WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.400 Good morning. 00:00:00.479 --> 00:00:01.280 It's the new year. 00:00:01.520 --> 00:00:02.640 Glad you're here. 00:00:03.120 --> 00:00:05.519 Maybe you have a resolution. 00:00:05.679 --> 00:00:09.599 Maybe you want to drink less, maybe you want to exercise more, plank more. 00:00:09.679 --> 00:00:11.199 We all need to plank more. 00:00:11.599 --> 00:00:12.560 Certain of that. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:16.399 Maybe less bachelor episodes, more sleep. 00:00:16.559 --> 00:00:17.600 It's possible. 00:00:18.079 --> 00:00:22.399 And I know because I can just pastorally sense these things. 00:00:23.120 --> 00:00:29.440 I can tell January 1st hit, and you thought to yourself, boy, if only I could go to church. 00:00:29.760 --> 00:00:33.200 And if only we will study the book of Leviticus. 00:00:35.920 --> 00:00:40.479 I mean, Mallory read that wonderfully, but halfway through, I wanted to leave. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:43.600 I think I fell asleep at one point. 00:00:43.759 --> 00:00:45.439 I wanted to leave at one point. 00:00:45.920 --> 00:00:48.079 I thought to myself, I've made a huge mistake. 00:00:48.399 --> 00:00:52.880 This is going to be a massive mistake in the history of Redeemer. 00:00:54.640 --> 00:01:01.920 I mean, what in the world could this strange, ancient, barbaric book have to do with our lives? 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:04.879 We are going to study it from now until June. 00:01:05.040 --> 00:01:06.799 We will break for Lent and Easter. 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:08.159 You're welcome. 00:01:09.120 --> 00:01:14.319 And we're not going to get into every single detail, but we're going to make some sense of it. 00:01:14.480 --> 00:01:16.879 I mean, what in the world could it do with our lives? 00:01:17.280 --> 00:01:20.480 Leviticus is the third book of the Old Testament, third book of the Bible. 00:01:20.560 --> 00:01:24.239 It's the third of the five books of Moses, the Pentateuch. 00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:25.760 Can we say Pentateuch? 00:01:26.400 --> 00:01:27.040 Very good. 00:01:27.200 --> 00:01:29.280 And so it is the third book. 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:32.400 Maybe you've set out to read the Bible at some point. 00:01:32.560 --> 00:01:33.840 You were committed. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:36.879 And you read Genesis, and it was amazing. 00:01:37.040 --> 00:01:39.680 And you read Exodus and it was amazing. 00:01:40.000 --> 00:01:48.000 And then Leviticus, where all the dreams of reading through the Bible die. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:51.200 There in Leviticus. 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:53.359 The Levitical Letdown is what it's called. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:59.200 And it's just filled with ritual and rules and guts and blood. 00:02:00.480 --> 00:02:03.519 An illustration I ran into this week helped me make sense of it. 00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:06.879 Thinking about my U-12 girls soccer team. 00:02:06.959 --> 00:02:08.159 Here's a picture of us. 00:02:08.240 --> 00:02:14.800 There we are, the end of the fall, the ferocious, intimidating team that we have when we take the field. 00:02:14.960 --> 00:02:16.400 People are very, very scared. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.560 But we we dominated the fall. 00:02:18.960 --> 00:02:20.800 Not sure if you're you heard. 00:02:21.840 --> 00:02:23.120 But we dominated. 00:02:23.280 --> 00:02:30.319 We have what we call the dominating defensive wall, which is three girls across the back there, and they are a defensive wall. 00:02:30.560 --> 00:02:31.680 Brave girls. 00:02:31.840 --> 00:02:37.680 That you can talk these little girls into putting their little bodies in front of any full speed bigger girl. 00:02:37.759 --> 00:02:41.120 And they will do it because they don't want to let their coach down or their teammates get mad at them. 00:02:41.199 --> 00:02:42.560 So it's amazing what you can get out of them. 00:02:42.719 --> 00:02:46.240 We do have a few rules for the defensive team. 00:02:46.400 --> 00:02:51.919 We have a few rules, and one of the most vital rules is kick to the sides. 00:02:52.159 --> 00:02:53.360 Kick to the sides. 00:02:53.439 --> 00:02:54.560 Don't kick to the middle. 00:02:54.719 --> 00:02:56.639 Kick to the sides and up the sideline. 00:02:56.719 --> 00:02:57.520 Don't kick to the middle. 00:02:57.599 --> 00:03:04.800 And then the other rule is never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever kick back to your goalie. 00:03:05.120 --> 00:03:05.759 Ever. 00:03:06.879 --> 00:03:12.560 Now what's interesting about that is that there's one field over, there's a bigger field with older teams. 00:03:12.800 --> 00:03:14.960 They kick to the goalie all the time. 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:15.360 Right? 