Offering: Living & Giving for the Glory of God
Study of Leviticus
The Sin Offering
Leviticus 4:1-5:13
First Family Church
317 S.E. Magazine Rd.
Ankeny, IA 50021
www.firstfamilyministries.com
Transcript of Message by Todd Stiles
January 30, 2011
Take your Bible and locate Leviticus chapter four. Let’s continue in our worship by delving deeper into this thing that Marty mentioned. He called it the sin offering. He brought that to your attention.
I’ll give you a great story on kind of what it was about in the Old Testament. We are go-ing to see more detail this morning and we are going to be led to an awesome place of worship as we have been already as we understand Leviticus chapter four.
And I just want to say that if you are new here today or if it is your first time or second time, yes, we are in Leviticus. That is the third book of the Old Testament.
You may say, “Todd, I have never heard anybody preach from that book.”
Well, we are not just preaching from it for one week. We have been in it since the begin-ning of the year and we will be in it through Easter and, actually, our church is pretty pumped about it. We have got lost of good questions from you guys and so I want to let you know one thing in regards to your questions. We have put together an extra extra point podcast. Now if you are not sure what the extra point podcast is, it is a podcast that Chris and I record and it brings extra insight into the coming week’s message. It is re-leased on Monday and it is about the sermon that is coming up or the text that is coming up that week. We call it the extra point especially fitting during football season. Hint, hint.
However, with all the questions that came about we went ahead and made an extra extra point podcast. It will be released tomorrow, a good five or six questions are on there. Check it out. I am not going to answer them this morning obviously you probably wouldn’t go and listen, but I want you to just go check it out. And there is just some great questions. Most of them are logistical questions, by the way.
We read Leviticus and we are like, “How in the world did this really happen? That many people, that many animals, that much blood, that much fire. I mean, come on, Todd, real-ly?”
Well, we talk about that on the extra extra point podcast. Check it out. I think the ques-tions are tremendous and I love the fact that you guys have questions. Keep them coming. Email them to... somebody will answer one day at First Family Ministries dot com. That was a joke there, people. Man, you are slow. You are not even listen. My goodness.
Also just an extra resource to bring your way. Francine Rivers is an author and she writes a number of books. Some of them have some real Old Testament setting to them. They have an Old Testament setting to them. My wife has read one by her. This was recom-mended by Marny Bustle. It is called The Priest. She does a really good job. It is not biblical or theological from that sense, but it is accurate in understanding the Bible. And she lays out what may be a really good understanding of the setting of Leviticus. What it might have been like to have a family in that time and the culture and the hardship of go-ing through all the offerings and as a writer she writes novels. She helps us kind of get a little more color.
I would encourage you if you want to pick up a good book to read, Francine Rivers has a number of books about Old Testament time periods that I think will help you in under-standing more and even about what it might have been like in that time period, just a couple of extra things as we dig in this morning, Leviticus four. Thank you for being so interested in God’s Word.
Your Bibles are open, right? Leviticus chapter four. We are going to see this morning two main things. We are going to see a number of contrasts. And I want to warn you and give you a head’s up that this will be the more mechanical instructional part of the message, but please hang with me because we are going to move from understanding the contrast that really are focused in Leviticus four and five and then we will see the connections we have to them. And God will teach us much and he will move us and change us. So just hang with me. There is some mechanical aspects to this, but I think it is important that you learn the Word of god and we are going to begin that by talking, first of all, about some contrasts that are seen as chapter four opens up.
Make a couple of notes either mentally or write them down. In Leviticus one through three we find those offerings earlier in the Bible. Did you know that? Peace offering, burnt offering, grain offering, they are actually mentioned prior to the law. Prior to Mount Sinai you see periodic moments when they make these offerings, but you don’t find the sin offering or the guilt offering at all until the law is giving. So there was a shift happening now in chapter four also in chapters one through three. The chapters are pri-marily written in a way that describes the types of offerings you bring but beginning in chapter four we see that suddenly he lists the kinds of offenses that occur and the groups of the people that are to make the offerings, the definite shift in how it is written.
Furthermore, in the first three chapters you find the phrase, “soothing aroma” a good bid indicating those offerings were of a pleasing nature to God. But in chapters four and five you only find one reference to the phrase soothing aroma. And in talking about he sin and guilt offering we know that those are required, but they weren’t the kind of offering that God took great delight in.
Furthermore, the word “atonement” is only found in chapters one through three. Now there were certain aspects of the peace and grain and burnt offering that had some aton-ing ramifications, but that wasn’t their primary purpose. But in chapters four and five he word atonement is found nine times. These were the offerings that provided for for-giveness and atonement.
