July 24, 2022 – Sunday Service Live Stream

Psalm 129 and the Call to Corporate Worship

Test test test test test one two one two check check test test test. Grace and peace to you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ welcome to the corporate worship of our God please stand now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the water gate and.

And they told Ezra, the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the law before the assembly of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.

Then he read from it in the open square that was there in front of the water gate from morning until midday before the men and women and those who could understand. And the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.

So Ezra the scribe stood on a platform of wood, which they had made for the purpose. And beside him at his right hand stood Mattathiah, Shema, Ananiah, Uriah, Hilkiah, and Messiah. And at his left were Petadiah, Mishael, Malchijah, Hashim, Hashpadana, Zechariah, and Meshulam.

And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was standing above all the people. And when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, Amen, Amen, while lifting up their hands.

And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Come now, let us, the gathered people of God, come now, let us worship him. Please pray with me. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, it is our greatest joy to be called your people.

We thank you that you have provided a way back to you through your Son. We who have been estranged by sin, our lack of righteousness, you have supplied in the glorious virtue and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So we come boldly, O God, to your throne of grace, knowing that Christ has made an acceptable path and entrance into your presence. We ask that you be glorified in all these things today, in Jesus' name, Amen.

Please kneel, if you're able, for the confession of sin. Let us join together with one voice in the corporate confession of sin.

Most Holy and Merciful Father, we confess to you and to one another that we have sinned against you by what we have done and by what we have not undone. We have not fully loved our neighbors as we are wasting your gifts, and free us from our sins.

Renew in us the grace and strength of Christ your Son, our Savior. Amen.

Please stand. Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. O people of God, be assured in this, if you are in Christ, your sins are forgiven.

Please take up the hymnal and turn to number 55, to God be the glory, number 55. One that says, from my youth up, may Israel say, Psalm 129. I'm going to ask Alyssa to play through it one time for us, please.

The Prophet, the Shepherds, and the Word of the Lord

Jeremiah 23, hear now the word of the Lord. The burden against Tyre, wail, you ships from Tarshish, for it is laid waste, so that there is no house, no harbor, from the land of Cyprus, it is revealed to them.

Be still, you inhabitants of the coastland. Okay, we're starting over. Jeremiah 23, woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord God of Israel, against the shepherds who feed my people.

You have scattered my flock, driven them away, and not attended to them. Behold, I will attend to you for the evil of your doings, says the Lord. But I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and bring them back to their folds, and they shall be fruitful and increase.

I will set up shepherds over them who will feed them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, nor shall they be lacking, says the Lord. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that I will raise to David a branch of righteousness.

A king shall reign and prosper, and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. In his days, Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely. Now this is his name by which he will be called, the Lord our righteousness.

Therefore, behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, that they shall no longer say, As the Lord lives, who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt. But as the Lord lives, who brought up and led the descendants of the house of Israel from the north country, and from all the countries where I have driven them, and they shall dwell in their own land.

My heart within me is broken because of the prophets. All my bones shake. I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine has overcome because of the Lord, and because of his holy words. For the land is full of adulterers, for because of a curse the land mourns.

The pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up. Their course of life is evil, and their might is not right. For both prophet and priest are profane. Yes, in my house I have found their wickedness, says the Lord.

Therefore, their way shall be to them like slippery ways. In the darkness they shall be driven on and fall in them. For I will bring disaster on them, the year of their punishment, says the Lord. I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria.

They prophesied by Baal and caused my people Israel to err. And I have seen a horrible thing in the prophets of Jerusalem. They commit adultery and walk in lies. They also strengthen the hand of the evildoer so that no one turns back from his wickedness.

All of them are like Sodom to me, and their inhabitants like Gomorrah. Therefore, thus says the Lord of Hosts concerning the prophets. Behold, I will feed them with wormwood and make them drink the water of Gaul.

For from the prophets of Jerusalem profaneness has gone out into all the land. Thus says the Lord of Hosts. Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesied to you. They make you worthless. They speak a vision of their own heart, not from the mouth of the Lord.

