LEVITICUS SERMON 1 – Leviticus 1-10

I saw a preview of a new movie on TV the other day. Haven’t seen the movie yet. But it looks like it could be quite entertaining. It’s called OFFICE SPACE. About a guy who’s got such a dead boring job as a computer programmer that he sets out to get himself fired. He can’t stand it any more. So it’s sort of like he’s committing CAREER SUICIDE. Comes in late every day, does absolutely NO WORK AT ALL. And in the scene in the preview on TV, he’s finally called in to see the management consultant who’s looking for people to FIRE.

Now I usually get in trouble when I talk about movies I haven’t seen, because someone always goes to see it and it’s terrible or offensive, or something like that. So I’m not recommending it. But look, I laughed when I saw this 30 second preview, because the guy goes in to the boss, and because he’s trying to get himself fired, he doesn’t care WHAT HE DOES. So he SLOUCHES BACK IN THE CHAIR, puts his feet up on the bosses table; pours himself a coffee. And when the boss says to him, look, we want to know WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR TIME on a normal working day, he says, "Well, I come in about half and hour late. And then I sit there for about an hour and I just DAYDREAM. Do the same after lunch. He said, I reckon if you add it up I do about FIFTEEN MINUTES PRODUCTIVE WORK A DAY."

And the funny thing about it is, he’s just so absolutely BRAZEN. Because he wants to get fired. And nobody’s got the gumption to actually DO IT. His feet on the desk right in the bosses face. Pouring himself a coffee. Everything short of tweaking his nose. And in the end he’s got so much front you just have to laugh.

Trouble is, that’s exactly how a lot of people want to treat THE GOD OF THE UNIVERSE. Over familiarity. Put your feet up.

Late last year in Sydney an old radio star drank himself to death. Ward Austen, famous back in the 60s. A real celebrity back then, a nobody when he died. Friends found him dead in his loungeroom. The TV news the next night had all the tributes to him from his friends. John Laws. Normie Rowe. And another friend, who said this…

Now I want to ask you to think about that this morning. And the fact that maybe that’s a little bit PRESUMPTUOUS. To think that ANYONE can just bowl into the presence of God. And says, HEY, LET’S PARTY. Where are the guys? Where’s the beer?

And even to say that… is very much a case of TAKING GOD FOR GRANTED, isn’t it.

But Australians do that all the time. If they stop to think about God at all, they’re pretty sure God’s their mate. Easy going God. No worries. And you can just invent him to suit yourself. You’ll say, well, I LIKE TO THINK OF GOD as being… well, whatever you like. And that’s the other big catch-cry, isn’t it. You can believe whatever you like. But don’t go telling ME what YOU think God is like. Because when it comes to God, MY OPINION is just as good as YOUR OPINION.

Now how would you feel if you were watching a couple of people talking about YOU. Who don’t even KNOW YOU. And they’re deciding for themselves what YOU LIKE. And what you DON’T LIKE. What you FEEL and what you DON’T FEEL. How you like your coffee; without even ASKING YOU.

Leviticus is a book that you’ll see comes very early in the Old Testament. And it’s a book where God turns that sort of thinking on its head. And does exactly the reverse. He says HERE’S WHAT I’M LIKE. And here’s what YOU need to be like… if you’re going to approach me. Here’s how to wipe your feet at the door, here’s how you stand, here’s how you sit. Because I AM GOD.

I want you to start by turning over in your bible to chapter 19. Leviticus 19 verse 2. One of the verses of the Old Testament that the New Testament quotes over and over again. Leviticus 19 verse 2. Because it’s one of the key verses in the whole book.

God is speaking to the people of Israel, the people he’s chosen to be HIS PEOPLE. And he says this. He says, THIS IS WHAT I AM LIKE. And this is what YOU NEED TO BE LIKE. If you’re going to approach me.

The Lord says to Moses, Speak to the entire assembly of Israel. Get them together and say this. "BE HOLY… because I, the Lord your God … am HOLY."

