Sermon

255 ~ FINDING JESUS IN LEVITICUS - PART 1

We Are Zion - Sermon Podcast

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  1. Hello, a big welcome to the Via Zayan Sermon podcast.

  2. We are a church based out of Chennai, India.

  3. We are thrilled that you tuned in today and hope that you will

  4. be refreshed, revived, and energized by what you hear.

  5. Our desire is that you will live life with a renewed sense of

  6. purpose that stems from a vibrant faith in Jesus.

  7. The year 2025 is 1 where we will be positioned by God to possess

  8. our promise. As we walk through the Lent

  9. season, a time of preparation before Easter, we hope to see

  10. Jesus clearer than before. We desire that you would make it

  11. your life's goal and purpose to seek His face and know His

  12. heart. Hi Church, this is a joy and a

  13. privilege to bring God's Word to you today.

  14. For those of you who are watching and listening, I just

  15. want to say that even as we are in this season of Lent, I pray

  16. that we'll be able to see God clearly, move towards Him, and

  17. experience Him personally. We're starting a brand new

  18. series. In fact, we are in Part 2.

  19. Last week we had a guest speaker come in and the entire series is

  20. around the theme of finding Jesus in Leviticus.

  21. And the reason why we've chosen this is because many times we

  22. overlook what's been spoken about Jesus in the Old

  23. Testament. But the more when we start

  24. reading the Old Testament with the observance of what Jesus

  25. came and did, we see there are traces of him everywhere

  26. throughout. And so the reason is as we look

  27. into this specifically today, I just wanted to kind of highlight

  28. some of the things we heard last week.

  29. We don't have online service because he spoke here in person,

  30. but we do have the sermon podcast and would ask probably

  31. after this if you can listen to it sometime in your free course.

  32. Pastor was had spoken specifically with regard to the

  33. intimacy of God and why it has to be so real in our lives.

  34. And he talked about four hindrances.

  35. And I want us to kind of just go through those four because those

  36. kind of help us understand what holds us back so that we are

  37. unable to see Jesus clearly. It becomes fuzzy, it's unclear.

  38. And many times we're just grappling with ourselves.

  39. The four things which he mentioned are one is childhood

  40. hurt and drama, will, you know, move us to a place of not being

  41. intimate with Jesus. The second thing is he mentioned

  42. is our thought patterns and our negative thinking will prevent

  43. us. Many times we are unable to

  44. handle the good that's happening for us.

  45. We feel deserving, but the more we have to, but the more we move

  46. closer to Jesus, we will soon realize that with Jesus, he

  47. means good for us. And so those thought patterns

  48. will need to change if we really need to have that intimacy with

  49. him. The third thing we see is

  50. darkness that comes because of disobedience from our life says

  51. blatantly certain areas where we don't want to give control.

  52. And I love that with the length, that's the area where we move

  53. towards because this is where we tell Jesus, Jesus, these are

  54. somethings which I really like, but I'm willing to give it up so

  55. that you would speak to me more. You would show me what I'm doing

  56. wrong. You would show me what I need to

  57. change. You will tell me what I need to

  58. do. And the fourth thing is our ego

  59. and pride. And I pray that we will never

  60. allow our ego and pride to get in the way of knowing Jesus.

  61. And the reason why I wanted to start off with this is because

  62. being intimate with God, you know, wanting to see him every

  63. day is the base in which we'll be able to draw closer.

  64. You know, when you are intimate with our spouse, we, we are

  65. literally breathing so close to each other.

  66. We are there's there's this oneness that we experience being

  67. close to 1 and I pray that we will all come to that place

  68. where we are past the things that we've gone through won't

  69. dictate because we can easily blame Jesus and say, you know

  70. what, you were not there when something like this happened.

  71. But Jesus will reveal when we start looking to him, when we

  72. start seeking to him that he was present during those times.

  73. Even in our struggles to say I was there.

  74. It's just many a times our ego and pride get the better of us.

  75. So even as we go into the first part of finding Jesus in

  76. Leviticus, I wanted to kind of I go through this court, which I

  77. came across it. In fact, as I was, I think a

  78. couple of weeks back, someone had talked about beholding, you

  79. know, and so the more I've been thinking about that we had a

  80. guest speaker and as she was talking about beholding God and

  81. I, I that's been resonating and I came across this entire

  82. section that John Piper did. And even as it comes up on the

  83. screen, I want us to read that it says beholding glory becoming

  84. gold. My point is that praising the

  85. glory of God's grace is the apex of human wholeness, not the

  86. pursuit of it. Praising the glory of God's

  87. grace is the all satisfying goal of human existence, not how you

  88. get there. And seeing that glory in the

  89. person and work of Jesus the way this grace, this grace upon

  90. grace, this grace of wholeness comes into our broken lives.

  91. Beholding glory, we are becoming whole.

  92. And I want to keep this as the baseline that the phrase

  93. beholding glory becoming whole. Because when we look at Jesus

  94. through Leviticus, what we see is we see a group of people who

  95. are set apart by God, who were in slavery, where we see

  96. Abraham. We've seen all this while who

  97. pursued after God. In fact, he took those steps to

  98. move towards the promises of God.

  99. And then later on we see his generations, 4 generations, 5

  100. generations later, they became captives in Egypt.