Forgiveness, speaking of that word, it is found eight times in chapters four and five. It is not found a single time in chapters one through three.
So are you picking up some contrast now? These voluntary offerings of chapters one through three, though important and essential to their system, they were a soothing, kind of a fragrance to God that really these last two, they didn’t know a lot about that part of it. And so we are given to a very somber portion of Scripture today, a more serious tone kind of blankets these last two chapters of at least the first five at least.
Speaking of chapters four and five these last two chapters that discuss the offerings there is one major contrast between them. It is the word “restitution.” Ok? The guilt offerings seem to be an offering you would make when you can also make restitution. The sin of-fering was one you would make when restitution wasn’t possible. Apart from that one contrasting difference, I will be really frank with you. They seem to kind of weave in and out of each other sometimes. I don’t know if you have read ahead yet, but four, five and six sometimes you are not sure if you are talking about the sin offering or the guilt offer-ing.
Sometimes they will say, “Because you are guilty bring a sin offering.”
Then the write will say, “Oh, by the way, because you have sinned bring a guilt offering.”
And so I am with you that sometimes it can be a little difficult dissecting which is which. Just keep this in mind. The major contrast in these last two offerings is the idea of restitu-tion. In fact, both at times have the sense of—as Marty told us—about an unintentional aspect.
As we come to chapter four we see one final contrast and that is that he lays out the sin offering around the different types of people that need to make it. Can I start there with you and show you a really unique and simple way to understand this chapter? Let me give you a fly over real quick, just take the wings of a bird and let’s look at this chapter from about 30,000 feet for a moment.
Look at chapter four verse three and circle the words “anointed priest.” Then drop down. You can do this quickly. Then drop down to verse 13. Circle the word “whole congrega-tion.” I love that sound, nice, even if you have an electronic. You can just make it with your mouth. Do something like that. Make me feel good up here at the front, right, if you are on the Ipad or Iphone or something.
Look at verse 22. When a leader sins... Circle the word “leader.”
Verse 27. If anyone of the common people sins... do you see that? This chapter really breaks out for us the four groups of people that had to make a sin offering. The anointed priest, the wohle assembly, a leader or a commoner.
Guess what? Everyone fit in one of those categories. The sin offering was required for everyone in some way. So hold to number four like this, four types or groups of people. And then he moves to three types of unintentional sin. So now go to three. And I am not sure why he lists them in that way personally. It is a little hard to understand how he in-serts this simple discussion of three unintentional sin types, but he does. Maybe to give us a picture of what an unintentional sin looks like. And then he proceeds to talk again about two other options if you are a commoner. If you don’t have a lamb or a goat there is two other options of the sin offering. But in the end, all of this information really leads us to one understanding of the sin offering. Does that make sense?
So chapters four and five through about verse 13 really could be summarized in this way. Four types of people, three types of unintentional sins, two additional options for the commoner all equaling one sin offering.
So we would say what? Four, three, two, one. You are the only service that got it right. The rest of the people at 8:30 and 5:30 they are so spiritual. They are saying, “Church,” or like “offering” or “Leviticus.”
I am like, “No, just blast off people. It is a simple... you learn it as a kid, don’t you?”
Hey, thanks for being normal. I appreciate that.
Ok. Four, three, two, one. It is a simple way to kind of see this chapter.
Why don’t we begin digging a little deeper again. Here is the contrast we are going to notice. Hang with me. It is a little mechanical, but quite intriguing as we learn.
He says in chapter four verse one, “This is what you are to speak to the people of Israel and say that if anyone sins unintentionally...”
That is a key word. These are sins that as Marty so well, so aptly taught us, they are sins and we are responsible. We just weren’t quite aware of them.
In the legal world—and Dale might can kind of add some credence with this—this is technically called strict liability. So if you are going down Delaware or you are going up Third Street West where it goes from like 35 to like two miles an hour, and you get caught suddenly. You can say all day long, “I didn’t mean to go 35 in a 25.”
But because of strict liability you are responsible.
So, in a sense, it was unintentional, but it wasn’t. Are you with me?
I think we can all relate to that type of sin because you probably sped coming to church today.
Ok. We will move on. Chapter four here. He says, “These are the kinds of sins that we are going to talk about.”
Verse three. “If it is the anointed priest who sins in this way, thus bringing guilt on the people, he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull form the herd without blem-ish to the Lord.”
