[0:00] So Leviticus chapter 8, the word of God says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments and the anointing oil, and the bowl of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread, and assemble all the congregation at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
[0:17] So Moses did, just as the Lord commanded him. And when the congregation was assembled at the doorway of the tent of meeting, Moses said to the congregation, This is the thing which the Lord has commanded to do.
[0:27] Then Moses had Aaron and his sons come near and wash them with water, and he put the tunic on him and girded him with a sash, and clothed him with a robe, and put the ephod on him, and he girded him with the artistic band of the ephod, with which he tied it to him.
[0:42] Then he placed the breastpiece on him, and in the breastpiece he put the urim and thummon. He also placed the turban on his head, and on the turban as its front, he placed the golden plate, the holy crown, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
[0:58] Moses then took the anointing oil and anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it, and consecrated them. He sprinkled some of it on the altar seven times, and anointed the altar and all its utensils in the basin and its stand to consecrate them.
[1:10] Then he poured some of the anointing oil on Aaron's head, and anointed him to consecrate him. Next Moses had Aaron's sons come near and clothe them with the tunics, and girded them with sashes and bound caps on them, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
[1:23] Then he brought the bull of the sin offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the bull of the sin offering. Next Moses slaughtered it and took the blood with his finger, and put some of it around on the horns of the altar, and purified the altar.
[1:38] Then he poured out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar, and consecrated it to make atonement for it. He also took all the fat that was on the entrails, and the lobe of the liver, and the two kidneys, and their fat, and Moses offered it up in smoke on the altar.
[1:51] But the bull and its hide and its flesh and its refuge, he burned in the fire outside the camp, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he presented a ram of the burnt offering, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram.
[2:05] Moses slaughtered it and sprinkled the blood around on the altar. When he had cut the ram into its pieces, Moses offered up the head and the pieces and the soot in smoke. And after he had washed the entrails and the legs with water, Moses offered up the whole ram in smoke on the altar.
[2:21] It was a burnt offering for a soothing aroma. It was an offering by fire to the Lord, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Then he presented the second ram, the ram of ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on the head of the ram, and Moses slaughtered it and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron's right ear, and on the thumb of his right hand, and on the big toe of his right foot.
[2:42] He also had Aaron's sons come near, and Moses put some of the blood on the lobe of their right ear, and on the thumb of their right hand, and on the big toe of their right foot. Moses then sprinkled the rest of the blood around on the altar.
[2:54] He took the fat and the fat tail and all the fat that was on the entrails, and the lobe of the liver and the two kidneys, and their fat and the right thigh. And from the basket of unleavened bread that was before the Lord, he took one unleavened cake and one cake of bread mixed with oil and one wafer and placed them on the portions of fat and on the right thigh.
[3:11] And he then put all these on the hands of Aaron and on the hands of his sons and presented them as a wave offering before the Lord. Then Moses took from their hands and offered them up in smoke on the altar with the burnt offering.
[3:23] They were an ordination offering for a soothing aroma. It was an offering by fire to the Lord. Moses also took the breast and presented it for a wave offering before the Lord. It was Moses' portion of the ram of ordination, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.
[3:37] So Moses took some of the anointing oil and some of the blood which was on the altar and sprinkled it on Aaron and on his garments and on his sons and on the garments of his sons with him. And he consecrated Aaron, his garments and his sons, and the garments of his sons with him.
[3:50] Verse 31. Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons, Boil the flesh at the doorway of the tent of meeting. Eat it there together with the bread, which is in the basket of the ordination offering, just as I commanded, saying, Aaron and his sons shall eat it.
[4:04] The remainder of the flesh and of the bread you shall burn in the fire, and you shall not go outside the doorway of the tent of meeting for seven days until that day that the period of your ordination is fulfilled, for he will ordain you through seven days.
[4:18] The Lord has commanded to do as has been done this day, to make atonement on your behalf. At the doorway of the tent of meeting, moreover, you shall remain day and night for seven days and keep the charge of the Lord so that you will not die.