  101. They were slaves there. God moved miraculously after 400

  102. years through Moses takes them out and he takes them on this

  103. journey of the people getting to know their God better.

  104. But the heart of the people was so broken, was so torn apart.

  105. And when we see what happens in Leviticals time and again is

  106. they, they always went back to what they enjoyed and forgetting

  107. that there's a God now who desires to be with them, desires

  108. to worship them. And you know, so he gave them

  109. this command to build a temple. And there's this all these

  110. requirements that are built around that where only a

  111. particular tribe is appointed to serve him.

  112. And I think these are all things when we see our glimpses where

  113. Jesus was pointing everything to him coming so that he will be

  114. the ultimate redemption for mankind.

  115. And So what happens here is there were only few who beheld

  116. his glory. There were many who are not

  117. wanting to become whole because they their desires were

  118. different. Their urges were different,

  119. being that they what they saw and wanted was entirely

  120. different in a desert. And I pray that as we observe

  121. Lent, why are we observing Lent? It's a time we set apart each

  122. year just to turn our focus to Jesus.

  123. Jesus who was God, came down as man, died on the cross for you

  124. and me, was able to let go of certain things, his in all

  125. humility. He came so that you and I can be

  126. redeemed once for all. So you and I will be set free

  127. once for all so that you and I will have a relationship with

  128. God. You and I will be able to

  129. commune with God and be with intimate with him on a daily

  130. basis. And the end objective is where

  131. we'll spend eternity with them so that we'll have eternal life.

  132. And so as we look through the Bible, what we see is this day

  133. of atonement is what we're going to be looking at from Leviticus

    Leviticus 16 chapter mention

  134. chapter 16. And the Day of Atonement is this

  135. one event that happened every year.

  136. Roughly it around happened around the 10th month, which is

  137. October in our calendar if you have to take.

  138. And so in that 10th month of every year, there was a day when

  139. people went to the temple and they observed it.

  140. It was a day of rest. No one had to do any work.

  141. The high priest was to get into that place to meet with God.

  142. The high priest, the chief high priest used to go into that

  143. place. And there's this entire

  144. description of a bull of being offered, of two goats being

  145. chosen, one being selected to for the sacrifice, one being,

  146. you know, cast out of the camp. It's being sent out and we see

  147. all these things happening, and what happens in this is this

  148. culminates entirely in the New Testament when Jesus comes.

  149. This was a lasting ordinance, but the problem was before it

  150. can just be something. People started making this just

  151. another ritualistic thing. What happened here is what we're

  152. going to see because something tangible happens.

  153. And today we all get to experiences.

  154. We are not today going there sacrificing a bull.

  155. We are not going to the place where we're waiting outside.

  156. No, the, the when you see the chief priest go in from his

  157. garments, which had to be changed.

  158. Everything outward, you see, there's so much of outward

  159. things that happened towards repentance, whereas when you

  160. look at the New Testament, everything happens internally.

  161. And so that's why living out a Christian faith is even more

  162. harder because we are not defined by what we do as works,

  163. but we are more defined by what God's going to do internally in

  164. and through us. Our motives matter with what

  165. heart posture are becoming. Why are we coming in here?

  166. And so there are a couple of things which I wanted to

  167. highlight specifically from Leviticus chapter 16 as we look

    Leviticus 16 chapter mention

  168. at the Day of Atonement. The first thing is when we look

  169. in comparison with the New Testament with Jesus being

  170. present in Leviticus is the fact that we don't approach him

  171. yearly. We approach him daily.

  172. We approach him daily. This is not a one day event in

  173. our lives. It's an everyday communing with

  174. Jesus. Leviticus chapter 16 verses one

    Leviticus 16 chapter mention

  175. to five. This is what it says.

  176. The Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of

  177. Aaron who died when they approached the Lord.

  178. The Lord said to Moses, Tell your brother Aaron that he is

  179. not to come whenever he chooses, into the Most Holy Place behind

  180. the curtain in front of the atonement cover on the ark, or

  181. else he will die, for I will appear in the cloud over the

  182. atonement cover. This is how Aaron is to enter

  183. the Most Holy Place. He must first bring a young bull

  184. for a sin offering and a ram for a burnt offering.

  185. He used to put on sacred linen tunic with linen undergarments

  186. next to his body. He used to tie the linen sash

  187. around him and put on the linen turman.

  188. These are sacred garments, so he must bathe himself with water

  189. before he puts them on. From the Israelite community, he

  190. used to take 2 male goats for a sin offering and a ram for a

  191. burnt offering. God set the tone for holiness.

  192. God set the tone for holiness. He said.

  193. You don't just get to approach me like however you think you

  194. want because when you're entering, you're entering into

  195. holiness. And the reason why God did that

  196. is because God wanted people to know the cost that it counted.

  197. Imagine here you need to have the sacred garments is 1 aspect.

  198. You have to have a bull, you have to have a ram, you have to

  199. have two goats and all these things when you have to have

  200. with you what what happens? There's cost involved.

  201. There is a, there's, there's this, there's this taking of

  202. time and effort being done just to enter into his holy presence.

  203. And mind you, he says that you can't enter in whenever you feel

  204. like. This is not, I can do it on my

  205. whims and fancy. It's more of an appointed time

  206. when I get to meet with God. It's a divine appointment.

