Sermon Tone Analysis

!!!!!! Leviticus 1-5

 

*Tape #7038*

*Leviticus 1-5*

*By Chuck Smith*

 

            *Chapter 1*

Tonight we begin the book of Leviticus, in which we deal with the methods by which the Levitical priests were to offer the sacrifices and it deals with, first of all, the various sacrifices that were to be made.

So in chapter one, we have, first of all, the law concerning the burnt offering sacrifices.

Verse three:

/“If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord.

And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering; and it shall be accepted/ [on his behalf],/ for him to make atonement for him.”

(1:3-4)./

Then it goes on, and if he doesn’t take from the herd, he can take from his flock.

One of the sheep, or goats, or he can bring a turtledove or a young pigeon.

The burnt offering sacrifice was basically the sacrifice that spoke of my consecration to God.

Thus the burnt offering sacrifice was to be totally consumed by the fire.

The idea being, my life totally consecrated to God.

So I wanted to make an offering of consecration.

I want to consecrate my life to God.

I would bring from my herd a bull, I would bring from my flocks a goat or a lamb, or if I couldn’t afford that, I would bring a young turtledove or a pigeon.

I would bring it to the priest, and I would lay my hand upon its head which we mentioned this morning, was the method by which I identify with the animal.

The animal now represents me.

I lay my hand upon its head, that it might represent me, and then the animal is slain and placed upon the altar, and burnt.

As the aroma goes up, it is a sweet smelling savor unto God, as my life is completely consecrated to Him. “Oh that my life would be totally consumed in the things of the Lord.”

Complete consecration unto God.

How necessary that is.

Chapter 2

In chapter two we get to the second offering, which was called the grain offering.

In your King James versions, it reads meat, but the word in the Hebrew, is actually grain.

So you offer a grain offering of fine flour.

Now the grain offering is basically just something to offer to the Lord as a sweet savor.

Nothing smells better than bread when its baking.

So you would mix the fine flour with oil and with salt, and the priest would take a handful, which was a memorial, or it was the representation of the whole.

He would get the rest of it.

But, he would take a handful and put it upon the fire in order that it might rise as a sweet smelling savor, unto the Lord.

It is one of the most holy offerings you can offer.

It’s really not for anything, except just for the Lord.

“Lord I just offer this to you, for your enjoyment.”;

and, giving our lives to God, just for His enjoyment.

Just spending time with God, and how important that is.

Not coming to God with any requests, not laying any heavy issues on Him, but coming just for the pure fellowship, for that time of enjoyment together with Him.

The various types of grain offerings are given here in chapter two.

They can be baked in a pan, they could be baked in a cupboard pan.

The interesting thing that in verse eleven, in this offering not to be any leaven or honey mixed into the bread dough.

No leaven or honey.

Leaven is, always in the scriptures, a type of sin, because it multiplies by rottenness.

It permeates through rottenness, and thus, no leaven.

No honey.

Honey is a natural sweetness, but it has nothing to do with the grace of God, and so, there was to be no honey within the flour that you offer to the Lord.

That which was to be burned, there would be the frankincense sprinkled upon it, in order to give it even a further aroma, a delightful aroma.

Chapter 3

In chapter three, we come to the peace offerings, and again, it was a male or female, the burnt sacrifice had to be a male, the peace offering can be male or female.

Each of the sacrifices were to be without blemish.

God didn’t want anyone offering anything to Him that was a cast-off.

Of course the sacrifices, for the most part, being a type of Jesus Christ, they had to be without spot and without blemish.

A spot was a inherent defect in an animal.

A blemish was an acquired defect, and Jesus gave Himself for our redemption as a lamb, without spot or blemish.

There was no inherent sin in Christ, nor was there any acquired sin, without blemish.

So the sacrifices, in as much as they were prefiguring Jesus Christ, had to be without blemish.

