Keeping the Home Fires Burning

TEXT: Leviticus 6:8-13

TOPIC: Keeping the Home Fires Burning

BIBLE SURVIVORS SERIES, Message 10

Pastor Bobby Earls, First Baptist Icard, November 11,2001

Open your bibles this morning to Leviticus 6.

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, 9 “Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the whole burnt offering. The burnt offering must be left on the altar until the next morning, and the altar fire must be kept burning all night. 10 The next morning, after dressing in his special linen clothing and undergarments, the priest on duty must clean out the ashes of the burnt offering and put them beside the altar. 11 Then he must change back into his normal clothing and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. 12 Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the daily whole burnt offering on it. He must then burn the fat of the peace offerings on top of this daily whole burnt offering. 13 Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out. Leviticus 6:8-13a, NLT

Our passage focuses upon the priest's responsibility concerning the burnt offering to the worship of the ancient Jews. In offering a lamb as a sacrifice in both the morning and the evening, Israel demonstrated her devotion to God. The lambs which were offered as a sacrifice were to be totally consumed which signified the believers receiving complete consecration to God.

By the way, if you read the first ten chapters of Leviticus this week, aren’t you glad that we are not longer under the Old Testament system of worship and offerings!

Look at Leviticus 6.13

Leviticus 6:13 ESV

13 Fire shall be kept burning on the altar continually; it shall not go out.

The impetus of this passage rests on this command. "The fire shall be ever burning upon the altar; it shall never go out."

THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER

Before we examine this verse, it will be necessary for each of us to understand that we are priests. The apostle Peter informs us in the 2nd chapter of his first epistle that we, as Christians, are lively stones, we are built up as a spiritual house, we are a holy priesthood, and we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices which are acceptance to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:9

Revelation 1:6 "Christ loves us and by His death He has freed us from our sins and made us a kingdom of priests to serve God. ... You are the King's priests, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God." Nobody here wears special clothes, a special collar or a special robe. You and I are all priests before God. We don't need anybody to stand between us and God anymore. Jesus Christ did that by His death and resurrection. You don't need another human being to stand on your behalf in front of God. Because of that we all have equal access to God.

Sometimes people say to me, "Will you pray for me?" and they'll tell me a need in their life. I know the reason they're asking me is because I'm the pastor and they think I've got kind of a special hot line to God. Not at all. You and I have equal access to God. We are all priests, which means we all have that same responsibility of telling people about Christ, of worshiping before Him. That's a unique privilege we have and Baptists have traditionally referred to it as “the Priesthood of the Believer.”

How do we keep the home fires burning? Well, notice first of all,

I. THE PERSON OF THE FIRE

There is in this verse a smooth blending of the physical and the spiritual; a mixing together of spiritual symbolism and physical practice. There is the physical reality of the altar positioned before entrance of the holy tabernacle, the place where God met with his people. But it is the fire itself which uniquely symbolizes the presence of God; the purity of God, and the power of God.

God blazed in brilliance with fiery flames in the midst of a bush that was not consumed and he issued forth that heavenly divine call to Moses saying, "Moses, Moses, "Here am I." Moses knew God was present with him.

After the exodus from Egypt, the children of God knew the presence of God as He pierced the darkness with a burning pillar of fire that provided both light and warmth for the people. The children of Isaac knew God was present with them.

In Acts 2, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, whom Jesus promised to send before his ascension, fell upon every believer in the form of fire. And each believer was set ablaze in their heart to be a witness for the Lord, and to be a sacrificial servant for God. As you march through the pages of the book of Acts you notice one thing for certain. Those New Testament, early church Christians kept their home fire burning.

It was the cracking fire of the Holy Spirit that enabled Peter, John and Steven to stand fearlessly before the cynical Sanhedrin and proclaim Jesus as the Christ.

And every day the early church gathered, for prayer, for worship, for Bible study, it was as if God himself took huge bellows and fanned the flames to renewed vigor and intensity in the furnace of their hearts.

Oh today how each and everyone of us need to experience the warm, fiery presence of our Almighty God. The Bible tells us that our God is “a consuming fire.”