They continually say to those who despise me, The Lord has said you shall have peace. And to everyone who walks according to the dictates of his own heart, they say, No evil shall come upon you. For who has stood in the counsel of the Lord, and who has perceived and heard his word?

Who has marked his word and heard it? Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord has gone forth in fury. A violent whirlwind. It will fall violently on the head of the wicked. And the anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and performed the thoughts of his heart.

In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran. I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. But if they had stood in my counsel and caused my people to hear my words, then they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.

Am I a God near at hand, says the Lord, and not a God afar off? Can anyone hide himself in the secret places, so I shall not see him, says the Lord? Do I not fill the heaven and the earth, says the Lord?

I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed. How long will this be in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy lies? Indeed, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart who try to make people forget my name by their dreams, which everyone tells his neighbor, as their fathers forgot my name for Baal.

The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. And he who has my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the shaft to the wheat, says the Lord? Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?

Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who steal my words, everyone from his neighbor. Behold, I am against the prophets, says the Lord, who use their tongues and say, he says. Behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams, says the Lord, and tell them and cause my people to err by their lies and by their recklessness.

Yet I did not send them or command them. Therefore, they shall not profit this people at all, says the Lord. So when these people or the prophet or the priest ask you, saying, what is the oracle of the Lord?

You shall say to them, what oracle? I will even forsake you, says the Lord. And as for the prophet and the priest and the people who say the oracle of the Lord, I will even punish that man and his house.

Thus every one of you shall say to his neighbor and everyone to his brother, what has the Lord answered? And what has the Lord spoken? The oracle of the Lord you shall mention no more, for every man's word will be his oracle, for you have perverted the words of the living God.

The Lord of hosts are God. Thus you shall say to the prophet, what has the Lord answered you? And what has the Lord spoken? But since you say the oracle of the Lord, therefore, thus says the Lord, because you say this word, the oracle of the Lord, and I have sent to you saying, do not say the oracle of the Lord.

Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you and the city that I gave you and your fathers and will cast you out of my presence. And I will bring an everlasting reproach on you and a perpetual shame which shall not be forgotten.

This is the word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Let us now confess our faith in the singing of the Apostles' Creed. Please take the hymnal and turn to number 691. It is well with my soul, 691. Make preparations for the prayers of the people. Let's pray together now in unison.

O God, from whom come all holy desires, all good works, and all just works. Give to us, your servants, that peace which the world cannot give,.

That our hearts may be set to obey your commandments,.

And also that we be defended from the fear of our enemies through the merits of Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with you, the Holy Spirit, God forever. For the church of Jesus Christ, that it may be filled with truth and love and be found without fault at the day of your coming, we pray to you, O Lord.

For all ministers, missionaries, and the mission of the church, that in faithful witness the gospel may be preached, we pray to you, O Lord.

God, you saved. You are the God of the world, the heaven and the earth. Father, you have sent out a people among to do yourself, Lord, and I pray that you would be with your people, and that you would use us to advance your kingdom, your gospel, that many people may be saved throughout the world.

We pray, Father, for all those whom you have sent,.

That they would be faithful to you, they would keep their eyes on you, regardless of the circumstances they may be facing. Father, we pray that the kingdom of Satan would be diminished and destroyed, that the kingdom of glory would come further and more people would be brought into it.

For those in positions of public trust, that they may serve justice and promote the dignity and freedom of every person, we pray to you, O Lord.

Bring in the civil sphere who are all holding offices to serve the people where they are placed. I pray that you would bring repentance to these people who are rebelling against their role, against their responsibilities that are defined and given by you.

I pray that you would, by your grace, enact true justice on those who break your law, commit crimes. I pray, God, that you would also enable them to loosen their grips on their people, that they would promote dignity and freedom and liberty, that we may worship and move about freely.

And I pray that you would, by your grace, grant the church courage and bravery to be a prophetic voice, to preach the gospel to them. In your son's name I pray, amen.

For the poor, the persecuted, the sick, and all who suffer, for refugees, prisoners, and all who are in danger, that they may be relieved and protected, we pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, hear our prayers.

Blessed are you, O Lord.