Underline that phrase because the priest had to offer a bull from the herd. That was his only option. It was a sin offering. And beginning in verse four I will just kind of skim some of the major areas. He is to take this bull. He is to lay his hands on it. He is to kill it there before the Lord in front of the tent of meeting.
You recall, that is the actual beginning of this little... of the house structure inside the main area of the tabernacle. He is to kill that there. Then he takes some of the blood and he brings it actually inside the tent of meeting, the first of the offerings in which this oc-curs.
Everything else so far, one through three, has occurred outside the tent of meeting. Now he is taking some blood inside this first partitioned or curtained area.
The Bible says here that he sprinkles it seven times before the Lord in front of the veil of the sanctuary. Behind this veil was the holy of holies where only once year the high priest would take the sin offering and actually put blood around the mercy seat and on the ark of the covenant. So on this sin offering he only took it into that first area, the holy place.
He says then he takes some of the blood. He comes back outside, verse seven, on the altar of fragrant incense to the Lord. He puts that on that part of it. He brings the rest of the blood out and pours it at the base of the altar of burnt offering which is also called the brazen altar. Then he takes the fat and we went through this last week, all the areas of the fat that is inside the animal, the kidneys, the liver and all those areas. He offers that to God according to verses nine, 10 and 11 and so forth. And then he takes the rest of the animal verse 11 says and he takes it outside the camp, all the rest of the bull and he carries it to a clean place to the ash heap and shall burn it upon a fire of wood on the ash heap it shall be burned up.
It is a quite intricate, intentional, elaborate sacrifice if the anointed priest sins. Please make a mental note of that.
He then says in verse 13, “If the whole congregation of Israel sins,” which, by they way, did happen probably in Joshua chapter nine when the Israelites were tricked by the Gibe-onites and they made a pact and a deal that would haunt them for generations. They were unaware of it, but they made the deal and later when it was revealed they had committed a sin they had to make offerings. So probably a situation in which the whole congrega-tion sinned this way. This also may be seen in Jericho and Achan’s sin. Do you recall that? Now some scholars may debate this. I tend to think it is kind of an example of it in this way. So Achan sinned intentionally and was judged for it. The congregation wasn’t aware of it even though they all paid the price as well because they lost many, many war-riors at Ai. Do you recall that?
When they were made aware of it they dealt with it. So in some sense you find the whole congregation having moments in which they sinned.
He says, “If this is the case and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly,” he says, “and they do any one of the things the Lord has commanded 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.”
The difference here is that if the congregation sins the bull can be with blemish. It has not got to be a perfect bull. But do you know when a priest sinned it demanded perfect, without blemish bull.
Verses 15 through about 21 describe much the same thing. I will let you read it. You kill the bull. You take the blood inside the first partitioned area. You sprinkle it. You bring it back out. You burn the fat. You take the rest of the animal out, burn it up totally. That is the sin offering if the whole congregation sins. In this case I think it is very intriguing how the elders lay their hand on the head of the animal indicating that they are responsi-ble as the leaders of that group and so all the elders are touching this animal and transfer-ring this guilt.
Verse 22 he talks now about a leader who sins and notice the shift of contrast between the previous two offerings. Here it is a goat, a male goat without blemish. Not quite as expensive, may bento as difficult to locate or have. Again, though, much the same process. You lay your hand on it. You kill it. But in this case you don’t take any blood into that first partitioned area. Keep this in mind. You only sprinkle blood there by the brazen altar. And then you go ahead after you burn off the fat and so it explains apparently based on chapter six verses 24 through 30, the priests get the rest of the animal. It is kind of like dinner after the sin offering, dinner of the sinner. We like to make a rhyme there, you know?
But that is only because blood was not taken in to the holy place. Does that make sense? When blood was taken into the holy place that entire sacrifice then was burned outside the camp. But in this case when a leader sinned, or as we will see in verses 27 through about 35, if any one of the common people sins they could actually burn the fat and then what was left of that offering could be used for the priest as his food.
Verse 27 lists the last of the four groups, the common people. When they sin uninten-tionally and it is realized they are to bring a goat, but here a female goat without blemish.
So if a leader sinned it is what kind of goat? It is a male goat without blemish. But if a commoner sins he can bring a goat. It is a female without blemish. Again, the very same type of process. You sprinkle the blood but this time just around the brazen altar. You burn the fat and according to chapter six the priest can eat the remainder. But in verse 32 the commoner gets even another option. If you don’t want to bring a goat you can bring a lamb. You can bring a female lamb without blemish. And, again, the same kind of pro-cess. You kill it. You lay your hand on it, of course. Some of the blood is poured out. The rest of it... some of the blood is sprinkled, some of it is poured out and then the lamb’s fat is removed and given to God.
