WEBVTT 00:00:00.239 --> 00:00:11.679 So this morning we are continuing our study through this ancient book of Leviticus, the third book of the Old Testament, the third of Moses' books, of his books called the Pentateuch. 00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:24.480 And what we are seeing is we are seeing that the Old Testament is picture after picture of God's grace to come, and that the New Testament is teaching after teaching about that grace. 00:00:24.719 --> 00:00:29.679 Now, Leviticus follows Exodus, which was the second book of the Bible. 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:34.320 And Exodus, if you remember, begins with God's people in Egypt and slavery. 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:35.840 God is nowhere to be found. 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:41.520 But by the end of that book, God has rescued his people, and God is no longer distant. 00:00:41.679 --> 00:00:47.039 And where we pick up at the beginning of Leviticus is Moses at the tent of meeting. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:01:04.480 God has come down Mount Sinai, down to be with his stubborn, messy people, and he wants to reside, God wants to reside with his people in a thing called the tabernacle or the tent of meeting, his sanctuary amongst the people. 00:01:05.120 --> 00:01:12.319 Now last Sunday evening I turned on the TV and the Golden Globes were on in Hollywood at the Beverly Hilton. 00:01:12.400 --> 00:01:16.959 There's a picture of the Golden Globes, and at one point the camera kind of went across the crowd. 00:01:17.040 --> 00:01:19.840 It wasn't a big room, a few hundred people in there. 00:01:19.920 --> 00:01:21.439 And then it's a power room. 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:26.560 Ryan Gosling, Meryl Street, Martin Scorsese, Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, Matt Damien. 00:01:26.799 --> 00:01:28.480 And of course, you know who was there. 00:01:28.640 --> 00:01:29.200 She was there. 00:01:29.280 --> 00:01:30.319 That's all I have to say. 00:01:30.560 --> 00:01:33.280 She was, she was there. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:36.799 Stunning green Gucci gown. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:39.599 She resided in that room. 00:01:39.920 --> 00:01:42.959 And everyone, everyone was aware. 00:01:43.280 --> 00:01:44.560 She is here. 00:01:45.599 --> 00:01:48.319 And it's a room of, that's a room of glory. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:50.319 Not just because she is there, everybody in there. 00:01:50.400 --> 00:01:52.959 That's a room of beauty and power. 00:01:53.280 --> 00:01:57.439 I thought just for a second, I thought, what would that, what would that be like? 00:01:57.599 --> 00:02:00.400 Just to be in that room and look around. 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:05.599 That's just the beginning of this idea of tent of meeting. 00:02:05.840 --> 00:02:13.039 That God, creator of the world, all beauty, all power, says, Hey, I'm going to begin to teach you about me. 00:02:13.360 --> 00:02:15.039 So I'm going to come down the mountain. 00:02:15.199 --> 00:02:16.400 I'm going to stop being distant. 00:02:16.479 --> 00:02:18.879 I'm going to move in to your people. 00:02:19.840 --> 00:02:20.800 I'm going to move in. 00:02:20.879 --> 00:02:22.719 I'm going to take up residence. 00:02:23.439 --> 00:02:26.080 Now, in this tent, everything's symbolic. 00:02:26.319 --> 00:02:27.520 Everything means something. 00:02:27.680 --> 00:02:28.879 Here's an image of the tent. 00:02:28.960 --> 00:02:38.080 If you kind of drew it out from all the details that we get in the book of Exodus, if you're a nerd like me, you can look at this image in the Gospel Coalition website. 00:02:38.159 --> 00:02:41.280 It's an article called What Does the Tabernacle Symbolize? 00:02:41.360 --> 00:02:42.400 You can nerd out forever. 00:02:42.560 --> 00:02:43.520 It's wonderful. 00:02:43.759 --> 00:02:46.319 Everything means something in this tent. 00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:51.199 The tent reminds us that God is near to us and he shares himself with us. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.479 The ark reminds us of the power of God's presence. 00:02:54.639 --> 00:03:02.240 The tablets of the Ten Commandments on top of the ark remind the people of God's covenant relationship with them and that he has a certain way for us to live. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:03.280 It's not up for grabs. 00:03:03.360 --> 00:03:04.400 We don't have to make it up. 00:03:04.639 --> 00:03:06.639 He tells us what's right and what's wrong. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:17.039 The veil of the Holy of Holies, that curtain in the middle of the tent, that is a symbol that to enter into God's presence is not flippant. 00:03:17.360 --> 00:03:23.520 And only the high priest could enter into that Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement once a year. 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:35.919 So in the New Testament, when we read that Jesus is our high priest, and we read that the veil was torn at the cross and the resurrection, it's not just religious language. 