Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20000726.htm

LEVITICUS: GOD'S CALL FOR A SEPARATED WITNESS
Part I: The Path To Gaining Fellowship With God (Leviticus 1-10)
H. God's Signal For Our Resting In The Effectiveness Of Christ's Death
(Leviticus 6:24-30)
  1. Introduction
    1. A number of segments in Christendom hold that more is needed than just faith in Christ's atonement for someone to please God enough to fellowship with Him. Suggestions of faith along with penance, baptism, giving to the Church, helping the poor, etc. are suggested to solidify our acceptance by God.
    2. Leviticus 6:24-30 signals that we rest in the effectiveness of the cross regarding our acceptance by God:
  2. God's Signal For Our Resting In The Effectiveness Of Christ's Death, Leviticus 6:24-30.
    1. In Leviticus 6:24-25b, the Lord revealed the animal used for the sin offering was to be slain in the same geographical location as was the animal for the burnt offering.
    2. This call for the same location for the death of both sacrificial animals came with the observation that the location itself was "most holy," (NIV & KJV) or very separate from sin, Leviticus 6:25c.
    3. If we go back to the descriptions and lessons learned from the burnt and sin offerings respectively, we see the enormous lesson God has for us on the effectiveness of Christ's death in our behalf:
      1. The burnt offering signaled the substitutionary offering of Jesus Christ in our behalf, and that it was an entirely acceptable offering by God pictured in how it was completely consumed by fire, Leviticus 1:9b. In other words, the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ in our behalf was totally acceptable by the Father to meet His righteous demands that our sin be adequately punished, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
      2. On the other hand, the sin offering pictured the fact that every sin, even unintentional sin, needed to be covered in Christ's atonement for us to be acceptable by a perfect, sinless God, Lev. 4:3-4a; 5:1-13.
        1. The sin offering was demanded where even unintentional sins had been committed, Lev. 4:3-4a.
        2. Detailed illustrations are supplied in Leviticus 5:1-4 as to what situations would define such sins.
        3. This offering made allowances so even unintentional sins of the poor could be atoned, Lev. 5:5-13.
      3. Combining these two offerings, Leviticus 6:24-25b signaled that Christ's death completely satisfied the demands of a holy God even for the most unintentional sins of every human, rich or poor:
        1. As Christ was our burnt offering, He was seen as so sinless by the Father thae He was totally capable to atone for our sins with infinite effectiveness! (2 Corinthians 5:21)
        2. Also, as He was our sin offering, He covered every even unintentional sins by every man.
        3. Hence, for both sacrifices to be done in the same LOCATION, God signaled we can rest in the all-sufficient effectiveness of the cross: the offering of Jesus which so acceptable by the Father also sufficiently covers even unintentional sins done by rich men or poor men alike!
        4. Thus, though Jesus received the wrath of God poured out on Himself on the cross, since it was not for His sin, but for our sin that He was thus treated, we can rest assurred that our Savior's death sufficiently appeased a Holy God's wrath that we are totally acceptable to Him in Christ!
      4. This wonderful lesson is augmented by remaining instructions in Leviticus 6:26-30 as follows:
        1. As the priest offering the sin offering was to eat it in the holy tabernacle courtyard, it signaled we have full fellowship with God because of our acceptance in His Beloved Son, 6:26 with Eph. 1:6b.
        2. The extreme holiness of the animal's blood or any part of its body as seen in its capacity to sanctify all that these even touched further revealed the power of purification in Christ's cross, 6:27-28.
        3. The fact that any male in the priest's family could eat of the priest's portion reveals how all believer-priests in the Church era are totally acceptable by God due to cleansing in Christ, 6:29.
        4. Finally, the fact that the part of the offering brought to the tabernacle was to be consumed by fire and not eaten by men shows the Father's satisfying fellowship with believers due to the cross, 6:30!
Lesson: Christ was so RIGHTEOUS, making His substitutionary death for us so ACCEPTABLE to the Father that IN Him the believer enjoys ABUNDANT cleansing, acceptance and fellowship with the Father, and can have abundant acceptance and fellowship with other believers, cf. 1 John 1:1-4.

Application: (1) Let us RELAX in our acceptance with the Father. (2) Let us walk in the light that we might enjoy equally abundant fellowship with God and with one another in Christ, 1 John 1:3, 5-7.