In this sermon, the speaker discusses the concept of the burnt offering as a representation of the perfect submission of Jesus to the Father. The speaker emphasizes that Jesus willingly offered himself to the Father, even in the face of shame and degradation. The speaker highlights that this act of obedience pleased God and brought satisfaction to Him. The sermon encourages listeners to not only focus on their own needs but also to understand the significance of the burnt offering exercise of the heart.

Will you turn this morning to the first chapter of Leviticus, and we will just read through that first chapter. And the Lord called unto Moses, and spake unto him out of the tabernacle of the congregation, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord, ye shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd, or, revised standard version, of the flock, herd or flock. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male, without blemish, and says the authorised, he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord. But both the revised standard version, I'm sure has it more accurately. He shall offer it at the door of the meeting of congregation, at the door of meeting, that he may be accepted. Very important. This is the purpose of the burnt offering. He offers it that he may be accepted. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and, it is inferred then, having put his hand upon its head, it shall be accepted for him, to make atonement for him. And he shall kill the bullet before the Lord. And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall bring the blood, and sprinkle the blood round about upon the altar, that is by the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall flay the burnt offering, and cut it into its pieces. And the sons of Aaron, the priests shall put fire upon the altar, and lay the wood in order upon the fire. And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall lay the pots, the head, and the fat, in order upon the wood, that is on the fire, which is upon the altar. But his inwards and his legs shall he wash in water, and the priests shall burn all. Revised version, and this is important, the priests shall burn the whole, all, if you like, but more emphatic, the priests shall burn the whole on the altar, to be a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. And if his offering be of the flocks, namely of the sheep or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice, he shall bring it a male, without blemish. And he shall kill it on the side of the altar, northward, before the Lord. And the priests, Aaron's sons, shall sprinkle his blood round about upon the altar. And he shall cut it into his pieces, with his head and his fat, and the priests shall lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire, which is upon the altar. But he shall wash the inwards and the legs with water, and the priests shall bring it all, the whole, and burn it upon the altar. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savour unto the Lord. And if the burnt sacrifice for his offering to the Lord be of fowls, it can be a herd, that's an ox, it could be of the flocks, that is a sheep or a goat, or if a man wasn't wealthy enough to bring either of those beasts, then he could bring fowls. Then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves, or of young pigeons, and the priests shall bring it unto the altar, and wring off his head, and burn it on the altar, and the blood thereof shall he wring out at the side of the altar. And he shall pluck away his crop with his feathers, and cast it beside the altar on the east part, by the place of the ashes. And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder. And the priests shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire. It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fowl, a sweet savour unto the Lord. Well now, yesterday we spoke of the sin offering, and this morning I want to think with you about the burnt offering. As I've mentioned, there are five prescribed offerings, but the most important of the five are the sin offering and the burnt offering, and for that reason we're going to limit ourselves to these two offerings before going further into the book of Leviticus. And of the two offerings, the sin offering and the burnt offering, the burnt offering is even more important, it would seem, than the sin offering, for here the burnt offering stands first. And there were far more burnt offerings offered than sin offerings. Sin offerings were offered for sin, but burnt offerings were offered when there was no particular sin to be repented of, though there was always man's innate sinfulness to acknowledge before God. Why the first burnt offering was offered by Abel, was it not? And then Noah offered a burnt offering. So this is the basic, the supreme offering that you find offered in the Scriptures. And I believe it has something wonderful to show us of our Lord Jesus. I felt so needy as I thought about this, and I've been telling the Lord that I haven't been seeing this myself, I can see it with my head, but I need the Holy Spirit to show up to me, the inwardness, even as I speak, and you need him to do the same for you. Because be