There I Will Meet With You

[0:00] Good morning, everyone. It's a joy to worship with you. Please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 29. And if you don't have a Bible, raise your hand and we can bring a copy of it over to you that you can use while you're here.

[0:20] Exodus chapter 29. We'll be going through the whole chapter. I'll also be referencing Exodus 30, 22 to 33, but I'm only going to read Exodus 29 at the beginning.

[0:34] Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word. Father, we come to you and humble ourselves before you.

[0:56] We incline our ears to hear from your Word because we believe that you speak to us and address us in your Word.

[1:07] We want to be challenged. We want to be comforted by the truths of the Scriptures. We want to be reminded of your grace toward us in Jesus, our great high priest.

[1:24] And we want to be a living sacrifice, acceptable and pleasing to you. So please, even in this time of worship, consecrate us for yourself.

[1:41] We ask in Jesus' name. Amen. If you are able, please stand with me for the reading of God's Word from Exodus 29. Now, this is what you shall do to them to consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.

[2:04] Take one bull of the herd and two rams without blemish and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil. You shall make them a fine wheat flour.

[2:16] You shall put them in one basket and bring them in the basket and bring the bull and the two rams. You shall bring Aaron and his sons to the entrance of the tent of meeting and wash them with water.

[2:27] Then you shall take the garments and put on Aaron the coat and the robe of the ephod and the ephod and the breastpiece and gird him with the skillfully woven band of the ephod. And you shall set the turban on his head and put the holy crown on the turban.

[2:42] You shall take the anointing oil and pour it on his head and anoint him. Then you shall bring his sons and put coats on them. And you shall gird Aaron and his sons with sashes and bind caps on them.

[2:55] And the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever. Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons. Then you shall bring the bull before the tent of meeting.

[3:05] Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the bull. Then you shall kill the bull before the Lord at the entrance of the tent of meeting. And shall take part of the blood of the bull and put it on the horns of the altar with your finger.

[3:18] And the rest of the blood you shall pour out at the base of the altar. And you shall take all the fat that covers the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them.

[3:30] And burn them on the altar. But the flesh of the bull and its skin and its dung you shall burn with fire outside the camp. It is a sin offering. Then you shall take one of the rams.

[3:42] And Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. And you shall kill the ram and shall take its blood and throw it against the sides of the altar. Then you shall cut the ram into pieces and wash its entrails and its legs and put them with its pieces and its head.

[3:57] And burn the whole ram on the altar. It is a burnt offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma of food offering to the Lord. You shall take the other ram and Aaron and his sons shall lay their hands on the head of the ram.

[4:10] And you shall kill the ram and take part of its blood and put it on the tip of the right ear of Aaron and on the tips of the right ears of his sons. And on the thumbs of their right hands and on the great toes of their right feet.

[4:21] And throw the rest of the blood against the sides of the altar. Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar and of the anointing oil. And sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments and on his sons and his sons garments with him.

[4:34] He and his garments shall be holy and his sons and his sons garments with him. You shall also take the fat from the ram and the fat tail and the fat that covers the entrails and the long lobe of the liver and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them.

[4:49] And the right thigh for it is a ram of ordination. And one loaf of bread and one cake of bread made with oil. And one wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread that is before the Lord.

[4:59] You shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord. Then you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as a pleasing aroma before the Lord.

[5:14] It is a food offering to the Lord. You shall take the breast of the ram of Aaron's ordination and wave it for a wave offering before the Lord. And it shall be your portion. And you shall consecrate the breast of the wave offering that is waved and the thigh of the priest's portion that is contributed from the ram of ordination from what was Aaron's and his sons.

[5:33] It shall be for Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the people of Israel for it is a contribution. It shall be a contribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings, their contribution to the Lord.

[5:45] The holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him. They shall be anointed in them and ordained in them. The son who succeeds him as priest who comes into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place shall wear them seven days.

[6:00] You shall take the ram of ordination and boil its flesh in a holy place. And Aaron and his son shall eat the flesh of the ram and the bread that is in the basket in the entrance of the tent of meeting.

[6:11] They shall eat those things with which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration. But an outsider shall not eat of them because they are holy. And if any of the flesh for the ordination or of the bread remain until the morning, then you shall burn the remainder with fire.

[6:28] It shall not be eaten because it is holy. Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons according to all that I have commanded you. Through seven days shall you ordain them.

