Three years ago pandemonium erupted in the personal computing world over Intel’s Pentium chip. It was not over the speed of this next generation chip, but its inaccuracy in certain division problems. The engineering error was intensified by a PR bungle. Intel managers decided that the error would not affect many people, and didn’t inform anyone outside the company. This was a mistake. By the time the situation was corrected, Intel lost millions of dollars and the respect of the computer community. The company was right in that the division error could affect only a few customers, but not disclosing the information made Intel appear to hide a sinister secret. It sent the message to customers that Intel was not trustworthy. A simple division error, a problem that really would not have been noticed by the vast majority of users: but the error was not the issue, it was the denial that caused the biggest problem. The brief flap over the Pentium chip is much like our own lives. There is a fatal flaw in our make-up that we try so desperately to hide. The appearance of sin may well never be detected by most people we come in contact with each day, but we know and those who know us well see it far more often than any of us would like to admit. Our own internal processing units are flawed Pentiums. This flaw is sin. But, like Intel, we may acknowledge the error to ourselves, but we don’t want the word to get out. We want to portray a veneer of morality so that others will think we are operating quite well. Cornelius Plantinga, in his article "Natural Born Sinners" in Christianity Today (11/14/94) stated this well when he says: “The awareness of sin used to be our shadow. Christians hated sin, feared it, fled from it, grieved over it. Some of our grandparents agonized over sin; a man who lost his temper might wonder whether he could still take the Lord’s Supper. A woman who for years envied her more attractive and intelligent sister might worry that this sin threatened her very salvation. "But now the shadow has faded. Nowadays, the accusation you have sinned is often said with a grin and a tone that signals an inside joke. Sin is more at home on the dessert menu where Peanut Butter Binge and Chocolate Decadence are sinful, but lying is not. The measure for sin is caloric. At one time, the accusation of sin still had the power to jolt people. Catholics lined up to confess their sins; Protestant preachers rose up to confess our sins. And they did it regularly. Their view was that confessing our sins is like taking out the garbage: once is not enough.” But today’s confessions are not so clear about our sin. We love to point it out in others, those outside the walls of the church, but within we’d rather confess our love and devotion to God. We love to speak of the good that we do, but rarely, publicly do we acknowledge our sin. Where sin is concerned, people mumble now. But such mumbling carries with it serious consequences. The sin we all commit can not be eradicated by excuse nor rectified through denial. The reality of sin and the need to confront our sin and its effects on our relationship with God is basic to the next sacrifice in Leviticus. When we read of these various sacrifices we blur them together and see only the regulations and blood, but not the various reasons behind them. In Leviticus 4 there is the Sin offering. By its very name it seems as though God is beating us up with our sin by redundancy. Does not the first offering, the burnt offering, take care of this problem? What is so special about this offering - why can’t we just move on from this seeming overemphasis on sin and just enjoy a relationship with God? 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 2. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a soul shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall do against any of them: 3. If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people; then let him bring for his sin, which he hath sinned, a young bullock without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering. 4. And he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the Lord; and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and kill the bullock before the Lord. 5. And the priest that is anointed shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle of the congregation: 6. And the priest shall dip his finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before the Lord, before the vail of the sanctuary. 7. And the priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of the congregation; and shall pour all the blood of the bullock at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. 8. And he shall take off from it all the fat of the
bullock for the sin offering; the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is
upon the inwards, 9. And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flanks, and the caul above the liver, with the kidneys, it shall he take away, 10. As it was taken off from the bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings: and the priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering. 11. And the skin of the bullock, and all his flesh, with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, 12. Even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place, where the ashes are poured out, and burn him on the wood with fire: where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt. First we see that sin here is an accepted part of who we are. But its presence can not be ignored, since sin carries consequences (verses 1-3). The chapter opens with a heading that applies to a variety of cases. Sin is an accepted fact. It is not argued or proven: “when anyone sins." Sin happens. No degree of dedication will guard against it, no amount of spiritual exercises will make us fit to think we have grown beyond it. But notice how it is described. The sin is unintentional, the KJV says through ignorance. This appears to be a sin that occurs without much forethought. But the term can be misleading. It is never an accident that we sinned. Sin does not just happen. It is not a virus we catch when our defenses are down and we just find ourselves knocked out by the flu. Vitamin C won’t help. The phrase “sin unintentionally” is poor. The idea of intent is not basic to the word. Unintentional sins are contrasted to defiant sins in Numbers 15. Defiant sins literally means