[4:32] For so I have been commanded. Thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded through Moses. Leviticus 8. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you so much that you've allowed us to gather together tonight.
[4:46] We thank you, Lord, for your faithfulness. Thank you, Lord, for your love and your concern for each one of us. And Lord, we pray as we have read your word, Lord, that there would be clarity of it, that we would understand the truth that it contains.
[4:59] And Lord, that the understanding would lead to an application in our lives. Lord, that it would be much more than reading a historical record. Lord, that we would understand what it means to be agents of access.
[5:12] Those who have the privilege and the opportunity of being the people you use to draw others to yourself. Lord, we thank you for this day and we give you praise and we ask it all in Jesus' name.
[5:22] Amen. It is here in Leviticus 8 that we see the ordination of the priests. That God has provided a way to his presence through the sacrificial system.
[5:33] But that sacrificial system depended upon these agents, the men, that would actually offer the sacrifice. It is astounding to me, even in gospel terminology, that God has provided the sacrifice.
[5:46] And that sacrifice is Jesus Christ. But yet God has limited the access of that sacrifice to man. That is, he still depends upon the church to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[6:03] Now, it is true, and I've heard numerous accounts through conventions and other meetings that we went to, that God is in the business of revealing himself through dreams and visions today.
[6:13] It doesn't happen so much in our American soul, though it does happen some. But it happens a lot in countries that are close to the gospel, that God continuously reaches out to people. Especially in Muslim nations, there are dreams and visions, and they see this individual, this sacrifice who died for them, that God has provided a way into his presence.
[6:33] But one thing that is rung true with every one of those testimonies is that the individuals that have those dreams or the visions do not come to that sacrifice without the agent that is of man.
[6:48] That God gives these dreams and these visions, and people see this thing, and inevitably, God always brings a person, a missionary or a church planner or some other individual who just happens to be passing through, this agent who explains the vision or the dream to them.
[7:08] That access to the holy is through a sacrifice. We know we're not following through the temple sacrificial system. We are believing in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But that sacrifice is only made applicable or carried out through the agents, that is, the priest.
[7:24] The sacrifices that God commanded made no sense if there weren't individuals who offer these sacrifices daily in the temple. Access would never have been granted if these priests hadn't have been ordained or called.
[7:37] Now, we do also understand that God had called the entire nation of Israel to be priests to him. It says in Exodus, you are priests to the Lord your God. This is the truth that we do not need to let escape our notice.
[7:49] God called them a nation of priests. We want to see the degrading nature of sin. God called them as a nation to be a nation of priests. Through their rebellion and rejection and failure, they eventually became a nation with priests.
[8:09] Big difference. God wanted the entire nation to be priests for him. This was his desire. That was his purpose. That was his plan. And they kept saying, well, we'll let Moses go here.
[8:20] We don't know here. And eventually, God said, okay, I'll make you a nation with priests. Today, God has called the church to be a church of priests. And unfortunately, many believers would rather be a church with priests.
[8:35] Why? Because we feel like that frees us from responsibility. And that is simply not the case. Because God has not lightened the call or lightened the responsibility.
[8:48] God has really increased it and called the believers to be a priesthood of believers to serve him. So what we see here is something we need to understand.
[8:59] As a matter of fact, I was reading one commentary on this. And he was talking about the church. He is a college professor in one of the great seminaries of our Southern Baptist Convention. And he was speaking of the church in which he belonged. He said, every member of our church has to sign a covenant.
[9:11] And in that covenant, to become a member of our church, and he is just a member. He's not the pastor. It says, you will serve in the church in some capacity.
[9:26] Because our understanding is that God has not called anybody to be members just to sit. He's called us to serve. And we say, wow, that's a radical stance.
[9:37] It is, but it's also biblical. Because he's called us to be a priesthood of believers. So we look at this ordination of the priests. This God setting them apart. That's all an ordination is, is setting you apart.