[6:40] And every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement. Also you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it and shall anoint it to consecrate it. Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it and the altar shall be most holy.

[6:55] Whatever touches the altar shall become holy. Now, this is what you shall offer on the altar. Two lambs a year old day by day regularly. One lamb you shall offer in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight.

[7:09] And with the first lamb a tenth measure of fine flour mingled with the fourth of a hen of beaten oil and a fourth of a hen of wine for a drink offering. The other lamb you shall offer at twilight and shall offer with it a grain offering and its drink offering as in the morning for a pleasing aroma of food offering to the Lord.

[7:28] It shall be a regular burnt offering throughout your generations at the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord. Where I will meet with you to speak to you there.

[7:38] There I will meet with the people of Israel and it shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests.

[7:53] I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them.

[8:07] I am the Lord their God. This is God's holy and authoritative word. You may be seated. A few years ago when I was visiting a church member who was hospitalized during the COVID pandemic.

[8:27] I remember visiting and the hospitals were at the time taking extra precautions for safety. They gave me a brand new mask that I had to wear without which I could not enter the hospital.

[8:42] And if I remember correctly they also asked if I was experiencing any symptoms of illness and took my temperature before letting me in. Even after that I didn't get to go straight into the room where this church member was hospitalized lest I contaminate that room.

[8:58] So I had to wait in the waiting room and a nurse went and escorted the church member out to the waiting room where I could meet with her across the table. You couldn't there were also guidelines for how you can interact within the waiting room and only for a limited time.

[9:14] It was a very unusual time and never before had I been as acutely aware of the dangers of spreading viruses. Because of the vulnerability of the patients in the hospital, some of whom were immunocompromised, I was treated like a contaminant, a contagion, because I was a potential carrier of the virus.

[9:39] Exodus 29 tells us about all the hoops that the priests had to jump through in order to be consecrated enough to minister at the tent of meeting, at the tabernacle, as mediators for God's people.

[9:54] And these priests must have felt something similar to what I felt during that hospital visit. Not because the person they were meeting was sick, but because the person they were meeting, God, was holy.

[10:08] The extensive process of washing and being clothed with special garments, anointing and sprinkling and sacrificing and eating that was required for the priests to be consecrated for service at the tabernacle would have communicated to them that they are a contagion.

[10:29] They're a pollutant that required cleansing before they can approach the holy presence of God. It's important to note that this is no mere formality.

[10:40] God is not some bureaucratic overlord that just likes to clutter things with red tape that people to jump through and clear. God is irreproachable. He's beyond reproach.

[10:51] And because of that, God is unapproachable in his holiness. He can tolerate no one and no thing that is not purified or consecrated, set apart for him.

[11:05] This is why only a commitment to a regular, ongoing sacrifice enables the priests to minister within the tabernacle. Instead of glossing over these detailed requirements as tedious and wearisome, we need to see God's heart behind them.

[11:19] Why God provides these sacrifices. And we see that here in chapter 29, verses 43 to 46. Please look in your Bibles, verses 43 to 46. Follow along as I read it.

[11:31] There I will meet with the people of Israel, and he shall be sanctified by my glory. I will consecrate the tent of meeting and the altar. Aaron also and his sons I will consecrate to serve me as priests.

[11:43] I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell among them.

[11:55] I am the Lord their God. Some of the most important recurring themes throughout the book of Exodus are all summarized here in these few verses. The Lord's plan to make himself known to his people, as it says in verse 46, which has been repeated throughout the book.

[12:12] His plan to be their God, which has been repeated throughout the book. His plan to meet with them, which has been repeated throughout the account of the construction of the tent of meeting. His plan to dwell among them, which has been repeated again and again throughout the tabernacle narrative as well.

[12:28] In fact, the tabernacle means the dwelling place of God. So note how all of these stated objectives of God, these explicit objectives that God gives us here in his word, are all relational, to make himself known, to be their God, to meet with them, to dwell among them.

[12:48] God's ultimate goal is to redeem a people for himself among whom he himself can dwell. The sacrifices themselves are not the end.

[12:59] They're just the means of getting there, a means for fellowship between God and man. God did not create humans so that they'd make sacrifices and provide him with food while he rests, as is the case in some pagan mythologies.

