The Peace Offering, No. 2

Colossians 1:25-29

COL-438

We direct you to the Word of Hope this morning. Our subject is "The Error of Legalism," segment number 50, in Colossians 2:16-17.

We have been observing that the Mosaic Law was a good presentation of the expectations of God for the Jewish people. It was a good, and righteous, and holy compendium of how God wanted His people to conduct themselves. It was never a way of salvation. That terrible mistake was made by the Jewish people in time, and they have not shaken loose from it yet. So, the problem is that because they have not shaken loose from the idea that following the rules of the Mosaic Law will get them into heaven, Jews do not go to heaven, who believe that. They go into Hades, the holding pen, and eventually, they'll be put into the lake of fire. The sad thing about it is that they are part of the very special, favored, chosen people of God.

The Mosaic Law was a divine guide for the religious life of Israel, portraying the spiritual realities through a variety of symbols. Part of the symbols that we have looked at are the five sacrifices which the Jews offered. These sacrifices were pregnant with significant meaning. They weren't just empty routines. There was a reality behind them. The sacrifice did not achieve anything. You never got to heaven by killing an animal and shedding its blood. But the significance of what that animal represented – that was what Abraham put his trust in; that was what David was depending upon; that was what Moses understood; and, that was what all believers through the ages have understood – that salvation is a gift from the grace of God. Please remember that people in the Old Testament were saying the same way as we are: a gift from God; by doing nothing; and, by just believing that God said, "I'll take care of the problem, and I will do it in a way that is compatible with My Holiness. I'll pay the price of death for your sin, and I'll do it through my sinless son."

So, part of the symbols that represented all this person and work of Christ are the five sacrifices. These portrayed the coming Messiah Savior, His sacrifice for the sin of the world. Three of those sacrifices, we pointed out to you, were voluntary. You just decided, "I want to do this." Two more were obligatory. But these three have meaning that we see more and more, from our side of the picture of the New Testament, and the fulfillment of the arrival of Christ, and the fulfillment of salvation. We see what great pictures we're being portrayed by these sacrifices.

The Burnt Offering

The first one was the burnt offering which portrayed the death of Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God to pay the penalty for the sin of all mankind. But it was only a picture. The animal dying was a picture. It was not the reality that brought salvation. The book of Hebrews was written, in part, to Jews who had become Christians, and now were beginning to have second thoughts: "Maybe they made a mistake because they're not doing all the Mosaic Law system anymore."

We have good reason to believe the Paul wrote Hebrews but we don't know for sure, but the writer of the book in Hebrew says, "Get your head screwed on straight. That's always good advice. It is important in life to remember that things change. If you don't believe it, get a picture of yourself ten years ago. Get a picture of yourself twenty years ago, and you'll really have a fit. Things change. The problem is that things change inside. People who could once think straight, can't. People who could one focus, can't. And if you don't get things right when you can think it through, then you won't do it when you can't. And the writer of Hebrews said, "Let's get this straight."

In Hebrews 9:11-14, these people were Jews, but they're now Christians: "Boy, shouldn't we keep the sacrifices up? Shouldn't we be doing all those things?" Hebrews 9:11: "But when Christ appeared, as the high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater, and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands;" that is to say, "not of this creation." Jesus Christ, promised Messiah came. And He went into the temple to make covering for the sins of the people to bring forgiveness. He walked in, and He didn't do it through a building on this earth. It was into heaven itself that He offered and presented the completed sacrifice of His blood. And He probably did that before the other disciples saw Him on that resurrection day.

Verse 12 says, "And not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood (the sinless God-Man), He entered the holy place, once for all, having obtained eternal redemption." Finally, the priest who could never sit down, under the Mosaic Law, had to kill an animal, and another animal, and another animal, to keep covering the sins of the people. And that's all it was: a temporary covering, symbolic that God would someday completely remove it, because of their faith in the Messiah to come. When Jesus Christ did it, the job was finished.

The Catholics are deceiving people all over this nation, as Masses are being said, even as we speak – Masses of sacrificing Christ all over again. But Hebrew says, "When He entered that holy place up on that cross, the sacrifice was made once and for all, for eternal redemption. For is the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled those who had been defiled, sanctified for the cleansing of the flesh." And these things did – ceremonial purity. You sprinkled water, and you had the ashes of the red heifer. You spread that around. And that, again, symbolically brought ceremonial cleansing – not internal cleansing from sin. But if these material things of these animals brought ceremonial cleansing, so that the high priest could walk into the holy of holies on the great Day of Atonement, so that he wouldn't die on the spot, because he went through these ritualistic procedures, they didn't cleanse Him, but what they represented did.

