movement people don't like that, but they can jump in the lake of fire.
And it is yet far more evident that after the similitude of Melchizedek, there ariseth
another priest who is made not after the law of carnal commandment, but after the power
of an endless life, which shows us why Jesus Christ's priesthood is more legitimate because
Aaron, Eliezer, and all the priests, they all died.
Jesus Christ has an endless life.
He will never die.
Look at first Peter two verse number four.
Now he's the high priest.
Jesus Christ is the high priest.
So who are his priests under him?
Us.
It says in verse four, to whom coming as unto a lively stone, dissident indeed of man, but
chosen of God and precious, ye also as lively stones are built up a spiritual house, not
of the house of Aaron and holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ.
Look at verse nine, but ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar
people that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light.
So in order for us to be a part of the priesthood of the believers, we just need to get saved.
So hold on a second.
In order for us to perform the tasks that God has called us to do, we need to put on
the Lord Jesus Christ, make no provision for the flesh.
We need to put on the armor of God, including the breastplate and the feet shot with the
preparation of the gospel of peace.
The loins girt about with truth, the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit in order
for us to fulfill the will of God, understand?
So just as in the Old Testament, they were born into being that priesthood because it
came by lineage in like manner, you know, in order to be priests, for us to be priests,
we just need to be born again into the spiritual house.
But in order for us to perform the tasks, we need to put on the armor of God and be
fit for the master's use.
Okay.
How are we doing?
Marcos is paying attention.
Thanks, Marcos.
All right.
Almost done here.
Let's get another person up here.
Let's see here.
All right, Geo, you weren't looking at me, so you're coming up here.
Come on over here, bro.
Geo, you represent the ceremonial laws.
Okay.
And we need another person here.
Let's see here.
You got a baby on you.
You're lucky.
Jacob, you represent our favorite part of the Book of Leviticus, the moral laws.
All right.
So category number one, let's do some review here.
Category number one are on the outliers of the Book of Leviticus, chapters one through
seven.
You have 23 through 27 representing the offerings as well as the feast days, right?
Then thereafter, you have the priesthood, okay?
You have the anointing of the priesthood, Jason representing the qualifications of the
priesthood.
We're doing something here, okay?
Now we have category number three, which is the ceremonial laws, ceremony and moral laws,
chapters 11 through 15 and then 18 through 20, okay?
Now, not much has to be said about this, it's pretty simple.
A lot of the ceremonial laws were for purity reasons, in order to be clean before the eyes
of the Lord, you understand?
So they couldn't touch a dead body, you know, they couldn't eat certain things.
There's a lot of dietary restrictions because of what they symbolized, okay?
And so those are the ceremonial laws.
And the reason those are repealed in the New Testament is because they were symbolic.
So it doesn't have to stay forever, it was simply a symbolic representation of the fact
that God's people were to be a holy people separated from the world.
Now how do we know they were repealed?
Because God himself told Peter, up, slay, and eat, no unclean has ever entered into
my mouth.
And God had to rebuke him three times to help him to understand that what he called unclean,
God had sanctified.
In other words, he was telling Peter, go preach the gospel to every creature.
Don't be like the Old Testament Israelites, who thought that they were just better than
everyone else and refused to give the light to a lost and dying world.
He's saying the way it should have been is that you reach other people and bring them
into Israel.
But now in the New Testament he's saying preach the gospel to the unclean animals, the common
or unclean.
And by the way, what did Jesus say?
What did the Bible say about Jesus?
The common people heard him gladly.
And the Gentiles ended up being the pool of people that are the most receptive towards
the gospel.
The ceremonial laws were simply there to show us that we're to be a holy people.
We don't reach the world by being like the world.
We don't reach the world by consuming the world.
We reach the world by bringing the gospel into them and helping them to assimilate to
the ways of God.
That's what's supposed to be done, right?
So symbolic, now this, my friend, is not symbolic.
You say, why would he put this in the middle of all this?
Because God is a righteous just God.
And part of holiness, part of separation, part of sanctification is that criminals need
to be taken care of.
And I don't mean taken care of like taken care of, I mean like taken care of.
Okay?
They need to be, you know, corporal and capital punishments were a thing that were instituted
back then.
Obviously, they're not now, but we still believe it because this is in the Bible.
And even though these have not been repealed, and even though the government does not want
to institute these things, it doesn't mean that it's not right because it will always
be right.
Jesus Christ came not to destroy the law but to fulfill it, and that's referring to these
ceremonial laws.
He didn't come to destroy these things, he came to be a fulfillment of them.