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:37.840 That means everything. 00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:45.520 Because what it means is it means that He welcomes us into His presence without fear, without anxiety. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:46.800 Complete welcome. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:49.120 Paul expounds on this in the New Testament. 00:03:49.280 --> 00:03:52.719 Think about this sanctuary and this tent, God's presence in the Old Testament. 00:03:52.800 --> 00:03:59.919 And then Paul says, 1 Corinthians 3, 16 and 17, do you not know that you are God's temple? 00:04:00.159 --> 00:04:02.800 And that God's Spirit dwells in you. 00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:10.639 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy, and you are the temple. 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:13.199 That's revolutionary. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.120 Alright, let's dig into our text. 00:04:15.199 --> 00:04:17.600 Leviticus chapter 2, verses 1 through 3. 00:04:17.680 --> 00:04:18.160 She liked it. 00:04:18.240 --> 00:04:19.600 I heard the amen from the baby. 00:04:19.759 --> 00:04:28.560 Verse 1 When anyone brings a grain offering as an offering to the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour. 00:04:28.720 --> 00:04:34.160 He shall pour oil on it and put frankincense on it, and bring it to Aaron's sons, the priest. 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:40.000 And he shall take from it a handful of the fine flour and oil with all of its frankincense. 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:44.000 And the priest shall burn this as its memorial portion on the altar. 00:04:44.319 --> 00:04:51.199 A food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord, but the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:54.560 It is the most holy part of the Lord's food offerings. 00:04:54.720 --> 00:05:01.199 Point number one is this we are active worshipers, not passive attenders. 00:05:01.519 --> 00:05:03.920 I'd prefer us not even to use that word attenders. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.480 We can use the word congregants, we use the word parishioners, use the word worshipers. 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:09.920 We're not attenders. 00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:11.279 That's not what we do. 00:05:11.519 --> 00:05:14.240 And this worship in Leviticus was active. 00:05:14.560 --> 00:05:24.720 This grain offering of chapter 2, the second offering that we get in these beginnings of Leviticus, this grain offering is their worship, active worship, their active devotion. 00:05:25.439 --> 00:05:30.399 Twenty years ago, I spent a semester serving a church in Scotland. 00:05:30.560 --> 00:05:33.519 Here's a picture of that church, Buckhaven Baptist Church. 00:05:33.600 --> 00:05:37.600 It was along the coast, the eastern coast, just above Edinburgh, along the Fife Coast. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:40.800 And here's a picture of that coastline in the town, lovely town. 00:05:40.959 --> 00:05:43.120 I'll tell you one thing, in the wintertime it doesn't look like that. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:44.480 I was there in the winter. 00:05:45.120 --> 00:05:46.000 Don't do that. 00:05:46.160 --> 00:05:47.519 Don't receive that call. 00:05:47.680 --> 00:05:52.480 Do not receive the call of God to Scotland in the wintertime because it doesn't look like that. 00:05:53.439 --> 00:05:55.519 Now let me tell you about that church. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:59.279 Nothing was aesthetic. 00:06:00.720 --> 00:06:01.920 Wood pews. 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:05.279 So you're welcome for that cushy chair you're sitting on right now. 00:06:05.439 --> 00:06:06.240 You're welcome for that. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:07.680 Nice and comfy. 00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:10.319 Wood pews, horrible lighting. 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:12.399 It's so cold. 00:06:13.120 --> 00:06:14.079 So cold. 00:06:14.879 --> 00:06:18.639 And these people, they'd open up these old hymnals. 00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:23.040 This sweet elderly lady would get up and play the piano at the front of the church. 00:06:23.120 --> 00:06:24.639 There's no worship leader. 00:06:25.360 --> 00:06:26.720 And these people would sing. 00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:36.000 And I thought to myself, as I am 21 years old, I am a Christian from the wonderful country of America. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:38.160 And I am here. 00:06:38.879 --> 00:06:43.199 I am here to tell these people how to worship. 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:45.839 Because I see it right away. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:47.279 We can dim these lights. 00:06:48.560 --> 00:06:49.680 We can get a projector. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:54.399 Projectors exist in the country of Scotland at that point, technology of history. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:06:56.560 We can get a guitar. 00:06:58.160 --> 00:06:58.560 Right? 00:06:59.519 --> 00:07:01.120 Maybe we put a cello on stage. 00:07:01.360 --> 00:07:02.720 Maybe you want a smoke machine. 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:04.000 I don't know what you want. 00:07:04.720 --> 00:07:05.839 We can do that. 00:07:06.160 --> 00:07:07.199 We can turn the heat on. 00:07:07.279 --> 00:07:08.000 It'd help. 00:07:08.399 --> 00:07:11.439 Just kind of warm up some worship. 00:07:12.240 --> 00:07:14.959 And it took about three Sundays. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:17.279 I'd say three Sundays in. 00:07:17.920 --> 00:07:21.279 As I watched them because they would sing. 00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:23.519 They had no problem. 00:07:24.800 --> 00:07:26.319 They had no problem with the puke. 00:07:27.279 --> 00:07:29.040 They had no problem with the lighting. 00:07:30.480 --> 00:07:31.360 I had a problem. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:37.439 Like I had a heart in love with worship aesthetics. 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:41.680 But not a heart that loves to worship. 00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:43.439 I had to learn what they knew. 00:07:43.600 --> 00:07:46.639 Circumstances don't create our worship. 00:07:46.959 --> 00:07:53.519 We show up as active worshipers with hearts overflowing with something on us to God. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:54.480 Something. 00:07:56.000 --> 00:07:58.079 Because he loves us and he found us. 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:04.079 And he came down Mount Sinai to reside with us in the valley where he meets us at the end of ourselves. 00:08:04.319 --> 00:08:06.879 So yeah, we show up as worshipers. 00:08:07.120 --> 00:08:10.879 Now if we go back to the text, we see these ingredients, right? 00:08:11.040 --> 00:08:13.199 Picture after picture of God's grace to come. 00:08:13.279 --> 00:08:15.120 We see these ingredients, oil and frankincense. 00:08:15.279 --> 00:08:18.560 Frankincense is an incense with this grain offering. 00:08:18.720 --> 00:08:27.360 The oil reminds us that whatever we offer and worship, we owe because of the Spirit's working in us. 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.279 And then the incense is a symbol of what worship is. 00:08:31.519 --> 00:08:36.399 It's a sweet fragrance, aroma, sweetness to the Lord. 00:08:36.720 --> 00:08:39.600 It just tells us the Lord's after our hearts. 00:08:40.000 --> 00:08:43.039 He's always been after our hearts, however broken and messy we are. 00:08:43.200 --> 00:08:50.960 Point number two is this our worship is an offering to the Heavenly Father, who is worthy of our lives. 00:08:52.240 --> 00:08:55.279 In verse one, the word grain might also be meat. 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:57.519 Maybe your translation of your Bible says meat offering. 00:08:57.600 --> 00:08:59.279 The point is it's a meal offering. 00:08:59.440 --> 00:09:05.120 And then that word offering is the word minha, which meaning it's a pledging of oneself. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:06.879 That's what's going on in chapter two. 00:09:07.200 --> 00:09:08.399 A pledging of oneself. 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:09.840 That's what we do when we worship. 00:09:09.919 --> 00:09:12.240 We're pledging ourselves to the Lord. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:13.919 It's a pledge offering. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:24.480 And this word speaks of a lower person, it's a tribute of that lower person giving something to a superior. 00:09:25.200 --> 00:09:29.039 And this grain offering in chapter two is not demanded by God. 00:09:29.360 --> 00:09:30.799 It's an overflow. 00:09:31.039 --> 00:09:36.159 It's a heart response that he is enough. 00:09:37.120 --> 00:09:40.000 Alright, verses four through ten, a bit of a read, hang with me. 00:09:40.240 --> 00:09:50.000 When you bring a grain offering baked in the oven as an offering, it shall be unleavened loaves of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers smeared with oil. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.679 There's gonna be a lot of oil because it's a symbol of God's spirit. 00:09:53.840 --> 00:09:54.480 Verse 5. 00:09:54.639 --> 00:10:00.639 And if your offering is a grain offering baked on a griddle, it shall be of fine flour, unleavened, mixed with oil. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:04.480 You shall break it into pieces and pour oil on it as a grain offering. 00:10:04.639 --> 00:10:09.519 And if your offering is a grain offering cooked in a pan, it shall be made of fine flour with oil. 00:10:09.759 --> 00:10:17.039 And you shall bring the grain offering that is made of these things to the Lord, and when it is presented to the priest, he shall bring it to the altar. 00:10:17.200 --> 00:10:25.440 And the priest shall take from the grain offering its more memorial portion and burn this on the altar, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 00:10:25.600 --> 00:10:29.120 But the rest of the grain offering shall be for Aaron and his sons. 