October 27, 2019
This is our eighth week in the book of Exodus this fall. The book of Exodus is about God’s mission to redeem a people for His Kingdom in the world. As a reminder, we’re in Part Two of this series. You can always go back and listen to sermons from Exodus Part One starting here!
Here’s how you can prepare for this Sunday, titled Instructions for Sacrifice:
1. Read through our text, Exodus 29:1–46.
The priests were not allowed to approach the holy presence of God casually. As humans who had themselves rebelled against God, they were marked by impurity and would require cleansing and atonement. Exodus 29 gives instructions for a consecration ceremony through which the priests could be made ritually pure. The rituals of the consecration ceremony may seem bizarre or even barbaric to modern readers, but they carried profound meaning in their historical context.
The rituals prescribed here for the priests would also preview the rituals that the priests would eventually be instructed to perform for all the people. The ceremony would include rituals of preparation where the priests would be washed with water to represent their need for cleansing and anointed with oil to represent their need for God’s power and presence. Then a bull and two rams would be sacrificed, each having its own purpose. The bull was a “sin offering,” and its blood would be poured on the altar to purify it for its use in the temple. The first ram was a “burnt offering” that would atone for the sins of the priests. The second ram was “a ram of ordination,” and its blood was used to purify the priests and to set them apart for their service in the temple. In all their details, the rituals demonstrate the fact that for sinful people to be in a covenant relationship with a Holy God, the people will need a means of atonement and that atonement would come through the sacrifice of an Innocent Other.
2. Read, pray, and sing through the service:
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 99:1–3, Welcome (From Immanuel Nashville):
To all who are weary and need rest,
To all who mourn and long for comfort,
To all who feel worthless and wonder if God cares,
To all who fail and desire strength,
To all who sin and need a Savior,
This church opens wide her doors
with a welcome from Jesus Christ,
the Ally of His enemies, the Defender of the guilty,
the Justifier of the inexcusable, the Friend of sinners,
Welcome!
Great Is The Lord (Joseph Pat Barrett, Daniel Bashta, Ben Smith)
The Stand (Joel Houston)
CONFESSION OF SIN:
Heavenly Father,
Jesus taught us that He came not to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.
We confess that we would often prefer
A world without the Law,
Yet You have given us the Law and its perfect keeper, Jesus.
We confess that it’s easy to see You
Either as cold, demanding, and hard to please,
Or as merely annoyed by our sin against You,
When truly You are both utterly holy and utterly merciful.
Turn our eyes not away from Your demands,
Your holiness, or the weight of our sin,
But to Jesus and to His righteousness
in light of these things.
Give us eyes to see Your love, Father,
And the love of Jesus who is not ashamed to call us brothers and sisters.
Amen.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Romans 5:8–10
Jesus What A Savior (Kirby Kaple) / Psalm 32:6–7 (Mark Wilkins)
GREETING, SERMON, RESPONSE &COMMUNION
It Is Finished—Part II (Hark, The Voice Of Love And Mercy) (Jonathan Evans, William Owen)
Nothing But The Blood (Robert Lowry)