For this congregation, for those who are present and for those who are absent, that they may be delivered from hardness of heart and show forth your glory in all that we do, we pray to you, O Lord.

Lord, hear our prayers.

Would you please, by your grace, provoke us in a love and good works today. And would you please enable us to turn from sin, that we may go forth in the name of Jesus. Everyone that is here and is absent, we especially pray for the Zeno family, that you have mercy upon them because they're not here.

And we ask, Lord, that you would do this for Christ's sake.

Amen.

Leviticus 1 and the Burnt Offering as Ascension into God's Presence

Please stand and take up the insert for Psalm 124, our Psalm of the Month. I ask that you turn in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus and chapter 1. Leviticus chapter 1. This is God's holy and infallible word.

Now the Lord called to Moses and spoke to him from the tabernacle of meeting, saying, Speak to the children of Israel and say to them, When any one of you brings an offering to the Lord, you shall bring your offering of the livestock, of the herd, and of the flock.

If his offering is a burnt offering, a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish, and he shall offer it of his own free will at the door of the tabernacle of meeting before the Lord.

Then he shall put his hand on the head of the burnt offering, and it will be accepted on his behalf to make atonement for him. He shall kill the bull before the Lord, and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood and sprinkle the blood all around on the altar that is by the door of the tabernacle of meeting.

And he shall skin the burnt offering and cut it into its pieces. The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall put fire on the altar and lay the wood in order on the fire. The priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the parts, the head and the fat in order on the wood that is upon the fire of the altar.

But he shall wash its entrails and its legs with water, and the priest shall burn all on the altar as a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. If his offering is of the flocks or of the sheep or of the goats as a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring a male without blemish.

He shall kill it on the north side of the altar before the Lord, and the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle its blood all around on the altar. He shall cut it into its pieces with its head and its fat, and the priest shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar.

But he shall wash the entrails and the legs with water, and the priest shall bring it all and burn it on the altar. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. And if the burnt sacrifice of his offering of the Lord is of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtle doves or young pigeons.

The priest shall bring it to the altar, wring off its head, and burn it on the altar. Its blood shall be drained out at the side of the altar, and he shall remove its crop with its feathers and cast it beside the altar on the east side into the place for ashes.

Then he shall split it at its wings, but shall not divide it completely, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on the wood that is on fire. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord.

May the Lord be pleased with our study of his most holy word today. Please pray with me. O Lord, we come because of the offering of Christ. We pray that we would lay hold of these sweet promises that you have drawn near to us, and now we draw near to you in the efficacy of Christ's perfection and sacrifice.

O Lord, let us see Christ in Leviticus today. We ask all these things in the name above all names, the Lord Jesus Christ's name. Amen. Please be seated. Leviticus is one of the least popular books in the Bible.

In modern evangelicalism, it is treated as mere history of the old economy. But every jot and tittle of this word and this law will not pass away until all things are fulfilled. And I would offer to you today that the structure, the bones, the foundation of the redemption of Christ is found in a place like Leviticus chapter 1.

In context, Moses had just completed the assembly of the tabernacle in Exodus 40. Look over one page in your Bibles. I'm going to begin reading in verse 18 just to give you the flavor because this follows really right after this in Exodus.

So Moses raised up the tabernacle, fastened its sockets, set up its boards, put in its bars, and raised up its pillars. And he spread out the tent over the tabernacle and put the covering of the tent on top of it as the Lord had commanded Moses.

He took the testimony and put it into the ark, inserted the poles through the rings of the ark and put the mercy seat on top of the ark. And he brought the ark into the tabernacle, hung up the veil of the covering, and partitioned off the ark of the testimony as the Lord had commanded Moses.

He put the table in the tabernacle of meeting on the north side of the tabernacle outside the veil, and he set the bread in order upon it before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses. He put the lampstand in the tabernacle of meeting across from the table on the south side of the tabernacle, and he lit the lamps before the Lord as the Lord had commanded Moses.

He put the gold altar in the tabernacle of meeting in front of the veil, and he burned sweet incense on it as the Lord had commanded Moses. He hung up the screen at the door of the tabernacle, and he put the altar of burnt offering before the door of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting.

