3.7.10 messages
March 7, 2010
Our morning Romans series:
By One Man Sin Entered (Rm 5:12)
Our Basic Theology lesson:
The Pre-Incarnate Christ
Our monthly communion message from Leviticus:
Ordinary Religion (Lev 24:1-23)
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Our Psalm from the previous Wednesday (3.3.10)
The Lord reigns – Let the Earth Rejoice (Ps 97:1-12)
Eating Holy Food [Leviticus, Communion]
November 1, 2009
Lev 21.16-22.16
In this lesson we see how God regulated access to the holy food of the Old Testament (the priests portions of the sacrifices) but how in the new dispensation the Bread of Life (our Lord Jesus) is open to all, the blind, the lame, the diseased, the disfigured, the Jew, the Gentile – to all who will believe on our Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. The banquet table is open to all who receive Christ.
Read the notes while you listen.
Perfect in Conduct and Person [Leviticus, Communion]
October 4, 2009
Lev 21
Our chapter this month provides some more specific rules concerning priestly qualification and conduct. The regulations imply the weakness of the Aaronic priesthood and call for the coming perfect priesthood of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Read the notes as you listen.
The Commandments Expanded [Communion, Leviticus]
August 2, 2009
Lev 19
Our chapter has four notable features including the theme verse of Leviticus, “Ye shall be holy: for I the LORD your God am holy.” The other features are a repetition or allusion to each of the ten commandments, the revelation of the second great commandment and the constant repetition of the phrase “I am the Lord (your God).” All of this emphasizes a deeper understanding of God’s law and nature and the demands it places on us in all of life for absolute holiness in imitation of our God.
We are conscious, still, of our inadequacy in this chapter. We need more. We can’t meet the standard. Thus, such a chapter about the holiness of God applied to life calls forth a memory of the holy condescension of our holy God in becoming a man, keeping the law even unto death on our behalf.
Read the notes while you listen.
After the doings of the lands… [Communion, Leviticus]
July 5, 2009
Lev 18
We begin the Holiness Code section of Leviticus with a look at laws focused on preserving morality in and out of marriage. The bulk of the chapter consists of prohibitions against various forms of incest, but it also includes prohibitions of child sacrifice and perverse immorality. The redemptive message of these prohibitions is found in 1 Cor 6.9-11: ‘and such were some of you.’ No sin, no matter how distasteful and perverse, can bar the door to the washing, the sanctifying, or the justifying available by the death of Christ and the ministration of the Spirit.
Read the notes while you listen.
The Life is in the Blood [Leviticus, Communion]
June 7, 2009
Lev 17.1-16
We discover in this chapter, the Levitical laws of blood, a universal truth expressed in laws applied to several different dispensations – first under Noah, here in Leviticus under Moses, and last in the book of Acts under the Apostles. This universal truth is the notion of life being in the blood, which makes it possible for a bloody death to function as a substitute for a sinner in need of acceptance by God. We see it in the demand for bloody sacrifice and the prohibition against consuming blood in all dispensations. We see it in the pagan world, full of bloody sacrifice (though very corrupt in their practices). And we see it finally in the one bloody sacrifice of Christ for all people for all time.
Read the notes while you listen.
The Public Propitiation
May 3, 2009
Rm 3.25
The first concept of this verse, and an exceedingly precious one, takes a new tack in understanding the great change now made available to sinners. Previously, we have considered the benefits that accrue to man from his justification by the ‘without-law’ kind of righteousness. In this message, we look at the change wrought in God.
God is propitiated by the work of Christ. That is, he is made propitious, favorable, disposed to receive us, the way is open, free and clear for anyone by faith to come into his presence. Unlike the weakness of the yearly day of atonement, the great atonement of the cross opens the door for men to worship God permanently and forever.
Read the notes as you listen.
Day of Affliction
May 3, 2009
Lev 16.1-34
It so ‘happens’ that as we come to our communion Sunday, the chapter we are in for our Leviticus series is the very chapter needed for the background to our next verse in our Romans study. As a result, we made the Leviticus message our morning message and the Romans message our afternoon and communion message.
The Day of Atonement is the annual ritual whereby the Tabernacle was cleansed to allow Israel access to God for another year. In this cleansing, by ritual, the Israelite had to in faith believe that God indeed would accept the nation, hear their prayers and receive their offerings because the accumulated uncleanness of the year was removed and the sins of the year atoned for. The ceremony is a spectacular picture of the work of Christ on our behalf in many ways.
Read the notes as you listen.
4.5.09 PM • Communion
April 5, 2009
Keep Separated from Uncleanness (Lev 15)
Our chapter for communion is the last of the cleanness legislation (Lev 11-15). These chapters are leading up to the great cleansing ritual, the Day of Atonement, but even that ritual is not what we want to deal with our uncleanness. The best the law can do is neutralize the burden. We are looking for One who can eliminate once for all the uncleanness that perpetually afflicts mankind.
Read the notes while you listen.
3.1.09 PM • Communion
March 1, 2009
He is Clean (Lev 14)
Our series in Leviticus takes us to the regulations for restoring a healed leper to the congregation. The ritual teaches us that access to God is available only under God’s terms, not man’s. It also makes a visual parable for us of the new birth, as the cleansed leper is covered by the blood of the sacrifice and sanctified by the oil of consecration.
Read the notes while you listen.