[13:16] God did not mandate sacrificial rituals so that he could be entertained by us. God is not going on a power trip demanding these sacrifices just because he can.

[13:26] God made provisions for these sacrifices for our sake so that he might meet with us, so that our sins might be atoned for, so that he can dwell with us.

[13:42] That's why this passage is in the scriptures to teach us that God consecrates the priests and the tent of meeting so that he might dwell among his people. We're going to look at that main point in two parts.

[13:53] First, we're going to look at the consecration of the priests and the altar. And then secondly, we're going to look at the consecration of the Israelites. That second point is going to be very short, so don't despair if I spend most of my time in the first point.

[14:08] Verses 1 to 2 give us the ingredients list, the materials list, that you need for the consecration of the priests. And it says, To consecrate the priests for service, they need a bull, two unblemished lambs, unleavened bread, unleavened cakes, and unleavened wafers.

[14:23] We'll see their specific uses in the following verses, but for now, we need to recognize how these are reminiscent of the Passover. Remember, at the Passover, there's the unblemished lamb, and there's the unleavened bread that's consumed by the Israelites.

[14:40] When God goes through Egypt and judges eat the Egyptians and strikes down their firstborns, but the Israelites' firstborn males are spared because they had sacrificed an unblemished lamb and daubed its blood on their doors, and that consumed the sacrifice and the unleavened bread.

[14:57] And at the beginning of this passage, it reminds us of the Passover and the Exodus. And at the end of this passage, in verse 46, it reminds us of the same, where God says, So this ties the Exodus and the tabernacle together.

[15:15] This is God's way of telling the Israelites, the same Yahweh, the Lord God, who with mighty signs and wonders delivered you and redeemed you from your slavery in Egypt.

[15:26] That very God is who I am, and I am going to dwell among you. That mighty God, that Lord God himself is going to dwell in your very presence.

[15:37] And the first step in consecrating a priest is the washing. It says in verse 4, So this, again, the mention of the entrance to the Tent of Meeting clearly communicates that this is so that they can enter in.

[15:55] This is purification before they can be in the presence of God. And after this consecration period, the priests would only be required to wash their hands and feet before they minister.

[16:08] But at this occasion, it seems like they're getting a full-on bath. It says that they're to wash them, their whole selves, with water. And it's only after this ritual bath that they can put on the holy garments, the priestly garments that we talked about last week, which is the second step of the consecration, being clothed with the special garments.

[16:30] And after they are clothed, verse 7 tells us that Moses is to take the anointing oil and pour it on Aaron's head and anoint him. Later on in Exodus 30, we learn that Aaron's sons are also anointed with oil.

[16:42] And not only Aaron's sons, but also the furnishings and the Tent of Meeting itself are also anointed with the anointing oil. However, at this point of the initial consecration of the priesthood, it's only Aaron the high priest who is anointed with oil and set apart in that way.

[17:01] So this is a special anointing, which is why throughout Leviticus, the high priest, Aaron and his people who would succeed him in that role, is sometimes referred to as the anointed priest to distinguish them from the other priests.

[17:16] The high priest is the special priest. And according to Exodus 30, 23, 24, the anointing oil was to be a blended perfume, not of common, ordinary spices, but of the finest spices.

[17:31] It says, of liquid myrrh, 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon, half as much, that is 250, and 250 of aromatic cane, and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hen of olive oil.

[17:48] Shekel is, it's like 100 shekel is about two and a half pounds. So if you add up the myrrh, the cinnamon, the aromatic cane, and cassia, that's 1,500 shekels, which is 37.5 pounds worth of spices.

[18:05] That's a lot of spices. And they're supposed to mix all of that up with a hen of olive oil. A hen is about a gallon of olive oil. So imagine a milk jug full of olive oil. And considering that these are all spices that weren't native to that land, and were likely imported from other places like modern-day Saudi Arabia or India, they would have been extremely expensive and precious, and therefore unfamiliar to the ordinary Israelites.

[18:34] Myrrh is a gum resin, which is a thick, sticky substance that oozes out of certain trees when you cut it open. It smells similar to licorice, or anise, has a sweet, spicy scent.

[18:47] Cinnamon, you guys are all hopefully familiar with. Imagine the smell of cinnamon sticks or cinnamon buns. Sounds good right now.