assured, the Holy Ghost has wonderful revelations of the Lord Jesus to show us, in this, the great offering of the Old Testament, the burnt offering. Now these two offerings, the sin offering and the burnt offering, picture for us two very, very important aspects of the work of the Lord Jesus for us on the cross. Not only do these two offerings represent these two different aspects, which we shall look at in a moment, but they also represent for us two different exercises of heart that we need to be going through pretty frequently, if we are to go on with God and enjoy fellowship with him. There's a sin offering exercise of heart, but things are not complete with us unless, in addition to the sin offering exercise of heart, we know something of a burnt offering exercise of heart. And we shall see what that means in a moment or two. Now let's see the differences between these two offerings. If you read it cursorily, it seems almost the same, but that's a very cursory reading. They are very important differences. And these differences show us these two lovely aspects of what this friend of sinners has done for us sinners. Now the big difference between the burnt offering and almost every other offering, certainly from the sin offering, is that the whole of the beast was burnt on the altar. It was cut up and flayed and certain parts washed with water and then the whole of it was put on that brazen altar and consumed with fire. In certain offerings, some part of the offering was put on the altar and then the other part was eaten by the priest and the other part was eaten by the offerer. That is in the case of the peace offering, where God and man are seen to be delighting in the same object of affection, the Lord Jesus. But that's not the case with the burnt offering. Man is not eating any part of this at all. And then of course you will remember what happened in the case of the sin offering. Certainly one little bit was put on the altar, the fat, and there's a reason for that. But apart from that, the body of that beast, whose blood was brought into the holy place, was burnt outside the camp, among the refuse, but not so the burnt offering. In the burnt offering, everything is for God. Now what is the significance of that? Well, it means this, that from one point of view, what we see in that dark scene of Calvary was the removal of that which was offensive to God in holy judgment. Maybe we ought to look, of course, yesterday we should have looked at Hebrew 13, and here you have the sin offering referred to. It shows you that the New Testament writers take up these themes. It isn't us Bible students of today who love to see these pictures. We get our cue from the writers of the New Testament, and we don't want to go beyond them. We want to follow on the same theme. You see this, verse 11, the bodies of those beasts, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, that's a sin offering, are burned without the camp. Wherefore Jesus, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. He, bearing his cross, went forth. Went forth to that place where the criminals were put to death, where the rubbish was burnt, where the lepers had to live. Symbolic of the fact that he went into that place of separation from God, which we all deserve. And there the holy fire of the judgment of God, so to speak, fell on him. And that in us which was so offensive to God, this self-centeredness, this wretched pride, with all its results of resentment and jealousy and all sorts of other terrible things and self-indulgences, that which was offensive to God was removed in the Lord Jesus in holy judgment. That's a sin offering. But the burnt offering gives us some other aspect. Here it's not that so much, it's what God sees in that offering of the Lord Jesus of himself to God. God delights in what Jesus did because it was an act of perfect obedience. He humbled himself to the manger, and even to Calvary's tree. But I am so proud and unwilling, his humble disciple to be, I'm no whole burnt offering. Very grudging is my surrender to him. What my rights? I don't want to surrender anything that I, if I can possibly help it. Not so, the Son of God. He delighted to do the will of his Father, even when the will of the Father went that. He yielded his will to the Father, and chose to abide in the light. But I prefer wrestling to resting, and try by myself to do right. This is the aspect you have in the burnt offering, the perfect submission of the Son to the Father. To that will, even when that will meant the offering of himself in shame and degradation. Now this is an aspect that God sees. It isn't always as present to us as the other, but it's what pleases God in what his Son did. You can see that in John 14.31. Calvary, the Son's act of obedience to the Father. And please remember this. It isn't Jesus trying to persuade on the cross an angry God to forgive us. If there was any reluctance at all, which there actually wasn't. If there was any temptation to reluctance, it wasn't the Father who was reluctant to save the world. It was the Son that had to be made willing to offer himself to the Father in this way for the redemption of the world. He had to say, not my will, nature would have said, no Lord, spare me. No, this is