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:32.879 That is the most holy part of the Lord's food offerings. 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:34.639 Man, that's detailed, right? 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:37.840 Like, okay, like is it in a pan or a griddle? 00:10:38.080 --> 00:10:39.120 It's mixed with what? 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:40.879 What's poured over it? 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:52.240 It's the beginning of a standard of worship, and it's the beginning of a standard of what of being a worshiper, which as soon as we get into these details, is gonna be like, like, I'm just gonna need grace. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:54.480 Like, I'm gonna need God's grace on me. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.159 It's a lot to keep track of. 00:10:56.320 --> 00:11:00.399 But it also is telling us like we are gonna need that grace. 00:11:00.720 --> 00:11:01.919 Like we're gonna need it. 00:11:02.080 --> 00:11:05.200 We can't just get life lessons, right? 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:06.639 This is the story. 00:11:06.960 --> 00:11:09.919 God down the mountain to us, not us up the mountain to Him. 00:11:10.080 --> 00:11:17.039 And point number three is this being a devoted Christian always returns us to our need of God's grace. 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:19.519 So, yeah, we want to be devoted Christians. 00:11:19.759 --> 00:11:24.240 Chapter two is about devotion, but it's always returning us. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:28.639 We don't graduate from grace, we fall only more deeply into it. 00:11:29.440 --> 00:11:34.639 Last week my girls took on the big chore of reorganizing our pantry. 00:11:35.200 --> 00:11:41.120 I didn't get a picture of the pantry before, but I found like one online that was kind of a representation. 00:11:41.200 --> 00:11:43.840 So this was sort of like what our pantry looked before. 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:51.440 Not nasty, like you wouldn't be ashamed of it, but also like it's just a little messy, it's always just sort of a little messy. 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:57.679 And then they they went at it, they ordered some containers, they made labels, and now it looks like this. 00:11:57.840 --> 00:12:01.279 This is actually our pantry now, right? 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:03.679 I mean that's that's amazing. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.080 That they may be addicted to home edit. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:08.240 Is anybody else addicted to home edit? 00:12:08.399 --> 00:12:09.679 You're into home edit? 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:10.879 It's beautiful. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:12.559 Like, I'm just like, this is beautiful. 00:12:12.720 --> 00:12:14.960 Like I didn't know you'd have a beautiful pantry. 00:12:16.080 --> 00:12:20.639 It took about two days for me to see the problem that was created. 00:12:21.360 --> 00:12:25.279 I can't just take the tortillas and throw them back in there. 00:12:25.840 --> 00:12:31.600 They gotta go in the container for the tortillas, which is the second shelf down, back right. 00:12:33.120 --> 00:12:35.120 Maybe I've been lectured, right? 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:39.120 They're very concerned about dad's snack bin. 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:41.120 That was, I requested that bin. 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:42.480 And I, you know why I wanted that bin? 00:12:42.559 --> 00:12:44.159 I want to do what I want in that bin. 00:12:44.240 --> 00:12:44.960 That's my bin. 00:12:46.000 --> 00:12:47.759 And they're like, hey, your bin? 00:12:47.919 --> 00:12:55.279 Like, your bin's not live living up to like the standard of the rest of the pantry. 00:12:57.360 --> 00:13:02.399 And it's just, yeah, like I can't, like, I can't keep up with this. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:03.360 Right? 00:13:03.519 --> 00:13:11.120 So, like, in light of the the holiness standard of the pantry, like I am gonna need your grace to me, right? 00:13:11.600 --> 00:13:11.919 Right? 00:13:12.000 --> 00:13:13.279 You you see what I'm saying, right? 00:13:13.360 --> 00:13:26.960 Because back to Leviticus, if we go back to Leviticus, the blood offering of chapter one, the blood offering comes before the grain offering of chapter two. 00:13:27.679 --> 00:13:30.080 See, the grain offering is our devotion. 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:40.240 So our devotion comes through God's provision of grace because your devotion is never enough. 00:13:41.519 --> 00:13:48.240 It's not gonna be passionate enough, it's not gonna be sincere enough or long enough or sustained enough, right? 00:13:48.639 --> 00:14:00.480 All of our devotion, chapter two, is through the blood offering, God's provision of grace, chapter one, which is pointing us to Jesus. 