Layman's Lounge

Burning the Offal

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Category: A Deeper Word
Published: Sunday, 18 March 2012 23:40
Written by Mark Neddeau
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The bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. And they shall burn in the fire their skins, their flesh, and their offal. LEVITICUS 16:27

Friends, we are talking today about a little studied part of the sacrifice of the old testament:  The Offal of the sacrifice.  Offal is the refuse, the waste product, the dung of the animals that are being sacrificed.  It served no purpose in the offering and hence was carried outside the camp.  It was then burned with the skin, the flesh parts and the discarded and useless bits of the animal sacrifice.

This is not always a nice topic, but there is still a spiritual aspect of even this part of the scripture.  When a living creature dies, the bowels are released.  All the filth inside, kept there by the natural processes of life, are allowed to fall out.  you can hold nothing in when you die.  Your dead body has no control, and loses all ability to retain what has been within. 

Now, notice the spiritual side.  We die in Christ!  We (the spiritual side of we) falls in to death to sin.  Therefore, our sinful nature dies and we release all the filth associated with it! 

ROMANS 8:10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.

If we live to Jesus then we put to death the works of the body, the sinful nature of the flesh, and produce the waste that came from that life!  We shun it, and then burn it in the light of salvation!  We have an obligation, but it is not to the sinful nature.  If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will die (v13)...and there we see the correlation.  You cannot hold onto anything when you are dead.  You cannot retain the past, you cannot make your own plans, you cannot do anything not related to, or ordered by, the LORD and HIS plans for you!

You have no room to move in a grave.  It is form fitted for you.  Put your past in the grave of redemption!  Let God bury your iniquities, your past failures, your fears of the future.  Let God bring you life!

ROMANS 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus,[a] who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.

So many of us want to remain chained to a corpse.  They want to carry the offal of their sacrifice.  Sometimes the scent of their wasted life and sinful nature seems to appeal to them.  Why?  Fear, doubt, uncertainty.  The questions about God, not given TO God, lead some to hold onto some of that offal, the refuse that God wants to remove from them. 

COL. 3:5 Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Take a step in faith.  Don't linger with that temptation.  Don't give into that cigarette, that drink, that lust, that filth that was released when you died to your sins and accepted salvation!  Release all that is in your past and move into a lighter, less burdened future!  Let God release you, and bury that offal outside the camp (your new spiritual existence).  Burn it in the light of his glorious salvation!  We pray for you that you will have the courage and determination to burn the offal of your sacrifice and be set free from the stench of your past sins! 

In Love,

Elder Mark and Elder Dana