That's particularly important because that's where this offering is offered that we're referring to. And he offered upon it the burnt offering, the grain offering, as the Lord had commanded Moses. And he set the labor between the tabernacle of meeting and the altar and put water there for washing.

And Moses, Aaron, and his sons would wash their hands and their feet with water from it. Whenever they went into the tabernacle of meeting, whenever they came near the altar, they washed as the Lord had commanded Moses.

And he raised up the court all around the tabernacle and the altar and hung up the screen of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Now I want you to listen very carefully. The terrors of Sinai had been replaced with the gentle presence and power of God.

The people are now not sending Moses up to the mountain. They are hearkened to bring an offering into the presence of God. It's a monumental thing that's happened here. I want you to hear the context.

This section is very important. Children, listen carefully. Verse 34. Then the cloud covered the tabernacle of meeting. Can you imagine this picture? And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tabernacle of meeting because the cloud rested above it.

And the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Wherever the cloud was taken up from above the tabernacle, the children of Israel would go onward in all their journeys. But if the cloud was not taken up, then they did not journey till day that it was taken up.

For the cloud of the Lord was above the tabernacle by day, and fire was over it by night, and the sight of all the house of Israel throughout all their journeys. Think of all of the colossal failures of the people in Exodus.

Idolatry, unbelief, every form of wickedness. The Lord will not relent in pursuing and capturing his people, to commune with them, to bring them into his presence. Here we see something that is really astonishing.

We see God, high, exalted, holy, lifted up. We see God drawing near to his people. His cloud covers the tabernacle. The glory of the Lord fills it. In our text today, we learn about how man responds to the love and mercy of God and draws near.

Since the fall, man's proximity and nearness to God had been altered. Sin has devastating consequences. Adam and Eve had an original clothing, and it was their own naked skin. It was their first garment.

And that skin became defiled. Their new, sin-stained nakedness had been exposed. So they sewed fig leaves together to make a covering for their now defiled bodies. In one of the saddest verses of Scripture, let's turn there really quickly, Genesis chapter 3.

Genesis 3, just a few pages back. Please turn there. This is after the fall. I'm not going to rehearse all those details. You're very well acquainted with it. Verse 8. They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day.

Adam and Eve created to commune personally, face-to-face with God. They cannot bear to be in his presence now. They're naked and exposed. Their skin, their clothing, their first garment has been defiled.

What a dramatic change. They hear the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

The essence of who they were has now been corrupted. They were created to dwell in the presence of the Lord. And now they're hiding themselves in shame. And the Lord God called out to Adam and said to him, where are you?

And he said, I heard your voice in the garden and I was afraid. Because I was naked and I hid myself. And he said, who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?

And the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree and I ate. The Lord said to the woman, what is this you have done? And the woman says, the serpent deceived me and I ate.

Skip down to verse 17. And Adam said to Adam, he said, because you have heeded the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, saying you shall not eat of it. Cursed is the ground for your sake and toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

By both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat the herb of the field. And the sweat of your face you shall eat bread until you return to the ground. For out of it you were taken and for dust you are and to dust you shall return.

Adam heard the voice of the Lord and was afraid. Adam's natural clothing has been soiled. For the first time in his existence, he was dirty with sin. He could not enter into the presence of the Lord without fear.

And now we have here the first introduction for us. And it's very subtle. It's very understated that the first understanding of sacrifice. Verse 20 says Adam called his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living.

Also for Adam and his wife, listen, the Lord God made tunics of skin and clothed them. God sacrificed animals to clothe the nakedness of Adam and Eve. He had to provide a better covering than the fig leaves.

This garden of paradise is now different. It's King Adam had transgressed the bounds of God's command. Adam is now covered in sacrificial skin that the Lord provided. There's a lot of trauma for Adam and Eve.

Blissful paradise, they're fallen to sin, suddenly nakedness. They're conscious of the defilement of their own flesh. These animals that they had been given dominion over, which must have been like pets to them.