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:04.240 Do you remember the amazing lyrics of Rock of Ages cleft for me? 00:14:04.480 --> 00:14:10.720 Not the labors of my hands can fulfill the law's demands. 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:13.200 Could my zeal no respite know? 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:15.440 Could my tears forever flow? 00:14:15.679 --> 00:14:18.159 All for sin could not atone. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:20.399 Thou must save. 00:14:20.960 --> 00:14:22.320 And thou alone. 00:14:23.679 --> 00:14:24.559 Verse eleven. 00:14:24.799 --> 00:14:33.279 No grain offering that you bring to the Lord shall be made with leaven, for you shall burn no leaven or any honey as a food offering to the Lord. 00:14:34.159 --> 00:14:34.559 That's odd. 00:14:34.639 --> 00:14:35.279 We'll get to it. 00:14:35.360 --> 00:14:35.840 Verse 12. 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:42.720 As an offering of first fruits, you may bring them to the Lord, but they shall not be offered on the altar for a pleasing aroma. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.320 You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. 00:14:46.960 --> 00:14:53.519 You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering. 00:14:53.759 --> 00:14:57.200 With all your offerings, you shall offer salt. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.320 Point number four is this. 00:15:00.639 --> 00:15:05.600 We're tying these things together, the structure of one and two, and then we get this ingredient salt. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:14.320 Point number four, our devotion comes through, empowered by God's lavish provision of grace. 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:29.279 If you remember, this New Testament gives us Jesus, the fulfillment of everything we are not, helps us understand this freeing and empowering grace that we have, that we not only have freedom and grace, healing in grace, we also have growth in grace. 00:15:29.759 --> 00:15:33.360 Hebrews ties it together for us, 10, 4, 5, and 9. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:37.440 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:42.320 So we need something more than this first covenant, this first way, verse 5. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:47.919 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, we need the second way, verse 9. 00:15:48.159 --> 00:15:53.039 He does away with the first in order to establish the second. 00:15:53.279 --> 00:16:01.440 And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:11.360 This is why we say, we've said before, in Christ we are always forgiven and always righteous, meaning Jesus is your righteousness. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.000 He is your righteousness. 00:16:14.320 --> 00:16:23.840 And in Christ we're liberated from performancism, performing to God as to be righteous or as to be enough or as to finally be forgiven. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:25.840 Jesus is this for us. 00:16:26.399 --> 00:16:30.399 So we're liberated from performances to live by the Spirit in freedom. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:36.000 So spiritual anxiety, spiritual exhaustion, and even spiritual pride is over. 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:40.240 Because our way forward is a growth in grace. 00:16:40.879 --> 00:16:45.840 If we go back to our text, remember the salt in Leviticus 2? 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:49.200 Salt was used for preservation. 00:16:50.159 --> 00:16:54.639 It was also a key component and sealing of covenants at the time. 00:16:59.120 --> 00:17:02.159 Everlasting covenant of salt before the Lord. 00:17:02.240 --> 00:17:03.600 It's an image for us. 00:17:03.840 --> 00:17:05.039 It's a picture. 00:17:07.039 --> 00:17:10.640 See, we'll exhaust ourselves with questions, even as Christians. 00:17:10.880 --> 00:17:13.119 Am I good enough today? 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:14.559 Am I good enough yet? 00:17:15.279 --> 00:17:16.240 Am I pleasing to God? 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:17.279 Does God delight in me? 00:17:17.440 --> 00:17:18.240 Could he delight in me? 00:17:18.400 --> 00:17:19.920 Can he know me and love me? 00:17:20.160 --> 00:17:21.920 Have I done enough today? 00:17:24.160 --> 00:17:24.799 Yes. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:26.559 You are good enough today. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:30.079 Because of the salt. 00:17:30.720 --> 00:17:32.480 Because of the covenant. 00:17:32.799 --> 00:17:45.119 Because of the salt, which creates secure bonds, which is the image that God has bound the relationship, not you, in the secure covenant by Jesus for you. 00:17:46.319 --> 00:17:48.319 That changes everything else, doesn't it? 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:50.000 When we have that kind of security. 