[9:48] I remember my own ordination service. I've been through two ordination services. I was ordained as a deacon. Very special time. Probably a little younger than I should have been. But God, in his grace and mercy, had led me to a good group of men who had called.
[10:00] And I remember my deacon ordination. I remember that very clearly in my life. And I remember what God was doing in 2004 when he had led me to that position in the church. And surrounded me and been there.
[10:12] And then I remember just a couple of years later, my ordination as a pastor. I had already began preaching. So the ordination as a pastor. I remember those services very clearly. Because they are the setting apart of being called to serve.
[10:25] And it is a setting apart because God had commissioned or put a calling upon an individual's life. And it was a declaration that this is what it is. And from this point on, this is what I'm going to do. And those ordination services are not something to be taken lightly.
[10:38] They are not just a display for a piece of paper to be hung on the wall. It is the launching point of the service God had called me to. And what we see here with Aaron and his sons, it is this is the launching point.
[10:52] The reality is that God has ordained every one of us to serve in some capacity. We may not all serve in the same capacity. And we praise God that we don't.
[11:02] But he has called us and ordained us to serve in some capacity. So I want us to see this. What it is like in this ordination service here in Leviticus 8. And then we'll get a greater understanding of being God's agents of access.
[11:17] Number one, we see that this is a public recognition. We notice their public recognition. It says, Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the anointing oil, and the bull, the sin offering, and the two-round, and the basket of unleavened bread, and assemble all the congregation.
[11:36] In just a few verses, this is repeated some three times. Assemble all the congregation. And it says in just another verse or two, And when all the congregation was assembled at the tent of meeting.
[11:46] And then Moses said to all the congregation, What we see here is that this ordination service was a public event.
[11:57] It was something that was opened up to every individual that was a part of the people of God. The congregation would be the nation of Israel here. It wasn't something that was a private matter.
[12:09] It was not something that was just between Aaron and his sons and Moses. This is, everything that transpires here is a direct result of the command of God. God says, God says, the Lord says, according to the Lord's command, according to the will of the Lord.
[12:24] Every bit of this is following the directive of the Lord who is commanding them to do it. And the very first thing he commands them to do is to make this public. To put it before everyone, probably one of the most unnerving things that happened with my ordination services, at least in Southern Baptist life, especially in Tennessee Baptist convention, is that if a Southern Baptist or Tennessee Baptist church is ordaining an individual, you let every church in the association know you're about to ordain someone.
[12:51] And it is opened up to any other believer in the association can come. There is this time of question and inquiry. So there's preceding the service where everyone is there, there's a time when any other ordained individual in the association can come and examine you.
[13:09] When it comes to being ordained as a pastor, they not only examine you, they examine your wife. Because they're looking at each individual. But as a deacon, they set you. So they set you in a room and whoever wants to come can come.
[13:21] And for some reason or another, I don't know, maybe some people knew me or something, but there were a number of pastors who came to my deacon ordination and really wanted to question and examine me. But that's okay because it was a public event.
[13:32] It was something that was opened. It was something that was announced. And God sets the standard. Really, this is the standard for this. Because this is the first ordination service we see in all of Scripture. And the very thing God tells us is it is something public.
[13:46] It is something we're going to put on display. And we're going to let everyone who wants to come, come. And we're going to ask people to come. We see this being followed through in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 6, when they ordained the deacons.
[13:57] It's another public event, right? The entire church is a portion and a part of it. But what we see is that this is a public recognition and a public display. And it is that way twofold.
[14:09] Number one, this public or the publicity of it lets everyone else know who's making this decision. It lets everyone else know who's answering this call. And therefore, it gives everyone else the right to hold them accountable to their call.
[14:25] It gives everyone that witnessed it and saw it and watched it. Say, well, wait a minute. Aren't you the one who said? Aren't you the one who answered?