Verse 14 says, "If that was true (those material things), how much more will the blood of Christ, Who, through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without blemish, the Sinless One, to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God." Be happy that you have been cleansed from dead works to serve the living God. Most religion in the United States is people going through stupid, dead ritualistic works, trying to get themselves cleansed, to be accepted by God, and they will never make it.

So, the burnt offering that the Jews would make was this reminder that there was someone who had to pay for their sins, other than themselves. And it was portrayed through the death of that animal. In Hebrews 10:4, we read, "For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." You cannot be saved by ritual. You cannot be saved by anything you do. Even the Protestant Reformers, because they were all Catholics originally, never fully broke loose from that sacramental system. They never fully shed themselves of the fact that taking the Lord's Supper doesn't somehow bring me forgiveness of sins.

Those of us who were reared in that kind of a system know how what that Lord's Supper means: "You better take it. You haven't done it in three months. You might kick the bucket." What is this? Oh, they say, "It's a means of grace." The Catholic said, "It's a means of salvation." It's not even the means of grace. Grace is free. If you had to use something that you had to do to get the grace of God, then it is not free.

Hebrews 2:9 says, "But we do see Him, Jesus Christ, Who has been made, for a little while, lower than the angels." In the order of God's creation, angels came first. They are a higher order than man, who came later. That's what this verse is saying. Angels are higher in the order of creation than men are. Now, when the Lord Jesus Christ took on humanity, He was the God Who had made the angels, but in His humanity, He placed Himself in the order of creatures lower than the angels: "But we do see Him (Christ the Messiah), Who was made for a little while, in His humanity, lower than the angels, namely Jesus, because of the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God, he might taste death for everyone."

Well, that's what He has done. He took your place in death. And the burnt offering portrayed this.

The Meal Offering

The Peace Offering

2 Corinthians 5:18-19: "All these things are from God, Who reconciled us to Himself." God reconciled us to Himself. You can't do it for yourself: "He reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation." Paraphrasing the phrase "gave us the ministry of reconciliation," is: "gave us the ministry of passing out evangelism brochures." You got it? So, you know what we're talking about. He gave us the ministry of reconciling people to God by giving them the information of how that's to be done.

Reconciliation

Verse 19: "Namely, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. He has given us the job of reconciling by witnessing to the gospel. "Reconciliation" means adjusting the lost center to the standard of absolute righteousness for entrance into heaven. Fellowship is established, but there is this whole terrible barrier of various blocks that keep us from God. And there is no way you're going to get to God. Reconciliation establishes peace between God and man, so that they can walk hand-in-hand. And that's what the peace offering portrayed: God, the Holy One; and, man, the sinful one. They are no longer at enmity with one another, but hand-in-hand. Now that's going to take some doing. And I remind you that that was the hardest thing. That was the worst thing, and the most magnificent thing that had to be done to remove the blocks, and God has done that for you. So, the next time you think you've got a problem in life, and the next time you're facing a situation that is so discouraging, and so desperate, just remember that God has already done the hardest thing for you. So, go to Him with that problem. That's the easier one. All the easy things are all that's left. This was the hard one – how to make it possible for people like all of us, with what we are as sinners, to walk the shores of heaven? And especially, how to make that possible for people out of the Marine Corps, who guard the streets of heaven. It took some real act of God to get them qualified.

So, here we are. Reconciliation brings peace between God and man. All of us are in the slave market of sin (Romans 6:18-19). We're the slaves of Satan. All of us have moral guilt before God (Romans 3:23). We're all guilty of sin. We're all spiritually dead (Romans 5:12). We cannot help ourselves spiritually. We cannot do anything spiritually. We're dead spiritually. Therefore, we're out of it. We face God's holiness. You have to be as good as Jesus Christ to be in heaven first (1 Peter 1:16). All of us are in the place of death, which is in Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22). If you want to go to heaven, you have to be in Christ. How are you going to do that? That's the problem, but God has removed all of it. The result is that reconciliation has been achieved. Man started off as friends of God. The wall has separated. So, they were back-to-back. The cross has come in. and the Father has been propitiated.

God never had to be reconciled. His justice had to be satisfied against sin. And that was paying the death penalty. Now man can turn and accept Christ as Savior by faith in Christ, and across the chasm of the cross, God and man shake hands. Now they are at peace. Man is reconciled, and God is propitiated. All that was done without any cost to you, but at great and terrible cost to God Himself.

