The ancient Israelites were given an opportunity to be forgiven of their sin. These sacrifices ultimately pointed to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Leviticus 3: Laws for Peace Offerings
1 "If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD.
2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar.
3 And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the LORD, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails,
4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys.
5 Then Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire; it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
6 "If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish.
7 If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the LORD,
8 lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it in front of the tent of meeting; and Aaron's sons shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.
9 Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering he shall offer as a food offering to the LORD its fat; he shall remove the whole fat tail, cut off close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails
10 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys.
11 And the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the LORD.
12 "If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD
13 and lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar.
14 Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to the LORD, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails
15 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys.
16 And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the LORD's.
17 It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood."
Leviticus 4: Laws for Sin Offerings
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
2 "Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally in any of the LORD's commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them,
3 if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the LORD for a sin offering.
4 He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the LORD.
5 And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting,
6 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the LORD in front of the veil of the sanctuary.
7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the LORD that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
8 And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall remove from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails
9 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys
10 (just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offerings); and the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering.
11 But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung---
12 all the rest of the bull---he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up.
13 "If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt,
14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting.
15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be killed before the LORD.
16 Then the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting,
17 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD in front of the veil.
18 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the tent of meeting before the LORD, and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting.
19 And all its fat he shall take from it and burn on the altar.
20 Thus shall he do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven.
21 And he shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.
22 "When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the LORD his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt,
23 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish,
24 and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD; it is a sin offering.
25 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering.
26 And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
27 "If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt,
28 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed.
29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering.
30 And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.
31 And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
32 "If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish
33 and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering.
34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar.
35 And all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the LORD's food offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.
Things to think about…
1. The laws of the Peace Offering in Lev 3 represent a communion between the offeror, the priest and the Lord. This is represented in the church where there is peace with each other under the blessing of being unified and at peace with our Lord Jesus. The fatty parts were to be left for the Lord. These represented the best most tender meat – not all fat necessarily. When Eli’s sons ate the best for themselves this showed that they had no honour for the Lord and Eli did not discipline his sons for their abhorrent service, 1Sam 2:29. They were judged by the Lord as a result. When we come together as a church our first fruits of worship, service, finances and praise should go to the Lord. When we do not offer the best of ourselves to the Lord we can be sure we have an idol in our lives. In such cases our Lord is getting the left overs.
2. The “Peace offering” represents the peace that the Lord has made with us through the offering of Christ’s blood on our behalf. The priest laid his hand upon the offering to show the transference of judgement from the guilty party onto the offering, Lev 3:2, 8. God the Father laid His hand upon God the Son to transfer the punishment that was due for us and laid it upon Jesus. Jesus as the Prince of Peace has now allowed us to have peace with the Father.
3. Sometimes we do things and we don’t realise they are against the Lord. These are unintentional sins. Sometimes we will do something and later have it revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, possibly through the words of someone else that what we have done has not been right. When this happened in ancient Israel a bull was required to be brought and offered before the Tent of Meeting and offered on the altar. Priests were not exempt, Lev 4:3. Thank God our sin is covered by the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. What about when Israel as a nation sins unintentionally, Lev 4:13, but then realise their guilt? This happened in Josiah’s day when the law had not been read or practised for many years due to Manasseh’s many years of apostate (wrong) worship, 2Chr 33. The Lord required the same sacrifice – a bull. We are called to confess our sins one to another, Jam 5:16 knowing that our sin has been covered once and for all by our Lord’s one sacrifice on the cross. Praise God!
5. If a leader sins unintentionally, the offering of a male goat without blemish was required, Lev 4:22, 23, but if anyone of the common people sinned unintentionally, a female goat without blemish was required, Lev 4:27, 28. The priest would lay his hand on the goat and sacrifice it. The blood was then put on the corners (horns) of the altar and poured over the altar. Jesus has poured out His blood for us. Those in leadership have a greater responsibility before the Lord and hence a different account (offering) is given. This echoes James 3:1 – there is more strict judgement on teachers. Note that after the offerings had been made, Lev 4:35 – there is the declaration “he shall be forgiven”. Praise God for this wonderful truth. We serve a God of mercy and grace, we are forgiven of our sin in Jesus Christ, Rom 10:9.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Cell groups off over the school holidays.
Prayer Points
1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to fall at CBC this year. Acts 2 next week.
2. Pray for the new year that 2024 may be when the Lord visits his people. May He begin with me.
3. Pray for the families that have lost loved ones in the storms over the new year period. Pray for Christ’s peace.
4. Please continue to pray for Glenys Zawada. Back for rehab as a day patient.
5. The conflicts in Israel and Ukraine. Praise for the peace of Jesus to reign.
6. Mathys has a prayer time at church on Monday afternoons. He would be happy for you to join him and to send prayer requests.
7. That we be bold in our witnessing for Christ. Pray for a heart to see those around you to be saved. Pray for the blessing over the new pastoral care and hosting program.
8. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points
1. Praise the Lord for His presence on Sunday’s message and ministry – new folk at the church.
2. Praise God for the new year. Pray He gets the glory as we make our plans that He guides our steps.
3. Steve Hawkins remarkable recovery.
4. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Leaders meeting after church this Sunday in the house
2. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
3. Tune in again this week on our YouTube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for January...
Q. 16. Who were our first parents? A. Adam and Eve.
