THROUGH THE BIBLE - Leviticu..

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com. That's cornerstonerbc.com. Leviticus chapter four from verse one. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel saying, if anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord's commandments about the things not to be done and does any one of them, if it is the anointed priest who sins thus bringing guilt on the people, that he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the Lord for a sin offering.

He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the Lord and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the Lord. and the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meetings and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the lord in front of the sanctuary and the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar and of fragrant incense before the lord that is in the tent of meeting He shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. and all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall remove from it the fat that covers the entrails, all the fat that is on the entrails and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offering. And the priest shall bring them on the altar of burnt offering. But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung, all the rest of the bull he shall carry outside the camp and to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on fire of wood.

On the ash heap it shall be burned up. If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally, and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the Lord's commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt, when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting. And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the Lord, and the bull shall be killed before the Lord. then the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting and the priest shall dip his fingers his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the lord in front of the veil. Aideen and he shall put some of the blood of the horns of the altar that is in the tent of meeting before the lord and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent meeting and all its fat he shall take from it and burn on the altar thus shall he do with the bull as he did with the bull of the sin offering so shall he do with this and the priest shall make atonement for them and they shall be forgiven and he shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it as the as he burnt the first bull it is the sin offering for the assembly when a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of the things that by the commandments of the Lord his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish, and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord.

It is a sin offering. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. And all its blood, all its fat rather, he shall burn on the altar like the fat of the sacrifice of the peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin and he shall be forgiven. 27 and if any if any if any one of the common people sins unintentionally in doing one of the things that by the lord's commandments ought not to be done and realizes his guilt or the sin which he has committed is made known to him he shall bring for his offering a goat a female without blemish for his sin which he has committed.

And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings. And the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the Lord. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.

If he brings a lamb at his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill burnt offerings. Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of the burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 35. and all its fat shall he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the Lord's food offerings and the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed and he shall be forgiven. Amen.

This is the word of the Lord. Well, we've been, as we're all aware, we've been working our way through the book of Leviticus now for, well, this is our fourth week. And as you all know by now, the book begins with the offerings and sacrifices that the people of Israel in the wilderness were to observe in the recently constructed tabernacle through the appointed Levitical priests. You see, a perfect and holy God cannot look upon sin, and yet he has made a way. He has made a way to dwell among a sinful people through his covenant stipulations, in particular, through the tabernacle and through the offerings and sacrifices prescribed and explained for us in the first seven chapters of this book.

of Leviticus. As we've said on many occasions, the Lord has rescued his people from the bondage in Egypt, not only to put them into a new land flowing with milk and honey, but also to have intimate covenantal relationship with his people. We've already progressed through the first of three of these offerings in previous weeks. The burnt offering, the grain offering and the peace offering. These should still be fresh in our minds so we don't really need to do a lot of recapping on them but it would suffice to say that these were voluntary offerings of gratitude on behalf of the worshipper in thankfulness towards a good and merciful covenant God.

But these offerings and sacrifices were not directly in relation to any specific sins committed. We need to remember that. But having said that, because of the nature of man, because of his natural condition, and he's sinful by nature, the animal blood sacrifices that were offered to God had an element of atonement, of course, we're told that in the first chapter, but this was not the primary purpose of the first three offerings in the first three chapters. but now we're now in chapter four and we'll see next week also by God's grace in chapter five we have a new category of offerings these offerings are directly related to the people's specific sins and are offered to make atonement for those sins and also to deal with the defilement and the contamination that those sins cause. You see, sin corrupts the person who committed that sin.

It also contaminates the fellowship that one has with a holy God who demands nothing less than perfection. You see, we know what sin is. Literally, the word sin means to miss the mark. It's to transgress or violate the law or the precepts of God. It's to do harm to God in this way.

But brothers and sisters, it's important that I remind you at this point, These chapters, the chapters that we had before us, chapter 4 this evening and chapter 5 next week, they deal and speak to sins that are committed by the worshipper unintentionally. unintentionally. Our brother Nelson reiterated this point on many occasions over the last three weeks and we need to be reminded once again that these sins, sacrifices are for unintentional sins. We're even reminded of this from the onset of this passage. Verse one, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the people of Israel saying, if anyone sins unintentionally in any of the Lord's commandments.

Beloved, these unintentional sins are distinct and different to intentional sins. You see, intentional sins, or high-handed sins as the Bible calls them, which literally means to commit a sin, waving your fist at God, thus the high handedness, are not covered in these sin sacrifices. Because sin of that nature is blasphemous. See, they're committed in defiance and their willful disobedience. They have no regard for Yahweh or his law.

Such sins result in being cut off, according to Numbers 15, from the people of God, either cast out from the camp or most likely punishable by death, which means cut off from the land of the living, certainly cut off from the covenant people of God. There is no provision in these chapters for intentional sin. And so the chapter is a serious, serious reminder of the offensiveness and the abomination that sin is before our holy God, even our unintentional sins. These sins are confessed and sacrifices offered once the worshiper is made aware that he committed these sins. But up until the point where the unintentional sin is made known to the worshiper, you see, they were ignorant of that sin.