And in that single verse, you can sum up the whole of the book of Leviticus. The whole book boiled down to a simple sentence. BE HOLY. Because I’m God. And I’m holy. THAT IS WHAT I’M LIKE! What makes you think you can just bowl up to a Holy God and say LET’S PARTY? What makes you think you can just invent God to suit yourself? Leviticus introduces us to the GOD WHO IS GOD. Who says I AM HOLY. So BE HOLY. Let my nature DICTATE YOUR NATURE.

Now before we go any further, I want to take a couple of minutes to set the context. And ask, WHERE ARE WE in the Bible’s story.

Back in Genesis chapter 12, God’s made a promise. He promises that the descendants of ABRAHAM are going to be unique. That the children, the grandchildren, the great-grandchildren of this one man, are going to be HIS SPECIAL PEOPLE. And they’ll grow to be the ONE NATION in all the world that KNOWS THE TRUE GOD. They’re going to be HIS PEOPLE. And he’ll be their God.

By the book of EXODUS, it’s starting to happen. Except the descendants of Abraham have ended up trapped in Egypt. And they’re slaves. And Exodus tells the story of how God uses Moses to lead them out of captivity, into freedom. As they’re heading North to the PROMISED LAND, the land of Canaan.

Now I don’t know if you’ve ever moved into a new house. But at this point, it’s a bit like that. Because Leviticus comes at a point where the removalist truck full of all your stuff is just arriving at the new house and you’re ready to move in. That’s what it’s like. This huge crowd of Israelites; they’re at Mount Sinai, they’re about to move in to their new land. And God says to Moses, there are a few things I want to make VERY CLEAR before we go any further. There are a few things you need to know before we MOVE IN. A few things these Israelites need to know. About living in the land I’ve promised.

And if you turn over a page or two to Leviticus 20 verse 22 to 24, you’ll see a summary. Of what’s happening. God says this. He says, What you’ve got to do, verse 22, is keep all my decrees and laws. And follow them, so that the land where I’m bringing you to live may not vomit you out. You mustn’t live according to the customs of the nations I’m going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them; but I said to you, "you will possess the land; I"ll give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey. I am the Lord your God… who has SET YOU APART from the nations."

For Israel, that’s what HOLINESS is all about. They’ve been SET APART. In a special relationship with God. Which means they’ll be VISIBLY DIFFERENT from the people around them. God’s people are meant to be DIFFERENT PEOPLE. They’re called to be HOLY PEOPLE. In the middle of all the nations around them. Because they serve a HOLY GOD.

Well, that’s the setting. They’re about to move in to their new home. And when they do, they need to be different. The God who saved them out of Egypt is a HOLY GOD. And he’s saved them to be HOLY PEOPLE. So the big question is, how are they going to DO THAT. And how is the way they live, the way they approach God, how is it going to REFLECT THE REALITY… that GOD IS HOLY?

That’s what we’re going to find out. And to do that I want to look with you very quickly at the first 10 chapters. Just touching down quickly on some key issues so we can see what’s going on. And why.

What we’re going to be looking at is PROTOCOL. Red tape. The rules and regulations for approaching A HOLY GOD. And if you’ve tried reading through Leviticus and you’ve got bogged down in all the repetition and the detail then you’ve noticed something significant. Which is, for the people of Israel, approaching God was something that they had to do very CAREFULLY. Meticulously. In exactly the way God says. For Jewish children, Leviticus was the very first book of the bible they studied. They had it drilled into their minds. How do you approach a HOLY GOD? You don’t just swagger in and say, let’s party. You don’t just bowl in and put your feet up on the desk. You approach a Holy God on HIS TERMS. Exactly.

First of all, chapter 1 to 6, when you come before God you bring an OFFERING. Not just ANY offering. But the sort of offering HE SAYS. So as you flip through the first six chapters, you’ve got this detailed description of the five types of offering you can present before God. And what they mean.

