Sermon
255 ~ FINDING JESUS IN LEVITICUS - PART 1
Publisher transcript
Transcript
-
Hello, a big welcome to the Via Zayan Sermon podcast.
-
We are a church based out of Chennai, India.
-
We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will
-
be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.
-
Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of
-
purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.
-
The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess
-
our promise. As we walk through the Lent
-
season, a time of preparation before Easter, we hope to see
-
Jesus clearer than before. We desire that you would make it
-
your life's goal and purpose to seek His face and know His
-
heart. Hi Church, this is a joy and a
-
privilege to bring God's Word to you today.
-
For those of you who are watching and listening, I just
-
want to say that even as we are in this season of Lent, I pray
-
that we'll be able to see God clearly, move towards Him, and
-
experience Him personally. We're starting a brand new
-
series. In fact, we are in Part 2.
-
Last week we had a guest speaker come in and the entire series is
-
around the theme of finding Jesus in Leviticus.
-
And the reason why we've chosen this is because many times we
-
overlook what's been spoken about Jesus in the Old
-
Testament. But the more when we start
-
reading the Old Testament with the observance of what Jesus
-
came and did, we see there are traces of him everywhere
-
throughout. And so the reason is as we look
-
into this specifically today, I just wanted to kind of highlight
-
some of the things we heard last week.
-
We don't have online service because he spoke here in person,
-
but we do have the sermon podcast and would ask probably
-
after this if you can listen to it sometime in your free course.
-
Pastor was had spoken specifically with regard to the
-
intimacy of God and why it has to be so real in our lives.
-
And he talked about four hindrances.
-
And I want us to kind of just go through those four because those
-
kind of help us understand what holds us back so that we are
-
unable to see Jesus clearly. It becomes fuzzy, it's unclear.
-
And many times we're just grappling with ourselves.
-
The four things which he mentioned are one is childhood
-
hurt and drama, will, you know, move us to a place of not being
-
intimate with Jesus. The second thing is he mentioned
-
is our thought patterns and our negative thinking will prevent
-
us. Many times we are unable to
-
handle the good that's happening for us.
-
We feel deserving, but the more we have to, but the more we move
-
closer to Jesus, we will soon realize that with Jesus, he
-
means good for us. And so those thought patterns
-
will need to change if we really need to have that intimacy with
-
him. The third thing we see is
-
darkness that comes because of disobedience from our life says
-
blatantly certain areas where we don't want to give control.
-
And I love that with the length, that's the area where we move
-
towards because this is where we tell Jesus, Jesus, these are
-
somethings which I really like, but I'm willing to give it up so
-
that you would speak to me more. You would show me what I'm doing
-
wrong. You would show me what I need to
-
change. You will tell me what I need to
-
do. And the fourth thing is our ego
-
and pride. And I pray that we will never
-
allow our ego and pride to get in the way of knowing Jesus.
-
And the reason why I wanted to start off with this is because
-
being intimate with God, you know, wanting to see him every
-
day is the base in which we'll be able to draw closer.
-
You know, when you are intimate with our spouse, we, we are
-
literally breathing so close to each other.
-
We are there's there's this oneness that we experience being
-
close to 1 and I pray that we will all come to that place
-
where we are past the things that we've gone through won't
-
dictate because we can easily blame Jesus and say, you know
-
what, you were not there when something like this happened.
-
But Jesus will reveal when we start looking to him, when we
-
start seeking to him that he was present during those times.
-
Even in our struggles to say I was there.
-
It's just many a times our ego and pride get the better of us.
-
So even as we go into the first part of finding Jesus in
-
Leviticus, I wanted to kind of I go through this court, which I
-
came across it. In fact, as I was, I think a
-
couple of weeks back, someone had talked about beholding, you
-
know, and so the more I've been thinking about that we had a
-
guest speaker and as she was talking about beholding God and
-
I, I that's been resonating and I came across this entire
-
section that John Piper did. And even as it comes up on the
-
screen, I want us to read that it says beholding glory becoming
-
gold. My point is that praising the
-
glory of God's grace is the apex of human wholeness, not the
-
pursuit of it. Praising the glory of God's
-
grace is the all satisfying goal of human existence, not how you
-
get there. And seeing that glory in the
-
person and work of Jesus the way this grace, this grace upon
-
grace, this grace of wholeness comes into our broken lives.
-
Beholding glory, we are becoming whole.
-
And I want to keep this as the baseline that the phrase
-
beholding glory becoming whole. Because when we look at Jesus
-
through Leviticus, what we see is we see a group of people who
-
are set apart by God, who were in slavery, where we see
-
Abraham. We've seen all this while who
-
pursued after God. In fact, he took those steps to
-
move towards the promises of God.
-
And then later on we see his generations, 4 generations, 5
-
generations later, they became captives in Egypt.
-
They were slaves there. God moved miraculously after 400
-
years through Moses takes them out and he takes them on this
-
journey of the people getting to know their God better.
