Leviticus (2023)

Jesus trades places with sinners, Jesus as we will recall during this holy week, was charged with all of your dirt so you could be pure. He was put to death so you could live. He was made the outcast, put outside the camp, so you could be welcomed in.

And our world, though it may think it’s miles away from Leviticus, our world reinforce salvation by food, either salvation by dieting, or salvation by partying, salvation by gluttony. And Jesus comes along and says, “You know what? True salvation doesn’t actually come by fasting. True salvation comes by feasting, feasting on the body crucified for you, on His blood shed for you.”

By His voice, God’s voice, the earth shook. Then it says by His voice also the heavens will shake. So there’s an ending that is coming, but there is a kingdom that cannot be shaken. So all these created things will pass away, they will shake, be dissolved, destroyed, but there is a kingdom that cannot be shaken and here’s, though the word isn’t mentioned, here is what I think is the implication we’re meant to draw. His voice shakes the earth, His voice shakes the heavens, but there is a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and who is that kingdom for? It’s for those who stand before the Lord and they shake just a little, with reverence and awe.

Like priests of the Old Testament, we are called to be holy in what we hear, what we do, and where we go.

Give grace, our heavenly Father, that the preaching of Your Word may be proclaimed rightly with true and life-giving power. Help me to that end. And to all Your people, especially to this congregation, give Your heavenly grace that with reverent and obedient hearts they may hear and receive Your Holy Word and serve You…

Dear God, we praise You for Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb who was slain, our sacrifice, our substitute, our High Priest, and our atonement. Speak to us, Father. Speak to us about this Jesus, through Your Word, by Your Spirit, we pray. Amen. This morning we come to the fifth and final…

Almighty and most merciful Father, we have erred and strayed from Your ways like lost sheep. We have followed too much the devices and desires of our own hearts. We have offended against Your holy laws. We have left undone those things which we ought to have done and we have not done those things…

O God, we’ve already prayed several times in this service. We come again, not merely out of form or liturgy, because we think this is how sermons start, but of a great sense of need. I need Your help, that I would speak only what was true, I would speak what is helpful for building…