Their conscience, as far as they knew, was clean. that they did not make them clean. See, just because the conscience is clean, it didn't make them clean before the Lord. They were still sinners and guilty before God, even if they were unaware of their sins. This is very important point that we need to make, because conscience, although it's not to be violated, it's not the final arbiter.

of what is right and what is wrong before the Lord. His law stands irrespective, and people are guilty despite, in some cases, not being consciously aware of the sins they committed. Just because you and I are not aware of particular sins, it does not make our sin any less offensive before God. Beloved, Poisoned berries are just as poisonous to the botanist who knows exactly what they are as to the unsuspecting person who is oblivious of their danger. You see, ignorance won't give an exemption to its poisonous effects if it's eaten.

And this is scary, because in every one of us, in every single human being since Adam, that's all humanity, of course, apart from our Lord Jesus Christ, there is enough sin in us to condemn the whole world twice over, and we may be oblivious to many of these deadly sins. Our only hope, beloved, does not come from within, but from a merciful God who by faith provides the atonement for all our sins, those that we are aware of and those that we are not aware of, even the ones that we didn't even know we committed. But this chapter is about unintentional sin. that has been revealed to the person. So it's been made known to the worshiper.

And the chapter begins with what Yahweh instructing Moses of the different sin offerings to be offered by his covenant people because the consequence of sin is very, very serious and it must be dealt with. So he firstly begins with the prescription of unintentional sins committed by the anointed priest from verse 1 through 12. Then the sins committed by the whole congregation of Israel, that is the corporate sins that involve the whole camp, that's from 13 to 21. Then the sin of sacrifices for the leaders, that's from verse 22 to 23. Now it's difficult to know exactly what leaders are spoken of.

Yeah, but it's likely we're talking about the heads of the tribes like the elders. These are the men with responsibility and authority that goes beyond themselves individually. Then he speaks about the sin offering to the common people, the regular lay person in the camp. That's the majority. So the first thing we need to see in this is that no one is excluded from this list.

Hope you can see that. Sin affects and corrupts all people alike, male or female, young or old, priest or lay person. Sin's long arm reaches them all. But the consequences of these sins can actually differ. And I want us to see that in the passage.

You see, we see this here because the offering that is made according to the person's position of it's according to that person's position. This is not to say that God has a different set of moral laws for different people. That's not it at all. Rather, they have different responsibilities. and therefore greater accountabilities before the Lord.

Why? Because their sins have defiling consequences that go beyond themselves. You see sins committed by those with the greatest responsibility, like the priests. Their sins are the most serious because the defilement and the corruption of their sin affects all the people of Israel. That's what he says.

You realize how in verse three we're told, if the priest sins, the guilt is not only upon himself, but upon all the people. The priest is the one who is set apart, consecrated by God, made holy. He's the one who mediates between Yahweh and his people. His tabernacle duties and services are on behalf of the covenant people of God. He's the one who makes the atonement for sinners and to think that the consecrated priest comes before God and does these duties with unclean sin stained hands is a very serious matter.

Why? Because Because he's the one that intercedes on behalf of these people through the prescribed means of Yahweh, of God in this tabernacle. And it's that intercession that enables the people of God to commune with God. Without that intercession, the people are destroyed. His duties are critical and His holiness is essential.

This is why when a priest sins, his offering is the same offering as when the whole congregation of Israel sins. Did you see that in the passage? The offering is a bull for both. This is the most costly of all animals and it cannot be substituted for anything else. The common lay person can offer a female goat or a lamb or in some cases, as we'll see next week in the following chapter, if they can't afford these, they can offer turtle doves or pigeons or even a tub of fine flour for the poorest of the poor because God is accommodating for those with lower economical statuses.

But the priest is to offer only of the bull. He's the most expensive and valuable of all the animals. This is to paint the importance of the priest's holiness in his mediatory service before the Lord. Beloved, great is his responsibility and great is his accountability. Now, when the priest offers a sacrifice for his own sins, he'll burn the choice parts, including the fat.

You remember last week, our brother told us that, or the week before, No, it was last week, that our brother told us that the best part of the animal is the fat of the animal. And that's true. It was a delicacy in those days. It was considered as the prime part of the animals, considered as the most valuable part of the animal. And this is the case that the fat is offered to Yahweh, to God, and it's the case with all the burnt offerings, all the sin burnt offerings, whether it's the priest or the lay person or anyone in between.