And even in like manner, he didn't come to destroy these either, and he will fulfill
these one day as well.
So you could actually interpret them both ways if you wanted to.
Okay?
So this is important in order to have a holy people.
You know, you can't have reprobates just wandering around Israel.
You couldn't have pedos and sodomites and kidnappers and murderers and adulterers and
adulteresses.
You couldn't have that just freely roaming in Israel and expect Israel to be a holy people,
therefore these moral laws were instituted.
And you couldn't have even of the smallest injustices either, like theft.
Therefore those moral laws were instituted in order to take care of that.
Pretty simple, right?
So let's review here.
It's written in a very interesting way, because it's like, why isn't John over here?
Why didn't God just write it from here all the way, you know, from chapters one all the
way to chapter, instead of being chapter 27, just keep it right here and then put Jason
right here and then put these guys together.
You know, that's how we would write it, because we're just, that's the way we operate, right?
But what is God doing?
He's trying to get to the heart of the matter.
And he's showing us that in order to have a holy nation, a holy people, the most, the
heart of the matter, the most important thing is this, the Day of Atonement, because every
year the priest would go into the nation, the tabernacle, and atone for the sins of
the people.
This represents salvation.
That which is to the right and to the left mean nothing if you're not saved.
That's what it's referring to.
Chapters 16 and 17 highlight the Day of Atonement.
This means nothing if you don't have this.
The ceremonial laws mean nothing if you're not saved.
The priesthood, you can't even be a priesthood if you don't have the Day of Atonement.
Who cares about the animal sacrifices in the feast days if you don't have the atonement
for your soul?
So what is the heart of the Book of Leviticus?
Salvation.
Surrounded by God's laws.
And the lesson that we can learn from this is this, you know, holiness is important unto
the Lord, but you have no holiness without salvation.
You have no access to sanctification.
You have no access to separation.
You have no access to holiness.
You have no access to the divine nature of God without salvation.
This my friend is the heart of the Book of Leviticus.
And unfortunately, people have looked at the Book of Leviticus as being like, oh, it's
so like gruesome and Old Testament and oh, that's when God was mean and all these things
and people being put to death and what do you mean it has the Day of Atonement?
Yeah, but what about the moral law?
Well, if you're saved, you'll appreciate the moral law.
You have a little bit like shellfish, though.
Well, if you're back then, if you're saved, you know, the commands of the Lord are not
grievous to you.
Yeah, but what about like the priests and the qualifications and you couldn't have a
jacked up nose and can't have a flat nose and you have to have your stones intact?
Well, if you're saved, though, the law of the Lord is perfect.
Yeah, but look, all these animal sacrifices and every single day.
Yeah, well, if you're saved, you would understand why.
It was a reminder to you of the fact that God saved you and that one day in the future,
the Lamb of God will come to take away the sins of the world.
These are not grievous.
Now, thankfully, we are in the New Testament, so we don't have to deal with all this.
You know, I'm kind of sad that, you know, one of them we don't have to deal with.
You know, it's the only one that I really miss, OK?
But one day it will be instituted.
Oh, how can you just rejoice over it?
Yeah, but I mean, all these things.
How can you rejoice over the death penalty?
This is why.
The love of Christ constrains me.
Salvation places me dead smack in the middle, a position dead smack in the middle to understand
everything else.
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know for
their spiritual discern, but he that is spiritual discerneth all things, understandeth all things
because of salvation.
All right, guys, you guys can have a seat.
You guys can keep that if you want.
Actually, give it back to me.
Thanks.
So that is, my friends, the Book of Leviticus on the bottom shelf for you.
I hope that made sense.
And I hope that it'll give you a greater appreciation for this particular book.
And you might have already liked the Book of Leviticus already, but you might have just
liked chapter 18 and 19 or something, you know?
Well, I hope now you look at the entire book and recognize how it draws attention to the
Day of Atonement, which is the most important part of the year for the Israelites, and how
it drew attention to that specific moment right there.
Amen?
Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
We're so thankful for the Book of Leviticus, Lord.
And we obviously know that the Book of Leviticus hasn't necessarily been repealed as much in
the Book of Leviticus that's even quoted in the New Testament, things that we are to obey
today, Lord.
But I pray that you help us to understand the heart of the matter, the heart of the
book.
And Lord, if people struggle with laws and why God had them do this and that, Lord, help
them to get to the heart of the matter first, that they would see the Book of Leviticus
through the eyes of a safe person.
We love you and we thank you and we pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.
Amen.
Song number 102, He hideth my soul.