Remember, the fat is burned because that is a delicacy. That is the valuable portion. I know that is kind of hard for us to relate to, but in that culture that was the prize posses-sions. It was burned to God and then, of course, the rest was given.
But notice verse 35, the end portion. This is what really summarizes all of the offerings. It says that the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed and he shall be forgiven.
So regardless of your station in life or what you brought, guess what? When you brought this animal and the priest sprinkled the blood or poured the blood out and killed the ani-mal, either burned it outside the camp or used part of it as his food, this offering was to provide for atonement and forgiveness.
Beginning in chapter five he kind of lays out three types of these sins he has been refer-ring to in a general way. Now I will be frank with you. This seems like it is kind of stuck in the middle. Do you know that?
Because if you look at chapter four verse 35 and, Ward, does this suddenly pick up with chapter five verse seven? It really flows a lot nicer, doesn’t it? It is like if you want to bring a goat as a commoner or bring a lamb as a commoner and then 5:7 says if you can’t afford a lamb you can bring two turtle doves or two pigeons. It kind of flows really nice-ly.
But he sticks in here this... this sampling of unintentional sins.
They give us a picture here of what some of these thing are like and he mentions three, by the way. One is if you fail to give a witness of something you have seen. You see that in verse one. In verse two it is also considered an unintentional sin if you touch an unclean thing whether it is a dead animal or even something that is unclean swarming type of an issue. So there is state of uncleanness, both ritual and ceremonial. There is not testifying to something you have seen when you should have and then utterly a rash oath with your lips. You see that in verse four.
By the way, we know that Saul uttered a very rash oath in the book of 1 Samuel. It was so rash that he was trying to figure out who did what in a situation. He said, “Whoever did this I will kill him.” And guess who it was? It ended up being his son.
When it came time to confront his son he was going to stick to his vow and the people rallied and said, “Saul, this is a rash oath.”
I suspect after he realized the error of his way he offered a sin offering. Does that make sense?
So these are three types of the kinds of sins that can happen that demand a sin offering.
Then he picks up in verse seven again. Here is of the commoner. If a goat or a lamb is really not available you don’t get to take a pass. You then can bring maybe two turtle doves or two young pigeons.
Verse seven says they are for a sin offering and the other is for a burnt offering. He de-scribes how this process looks. You wring its neck, but you don’t sever it completely. Again, the sprinkling of blood, the pouring out at the altar. It is a sin offering verse nine says. It, too, shall make atonement, verse 10 says. And you shall be forgiven.
And, oddly enough in verse 11 he extends this even to those who don’t even have turtle doves or pigeons by saying, “If you don’t have anything like that, then just bring about two liters of fine flour.”’
There is no blood here. That is an observation you need to be aware of, but it still worked as an atoning, forgiving sacrifice. That is what verse 11 tells us of chapter five. It is a sin offering. You don’t put oil on it and frankincense. Do you remember? Those were part of the sweet smelling aromas of chapters one through three. But here our sin doesn’t smell sweet to God. But this requirement that we make a sacrifice for them. So we don’t add oil. They didn’t add oil. They didn’t add frankincense. They still offered to God. Parts were burned. The other kept for the priest. And, again, verse 13 says what? These are for atonement and it shall be forgiven.
So do you kind of see how this is laid out? Four, three, two, one?
It is a lot of text. Again, I would remind you that chapter six verses 24 through 30 also lay some other requirements out that are involving the last two offerings, the offerings that don’t have blood inside that first partitioned area. A lot of contrast, a lot of groups, a lot of text. It is called the sin offering and it was required for sins unintentional or unin-tentionality.
Now when you had that amount of information kind of overloaded you. You can begin to feel... we feel every single week here especially here in this study.
Wow, Todd. That just seems really remote. That seems way out there. It seems distant. In other words, the age of Leviticus just seems like it is just really way far away from the age of Alexis. That is kind of where we live, right? Cars and automation and technology. But, Todd, that idea of wringing off a bird’s neck and pouring blood and sprinkling it and burning outside the camp. I am just not sure I am there. I see the contrast. I get it, you know, factually. Man, Leviticus four seems a long ways from 2011.
How about a little help? Let’s make some connections to today. Let’s piece the puzzle today and let’s let God show us how Leviticus is just as inspired and just as helpful for instruction in righteousness, training, correction, reproof, amen? There is a couple of connections I want you to make. I really want you to just hear God on this.
