Series: Route 66 Leviticus Leviticus 17:11; 20:7-8 BL: God loves to be approached, but we must do so on His terms. Intro Video Intro I don t know what you think of when you see or hear the word Leviticus. Maybe you think of a pair of Levi s jeans or maybe it draws your attention to a set of mind-numbing list of obscure and legalistic rules. Leviticus is not a modern-day reader s first choice when it comes to a Bible-reading plan. We are put off by the book s lists of laws regarding diet, sacrifice and social behavior Leviticus 19:27 Leviticus 11:20-23
Leviticus 20:9-10 Transition What people don t know, including Christ-followers, about Leviticus is that it is mentioned over 100x in the NT, Jesus reiterated the teaching of Leviticus He quoted 19:18, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. While Leviticus is often among the last books of the Bible to be studied by Christians, it was the first book to be studied by a Jewish child. WHY? Because God desired to fellowship with His people once He delivered them from Egypt, He graciously established a plan for how His sinful people could approach His perfect Holiness BOTTOM LINE: God loves to be approached, but we must do so on His terms. In Genesis, we discovered how God led his people to Egypt In Exodus, we saw last week how God led His people out of Egypt. But Leviticus reveals how God gets Egypt out of His people. Exodus shows the way out from slavery, but Leviticus shows us the way into the sanctuary of a Holy God. Why is Leviticus so important?
It establishes a compass for God s newly redeemed people, showing them how to WORSHIP and WALK with Him as He leads them to the Promised Land. The book of Leviticus communicates that receiving God s redemption should be followed by response of Holy Worship and a Holy Walk! Since all Scripture was given by inspiration of God, then all Scripture is profitable for God s people to use in developing Godly lives. TURN to BODY: Let me share with you the 2-main passages of Leviticus: The first establishes a HOLY WORSHIP of God and the second establishes a HOLY WALK with God. 1. Leviticus establishes a Holy Worship of God (17:11) Intro Worship is one of the most wonderful privileges God has given to humanity, but there is a condition. It must be on God's terms. Worship, simply defined, is an expression of one's ultimate love for God. Another dynamic of worship is meeting with God. But humanity, including the children of Israel and all of us, has a big problem Our SIN Nature.
1) Sin alienates worship. Sin has separated us from God clearly taught in Scripture. Worshipping God should be our desire, but sin in one's life can be a hindrance. Many evangelicals do not understand the purpose of worship. In fact, many who attend worship services will leave without the sense that they have met God. One reason may be that the worshipper is approaching God on their own terms and they are unaware that sin alienates worship. God loves our worship Covenant but we must do so on His terms. God deserved all the praise and glory for redeeming His people from Egypt He led them from slavery to Mount Sinai He instructed them to build a place for His presence (tabernacle) God desired intimacy with his people He wanted to provide a means for His people to worship Him but only on His terms and the means for the people to worship the One True God was through SACRIFICE 2) Sacrifice advocates worship. The entire section of chapters 1-17 of Leviticus teaches that God must be approached by the sacrificial system Leviticus reveals that God s people are sinful and therefore they should offer sacrifices Sacrifice was needed because of Sin. The first 11 chapters provide instruction for offering sacrifices in the tabernacle. God commands the sinful to bring their offering into the tabernacle they would tell the priest why they were making a sacrifice they would present the sacrifice It would be the finest animal that they owned, animals without defect. The sacrifices were to be valuable and costly to the one giving them.