[18:58] Aromatic cane is not a reference to sugar cane, which would make it also delicious, but to calamus, a grass that gives a sweet scent, an earthy, citrusy smell when you crush it.

[19:12] So the oil that's produced from this aromatic cane is called ginger grass. It's very similar to lemongrass. Cassia is a spice made from the bark of certain East Asian evergreen trees.

[19:24] It smells a lot like cinnamon, so it's sometimes called Chinese cinnamon. So the anointing oil would have had a strong, resinous, cinnamony, spicy scent, very similar to the smells associated with Christmas.

[19:40] So like the resinous scent of pine trees, the cinnamony aroma of mulled wine and gingerbreads, everything that this anointing oil touched became holy.

[19:52] God says in Exodus 30, 31 to 33, this shall be my holy anointing oil throughout your generations. It shall not be poured on the body of an ordinary person and you shall make no other like it in composition.

[20:06] It is holy and it shall be holy to you. Whoever compounds any like it or whoever puts any of it on an outsider shall be caught off from his people. This particular perfume mixture of the anointing oil was not to be reproduced because it was to be associated exclusively with the tabernacle and it was not to be applied to anything other than the tabernacle itself and it was not to be applied to anyone apart from the priests themselves who minister in the tabernacle.

[20:37] That's why the anointing oil is called holy, meaning it's set apart for a special purpose. If other things and other people smell the same, it would no longer be special.

[20:49] It would lose its sacred status. Especially in the ancient Near East where the climate is hot and running water is rare. It wasn't readily available for frequent washing.

[21:02] Most of you guys probably took a shower this morning. That is not possible all the time in this context. So imagine what you would smell on an ordinary basis. Sweaty body odor.

[21:15] Thousands and thousands of people. That's what you smell. So you find one place in the whole congregation of Israel it smells different. It smells sweet.

[21:25] It smells of spice. Cinnamon. Gingerbread. It sets the place apart. You shall make no other like it in composition.

[21:37] You're supposed to make people stand in awe of God to recognize that He is no common folk but set apart from us. It also served to distinguish the priests of God and in particular the high priest as set apart for God in His dwelling place.

[21:52] So imagine being in that congregation being in a room full of people and then there's one person who's wearing perfume. Everybody else just smells like body odor but one person smells like perfume.

[22:04] That sets that person apart. That's the purpose of this anointing oil. And usually it was reserved for kings. Kings were anointed with oil. Prophet Samuel anointed King David.

[22:17] Zadok the priest anointed King Solomon. But in rare cases prophets were also anointed. Prophet Elisha was anointed by Prophet Elijah. And as we see in our passage this morning it's the priests who are anointed with special oil.

[22:32] Aaron the high priest was anointed. The anointing sets the people apart. No one else can sit on the throne except for the anointed King.

[22:44] No one else can enter into the holy place to minister within God's presence except for the anointed priest. This is why it is significant that Jesus the most common title that is given to him is the Christ which means anointed one.

[23:04] He and he alone can sit on the throne of David as the Messianic King. And Jesus alone can go into the heavenly tabernacle the temple to minister in God's presence on behalf of his people.

[23:18] Jesus is the one who goes where we cannot go and does what we cannot do. That's why we worship Jesus as the Christ and sing in Christ alone my hope is found.

[23:36] After Aaron is anointed and he and his sons are fully clothed in the holy garments it says in verse 9 and the priesthood shall be theirs by a statute forever meaning indefinitely until it comes to a time of fulfillment in Christ.

[23:50] Thus you shall ordain Aaron and his sons. The word ordain is a very interesting word. It occurs again in verse 35 through seven days shall you ordain them.

[24:00] So the two references bracket this passage where all the details of the sacrifices are given. It's for their ordination. In Hebrew the word ordain literally means to fill the hands of to fill someone's hands with something.

[24:16] The expression likely originates from the practice of ceremoniously placing some object or article of authoritative office into the hands of the person that's being appointed.

[24:28] For example in some parts of the ancient world when you give the governor a mandate to govern you will place in his hands the seal of his governorship which he can use to authenticate the documents to make them official and authoritative and the cord of governorship which he would wear upon himself as a sign as a symbol of his authority.

[24:48] So you would place those things into their hands. So that's the invest word invest kind of communicates that investing someone with authority or clothing them with the right garments for authority and this practice is actually where we get the English word mandate which comes from the Latin word for hand and give to mandate to give someone a mandate to mandate someone is to give something into their hands.