There is, first of all, the connection to sin, ok? Leviticus and 2011 we still all deal with sin and they dealt with two aspects of sin just like we do. They dealt with sin’s fact and sin’s act. And guess what? Listen very carefully. You do as well. We deal with sin’s fact and we deal with sin’s act.
Principally we are all depraved. That is the fact of sin. We all have a sin nature. You cannot escape it and so you are... you are just like the folks in Leviticus. It doesn’t matter what your station in life. Burn off... excuse me. Anointed priest, leader, commoner, whole congregation, guess what? You are just in this mess with everybody. We are all in the sinking ship of the depravity. It is going down. We share it because of Adam. It is the fact of sin. No one has escaped. Just like Leviticus covered every single person, guess what? So does the New Testament.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
But, Todd, I am rich.
You fall short.
I am poor.
You fall short.
I drive a Lexus.
You fall short.
I drive a Yugo.
You fall short.
I am married with 12 kids.
You fall short.
I am divorced.
You fall short.
In other words, the ground is level for all of us. You see, God looks at us. He sees all condemned.
Now man looks at each other. We try to rank, don’t we? We try to say, “Well, you are better than me, Lance, because you have only got a short list of sins.”
But says, “You know what, Lance? You and Todd, you are on the same plane, con-demned under sin.”
The nature of your humanity, your sin nature, in principle we are depraved. So the fact of our sin exists just like it did here. Regardless of our station we all have to deal with it.
But I think it is very intriguing that in the middle of seeing that all of us are affected no matter what our station in life, he does actually admit that for those who have more re-sponsibility there is a greater sacrifice.
Are you catching this? Let’s just be real frank here. It was harder and more costly for an anointed priest to offer a sin offering than it was for a commoner, which says to me something. Principally, we are all affected by sin, but the acts of our sin are felt propor-tionately. The whole congregation sinned and it was a big deal. When the anointed prince sinned it was big deal. This same principle is carried out in the New Testament.
James three chapter one. James said this. Please listen very carefully.
He said, “Brothers, not many of you should be teachers, because we incur a stricter judgment.”
Did you catch that? If you are a teacher of the Word of God you are held to a greater and a stricter kind of judgment. You are going to be held accountable for your responsibility in a way that is deeper and stronger than someone who doesn’t teach.
What did Jesus say when he affirmed this?
“To whom much is given, much shall be required.”
By the way, while we are on this topic of sins proportionate effects, do you know that Paul commanded Timothy to rebuke publicly elders who sinned publicly?
You say, “Wow. Paul was a mean man.”
Well, you can say what you want. He just wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and our job is not to change the rules or even to try to figure them out. Our job is to obey. And churches have an obligation to make sure that their leaders are living in a way that is biblical and when it becomes unbiblical—now I didn’t say it doesn’t agree with your preferences, but when it is actually unbiblical and there is sin involved, public sin—the Bible says you have got to call those leaders out.
Do you see the same principle being woven through? Do you see the connectedness of Leviticus four? Just like they had to go to greater length for those who sinned in public ways and those who sinned who had a larger impact, so does the Church today. The Christian community has to realize something, that our sin affects other people. And the larger your impact and responsibility, the larger the effect of your sin.
I mean this is just seen in your family. If it is you and your wife, guess what? When you sin it affects at least one other person. If you have got three kids then it affects at least four other people. If you have got 12, it affects at least 13 other people.
So the greater the responsibility the greater the impact. And we need to understand something, church. Listen very carefully. I journaled this this week. It will sound crazy to you, but it has really meant a lot to me. Sin is never single.
You are lie, that doesn’t make sense.
I know, you don’t say single like single, but I got to thinking wow. The truth is sin isn’t single. It is never singular. It doesn’t occupy a place all by itself and never touch anyone. Even in our darkest moments, our thoughts, where we click, where we go when we think. Guess what? Those affect at least one other person.
Take some guy who is clicking around late one night all alone. He has done tries to erase his history. Maybe nobody will know.
The next time he encounters his wife he will be carrying those images and those feelings and those thoughts as he interacts with her. Does that make sense? She is affected by his sin.
Take a lady who is emotionally having an affair at work with some man. The prince she never got. Her husband may not know. She goes home and she interacts with her hus-band, guess what? What she felt for that man she brings home. The disdain she feels will affect how she relates to her husband.
But nobody knows. Nobody saw. Oh, but we are all affected by each other’s sins. And the greater your level of responsibility, the greater the impact that God has given you, the greater effect your sin has upon other people.
I really need to urge upon you this simple truth that we are principally affected by sin’s nature, its fact. And we are proportionately affected by sin’s acts. Let that kind of blanket upon you. Let that lay upon you. Let that motivate you living a life that is resistant of sin, resisting the devil because people are affected by our sins, sin in Leviticus, sin in 2011.