00:03:15.439 --> 00:03:21.520 Like a defensive player kicks to the goalie, the goalie fields the ball, the goalie kicks to the other side of the field, swinging the ball. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:23.680 Happens all the time over there. 00:03:24.159 --> 00:03:30.000 So at one level, you never kick to the goalie, but then at another level, you kick to the goalie all the time. 00:03:31.919 --> 00:03:36.080 The thing that didn't make sense makes sense at another point in time. 00:03:36.240 --> 00:03:38.800 And this is how like Leviticus works a little bit. 00:03:38.879 --> 00:03:43.919 Like if you just read one passage or one verse, you'll think it's crazy. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:44.879 Like you're done. 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:46.639 You're like, why did I come to church? 00:03:46.800 --> 00:03:47.680 Like you are done. 00:03:47.840 --> 00:03:49.439 Back to 1 John, right? 00:03:49.680 --> 00:04:00.000 But if you are more equipped, or if you can kind of back up and see the whole story, like a bigger view of the field, all of a sudden kicking to the goalie makes sense. 00:04:00.080 --> 00:04:03.840 All of a sudden a verse or a passage can make sense in light of the whole story. 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:09.039 What we're gonna see is we're gonna see that Exodus leads us into Leviticus. 00:04:09.439 --> 00:04:17.199 We don't really understand Leviticus without Exodus, so Exodus leads us into Leviticus, and then Leviticus takes us to Jesus. 00:04:17.279 --> 00:04:22.800 And what we're gonna see, and even the sermon points, is Leviticus is singing the same song. 00:04:23.920 --> 00:04:28.240 Now, as for structure, Leviticus has 27 chapters. 00:04:28.480 --> 00:04:37.120 Chapters 1 through 16 take us one place, two chapters 16, and then chapters 17 through 27 take us somewhere else. 00:04:37.199 --> 00:04:40.079 Here's how the structure works out if you need a kind of a visual of it. 00:04:40.319 --> 00:04:46.560 Chapters 1 through 7, we get rituals, five sacrifices, 8 through 10, we get instructions to priests. 00:04:46.800 --> 00:04:53.680 11 through 15, instructions for purity, all leading to the Day of Atonement, chapter 16. 00:04:53.839 --> 00:05:01.759 And the Day of Atonement points us directly to our need and the fulfillment of all this law and ritual in Jesus. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:11.040 Now, out of chapter 16, we get 17 through 20, Code for Purity, 21 and 22, more instructions for priests, and then 23 through 27, which is rituals. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:13.120 Okay, Leviticus, here we go. 00:05:13.199 --> 00:05:16.879 So we're gonna reread some of that because I know you want to hear it again, I can tell. 00:05:17.040 --> 00:05:22.079 So we're gonna reread some of it and we're gonna make sense of it a little bit, a little bit. 00:05:22.720 --> 00:05:24.959 Leviticus 1, 1 and 2. 00:05:25.199 --> 00:05:37.519 The Lord called Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying, Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of livestock from the herd or from the flock. 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:42.160 So point number one is this God is with us and begins with our hearts. 00:05:42.399 --> 00:05:46.879 The ancient Hebrews believed that the blood of the creature contained its life. 00:05:47.040 --> 00:05:53.279 So if we or a sheep or the squirrel loses its blood, we die. 00:05:53.680 --> 00:05:55.920 So blood was sacred. 00:05:56.639 --> 00:05:59.199 This is the context God is speaking into. 00:05:59.439 --> 00:06:02.160 A context where people knew blood was sacred. 00:06:02.319 --> 00:06:05.920 And back then, the idea of a sacrifice wasn't this foreign idea. 00:06:06.079 --> 00:06:08.000 These are not moderns, these are ancients. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:11.279 They sacrificed all the time to different deities and to kings. 00:06:11.759 --> 00:06:14.480 But here in verses 1 and 2, it's really interesting. 00:06:14.800 --> 00:06:20.240 Because this sacrifice was not a routine festival sacrifice. 00:06:20.560 --> 00:06:25.279 This sacrifice is talked about, it's very personal. 00:06:25.519 --> 00:06:27.279 It's spontaneous. 00:06:27.839 --> 00:06:35.279 It's a sacrifice coming from a grateful heart, a response that's flowing freely. 00:06:36.000 --> 00:06:42.399 Now, the first word of this book of Leviticus, the first word is the Hebrew word vayakra. 00:06:42.959 --> 00:06:44.480 Let's say vayakra. 00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:47.120 Who said viagra? 00:06:47.199 --> 00:06:49.279 Somebody, y'all are horrible. 00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:54.959 What a horrible group of people that y'all you would do, all of you thought it when I said it the initial time. 00:06:57.519 --> 00:06:57.839 Okay? 00:06:58.399 --> 00:06:58.879 We back? 00:06:59.040 --> 00:06:59.360 We're back. 00:07:03.360 --> 00:07:06.240 And God continued calling Moses. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:13.839 So right from the beginning, Moses is connecting Leviticus back to Exodus, the book right before it. 00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:18.800 We are dropped into an ongoing story when we open Leviticus. 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:21.040 It's like turning on Back to the Future 2. 00:07:21.120 --> 00:07:23.600 Here's a picture of Back to the Future 2, right? 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.160 Marty and Doc, they head into the future. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:28.800 Jennifer goes with them if you remember this. 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:35.920 Of which none of it really makes sense, that much sense, if you haven't seen Back to the Future 1, right? 00:07:36.079 --> 00:07:42.560 And what Marty and Doc had to solve, and how Marty got back to 1955, and how he gets back to 1985. 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:47.279 The first part of the story helps us understand the second part of the story. 00:07:47.519 --> 00:07:50.560 Leviticus is part two to Exodus. 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:57.360 And Exodus begins with God's people in slavery in Egypt, and God is nowhere to be found. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:02.240 Their master, Pharaoh, has no love for them, they're just making bricks, brick after brick. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:04.879 Finally, the people are at the end of themselves. 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:09.519 They call out, and God sends a disruption of grace and he rescues them. 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:17.839 They are freed to walk through the desert to their promised land, but the people won't listen to God, and eventually they just wander around. 00:08:17.920 --> 00:08:20.879 They settle down in this desert for 40 years. 00:08:21.120 --> 00:08:25.279 Around chapter 19 at Mount Sinai, here's a picture of Mount Sinai. 00:08:25.360 --> 00:08:29.199 This is a picture today as a monastery there at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt. 00:08:30.879 --> 00:08:32.559 God speaks to Moses. 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:43.120 We get the Ten Commandments, but then also chapters 25 through 40, God gives step-by-step instructions of how to build a sanctuary for him. 00:08:43.519 --> 00:08:50.320 It's called the tabernacle, or it's called the tent of meeting, which is what we see here at the beginning of Leviticus. 00:08:50.559 --> 00:09:00.879 So Exodus begins in slavery with no God, and it ends with freedom with God in the middle of his people. 00:09:01.120 --> 00:09:04.799 So we can say this way at the beginning of Exodus, where's God? 00:09:05.200 --> 00:09:09.039 But by the end of Exodus, God is with us. 00:09:09.360 --> 00:09:11.600 And this is where Leviticus picks up. 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:18.639 God speaking to Moses at the tent of meeting, and God is right smack in the middle of the mess of his people. 00:09:19.440 --> 00:09:25.679 When I was 16, I would get into my 1985 four-wheel drive Toyota truck. 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:34.480 I'd put big tires on it, put a sunroof in it, tinted the windows, I'd roll those windows down, put on some Garth Brooks, I'd go pick up my buddy Kyle Hudlow. 00:09:34.559 --> 00:09:36.320 We'd get a frosty at Wendy's. 00:09:36.399 --> 00:09:37.519 We'd go by Goodwill. 00:09:37.919 --> 00:09:39.919 We'd look for some good t-shirts. 00:09:40.080 --> 00:09:43.120 We'd go jump off the Alcove Dam into the Alcovey Creek. 00:09:43.200 --> 00:09:45.759 We'd go swim at our friend Aaron Hale's house. 00:09:45.919 --> 00:09:52.000 We did all of this, and my parents had no idea where I was because there were no phones. 00:09:52.960 --> 00:09:54.000 Just went wherever. 00:09:54.159 --> 00:09:55.519 I'll be back later. 00:09:56.159 --> 00:09:56.799 Right? 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:01.200 Now I think about my 15-year-old daughter today. 00:10:01.759 --> 00:10:09.440 I pull up Life 360 and I see she's leaving the clothing section of Target to walk across the aisle into the cosmetics. 00:10:10.159 --> 00:10:11.440 And I know that. 00:10:12.000 --> 00:10:13.279 And we text all day. 00:10:13.360 --> 00:10:15.440 It's a constant relationship. 00:10:15.759 --> 00:10:15.919 Right? 00:10:16.320 --> 00:10:19.519 And that's the transition from Exodus 1 to Leviticus 1. 00:10:20.480 --> 00:10:28.559 In Leviticus, we get God that is constant, he's not distant, and he is right smack in the middle of the mess of his people. 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:31.600 Leviticus 1, 3 through 9. 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:38.159 If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without blemish. 