[14:37] You're making a vow. Ordination is a vow. And Scripture is very clear. It says, do not be quick to make a vow. Because if you're going to make a vow, you need to be sure to fulfill that vow. Because it's better not to vow and not fulfill than it is to vow and not to fulfill.
[14:50] Don't make a promise. Be very reserved in the promises you make, especially to the Lord. And that's what an ordination is saying. God has called me. I'm going to answer that call. And the reason you put it on public display is because other people, therefore, have the right to hold you accountable to that promise.
[15:05] You say, well, I'm glad I didn't go through that. Well, there's a reason why Jesus Christ has called his people to make a public profession of faith, which we call baptism. Because baptism is probably one of the greatest public displays of faith.
[15:19] And therefore, it gives the church the right. Every baptismal candidate that I talk to say, you're going to make a public profession of faith in Jesus Christ through believer's baptism. And therefore, it gives a right to the church to hold you accountable to your walk.
[15:35] Why? Because now you are ordained as a priest. You are called to walk in faithfulness. And you're called to walk in love and concern. And the second reason is because being a priest, especially this, is all about people.
[15:47] It's about the public. It is not just about your private life. You don't serve the Lord your God for your own benefit. If you're Aaron, you're not just there for you. You're serving on behalf of people.
[15:58] And it is connected to people. And it is connected to others. As priests of Jesus Christ, as followers of Jesus Christ. I know that word, when we use that word, sometimes we cringe and we pull back from it.
[16:09] And I understand it because man has used it in a false way. But as followers of Jesus Christ, we have been called to serve people. And in case we miss it, serving people is a very public matter.
[16:24] We see the public recognition and the public display of this ordination. Number two, not only do we see the public recognition, we see the provisions needed or the provided necessities.
[16:35] That which God provided for them. We'll get to the washing in just a moment. But what we see here in verse 6 is, Then Moses and Aaron and his sons come near and wash them with water. We'll get to that. He put the tunic on him and girded him with the sash and clothed him with a robe.
[16:51] And put the ephod on him and he girded him with the artistic band of the ephod with which he tied it to him. He placed a breast piece on him and the breast piece he put in the urim and the thumim. He also placed a turban on his head and on the turban at its front.
[17:03] He placed a golden plate, the holy crown, just as the Lord had commanded Moses. Now he's being clothed, right? Why? Because when you answer this call, you're clothed. You look differently. And he is clothing him.
[17:14] And one thing that we need to remember from the book of Exodus is that Aaron didn't make these clothes. These weren't his clothes. All the skilled artisans made these.
[17:25] Now you need to also remember, we don't have time, they're not described for us here in all of their clarity. But remember the beauty of them. They were set apart. They looked different. As a matter of fact, the clothing of the priest matched the color of the tabernacle.
[17:41] So that if you looked at him and you looked at the tabernacle, the two matched. So you could say, he belongs here. And wherever he went, he matched here.
[17:52] It was a reminder to everyone who was looking on, this man is about the business of the Lord. But it was also a reminder to Aaron, what I'm wearing reflects the tabernacle, which means I am to be about the business of the Lord.
[18:06] And this clothing was provided. This was something that was given to him. Not that he had to earn, not that he had to work for, not that he had to labor, not that he had to bring of his own. He was clothed with this.
[18:18] This is the same thing we see with believers today. You are clothed with his righteousness. That is the white robe of the saints, really we see in Revelation. But you are also covered with the Holy Spirit, which is a reminder.
[18:30] You are to look like the church, no matter where you're at. There's not a time when we put on church, right? No matter where you're at, you are to look like the church. Your life should be a reflection, a matching reflection of the bride of Christ.
[18:46] You ought to be a mirror image, what you walk around looking like on a daily basis. People should look at you and look at the church, at least in a good way, right?
[18:58] Unfortunately, so many look here and then look at the church. Yeah, that's the problem with the church. They ought to be able to look at us and look at the church in its beauty and its splendor and say, yes, they belong there. They belong to this great and marvelous thing.