If I left you there, if that was all we said it would be depressing.
Like, wow, Todd. Thanks I am really encouraged today. I am going to think I am going to find a whole and crawl into it. I don’t want to affect anybody good or bad. I am not really ready for that.
But here is the connection that helps that just kind of make a lot more sense. It is the connection to the sacrifice.
You see, we have a connection to the sin. Its fact and its act. We also have a connection to the sacrifice. In Leviticus there was an atonement and advocate, wasn’t there? An an-imal was brought. It was killed and then someone mediated. The priest would come in, sprinkle the blood. Either burn the animal or burn part of it. All these things happened as a way to make sure someone was standing in for the offerer. The animal died. The priest stood in as a way to make atonement, to advocate.
Guess what? That same principle holds true today. We also are connected to the principle of sacrifice in this way. We have an advocate and we have an atonement. But guess what? It is not an animal and it is not a priest. It is the God man Jesus Christ. He is one in the same. He is our atonement, John 1:29.
When he called out, “Behold the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world....”
And as the Jews listened, I guarantee you they thought, where is the sin offering?
And John is pointing to Jesus. He knows that he is soon headed to Calvary, the altar of Golgotha. And he climbs upon that cross, so to speak, and he gives his life as our sacri-fice. But he is also our priest in that he takes his blood before the Father. He sprinkles it, so to speak. He does the work of the priest. He is our advocate. He stands in for us. He takes his own self, offers his own body and in that way he is both atonement and advo-cate. Jesus is everything we need.
Hallelujah.
And he is the perfect fulfillment of Leviticus four.
In fact, the Bible spells this out a number of places. Romans 8:3. It says that God sent Jesus to be our sin offering.
Also in 1 John chapter one, in fact, turn there. I want you to see this passage because it shows in a really analogous way the work of Jesus as atonement and as advocate.
Look at 1 John chapter one and chapter two. Let me just briefly read a couple of verses to you because this really shows in a unique way both roles that Jesus fulfilled for us. 1 John 1:7. Here he talks about Jesus and his blood how it cleanses us from all sin. Do you see that in 1 John 1:7?
“If we walk in the light as he is in the light then we have fellowship and the blood of Je-sus his Son cleanses us from all sins.”
Hallelujah. Sin is gone because of the cleansing power of Jesus. And then in chapter two verse one he actually talks about another role that Jesus has that if we do sin which is not the normal process, amen, but when we do sin we have an advocate with the Father and here it is again. Jesus Chris the righteous.
So our atonement and advocate is Jesus.
In Leviticus four it was the priest and an animal. But now in the age of the Lexus, so to speak, it is Jesus.
Can I say to you with clear simplicity you don’t need somebody else to stand in for you. Jesus already has. And confessing your sins to someone else who is wearing a funny col-lar doesn’t do anymore before God. Jesus has already done it all. He gave himself. He mediated and he gave it to God the Father and God was satisfied. He is our atonement and advocate.
In fact, 2 Corinthians 5:21 spells it out even more clearly. Can I read you this verse? Jot it down. Memorize it this week. It is an awesome verse that shows us the clear direct ful-fillment of Christ as our sin offering. Here is what Paul said in the 2 Corinthians... letter to he Corinthians, the second one.
He said, “For our sake God made Jesus to be sin,” a reference here to the sin offering. He didn’t say that Jesus took our sin. Jesus did not carry your sin with him and say, “Where is the altar, God? Here is a pile of sin from the [?] family,” and throw it up there and walk away. The Bible teaches that Jesus became sin.
So when he approached Golgotha he was the sin offering. He was the Lamb, the bull, the goat. He was the sacrifice. And when he died and shed his blood it was all that God needed to be able to say, Keith, your sin has been atoned for and you are forgiven.
Hallelujah, church.
Melissa, your sins have been atoned for. You are forgiven because Jesus who knew no sin was made to be sin for us so that we could become the righteousness of God.
Luther called this the great exchange. Aren’t you glad that you weren’t a goat or a bull or a lamb tied to some rope, dragging this animal, trying to find the priest who was not very busy and a multitude of people and saying, “Here. Lay your hand.” Aren’t you glad that wasn’t you? But instead God took Jesus and made him your sacrifice. It was the sin of-fering so that we could have our sin atoned for and be forgiven. That is the connection to Leviticus four.