an act of obedience, it's the Father's great love. Never get that conception, that God had to be persuaded to forgive man. He had to have a righteous ground on which to forgive man. But it was he who provided in his Son that ground. This is the Father's great conception. It's completely wrong to say that God had to be reconciled to man. There are those who say it's not scriptural. God has never needed to be reconciled to sinners. His attitude to sinners has never changed. He loves us in our sins. Why, we were yet enemies. We were reconciled to God by the death of his Son. A means by which we could be reconciled. We are the ones that need to be reconciled. There's no enmity in God's heart toward the sinner. The most rebellious person in this tent this morning, if there be such, has been utterly unable to provoke any enmity in the heart of God towards himself. In my most unbroken moments I am loved. It's me who needs to be reconciled. And the Father has provided a righteous ground on which we can be reconciled. And it was the Son who had to be willing. And that is what God sees. This is the burnt offering, the whole burnt offering, on that altar of brass. There. One of the scriptures that teach that is John 14.31. John 14.31 says, Jesus, but that the world may know that I love the Father. And as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do. And on he goes to that place called Calvary, as the Father gave him commandment. Turn back to John 17.18. And this is what gives the Father such delight in the Son. He says so. Therefore doth my Father love me because I lay down my life that I may take it again. It touched the Father, the submission, the humility of the Son to go to the bottom for us. And then in Philippians 2 you have again Calvary mentioned as the Son's obedience to the Father. Philippians 2.8. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death. This is the one thing none of us want to do, to be obedient. Adam was obedient at first. And his obedience was enacted in perfect ease. It was so simple for him. He could eat of every tree, only refrain from one. But the obedience with which the first man failed to give the Father, the second man has. But whereas the first man's obedience was enacted in such ease, not so the obedience of the second man. The obedience of the second man invoked him in all the toil and pain and degradation of the cross. And so this is why it's put first. This is an offering for God. This is an offering for God's pleasure on behalf of man truly and because of his sin. But this is the great emphasis. And we shall see how basic this is for our salvation and fellowship with God. Now the second point in which the burnt offering differs from the sin offering is this, that it is said to be a sweet savour offering. Actually the first, second and third are all said to be sweet savour offerings. The sin offering is not said to be a sweet savour offering at all. Both burnt offering and sin offering are subjected to fire. But whereas in the case of the sin offering, the fire destroys. In the second, in the case of the burnt offering, it brings out a sweet savour. And so we see those fires of the wrath of God that fell on the son of God for us at Calvary, whereas they destroyed that which was offensive to God and brought his son to death. There's another aspect in which those very fires that put away my sin in holy judgment have brought out the inner excellences of the one who hung there and that to the infinite delight, pleasure and satisfaction of God. Up from Calvary there went a sweet savour offering and God found pleasure in what happened there. Leave your own need aside for the moment. We'll come to that. Let's contemplate this. It's not only that the Lord Jesus bore my sin in his body on the tree and in that judgment bearing it has been removed. Thank God for that. But it is more. It is that in doing that, the way in which he did it, the manner in which he did it, the disposition which he expressed in so doing, brought infinite satisfaction to God. God had ceased to get a sweet savour from man, only an evil step. When at last his son came, he said, this is my beloved son, in whom I at last may be well pleased. Here is the man in whom I delight. And never were those inner excellences of the son of God, that inner disposition that pleased God so much, never was it so revealed as when he yielded his will to the Father and chose to go that way, taking blame that wasn't his, being looked upon as a criminal because there was a criminal either side and they all thought that he must be, and he was willing even for that. If that was what the Father willed, if that was secure, the redemption of men. If you want to see these two aspects, the sin offering and the burnt offering, you've got them in two simple verses in the New Testament. The sin offering aspect you see in 2 Corinthians 5. 2 Corinthians 5. Here you have that picture of that sin offering being burnt without the cap, as a thing of abhorrence, amongst the refugees. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 21. For God hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's the sin offering. But there's another verse which gives us this other fuller aspect, perhaps a little less appreciated by us, by me certainly, but oh I want to enter into it. We'll see the blessing of it in a moment. And this is in Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5 verse 1 and 2. Be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, now listen to this, and walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savour. Paul is taking up this thing. He used to give Bible readings on Leviticus and he's just an allusion to a great Bible reading. Maybe he was giving one of those Bible readings at Troas when Eutychus fell out of the window because he went to sleep. Here it is. How wonderful. Jesus gave himself to God for me as a sweet-smelling savour to God on my behalf. And so we have scriptural ground for that. And what do we mean about his inner excellences that came out as the fire consumed him? What is it that says somewhere in Peter about a meek and quiet spirit which in the sight of God are of great price? He sees all too little of that in me and in you, doesn't he? But he saw it in Jesus, of great price. You see that, those inner excellences, that sweet savour coming out in 1 Peter 2.23. 1 Peter 2.23, verse 23, who when he was reviled, reviled not again. When he suffered, he didn't threaten, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously. He didn't revile again. He didn't say, you wait till I get back to the glory. How dare you treat me the way you do? I insist you treat me with respect due to my position. That's how you and I react at the slightest thing, not him. He said, the cup that the Father hath given me, even it means this terrible injustice, shall I not drink it? Ah, there was the sweet savour. And every one of his inner susceptibilities he was willing to have opened up as the burnt offering was cut in pieces. I remember the first time I found myself battling with something I've often battled with when I'm away from this country on some tour, being possessed with an awful longing to be home, and with one's wife and family and so on. And I remember the first time I battled with this, I was in Africa. And I remember how God helped me. He took me to the first chapter of Leviticus. And I saw Jesus, the knife going through all his susceptibilities. What about his sensitiveness and being stripped naked? I mean to say, take another case. Take a pure, innocent girl. And by some extraordinary circumstance, she gets rounded up with a lot of other prostitutes and taken to the police station, and has to be in the jail with them for a night. Oh, what an agony. That's nothing to consider compared with the agony of the Son of God who was numbered, with transgressors and classed as one. And everybody thought he must be one. Only transgressors, only criminals are put on crosses. And he was willing for the knife. It was an offering of himself to God. His was the disposition of the lamb. The difference between taking a pig to the slaughter, I'm told, and a lamb. I don't think they do it in the old-fashioned way. It's all done electrically now, I think, or ought to be. But in the old days, they told me it was an awful business taking a pig to the slaughter. He seemed to know what was coming. He could smell the blood of the other victims, and it fought and grunted. But not a lamb. Apparently, it's just too easy to take a lamb to the slaughter. It just lets you take it. It looks up into your eyes with its great big eyes, and it lets you put the knife in. That was the lamb. That was the very last thing that Adam would do, or I would do. And all such resistance to even, to the will of God, as it may come to us, is sin, and provokes from us self-pity, resentment, complaining, rebellion, an evil stench. But not so the lamb of God. And the fires of Calvary brought out the sweet savour. Of course, it was quite a sweet savour, really. Just think of those daily burnt offerings. Every morning, every evening, from the tabernacle would come the smell of roast lamb. Quite a smell. Now, I think I wouldn't appreciate it too much for breakfast, but by the time of the evening meal, it would make my mouth water. Ah, but it was a sweet savour to God. And an old writer, listen to this phrase. I can't claim it to be something I've thought of, but just let me think of it. The infinite fragrance of that that went up from Calvary gave God more delight than all the sin of man gave him grief. My beloved son, in whom I'm well pleased. But the lovely thing is, all this sweetness came out to God on his path of doing this great act of redemption for man. So God and man secure something in that cross. And so that's the second point in which they differ. There was no sweet savour from the sin offering was all judgment, except of course one little hint. Did you notice that the fat was burnt on the altar? And that did give a sweet savour. And even in the most solemn aspect of the judgment bearing of our Lord Jesus, you can never exclude that God is getting something of pleasure and satisfaction in the obedience of the Son. But anyway, the emphasis in the sin offering is judgment, an evil stench. That reminds me of an illustration. I remember years ago, visiting, I was in Leicester, a certain woman with my dear friend Eric Roberts, who is now in the glory, and he took me to one of some contact of his that was linked