The Burnt offering. In chapter 1. The Grain Offering. Chapter 2. Turn the pages and just look at the headings. The Fellowship offering, chapter 3, like a big family Barbeque. The SIN OFFERING. You’ll notice in chapter 4 verse 2, for when a person sins UNINTENTIONALLY. And then in chapter 5 verse 14, all the details of the final one, the GUILT OFFERING. Which has penalties attached for all sorts of things that an Israelite might do wrong.

The point is, you can only approach a Holy God with an offering. And it’s an offering on HIS TERMS.

So let’s go back to chapter 1 and have a closer look at the burnt offering as an example. And you’ll see God tells Moses exactly how he wants the Israelites to do it. Down to the very last detail.

Pick it up in chapter 1 verse 1. Right from the start. The Lord says to Moses, tell the people this. He’s speaking from the TENT OF MEETING. And he says, Speak to the Israelites, and say to them "When any of you brings an offering to the Lord, bring as your offering and animal from either the herd or the flock. A sheep. Or a goat. Or if you were very well off, maybe a bull. There’s a list of regulations for sacrificing a bull in verse 3 to 9. And for a sheep or goat in verse 10 to 13. Or if you’re really poor, you can bring a bird. Which you can read about it verse 14.

So let’s look at it from verse 3. And I want you to try and imagine this is YOU. Try to imagine this is you three thousand years ago. You’re an Israelite farmer, you’ve got your herd of maybe thirty cattle that mill around your tent at night, mooing. You milk them every morning. And you realise it’s time to make an OFFERING TO GOD. So let’s see what happens.

Verse 3, you’re going to make a burnt offering. And what you’ve got to do is bring one of your cattle. Not the mangy one. Or the one that’s limping a bit. This is bad news, isn’t it. You’ve got to pick YOUR BEST ONE. A male. Without defect. The one you had picked out as the best breeder for next year. The one you least want to part with.

And you bring it to the tent of meeting. To the front flaps of the tent. Where you meet Aaron the high priest. And his sons. And they’ll tell you what to do.

They’ll say PUT YOUR HANDS ON IT’S HEAD. Verse 4. So you do. And as you do it, it’s like you’re saying to this young bull that you’re probably pretty fond of, I’m laying everything I’ve done wrong, I’m laying all my sin… on YOU. And then they hand you a bronze bladed knife. And you cut its throat.

Let me tell you, going to church back then was pretty messy. But it certainly wasn’t BORING, was it.

Blood spurting everywhere. And Aaron’s sons get a bowl full of the blood and they start sprinkling it around the sides of the altar at the front of the tent; there’s a browny red splatter pattern all over it from where they’ve done it before. And you skin your burnt offering and you cut it into pieces, and the priests light the fire on the altar and they carefully wash the different pieces of meat, and arrange them on the fire. And they burn it up.

You choose your best. You bring it. You put your hands on its head. You kill it. You cut it up. They sprinkle the blood; they burn it. And according to verse 4, when you do that, GOD ACCEPTS IT. Have a look at what it says there, because it’s a key verse. "He is to lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it WILL BE ACCEPTED ON HIS BEHALF … to MAKE ATONEMENT FOR HIM."

Somehow, bringing your best animal, putting your sins on its head and killing it, somehow it makes atonement for you. Somehow, its life is taking the place of your life. At least in a symbolic way. Which your HOLY GOD says, I WILL ACCEPT.

And when it burns, says verse 9, God is pleased with it. It’s a pleasing aroma.

Well, like we saw, we’ve got the details of all the other offerings as well… offerings for different types of sins, different types of people. Sometimes THANKSGIVING OFFERINGS. All the gory details.

Then if you turn to chapter 6, you get them all again. Except this time, the detailed regulations for THE PRIESTS. Background stuff, the clothes they wear. How to light the fire. What to do with the ashes. Chapter 6 verse 8, you’ll see you get the start of the regulations for the burnt offering we’ve just seen. Verse 14, regulations for the grain offering. Verse 24, the sin offering. And on they go.