Now they are squealing in anguish as the Lord slaughters them, that he might skin them and clothe Adam and Eve. Surely the weight of the fall has come upon them and they understand the gravity of it all.

But notice, in spite of this colossal failure of Adam, the Lord continues to pursue him, continues to provide for him. He made tunics of skin. He sacrificed animals. He skinned them to clothe Adam and his wife.

There's another part of this that is really sad to me. The Lord says, Behold, verse 22, the man has become like one of us to no good and evil. And now, lest he put out his hand and take also the tree of life and eat and live forever.

Therefore, the Lord God sends him out of the garden Eden to till the ground from which he was taken. And that's where this toilsome labor is going to happen. Outside the garden, outside the gates, outside the fiery sword and the cherubim.

That's where he's going to be sent. And to further add insult to it, it's almost as if it if it escalates. In verse 24, it says, So he drove out the man and be like a parent asking their children to leave the room.

Then immediately following that up with grabbing the scruff of their neck and pushing them out the door. Very real consequences of the fall. Adam, I don't know how far removed he was from that gate in those cherubim.

But Adam, all the days of his life, I believe he wanted to be back in that garden. He wanted to be back where it was before all of this happened. Ove him out of the garden. What an amazing picture created for communion, intimacy, fellowship, now being driven out of the garden.

In Chapter four, we won't go into this in detail, but we learn more about sacrifice and what is pleasing to God. Cain and Abel brought offerings to the Lord. Cain, fruit of the ground. Abel brought of the firstborn of the flock.

Cain's failure, I have to believe, in part is obviously a lack of faith and belief. I believe he was fully instructed that what the Lord required from his father, Adam, was an animal sacrifice. And I believe in his pride he could not trade with his brother his goods for a lamb.

He wants to approach God on his terms like every sinful person in the world. Not on God's terms. You have to approach him on his terms alone. And Abel brings the choicest of his lambs as a sacrifice. Following God's pattern, following, I believe, the instruction of Adam.

Of course, it also typifies and prefigures very powerfully the sacrifice of Christ, who is the firstborn of both creation and of the flock of man. He is the choicest of lambs. Man, created in the image of God, longs to return to God's presence in the garden.

In fact, that same force drives wicked men in their pursuit of pleasure. They want to go back to communion with God and they have no idea how to do it. Almost forgotten, turn over a couple of chapters, please, really quickly to chapter 8 of Genesis.

This is almost completely forgotten. And the account of the flood. Is the post-flood account of Noah's offering. Did you remember that? That come to mind recently? I'll begin reading in verse 13 just to provide a little context.

Genesis 8, 13. And it came to pass in the 600 year, 601st year, in the first month, the first day of the month. That the waters were dried up from the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked.

And indeed, the surface of the ground was dry. And in the second month of the 27th day of the month, the earth was dried. Then God spoke to Noah saying, go out of the ark. You and your wife and your sons and your sons' wives with you.

Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you. Birds and cattle and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So they may abound on the earth and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.

That sounds a lot like early Genesis. Could this be a return to a garden paradise of communion with God? So Noah went out and his sons and his wife and his son's wife with him. Every animal, every creeping thing, every bird, whatever creeps on the earth, according to their families, went out of the ark.

Noah and his family have been delivered. The world has been judged. They're the only people living. Eight persons. What does Noah do? He's already experienced the deliverance. God's favor is upon him singularly like no one else.

We never hear of the righteousness of Noah's children at this point. The righteousness of Noah is the salvation of the family. As their head. What does he do? Look at verse 20. Noah built an altar to the Lord.

He knows that to approach God. Even as the redeemed, as the beloved. Has to come with blood. There has to be an acceptable sacrifice. He builds the altar. He took takes of every clean animal and every clean bird.

And offered burnt offerings on the altar. The Lord really loves for sacrificial animals to be consumed with fire. Because that savor, that smell is pleasing in his nostrils. And all this helps us understand who Christ is.

Remember the language in Exodus we just read, repeated a number of times. Verse 21. And this is Noah's sacrifice. And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. I was talking with my wife last evening. I was smoking a nice cigar to the glory of God.