-
But the heart of the people was so broken, was so torn apart.
-
And when we see what happens in Leviticals time and again is
-
they, they always went back to what they enjoyed and forgetting
-
that there's a God now who desires to be with them, desires
-
to worship them. And you know, so he gave them
-
this command to build a temple. And there's this all these
-
requirements that are built around that where only a
-
particular tribe is appointed to serve him.
-
And I think these are all things when we see our glimpses where
-
Jesus was pointing everything to him coming so that he will be
-
the ultimate redemption for mankind.
-
And So what happens here is there were only few who beheld
-
his glory. There were many who are not
-
wanting to become whole because they their desires were
-
different. Their urges were different,
-
being that they what they saw and wanted was entirely
-
different in a desert. And I pray that as we observe
-
Lent, why are we observing Lent? It's a time we set apart each
-
year just to turn our focus to Jesus.
-
Jesus who was God, came down as man, died on the cross for you
-
and me, was able to let go of certain things, his in all
-
humility. He came so that you and I can be
-
redeemed once for all. So you and I will be set free
-
once for all so that you and I will have a relationship with
-
God. You and I will be able to
-
commune with God and be with intimate with him on a daily
-
basis. And the end objective is where
-
we'll spend eternity with them so that we'll have eternal life.
-
And so as we look through the Bible, what we see is this day
-
of atonement is what we're going to be looking at from Leviticus
Leviticus 16 chapter mention
-
chapter 16. And the Day of Atonement is this
-
one event that happened every year.
-
Roughly it around happened around the 10th month, which is
-
October in our calendar if you have to take.
-
And so in that 10th month of every year, there was a day when
-
people went to the temple and they observed it.
-
It was a day of rest. No one had to do any work.
-
The high priest was to get into that place to meet with God.
-
The high priest, the chief high priest used to go into that
-
place. And there's this entire
-
description of a bull of being offered, of two goats being
-
chosen, one being selected to for the sacrifice, one being,
-
you know, cast out of the camp. It's being sent out and we see
-
all these things happening, and what happens in this is this
-
culminates entirely in the New Testament when Jesus comes.
-
This was a lasting ordinance, but the problem was before it
-
can just be something. People started making this just
-
another ritualistic thing. What happened here is what we're
-
going to see because something tangible happens.
-
And today we all get to experiences.
-
We are not today going there sacrificing a bull.
-
We are not going to the place where we're waiting outside.
-
No, the, the when you see the chief priest go in from his
-
garments, which had to be changed.
-
Everything outward, you see, there's so much of outward
-
things that happened towards repentance, whereas when you
-
look at the New Testament, everything happens internally.
-
And so that's why living out a Christian faith is even more
-
harder because we are not defined by what we do as works,
-
but we are more defined by what God's going to do internally in
-
and through us. Our motives matter with what
-
heart posture are becoming. Why are we coming in here?
-
And so there are a couple of things which I wanted to
-
highlight specifically from Leviticus chapter 16 as we look
Leviticus 16 chapter mention
-
at the Day of Atonement. The first thing is when we look
-
in comparison with the New Testament with Jesus being
-
present in Leviticus is the fact that we don't approach him
-
yearly. We approach him daily.
-
We approach him daily. This is not a one day event in
-
our lives. It's an everyday communing with
-
Jesus. Leviticus chapter 16 verses one
Leviticus 16 chapter mention
-
to five. This is what it says.
-
The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of
-
Aaron who died when they approached the Lord.
-
The Lord said to Moses, Tell your brother Aaron that he is
-
not to come whenever he chooses, into the Most Holy Place behind
-
the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or
-
else he will die, for I will appear in the cloud over the
-
atonement cover. This is how Aaron is to enter
-
the Most Holy Place. He must first bring a young bull
-
for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.
-
He used to put on sacred linen tunic with linen undergarments
-
next to his body. He used to tie the linen sash
-
around him and put on the linen turman.
-
These are sacred garments, so he must bathe himself with water
-
before he puts them on. From the Israelite community, he
-
used to take 2 male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a
-
burnt offering. God set the tone for holiness.
-
God set the tone for holiness. He said.
-
You don't just get to approach me like however you think you
-
want because when you're entering, you're entering into
-
holiness. And the reason why God did that
-
is because God wanted people to know the cost that it counted.
-
Imagine here you need to have the sacred garments is 1 aspect.
-
You have to have a bull, you have to have a ram, you have to
-
have two goats and all these things when you have to have
-
with you what what happens? There's cost involved.
-
There is a, there's, there's this, there's this taking of
-
time and effort being done just to enter into his holy presence.
-
And mind you, he says that you can't enter in whenever you feel
-
like. This is not, I can do it on my
-
whims and fancy. It's more of an appointed time
-
when I get to meet with God. It's a divine appointment.