So, the peace offering of Israel stressed all this. They didn't know the details like you have heard this morning. But the peace offering stressed the basis for peace with God – the death of Christ on the cross, bearing the sins of all mankind. And the Mosaic Law of peace offering portrayed the propitiation of God. And remember that the word "propitiation" means satisfaction – the satisfaction of God toward mans' sin. God's justice had been satisfied, and it portrayed the restoration of the lost sinner to fellowship with God. We were reconciled through this work of Christ. We were reconciled to Him. God has done that. The barrier has been removed. You want to enter into that reconciliation act. Acts 16:31: "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." When the Philippians jailer said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved." He did not say: "Pray to God that you will be saved."

Prayer Wheels

I've been reading a book (a novel by a very popular author) who has persistently at that critical point in his novel about how people are being saved. He has done some updating of the thing, of one kind or another, and his favorite expression is: "Praying the prayer or salvation." There is a very big difference between praying to be saved, and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. There are now thousands of people in Hades, awaiting their transfer into the lake of fire, who prayed to be saved. The Buddhists pray to be saved. The Muslims pray to be saved. The Catholics certainly pray to be saved. Will that save them – that praying? In Confucianism, they do believe that praying will save you. And, in order to make it more efficient, they have a prayer wheel, and little places where you clip-in your prayer request, and then you crank the handle. Every time it goes round, you have made that prayer. I've seen it.

"Praying to be Saved"

I walk by the Lama Temple when I was in China. And when nobody was looking to spin the wheel a couple of times, just to make sure you know. You never know (jokingly). Yeah, you do know. All of that is bunco. And praying to be saved is not a little thing. Do you know what people will say to you? I've had thousands of people who have written, who say that they have been saved by praying to be saved. Well, how do you know that? They believe that something has been done. If you take me as a sincere authority, and you come to me and say, "How shall I be saved?" They believe that I can speak for God. And I could tell them to find a black dog, and run around him three times, and they will be saved. What will they do? They'll go out and find a black dog, and run around in three times, and you'll be relieved: you have been saved. But will you? No. It's just another human device? You do not pray to be saved.

However, this is an example in this particular book. And I read it just again the other day, and I said, "Oh, not again." People want to pray to be saved. Somebody who's looking: "How can I get to heaven?" Pray to be saved! That does not save you.

Another way of supposedly being saved is to be told: "Walk this aisle, if you wish to be saved." Very often, the preacher invites people to walk down an aisle, when he has not even explained the gospel to them. It's been an ordinary sermon on something. And he says, "Those of you who want to be saved, walk this aisle." Well, if he hasn't even given the gospel clearly, then what are they thinking about being saved? "Well, I'm going to walk the aisle. That gets me saved. That's another misnomer like praying to be saved. A lot of people really feel comfortable about being saved by the fact that they have done something.

I remember on one occasion, seeing a woman sitting in our congregation, who suddenly moved in her seat, and I mean strongly – like a volts of electricity had jolted her. She was out of one of the Reformation Church backgrounds. I happened to be talking about heaven, as a matter of believing God. And therefore, you believe the gospel. It is a fact that He has paid for that sin through His Son, Jesus Christ. If you'll accept it, He'll give it to me as a gift. If you work for it, he can't give it to you. After the service, she said, "When you said that, for the first time, it hit me like a bolt of lightning that I was not saved. Here I am out of a Church from the Reformation, that speaks of justification by faith, but I've been doing all these other things, to be sure that God would be pleased with me. This is tricky business. We are not reconciled by praying to be reconciled. We are reconciled to God by believing the promise of the gospel, that Christ has covered our sin. Take Him as your substitute, and you be home free. You will be born again spiritually.

Christians have the honored position and the duty of being messengers to the world of this marvelous fact of reconciliation. We who have experienced that reconciliation are now the agents to tell others. It is not a small thing when I invite you to take those evangelism brochures on the center table, and to have them in your car, or to have them handy in your purse, or to have them in some way, such that, as you go through life, and you're meeting people all the time – you can't go through a grocery store counter without having an opportunity to be a witness of Christ. You can't stop and talk, but you can sure lead the message in an extended biblical understanding. And all you're doing is fulfilling 2 Corinthians 5:20-21: "Therefore, we are ambassadors." The" therefore" goes back to the verse before that says, "We have been reconciled to God." So, we have accepted the gospel. We're hand-in-hand with God. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ as though God were entreating through us: "We beg you on behalf of Christ to be reconciled to God. He made Him (Christ, Who knew no sin – this man) to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." We placed our sin on him, and gave us the righteousness of God."