Yeah, that reaches back thousands of years, but aren’t you thankful the New Testament, that God in his wisdom taught us there is no longer need for all those mechanical ritual details. Aren’t we glad because I can’t keep them all straight half the time anyway. We just got to look to one place, the cross where Jesus died as our sin offering.
Hallelujah, church. Amen.
And you may say, “Well, Todd, what do I do with that?”
We know from singing we should give thanks. Amen. We should live in response to that and be grateful. But do you know there is an obscure passage in Hebrews that gives us one of the best exhortations about how to respond to the sin offering. It is Hebrews 13 verse 13.
Just look just quickly as we close at one of the best applications that we have been given for what to do with... in response to the sin offering.
Hebrews 13:13. It actually kind of begins in verse 11. He is talking about the bodies of these animals that are brought to the holy places, you know. And their blood is sprinkled and then their bodies are burned outside the camp.
He says in verse 11 that these are brought by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin. So he is referencing the sin offering here in Hebrews 13:11.
And then verse 12 he transitions so nicely to this. Look at what he says. So Jesus, here he is saying again, “Here is who took care of our sin. Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.”
And that is historically truth. Golgotha was a hill just outside the city walls of Jerusalem. And Jesus went outside the gate. He gave his life for us. He was our sin offering. Verse 13 is the exhortation that I have just been struck with for a number of days. There fore...
Notice, in a lot of the fact that Jesus is our sin offering. Let us go to him.
Church, are you hearing this? Let us go to him.
Wait, wait, wait. Here is he? He is outside the camp. He is in a reproachful place. He is in a place with mockery and scorn. I don’t want to go there.
I know. That is half the problem.
But that is where we need to go to have our sin dealt with.
Church, please listen. Our sin is only dealt with in the reproachful, scornful, terrible, beautiful place called Calvary. Let us go to him and let us bear the reproach he endured.
Now if you understand this book is written to those who were Jews who were entertain-ing staying Judaism which had its lofty practices, its nice rituals, its fancy costumes, its normal sacrifices, it was safe. It was pretty in some degree.
It didn’t demand that I go outside the city to an ugly old tree stained with blood where I would get splinters. Wait, wait. I don’t want to embrace that.
Then you can have your sin. It is really a question of how do you want your sin dealt with? Do you want Jesus to deal with your sin? Then go to the cross. If you don’t, you can stay in a place where it is safe, comfortable, politically correct and pretty. You will forever be mastered and strangled by Satan as he weaves a cord of sin around your neck and drags you to hell.
But if you want your sin dealt with? There is only one place to go. And that is outside the city to a place of reproach where Jesus hangs, where he hung naked and bloody. He was disfigured and marred. You probably wouldn’t even have recognized him. But he hung there because you needed a Savior and so did I, amen?
And all the pretty comfortable ways just wouldn’t cut it. Someone’s blood who was per-fect, who was God needed to be shed and so God sent his own Son as our sin offering and on Calvary’s cross thousands of years ago Jesus gave his life so that your sin could once and for all be dealt with.
You see, I am under strong conviction that even those who are saved and have been out-side the city to the beautiful, terrible, ugly cross often like to leave it quickly and go back to where it is safe because we don’t really want to, as this verse says, bear the reproach any longer. It is good of salvation, God, but you know what? Can I just live a little less bloody life in the here and now?
Well, I have got to tell you something. Every day for the believer should start at the foot of the cross. We should live a gospel centered life that begins at Calvary and is not afraid to take up our cross and follow him.
I will just be frank with you here. You don’t bear a cross secretly. Do you? Oh, I think a lot of us try. We wear something really shiny around our neck. No offense. You have got on on this morning, probably forgive me. Well, maybe don’t forgive me. Just bear with me. We put one in our pocket and when we feel tempted we rub it.
And do you know what? There is nothing pretty about the cross. But there is something awful precious about it. It is the only place, the only place where I can find not only for-giveness initially, but then the victory forever from sin that wants to strangle me and kill me. And often many of us continue to live lives of consistent sin because we don’t want to bear the reproach of the cross. We don’t want to own up and live in a lot of this bloody tree. We try to distance ourselves from it. God forbid that we should glory in any-thing but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, Paul said in Galatians.
And I want to you boldly and unashamedly, church, listen very carefully. As long as there is breath in these lungs, I will not be ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ for it is the power of God to salvation.
Some folks want to know, “What book can you recommend, Todd? What counselor can you recommend?”
Please hear my heart. I am not knocking counselors or books or videos. But there is noth-ing supernatural about their message. There is only one message that contains the power to forgive your sin and set you free. It is the message of a place where Jesus died and gave his life and shed his blood. It is called the cross.