with his church a little bit on the edge. She was a Christian. Indeed, I think she was a minister's widow or something. And as we talked, she began to get very free and she told us how she knew she was out of touch with God and had been for quite a time. She became very frank and free with us. And she said, you know, it all began, and she mentioned a certain incident when there was a deep quarrel and ensuing resentment. And she'd never really seen there was any real connection. I put it this way. It's obvious to me as I see it and to you as I speak. There was a connection. But as she put it, she didn't see there was any connection. She happened to mention this other incident. And then it came out. It was more or less from that time that she got into the wilderness away from God. I said, well, there's the answer. That was a very precious time. I think she was helped. That evening she came to the meeting. And I think we were speaking on this passage in Hebrews 13 about Jesus going without the cap, where the smoke went up, and the smell of the stuff that was being burnt out there, the refuse. And it says there the way to go forth unto Jesus without the cap, bearing his reproach. And I think the sort of message that came out that we must be willing as we repent to let the smoke go up. Please turn the cassette over now. Do not fast wind it in either direction. And it says there the way to go forth unto Jesus without the cap, bearing his reproach. And I think the sort of message that came out that we must be willing as we repent to let the smoke go up. Willing to be known for what we were. He. For that must Jesus bear the cross alone and all the world go free. Glad for him to take the shame, but don't let me bear any. But if we're really getting right with God and getting peace, what does it matter? Let the smoke go up. Let's give our testimonies and give Jesus the glory. Something along that line. And then she told us afterwards, she said, you know, after you'd left, I went through agonies. I said to myself, what have I said to those men? Whatever will they think of me? A minister's widow, owning up to this. I went through agonies. Wish I'd kept my mouth shut. And then I went to that meeting and I bowed at Calvary saying, Lord, I'm willing for the smoke to go up. That is what more or less happens in the sin offering. Sin offering exercise of heart, if you will. But the burnt offering exercise is something of pleasure to the Father that he sees in the Lord Jesus on our behalf. And the infinite fragrance of that gives God more delight than all the sin of man gives him grief. Now the third point in which the burnt offering differs from the sin offering is the results ensuing to the offerer. If you turn to Leviticus 4, you will see what came to the offerer as he offered his sin offering. Verse 26 of chapter 4, last half, and the priest shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin, and listen, it shall be forgiven him. Wonderful thing to be forgiven. To know the thing's not held against you any longer. And that was the relief that came to the sinner as he offered his sin offering. But what is it that ensues to the offerer from the burnt offering? Turn to chapter 1. And here I give you the revised version reading of verse 3 which we've mentioned. If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer it a male without blemish at the door of the tent of meeting, that he may be accepted. And the authorized version gives you the same thought without any reference to a revised version in verse 4. He shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering and it shall be accepted for him. What you've got here is something, I think, rather more than forgiveness. It's acceptance, being accepted by God. And we heard in last night's testimony the difference. Our dear brother Peter Elford felt when he was so convicted of sin that even if he was forgiven, even if he was permitted to enter heaven, he'd have to walk the golden streets for the whole of eternity with a hanging head, with the shame, not really enjoying the fact that he was accepted as he was and for what he was. But the work of the Lord Jesus, as we heard, does more. Not only forgiveness, but acceptance. And that by the only person who matters. The psychiatrists talk a lot about the need of people for acceptance. I'm just a little bit slow on these things, I'm just catching up. I realize this was the current thing just now because Billy Graham kept on talking about it when he spoke to the young people. Young people's desire for acceptance. And when I thought of it, I think, well that's true. We want to be accepted by our fellows, we don't want to be wallflowers, we don't want to be left out. We want to be accepted for what we are. And when we feel we're not, we do all sorts of funny things to attract attention to ourselves and make ourselves conspicuous. I think Billy Graham suggested that the extreme fashions amongst certain types of young people were due for this desire for acceptance, to be noticed. Of course they get noticed by certain people in the wrong way, they don't get much approval. But amongst their colleagues of the same age, apparently, certain types of dress, it gains them acceptance, they're with it. There