All of this is the background of the peace offering. Did the Jews have all that? No. It's very comforting to us to know that this is a work of God, from start to finish. Are you ever going to be a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter? Probably, to some degree. But that will not affect that reconciliation. It will affect your fellowship in time. It will shut down prayer. It will shut down your good health. It will shut down your prosperity. It'll shut down the good qualities of your family. It will shut down your own prospering and your social life. It will shut everything down to be out of fellowship with God the Father. You're doing your way. You're not doing His way. You go ahead and lie to yourself all you want. Christians are the greatest liars to themselves who aren't liars to other people, but they will deceive themselves that what they're doing is OK, no matter what the Word of God may say.

So, the peace offering was a wonderful presentation of this reconciliation of God that has brought about peace. Leviticus 3 is where the peace offering is laid out. There were three animals which could be offered in the peace offering. First of all, Leviticus 3:1: "Now if the offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he is going to offer out of the herd, whether male or female, he shall offer it without defect before the Lord." The first animal that you could bring would be a bull or a cow.

Now, what you brought depended on your financial status. These were expensive animals: a bull; or, a cow. You notice that here, in this offering, unlike the previous offering, and unlike the burnt offering, you could not bring a female animal – only a male. Here, interestingly enough, it could be a male or a female." Or drop down to verse 6: "But if his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the Lord is from the flock, he shall offer it, male or female, without defect." And it could be a lamb. Verse 7: "If he's going to offer a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the Lord." Or it could be a goat. Verse 12: "Moreover, if his offering is to be a goat, then he shall offer it before the Lord."

Now, the symbolism again is pretty clear. The lamb portrayed the sinless, innocent Christ who had been appointed to die for the sins of the world. He is paying the wages of sin for all of us: – the simple, innocent, little lamb. And if you've never held a little lamb in your hands, and cuddled it, you cannot fully appreciate that silly, little creature, with those little bright eyes looking up at you, as you hold an innocent, simple, little lamb.

The goat brings to mind, that in the Old Testament, one of the annual ceremonies was to take two goats. And the priest would offer one goat up in sacrifice to God for the sins of the people. Then he would lay his hands on the other goat, and he would pronounce upon them the sins of the nation. And then he would take this goat, and release Him, so that he wandered out into the wilderness, never to be seen again. Do you have the symbolism? One goat was paying the dying upon the cross for sin, and the consequence of removing it forever. You and I understand what it means, that God has buried our sins in the deepest sea. He has removed it. He says, "As far from us as the East is from the West. How can He do that? Because we've been reconciled on the basis of the son. So, here the gold portrays the sinners substitute in death, just like that scapegoat was a substitute, and then symbolically removed forever from the sight of the people.

The animals here, as we've said, in the peace offering, could be male or female. The male symbolized Christ as One in authority, choosing to die on the cross – active obedience. He chose to do this. The female symbolized Christ as the responder: the responsive One – One responsive to the authority of the Father in sending His son to the cross. This was passive obedience. The male was active obedience. The female was passive obedience. The male animal pictured Christ as actively going to the cross, while the female animal pictured Him passively receiving punishment for the sins of the world.

Now, this is God's order, even in the human race. Who is the pursuer in the human race? The man. He is the one who is the pursuer. And who is the responder? The woman. And the whole structure of the relationship socially, and even physically, is that the man is the pursuer, and the woman is the responder. So, here you have, in this peace offering, that there are two sides here that are being brought in. There is that aggressiveness of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the male role of handling the problem. And then there is the tenderness of Christ in that female role, of receiving the results of the blessing of that problem being solved. In both cases, the animal had to be physically perfect, portraying the sinlessness of Christ in His humanity.

What happened was that the worshiper would bring the animal to the priest. He would lay his hands on the head of the animal to symbolize the imputation of his in to that animal as a substitute in death. This was picturing Christ as our substitute. We have this repeatedly. Noticed verse 2, when it comes to the animal from the herd. He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, and slay it at the doorway of the tent of the meeting. Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood around the altar:" He put your hand on that offering. They you then would slay the animal. Aaron and his sons, the priests, would catch the blood, and they would sprinkle it around the altar. That's from the herd.

Notice verse 8 on the lamb: "He shall lay his hand on the head of his offering, again, placing upon this lamb his sin and his intention, and shall slay it before the tent of meeting. Aaron's sons shall sprinkle the blood around the altar. And if it's a goat (verse 13), lay his hand on the head; slay it before the end of the meeting; and, the sons of Aaron will sprinkle the blood around the altar."