  207. Literally it was never, you know, in our Tamil culture, we

  208. have certain slangs that we use. You know, when, when you're

  209. bargaining, when you're, when you're in that place of wanting

  210. something And you know when they say, when, when a person you're

  211. getting a service done and then they want that tip or they want

  212. something, they'd say path panning, Sir, you know, please

  213. Sir, or they say Chuma panning Sir.

  214. They, they kind of like bargained here.

  215. God was being definite. He was saying this is how you

  216. approach, else you'll die. If you read in Leviticus chapter

    Leviticus 10 chapter mention

  217. 10 verses one to three, Aaron's own sons went and you know, put

  218. incense and when you read it, it's scary.

  219. It says this is what it says In Leviticus 10 verses one to

  220. three, Aaron's sons, Nadab and Abihu, took their senses, put

  221. fire in them and added incense and they offered unauthorized

  222. fire before the Lord, contrary to his command.

  223. So fire came out of the presence of the Lord and consumed them

  224. and they died before the Lord. Moses then said to Aaron, This

  225. is what the Lord spoke of when he said among those who

  226. approached me, I will be proved holy, the sight of all people,

  227. I'll be honored. Aaron remained silent,

  228. approaching God back in that day, in the time of Leviticus

  229. was on an appointed day, was by an appointed tribe, was done in

  230. an appointed method. And today the consuming fire

  231. that consumed Aron's sons is still alive and active today.

  232. And so I want us to come to a place of realizing that if we do

  233. not take what God is doing seriously, it'll consume us.

  234. We read when we read this, the consuming fire moved and just

  235. went over Aron's sons. Just imagine as a dad, you're

  236. standing there, your sons do this, which should not be done

  237. and it happens right in from blatant disobedience.

  238. And I pray that that won't be our heart attitude or posture

  239. when we come, especially when we approach him daily.

  240. The problem with approaching him daily is we approach it in our

  241. convenience. But God delights when we say,

  242. you know what, God, I'm here, speak to me.

  243. He has got to have work. But this time that I've given,

  244. I'll make sure that I'll only listen to you.

  245. This time that I'm taking off is to hear from you.

  246. This time I've taken is to approach your throne room.

  247. This time I've taken it so that I can draw close to you.

  248. God is wanting us to remember. Because of Jesus, the consuming

  249. fire is all the more active today, and we must acknowledge

  250. it today. What are we consumed by?

  251. If you're not consumed by Jesus, you're consumed by something

  252. else. It's evident today.

  253. You know, when you're talking to certain people, you will realize

  254. they're either consumed by hope that comes from Jesus or they're

  255. consumed by their selfishness and by, you know, their own

  256. ideas of struggles. The reason why I'm saying idea

  257. of struggles is we need to come to a place that everyone has 24

  258. hours, everyone has the same time, everyone.

  259. How we view with the lens of Jesus matters.

  260. Today we can view Jesus and say, you know what, this doesn't make

  261. sense. It won't be consuming at all.

  262. But when we move towards Jesus, we understand he's all

  263. consuming. Why?

  264. There's always a deep fire that burns for something more.

  265. There's a longing for something more.

  266. You suddenly look at the altar, and the altar is a place where

  267. you commune because that's where you hear God the closest.

  268. The altar is where you suddenly are like God.

  269. This is where I see your presence.

  270. This is where I want to be. A lot of us are wanting to go do

  271. greater exploits outside, but we are failing to spend time at the

  272. altar. What is God literally cutting

  273. off you that you've relinquished to say God do as you will,

  274. because the consuming fire has to take away all the

  275. disobedience from us? Romans chapter 6 verses 10:50

    Romans 6 chapter mention

  276. talks about this. It says for the death that he

  277. died, He died to sin, ending its power and playing the sinner's

  278. death once and for all. And the sin that he lives, he

  279. lives to glorify God in unbroken fellowship with Him.

  280. Even so, consider yourselves to be dead to sin, and your

  281. relationship to it broken, but alive to God in unbroken

  282. fellowship with him. In Christ Jesus, the curse of

  283. sin is broken. When the curse of sin is broken,

  284. we have an unbroken fellowship with God and I pray that that

  285. will be our daily output where we go say God, break the yoke of

  286. sin over my life, break the consequences of the sin that I'm

  287. going through. Lord Jesus, God, break the sin

  288. pattern of my life. When we have this unbroken

  289. fellowship with him, sin will break.

  290. It will. It may happen.

  291. No, it will, because when unbroken fellowship is there

  292. with God, he won't allow it to really stem up because we'll be

  293. like God. Sure.

  294. You take the reins, you take control.

  295. Lent is also a reminder that the veil was torn, what was set for

  296. only once a year. In Matthew chapter 27, we read

    Matthew 27 chapter mention

  297. when Jesus died, the whale tore right from top to bottom, giving

  298. all of us access. You and me have access to the

  299. throne room of God. You know, when you look at the

  300. throne room of God, there's this thing called the mercy seat.

  301. When he goes in, Aaron goes in. He applies these, the blood of

  302. the animal over there and all that.

  303. As we see, we will see that that mercy seat is where we move to

  304. receive forgiveness, but you also go there to receive

  305. direction. We receive power over there.