00:10:38.320 --> 00:10:41.039 So that's a way to say, bring your best. 00:10:41.200 --> 00:10:42.399 It needs to be perfect. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:44.080 The sacrifice needs to be perfect. 00:10:44.240 --> 00:10:49.279 He shall bring it to the entrance of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted before the Lord. 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:55.840 He shall lay his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it shall be accepted for him to make atonement for him. 00:10:56.000 --> 00:10:57.840 That verse 4 is crucial. 00:10:58.159 --> 00:11:07.840 Then he shall kill the bull before the Lord, and Aaron's sons, the priests, shall bring the blood and throw the blood against the sides of the altar that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:11.360 Then he shall flay the burnt offering and cut it into pieces. 00:11:11.679 --> 00:11:14.399 So it's a way to say, you said, Oh, that's so odd. 00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:16.480 It's a way to say all of it. 00:11:17.039 --> 00:11:20.399 The atonement we need is requiring completion. 00:11:20.559 --> 00:11:21.200 All of it. 00:11:21.360 --> 00:11:22.399 Everything is required. 00:11:22.559 --> 00:11:23.200 Verse 7. 00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:42.559 And the sons of Aaron, the priest, shall put fire on the altar and arrange wood on the fire, and Aaron's sons, the priest, shall arrange the pieces, the head and the fat, on the wood that is on the fire of the altar, but its entrails and its legs he shall wash with water, and the priest shall burn all of it on the altar as a burn offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:47.600 All right, point number two is this we all need atonement from beyond our efforts. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:49.440 We all need atonement. 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:56.159 Atonement's the way that we are made right with God in a secure, lasting, forever relationship. 00:11:56.320 --> 00:12:06.000 That penalty of sin is paid for, the guilt trip is over, we are made pure, not by our own efforts, but by a gift from God to us. 00:12:06.960 --> 00:12:08.960 Say you snap at your friend. 00:12:09.679 --> 00:12:12.159 Say, you know, you're with your friend, whatever's going on. 00:12:12.559 --> 00:12:14.559 Ah, you go, you're you're always like this. 00:12:14.799 --> 00:12:16.399 Why are you always like this? 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:17.840 You're horrible. 00:12:19.279 --> 00:12:20.960 You just you never care. 00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:22.159 You're such a brat. 00:12:22.240 --> 00:12:23.519 Maybe you go into worse words. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:24.080 You just never. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:30.000 And then two hours pass and you realize that you were just stressed out. 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:31.440 You were hangry. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:33.679 You were the problem. 00:12:34.799 --> 00:12:39.519 Suddenly, you don't just want to apologize. 00:12:40.399 --> 00:12:42.960 You actually want to make it up to them. 00:12:43.840 --> 00:12:46.000 Like you feel like you need to do something. 00:12:46.720 --> 00:12:50.480 Because we all want to atone for our sins. 00:12:51.679 --> 00:12:55.919 Ligonier Resources states this so wonderfully clear about atonement. 00:12:56.159 --> 00:13:03.679 Atonement is God is perfectly holy and righteous, and this aspect of his character means that he cannot overlook our sin. 00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:07.039 See, because of God's justice, he has to deal with our sin. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:09.120 Because of his holiness, he has to deal with our sin. 00:13:09.360 --> 00:13:09.919 Continues. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:14.159 If we are to be restored to fellowship with him, atonement must be made. 00:13:14.320 --> 00:13:21.200 For every sin is an act of cosmic treason, a betrayal of the Holy One who made us and who rules over all. 00:13:21.440 --> 00:13:30.080 God had to condemn sin in the flesh of his son, because to accept us without atoning for our sin would be to compromise his own character. 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:42.639 So in Jesus, this fullness of atonement, we can rest because God's grace satisfies all of God's holiness and justice. 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:44.559 And we are at peace. 00:13:44.720 --> 00:13:48.399 Leviticus 1, verse 4, I said this is crucial. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:53.279 The person lays his hands or her hands on the sacrifice. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:14:01.919 It's a symbolic substitute that you don't have to pay your own price for your guilt or your sin. 00:14:03.279 --> 00:14:06.000 What I deserve, this animal is receiving. 