And the lesson that’s reinforced over and over again is, sinful people can’t come before a Holy God without exactly the RIGHT SACRIFICE. Done exactly the RIGHT WAY. God’s way.

KEN story re John Howard on the phone. Unusal. Usually you have to go through a middle man. Or quite a few.

Now very briefly, I want you to notice too that in the same way as you can’t just ring up the Prime Minister and have a chat, we’ve seen already that when the Israelite brings his sacrifice to the tent, he can’t approach God on his own. And the blood of the sacrifice, and the burning of the burnt offering, it’s all done by the PRIEST. Who is someone especially set apart as the middle man. To stand before the altar of God.

And chapters 8 to 10 talk about the ORDINATION, the setting apart, the making HOLY of the first priests, Aaron, the brother of Moses. And his sons. It’s a family business.

And again, infinite details about exactly what to do.

Turn over to chapter 8 and have a quick look. And I’m sorry to work you so hard this morning, but try to stick with it.

God’s told Moses exactly what’s got to happen. And Moses gets the whole assembly of the Israelites together and he spells it out, exactly how God’s told him.

Verse 5. He says "This is what the Lord has commanded to be done." And then he brings Aaron and his sons forward and he washes them with water. An he puts a special tunic on Aaron, who’s going to be the HIGH PRIEST, and ties the sash around him, and clothes him with the robe and puts the ephod on him.

And tops it all off in verse 8, with the turban on his head; and a gold plate at the front of it. And Moses takes the anointing oil, it says in verse 12, pours some on Aarons head, and anoints him. Consecrates him. Sets him apart as holy.

And the same with his sons.

And then verse 14, Moses sacrifices a bull. For the sins of Aaron and his sons. And Moses kills the bull, and dips his finger in it’s blood. And dabs it on the altar. Detail after detail. Another sacrifice in verse 18. Another one in verse 22. And dabs the blood on Aaron’s right earlobe and his right thumb and his right big toe. And the same with his sons.

These priests, they’re set apart to serve God in a way that’s spelt out in incredible detail. Because it’s incredibly important. Set apart as the ones who’ll approach THE HOLY GOD. On behalf of the people of Israel.

And so to chapter 9. So far they’ve been told EXACTLY WHAT TO DO. And now here in Chapter 9 they DO IT. Detail after detail, exactly how God spelt it out. And when Aaron’s finished, he steps down. And verse 23, the glory of the Lord appears to all the people… And fire comes out from the presence of the Lord and consumes the burnt offering and the fat portions on the altar. And when all the people see it… they shout for joy, and fall face-down.

They’ve come before their HOLY GOD on HIS TERMS. They’ve done it HIS WAY. And God shows them very visibly.. that he’s pleased.

Except along with the good news, there’s some bad news.

Keep reading at the start of chapter 10. Because here are Nadab and Abihu, two sons of Aaron. Apprentice Priests. And they say, hey, this is pretty good stuff, this priest thing. There’s POWER ON TAP. They say, let’s TRY SOMETHING ELSE. So they take their censers, their little brass fire bowls; they put some coals in them, and add some incense… and they prance into the tent and swing it around. Let’s offer some fire before God. Except they’re offering UNAUTHORISED FIRE before the Lord. Contrary to his command. Not how he said to. And so verse 2 says, FIRE CAME OUT FROM THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD… and consumes them. In a flash.

And Moses says to Aaron… and I guess he said it in awe… this is what the Lord spoke of when he said, "Among those who approach me I will show myself HOLY… in the sight of the people I WILL BE HONOURED."

Don’t come to me ON YOUR TERMS. Come to me on MY TERMS. Or else.

The thing the Israelites had to learn… and they learned it the hard way… was that the GOD WHO SAVED THEM FROM EGYPT WAS HOLY. And you don’t mess with a HOLY GOD. You come to him on HIS TERMS. Or not at all.