00:17:50.160 --> 00:17:53.039 And then we get verse 11, because the good news is not over. 00:17:53.839 --> 00:18:03.680 Don't put any leaven, don't put any honey in that devotion, that grain offering of yours, which were such incredible ingredients at the time. 00:18:04.559 --> 00:18:07.359 But both ingredients fermented. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:09.920 They went bad. 00:18:10.880 --> 00:18:21.839 So this was God's way of saying this relationship, this bounty of grace, this bounty of God for you, never runs out. 00:18:23.519 --> 00:18:25.440 All right, last few verses. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:26.960 Verse 14. 00:18:27.759 --> 00:18:40.640 If you offer a grain offering of firstfruits to the Lord, you shall offer for the grain offering of your first fruits fresh ears, roasted with fire, crushed new grain, and you shall put oil on it and lay frankincense on it. 00:18:40.720 --> 00:18:41.920 It is a grain offering. 00:18:42.160 --> 00:18:49.440 And the priest shall burn as its memorial portion some of the crushed grain, and some of the oil with all of its frankincense. 00:18:49.519 --> 00:18:51.519 It is a food offering to the Lord. 00:18:51.759 --> 00:18:57.599 Point number five, our worship is inside of God's covenant care for us. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:19:02.480 This word first fruits, it means take the first. 00:19:04.079 --> 00:19:07.759 Take the beginning of what you earn and have and create. 00:19:29.119 --> 00:19:31.599 As if to say we're always remembering. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:41.359 Like even when we bring our devotion and our worship, and we're coming to God to show God who we are, our pledging, even our grain offering, we're always remembering. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:52.640 We could say this the gift of grace, Jesus, empowers the call of our devotion in grace, which is our worship practices. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:53.200 Right? 00:19:53.359 --> 00:19:55.680 Chapter two comes through chapter one. 00:19:56.799 --> 00:19:59.279 Our call is to behold Jesus more. 00:19:59.599 --> 00:20:01.359 Like I want that for you. 00:20:01.920 --> 00:20:13.440 To slow down more, to worship weekly, to open the scriptures, to do that together communally, to do that personally on a daily basis, to have devotions, to pray, to read, to journal. 00:20:13.599 --> 00:20:15.680 Like your pastors are waiting for that question. 00:20:15.759 --> 00:20:17.440 Like, hey, pastor, what should I read? 00:20:17.519 --> 00:20:18.240 Like, what's a great book? 00:20:18.319 --> 00:20:19.680 What's a great devotion? 00:20:20.079 --> 00:20:28.400 And then when your devotion falls short, when the grain offering falls short, there's always chapter one. 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:30.799 There's the memorial. 00:20:31.759 --> 00:20:33.599 We're covered in the grace of Jesus. 00:20:33.759 --> 00:20:36.640 God is teaching through the structure of this text. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:46.400 And the good news is so clear that our devotion for Jesus is always empowered by our already acceptance in Jesus. 00:20:47.680 --> 00:20:55.839 See, for years I left Jesus behind in my great devotion religiously to pursue him. 00:20:59.200 --> 00:21:00.559 Like Jesus is the front door. 00:21:00.640 --> 00:21:05.440 Now I'm just gonna go get on a treadmill and like prove how I'm so sincere, you know, just run it out. 00:21:05.599 --> 00:21:05.920 Right? 00:21:06.160 --> 00:21:14.799 This is kind of like me perpetually or you perpetually like climbing the mountain to get up to God the whole time God is with you in the valley in your weakness. 00:21:15.680 --> 00:21:20.000 This is about receiving him in the valley where he pursues us. 00:21:20.160 --> 00:21:24.000 And so then the call is like, yeah, bring your grain offering. 00:21:24.240 --> 00:21:26.720 Bring your worship, bring your devotion. 00:21:28.799 --> 00:21:38.400 Pursue more, but not for any acceptance, but because and through the already acceptance you have in him. 00:21:38.799 --> 00:21:41.680 Chapter two comes through chapter one. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:54.240 I close with the great lyrics from when I survey the wondrous cross for the whole realm of nature mind that were a present far too small. 00:21:55.039 --> 00:22:00.079 Love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:00.720 Let's pray. 00:22:00.880 --> 00:22:11.200 Heavenly Father, thank you that our grain offering, our devotion, our worship, our spiritual disciplines come through the blood offering. 00:22:11.599 --> 00:22:13.359 Chapter two is after chapter one. 00:22:14.000 --> 00:22:25.839 God, thank you for the structure of this text that you're putting before us, picture after picture, of our need of Jesus and the power of Jesus for us, for our salvation and for our Christian walk. 00:22:26.160 --> 00:22:27.680 May we trust you more. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:38.880 May we fall more deeply into your grace for us, be transformed more, grow in grace, and give to you our worship, for you are worthy of all of it. 00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:40.400 In Christ's name we pray. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:41.200 Amen.