-
Literally it was never, you know, in our Tamil culture, we
-
have certain slangs that we use. You know, when, when you're
-
bargaining, when you're, when you're in that place of wanting
-
something And you know when they say, when, when a person you're
-
getting a service done and then they want that tip or they want
-
something, they'd say path panning, Sir, you know, please
-
Sir, or they say Chuma panning Sir.
-
They, they kind of like bargained here.
-
God was being definite. He was saying this is how you
-
approach, else you'll die. If you read in Leviticus chapter
Leviticus 10 chapter mention
-
10 verses one to three, Aaron's own sons went and you know, put
-
incense and when you read it, it's scary.
-
It says this is what it says In Leviticus 10 verses one to
-
three, Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, took their senses, put
-
fire in them and added incense and they offered unauthorized
-
fire before the Lord, contrary to his command.
-
So fire came out of the presence of the Lord and consumed them
-
and they died before the Lord. Moses then said to Aaron, This
-
is what the Lord spoke of when he said among those who
-
approached me, I will be proved holy, the sight of all people,
-
I'll be honored. Aaron remained silent,
-
approaching God back in that day, in the time of Leviticus
-
was on an appointed day, was by an appointed tribe, was done in
-
an appointed method. And today the consuming fire
-
that consumed Aron's sons is still alive and active today.
-
And so I want us to come to a place of realizing that if we do
-
not take what God is doing seriously, it'll consume us.
-
We read when we read this, the consuming fire moved and just
-
went over Aron's sons. Just imagine as a dad, you're
-
standing there, your sons do this, which should not be done
-
and it happens right in from blatant disobedience.
-
And I pray that that won't be our heart attitude or posture
-
when we come, especially when we approach him daily.
-
The problem with approaching him daily is we approach it in our
-
convenience. But God delights when we say,
-
you know what, God, I'm here, speak to me.
-
He has got to have work. But this time that I've given,
-
I'll make sure that I'll only listen to you.
-
This time that I'm taking off is to hear from you.
-
This time I've taken is to approach your throne room.
-
This time I've taken it so that I can draw close to you.
-
God is wanting us to remember. Because of Jesus, the consuming
-
fire is all the more active today, and we must acknowledge
-
it today. What are we consumed by?
-
If you're not consumed by Jesus, you're consumed by something
-
else. It's evident today.
-
You know, when you're talking to certain people, you will realize
-
they're either consumed by hope that comes from Jesus or they're
-
consumed by their selfishness and by, you know, their own
-
ideas of struggles. The reason why I'm saying idea
-
of struggles is we need to come to a place that everyone has 24
-
hours, everyone has the same time, everyone.
-
How we view with the lens of Jesus matters.
-
Today we can view Jesus and say, you know what, this doesn't make
-
sense. It won't be consuming at all.
-
But when we move towards Jesus, we understand he's all
-
consuming. Why?
-
There's always a deep fire that burns for something more.
-
There's a longing for something more.
-
You suddenly look at the altar, and the altar is a place where
-
you commune because that's where you hear God the closest.
-
The altar is where you suddenly are like God.
-
This is where I see your presence.
-
This is where I want to be. A lot of us are wanting to go do
-
greater exploits outside, but we are failing to spend time at the
-
altar. What is God literally cutting
-
off you that you've relinquished to say God do as you will,
-
because the consuming fire has to take away all the
-
disobedience from us? Romans chapter 6 verses 10:50
Romans 6 chapter mention
-
talks about this. It says for the death that he
-
died, He died to sin, ending its power and playing the sinner's
-
death once and for all. And the sin that he lives, he
-
lives to glorify God in unbroken fellowship with Him.
-
Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, and your
-
relationship to it broken, but alive to God in unbroken
-
fellowship with him. In Christ Jesus, the curse of
-
sin is broken. When the curse of sin is broken,
-
we have an unbroken fellowship with God and I pray that that
-
will be our daily output where we go say God, break the yoke of
-
sin over my life, break the consequences of the sin that I'm
-
going through. Lord Jesus, God, break the sin
-
pattern of my life. When we have this unbroken
-
fellowship with him, sin will break.
-
It will. It may happen.
-
No, it will, because when unbroken fellowship is there
-
with God, he won't allow it to really stem up because we'll be
-
like God. Sure.
-
You take the reins, you take control.
-
Lent is also a reminder that the veil was torn, what was set for
-
only once a year. In Matthew chapter 27, we read
Matthew 27 chapter mention
-
when Jesus died, the whale tore right from top to bottom, giving
-
all of us access. You and me have access to the
-
throne room of God. You know, when you look at the
-
throne room of God, there's this thing called the mercy seat.
-
When he goes in, Aaron goes in. He applies these, the blood of
-
the animal over there and all that.
-
As we see, we will see that that mercy seat is where we move to
-
receive forgiveness, but you also go there to receive
-
direction. We receive power over there.
-
And so today all of us, all of us get to participate in it.