And she said, does the smoke always rise? And I puffed billows of smoke to the air. And the smoke rose. God knows the condition of Noah's heart. He's a sinner. He's a redeemed sinner. Noah understands though he's been redeemed and rescued and saved and delivered.

He has to bring an offering to the Lord. The Lord and his kindness and his condescension to us. Accepts this substitutionary offering from Noah. And the Lord says in his heart, he responds, I will never again curse the ground for man's sake.

Even though the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth, nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer and day and night, and shall not cease.

Then he kind of gives again the dominion mandate. God blesses Noah and his sons and says to them, be fruitful and multiply the earth in full and fill it. Adam should have been killed for his sin. That's a death penalty offense.

Not heeding the command of the Lord. But instead, the Lord killed a lamb or lambs and clothed him. Abel gets it right. He learns the lesson from his father and in faith offers the choicest of his lambs and a pleasing sacrifice to the Lord.

Remember a few weeks ago, Abraham, when tested. The offering of Isaac had God graciously provided to him on the mount that the Lord will provide a substitute. That ram caught in the thicket. After the time of our context, we we've already had the nation Israel experience the Passover and the Lord accepts their sacrifice.

Those blood spattered. Doorways, the Passover lambs. He approves this sacrifice for this purpose to be the salvation of all the firstborn in Israel, but not so for those to whom the blood covering did not exist.

The sons of Egypt, they all die. A pattern that stretches back to Eden and all the way forward to glory reveals the need for sacrifice and substitutionary atonement. In every figure and type that we read about here, more and more of the glory of Christ is unveiled.

Come back to our text now. Leviticus one. In context, God has made his presence conspicuous, and this is amazing to me. When you try to read this again with fresh eyes and not just blow through your reading plan.

It's astounding how the Lord again and again and again forgives his people and brings them back and embraces them, draws them near to himself. In fact, this whole concept is Hebraically the drawing near the near gathering of God's people.

How can they approach him? How can they when they gaze upon the holiness of law of the Lord and see evidences of that holiness and the glory filling of the tabernacle? How do they approach their sinful?

Well, they can do it because he appoints and approves a sacrifice that makes impossible makes it possible for them. The first thing he does in our text is he speaks directly to Moses, and this itself is a remarkable thing.

Out of the glory, his own glory filled tabernacle from the Holy of Holies, he speaks to Moses. What mercy and grace are being showered and lavished upon Moses and the people as their representative? He is.

He speaks to them and says, this is what you should do that you might come back into my presence. In spite of his rebellion, he calls them to draw near to him. We have to acknowledge, again, the vast, incomprehensible.

Unrelenting, expansive love of God, just Leviticus one, who would have thought it speaks to this unbelievable kind of love, undeserved love for God, to his people. We might call it grace. He says to Moses, as the representative of the people, have the people drawn near to me.

In the manner I have prescribed, the given here is there's an offering. There's there's church history. There's instruction in the law of God already. They know there has to be an offering. God says when the people approach me, they must bring an acceptable offering.

As we often say, God explicitly declares and prescribes how he is to be worshiped. And this is a warning to all of us. We need to worship him in the manner he has prescribed this condescension. God has come near.

And he in turn says and calls them to draw near in worship. I would argue and you may not know this. Our liturgy is based on Leviticus. The name of our church is based on Leviticus. We're about this. This is what we're about.

Seeing all of it realized in Christ. God, can you fathom? And he says, you're sinful. You're defiled. Your flesh is tainted. You're not clothed properly. Your skin needs to be stripped. I have a way for you to come and approach me.

In anticipation of the realization of my son coming to make fellowship restored between us. Our corporate worship, the corporate worship of the Christian church has its foundations in Leviticus. Not an obsolete book.

How do we draw near? How is it realized? Quickly turn you to Hebrews. I would maybe normally had more time do a different path. Maybe have us get there in a roundabout way. I'm going to jump to Hebrews to tell you what it looks like.

And none of this makes sense without Leviticus and the law and Exodus. None of it makes any sense. Hebrews 10 16 says this is the covenant that I will make with them after those days says the Lord. I will put my laws into their hearts.