[25:13] And so Aaron and his sons are here being ordained. They're being mandated charged with something invested with authority but what exactly is their mandate? What are their hands being filled with?

[25:26] So scan verses 10 to 25 with me for the word hand and its synonyms and we'll see exactly what's happening. Verse 10 Aaron and his son shall lay their hands on the head of the bull.

[25:40] Verse 15 Aaron and his son shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. Verse 19 Aaron and his son shall lay their hands on the head of the ram. Again verse 24 to 25 you shall put all these on the palms of Aaron and on the palms of his sons and wave them for a wave offering before the Lord and you shall take them from their hands and burn them on the altar on top of the burnt offering as a pleasing aroma before the Lord.

[26:04] What are Aaron and his son's hands being filled with? The sacrifices and the offerings on behalf of God's people. Bulls and rams are too big to literally fill their hands with so they just lay their hands simply on the heads of the animals to identify with that animal saying this is my charge this belongs to me.

[26:28] This is not a transference of sin from the priests onto the animals before the sacrifice because it applies even for sacrifices that do not deal with sin.

[26:39] It's a way of identifying it's designating the animals as the priests charge to bring the sacrifices. This is their priestly mandate. They are authorized to minister within the tent of meeting to make sacrifices for God's people.

[26:55] The following verses give us a preview survey of the various types of sacrifices that were offered. It's later described in more detail in Leviticus 1-7 and there are some discrepancies between this and Leviticus 1-7 because these are the initial sacrifices to consecrate the priests and those are the subsequent sacrifices that would be given.

[27:16] But there are enough similarities for it to be a real preview. First type of sacrifice mentioned in verses 10-14 is the sin offering. Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the head of the bull then kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting.

[27:30] Then they are to put some of the blood on the horns of the altar and pour out the rest at the base of the altar. The organs and the fat are to be burned up on the altar while the flesh the skin and the dung are to be burned up outside the camp.

[27:43] And we learn later in Leviticus 4 that sin offering in particular served to purify people from unintentional sins from the defiling effects of unintentional sins. It's appropriate that the first sacrifice during the consecration of the priest is a sin offering because they must be cleansed of their sins even sins that they didn't know that they had committed unwitting sins before they can minister in God's holy place.

[28:08] The altar itself is consecrated during this process with the application of the blood on the horn and the base. The second sacrifice we see described in verses 15 to 18.

[28:18] Verse 18 calls it a burned offering to the Lord. It is a pleasing aroma of food offering. It's not literal food for God that he eats. It's a pleasing aroma.

[28:30] God smells it. And just as they did with the bull Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on one of the rams then kill it at the entrance of the tent of the meeting and then they are to throw its blood against the size of the altar this time so now the whole altar is covered the horn, the size and the base and after this the entire ram the meat the entrails the legs the head is all to be burned up on the altar.

[28:58] As Lydicius 1.9 says the burnt offering is one of the most costly kind of offering because it consumes the whole thing completely. Nothing is left over. Pleasing aroma to the Lord.

[29:09] So a burnt offering in this way signifies Aaron and his sons being consecrated completely for God's service. Wholly given to the Lord totally committed to the Lord.

[29:22] And then so having offered the sin offering for atonement and the burnt offering of consecration the third sacrifice is a wave offering of fellowship. We see later in Leviticus 7 a wave offering is a type of peace offering or a fellowship offering.

[29:36] It's distinctive among the sacrifices in that some of its part is eaten by the priests and the worshippers representing their fellowship with God. So Aaron and his sons are to lay their hands on the other ram that they have not yet burned up to kill it and they are to put its blood this time on the extremities of Aaron and his sons on their right ear on their right thumb and on their right big toe probably representing their whole body their whole selves being cleansed and consecrated for God.

[30:09] So with consecrated ears they are to listen to God with consecrated feet they go into God's presence to serve and with their consecrated hands they serve and minister at the table. In future fellowship offerings after the priests are fully consecrated the officiating priest would receive the right thigh of the ram to eat and the other priests would receive the breast of the ram to eat and the rest of the meat would be given to the ordinary Israelites to eat.