is, it's true, I'm sure it's true. The more I think of it, there is an innate desire to be accepted. You don't want to really be accepted for more than what you are, but you want to be accepted for what you are, and loved for what you are, and brought in for what you are. What's the answer? The grace of God offers the worst sinner a perfect and unassailable acceptance with the only one who matters. And I want to tell you, if you know you're loved of God, if you know you're accepted for what you are by God, other people's estimate of you doesn't matter. And of course you're free from that funny self-consciousness, and of course they do begin to accept you. And certainly it's true of the saints. Oh, to be accepted by my fellow Christians, where you get the assurance of your acceptance by God. And you start giving a sinner's testimony. If you like, share with them your funny quirks, how you always wanted to get a little bit of acceptance from them, and now you've given it up, you've got it in Christ. And you'll find they're wanting to praise the Lord, and sing glory, glory. You're one of them at last. You're accepted. But basically it's acceptance with God. And that's what's pictured for us here. And how do we become accepted by God? Listen. It shall be accepted for him. That one from whom that sweet savour has gone up. Those sweet inner excellences which came out in the fire of Calvary are to form the basis of my acceptance with the Father. So that sweet savour is all on my behalf. Christ accepted for me. It's just as simple as that. Christ accepted for me. This isn't only salvation, it's the way in which you're to live. You see, you can repent, and you can know some forgiveness, and yet be blaming yourself, and feeling bad about yourself. Get reconciled to what you are, and see that God accepts his beloved Son, and all those sweet merits of his, for you. I stand upon his merits. I know no other stand, not in where glory dwelleth, in Emmanuel's land. Turn to Ephesians 1, and you see again this matter of acceptance. Ephesians 1. We have to break into a sentence. In fact, if you don't break into a sentence in Ephesians 1, you don't break into one at all, because it's the whole chapter, it's about one long sentence. Phrase after phrase. Verse 6. To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein, in that grace, he has made us accepted in the beloved. Who is the beloved? The Lord Jesus. And who is he beloved to? To the Father. The love wherewith he loves the Son, such is his love to me. I remember some time ago, I wept. I was so conscious of my failure and sin, I'd been such a failure, and I had to speak at a certain meeting. And I went feeling that I needed that meeting. It's lovely when you go to a meeting not to give, but to get, although you have to preach. And I sat in that meeting at the WEC headquarters. And as I sat there, they sang, just before I had to talk, a hymn. And it so touched me I had difficulty even beginning to speak. I thought I was going to make a fool of myself. It was grace meeting me in my need. A mind with perfect peace with God. Oh, what a word is this? I said, am I at perfect peace with God? And I wasn't quite over something. And as we sang, I said, all right, Lord, I'll agree with you. I'm wrong on that. It's the only way to be at peace with God. Did you know that? If you're not quite at peace with God, it's because you haven't said, all right, Lord, I'm wrong on that matter. Some matter. Well, in that first verse, I was unable to say, all right, Lord, I'm wrong. But back of that was so much other failure. A sinner reconciled through blood. This, this indeed is peace. And then the remaining verses, it was God's word to me. By nature and by practice far. How very far from God. Yet now by grace brought nigh to him through faith in Jesus' blood. And this is what touched me. So nigh, so very nigh to God. I cannot nearer be. For in the person of his son, I am as near as he. And then what finished me off was that fourth verse, so dear. So very dear to God. You've been feeling other people didn't love you, that you're being left out. So dear. So very dear to God. More dear I cannot be. The love wherewith he loves the son, such is his love to me. Do you believe it? You are given the same standing with God as Jesus has. All that he did for Christ, for you on the cross, was for you. The ground on which is before the Father is that of his blood. He took the sins of the world. How could then a man who had more sins than me, he had the world's sin, get back to God and be in perfect relationship by the blood, which paid the debt so fully that even the son was raised from the dead, as it says, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, and went back to the holiest by the blood. And that's my ground too. And so it's true. So dear. So very dear to God. Someone who's so offensive in so many ways, from whom such an evil stench has come. But you've repented. You've come to Jesus. And now the love wherewith he loves the son, such is his love and acceptance of you and me. How important this is. So this is something gloriously positive, much more positive than even the sin offering. Praise the Lord for the two that we can't do without one or the other. Well now, what did