[19:09] They belong to this thing that is an agent of change in the world. We ought to reflect that which we are a part of. We ought to reflect it in our appearance, and that is the church.
[19:20] And we ought to be members of that. And it is a reminder to the people around us that we are a part of the church, and it is a reminder to us that we are a part of the church, right?
[19:31] It is to stir us to live faithfully. But not only this, he goes down and it says, And Moses took the anointing oil, and he anointed the tabernacle and all that was in it and consecrated it. And so anointing oil is so important in Scripture.
[19:42] And he takes the anointing oil, and he anoints everything in the tabernacle. He anoints the table and all the pieces. And he sprinkles them seven times. It's repetitious. And he takes the same oil, and he pours it on the head of Aaron.
[19:53] Now, this is more than just wiping it across his forehead. It says elsewhere in Scripture that the anointing oil would run off your head and run through your beard and drip off your beard. It is to be completely covered with the oil.
[20:04] We do not need to miss the point that the same thing he used to anoint the tabernacle is the same thing he used to anoint Aaron. Again, there's a connection. That if you are ordained to be an agent of access, then you are directly connected to the place of access.
[20:19] He was anointed with the same oil. But also, the anointing is something that was a very common practice of this time. If you were traveling and you were making your way through a strange land, if you were sojourning, if you will, and you came upon an individual's house, because there's no hotel or anywhere like that to stay, so you'd stay in an individual's house.
[20:36] You would be dirty and filthy and all these different things. And when you walked in, they would often anoint you. They would pour oil upon your head. And this anointing was a sign that you are welcome here.
[20:48] You are now a part of our family. This is really where we get the picture of what biblical hospitality looks like. It is calling the stranger in and welcoming them into your presence.
[20:59] And you would be anointed to be with them. And it was a sign of your welcome here. So what we see with Aaron is God is providing a welcoming party, if you will.
[21:09] Here's the tabernacle with this anointing oil. And now, Aaron, you are welcome here. He pours the oil on Aaron. But the anointing in Scripture is also a picture of the filling of the Holy Spirit, because quite often through Scripture, anointing oil and the presence of the Holy Spirit are connected.
[21:28] So not only do we see that God is welcoming him here, that is, in his presence in the tabernacle, but God is also saying, everything you need to do here, I will provide for you.
[21:41] Through my presence. To be anointed was to say, God is providing everything I need. Here's the application for the believer today. Listen, we come in, he clothes us with his righteousness, he clothes us with the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, self-control, where we begin to look like the church all the time.
[22:05] And then he anoints us with the Holy Spirit, so that everything we need to do to be an agent of access, he is providing through us and for us. We see the provided necessities.
[22:18] Number three, not only do we see the public recognition, the provided necessities, number three, we see their purification. Because the reality is, Aaron and his sons are the priests.
[22:29] We get to the strange fire and the consuming of his sons and things of that nature. But we need to understand this. God is calling fallen man to be his agents of access to a fallen world.
[22:43] Not much has changed, right? God calls sinful man to use them to be the proclaimers of his glory and his majesty. And God calls Aaron in his fallen condition, his fallen nature, to be the one who would offer the sins or the sacrifices for the sins of the nation.
[23:02] But before Aaron could do that, he needed to be purified. Now the purification starts with the very first thing that happens. And as a matter of fact, it really would be an awkward time, if you're asking me, because it is a very public thing.
[23:14] But he gathers them together. Did you see the very first thing he did? He had them wash. Right? They took a bath. In front of everyone. It says, And then Moses had Aaron and his sons come near and wash them with water.
[23:27] Now this is a head-to-toe washing. This is literally bathing. And he did it in public, showing the cleansing of the flesh. Now this is important, because inside the tabernacle, there was a bronze basin.
[23:41] Remember that bronze basin that set up on the bulls that were facing? Twelve bulls, three facing this way, three facing this way, three that way, three that way. This bronze laver, this big bowl of water.