  306. And so today all of us, all of us get to participate in it.

  307. Today I pray that all of us will have this unbroken fellowship

  308. with Jesus, not moving away from him or moving in a place and

  309. saying, no, this is how I want my unbroken fellowship is so

  310. that he will be able to break those sin patterns in our life.

  311. He'll be able to cleanse us so that we are clean inside out.

  312. Clean inside out. The second thing we see is we

  313. leave eternally redeemed by submission and not having to

  314. transfer our sins yearly. What happens in Leviticus

    Leviticus 20 chapter mention

  315. chapter 20/20/22? He shall then slaughter the goat

  316. for the sin offering for the people, and take its blood

  317. behind the curtain and do with it as He did with the bull's

  318. blood. He shall sprinkle it on the

  319. atonement cover and in front of it.

  320. In this way He will make atonement for the most holy

  321. place because of the uncleanness and rebellion of the Israelites,

  322. whatever their sins have been. He is to do the same to the tent

  323. of meeting, which is among them in the midst of their

  324. uncleanness. When Aaron was finished making

  325. atonement for the most holy place, the tent of meeting and

  326. the altar, he shall bring forward the live goat.

  327. He used to lay both hands on the head of the live goat, and

  328. confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of His,

  329. relates all their sins, and put them on the goat's head.

  330. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of

  331. someone appointed for the task. The goat will carry on itself

  332. all the sins to a remote place and a man shall release it in

  333. the wilderness. There was a process for the Day

  334. of Atonement for the transference of sin of the

  335. entirety of Israel, one the goat.

  336. When 2 goats were there, one was cast a lot, 1 was selected, one

  337. was killed, and that blood was applied inside the Holy of

  338. Holies, was applied in the atonement cover.

  339. And it was literally like God, us taking the blood, saying God,

  340. we are here, we are saying sorry, forgive us.

  341. We plead with the blood, and then we go to the tent of

  342. meeting where all are gathered. And that's why he lays both his

  343. hands and confesses the entire nation's sin over that goat.

  344. And the goat is set into the wilderness, never to return.

  345. And as we look at this, Jesus came into the world to replace

  346. entirely. He said, I'll take the entirety

  347. of mankind. It was no longer a nation.

  348. It no longer was a selected few. He took the entirety of mankind.

  349. So today, whatever sin you're being captivated by two,

  350. whatever sin you're feeling like, no, this is I can't do

  351. without. You can say I can beautifully

  352. give it into the hands of Jesus because he came down for you and

  353. me. He came down for entirety,

  354. entirety of mankind. And this is what always blows my

  355. mind. God in human form, who knew no

  356. sin, who did no sin, came and willfully gave his life.

  357. Here they are selected, but here He, in all humility, he came

  358. down. That's why I mentioned that we

  359. leave eternally redeemed by submission as Jesus came to the

  360. cross, as Jesus came and gave himself holy to the will of the

  361. Father so that the that connection will be restored.

  362. And as he rose back and as he's seated on the right hand of the

  363. Father to intercede for us, I believe it's through submission.

  364. He came through submission, holy to the will of the Father.

  365. We holy go to the cross, submission to say, God, here I

  366. am, this is me, this is me. I pray that I'll receive your

  367. blood. I pray I'll receive your your

  368. forgiveness. I pray I'll be redeemed.

  369. He redeems us once for all. No longer is this going to be a

  370. yearly task of going and having this transfer done?

  371. No, you're going there. No one is going to lay hands,

  372. you know. So what happens is I'm not

  373. waiting just for a year. I'm here.

  374. Who can say go Lord, I'm really stuck.

  375. I need your help now. I want to be redeemed from this.

  376. And God say every sin is broken. The power of sin is broken, the

  377. power of what you think you, you, you're struggling with.

  378. If you say, Lord, I submitted you, it'll break and it'll yield

  379. to Jesus. When you look at the whole

  380. instance, you know, animals don't have free bill.

  381. So they're forced. In fact, it's they're they're

  382. they're, they're the bread. And then as they are offered, it

  383. was not out of free will. But here we have Jesus who came

  384. down to earth out of his own will to say, I'll come and

  385. redeem and be the Redeemer. He came down.

  386. He, he set the score straight. So today we are redeemed

  387. eternally. You don't.

  388. I and I don't have to go and search for anything or anyone to

  389. redeem us. And this is what we read in

  390. Hebrews. And he talks about the chief

  391. high priest of what Jesus did when we read this, I want you to

  392. come to a place of saying, Lord, I want to be eternally redeemed

  393. by you. I'm sorry.

  394. I just, I come once a week or I come once a while and I think

  395. about what I've done. But here I want to walk away

  396. knowing I'm eternally redeemed. I'll walk away.

  397. I'll come and submit it. I'll walk away confident,

  398. knowing that you're working in and through me.

  399. A lot of us come in submitted. We, we, we get that forgiveness

  400. and we go back thinking, you know what, I can always do this.

  401. There's always this room for me to go because it, it, we feel

  402. like it it and we end up taking Jesus for granted.