And the rest of the animal, as far as the priest is concerned, is taken outside the camp and burned away from the people of God. It's the place where the defiled and unclean thing, he said it's the place of thing, the place where outside the camp with this animal, the rest of the animal is actually burnt. It's a place where the fire rages hot. You see, the priest does not get any of the meat in this case. He doesn't benefit from a sacrifice for his own sins.

which is the same as when he sacrifices on behalf of the congregation, because he's part of the whole congregation. He doesn't get any part of the meat, but when he sacrifices on behalf of the leaders or on behalf of the lay people, he will get a piece. He will get his piece. The priestly, the priest will actually get the piece, the choice pieces of the meat for their own consumption. Now, because the, sacrifice is taken outside the camp and it's burnt, the wrath of God upon sin is appeased.

Because it's written, it's written, it's written, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. And that's why the next thing we look at is that the blood atones for that sin. The blood atones for sin. And that's true, because as I said earlier, that verse in the book of Hebrews 9, 22, it says, without the shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin. But beloved, I want us to see something else.

In that same verse in the book of Hebrews, the beginning of the verse tells us, indeed, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And that's a big point in this passage. The purification purpose of the blood of the sacrifice. And that brings us to the function of the blood in the sin offering. And it's at this point we need to remember the tabernacle.

This is the means that Yahweh has provided for his covenant people to fellowship and have relationship with him. Because of the defiling nature of sin, even this tabernacle that stands in the midst of these people, because of their sin, it's contaminated and required to be cleansed. This means that fellowship with God is obstructed by the corrupting nature of sin. And so one is unable to approach God apart from the purifying and cleansing of a blood sacrifice offered by a holy priest for the forgiveness of sins and for the decontamination and the cleansing of the instruments of worship that have been defiled by sin. You see, in the burnt and the peace offerings of chapters one through three, The blood was splashed upon the bronze altar at the entrance of the meeting or the tent of meeting.

However, in the sin offerings, there's a major, major difference. Because in the case of sin offerings, the worshipper and the place of worship. is defiled. And therefore, the blood is not only to atone for the sin of the one offering the animal, but it's also to be taken and used to purify, or as I said earlier, to decontaminate as such the instruments of worship as far as that person's access allows. This means for the lay person who has no access beyond or into the holy place, the bronze altar on the entrance of the tent of meeting was as far as he could go.

And therefore, the blood of that animal would cleanse and purify the altar by the priest smearing his blood soaked finger on four of the horns on the altar and the rest of the blood is poured out on the base. However, this is a little different for the priest and the whole congregational sacrifice, which as I said earlier, the priest is part of. Then, The blood is to be taken into the holy place and sprinkled before the veil of the most holy place. Sprinkled before the Lord and then on the horns of the altar of incense in the tabernacle. And you remember that table of incense is right before the curtain, which conceals the most holy place.

because the tabernacle has been defiled because it stands among sinners. And the blood would now cleanse and purify that dwelling place so that the priest and the people he mediates on behalf of, because of the cleansing effect of the blood, the purifying effect of the blood, are able to dwell in the camp without being destroyed because God cannot look upon sin. The lesson for sinners is this. We are all contaminated by sin, and we can only defile that which is holy. Therefore, we cannot approach a holy God without the purifying and cleansing blood of a substitute.

Even when we think we are clean in and of ourselves, we are totally defiled. Looking back to Israel, even the sins they were not aware of had to have been dealt with. The Day of Atonement, beloved, dealt with those sins for those people with circumcised hearts, and we'll elaborate on that when we get to chapter 16. But for us today, how does this passage relate to us? Well, I really want us to simply take this away.

Forgiveness for sins a term used no less than four times in this chapter. And the cleansing from the defilement and corruption that of sin requires both a substitutionary blood sacrifice and a holy consecrated priest to meditate on our behalf, to mediate my apologies on our behalf. And the object In this chapter, namely the animal blood and the Nevitical priests are but shadows of the reality that they are pointing towards. And beloved, we all know the reality is Jesus Christ, who is both the high, great high priest, and also He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is also the sacrifice.

Because we're told in Hebrews chapter 10, for even the most costly of these sacrifices, the bulls or even the goats, is insufficient to wipe away the stench and the stain of sin. And in verse 11 of the same chapter in Hebrews, we're told that the daily service of the Levitical priesthood also is insufficient to take away sins, because both were types of the substance to come. Beloved, only our great sinless, holy, holy, holy high priest who does not require to make sacrifice for his own sins, but rather he enters into the true most holy place in heaven, well beyond the access of the Levitical priesthood. And he does this once and for all in the immediate presence of God as the spotless lamb of God, with his own purifying blood to purify and forgive his people their sins, reconciliating them to God. This is incredible news because unlike the earthly tabernacle, the true tabernacle of God, Jesus Christ himself cannot be defiled.

Beloved, forgiveness for us is still through the shedding of blood, and we still approach God through the means of blood, but it's not the blood of animals, and it's not with a Levitical priest, but it is through the great high priest, Jesus Christ, and the precious blood that he shed upon that cross. He forgives our sins. and He purifies us from all defilements. As 1 John 3 says, those who trust in Him purify themselves because why? Because He is pure.

Let's pray.