[30:36] However on this occasion because the priests are not yet consecrated it's Moses himself who is consecrating the priests he takes the right thigh and then the breast is given the breast is given to Moses to eat rather and then the right thigh is burned up and then the proper offerings are waived before the Lord presented to him and then Aaron and his sons later get to partake in the rest of the meat as we see in verses 31 to 34.

[31:04] And note that this whole process of ordaining the priests and consecrating them and the altar it takes seven days that's repeated three times in this passage.

[31:17] Verses 35 to 37 Thus you shall do to Aaron and to his sons according to all that I have commanded you through seven days shall you ordain them and every day you shall offer a bull as a sin offering for atonement also you shall purify the altar when you make atonement for it and you shall anoint it to consecrate it seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it.

[31:38] The number seven is symbolic of completeness because God created the world in six days and then rested on the seventh day so it was all finished in seven days and we're going to look at this a little more closely in a couple weeks but throughout the tabernacle narrative we find this phrase Lord said to Moses exactly seven times six times it is connected to various instructions regarding the construction of the tabernacle and on the seventh time it is connected to the instruction regarding the Sabbath again Exodus 31 and that's intentional so the construction of the tabernacle mirrors in one sense the creation of the world it's kind of a miniature universe a new creation that God is bringing about for the sake of his people and so it takes seven days completeness of days for the priest to be consecrated it's not going to take a few minutes it's not going to take a few hours it's a rigorous process because going into the presence of God and ministering there is no small matter and this process of consecration will have to be repeated generation after generation because Aaron will eventually die and his sons will eventually die and their sons will have to succeed them and them succeeded by their sons it says in verses 28 to 30 it shall be for Aaron and his sons as a perpetual due from the people of Israel for it is a contribution it shall be a contribution from the people of Israel from their peace offerings their contribution to the Lord the holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him they shall be anointed within them and ordained in them the son who succeeds him as priest who comes into the tent and meeting to minister in the holy place shall wear them seven days this is an important note because the succession plan reminds us that the Aaronic priesthood is only a provisional and temporary solution to our problems it offers no ultimate abiding solution to the problem of how a holy God can dwell among a sinful people and it wasn't meant to provide a permanent solution because it was only meant to point to the ultimate solution that God provides for us in Jesus

[34:04] Hebrews 7 23 to 28 I want to project that for you on the screen it says this now there have been many of those priests since death prevented them from continuing in office but because Jesus lives forever he is a permanent priesthood therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them such a high priest truly meets our need one who is holy blameless pure set apart from sinners exalted above the heavens unlike the other high priests he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people he sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself for the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness but the oath which came after the law appointed the son who has been made perfect forever day after day

[35:04] Aaron and his sons needed to make first sacrifices for themselves their own sins and then again for the sins of the people it's like the labors of Sisyphus in Greek mythology there's a king named Sisyphus who reigned over what is now modern day Corinth and the man manages to cheat death twice and the so called god of death Hades is angry that this king cheated death and so he punishes him so Sisyphus has to roll this huge boulder up a hill and every time the boulder nears the top it just rolls right back down and he has to start all over again in endless cycle and that's why sometimes people refer to futile labors and difficult labors as Sisyphian that's what the Aaronic priest's labors were like will there ever be an end to this interminable work more blood more animals more sprinkling will God ever deliver us decisively from sin and death every time they made sacrifices for sin there would be still more sin to deal with on the following day every time it was ultimately futile because

[36:31] Hebrews 10 4 tells us it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins these sacrifices were not meant to be the solution they were meant to point to God's ultimate solution in Jesus our great high priest and Jesus offers himself up his own life his own body on the cross as a sacrifice for sins once and for all so that we never have to repeat that sacrifice again that's why we don't call communion a mass or a sacrifice it's not a sacrifice the sacrifice has been finished it's been offered once and for all so we now commune with him in his fellowship meal we eat with God because the sacrifice has already been made and we follow this order remember the order of the sin offering and then the burnt offering and then the fellowship offering Jesus offers our sin offering and then we offer up ourselves as the burnt offering of worship and that's what the following verses talk about in the consecration of the

