Transcription downloaded from https://legacy.freechurch.org/sermons/4409/the-flesh-is-in-the-blood/. Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions. Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt. [0:00] Leviticus chapter 17, and we may read again at the 10th verse. [0:17] Leviticus chapter 17, from verse 10. And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood, I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people. [0:50] For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar, to make an atonement for you souls. [1:08] For it is the blood that make an atonement for the soul. [1:20] In the 10th verse, there is a divine prohibition that was to be honored within the coasts of Israel. [1:50] And the prohibition is not confined to those who were Israelites by birth. It is extended to any and to all who sojourned among them at any time. [2:14] In the land of Israel, no blood was to be eaten. And then we are told the reason for this. [2:31] I do not think that it had any relationship whatsoever to anything physiological or biological. [2:44] It is not as to its value, or lack of value as an article of food, that the reference is made he. [2:55] The prohibition is grounded on something else. First of all, it is said that the life of the flesh is in the blood. [3:14] And I have given it to you, said the Lord, upon the altar. [3:31] I have given it to you, that is, I have given you the blood upon the altar. To make an atonement for your soul. [3:48] For it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. Now, the general principle underlies this prohibition and the reason thereof is that what was used on the altar was not to be used anywhere else. [4:21] I have given you the blood upon the altar. This was its place. [4:33] It was set apart for a sacred use. And it was not to be used, therefore, for any common use. [4:48] Now, as we have occasion to point out to you before, as you read the rules and regulations that governed the life and the diet of the Israelites, you cannot fail to see that the lesson that is emphasized in it and through it all is this, that there is a difference between the precious and the mind, between the holy and the prophet, between the clean and the unclean. [5:46] That is the lesson. What there is part of that lesson here, they were not to use blood anywhere in the land for this reason. [6:01] Not only that the life was in the blood, but that the Lord had given them the blood upon the altar. Now, as you know, the sacrifices were offered either for the whole congregation of Israel or for individuals in that congregation. [6:32] And the congregation of Israel included in it the whole nation. Sacrifices were offered for the cause for its body. [6:44] And some sacrifices were offered for individuals and certain rules governed them all. But of the sacrifices themselves there is a division, a twofold division. [7:04] There are depleting sacrifices. That is the sacrifices in which life was taken away. [7:17] There are the bleeding sacrifices. But there were also the bloodless sacrifices. Such as the meat sacrifice, the meat offering, and the drink offering. [7:35] Now, of the bleeding sacrifices there are four classes. Generally speaking, some of them may be subdivided, but there are four classes of sacrifice, of bleeding sacrifice brought before us in the scripture. [7:59] There is first of all the the the the the first offer the the the . [8:11] That was the one that we have to begin with. Now, the characteristic of the the was this that it was offered wholly. [8:27] It was consumed by fire in every part of it. There was nothing there for the priest. There was nothing left for anyone. The burnt offering was burnt holy upon your office. Then there was the peace offering. That offering was partly burnt and partly set apart for the use of the priesthood. And then there was the sin offering, of which the same is true as is true of the peace offering. Then there was the place that's offering. These are the four kinds of offerings, or of sacrifices, the four kinds of sacrifice that are brought before us in the Old Testament ritual of worship. And of course, the sacrifice was at the very heart of that worship. It is what constituted the worship, what it was. It had at its center of the offering, the sacrifice, yet the bleeding sacrifice. [10:05] Now where things were thus set in order, there was a way of access unto the Lord, opened up the blood to the people. But we have to remember in connection with the blood. It was not the blood considered in itself that made that word meant for the soul. It was the blood as considered as the vital element in the life. Or in the creature that was of. It is the blood as it has the life. Or as the word here may be translated, for the soul is in the blood. [11:09] But the life is in the blood. It is the vital element without which there can be no love. No, it is the blood considered in this way. That made at all meant for the soul. [11:34] But first of all, the Lord says, I have given you the blood upon the offer. I have given it to you. [11:46] That's a strange statement. Because it would seem from the way in which the offerings were given or offered, that it was the people who gave the sacrifice. [12:05] It was of their own herd or flock that the sacrifice was taken. Now another thing in connection with these, and we just say this in passing, in connection with the animals that were offered, they had to be without blemish. [12:30] And furthermore, no wild animal could be offered as a sacrifice. Only tame animals that were clean according to the Lord God. Only such could be offered. [12:56] Some animals that were clean according to the Lord God. Some animals that were clean according to the Lord God. Some animals could be eaten that could not be offered in sacrifice. But no animal could be offered in sacrifice that was not fit for human food. [13:12] And furthermore, these animals that were clean. And furthermore, these animals had to be tame animals. That is made abundantly clear. No wild animal could be offered as a sacrifice. [13:25] That is very instructive. But here God says, I have given you the blood. It would seem as we had said that it was the people who were giving the blood. [13:43] Oh, but God says, no. I have given it to you. And I have given it to you upon the order. And that means