-
Today I pray that all of us will have this unbroken fellowship
-
with Jesus, not moving away from him or moving in a place and
-
saying, no, this is how I want my unbroken fellowship is so
-
that he will be able to break those sin patterns in our life.
-
He'll be able to cleanse us so that we are clean inside out.
-
Clean inside out. The second thing we see is we
-
leave eternally redeemed by submission and not having to
-
transfer our sins yearly. What happens in Leviticus
Leviticus 20 chapter mention
-
chapter 20/20/22? He shall then slaughter the goat
-
for the sin offering for the people, and take its blood
-
behind the curtain and do with it as He did with the bull's
-
blood. He shall sprinkle it on the
-
atonement cover and in front of it.
-
In this way He will make atonement for the most holy
-
place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites,
-
whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same to the tent
-
of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their
-
uncleanness. When Aaron was finished making
-
atonement for the most holy place, the tent of meeting and
-
the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat.
-
He used to lay both hands on the head of the live goat, and
-
confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of His,
-
relates all their sins, and put them on the goat's head.
-
He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of
-
someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself
-
all the sins to a remote place and a man shall release it in
-
the wilderness. There was a process for the Day
-
of Atonement for the transference of sin of the
-
entirety of Israel, one the goat.
-
When 2 goats were there, one was cast a lot, 1 was selected, one
-
was killed, and that blood was applied inside the Holy of
-
Holies, was applied in the atonement cover.
-
And it was literally like God, us taking the blood, saying God,
-
we are here, we are saying sorry, forgive us.
-
We plead with the blood, and then we go to the tent of
-
meeting where all are gathered. And that's why he lays both his
-
hands and confesses the entire nation's sin over that goat.
-
And the goat is set into the wilderness, never to return.
-
And as we look at this, Jesus came into the world to replace
-
entirely. He said, I'll take the entirety
-
of mankind. It was no longer a nation.
-
It no longer was a selected few. He took the entirety of mankind.
-
So today, whatever sin you're being captivated by two,
-
whatever sin you're feeling like, no, this is I can't do
-
without. You can say I can beautifully
-
give it into the hands of Jesus because he came down for you and
-
me. He came down for entirety,
-
entirety of mankind. And this is what always blows my
-
mind. God in human form, who knew no
-
sin, who did no sin, came and willfully gave his life.
-
Here they are selected, but here He, in all humility, he came
-
down. That's why I mentioned that we
-
leave eternally redeemed by submission as Jesus came to the
-
cross, as Jesus came and gave himself holy to the will of the
-
Father so that the that connection will be restored.
-
And as he rose back and as he's seated on the right hand of the
-
Father to intercede for us, I believe it's through submission.
-
He came through submission, holy to the will of the Father.
-
We holy go to the cross, submission to say, God, here I
-
am, this is me, this is me. I pray that I'll receive your
-
blood. I pray I'll receive your your
-
forgiveness. I pray I'll be redeemed.
-
He redeems us once for all. No longer is this going to be a
-
yearly task of going and having this transfer done?
-
No, you're going there. No one is going to lay hands,
-
you know. So what happens is I'm not
-
waiting just for a year. I'm here.
-
Who can say go Lord, I'm really stuck.
-
I need your help now. I want to be redeemed from this.
-
And God say every sin is broken. The power of sin is broken, the
-
power of what you think you, you, you're struggling with.
-
If you say, Lord, I submitted you, it'll break and it'll yield
-
to Jesus. When you look at the whole
-
instance, you know, animals don't have free bill.
-
So they're forced. In fact, it's they're they're
-
they're, they're the bread. And then as they are offered, it
-
was not out of free will. But here we have Jesus who came
-
down to earth out of his own will to say, I'll come and
-
redeem and be the Redeemer. He came down.
-
He, he set the score straight. So today we are redeemed
-
eternally. You don't.
-
I and I don't have to go and search for anything or anyone to
-
redeem us. And this is what we read in
-
Hebrews. And he talks about the chief
-
high priest of what Jesus did when we read this, I want you to
-
come to a place of saying, Lord, I want to be eternally redeemed
-
by you. I'm sorry.
-
I just, I come once a week or I come once a while and I think
-
about what I've done. But here I want to walk away
-
knowing I'm eternally redeemed. I'll walk away.
-
I'll come and submit it. I'll walk away confident,
-
knowing that you're working in and through me.
-
A lot of us come in submitted. We, we, we get that forgiveness
-
and we go back thinking, you know what, I can always do this.
-
There's always this room for me to go because it, it, we feel
-
like it it and we end up taking Jesus for granted.
-
And I want us to come to a place where we're like, no, Jesus
-
Christ was precious. That's why I love when it's said
-
that consuming fire. We need to be consumed to know
-
like God, this ends with me, this ends with my generation,
-
this ends right here. I want to live a life wholly
-
dedicated for you, you know and let's and as we read Hebrews and
-
I pray that God will reveal that to us.