  403. And I want us to come to a place where we're like, no, Jesus

  404. Christ was precious. That's why I love when it's said

  405. that consuming fire. We need to be consumed to know

  406. like God, this ends with me, this ends with my generation,

  407. this ends right here. I want to live a life wholly

  408. dedicated for you, you know and let's and as we read Hebrews and

  409. I pray that God will reveal that to us.

  410. It says here but when the Messiah write High Priest of the

  411. superior things of this new covenant, he bypassed the old

  412. tent and it's trappings and it's created world and went straight

  413. into heaven tent, the true holy place once and for all.

  414. He also bypasses sacrifices consisting of one goat and calf

  415. blood, instead using his own blood as a price to set us free

  416. once and for all. If that animal blood and the

  417. other rituals of purification were effective in cleaning up

  418. certain matters of our religion and behaviour, think how much

  419. more the blood of Christ cleanses up our whole lives

  420. inside and out through the Spirit.

  421. Christ offered himself as an unblemished sacrifice, freeing

  422. us from all those dead end efforts to make ourselves

  423. respectable so that we can live all out for God.

  424. You know one of the things when I read in this is inside out.

  425. We are cleansed inside out no longer isn't an outward.

  426. We are not just talking about the sins of what we have done

  427. that we put there. We're also talking about Lord

  428. these these longings, these earthly longings, these desires

  429. that see drive me to sin. We even comment that that's why

  430. the inside out is is no longer what we're doing, but also the

  431. intentions, the heart behind it. We go back to things that are

  432. passed down generationally, things that have been we've been

  433. confined to within spaces and the things that we've been grown

  434. up, we see they no longer have a hold.

  435. Lord set us free because he was this unblemished sacrifice

  436. because he willingly came. No one willingly goes to die,

  437. but He did because He loved you and me.

  438. And we need to give up on any pursuits that take us away from

  439. Jesus. We need to give up any pursuits

  440. that take us away because once we know we're eternally

  441. redeemed, it's not a green card or a golden card for us to

  442. realize, OK, my ticket to heaven is confirmed.

  443. Because our actions will always be questionable if we don't live

  444. out how Christ is wanting us to live out.

  445. The minute we are redeemed, we are saying, Lord, I submit to

  446. your will. Jesus submitted to the will of

  447. the Father. We have free will.

  448. And so in our free will, when we say, Lord, we accept your

  449. redemption, we are redeemed eternally.

  450. My will submits to His will. And suddenly I'm not being

  451. governed by my free will. I'm in submission to his free

  452. will to say, Lord, what do you want me to do?

  453. Is this what you want me to pursue?

  454. Is this relationship worth it in my life?

  455. Is this coming out of a place of a selfish desire where I just

  456. need my needs being met? Or is this a God oriented

  457. relationship for me? God, is this something I need to

  458. pursue or is this outside of your will for me?

  459. That's what happens with Inside Out and the Day of Atonement,

  460. when we look over here is an important feature in that

  461. Israelites life because this is where they met with God.

  462. And I was just reading through spoken gospel and they said this

  463. beautifully. They said in the entire Torah,

  464. the Day of Atonement sits right in the center.

  465. And what sits at the center of the Torah is the book of

  466. Leviticus. And right at the center is the

  467. Day of Atonement. And it's this beautiful picture

  468. of where we meet with God. And today God recites right

  469. inside of us. We don't go to meet with he is

  470. right there with you. So today, even as you're

  471. watching it online, He's right there with you at in your home,

  472. in your office, in your paying guest, in the place that you're

  473. travelling. He's right there and he wants to

  474. meet with you. He wants to change you inside

  475. or, and I pray that we will move to this understanding.

  476. They're called to live this life that has been eternally redeemed

  477. for us once and for all. When we participate with Jesus,

  478. we're saying, God, I am yours, you are mine.

  479. I'll do what you say because I, as you submitted out of your own

  480. free will, you submit to the will of the Father.

  481. I, out of my free will submit to you, and I follow the will that

  482. you have for me. Let's read 1 Peter chapter 2

    1 Peter 2:21–25

  483. verse 21 to 25. This is what it says.

  484. To this you are called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving

  485. you an example that you should follow.

  486. In His steps. He committed no sin and no

  487. deceit was found in His mouth. When they hurled their insults

  488. at Him. He did not retaliate when he

  489. suffered. He made no threats.

  490. Instead, He entrusted himself to Him who judges justly.

  491. He himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we

  492. might die to sin and live for righteousness.

  493. By his wounds you have been healed, for you were like sheep

  494. going astray, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and

  495. overseer of your souls. What a beautiful way.

  496. We were once astray, but now we've returned to the Shepherd

  497. who overseas us. So it's all when they're

  498. eternally redeemed. We are keeping eternity in

  499. focus. We are moving, We are caring for

  500. our souls. We are caring not just for a

  501. body. We are caring for our souls.

  502. And I pray that our eyes would be open to see Jesus this way.

  503. He paid the price and so no longer do we have to go on a

  504. wild goose chase. The cross becomes a focal point.

  505. Jesus's act and the way he did it becomes our life of how we

  506. have to live here on this earth. We are redeemed.

  507. We need to live from the place of being redeemed.

  508. We don't live from the place of being a Sinner.

  509. And the problem of a lot of us is we go back always.

  510. You know what? I accepted Jesus Christ.

  511. And why are you living under the bondage of sin?

  512. No, I'm unable to hear Jesus. I, I, I feel like the only

  513. person who's moved from the cross is us.