to sin with a high hand. It is the person who sins with malice and forethought and a refusal to repent. Knowing that what is being done is wrong and refusing to seek forgiveness is the key here. It is for that reason in Numbers 15:30 that person is cut off. The sin of ignorance or the inadvertent sin is better phrased “going astray in sin.” The unintentional nature of the sin is not so much toward the act, but done without reference to God when we sin. That is at the heart of all sin. We sin by thinking first and foremost about ourselves and what we will derive from this action. Rarely do we think of God. That well describes us when we lose our temper at a spouse, fudge a little at work, give misleading information, play with that lustful thought. This is the kind of sins we often engage in. We sin so easily because the remnants of the old man are so strong. We sin because it comes so naturally to us. We may be surprised how many mistakes and mishaps in the spiritual world are covered by this single word: when we overrate our own strength, and underrate the power of temptation and the devil, when we distrust good people, and have faith in false friends. So through many kinds of ignorance and due to our own sin we do not see that we often do that which we know at other times is wrong. But the goodness of God has provided restoration and recovery in the blood of Jesus. There is a remedy not just for our sinfulness, not just for SIN but for all those sins we commit. Christ removed not just the big sins, but those little ones that others may not notice. But it is there that we often feel most guilty, most troubled. Its nothing we’d be arrested for, but that nagging thought of moral or theological superiority, that video replayed in your mind of your fantasy life, whether it be sexual or just material success. It is there we most often feel defeated, for they are those nagging problems we thought we should be long past. It is for those sins we have a remedy. The remedy deals with the consequences of those sins. Sin has consequences. Sin disrupts our relationships with the people. This is seen in a graduated sense in this chapter. There are four categories of sin offerings listed. We won’t take the time to go through them all. But first is the Anointed Priest. This is probably a reference to the High Priest. But notice what his inadvertent sin does; it brings guilt on all the people. The priest is a representative for all the people. He is not doing his job on his own. When the High Priest is tainted through sin and becomes unworthy of representing the nation, all Israel stands guilty before God. This is scary thought for me. I can easily become frustrated by what I see God not doing in this church but that always brings me back to the understanding that repentance must start with me: my prayerlessness, my fear of what others may think. This effect is not just horizontal, but my sin affects you as it has an effect on my relationship before God. That is the reason the High Priest responds to his sin which has affected the people by bringing guilt on them with a sacrifice directed toward God. Sin ultimately is against God. Sin disrupts the relationship between God and man. It poses a threat to the covenant relationship by provoking divine anger. But it has other side effects as well. Propitiation of divine anger is an important element in the burnt offering. Purification is the main element in the sin sacrifice. Sin not only angers God but deprives Him of His due; it also makes His sanctuary unclean. A holy God cannot dwell amid uncleanness. The sin offering purifies the place of worship, so that God may be present among His people. The main idea behind this sacrifice is that of purification. Sin brings impurities in our relationship with God. It is not God who is endangered by the pollution of sin, but you and I are. To have God dwelling in your midst is both a great blessing and a great danger. The danger, of course, springs from man’s sinfulness, which always arouses God’s wrath. This sacrifice acknowledged that we are indeed sinful and that God alone can provide the remedy for that continued sin in all of our lives. A few years ago, my father became alarmed at the increasingly decrepit condition of our Caravan. With the compassion that only a parent has, knowing our finances, he decided to buy us a new used van. He provided something we did not deserve. He was gracious and kind and we offered effusions of praise. Last week, as we were preparing to make the semi-annual trek back to Pennsylvania to pay homage to our loving parents, we decided to have the Transport checked. With 120K miles, it was due. Much to our dismay it needed some costly work. But if we were going to go on this trip it had to be done. In the natural order of life, the care of the car given to us is our responsibility. I could not call up Dad and say, “You know that car you gave me a few years ago? Well it needs new hoses and the transmission oil needs to be changed. Send money soon." That’s fine in our interactions with each other. Unfortunately, we think that is how God is. He does his part giving us a gracious gift of salvation and now it is up to us to maintain that salvation in good running order. We don’t want to offend God by going back to Him with sin in our lives. But we are so wrong. God desires you to come to Him with your sin for He alone has the remedy. What is the cure He offers? As with all the sacrifices they point to Christ’s work for us. Let’s see how Christ figures into this sacrifice. What do we do with our sins that we confess to be offenses against God? Christ is our sin (verses 3-4). The process is much the same as before - the perfect bull is brought to the altar. The priest who has sinned lays on his hands, thus demonstrating the need for another to take our sin from us. It is the picture of imputation of our sin to Christ. The bull is killed. We see this idea of transference again and again in the sacrifices. It is central to the New Testament idea of Christ’s death. He who knew no sin became sin for us that we might be the righteousness of God. It is at the heart of what Christ’s death is all about. What the priest does is reenact both our Fall by our first parents into sin and how that sin is removed. The High Priest as a representative brings guilt on people and in turn another must pay the price. This is what Paul says in Romans 5:18-19: "So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous." The obedience of Christ in not only keeping the law for us, but also taking on our sin is what we mean by Christ as the sin offering for us. Christ is our atonement (verses 5-6) Again the burnt offering in Leviticus 1 pictures Christ as the propitiation for our sin, the sacrifice which satisfies God’s wrath and provides atonement. This is illustrated again in this sacrifice but with a change. This time the priest takes the blood and carries it into the Tent of Meeting, into the Tabernacle. This time the blood is taken behind the curtain into the Holy Place where the Table of Shewbread, the lampstand and the altar of incense are. The High Priest walks up to the veil which separates the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant is found. He stands before that veil which symbolizes the separation which is between us and God and there sprinkles blood on the curtain and on the ground. Here we see the purification aspect well illustrated. This is what the author to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 9:11-14. "But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things to come, He entered through the greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this creation; and not through the blood of goats and calves, but through His own blood, He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled sanctify for the cleansing of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?" The blood sprinkled pictured what Christ would do for us. Notice the benefits in verse 14. By Christ’s objective work 2000 years ago we can, in faith, know that our consciences are now clean, not by our act, but by God’s grace alone. This is what Paul says in Romans 5:9-11: "Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation." We have received reconciliation, better translated as atonement. In the same way John writes in 1 John 2 that Christ is our defense attorney. He stands before the Father to plead our case based on His perfect work for us. Christ is our intercessor (verse 7). But the work of Christ does not stop there. The sin offering continues. The priest, having sprinkled blood on the veil, turns and walks over to the Altar of Incense. This fixture in the Holy Place on which burned incense pictured the intercessory prayers for God’s people. As the smoke went up due to the proper work done on the altars, there was the sweet smell of incense which reminded that God heard the prayers of His people The priest would take some of that blood and then spread them on the horns, the four corners of the altar. The horns represent the power of the Altar of Incense. This showed them that as God was pleased despite the sin of His people because of the mediatorial work of Christ, then God would hear our prayers. When you pray, God hears, not because of the purity of your heart or the correctness of your intentions. A holy God could never listen to my prayers for they are so full of sin and greed that they will never became acceptable. Sin mingles with all our thoughts, even with our confessions of our sin. Rather God hears because of Christ's intercession for us. Hebrews 7:25 reminds us of the confidence we may now have: "Therefore He is able also to save forever those who draw near to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." Christ can save you completely and as He does that He now lives to pray for you. The joy of prayer is not that we get God’s ear, but that we can participate by God’s grace in Christ’s praying for us. Christ is our peace (verse 8-10). We said this last week, and here an aspect of the peace offering is replayed. This part of the sacrifice pictures that as the kidneys and fat are burned, that the best part is given over to God. The parts that picture our emotions and desires are given to God. With that we know God is at peace with us because of the work of Christ. Not only are our sins atoned for and even now God the Son is praying for you, but God is at peace with you. The intercession of the Son on your behalf is not because the Father is still not so sure about you. But rather, because the Father has adopted you as His son or daughter, you can now approach Him knowing that Christ is your peace with God. Despite your continuance in sin, God is pleased with you - because of Christ Christ is our sacrifice (verse 12). The sacrifice is the taken outside the city to be burned completely. This is not placed on the altar like the burnt offering. No special cleansing or skinning is required. It is completely removed from the sight of God, taken outside the city and thrown on the town dump. What a wonderful picture we have of God dealing with our sin. Why would we not want to continually admit our sin to God and to each other as we consider what God does with our sins? As far as the east is from the west, so far has God removed your sin from you. Unfortunately, so often we try to cling onto that which God has removed. We do not consider the death of Christ sufficient to save us, so we bemoan and wallow in our sin, thinking that by a greater contrition we may make God more pleased with us. We refuse to celebrate that our sin has been taken from us. We are called to follow Christ on that journey outside the city gates to the ash heaps of Golgotha, to consider the shame He bore for our sins. Hebrews 13:11-16 commands this of us: "For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." As we do that, as we consider that it is our sin that nailed Him there, we will not be like Intel who while recognizing the problem, sought to soft-pedal the error. We will not think confession of sin is for the person coming to faith in Christ and that consideration of sinfulness is for the lesser Christian. Presenting our sin to God is what is demanded of us, but it should also be our joy. Blaise Pascal has well said that: “God is none other than the Saviour of our wretchedness. So we can only know God well by knowing our iniquities... Those who have known God without knowing their wretchedness have not glorified him, but have glorified themselves." Who are you glorifying today? What do you do with your sin? Are you making the mistake of not only ignoring God in your life that causes you to sin in the first place, but then, to make it worse, you ignore God in dealing with that sin? There is a remedy for that sin which God has provided, the Cross. |