[23:54] Now what was that for? You remember? It's because when you went in to do your sacrifices, you could not offer your sacrifice with dirty hands. So before you could offer the sacrifice, you would cleanse, you would wash your hands in the bronze laver, offer the sacrifice, and then you would wash your hands in the laver again.
[24:10] That laver, that basin, that bowl, was used for the washing of hands. But it is here, before they got to the point of washing of hands, they had to wash their body. This should all of a sudden remind us of when Jesus washed the feet of the disciples and Jesus told the disciples, he who has bathed needs only to wash his feet to be cleansed.
[24:32] And the reason he was saying it is, once you've been purified once, you don't need to be bathed all over again. You just need to touch that which has been defiled by the world. There is a one time, singular, cleansing.
[24:46] And this is what we see here, one bath. But the hands that are defiled from being active in the world, that's continuously washed off in the bronze laver. The picture is this, we are cleansed once.
[24:59] We are renewed, and we confess, and we repent multiple times. So we see their purification starts with the bath they take, but it's not there because that just deals with the outward appearance, right?
[25:11] That just deals with the flesh. But we know that the outside of the body can be clean, but the inside of the body can still be rotten to its core. So now we need to deal with the inner portion. We need to deal with the redemption of their sin nature, not just the cleansing of their sinful body.
[25:24] So they are washed, and now they're going to be purified from the inside out. And there are three sacrifices that are offered, and they're offered in a very proper order. The first sacrifice, in verse 14, then he brought the bull of the sin offering.
[25:38] Do not miss the order of these sacrifices because they matter. The very first offering that could be offered for them was the offering of a sin offering.
[25:49] Now the sin offering is one of those five offerings that it never says that it's pleasing to the Lord because it is not pleasing. It is not a pleasing aroma to him when we sin. That word pleasing aroma just means he takes pleasure in it.
[26:02] God does not take pleasure in our sin. But they had to offer the sin offering. So they bring the bull, they place their hands upon the bull, and they are offered. For the other sacrifices, this sin offering, what was left over from this sacrifice, would be consumed by Aaron and the priests as a part of their meal, as a part of their eating, as a part of their provisions.
[26:24] But since it is recognized as Aaron and his sons, no one eats it because Moses takes the rest of it and burns it outside the camp because they can't eat that which they have identified themselves with.
[26:36] Right? They can't consume that which is for themselves. So before they could do anything, the sin had to be taken care of. Therefore, you have the sin offering. The second offering is the burnt offering.
[26:48] Now, we do not need to miss this because we would just have the tendency to read over them and say, oh, that's nice. But they dealt with their sin. Now they're going to deal with their fellowship because the burnt offering is described as when it is completely consumed by God.
[27:02] Everything's on the altar. Nothing comes off. The whole thing is burnt up to ash. And it is this offering that says, it was a soothing aroma to the Lord. God took pleasure in that. So what the burnt offering is is it says, we're giving all of ourselves to God.
[27:15] Now the reason we don't need to miss this is because until we deal with our sin, we cannot dedicate our lives completely to Him. So the sin is dealt with and then there's the dedication of their entirety to Him.
[27:30] And the third offering is the ordination offering. Now this is the only time we read of the ordination offering because it is speaking of in particular the ordination of Aaron and his sons.
[27:40] But the ordination offering is also the peace offering. And this is the one in which it offers and has the wave offering as a portion of it that connect it with the bread and the oil and all these things.
[27:52] And the picture is this. We deal with our sin. Our sin is cleansed and forgiven. We dedicate ourselves entirely to you, completely consumed, and you take pleasure in total dedication.
[28:04] And because of that, we now live in peace. That's the biblical order. Until we allow Him to deal with our sin problem and then we dedicate ourselves entirely to Him, there really is no peace.
[28:22] There really is no peace. And then they are purified. And this purification is more than an outward show of cleansing.