  514. And I pray that we will move to that place because the closer we

  515. are, we will always know that we are redeemed.

  516. We are eternally redeemed and so there won't be this unnecessary

  517. striving. There will be a deep longing to

  518. go deeper into His word, and I pray that we will see Jesus more

  519. clearly now. They had to offer and transfer

  520. their sins, but Jesus paid it all.

  521. Jesus paid it all. It's interesting that as you

  522. journey with Jesus, He'll remind you of certain aspects of sins

  523. that you've committed. And every time he reminds you,

  524. it's for you to go back and say, Lord, I'm sorry I was so foolish

  525. that time. I was so foolish.

  526. I, I repent of those ways. Lord, do in me something.

  527. And I pray that each of us will take this time, this season to

  528. repent of things that are plaguing us.

  529. Some of us have hidden it. He knows everything.

  530. I pray we'll come clean so that he can do his work inside so

  531. that will be revealed in the outside.

  532. The third thing which I want to take from this Leviticus chapter

    Leviticus 16 chapter mention

  533. 16 is the price is paid once for all and it's not recurring.

  534. The price is paid once. All.

  535. The reason I put this in the eternally redeemed, but the

  536. price is paid once for all is we most often think we need to.

  537. We, we always are. We are always in cinema mode.

  538. We are redeemed, the price is paid, so we have access.

  539. You really don't have to have that intermediate and the and

  540. the, and the thing with Leviticus when you read is there

  541. was always a physical cost that was involved.

  542. The cost of an ox today is around probably ₹80,000.

  543. The cost of a ram should be a little less than that.

  544. The cost of a goat is roughly around 40.

  545. And so yearly when you come to meet with God as a nation and

  546. there was a cost involved, but today, as we individually go,

  547. you might think there's no cost. There is a cost involved.

  548. We all have to pay a price. And the price is often times our

  549. time. The price is our retention.

  550. The price is our will. The price is our open hearts.

  551. Jesus has paid his price, but today are we paying our price?

  552. He paid the price once for all. It's not a reckoning.

  553. So what happens is every year they have to know today when we

  554. go into God's throne room, everyday, however you call that

  555. throne room yours because each of us have ways of listening to

  556. what the Spirit has to say. But I pray that we move to a

  557. place of saying, Lord, I'm here do your will, I'm here do your

  558. will. I'm here do your will.

  559. Because what He wants to do is far bigger than what we can

  560. imagine. What he wants to do in and

  561. through US, what he wants to set us up is far bigger.

  562. The reason why Jesus came and he wanted to put an end to this is

  563. because what happens generationally when something is

  564. done ritualistically is lot of add-ons happen, lot of add-ons

  565. happen. And so this basically became a

  566. ritualistic thing. It became of it became it became

  567. everything it had had to be because economically there was

  568. something there was an economy that was running around it.

  569. There were so many other businesses that were probably

  570. running around it. Jesus saw these guys have made a

  571. mockery of what I have called them to do the very presence

  572. that they they put the price so big.

  573. So of the only those who afford could feel like they are

  574. redeemed. No, God, Jesus broke everything.

  575. He came for every tribe, for every nation, for every color,

  576. for every cast, for every skin color, for anyone who's out

  577. there, whether you're with, with, with certain kind of

  578. physical disabilities or whatever you have, He came for

  579. everything. It's paid once for all.

  580. It's not a recurring thing. You don't have to go back again

  581. and try doing something to win his love.

  582. He's done it and I pray that we are pursuits will never be about

  583. the doing. It'll come down to the being.

  584. It'll come down to the being being with Jesus.

  585. Reading from Leviticus chapter 16 verses 31 onwards, it says

    Leviticus 16:31

  586. it's a day of Sabbath rest and you must deny yourselves.

  587. It's a lasting ordinance. A priest who is appointed,

  588. anointed and ordained to succeed his father as high priest is to

  589. make atonement. He is to put on the sacred

  590. living garments and make atonement for the most Holy

  591. place, for the tent of meeting in the altar and for the priest

  592. and all the members of the community.

  593. This is to be a lasting ordinance for you.

  594. Atonement is to be made once a year for all the sins of

  595. Israelites and it was done as the Lord commanded Moses.

  596. So even as we read, I pray that the price is paid once for all.

  597. It was a command for them. Even as they moved into building

  598. the temple it was the same command.

  599. Even in Jesus time it was the same thing that was being

  600. followed. But when Jesus died on the

  601. cross, he who knew no sin, when he took the unblemished one,

  602. took the sin of the world. It was done once for all.

  603. And so today I pray we would find moments where we will be so

  604. comfortable with being in His presence.

  605. So I pray that today we will move to a place of realizing

  606. there's not anything that I can do that can actually be done.

  607. What Jesus has not done. Jesus has done everything.

  608. It's finished. So what we need to do is go and

  609. be in His presence more. Be at His footstool mode, be at

  610. His mercy seat mode, be at the altar where we meet with Him.

  611. And the reason why I'm emphasizing the altar is because

  612. that's where we lay everything down.

  613. And that's where when we lay, He speaks.

  614. He might be like, but that, that is the sacrifice that he's

  615. calling us to because he's done everything here.

  616. I'm willingly laying everything saying, Lord, everything I have

  617. is yours. My money is yours.