-
It says here but when the Messiah write High Priest of the
-
superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old
-
tent and it's trappings and it's created world and went straight
-
into heaven tent, the true holy place once and for all.
-
He also bypasses sacrifices consisting of one goat and calf
-
blood, instead using his own blood as a price to set us free
-
once and for all. If that animal blood and the
-
other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up
-
certain matters of our religion and behaviour, think how much
-
more the blood of Christ cleanses up our whole lives
-
inside and out through the Spirit.
-
Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing
-
us from all those dead end efforts to make ourselves
-
respectable so that we can live all out for God.
-
You know one of the things when I read in this is inside out.
-
We are cleansed inside out no longer isn't an outward.
-
We are not just talking about the sins of what we have done
-
that we put there. We're also talking about Lord
-
these these longings, these earthly longings, these desires
-
that see drive me to sin. We even comment that that's why
-
the inside out is is no longer what we're doing, but also the
-
intentions, the heart behind it. We go back to things that are
-
passed down generationally, things that have been we've been
-
confined to within spaces and the things that we've been grown
-
up, we see they no longer have a hold.
-
Lord set us free because he was this unblemished sacrifice
-
because he willingly came. No one willingly goes to die,
-
but He did because He loved you and me.
-
And we need to give up on any pursuits that take us away from
-
Jesus. We need to give up any pursuits
-
that take us away because once we know we're eternally
-
redeemed, it's not a green card or a golden card for us to
-
realize, OK, my ticket to heaven is confirmed.
-
Because our actions will always be questionable if we don't live
-
out how Christ is wanting us to live out.
-
The minute we are redeemed, we are saying, Lord, I submit to
-
your will. Jesus submitted to the will of
-
the Father. We have free will.
-
And so in our free will, when we say, Lord, we accept your
-
redemption, we are redeemed eternally.
-
My will submits to His will. And suddenly I'm not being
-
governed by my free will. I'm in submission to his free
-
will to say, Lord, what do you want me to do?
-
Is this what you want me to pursue?
-
Is this relationship worth it in my life?
-
Is this coming out of a place of a selfish desire where I just
-
need my needs being met? Or is this a God oriented
-
relationship for me? God, is this something I need to
-
pursue or is this outside of your will for me?
-
That's what happens with Inside Out and the Day of Atonement,
-
when we look over here is an important feature in that
-
Israelites life because this is where they met with God.
-
And I was just reading through spoken gospel and they said this
-
beautifully. They said in the entire Torah,
-
the Day of Atonement sits right in the center.
-
And what sits at the center of the Torah is the book of
-
Leviticus. And right at the center is the
-
Day of Atonement. And it's this beautiful picture
-
of where we meet with God. And today God recites right
-
inside of us. We don't go to meet with he is
-
right there with you. So today, even as you're
-
watching it online, He's right there with you at in your home,
-
in your office, in your paying guest, in the place that you're
-
travelling. He's right there and he wants to
-
meet with you. He wants to change you inside
-
or, and I pray that we will move to this understanding.
-
They're called to live this life that has been eternally redeemed
-
for us once and for all. When we participate with Jesus,
-
we're saying, God, I am yours, you are mine.
-
I'll do what you say because I, as you submitted out of your own
-
free will, you submit to the will of the Father.
-
I, out of my free will submit to you, and I follow the will that
-
you have for me. Let's read 1 Peter chapter 2
-
verse 21 to 25. This is what it says.
-
To this you are called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving
-
you an example that you should follow.
-
In His steps. He committed no sin and no
-
deceit was found in His mouth. When they hurled their insults
-
at Him. He did not retaliate when he
-
suffered. He made no threats.
-
Instead, He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly.
-
He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we
-
might die to sin and live for righteousness.
-
By his wounds you have been healed, for you were like sheep
-
going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and
-
overseer of your souls. What a beautiful way.
-
We were once astray, but now we've returned to the Shepherd
-
who overseas us. So it's all when they're
-
eternally redeemed. We are keeping eternity in
-
focus. We are moving, We are caring for
-
our souls. We are caring not just for a
-
body. We are caring for our souls.
-
And I pray that our eyes would be open to see Jesus this way.
-
He paid the price and so no longer do we have to go on a
-
wild goose chase. The cross becomes a focal point.
-
Jesus's act and the way he did it becomes our life of how we
-
have to live here on this earth. We are redeemed.
-
We need to live from the place of being redeemed.
-
We don't live from the place of being a Sinner.
-
And the problem of a lot of us is we go back always.
-
You know what? I accepted Jesus Christ.
-
And why are you living under the bondage of sin?
-
No, I'm unable to hear Jesus. I, I, I feel like the only
-
person who's moved from the cross is us.
-
And I pray that we will move to that place because the closer we
-
are, we will always know that we are redeemed.
