Leviticus 6:8-13- Sinner saved by grace

Leviticus 6:8-7:38

Hebrews 7:23-28

                                                                               “A sinner saved by grace”

What do you identify as?

This is a question that people are asking themselves a lot these days………

What do I identify as?

And unfortunately the answers to this question have become more and more confusing as we try and decide ourselves what we are. And it becomes more and more confusing as that identity can change from one day to the next.

Today, as we look at these chapters from Leviticus we are going to consider how God identifies us….since it is He who created us and He has the right to label us.

In the beginning, God spoke and God created us, He then labelled us male and female and then get this….he labelled us “very good”

And so we could identify ourselves as “very good” – since that is how God created and labelled us in the beginning.

And let us be honest, perhaps most people, even those who don’t believe in a creator God, perhaps generally think that we humans are good.

This is why we often hear people say things like

“just believe in yourself”- because deep down they believe we are all good

or

“you can be anyone you want to be”, because deep down they believe you are good and so whatever you chose to be, will be good.

Even people within the church, believe that deep down all humans are good, and perhaps Christians are just a little better than good, because we perhaps do better things than others.

Now, if the bible stopped at Genesis chapter 2, if the history of the world stopped just after creation, then yes, let us label ourselves “good”, in fact let us label ourselves “very good”.

But we know there was and is a Genesis chapter 3, we know that there was a fall, we know that we humansdidn’t stay good. We know as we heard last week that through Adam and Eve sin entered the world and ever since that day, we are no longer created good, but we are born, even conceived in sin.

And so the bible teaches that humans are actually no longer good, but we are sinners. In fact the bible uses even stronger language than sinners, it says that we are evil, we are children of the devil….children of God’s wrath. People who naturally do not want to do good.

And this is where perhaps even many Christians struggle with what the truth of the bible tells us.

God clearly tells us through his word, that those who haven’t repented of their sin and put their trust in Jesus are lost, on their way to hell, children of wrath.

The gospel message, the good news of Jesus, is not, “that we are good, but with Jesus we can be better”,no the gospel message is that “we are sinners and we need a saviour- Jesus”.

The bible clearly tells us that no-one is in the neutral zone, you are either with God or you are against Him.

And yet for those who have accepted Jesus as Lord and saviour, and surrendered to King Jesus, the bible tells us we now, we have two identities…..are you ready for this……

This is who I identify as……

“I am a sinner saved by grace”

“I am a sinner saved by grace”

Now, there has been many good debates over the years, if this is actually a true and right identity we should have as Christians- “a sinner saved by grace”

Some would argue that this label brings too much attention to the fact we are sinners, and since Jesus died for our sins, we no longer need to bring attention to that.

Some would argue that this statement doesn’t bring enough attention to our sins, it just glossies over our sins and we jump straight to God’s grace.

Some would argue that we just need to identify with God’s grace and not our sin at all.

And yet, I believe that this statement is a good, proper and balanced way we identify as God’s people, “sinners saved by grace”- that is who we are!

The more we understand our sin and the total offence it causes God, the more we may understand the depths of God’s grace.

The more we understand the consequences of our sin, the more we understand exactly what God had to do in order for those consequences to be dealt with.

The more we understand God’s love for us.

A love greater than any family member or friend, or even pet can give you.

You see, even when God instructed Moses the ways the priests were to prepare the sacrifices back in the desert at Mount Sinai, it was all done, to show that God was making a way for their sins to be atoned for, so that they could continue in fellowship with Him.

Remember that was the goal of God making atonement for their sins- so that they could enjoy fellowship with him. That is what ATONEMENT IS- “At one with God”

Remember this is what eventually happened during the peace offering, as the Israelite and the priest, shared a meal together in the very presence of God. God was re-establishing that covenant of grace with them.

Friends, that is still God’s goal today through the death and resurrection of his son- Jesus- he made a way to atone for our sins, so that we could enjoy relationship with him.

And so friends, if you accepted Jesus as your Lord and savour and then you just treated it like you received a ticket to heaven, put it in your back pocket and then just kept living your life, - you have missed the whole purpose of Jesus atoning for your sins.

He atoned for your sins, so you could be at one with God, so you could enjoy fellowship now with Jesus by his spirit and fellowship with one another and not just now, but even more fully in eternity, as we will see him face to face.

That is the main beauty and pleasure of heaven, that God will be with us, and we shall, see him face to face. It will be like it was back at the beginning of creation, but only better.

In Leviticus 6:8-13, we can see God’s desire to be continuously with his people. We can see God’s desire notto be separated from his sinful people. This is why the tabernacle was built, it was a place where God dwelt amongst his people.

And yet because of people’s constant sinfulness, God had to constantly provide a way for their sins to be atoned for, so that relationship could continue.

We can see that constant provision in the burnt offering that is mentioned in chapter 6.

Remember, the burnt offering was an offering that was offered to God alone to atone for their sins. None of the offering was given to the priests or the person themselves, but this whole burnt offering was all for God, and so this is why the whole animal was burnt to ashes including the best bits of the animal- “the fat”

And here is the remarkable thing about the burn offering.

The fire on the altar on which the burnt offering was made, was to never go out. The priests had to keep the fire burning.

Look at chapter 6 verses 12-13 with me:

12 The fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not go out. The priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and he shall arrange the burnt offering on it and shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. 13 Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

So why did God want the fire on the altar to keep burning?

It seemed a lot of work.

Well, for a couple of reasons.

First and most importantly, it showed that God continually provided a way for the sins of the people to be atoned for.