[28:34] It is an inward renewing of purification. So we see with their purification, finally we see their pattern of obedience. Because the priests are called to live a pattern of obedience.
[28:48] That third offering, the peace offering or the ordination offering, something very peculiar happens with the blood of that offering. In the other offerings, Moses does exactly what we would expect him to do.
[28:59] He takes it and he sprinkles it around the altar. He puts it on the horns of the altar and he pours the blood out just as God had commanded. But that third offering, that once Aaron and his sons have peace with God, then he takes some of the blood and he puts it on his right ear.
[29:15] And then he puts it on the thumb of his right hand. And then he puts it on the big toe of his right foot. And then he calls Aaron's sons and he does the same thing. He puts it on his right ear, he puts it on the thumb of his right hand and the big toe of his right foot.
[29:28] And what we see here is the beginning of their obedience. That those who live at peace with God now are in complete control or are to be completely controlled by God.
[29:41] That once we have had our sin atoned for and we have dedicated ourselves completely to him and we live at peace with him, then obedience is sure to follow. And we obey by being cautious of what we listen to, what we put our hands to, and what we allow our feet to go to.
[29:55] Obedience is determined because the blood is that which now determines what we hear, what we do, and where we go. And these are the steps that he is showing them that your walk, your pattern of obedience will be, you will be careful what you listen to, you will be careful what you put your hands to, and you will be careful where you allow your feet to lead you to, and it's all dictated by the peace one has with God.
[30:21] And they're living at peace with him and therefore they allow God to have control of them. Now we know that it doesn't happen permanently because we see them fall, but then Moses gives this command and he says, now take some of this food, take this portion, and we have the wave offering, and we're not going to take time to split all this up, but he's really going through all these peace offerings, and he says, now sit down and have a meal together, they have this great fellowship, and they're fellowshipping at the tent of meeting, which is really just this picture of fellowshipping in the presence of God.
[30:48] Not only they're fellowshipping with one another, Aaron and his sons, they're also communing with God, because they're at peace with him, right? Don't miss this picture. And then Moses says, don't leave.
[31:01] For seven days, you can't leave the tent of meeting, neither day nor night. We're going to do this every day. We're going to do the same thing over and over again, these same sacrifices over and over again to set the pattern of redemption, but don't leave.
[31:18] And then we read this passage, thus Aaron and his sons did all the things which the Lord had commanded through Moses. Friend, listen to me. I know this is a great Old Testament picture, but this picture is pointing to a New Testament reality.
[31:32] We are the priesthood of believers, and God has called us to live a pattern of obedience, that when he tells us to be still, we're still, and we don't leave, that we pay attention to what we listen to, we pay attention to what we put our hands to, we pay attention to where our feet lead us to, and if we're called to be still, we're still, and we do all that God has called us to because the reality is this, the sacrifice that paves the way to the presence of God has already been fulfilled in Jesus Christ, but he has made that sacrifice available to men through his agents of access, that is, the people of God, and the people of God are the very agents he uses to introduce other people to his access, and he has all ordained us to live obedient, faithful lives for his glory and his honor.
[32:23] Let's pray, and then we'll sing one more time and be dismissed. Lord, thank you so much. Lord, we praise you, we adore you, Lord, we love you, Lord, we long to serve you faithfully.
[32:35] Thank you for all you've done and all you've called us to, Lord, may we be your people for your glory and your honor. We ask it in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. Amen.
[33:42] Amen. Amen.
[34:42] Amen. Amen.
[35:42] Amen. Amen.
[36:42] Amen. Amen.
[37:13] Amen. Thank you.
[37:44] Thank you.
[38:14] Thank you.
[38:44] Thank you.
[39:14] Thank you.
[39:44] Thank you.
[40:14] Thank you.
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[42:14] Thank you.
[42:44] Thank you.
[43:14] Thank you.
[43:44] Thank you.
[44:14] Thank you.
[44:44] Thank you.