-
We are eternally redeemed and so there won't be this unnecessary
-
striving. There will be a deep longing to
-
go deeper into His word, and I pray that we will see Jesus more
-
clearly now. They had to offer and transfer
-
their sins, but Jesus paid it all.
-
Jesus paid it all. It's interesting that as you
-
journey with Jesus, He'll remind you of certain aspects of sins
-
that you've committed. And every time he reminds you,
-
it's for you to go back and say, Lord, I'm sorry I was so foolish
-
that time. I was so foolish.
-
I, I repent of those ways. Lord, do in me something.
-
And I pray that each of us will take this time, this season to
-
repent of things that are plaguing us.
-
Some of us have hidden it. He knows everything.
-
I pray we'll come clean so that he can do his work inside so
-
that will be revealed in the outside.
-
The third thing which I want to take from this Leviticus chapter
Leviticus 16 chapter mention
-
16 is the price is paid once for all and it's not recurring.
-
The price is paid once. All.
-
The reason I put this in the eternally redeemed, but the
-
price is paid once for all is we most often think we need to.
-
We, we always are. We are always in cinema mode.
-
We are redeemed, the price is paid, so we have access.
-
You really don't have to have that intermediate and the and
-
the, and the thing with Leviticus when you read is there
-
was always a physical cost that was involved.
-
The cost of an ox today is around probably ₹80,000.
-
The cost of a ram should be a little less than that.
-
The cost of a goat is roughly around 40.
-
And so yearly when you come to meet with God as a nation and
-
there was a cost involved, but today, as we individually go,
-
you might think there's no cost. There is a cost involved.
-
We all have to pay a price. And the price is often times our
-
time. The price is our retention.
-
The price is our will. The price is our open hearts.
-
Jesus has paid his price, but today are we paying our price?
-
He paid the price once for all. It's not a reckoning.
-
So what happens is every year they have to know today when we
-
go into God's throne room, everyday, however you call that
-
throne room yours because each of us have ways of listening to
-
what the Spirit has to say. But I pray that we move to a
-
place of saying, Lord, I'm here do your will, I'm here do your
-
will. I'm here do your will.
-
Because what He wants to do is far bigger than what we can
-
imagine. What he wants to do in and
-
through US, what he wants to set us up is far bigger.
-
The reason why Jesus came and he wanted to put an end to this is
-
because what happens generationally when something is
-
done ritualistically is lot of add-ons happen, lot of add-ons
-
happen. And so this basically became a
-
ritualistic thing. It became of it became it became
-
everything it had had to be because economically there was
-
something there was an economy that was running around it.
-
There were so many other businesses that were probably
-
running around it. Jesus saw these guys have made a
-
mockery of what I have called them to do the very presence
-
that they they put the price so big.
-
So of the only those who afford could feel like they are
-
redeemed. No, God, Jesus broke everything.
-
He came for every tribe, for every nation, for every color,
-
for every cast, for every skin color, for anyone who's out
-
there, whether you're with, with, with certain kind of
-
physical disabilities or whatever you have, He came for
-
everything. It's paid once for all.
-
It's not a recurring thing. You don't have to go back again
-
and try doing something to win his love.
-
He's done it and I pray that we are pursuits will never be about
-
the doing. It'll come down to the being.
-
It'll come down to the being being with Jesus.
-
Reading from Leviticus chapter 16 verses 31 onwards, it says
-
it's a day of Sabbath rest and you must deny yourselves.
-
It's a lasting ordinance. A priest who is appointed,
-
anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to
-
make atonement. He is to put on the sacred
-
living garments and make atonement for the most Holy
-
place, for the tent of meeting in the altar and for the priest
-
and all the members of the community.
-
This is to be a lasting ordinance for you.
-
Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of
-
Israelites and it was done as the Lord commanded Moses.
-
So even as we read, I pray that the price is paid once for all.
-
It was a command for them. Even as they moved into building
-
the temple it was the same command.
-
Even in Jesus time it was the same thing that was being
-
followed. But when Jesus died on the
-
cross, he who knew no sin, when he took the unblemished one,
-
took the sin of the world. It was done once for all.
-
And so today I pray we would find moments where we will be so
-
comfortable with being in His presence.
-
So I pray that today we will move to a place of realizing
-
there's not anything that I can do that can actually be done.
-
What Jesus has not done. Jesus has done everything.
-
It's finished. So what we need to do is go and
-
be in His presence more. Be at His footstool mode, be at
-
His mercy seat mode, be at the altar where we meet with Him.
-
And the reason why I'm emphasizing the altar is because
-
that's where we lay everything down.
-
And that's where when we lay, He speaks.
-
He might be like, but that, that is the sacrifice that he's
-
calling us to because he's done everything here.
-
I'm willingly laying everything saying, Lord, everything I have
-
is yours. My money is yours.
-
My family is yours. My whatever I've built so far,
-
whatever I thought I have in mind is all yours.