Not only does the person of the fire symbolize a God who is present; it also symbolizes a God who is pure.

Listen to the words of the prophet Malachi: "But who may abide the day of His coming? Who shall stand where He appears? For He is like a refiners fire, And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Malachi 3:2-4

In Revelation it says that our returning Lord has eyes as a flame of fire. Those are eyes of penetrating insight. They pierce the heart of man, they reveal the mind of man, they split open the very bone marrow, for there is not one idle thought, not one evil word, not one attitude of pride, grudge, or bitter or jealous spirit among us, not one selfish motive that escapes the flaming, pure, penetrating eyes of God.

The person of the fire is God who is present, God who is pure, and He is God who is powerful.

II. THE PLACE OF THE FIRE

The ever burning fire is, notice, upon the altar.

Ill. Gathering wood for fireplace, we must put the fire in the fireplace, any place else could be disastrous.

The place of the fire is at the altar of the church. The place of the fire is at the point of sacrifice and commitment. Ultimately, the place of the fire is the altar of the heart.

III. THE PERSISTENCE OF THE FIRE

When the tabernacle was dedicated, the Lord sent special fire from heaven, and thereafter the priests were expected to keep it burning. Fires need fuel, and God's instruction gave birth to a special industry in Israel. There were "hewers of timber" in the mountains and appointed carriers to transport the wood to the tabernacle. It was never necessary for the priests to go looking for wood; it was available at any time of the day or night. The fire upon the altar never went out

"Never let it go out." Never let the fire extinguish. That places the motivation, and the responsibility on us.

Ill. Camping on a cold night. Unless we get up the next morning and stir the burning coals, and add more wood, the fire will go out.

If we take a burning coal away from the fire, it will become an ashen, useless heap.We need to be persistent in stoking the fire within our heart, but because God's fire dims, but because our own cold dampness smothers the fire God places in us. We stoke the fire with prayer, praise, bible study, worship, and fellowship.

We need the persistence of the O.T. priest who guarded the fire in the temple and made certain the home fire kept burning.

FBI SERMON NOTES

TEXT: Leviticus 6:8-13

TOPIC: Keeping the Home Fires Burning

BIBLE SURVIVORS SERIES, Message 10

Pastor Bobby Earls, First Baptist Icard, November 11, 2001

8 Then the Lord said to Moses, 9 “Give Aaron and his sons the following instructions regarding the whole burnt offering. The burnt offering must be left on the altar until the next morning, and the altar fire must be kept burning all night. 10 The next morning, after dressing in his special linen clothing and undergarments, the priest on duty must clean out the ashes of the burnt offering and put them beside the altar. 11 Then he must change back into his normal clothing and carry the ashes outside the camp to a place that is ceremonially clean. 12 Meanwhile, the fire on the altar must be kept burning; it must never go out. Each morning the priest will add fresh wood to the fire and arrange the daily whole burnt offering on it. He must then burn the fat of the peace offerings on top of this daily whole burnt offering. 13 Remember, the fire must be kept burning on the altar at all times. It must never go out. Leviticus 6:8-13a, NLT

THE PRIESTHOOD OF THE BELIEVER We are lively stones, we are built up as a spiritual house, we are a holy priesthood, and we are to offer up spiritual sacrifices which are acceptance to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:9

Revelation 1:6 "Christ loves us and by His death He has freed us from our sins and made us a kingdom of priests to serve God. ... You are the King's priests, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God."

I. THE _______________________ OF THE FIRE

The fire symbolizes:

A. The __________________ of God

B. The __________________ of God

C. The __________________ of God

"But who may abide the day of His coming? Who shall stand where He appears? For He is like a refiners fire, And He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness. Malachi 3:2-4

II. THE ____________________________ OF THE FIRE

III. THE ­___________________________ OF THE FIRE

Stoke the fire with ______________, ______________, ________________________, _____________________,_____________________, ________________________, and __________________________.

BIBLE SURVIVORS READING ASSIGNMENT: LEVITICUS 11 - 20