00:14:06.240 --> 00:14:09.120 What I deserve, Jesus takes on for me. 00:14:09.279 --> 00:14:10.720 It's the gift of forgiveness. 00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:13.039 Yet we often want to pay for our own sins. 00:14:13.200 --> 00:14:14.879 That's our natural reaction. 00:14:15.200 --> 00:14:19.039 Be our own sacrifice, earn our way back into God's favor. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:25.120 How much self-pity is needed before you feel welcomed by God or accepted. 00:14:26.080 --> 00:14:27.679 Is that two days of self-pity? 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:28.639 Is it five days? 00:14:28.720 --> 00:14:29.279 Is it five months? 00:14:29.440 --> 00:14:30.399 Is it five years? 00:14:31.519 --> 00:14:37.759 How much religiosity or good deeds is needed before God loves you again? 00:14:38.720 --> 00:14:41.679 See, that's a shedding of your own blood. 00:14:42.000 --> 00:14:46.559 You being your own sacrifice rather than trusting God. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:50.799 The book of Hebrews helps us understand Leviticus. 00:14:50.960 --> 00:14:53.200 Leviticus and Hebrews play off of each other. 00:14:53.360 --> 00:14:58.159 The book of Hebrews in the New Testament, listen how this all comes into completion in Jesus. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:00.320 Hebrews 10, 5 through 10. 00:15:00.480 --> 00:15:04.639 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 00:15:04.879 --> 00:15:16.480 Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, Jesus said this, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me, and burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. 00:15:16.639 --> 00:15:22.000 Then I said, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book. 00:15:22.159 --> 00:15:31.279 When he said above, you have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings, these are offered according to the law. 00:15:31.440 --> 00:15:34.080 Then he added, Behold, I have come to do your will. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:43.919 So we can think about all this we're reading in Leviticus, he does away with the first in order to establish the second. 00:15:44.159 --> 00:15:46.159 This is the way of grace known in Jesus. 00:15:46.320 --> 00:15:54.559 Verse 10, and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 00:15:55.519 --> 00:16:02.639 So we could say this Leviticus gives us the holy God as to lead us to the God of grace. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:09.200 The call to holiness drives us to our need of God's grace. 00:16:09.519 --> 00:16:13.360 We have to have holiness in sin in order for us to see who we are. 00:16:13.600 --> 00:16:20.000 Honestly, not perfect, can't hold our acts together no matter how good we get, and we need God's grace. 00:16:20.320 --> 00:16:23.440 Last passage, verses 10 through 17. 00:16:24.399 --> 00:16:44.399 If his gift for a burnt offering is from the flock, from the sheep or goats, he shall bring a mail without blemish, and he shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and Aaron's sons, the priest, shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar, and he shall cut it into pieces with its head and its fat, and the priest shall arrange them on the wood that is on the fire on the altar. 00:16:44.559 --> 00:16:51.279 But the entrails and the legs he shall wash with water, and the priest shall offer all of it and burn it on the altar. 00:16:51.440 --> 00:16:55.759 It is a burnt offering, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the Lord. 00:16:56.000 --> 00:17:09.920 If his offering to the Lord is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offerings of turtle doves or pigeons, and the priest shall bring it on the altar, wring off its head, and burn it on the altar, its blood shall be drained out on the side of the altar. 00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:16.240 He shall remove its crop with its content, and cast it beside the altar on the east side in the place of ashes. 00:17:16.400 --> 00:17:24.559 He shall tear it open by its wings, but shall never sever it completely, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on the wood that is on the fire. 00:17:24.720 --> 00:17:28.400 It is a burnt offering, a food offering, pleasing aroma to the Lord. 00:17:28.480 --> 00:17:29.839 And we say, Amen. 00:17:30.240 --> 00:17:32.079 End of chapter one, Amen. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:33.039 We made it through. 00:17:33.279 --> 00:17:40.799 Point number three is this God welcomes us through our need and his astonishing grace. 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:45.839 Now I read all that for a reason, um, to severely bore you. 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:48.559 Just take pleasure in that. 00:17:48.640 --> 00:17:52.480 And then number two is this there's actually a great point hidden in here. 00:17:52.880 --> 00:17:54.640 I didn't catch it at first. 