Bits and Pieces – 57th Edition – April 4, 2021

“Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept”

It is great to be meeting in the house of God again after such a long time of lockdown. Do take the opportunity to greet one another. Believers are to meet together for fellowship, prayer, communion, and especially for the preaching of God’s Word, for the building up of their souls.  We shall also continue our Sunday services on Sermonaudio at 11:00 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. with prayer at 5:50 p.m. on Zoom.

The first chapters of Leviticus give details of the five offerings – the burnt, meat, peace, sin, and trespass offerings.  All these speak of Christ and His work of redemption.  The burnt offering occupies a prominent position and pictures Calvary.  Let us learn four unmistakable lessons.

The first is that man is separated from God by reason of his sin.  When man fell into sin, the communion between God and man was broken.  The second lesson is that God speaks to man through a mediator.  Moses acted as mediator between God and Israel, and a greater than Moses is here, even Jesus Christ. The third lesson is that God demands a blood sacrifice.  It may seem unpleasant to a proud man, but God alone has the right to dictate the terms of reconciliation. The fourth lesson is that the burnt offering pictures Calvary.

The sacrificial animal or bird was a male.  The first Adam brought death; the last Adam brought life. [1 Corinthians 15:45-48].   It was “Without blemish” speaking of the sinlessness of Christ.  It was to be “of the herd” telling of the accessibility of the sacrifice.  Christ is near to all that call upon Him.  The offerer “put his hand upon the head” of the victim, identifying his sin with the sacrifice.  The sacrifice was killed “for him,” teaching us the truth of the substitutionary sacrifice.  It was a voluntary offering, picturing the voluntary nature of Christ’s death on the cross.  It was to make “At-one-ment”, to reconcile lost sinners to God. Let us rejoice this day in Christ our Saviour.  We are not worthy of the least of His mercies, but He has blessed us with the Greatest!

One of our senior high school math teachers, Jonathan Rajaratnam and his wife Cheryl suffered a great loss on March 23 with the death of their infant son, Eli Jacob.  He was almost a full-term baby when he unexpectedly died; this is a great tragedy for this dear couple and their children, Madison (6) and Levi (3).  Please join us in praying that the Lord will sustain the family with special grace at this time.

Christians ought to live holy lives.  The precious blood of Christ has blotted out their sins, and their lives should be examples of godly living.  But what happens when a believer sins?  Most Christians do not commit open sins, but what about those sins committed in ignorance?  Is there cleansing from these?

The Lord in His infinite wisdom gave Israel a series of sacrifices, each having a different emphasis and each representing a different aspect of the believer’s walk. The sin and trespass offerings [Leviticus 5] were made after the others had been offered.  In other words, these had to do with the lingering defilements of contact with this sinful world.

As guilty sons and daughters of Adam’s fallen race, we must acknowledge our natural bent towards sin.  It is only the sustaining grace of God that keeps us from sin.  God made a way for Israel to deal with these lingering defilements.  The sin and trespass offerings foreshadow Christ on the cross.

The apostle John encouraged saints not to sin, but he went on to say, “If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”  [1 John 2:1].  Start the day with a clean conscience, trusting in Jesus’ blood.

On August 27, 2005, a tragic motorcycle accident took the life of Toronto member Mike Kruger and seriously injured his wife, Sharon.  As a result, the church produced a Gospel tract, “22 Minutes,” detailing the last minutes of Mike’s life. They were distributed far and wide with the prayer that many souls would be reached and led to Christ.

Last week, in faraway Australia, a man was walking on a beach on Turnby Island in the Spencer Gulf, South Australia, when he found a Coke bottle with a tract in it.  He sent us a photo of it.  It was our tract!  The Bible is true,  “Cast thy bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it after many days” [Ecclesiastes 12:1].