One Place to Worship
By Jim Murriner
Leviticus 17:1-9
"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, "
"Speak unto Aaron, and unto his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them: This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, saying,"
"What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp,"
"And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord; blood shall be imputed unto that man; and that man shall be cut off from among his people:"
"To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the Lord, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the Lord."
"And the priest shall sprinkle the blood upon the altar of the Lord at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and burn the fat for a sweet savour unto the Lord."
"And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. this shall be a statue for ever unto them throughout their generations."
"And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojurn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, "
"And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the Lord; even that man shall be cut off from among his people."
I have preached on this subject before and have mentioned the doctrines which we will look at today, many times in the past, however today, I want us to notice that God has a place that those who are saved are to serve Him, and that He has always had a place for those whom He has saved to serve Him.
There has never been a time since God saved the first man and woman in the garden of Eden, that God has permitted people to worship Him in their own way.
First: People served God in the family unit.
God created both male and female, that they might multiply, but He did not leave them to mate, and then go their separate ways. He made them a family unit.
Gen. 2: 20 – 24
20 “And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.”
21 “ And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;”
22 “And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.”
23 “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”
24 “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh”
These first two people sinned, God covered their sin by the shedding of blood of an animal, which I believe was a sheep.
Gen. 3:21
“ Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.”
They had taught their sons to serve God & sacrifice unto Him.
Gen. 4: 3 – 4
3 “And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.”
4 “And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:”
Abraham understood the need for families to worship God, and sacrifice unto Him.
Gen.14: 17 - 20
17 “And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale.”
18 “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.”
19 “And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:”
20 “And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.”
Now here in our text today God is making it very clear that even though the service unto God is the same, as it had previously been, and this service, the sacrifice of animals, had the same meaning as it previously had, in that it pointed forward to the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the Cross in payment for our sins.
There is now a difference made in that there is now only one place where the sacrifice in service to God, and in pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ is to be done.
All other places are wrong, and make the one bringing the sacrafice or doing the sacrificing, to be worthy of death just as if they had killed a human being.
Leviticus 17:3 - 5
3 “And he shall offer of it all the fat thereof; the rump, and the fat that covereth the inwards,”
4 “And the two kidneys, and the fat that is on them, which is by the flanks, and the caul that is above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away:”
5 “And the priest shall burn them upon the altar for an offering made by fire unto the LORD: it is a trespass offering.”
This place and way of doing service unto God continued until the time that the Temple was built in the time of King Solomon. Even then the temple was much like the tabernacle, and this was the place which people were to take their sacrifice and offer it.
Now in our time, the time ever since Christ was here on earth, and started His church, there is indeed a new way of doing service unto God.
Eph. 3:21
While Eph. 3:21 tells us how to give Glory unto God, this is not the place in the Bible that the Church became the way to serve God.
A. The church was started by Christ Himself, with the Apostles being the first. members.
I Cor. 12:28
“And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.”
God still sets people in the Church today as it pleases Him.
The Apostles and all others who become members of the Lord’s church do so by baptism.(which must be preceded by God having given saving faith unto the one being baptized)
I Cor. 12:13
“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”
The Apostles were required to have John’s baptism.
Acts 1:22
“Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up from us, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of his resurrection.”
B. The word "Church" means a called out assembly.
A little while later after Jesus had named His apostles he spoke of the church continuing to be built.
Matt. 16:18
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
(will build) The Greek word which is here translated (will build) has a future tense with an active voice and an indicative mood.
The fact that the word used here was (future active indicative) shows us that it points to activity presently happening.
The church had already begun, and our Lord was building upon it and is still building upon it today.
C. Then on the day of Pentecost we find that the church was accredited .
Acts 2:1-11
1 “ And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”
2 “And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.”
3 “And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.”
4 “And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
5 “And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.”
6 “Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.”
7 “And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?”
8 “And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?”
9 “Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,”
10 “Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,”
11 “Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.”
Much of the book of Hebrews is about the Old Testament sacrifices and offerings being done away with and the church being the new way to serve the Lord, who is the one that the sacrifices were all about.
Heb. 10:1-9
1 “For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.”
2 “For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.”
3 “But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.”
4 “For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.”
5 “Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:”
6 “In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.”
7 “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.”
8 “Above when he said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law;”
9 “Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second.”
D. But there is a problem in our day.
There are many today, who call themselves the Lord’s church, and yet they were started by some man, or some board of missions.
These do not claim their history goes all the way back to Christ, and John’s baptism.
It is not in those churches nor the Protestant churches nor the Catholic Church which we must give glory unto God through.
We must give glory unto God in and through His church, the one which He started while still here on earth, prior to His crucifixion.
This is the same church which existed during the dark ages, and still exists today.