Some of you are dealing with your sins in horizontal ways that are safe and pretty and inside the camp. You talk to your spouse way more than you talk to God about your sin. You worry more about what your kids will think than what God will think.
Is that bad? I think we ought to worry about what sin does to our kids, but the truth is if it doesn’t bother you what God thinks then you are only worried about your reputation not your sanctification. If you are only upset about your sin when your wife or husband finds out, you will spend more time with your accountability partner discussing all the ways you hope to one day finally be free instead of on your face before God because of the way you have violated a holy Creator.
Does it not strike anyone else here odd sometimes that we can spend hours talking to people about our sin who really can do very little about it and yet sometimes a very few minutes talking to God who gave his life for it? Am I the only one that thinks that is a little odd? I don’t think so. But we have become so good at dealing with our sin in hori-zontal ways, inside the camp because we are so afraid to take our sin outside the camp and bear the reproach of the cross. Because it doesn’t seem pretty. It seems ugly. I can’t imagine that working. That is not what I hear in TV and in books. The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ came toy destroy the works of the devil.
That is 1 John.
Guess what those are? Sin. And if you want your sin dealt with once and for all and also continuing in sanctification, salvation and sanctification, there is only one place to go and start your day and end your day. Live it from the foot of the cross.
I hope that you are under conviction as I have been for about a week and a half. But how many ways I let everyone else and everything else deal with my sin. Sometimes when I sin. I feel bad. I will go eat. [?] you know like so I don’t feel so bad.
Food is not going to keep me out of hell. Some people will shop. Some will exercise. Some... you get all the dysfunctional temporary saviors you know of. They are all hori-zontal. They are all temporary and none of them work for good. And it is high time that a voice was raised up to say, “Do you know what? Let’s fall on our face and ask God to forgive us. Let’s claim the blood of Jesus as our only means for forgiveness and victory. Let’s make the cross the centerpiece of our worship. Jesus died for us and rose again for us. The gospel is the message that brings freedom.
Church, I plead with you this morning. Go outside the camp to Jesus your sin offering and live every day in that perspective. Carry your cross. As bloody and as splintered as it looks, with the most humblest of pride—and I say that in the right sense. Do not be ashamed of your Lord and of the change he has brought to your life and of the for-giveness he has given your soul. For only in Jesus and the cross are we afforded for-giveness and victory.
See, this passage, Hebrews 13 and Leviticus four, 1 John one, Romans eight, they help us with what we know is a true answer, but sometimes we just simply sing it. This morning I want you to believe it.
You say, “What answer is that, Todd?”
It is the answer to this question. What can wash away my sin? Answer it. Nothing but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
Why don’t you stand, First Family. Sing this with me.
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow.
No other font I know.
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Answer back again, would you?
Nothing can for sin atone.
Nothing.
Naught of good that I have done.
Nothing, church, nothing. Sing it out.
Oh precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow.
No other font I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
This is all my hope and peace.
This is all my righteousness.
Oh precious is the flow,
That makes me white as snow.
No other font I know,
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh Jesus, raise up in this church a people jealous for the cross. God, stir within this body of believers a group of people so unashamed of the beautiful, terrible cross that every morning we will pick up that splintery, blood stained tree and with gratitude and gratefulness and yet simplicity we will walk every step unashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ. For it is the power of God to salvation.
God, turn us away from horizontal avenues that just temporarily manage our sin. Keep us from functional saviors with little s’s that only temporarily divert our attention from our true depravity. Instead, God, fix our eyes upon Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. God, move us. Change us.
Lord, here I pray that there will be no misinterpretation today. I know you have put the body together to bear each other’s burdens, to hear the faults of one another. But I am well aware of that concept. But, God, I know the conviction of my heart and what I sense in just the American church. We have turned to other people way too much. And, Lord, I pray that our repentance to you would be first and foremost that you would weigh upon us and press down upon us the guilt of our sin and that we would first and foremost run to you for forgiveness and victory. Lord, then, I think we are most ready to begin to process that with those around us, but only in that order. Give us the right order in this church. I pray the cross will stay high and lifted up, that Jesus will be magnified week in and week out so that those who are lost can be saved, those who are still chained can be delivered in the name of Jesus and glorified as the only sacrifice and offering able to deal with our sin. And the church agreed with a hearty amen.
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This resource is provided as a learning tool produced by First Family Church in Ankeny, Iowa. The Church’s mission is to develop devoted followers of Jesus Christ in people groups around the world who celebrate, grow and serve. For more information on First Family, visit our website at www.FirstFamilyMinistries.com.
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