the offer have to do on his side? Well first of all, in bringing the offering at all, he had to acknowledge that was no sweet odor coming from him. That was inferred, surely, wasn't it? If he brought an offering at all, it was because he knew there'd be the evil stench. And when I, that's my first step, the acknowledgement of what I am. No sweet odor, no pleasure of the Father coming from me, especially as it's been evidenced in this, that and the other, which has recently happened and brought me so low and humbled me so much. That's the first step. The obvious acknowledgement. You know, when a person in a prayer meet talks about the blood of Jesus, I say, hello, there's sin there. The blood isn't a talisman. It's for sin. And if someone says cleanse us in thy blood, I think he means cleanse me in thy blood. We ought to say me perhaps more often. The blood implies need and sin. Let's be honest. And if I veil myself with a cross at all, it's because I admit there's been no sweet odor coming from me. The very reverse. And others have had to smell what's come. Secondly, he was to lay his hand upon the head of his burnt offering, as in the sin offering. And here too it means the same. This, what was happening to this burnt offering, this ox or goat or lamb, is happening to me. This death is really mine. This is what I deserve. That brings us always low. But thank God he's doing it for me. We needn't amplify that because we have already done so in the other offering. And then we're told, it shall be accepted for him. In fact, in my Bible, I've added the word, little word then in Leviticus 1 verse 4. And he shall put his hand upon the head of the burnt offering, and I've added, and then it shall be accepted for him. And my friend, you've got to believe it. You've got to begin to praise for it. And to go on chastening yourself is to dishonor the Lord Jesus and what he's offered there for you. And you know, I believe one of the things that God has used, if not in England, I think he has in England, but certainly out in East Africa where there's been revival. I had the privilege of going out there for a short while years ago, and we've had so many of them in this country. One of the things God has used to get people through into praise has been a funny little chorus. In fact, it simply irritates you. You hear it once, you hear it a thousand times. We don't sing it quite so much in England because in case people don't understand, you get irritated. We were always singing, glory, glory, hallelujah. You say, oh, these people. But they aren't so inhibited out there. It's took a tender esser, hundred times a day, every time a man repents and gives his testimony, it's took a tender esser. And I've seen a man, both in England and in Africa, God's just dealt him over something, he's been to the cross over it, and he shares as a testimony this matter, but he's still a bit sad. He's terribly humbled about to have to admit that Jesus had to cleanse him of that thing that went wrong in his home. But he's hardly finished his testimony before everybody sings, took a tender esser, all in England, glory, glory, hallelujah. Oh, the cleansing blood has reached me. Glory, glory to the Lamb. And before it's over, he's shouting and praising with the rest. The cleansing blood has reached me, has reached me. But of course it has. Why aren't I praising? And he's free. He's emerged from a sin offering exercise of heart, of judging himself and seeing the cost of Jesus, into a praising attitude, a burnt offering exercise of heart. And I would suggest the thing that impedes us doing that is sometimes hurt pride. Why am I not praising? Well, you see, I've fallen. It looks very humble to remain not rejoicing. But it may be that I'm hurt that I, at this late hour in my Christian experience, should fail in that way. I thought by now I would have grown wings. But they aren't there at all. And it's very humbling. Maybe that's something further to repent of. I often tell the story of how Josiah went up to Berta Riff one day in Gahini in Rwanda. And Josiah Kanuka, some of you will know him, he said, Well, sister, praising the Lord today? And she paused and said, No. And he said, Why? The truth is I lost my temper badly in my bungalow this morning. And all Josiah said was this, Has the blood of Jesus lost its power? And walked away. Has it lost its power? She says, It hasn't lost its power. It's reached me! And he ran after her and said, I'm praising. It's as simple as that. Repentance and faith that God is satisfied that I stand in those precious merits. Christ is accepted for me. And are you willing to have that the basis of your acceptance with your brothers? Naturally we want to be accepted because there's something in us. Am I willing for Christ to be accepted for me in fellowship with others? That is, am I willing to admit what I am and give a sinner's testimony and know that Christ is accepted with me, for me before God, and I find my brothers accept Christ for me. They rejoice. He's another one who's finding Jesus precious and finding this lovely way of release. One last thought, and it's this. You notice, did you not, the differing offerings? Once again, a feature similar to what we saw in the sin offering. In the sin