Now when he laid his hands upon it, since this is a peace offering, he could you would also be able to say: "This is why I am doing this." And he would have a variety of reasons. He would say, "I am bringing this peace offering because you have answered my prayer. So, I'm expressing my praise to you. I'm giving you this, God, as an expression of the reconciliation that we have, and that you have responded to my prayer." Or he might say: I vowed that I would do this for you. I vowed that I would give this to you. And I am hereby telling you that I'm going to keep my word. There will be peace between us. I made my promise to you, and I will fulfill it." Or he may just say: "The harvest has come in. I've been prospered beyond my fondest dreams. And I bring this peace offering as a thank-you." He would say that to God when he put his hand on him, transferring sin, but expressing praise for thanksgiving. Or perhaps he had had a military victory – victory in combat, and peace established so that he would put his hand on the animal, and say, "God, I thank you for giving us victory in the field. And I offer this peace offering in commemoration." So, there were a variety of things that the offerer could say.

So he killed the animal, and the priest sprinkled the blood around, on the altar of sacrifice. Then various portions of the fat from the animal was burned on the altar, along with the kidneys. The fat was the most precious part of all. That was considered the most valuable. The fat was the best, because it was the richest part of the animal. And it was picturing the finest quality of Jesus Christ, the perfect Person, offered in sacrifice. And you have to stop and think a little bit about Jesus Christ as a Man. From Scripture. You have to walk through and say, "What would I have found Him to be like?" You know, this man, and that man. And the more you've associated with that person, the more you know: "I know what he's like. I know what he'll do in a certain situation. I know what he'll say. I know what his reaction will be."

Jesus Christ

When He walked in, and saw in the sacred temple precincts, these yo-yos making money, selling animals, when they were supposed to be outside, and not making the Father's house a place of commerce, He picked up a whip, and He stood up before those tradesmen, with their animals bleeding, and messing up the place all over there, in the temple area, He cracked the whip. It didn't say that He ever hit anybody. He just held it. He looked at them, and said, "Get out." Then He walked among them; kicked their tables over; sent their money flying; the animals were squealing and rushing; and, everybody was getting out. When He was through, it was quiet. He did what he needed to do. Did that make Him popular? No. But he was the man who knew how to represent God, and how to be a man in carrying the ball.

He also was a fun person. Jesus was a person who knew how to be sad, and he was, when the burdens were there. But He enjoyed the social time. He attended a lot of social events. And people were glad to have Him there. He was a pleasant guest to have. He was an interesting speaker. He gave them great gems of wisdom. And here to be in the presence of somebody who never did something wrong, – He was someone you could implicitly trust with your very life. And He was one that you could count on for provision, whatever your need was. I mean, you could just go on, and realize that Jesus Christ was one super human being. And that is the person that's saying, "Come on. I want you to be My friend. We are reconciled, and now I want you to be Christlike, and that's the point of the Word of God – to be Christlike.

What our society is cursed with today is men, and even Christian men, who are not Christlike. They are Satan-like. The Lord Jesus Christ never used curse words. He never told dirty stories. And he didn't laugh at vulgarities. So, why do Christians do that, as we sometimes hear? That is not this wonderful person. And our business, as Paul says, "Imitate Christ." Imitate Jesus Christ, and follow Him in his example of manhood; of integrity; and, a person Who will stand alone. He knew where history was going. He knew the will of His Father in heaven. He was always filled with the Holy Spirit. Therefore, everything He did; every move He made; and, every decision He made, was in the will of God. That is exactly the same thing that happens to you and me. When we are in fellowship with God the Holy Spirit, and filled with the Spirit, He is controlling. He is guiding. Every move you make; every thought; every direction; and, every decision, is divinely approved in heaven. It is the will of God. And that's the way to go.

It really beats me, and it is very puzzling to me, how often I see young people, even some who've been reared up here at Berean Church, who had this strange affinity to want to be out there in the world system. And I don't mean "Deep Ellum Street" world system. I mean that they want to be with the emotional, accepted, religious crowd, and feel that they are having a spiritual experience with God. They don't know the difference between praying to be saved, and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Those are doctrinal distinctions that make you Christlike. And if you don't know the doctrines of the church age, you are not Christlike. It is so easy to be sin nature-like. That's what comes naturally.