Now friends, I wonder if you can start to see what a book like Leviticus has got to say to us. Today. Not ancient Israelites. But 21^st century Christians.

Because we need to be discerning enough to see that SOME THINGS HAVE CHANGED. And other things haven’t.

Did you know… that God is STILL a Holy God.

Did you know… that you STILL can’t come to him… except on exactly the terms HE SETS OUT.

Did you know… that you still can’t approach God without the right sacrifice. Because you’re SINFUL. And God is holy. Your sin needs ATONEMENT.

Did you know… that you still can’t approach God without A HIGH PRIEST… to go for you.

And did you know that the Lord Jesus… has done ALL THAT. Once and for all. And the only reason we don’t still have to do all that stuff, all the ordaining of Holy Priests, all that killing of animals, the only reason you didn’t have to bring your best sheep here in the car with you this morning… is that the SACRIFICE OF JESUS ON THE CROSS… was the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. And the job has been done. In a way that never has to be repeated.

Turn over in your bibles to Hebrews chapter 7; and pick it up with me in verse 27. Hebrews chapter 7; comes just after Timothy and Titus. And follow what it says.

Unlike other high priests – and it’s talking about Jesus here – unlike other high priests, he doesn’t need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. WHY NOT? Because HE SACRIFICED FOR THEIR SINS ONCE FOR ALL, when he offered HIMSELF. For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak. But the oath, God’s promise of Jesus, the oath which came after the law, appointed THE SON… who has been made perfect for ever.

Can I finish up by making a few quick points. Things we need to take on board.

First of all, can I say to you, whatever you do, don’t ever DREAM you can front up to God on your own terms. Which is what so many people think they can do. That’s what Nadab and Abihu did. Hey, don’t take any notice of what GOD SAYS. We’ll swing round a bit of incense and make an offering of our OWN. Our way. Might have seemed like a good idea at the time. But GOD IS A HOLY GOD. Who makes the ground rules. He said to Israel, PRIESTS. Consecrated THIS WAY. He said, OFFERINGS. Made that way.

And he says to us, JESUS.

Don’t come to me with your own good ideas. Your own best efforts. Your own feeble religions. No matter how good the idea seems at the time. GOD IS HOLY. Which means you come through Jesus as your high priest, with HIS LIFE as your sacrifice… or you don’t come at all.

I mean, the height of arrogance of that guy on the TV to say Ward Austen can just bowl into God and have a party with his mates – I don’t know whether Ward Austen had put his trust in Jesus or not. But if he didn’t, let me tell you, there’s NO PARTY. And the height of the arrogance of ANY OF US… to think we can make God up to suit ourselves. On our own terms.

You come to God on HIS TERMS. And his terms are THE SACRIFICE OF JESUS; or not at all.

Finally, can I just point out to those of you who might look back longingly at all the rituals of Israel… who look back at all the rituals of Ordination, and consecration and sacrifice… and say, THAT’S THE SORT OF STUFF WE SHOULD DO… that’s what CHURCH SHOULD BE LIKE. Who say, that’s the sort of stuff we should be doing to show that WE HOLD GOD IN PROPER RESPECT AND AWE… that we need to understand very clearly the difference that THE CROSS OF JESUS MAKES. And those words in Hebrews 7 that we just read… where it says HE SACRIFICED FOR OUR SINS… ONCE AND FOR ALL.

And so all that stuff is OVER. Because it’s been completed. Closed book. Which means we DON’T HAVE PRIESTS any more. With fancy clothes and consecrations and ordinations. Because to do that would only take away from HIM. And we don’t have sacrifices any more. And the rituals. Because that would only take away from HIM. Who once and for all made that perfect sacrifice of himself. So that sinners like us… can come to a Holy God… and know him as our Father.

Friends, let’s remember… GOD IS A HOLY GOD. His people are to be HOLY PEOPLE. Sprinkled clean with the blood of exactly the sacrifice God sets out. And for us that means being JESUS PEOPLE. Through and through… every day.