-
And I lay it at your feet. I lay it at your feet even as I
-
come, come, come to a conclusion.
-
I want to conclude with this, conclude that we'll be consumed
-
so that we are not shaken. And this comes from a passage
-
which I was reading in the New Testament where it talks about
-
in Hebrews where we'll be consumed by him and we won't be
-
shaken. The problem is, a lot of times
-
the world shakes us up. The world shakes us up, and then
-
we realize we are also shaken in the presence of God, shaken
-
because a lot of our stubbornness, a lot of the areas
-
where we are unwilling to let go, God shakes us up.
-
His word shakes us up. His Spirit shakes us up.
-
His move shakes us up. The anointing which rests on us
-
starts shaking. And a lot of us are not being,
-
are not wanting to be consumed by that.
-
But I pray even as those men, as Adam's sons went into the altar
-
there, even as they did it when they shouldn't have done it, but
-
they got consumed by the fire, I pray we will move to the altar
-
waiting to be consumed. Why is this important?
-
Because we can either move and look at the entire thing.
-
One of the things when you look at Leviticus is we can look at
-
it from a perspective of work, or we can look at it from a
-
perspective of worship. When you look at it from work,
-
there's so much to follow. But the bottom line, the base
-
time for all of that was worship.
-
And somewhere that got messed him.
-
When Jesus came, he turned the table.
-
He said worship me. And because you worship me,
-
you'll start doing so many other things.
-
And I pray that turnover, when the tables turn over is
-
something we'll move towards. We will be there so that we'll
-
be able to witness it. We'll be able to see certain
-
things move in our own lives. We need to worship, which means
-
we need to behold Him as I started.
-
When we behold him, we become whole.
-
The altar should be a place which is common to us is a place
-
which we don't take it for granted, common that we're
-
excited every time we meet there.
-
Anything that's become common, we after a point, we take it for
-
granted. But I pray it should amaze us.
-
You know, for me and Tina, one of the things that has become
-
common is this place. But every time we enter and we
-
are in this place of thinking, we don't deserve this God.
-
Why did we? We are marvelled at His grace.
-
We are marvelled at His provision.
-
We are marvelled in the way He's LED us.
-
And I pray that every time you move to the altar, to the places
-
where we meet with Him, we will be marvelled.
-
God will do when we lay our issues and our heart idols at
-
His feet. His feet is the altars when we
-
laid it there. I pray that all that will become
-
a sweet incense and God will consume us.
-
The consuming fire did something to Aaron's sons because they
-
were not. They blatantly disobeyed.
-
But I pray our obedience will cause us to be consumed so that
-
we'll be doing what we have to do.
-
You know, even before we read Hebrews chapter 12, the title of
Hebrews 12 chapter mention
-
that is Mountain of Fear, Mountain of Joy.
-
Do we approach God with fear, or do we approach Him with joy?
-
So let's read this particular passage.
-
Hebrews 12, as I conclude, was the 18 to 29.
-
You have not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is
-
burning with fire, to darkness, gloom and storm, to a trumpet
-
blast, or to a such a voice speaking words that those who
-
heard it begged that no further word to be spoken to them
-
because they could not bear what was commanded.
-
If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to
-
death. The sight was so terrifying that
-
Moses said, I'm trembling with fear.
-
But you have come to the Mount Zion, to the city of the living
-
God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon
-
thousands upon angels in joyful assembly, to the Church of the
-
first born whose names are written in heaven.
-
You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the
-
righteous made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant,
-
and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the
-
blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse
-
Him who speaks. If they do not escape when they
-
refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we if
-
we turn away from Him who warned us from heaven at that time?
-
His voice shook the earth, but now he has promised once more I
-
will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.
-
The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken
-
that has created things, so that what cannot be shaken may
-
remain. Therefore, since we are
-
receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, that is, be thankful
-
and so worship God acceptably with the reverence and awe.
-
For our God is a consuming fire. God is a consuming fire.
-
The reason why I'm reading this is because the the way God dealt
-
with Israel in that entire journey in the wilderness was to
-
instill His Holiness in them. His Holiness will.
-
One of the outworkings is fear, but it wasn't a fear of wanting
-
to meet. In fact, they said they just
-
sent Moses up saying you go, you go be them.
-
God wanted everyone, but they just sent him.
-
Fear settled in because they thought what God would do to
-
them, but they they missed out on the aspect of worship.
-
And even as we read this, when I read it in the message, it says
-
it even more beautifully talks about it in verse 28 to 29.
-
Do you see what we've got an unshakeable Kingdom.
-
And do you see how thankful we must be?
-
Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent
-
before God. For God is not an indifferent
-
bystander. He's actively cleaning house,
-
torching all the needs to burn, and he won't quit until it all
-
is cleansed out. God himself is fire.
-
The mountain had a physical representation of God, His
-
Holiness, because they didn't want to meet.