There could be no blemish upon the animal, and thus, they were again to lay their hand upon the animal, it was to be slain, it was to be roasted, and then part of it was completely roasted for the Lord, and the rest was roasted and given back to me and I would sit with my family, and we would eat together; and, it was a offering of communion.

As we have mentioned before, the act of eating together was one of the most symbolic acts, signifying the becoming one with an individual, that you can enter into.

As we eat together, breaking the bread, I eat a part of the bread, you eat a part of the bread.

Through this bread, you and I are becoming united.

Because the bread is becoming part of my body, as I assimilate it, but it is also becoming a part of your body, as you assimilate it, so we’re becoming a part of each other.

That is what makes the communion service such a meaningful and beautiful experience, as Jesus, the bread, from which you partake, He’s the one that unites us together.

I am nourished by Him, you are nourished by Him, thus we become a part of each other.

Our lives are brought in a beautiful unity, through the common bread that we partake.

So in the peace offering was this very idea, of my becoming one with God.

I bring my animal, the priest, I put my hand upon it’s head, and the animal is slain, and the priest then takes the fat and burns the fat and a portion of the lamb; and, then he gives me a portion of the roasted lamb, and I sit with my family.

The idea is we’re sitting together to eat with God.

He has eaten a part of this lamb, I am eating the rest of it with my family, and thus we come into this oneness, this communion, this koinonia, this fellowship with God.

Really one of the most beautiful of the offerings, I feel, that you could offer, is the offering of communion, the peace offering that was offered unto the Lord.

Now in the sixteenth and seventeenth verses, it speaks about the fat belonged to the Lord, and so no man was to eat of the fat or the blood of the animals that were brought for sacrifice.

Always the fat was to be cut away, and that was to be burned.

Really when you’re barbecuing, that which really smells, you know, gives the best aroma, is the fat of the meat, and that’s what drips down on the coals and smokes; and, that’s really where you get the glorious aroma.

So, this belonged to God, they were not allowed to eat the fat or the blood of the animal, offered in a peace offering.

Chapter 4

In chapter four, we get to the sin offerings.

/“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance /[unintentionally] /against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them/ [anything that ought not to be done, and he does some of them]/: If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people /[bringing guilt on the people]/; then let him bring for his sin/ [offer for the Lord]/, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering (4:2-3)./

First of all, the whole idea of the sin offerings, and the mention of the fact that the sins being unintentional.

The word sin literally means, to miss the mark.

In our English derivation, it comes from the old English game, that was called “sinner”, in which a hoop would be placed at the top of a pole, and each man given a specified number of arrows, and he pulls the arrows out of his quiver, and he shoots them through the hoop.

If you missed the hoop, you were called a sinner, and you would have to set up the drinks for the participants.

That’s where the word sinner came from.

You missed the mark.

There’s this hoop out there, you shot your arrow, you missed the hoop, you missed the mark, you’re a sinner, and they’d say, “Ah, you re a sinner, you know, you missed the mark”, and then you would have to treat.

So that’s the origin of the word in the English language, and it is a correct translation from the Greek “hamartia”, which means the missing of the mark.

Now there is another word, “transgression”, and we’ll deal with that in chapter five, which is a willful violation of the law of God.

Sin is an unintentional violation.

I know people who have a weakness in their flesh, who are missing the mark.

Though in their heart, they want to hit the mark.

Peter was guilty of sin, not because it was a deliberate, willful thing.

He just missed the mark.

Jesus said to Peter, “Peter, your spirit indeed is willing, but your flesh is weak.”

He should have been praying, he was sleeping.

It was God’s will, God’s desire that he be praying at this time.

Jesus said, “Watch and pray”.

Jesus came back, and he was sleeping.

He said, “Oh Peter, your spirit indeed is willing, no problem there, your flesh is weak.

You’ve missed the mark, because your flesh is weak.”

That so often is the case in our lives.

It isn’t that it’s something that, I’m rebelling against God, in the law of God, “I’m going to do it anyhow, it doesn’t matter!”