  618. My family is yours. My whatever I've built so far,

  619. whatever I thought I have in mind is all yours.

  620. And I lay it at your feet. I lay it at your feet even as I

  621. come, come, come to a conclusion.

  622. I want to conclude with this, conclude that we'll be consumed

  623. so that we are not shaken. And this comes from a passage

  624. which I was reading in the New Testament where it talks about

  625. in Hebrews where we'll be consumed by him and we won't be

  626. shaken. The problem is, a lot of times

  627. the world shakes us up. The world shakes us up, and then

  628. we realize we are also shaken in the presence of God, shaken

  629. because a lot of our stubbornness, a lot of the areas

  630. where we are unwilling to let go, God shakes us up.

  631. His word shakes us up. His Spirit shakes us up.

  632. His move shakes us up. The anointing which rests on us

  633. starts shaking. And a lot of us are not being,

  634. are not wanting to be consumed by that.

  635. But I pray even as those men, as Adam's sons went into the altar

  636. there, even as they did it when they shouldn't have done it, but

  637. they got consumed by the fire, I pray we will move to the altar

  638. waiting to be consumed. Why is this important?

  639. Because we can either move and look at the entire thing.

  640. One of the things when you look at Leviticus is we can look at

  641. it from a perspective of work, or we can look at it from a

  642. perspective of worship. When you look at it from work,

  643. there's so much to follow. But the bottom line, the base

  644. time for all of that was worship.

  645. And somewhere that got messed him.

  646. When Jesus came, he turned the table.

  647. He said worship me. And because you worship me,

  648. you'll start doing so many other things.

  649. And I pray that turnover, when the tables turn over is

  650. something we'll move towards. We will be there so that we'll

  651. be able to witness it. We'll be able to see certain

  652. things move in our own lives. We need to worship, which means

  653. we need to behold Him as I started.

  654. When we behold him, we become whole.

  655. The altar should be a place which is common to us is a place

  656. which we don't take it for granted, common that we're

  657. excited every time we meet there.

  658. Anything that's become common, we after a point, we take it for

  659. granted. But I pray it should amaze us.

  660. You know, for me and Tina, one of the things that has become

  661. common is this place. But every time we enter and we

  662. are in this place of thinking, we don't deserve this God.

  663. Why did we? We are marvelled at His grace.

  664. We are marvelled at His provision.

  665. We are marvelled in the way He's LED us.

  666. And I pray that every time you move to the altar, to the places

  667. where we meet with Him, we will be marvelled.

  668. God will do when we lay our issues and our heart idols at

  669. His feet. His feet is the altars when we

  670. laid it there. I pray that all that will become

  671. a sweet incense and God will consume us.

  672. The consuming fire did something to Aaron's sons because they

  673. were not. They blatantly disobeyed.

  674. But I pray our obedience will cause us to be consumed so that

  675. we'll be doing what we have to do.

  676. You know, even before we read Hebrews chapter 12, the title of

    Hebrews 12 chapter mention

  677. that is Mountain of Fear, Mountain of Joy.

  678. Do we approach God with fear, or do we approach Him with joy?

  679. So let's read this particular passage.

  680. Hebrews 12, as I conclude, was the 18 to 29.

  681. You have not come to a mountain that can be touched, that is

  682. burning with fire, to darkness, gloom and storm, to a trumpet

  683. blast, or to a such a voice speaking words that those who

  684. heard it begged that no further word to be spoken to them

  685. because they could not bear what was commanded.

  686. If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to

  687. death. The sight was so terrifying that

  688. Moses said, I'm trembling with fear.

  689. But you have come to the Mount Zion, to the city of the living

  690. God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon

  691. thousands upon angels in joyful assembly, to the Church of the

  692. first born whose names are written in heaven.

  693. You have come to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of the

  694. righteous made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of a new covenant,

  695. and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the

  696. blood of Abel. See to it that you do not refuse

  697. Him who speaks. If they do not escape when they

  698. refused Him who warned them on earth, how much less will we if

  699. we turn away from Him who warned us from heaven at that time?

  700. His voice shook the earth, but now he has promised once more I

  701. will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.

  702. The words once more indicate the removing of what can be shaken

  703. that has created things, so that what cannot be shaken may

  704. remain. Therefore, since we are

  705. receiving a Kingdom that cannot be shaken, that is, be thankful

  706. and so worship God acceptably with the reverence and awe.

  707. For our God is a consuming fire. God is a consuming fire.

  708. The reason why I'm reading this is because the the way God dealt

  709. with Israel in that entire journey in the wilderness was to

  710. instill His Holiness in them. His Holiness will.

  711. One of the outworkings is fear, but it wasn't a fear of wanting

  712. to meet. In fact, they said they just

  713. sent Moses up saying you go, you go be them.

  714. God wanted everyone, but they just sent him.

  715. Fear settled in because they thought what God would do to

  716. them, but they they missed out on the aspect of worship.

  717. And even as we read this, when I read it in the message, it says

  718. it even more beautifully talks about it in verse 28 to 29.

  719. Do you see what we've got an unshakeable Kingdom.

  720. And do you see how thankful we must be?

  721. Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent

  722. before God. For God is not an indifferent

  723. bystander. He's actively cleaning house,

  724. torching all the needs to burn, and he won't quit until it all

  725. is cleansed out. God himself is fire.