-
God made that entire mountain structure so holy that He told
-
no one can approach the mountain.
-
But then when he came down to earth, he wanted to recite with
-
each and every one of us today, as His Holy Spirit who's been
-
commissioned to be with us is in US.
-
He is the consuming fight who's within us.
-
So today, the day of Atonement is not that one day that one
-
moment is rather than every day is another and every breathing
-
moment that we have. But he's wanting to consume us
-
inside out. It says here, he torches what is
-
torches? It literally burns up
-
everything. And I pray that will be a stance
-
to say, Lord, torch me. Lord, today I'm here.
-
What do you want me to do, Lord, what is my worship to you?
-
What? What do you want to deposit in
-
me that I need to let go of certain things.
-
The Day of atonement was to find mercy and to see God yearly.
-
But today when he touches us, we are clean inside out.
-
We're like God. I'm coming expected.
-
God, I'm coming here for you to move.
-
I'm coming here to see something greater.
-
I'm coming here to see something beautiful.
-
I'm coming here to see something marvelous.
-
I'm coming here to see something magnificent.
-
I have to be in awe and in wonder of what you're going to
-
do because that's the God that we serve, beholding His glory
-
and becoming whole. And so I pray that none of us
-
will go on this pilgrimage to search, but wherever we are,
-
we'll accept Jesus as a Lord and personal Savior.
-
I don't want to extend this option because you've not
-
accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior.
-
You can he's he came down to die for you and me.
-
And so if you want to accept him, I would be honored to lead
-
you into this prayer of confession.
-
And we say, Lord, you're all I need.
-
And if that's you, if you're not, you're all this well,
-
you've probably heard the name of Jesus and you're like, you
-
know what? But today you're like, God.
-
This really convicted me. I don't want it to be a one off
-
thing. I want to be an everyday thing.
-
We can accept Jesus as a person and he's willing to come and
-
live inside of us. So you can repeat this prayer
-
after me Loving Heavenly Father. Thank you for your word.
-
I know I'm a Sinner. I need to be saved.
-
I call on you Jesus to be my Lord, God and Saviour.
-
I believe you died on the cross for my sins.
-
You rose up on the third day and today you're seated with the
-
Father and you're going to come back.
-
And because of you I'll have eternity to spend with you.
-
I invite you into my heart. I pray and ask that you will be
-
God over my life. Sin no longer will be will have
-
any rule over my life. I commit to you.
-
Holy be, Lord and Savior, in your most holy name I pray,
-
Amen. Amen.
-
I pray that those of you who made that prayer will be able to
-
start this journey afresh. For those of you who would love
-
to know how to become a disciple, get in touch with us.
-
You would love to journey with you.
-
But even As for those of you who probably have been seasoned
-
Christians, I pray that we'll move into a place of realizing
-
that. Lord, I want to meet with you.
-
I want to behold your glory so that I can become whole, so that
-
I can become whole. This, this, this portion that
-
we're seeing is for us to draw closer to Jesus, to find his
-
presence more deeper. Not shallow, but you're going to
-
dig deep. You're going to say, Lord, I
-
need you. I need your understanding.
-
I need that. If this is a season of weight, I
-
will wait. Well, if this is a season of
-
doing exploits, I will rely on your strength and do great
-
exploits. So can I pray?
-
And as we start this week, let's comment to him.
-
Lord, I thank you, Lord, for this word that we heard.
-
I pray, Lord, that it will fall into the good portions of our
-
soil. I pray that for those who've
-
been scared by your presence, who've been having a lot of
-
cultural teams running around this, I pray we killed all of
-
that. The way you came willfully in
-
submission to the Father, we come willfully and submit to
-
you. You be Lord and Savior of our
-
lives. You do everything that you have
-
to do for us, Lord Jesus, so that we'll be able to bring
-
glory and honour to your name. Be glorified and honoured.
-
I pray You'll bless each and everyone.
-
Bless the food and water of their home.
-
Bless their going out and coming in.
-
Bless everything that they undertake so that you will be
-
glorified. Take charge.
-
Be with us, Lord, Your most holy name we pray, Amen, Amen.
-
Amen. I pray that even as you heard
-
this, that you'll be able to behold His glory and you'll
-
become whole. And even as I read in that last
-
thing, that He will be the consuming fire in your life,
-
that He will be the consumer. And even as you go in to those
-
meeting moments with Him, as you sit in that altar as Jesus
-
submitted, you will submit everything and God will reveal
-
Himself to you. Pray that you have a blessed
-
week. God bless you all.
-
Thanks for listening to this message.
-
We hope you were blessed to hear more messages like this.
-
Make sure to subscribe and check out our podcast channel for past
-
episodes. If you like what you are
-
hearing, consider rating us, subscribing and even sharing it
-
with friends. That could really help us.
-
For more content from Via Zion and to connect with us, go to
-
Via Zion dot in. Remember, whoever finds Jesus
-
finds life.