If a person had sinned and wanted their sins to be atoned, the fire was ready, the sacrifice could be made. God was always ready to atone for their sins.

Friends, in Jesus, God is always ready to forgive us for our sins, we just need to turn to him at any time or in any place- God’s default position is grace, mercy and forgiveness. He has these things in abundance and his heart is to lavish them upon us.

Friends, the priests job was to basically bring people closer to God. Our Jobs as we are now a kingdom of priests is to bring people closer to God. Our Job is to keep the fire going. No matter how small that flame may be at time, we must always be ready to bring people closer to God. We must always be ready to give a reason for the hope we have in Jesus.

Friends, keep the fire going today- you just never know who might need it.

Another reason why the fire kept burning, is that it must have always reminded the people of Israel that they were sinners who needed a saviour.

When the people in the camp, saw the fire from the tabernacle burning, and smelt the animals aroma burn, they were reminded that God had made a way to atone for their sins.

And so yes, let us pray daily as Jesus taught us to pray, that God will forgive us our sins, but let us also do that resting in his grace and mercy to us, knowing, and get this, Jesus is now at his father’s side advocating for us, as it says in Hebrews 7.

And so when we sin, Jesus is at his father’s side, reminding Him, or advocating for us, that his sacrifice has paid for our sins, his sacrifice has atoned for our sins. He already made a way for our sins to be atoned for and relationship to continue.

In that sense, our high priest Jesus constantly keeps the fire going and it will never ever go out, because his sacrifice was done once and it was done for all our sins.

Now, as I said before, if we treat God as our ticket to heaven, and just put that ticket in our back pocket, live our life and then perhaps pull it out when the end is near, then we have missed the whole purpose of Jesus’ sacrifice for us.

His end goal was for us to enjoy fellowship with Him and with one another.

This purpose is actually shown in the sacrifices that were made at the tabernacle.

I have a little slide here which shows the purpose of each sacrifice:

Burnt offering                   =               reconciled to God- atonement

Grain offering                   =               show of gratitude to God

Peace offering                 =               enjoy fellowship with God and one another

Sin offering                         =               after fellowship has been broken by sin

Guilt offering                     =               show of remorse and restitution

You see, even in the desert all those years ago, God wanted his people to be forgiven for their sins and enjoy fellowship with him and one another as they shared a meal together- the Israelite and the priest in the tabernacle, the place where God’s presence dwelt.

And then God knew their hearts, he knew that they would break fellowship and sin again, so he provided a sin offering and not only did God want his people to repent in their hearts, but he wanted them to show by their actions that they were truly sorry- hence the guilt offering.

For example, this is why God commanded them not only to give back what they stole from their neighbour, but give them back 20% interest too.

Friends, if we truly believe we are “sinners saved by grace” it will be shown in our actions.

If we are truly forgiven and saved, it will be shown how we live.

There must be fruits of repentance in our lives.

Not works that lead to repentance, but works that come from our salvation.

Friends, I want to encourage you, and perhaps I am preaching to myself today, to keep doing good, keep offering forgiveness and grace and mercy to others, keep doing what God requires of you, keep reading his word, keep praying, keep talking to people about Jesus, keep praying for your friends, keep serving Jesus and keep doing it with all your heart. Whatever that may be, however big or small you think that is- keep doing it.

The priests in the days of Moses, must have got tired, it was a monotonous duty- keeping the fire going, putting on the garments, taking off the garments, killing an animal, slicing it up, taking out the fat, sprinkling the blood, taking the ashes outside the camp, cleaning himself , cleaning the altar, checking the animals, making sure there was no defect, it was a constant job- it was a messy job.

Friends, when you are doing the work of God’s kingdom- it is messy, because God’s kingdom is all about people and people are messy.

And yet friends, keep going….let the Joy of the Lord be your strength.

We know from the book of Malachi, that sometimes the priests cut corners- they didn’t use the best animals, they used lame animals, they used animals that were on their last legs- and in their own thoughts, they justified this. These animals were dying anyway, and so for them it made sense to kill the dying ones and use them for a sacrifice rather than a healthy animal that could be used for other things.

And yet God wasn’t pleased with them, because they were unfaithful with what God had commanded them to do.

Friends, God has called us to be faithful to him.

That means we trust and follow his word- even- or particularly when it costs us.

It means that we carry on doing those things which God has asked us to do, no matter how small or irrelevant they may appear to be in the eyes of the world.

If our three little churches were a business……we would be closed down.

Some would argue that it is not worth keeping these three little churches going since the numbers are too small, our impact seems to be minimal, we just seem to struggle from one week to the next.

And we could be tempted in our desperation to grow, to cut corners like the priests did in the days of Moses. We can be tempted to stop feeding our people the gospel, and just give them self- help pep talks instead- far less confronting. We could be tempted to put entertainment over the truth of the gospel….if we just made people laugh and entertained them, we would grow the church. We could be tempted to cut corners when it came to making disciples, instead of showing them the cost of discipleship, we could provide people with a fluffy pillow.

Worst of all, we could stop pleading people to repent of their sins – I mean no one wants to hear about what a miserable rotten sinner they are- do they.

And yet friends, if we cut out repentance of sin, we give people only half of a gospel and half a gospel is no gospel at all.

Friends, praise God, I am a sinner that has been saved by grace.

You are a sinner that has been saved by grace.

Saved by the perfect sacrifice of Jesus, who died in my place, who died in your place, to take the penalty for all my sins, all your sins. Saved us from Hell, but also saved us to a sweet and everlasting relationship with Him.

Let us pray.