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:58.160 I opened a commentary and I go, oh my gosh, it was right there. 00:17:58.400 --> 00:18:03.039 See, the first we talk about a burnt offering from the herd. 00:18:03.200 --> 00:18:06.880 And then verses 10 through 13, a burnt offering from the flock. 00:18:07.119 --> 00:18:11.839 And then verses 14 through 17, burnt offering of the birds. 00:18:12.960 --> 00:18:17.680 See, some people were rich and they had a herd. 00:18:18.960 --> 00:18:20.240 A lot of people didn't have a herd. 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:23.519 All they can round up is a bird. 00:18:24.640 --> 00:18:29.680 And what's amazing is that God makes no valuation between the two. 00:18:32.880 --> 00:18:37.359 And the reason why he does this is because God has always been about the heart. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:39.440 He's about our hearts. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:43.279 Dane Ortland writes this in Gentle and Lowly. 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:50.720 We cannot present a reason for Christ to finally close off his heart to his own sheep. 00:18:51.119 --> 00:18:52.880 No such reason exists. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:55.119 Every human friend has a limit. 00:18:55.279 --> 00:19:03.119 If we offend enough, if our relationship gets damaged enough, if we betray enough times, we are cast out, the walls go up. 00:19:03.519 --> 00:19:10.079 With Christ, our sins and weaknesses are the very resume items that qualify us to approach him. 00:19:11.039 --> 00:19:18.400 See, this is such good news that if it's like, oh, if you have a herd, you know, bring for the oh, if all you got is a bird, bring a bird. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:23.200 We could read right over that, but it's to say bring what we have. 00:19:24.000 --> 00:19:25.519 Like God welcomes us. 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.160 He wants us, he's after us. 00:19:29.039 --> 00:19:38.240 Point number four is this Christian faith is first about what Jesus has done for us before it is about what we do for him. 00:19:40.240 --> 00:19:43.519 For me, this started to take shape during this week as three prayers. 00:19:43.680 --> 00:19:46.160 So I just want to offer these three prayers to you. 00:19:46.400 --> 00:19:51.279 Prayer number one is this Heavenly Father, grant more rest in thee. 00:19:51.440 --> 00:19:53.119 Not more rest in me. 00:19:53.519 --> 00:19:55.920 You know, help me to rest in you. 00:19:57.200 --> 00:20:00.079 Peace in the sacrifice already given once for all. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:01.920 I don't have to keep sacrificing myself. 00:20:02.079 --> 00:20:06.240 Help me to trust that more that I might be at more peace, that Jesus is enough. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:11.359 Prayer number two, Heavenly Father, create more thanksgiving in thee. 00:20:12.880 --> 00:20:18.640 That out of an overflow of a grateful heart, my spiritual life would come. 00:20:19.039 --> 00:20:29.200 Maybe that would have something to do with my worship, maybe something to do with my devotions or spiritual practices, but none of it because I have to, but because my heart is being affected. 00:20:29.440 --> 00:20:34.400 And there's a personal response that I want to. 00:20:35.200 --> 00:20:40.880 And lastly, prayer number three, Heavenly Father, increase my love to thee. 00:20:41.119 --> 00:20:43.839 I love a lot of things that just don't matter. 00:20:44.400 --> 00:20:46.079 So, God, would you help me? 00:20:46.319 --> 00:20:49.039 Help me increase my love to you. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:53.839 For the past two years, the song More Love to Thee has meant a lot to me. 00:20:54.079 --> 00:20:56.559 And so I close with these lyrics. 00:20:58.079 --> 00:21:02.880 Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.480 Now thee alone I seek to give what is best. 00:21:07.039 --> 00:21:09.119 This all my prayer shall be. 00:21:09.519 --> 00:21:11.119 More love, O Christ, to thee. 00:21:11.440 --> 00:21:12.240 More love to thee. 00:21:12.480 --> 00:21:13.279 Let's pray together. 00:21:13.599 --> 00:21:20.880 Heavenly Father, thank you that you are enough in Jesus once and for all. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:49.519 When you are waiting for us to fall radically backward into your grace, the sufficiency of Jesus, all of you, the perfect sacrifice, every bit of you for us, that you are fully sufficient for us, and there's nothing for us to add, there's only more for us to rest in. 00:21:51.119 --> 00:21:56.400 Would we know a greater freedom in these days, a greater joy, a greater contentment? 00:21:58.640 --> 00:22:02.000 God help us to trust in you and increase our love for you. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:03.039 In Christ's name. 00:22:03.279 --> 00:22:03.680 Amen.