[37:41] Israelites in verses 38 to 46 after the consecration of the priests it gives us some instructions about the regular sacrifices that are to be made after the consecration period is over and this includes two lambs a year old day by day regularly one in the morning one at twilight that are to be sacrificed and remember that the burnt offering is the one where the whole thing is burned up entirely into smoke and I mentioned to you before that the Bible theologically connects the bronze altar in the courtyard where the sacrifices are burnt is connected to the golden incense the altar of incense inside the holy place they both are square they both have horns on its corners and they both have things burning on it at the same time at the bronze altar twilight and in the morning the sacrifice burnt offering is offered and literally to burn that's the word burn in Hebrew is to turn into smoke you turn the offering into smoke and that smoke ascends and that smoke ascending to God as a pleasing aroma is represented by the incense right before the most holy place in the golden altar and so those two things are connected and so this is

[38:57] God the Israelites as they consecrate themselves to God offer themselves up to them as that becomes a pleasing aroma to God and worship to him think again of what an extravagant offering the burnt offering is some of you guys are meat lovers not once twice a day the whole lamb is gone it's burnt up the leg of lamb what's your favorite meat the lamb shank the lamb loin chops all of it's gone to the flames I'm sure I'm not alone in having the experience of the pain of leaving your meat too long in the oven so it's burnt to a crisp and it's unfit for human consumption you open that the smoke comes out and you go what a waste maybe you still eat it because you can't waste it what a waste all of that tasty choice meat which should have been for my mouth and for my stomach all gone up in flames that's the point of the burnt offering it's lavish it's extravagant it spares no expense because

[40:26] God is worthy of that worship is not a context to be frugal or stingy God's people are not to reserve any part of their sacrifice for burnt offering or any part of their own lives for themselves they are to be wholly given to him and wholly devoted to his service they are not to love God with half of their hearts they are to love him with their whole heart whole soul and whole mind and whole strength and that's how we ought to live brothers and sisters Romans 12 wanted to I appeal to you therefore brothers and sisters by the mercies of God to resent your bodies as a living sacrifice holy and acceptable to God which is your spiritual worship do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewal of your mind that by testing you may discern what is the will of God what is good and acceptable and perfect if a part of us is conformed to this world rather than transformed in accordance with

[41:35] God's will then we are not fully consecrated to God then we are not being offered to God as a whole burnt offering we were just singing about this in my heart in my soul I give you control consume me burn me up consume me from the inside out do you mean that brothers and sisters what part imagine a room that represents your entire life everything that's in your life is represented in this room in some object and imagine you gave God free reign to roam about the room to grab whatever he wants and he can take it for himself what would be the object the thing in your life that you would start to get nervous about and say oh got anything but that what is it your romances your finances your friends your children your career let us not be stingy with

[43:01] God and withhold a part of our lives from his sovereign rule instead let's give it all up lavishly extravagantly pour out our love on him because he's given us himself in Jesus because Christ our great anointed priest offered himself as a sin offering on our behalf because he's died once and for all on the cross for our sins we can now offer ourselves up as burnt offerings to God as a pleasing aroma when we turn from our sin and live in faith and obedience and consecrate ourselves to him that's when God sends his Holy Spirit to indwell us to dwell with us just like God dwelled in the tabernacle and met with God's people in the old covenant there that's what the Lord had promised remember these summary verses there I will meet with the people of Israel and you shall be sanctified by my glory

[44:02] I will dwell among the people of Israel and will be their God and they shall know that I am the Lord their God who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them I am the Lord their God that's God's heart for you to know him so that he might meet you there and so he might dwell with you that's God's heart for you this morning and where is that there we don't have the tabernacle anymore that there is Jesus he is the new tabernacle he is the great high priest he is where the great ultimate sacrifice was offered and God says there in Jesus I will meet you that's why we see this amazing and wonderful phrase again and again throughout the scriptures in the new testament we are in Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God in Christ

[45:03] Jesus there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation the old has passed away behold the new has come brothers and sisters and friends who do not yet know the Lord Jesus there God will meet you if you come to Jesus let's pray together God Father we love that phrase We love those words it's our greatest boast our greatest confidence that we are in Christ We had no way to save ourselves we had no way to approach you in your holiness.

[46:12] So Father, thank you for sending your son, Jesus, to make a way for us. And Lord Jesus, thank you for offering yourself up for us as the sin offering.

[46:30] Thank you for redeeming us from our slavery to sin and death. Help us all, every day, every single moment of our lives by faith and obedience to consecrate ourselves to you.

[46:47] That we might be an acceptable living sacrifice, pleasing to you, Lord. We pray all this in Jesus' name.

[47:01] Amen.