Keep the Fire burning

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. I'm so glad to be back with you this morning. I've been gone away on vacation. We went out to South Dakota and got to the Black Hills and saw Mount Rushmore and Custer State Park, stuff like that. If you've never been out that way before, I would highly encourage it. Absolutely gorgeous area of the country.
But anyways, why don't we have some coffee? We'll pray. We'll get into a new section of the book of Leviticus today. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing and a joy it is to come to your word. We pray that you would be our teacher this morning. We pray that your Holy Spirit would enlighten our eyes to what we need to know. Teach us, oh Lord, and apply it to our hearts. In Jesus's name, amen.
OK, I'll put my coffee down and we are at the book of Leviticus, chapter six, Leviticus, chapter six, beginning at verse eight. Now, a weird thing, just as a kind of side note here, is Leviticus chapter six is a little bit different versification in the Hebrew. So from chapter six, one through seven, We've already done that section, but that section is actually still chapter 5 in the Hebrew. Because everything in chapter 1 through 5 was specifically written, I shouldn't say specifically, generally written for the anonymous Israelite.
Here's what animal you need to bring, here's what cereal you need to bring, here's when you need to bring it. the stuff that the people needed to know. But at chapter 6, verse 8, which in the Hebrew is chapter 6, verse 1, from these next two chapters, it's not about the anonymous Israelite, but it's about the priest.
And so what we're going to find is it's going to talk about the same offerings, and they're going to overlap. But the emphasis now is on What is the priest's role in these sacrifices? So it won't be entirely new material. The kids and I went over this with you previously, so you can go back and rewatch that. But now it's going to be the priests and what they're doing. So let's go ahead and turn now to Leviticus chapter six, eight to 13.
Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his son, saying, This is the law of the burnt offering. The burnt offering shall be on the hearth of the altar all night until morning, and the fire of the altar shall be kept burning on it. And the priest shall put on his linen garment and his linen trousers, he shall put on his body, and take up the ashes of the burnt offering which the fire has consumed on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar. Then he shall take off his garments, put on the other garments, and carry the ashes outside the camp to a clean place. And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it, it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering on it, and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. A fire shall always be burning on the altar, it shall never. go out. Well, we need to ask ourselves, A, what is this about? So, A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do in response to this? So, what is this about?
Well, this is about the burnt offerings, right? The priests, or the rabbi's house, the priests, every morning they would cast the first lot, and the first lot was to figure out who was going to take care of the ashes. Right, and then so they need to take care of the ashes, but they needed to keep this fire form of the burnt offering going. Every morning and every evening there was a burnt offering. This was to remember their iniquity, to atone for their sins, right? The burnt offerings have a few different reasons for them, whether it's for atonement, worship, or for impurities, but every morning and every evening there's a burnt offering. three times in this passage, the priests are specifically charged that they are to keep the fire burning.
The Lord was to be honored in this fire on the altar, continually burning day and night. Don't let the ashes heap up. Don't let it get smothered out. Don't let it get smoked out. You got to go every morning, take care of the ashes, put them by the side of the altar, and then go take off your holy clothes, put on your street clothes, come back, get the ashes, and take them out of here.
Why though? Why was this fire always supposed to be going? Well, this was specifically to honor the Lord. This is just the prescriptions. Everything's been made, but no offering has been actually done yet. This is all prefatory material. And so the offerings are about to be made.
And when that day is going to come, God himself is going to light the fire on the altar. And that divine fire that comes down from heaven and lights the altar, that fire is never to be let out. morning and evening, all throughout the day, there to go and to keep kindling that fire, to keep putting wood on that fire, to keep it going, right? Because the original spark, the original flame, the original fire was from God himself. And so this fire was meant to be as this honor to the Lord to keep it going, but also that God was continually with his people.
So what's this passage about? This is a passage about the burnt offering, but the three things specifically mentioned with the burnt offering, morning and evening, is because that fire was never to go out. What's the best verse to summarize this passage? Well, in my Bible, I have verse 13.
A fire shall always be burning on the altar. It shall never go out. What's this call us to do? Well, has the Holy Spirit lit your heart on fire? Don't let it go out. Don't fan into flame the embers of your soul. It's the Holy Spirit who has come down upon his people now. He transformed our heart. He puts a fire in our souls. Feed it morning and evening. Don't let that fire go out. Come to the Lord with your daily sacrifice of prayer and praise. Don't ever let that fire of your love for the Lord go out.
This is our blessing to live up our lives, offer up our lives as a living sacrifice. Let's pray. Father, we confess to you that we are those who are regularly tempted to let the fire get smothered up by the ashes. Lord, we pray that you would stoke in our hearts if there are those. I know I'm one at times who the flame seems to be nothing more than a hot ember. Lord, we pray that you would please blow your spirit upon our souls and make us bright, flaming fires again.
That we might be a light unto our neighbors. And that we might honor you with our lives. We pray these things in Jesus's name. Amen. I pray that the Lord blesses you, that you walk in the joy of his presence, and that you love him always. I'll see you next time. Bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.