  726. The mountain had a physical representation of God, His

  727. Holiness, because they didn't want to meet.

  728. God made that entire mountain structure so holy that He told

  729. no one can approach the mountain.

  730. But then when he came down to earth, he wanted to recite with

  731. each and every one of us today, as His Holy Spirit who's been

  732. commissioned to be with us is in US.

  733. He is the consuming fight who's within us.

  734. So today, the day of Atonement is not that one day that one

  735. moment is rather than every day is another and every breathing

  736. moment that we have. But he's wanting to consume us

  737. inside out. It says here, he torches what is

  738. torches? It literally burns up

  739. everything. And I pray that will be a stance

  740. to say, Lord, torch me. Lord, today I'm here.

  741. What do you want me to do, Lord, what is my worship to you?

  742. What? What do you want to deposit in

  743. me that I need to let go of certain things.

  744. The Day of atonement was to find mercy and to see God yearly.

  745. But today when he touches us, we are clean inside out.

  746. We're like God. I'm coming expected.

  747. God, I'm coming here for you to move.

  748. I'm coming here to see something greater.

  749. I'm coming here to see something beautiful.

  750. I'm coming here to see something marvelous.

  751. I'm coming here to see something magnificent.

  752. I have to be in awe and in wonder of what you're going to

  753. do because that's the God that we serve, beholding His glory

  754. and becoming whole. And so I pray that none of us

  755. will go on this pilgrimage to search, but wherever we are,

  756. we'll accept Jesus as a Lord and personal Savior.

  757. I don't want to extend this option because you've not

  758. accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and personal Savior.

  759. You can he's he came down to die for you and me.

  760. And so if you want to accept him, I would be honored to lead

  761. you into this prayer of confession.

  762. And we say, Lord, you're all I need.

  763. And if that's you, if you're not, you're all this well,

  764. you've probably heard the name of Jesus and you're like, you

  765. know what? But today you're like, God.

  766. This really convicted me. I don't want it to be a one off

  767. thing. I want to be an everyday thing.

  768. We can accept Jesus as a person and he's willing to come and

  769. live inside of us. So you can repeat this prayer

  770. after me Loving Heavenly Father. Thank you for your word.

  771. I know I'm a Sinner. I need to be saved.

  772. I call on you Jesus to be my Lord, God and Saviour.

  773. I believe you died on the cross for my sins.

  774. You rose up on the third day and today you're seated with the

  775. Father and you're going to come back.

  776. And because of you I'll have eternity to spend with you.

  777. I invite you into my heart. I pray and ask that you will be

  778. God over my life. Sin no longer will be will have

  779. any rule over my life. I commit to you.

  780. Holy be, Lord and Savior, in your most holy name I pray,

  781. Amen. Amen.

  782. I pray that those of you who made that prayer will be able to

  783. start this journey afresh. For those of you who would love

  784. to know how to become a disciple, get in touch with us.

  785. You would love to journey with you.

  786. But even As for those of you who probably have been seasoned

  787. Christians, I pray that we'll move into a place of realizing

  788. that. Lord, I want to meet with you.

  789. I want to behold your glory so that I can become whole, so that

  790. I can become whole. This, this, this portion that

  791. we're seeing is for us to draw closer to Jesus, to find his

  792. presence more deeper. Not shallow, but you're going to

  793. dig deep. You're going to say, Lord, I

  794. need you. I need your understanding.

  795. I need that. If this is a season of weight, I

  796. will wait. Well, if this is a season of

  797. doing exploits, I will rely on your strength and do great

  798. exploits. So can I pray?

  799. And as we start this week, let's comment to him.

  800. Lord, I thank you, Lord, for this word that we heard.

  801. I pray, Lord, that it will fall into the good portions of our

  802. soil. I pray that for those who've

  803. been scared by your presence, who've been having a lot of

  804. cultural teams running around this, I pray we killed all of

  805. that. The way you came willfully in

  806. submission to the Father, we come willfully and submit to

  807. you. You be Lord and Savior of our

  808. lives. You do everything that you have

  809. to do for us, Lord Jesus, so that we'll be able to bring

  810. glory and honour to your name. Be glorified and honoured.

  811. I pray You'll bless each and everyone.

  812. Bless the food and water of their home.

  813. Bless their going out and coming in.

  814. Bless everything that they undertake so that you will be

  815. glorified. Take charge.

  816. Be with us, Lord, Your most holy name we pray, Amen, Amen.

  817. Amen. I pray that even as you heard

  818. this, that you'll be able to behold His glory and you'll

  819. become whole. And even as I read in that last

  820. thing, that He will be the consuming fire in your life,

  821. that He will be the consumer. And even as you go in to those

  822. meeting moments with Him, as you sit in that altar as Jesus

  823. submitted, you will submit everything and God will reveal

  824. Himself to you. Pray that you have a blessed

  825. week. God bless you all.

  826. Thanks for listening to this message.

  827. We hope you were blessed to hear more messages like this.

  828. Make sure to subscribe and check out our podcast channel for past

  829. episodes. If you like what you are

  830. hearing, consider rating us, subscribing and even sharing it

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  832. For more content from Via Zion and to connect with us, go to

  833. Via Zion dot in. Remember, whoever finds Jesus

  834. finds life.