far more than that God had ordered us. [14:02] I have given it to you. I have given it to you. I have given it to you. [14:22] They were never to forget this. They were never to forget this. They were never to fall into the mistake of thinking that they were giving it to God. [14:34] That is guarded against. The possibility, at least the probability of falling into that mistake is guarded against. [14:46] By these words, I have given it to you. The blood upon the altar. [14:58] The Lord is, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The cattle on thousand hills are his. [15:15] The Lord is, the Lord's and the fullness thereof. Everything is his. But this was his in a peculiar sense. [15:27] There is nothing so sacred on this side of the grave as the worship of God. [15:39] Everything connected with God's worship is so sacred that if we really realized the meaning of it, we would certainly be less presumptuous. [15:59] There would be with us as was with us as with the apostles, trembling and fear and weep. But there is such hardness of heart. There is such darkness of mind that we fail to see as we ought to see the sacredness of God's worship. [16:31] We take it as a covenant. We take it as a covenant. Now if the sacrifices were intended or calculated to do anything at all, it was this. [16:45] To impress upon Israel the sacredness of God's worship. [17:00] And the line followed is this. The holiness of God is emphasized at every conceivable act. [17:15] And as the holiness of God is emphasized, the heinousness and the enormity of sin is emphasized correspondingly. [17:30] The holiness of God is emphasized by the holy of sin. Now if this had an effect, even to this day, in their worship, you will notice a certain solemnity about the Jewish worship that you do not find in many other places. [17:57] Those of you who are acquainted with some of the Jewish writings, especially their prayers, while they are destitute of this blood, they are certainly not destitute of a consciousness of the majesty of Jehovah. [18:20] That is emphasized all the time. That is emphasized all the time. And that has followed on from the legends of the sacrifices. [18:32] The holiness of God. His separateness. This emphasized the every turn at man's consciousness. [18:46] Take up the number of sacrifices. Take up the number of sacrifices. Bird-doddly. Peace-doddly. Sin-oddly. Precipast-oddly. Sin-oddly. Precipast-oddly. All calculated to bring home to their minds the holiness of the Lord. [19:07] Now, it is he who gave them the blood upon the altar. It was he who not only intended and appointed it, but he claims this ass is old. [19:30] The life is in the blood. The life is in the blood. God is the order of life. Of all life. And there is no life apart from him. [19:42] And when he gave them the ordinance of sacrifice, it was he who gave them the life. [19:55] None of them had a right to give it. They had the right to give it themselves. Life is sacred in all its activities. [20:08] And in all its phases and stages. I have given you the blood. I have given you the life. For the life is mine. [20:20] All life is mine. I have given this unto you. Why? It was upon the altar. [20:33] Upon the altar to make atonement. It had to be upon the altar. [20:46] How may it outside? Which is my impersonation? Left, little music. In all my faisons. [20:57] Now, you will see that even more. If your son who didn't see our life before, sure. -"On the altar will begreen When Grumbend?" it had to be upon the altar. [21:15] The altar was as necessary as the blood. They were very different, yes. But the two formed a unit in making atonement for the soul, the altar. [21:33] That is, it was blood offered to God. It was the altar that represented, so to speak, the Lord's claims. [21:53] Upon the people, it was the altar that stood there to speak eloquently of Jehovah. It was the altar of the home, the altar of the Abernaker of the Congregation. [22:15] Now it was as this blood was brought into contact with the altar in the prescribed form. [22:28] That atonement was made. Now what is atonement? Atonement. [22:46] Atonement. Well, as you know, the first of all means a covering. But a covering of what? [23:00] A covering of sins. Well, as a second thought, that that is true. But it is not the first thought. [23:16] Atonement. Covering. It is the covering of the soul. That is the primary thought in this world. [23:33] As it is here used and used in other places. It is the blood that makes atonement of the soul. That's the equivalent of sin. [23:45] It is the blood that covers the soul. From the wrath of Jehovah. [23:57] It is the blood that covers the soul. And that forms a center for the soul. It is the soul that is covered. [24:11] Not the sin. Of course, it is quite legitimate to talk of sin that's being covered. But that is as I said, my God. The primary one is this. [24:25] The covering of the soul itself. Thou hast put a cover on my head in the day of battle. [24:42] In the day of atonement the Lord puts a cover on his people. And see how far this was back. [24:58] That which brought in any need for sacrifices was of course sin. Sin that deserted the relationship between God and man. [25:15] Sin that disturbed the peace that existed between man and the creator while man kept his innocence. But sin having answered and death by sin it was necessary that man should be covered if he was to escape the wrath and the curse due to him for his sin. [25:45] And isn't that what the Lord himself did at the very beginning of man's history as a fallen teacher? he covered them. He covered them. [25:59] Before he expelled them from the garden he covered them. He made them clothing of animal skins. [26:12] That is he covered them. when death is the lesson of sacrifice as it is brought before us in the Mosaic dispensation it was a covering an expiation for the souls. [26:34] And the nature of the covering was this that Lord understands this well attended that is that law and justice received what they demanded and what was that the life of the sinner? [26:56] That is why the emphasis is here on the life meaning of blood. It was the offering of life that was the meaning of blood shedding in the most sacred jewel. [27:16] It was life that was taken away. Now there is another part of this that is very, very significant. The man who offered