offering, the priest and the congregation had a large offering, an ox, whereas the ruler and the common people had progressively smaller offerings. And we saw in that case, it pictured the fact of differing responsibilities. The very nature of responsibility sometimes makes you feel your guilt more. And the devil can give you a bad time unless the spirit gives you an appreciation of Jesus, commensurate with this sense of guilt, and then you're free. Well now here, it isn't quite the same. It's just the fact that differing Christians do have a differing appreciation of Jesus. And the message is this, it doesn't matter if you're, I appreciate Jesus so little. This way is just adorning on me. I have such a little appreciation of his blood and the excellences of Calvary. It doesn't matter if it's an appreciation of Jesus that you bring to God. It's accepted. Yours may be, mine may be, the two turtledoves and not the ox. It's enough for peace. And God is pleased with Jesus even though our appreciation of him may be feeble. And so in thinking of these offerings, don't think you've got to bring an offering. You've got to bring Christ to God. You haven't. He's there already before the throne. My surety stands. My name is graven on his hands. But these offerings, bringing the offering is bringing your appreciation as you repent. But not only when you repent, when you're worshipping, when you're praising. Because the burnt offering was offered continually, even apart from any specific acts of sin. From this tent, I believe, a burnt offering's often arisen. As we've sung the praises of the Lord, we've meant every word, we've adored him. We've seen how precious he is. We've seen the sight of peerless worth. And God's been pleased. He inhabits the praises of Israel. But get this, when you have a sin offering exercise of heart, when that's necessary, don't remain there. The sin offering was never, never, never offered by itself. It was always coupled with a burnt offering. Tell me a case where it's otherwise. I may be wrong, but I can't think of one. All these ceremonies, they're full of them, in Numbers, Exodus and Leviticus. Sin offering, burnt offering. Sin offering, burnt offering. The burnt offering may be by itself, but never the sin offering. God wants us to go right through it with praise and liberty. And I just want to quote to you someone that wrote along this line. Restoration to God, restoration to full liberty with God is not complete until there's an apprehension of how the offering of Christ for sin has brought delight to God. And all is well, if you don't think it's only because you did want to have your own righteousness. Are we not content to have this and this alone before God and our brothers and begin to accept one another on that basis? What freedom of fellowship. Some people find a fellowship meeting an agony. Oh, look at these things these people are saying. Have I got to say the same? My dear friend, you aren't seeing Jesus when you are. You're praising him. You're standing in his righteousness and you're glad to give him glory where that righteousness has covered something that was so obnoxious. And so we see these differing appreciations. And I believe we've not got to be content with only having a small appreciation. Let's grow. Let's grow in grace. Let's seek to move on from the two turtledoves to the sheep or the goats. Let's go on from there to the ox. And how do we? By having these exercises of heart as God deals with us. And as he shows you more of the efficiency of Jesus and of grace to cover it and set you free and bring you into full praising victory again. And as we go on this way, your appreciation of the Lord Jesus will increase. And when you sing a hymn, it'll mean a thousand times more to you now than it did years ago. Your heart will be full of Christ. You'll long its glorious matter to declare. Of him whom you make your nobler songs, you cannot from his praise forbear. My ready tongue delights to sing the glories of my God and King. Lord Jesus, we want to thank thee that's not only given thyself but has given us thy spirit. That we might know the things that are freely given us of God. And so Lord we say thank you. Thank you for this wonderful salvation. And what we've thought about is only a tiny aspect, oceans, that we've never yet dreamed of. Forgive us Lord for not bringing our sin offering. Forgive us Lord for going on in unjudged sin. But then Lord we need forgiveness for only seeing so little of our redemption. Going on may be feeling forgiven up to a point but still not free with thee. Still not free with one another. Still not conscious of our acceptance by thee or one another. Oh we want to thank thee for this perfect ground of acceptance for everybody indiscriminately who repents. Lord Jesus thou art accepted for us. We stand upon thy dear merits that came out at such cost. We know no other stand not in where glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land. Help us to begin to rejoice. Help us again to praise. Help us be able to be free with one another and help us to accept one another as thou hast accepted us in the Lord Jesus. And now may the grace of our Lord Jesus and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all evermore. Amen.