This is one terrific person – the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you invite people to be saved, you're extending to them the capacity to be Christlike. What is the opposite side? Well, to leave them where they are is to be Satan-like.

So, the fat, the richest part, was representing all the perfections of the wonderful person of Jesus Christ. And the grace of God gave His best for the worst of sinners. The kidneys were also taken for the offering. They were viewed, in Scripture, as the center of emotions. And they pictured the love of Jesus Christ for the sinner, choosing to sacrifice Himself in their behalf. Your emotion kidneys need to be on-track in this day. This is what is killing biblical Christianity, even in Bible churches. They cannot get away from playing the emotional role.

I was in a church recently – one that played the great emotional role. Everything that was is in the service was to come up with rinky-tinky little emotional things. Do you know what one of the hot things is now? When it comes to singing, they shoot the words up on the screen. Now, if you haven't brought your glasses, you're out of the glory of singing. Maybe you're not too good a singer, so that's good too. But did they ever think of that? Well, I visited a church recently where they did. They said, "We'll cover both bases." They flashed the words up, and they said, "It's number 172 in your hymnbook." So, I picked up a hymnbook, and sang 172. And the words were up there. Why? Well, it was a Bible church, and in Bible churches, if you're in one, the words go up on the screen. Not much doctrine goes up there, and not much instruction. But the words to the songs go up there.

Why do they do that? Well, because it's cool. And cool is emotion. We don't want you to sit there, expecting you to think about what kind of person Jesus Christ was. We don't want you to sit there and think about the doctrine of reconciliation, and what that means to you. You're home free. You're a magnificent, redeemed person. You're walking hand-in-hand with God. Why do you want to jerk your hand away like a little child who wants to do his own thing, and very often, jerking his hand out of the parent's hand, when he needs to have that parent very carefully guiding him? And that's what we do all the time. And young people are grate for that, they want to be like the rest of the kids, when they should want to be like the Lord Jesus Christ.

This is one of the most chilling things I hear in Berean Christian Academy. A kid gets a certain upper grade, and it happened this year again, with a splendid, terrific kid. The teacher almost went to tears, whose class this boy was in. And the parents said, "Well, we want him to go to the public school, so he'll get acquainted with his friends." That's the last thing on earth you want him to get acquainted with – all those unsaved or carnal kids out in the public school. Are you, man? Why would you want him to do that, when he's here with comrades in Christ – people who are not ashamed to be Christians, and to walk with integrity, and to look forward to great Christian manhood? It's Jesus Christ that you should be concerned that he get acquainted with, and to become friends with – not the kids at school, in a secular setting, especially.

Well the worshiper presented his peace offering, which the priest burned in the ashes of the burnt offering. Before they presented the peace offering, he had to present a burnt offering. I should mention that. So, here is a burnt offering. What is that? "Somebody paid for my sin. I had the basis of reconciliation." Then in those hot ashes, they now started the fire again, putting the kidneys; the fat; and, the fat from around the liver. All that was placed on there – the best of Jesus Christ was now placed, on the basis of that represented by the burnt offering, which now reconciled us to God. So, somehow, that Jew said, "I'm right with God, and I can present this offering because I'm at peace with Him." And we're told that the burning of these parts of the animal in this way was a fragrant aroma to God the Father.

Leviticus 3:5 speaks to the burning from the herd: "Then neighbor Aaron's son shall offer up in smoke on the altar, on the burnt offering, which is on the wood that is on the fire. It is an offering by fire of a soothing aroma to the Father." They put it on the burnt offering ashes of hot wood there. And now they added the offering from the herd: the kidneys; and the fat, signifying the emotion of the soul dedicated to God. And God says, "I love it."

The same thing is done when the animal is from the flock. Verse 16: "And the priest shall offer them the lamb or the goat, up in smoke on the altar, as food and offering by fire for a soothing aroma. All fat is the Lord's. It is a perpetual statute throughout your generations. In all your dwellings, you shall not eat any fat, nor any blood." Jews were not allowed to eat fat in meat, and they were not supposed to eat the blood. There were some health reasons for that too. But the blood represented the blood of Christ, and the fat represented the perfection of Jesus Christ, and that belonged to God, and to God alone.

Do not conclude from this that if you feel you're somewhat overweight, that you're something more with God, because of that. But in this animal, it was the best that God had to offer, and it belonged to Him. And they never forgot that.

Then came the party phase. In the peace offering, there was the seriousness, then there was the boogie part, where now came a party, with these parts of the animal between Priest and God. And we shall look at that tonight.

Dr. John E. Danish, 1995

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