The sacrifices taught the people that sin brings death, and that only shed blood brings forgiveness. Leviticus 17:11 (NIV) For the life of a creature is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make atonement for yourselves on the altar; it is the blood that makes atonement for one s life. Amplify Once the sacrifice was brought into the courtyard, the people making the sacrifice would lay their hands on the head of the animal. By doing this, they publicly identified themselves with the offering itself, as if to say, What happens to this animal should happen to me because of my sins. Leviticus 1:4 Lay your hand on the animal's head, and the LORD will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him. The priests would then slaughter the animal then take the blood of the sacrifice and sprinkle it on the altar for the sins of the one giving the sacrifice What a clear picture of substitution the blood of the innocent sacrificial animal becomes the substitute for the life of the guilty offerer This took place for centuries in the tabernacle and later in the Temple Perhaps this whole process shocks you But Leviticus and every other book of the Bible clearly teaches that we deserve death for our sins Romans 6:23, For the wages of sin is death Apply
Our righteousness is as filthy rags our works are wretched we can t approach God on our terms. Religious rituals will not suffice Our worship is alienated because of our SIN Covenant, we need an ADVOCATE! We need a sacrificial substitute to find that substitute, we turn to the book that could be called the NT commentary on Leviticusthe letter to the Hebrews. Hebrews 9:11-14; 22, 28 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 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. For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God Without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many Amplify Leviticus was just a foreshadowing of a GREATER sacrifice that would be born of a virgin, live 33 years, give his life in our place, shed his blood so we might obtain eternal life. The many sacrifices in Leviticus ultimately points to a once for all sacrifice of JESUS! Hebrews 10:10 we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
Many years after Moses wrote Leviticus, Jesus came to offer Himself as the ultimate sacrifice, holy and perfect, once for all, fulfilling the Law and rendering future animal sacrifices unnecessary and void The bad news is that our holy worship of God is alienated by our sin but the Good News is we have an advocate who died in our place enabling us to APPROACH our heavenly Father on His terms. "It is finished" means you are free from carrying the IMPOSSIBLE burden of having to work your way into God's acceptance. Transition Leviticus establishes a Holy Worship of God. 2. Leviticus establishes a Holy Walk with God (20:7-8) Intro Read 20:7-8 God is concerned about our daily WALK with Him but we must do so on His terms. God loved His people but he required them to be holy because He is holy. It has been said that it took God only one night to get Israel out of Egypt, but it took 40 years to get Egypt out of Israel. Israel had been saved but now it was time for them to be sanctified. Chapters 18-27 are dedicated to sanctification and a handbook for a Holy Walk with God. Let me share with you 2-thoughts regarding this Holy Walk: 1) Learn to appreciate a holy walk.
The English word holy comes from an Old English word meaning to be whole, to be healthy. What health is to the body, holiness is to the inner person God desires His people to be healthy spiritually He longs for us to have a healthy relationship with Him. The problem is most people, including Christ-followers, don t APPRECIATE a holy walk. In fact the chief pursuit of most people today is HAPPINESS, not HOLINESS. The children of Israel often remained spiritually unhealthy because they wanted God to solve their problems and carry their burdens but they did not want Him to control their lives and change their character they pursued HAPPINESS more than HOLINESS! Quote Jonathan Edwards He that sees the beauty of holiness sees the greatest and most important thing in the world. Have you ever thought of personal holiness as the most important thing in the world? Have we learned to appreciate a holy walk with God? But not only are we to appreciate a Holy Walk 2) Live to assimilate a holy walk.
One of the overall themes of Leviticus is sanctification the book communicates that receiving God s forgiveness and acceptance should be followed by holy living and spiritual growth. Does it matter to us that eight times in the Bible, God said to His people, Be holy, for I am Holy Covenant, in God s kingdom, holiness isn t a luxury; it s a necessity. Holiness is not the way to Christ, but Christ is the way to holiness.1 Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. Yes, God desires us to be happy but true happiness begins with holiness.that is why Jesus said Matthew 5:6 Blessed are they which hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled. Amplify But wasn t the Book of Leviticus written only for the Jewish nation the answer is Yes but the lessons in Leviticus aren t limited to the Jews of ancient Israel. The spiritual principles in this book apply to Christians in the church today. One of the key verses of Leviticus is 11:45 For I am the Lord who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This principle is applied by Peter in I
Peter 1:15-16, but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. Friends, God calls upon us to offer him more than a song of worship, we must give Him our lives as living sacrifices! Remember, we cannot WALK with God and run with the devil I firmly believe that God would never save us by GRACE we could live in DISGRACE. Conclusion Are you worshipping God on His terms today? Is your walk with God a reflection of something worth Christ dying for?