the sacrifice had to put his hand on the head of the animal that was to be offered. [27:39] and he had not only to touch his head. It wasn't touching his head. That's not the word used means this. [27:52] He had to put his hand on the head of the animal and to press his hand. He had to press his hand on the animal's head. Not only to touch but to press his hand on it, indicating that there was a transposition of situations or of positions. [28:24] The animal not took the position of the man. the doctrine of substitution is one that is essential and that undergirds the whole ritual of that. [28:43] It's the doctrine of substitution. One life substituted for another. The life of the animal was a substitution or was substituted for the life of the self. [29:04] That was the meaning of its being offered up. Its life being taken away. Now here we have it. One life for another. [29:17] That is the covering for the soul. But of course there was much incongruity in the sacrifices of the old test. [29:32] There was a great difference between the life of a man and the life of a man. Yes. But these were baptized and symbols they typified something that was to come and the perfect sacrifice namely the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is in any way hidden to the requirements of the sinner and corresponds in every conceivable deed with his heart. [30:17] It is one life for another. That is what makes a toll world. It is the sentence of death passed upon sin. [30:33] Yes, it is the sentence of death executed. not only passed upon but executed. And this is what makes a covering on soul. [30:50] It is the blood that makes a woman. It is in the blood that there is a covering. It is in the blood that there is chapter. In other words, there is a hiding place. [31:08] And that hiding place for us has to be dead. But the death that makes a covering is the death of Christ. [31:22] The death of Christ is the hiding place for the soul. Or to put it better, Christ in his death is the covering for the sinner. [31:38] It is the blood that makes the old man. And there is no other hiding place. There is no other covering. It is Christ in his death. [31:51] That is the city of values. The hiding place from the storm. The cover from the tempest for the sinner. [32:03] it is the blood that makes that warm it. It is death that brings black. [32:18] The death, the death of Christ is my only protection, my only covering from the death of God to trust you to me for my strength. [32:39] The death of Christ for the life of death. Oh, yes, that's very important. But considered as a sacrifice, considered as a own man, considered as a tabloid, it is Christ in death that can meet my name. [33:02] Ah, I said that I may be covered in the day of the Lord's altar, and I may be passed by, as was the case in Egypt. [33:19] When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there will be no plague on you to destroy you. [33:31] it makes a whole well. It is a cover. But that is justification. That is part of sin a cover for the sinner. [33:45] But the many of the sacrifices are not exhausted. The many of the sacrifice is not exhausted in justification. There are great lessons in sanctification in the sacrifice. [34:04] They bring before us not only justification, that first and maybe primarily, but that does not by any means exhaust the teaching of the sacrifice. [34:21] There is much in the sacrifices that teaches sanctification of us. why had the animal to be burned? [34:34] Surely its bloodshed took away its life. What else was this calculated to give? [34:51] Surely it could at least be interpreted in this way as it is interpreted in the New Testament. Dearly beloved brethren, offer up yourselves as living sacrifices to God. [35:15] What's that? Surely that is the life and walk of the Christians. this sanctification. [35:29] That is one of the letters that the burning of the sacrifice was meant to give as this was calculated to give. [35:46] The fire burns that which cannot withstand it. But it purifies that which can't. [36:00] Fire purifies and this fire, the fire of the Spirit of God. And remember, the Spirit of God is brought to a notice in the Spirit of us. [36:13] As fire, thus he appeared at the beginning of the New Testament, he appeared on the disciples as turns of fire. [36:26] the Lord himself promised his disciples he shall be baptized with Spirit and with fire, not many days heads. [36:45] There is this fire, the fire that burns, that which is unworth, that the precious may appear more and more in its native splendor. [37:05] The sacrifices had blessings in that respect. And as the offerer put his hand on the head of the sacrifice, there was meant not only that its blood was to be given or shed and therefore its life taken away. [37:29] But there was also this, that the man who offered it, if he was sincere, promised in the strength of grace to live not to himself but unto God. [37:43] That is to be offered up as a living sacrifice unto the Lord as the carcass of the animal was offered up, consumed by fire. [38:00] That is incidental, but in this particular passage, the main lesson is the justification of the sinner, the covering of the sinner, the shelter of the sinner, which consists in the blood and in the blood. [38:20] Now, in conclusion, what is the wound felt? What is the recovery as sinners in the presence of God? [38:35] Blessed is he that is covered, that he grew not naked. These are the words of Scripture. Blessed is he that is covered, covered in the day of the Lord's hand, and there is only one covering that is adequate, and that is Christ Jesus. [38:59] It is death, for it is the blood that makes atornment. It is death that can cover, even the death of him, who is the Prince of Life, which the animal sacrifices, the bleeding sacrifices of the old economy, typifies and symbolized, until the fulfillment of the time, or the fullness of the time will come, when he with one offering, made forever perfect, them that are sacrificed. [39:40] Oh, that from the depth of of the Lord, Lord, Jesus, be my heaven, be my echo, be my chapter, for we have sinned, and chapter we must have all. [40:05] endure, endure, the penalty of sin forevermore, for that the Lord weary from me, that the blood did me at all end, for those souls. [40:25] Continue toněび a s softlyion à. [40:45] ně d 그때還涔