4. Leviticus 5.14-6.7 (Shortened)

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DON’T PRAY

On April 20th, 2010, SLIDE a combination of technical failures and management mistakes led to an enormous blowout on the BP oil rig Deepwater Horizon. The result was an unprecedented oil spill — an ecological and humanitarian disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The disaster wasn’t deliberate… but once the oil stopped flowing there was plenty of guilt to apportion, and plenty of the usual politicians’ apologies. You know the kind. The “sorry not sorry” apologies.

Now, no offence meant to politicians — to be fair, we can all be guilty of these non-apology apologies.

Perhaps one of the most egregious examples came shortly after the Deepwater disaster. Forced to apologise after giving testimony, one Congressman famously said this:

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“If anything I said this morning has been misconstrued to the opposite effect, I want to apologise for that misconstruction.” — Rep. Joe Barton

Which is really a way of saying: If you deliberately took my words the wrong way, I’m sorry you did such a stupid thing.

Sorry not sorry.

Before us today is another passage in Leviticus that deals with the idea of guilt — and debt — and sin.

Remember the big picture of the book. Leviticus is about how a holy God can dwell among sinful people. So at it’s heart.. this is not a book about a nit-picky, restrictive God, but a gracious book about a giving — and forgiving — God.

A God who makes a way.

But the lengths the Lord must go to also highlight the real and serious sinfulness of sin. How it affects us all. How it infects us all. And — crucial for today’s passage — how sin affects and infects human relationships.

More on that in a moment.

As usual, there’s a lot here. So to help us draw out the main strands — rather than getting stuck in the weeds — we’ll first walk briefly through the passage together, just to get our bearings. Then we’ll come to our headings.

But to make sure we’re not heading nowhere (pun intended), let’s pray for God’s help.

PAUSE AND PRAY

So let’s walk through it to get our bearings.

Pick it up in chapter 5, verse 14.

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Leviticus 5:14–16 NIV

14 The Lord said to Moses: 15 “When anyone is unfaithful to the Lord by sinning unintentionally in regard to any of the Lord’s holy things, they are to bring to the Lord as a penalty a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value in silver, according to the sanctuary shekel. It is a guilt offering. 16 They must make restitution for what they have failed to do in regard to the holy things, pay an additional penalty of a fifth of its value and give it all to the priest. The priest will make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven.

That’s the first of three sections.

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We begin again with unintentional sin — which will chime if you were here last week. Gavin helped us see that Scripture will not allow us to dismiss guilt simply because something was accidental. Our guilt is guilt against God, and so intentional or not, it is serious and must be dealt with.

In this case the sin is against (quote) “the Lord’s holy things.” In Leviticus that phrase usually refers (if you remember) to those portions of the sacrifices that belong to the priests and must not be eaten by the people.

You can picture the scene. A busy tabernacle. Various sacrifices on the go. Meat lying around. An unsuspecting worshipper picks up some meat, thinking it’s the portion left over for him from a fellowship offering. He slings it on the BBQ and tucks in — only to realise later it was actually the portion belonging to the priests.

He has effectively stolen from the priests, and disobeyed the commands of God — albeit unintentionally.

So what must he do?

He must bring a ram — not a mangy old one either — an unblemished, valuable one — as a guilt offering.

Some commentators helpfully call this a restitution or compensation offering, because the key idea here is that sin creates a debt - a debt of meat owed to the priests. A debt of obedience owed to God.

So the worshipper “pays” the priests, as it were, with the ram, plus an additional 20 percent.

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And in this way, there is a way back. There is grace. There is forgiveness. Relationship is restored with God and with fellow man.

Our second example is similar. Read on.

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Leviticus 5:17–19 NIV

17 “If anyone sins and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord’s commands, even though they do not know it, they are guilty and will be held responsible. 18 They are to bring to the priest as a guilt offering a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the wrong they have committed unintentionally, and they will be forgiven. 19 It is a guilt offering; they have been guilty of wrongdoing against the Lord.”

Again, this is unintentional sin. God’s law is broken — perhaps through ignorance, misunderstanding, or lack of awareness.

But somehow the sinner becomes aware. Perhaps it’s a peek of conscience. Perhaps sin’s consequences begin to be felt or experienced. Perhaps the Spirit of God presses in and calls to mind what has been done that was wrong.

What must be done now? The pattern is familiar: a ram, without defect, of proper value. Atonement is made.

There’s no extra 20 percent paid to another person here — likely because the human victims aren’t clear or identifiable. But what is clear is that God’s law has been broken.

And again, with sacrifice, there is a way back. Grace. Forgiveness. Relationship restored with God.

PAUSE — BREAK OFF

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Now the third section. Chapter 6.

Leviticus 6:1–7 NIV

1 The Lord said to Moses: 2 “If anyone sins and is unfaithful to the Lord by deceiving a neighbor about something entrusted to them or left in their care or about something stolen, or if they cheat their neighbor, 3 or if they find lost property and lie about it, or if they swear falsely about any such sin that people may commit—4 when they sin in any of these ways and realize their guilt, they must return what they have stolen or taken by extortion, or what was entrusted to them, or the lost property they found, 5 or whatever it was they swore falsely about. They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering. 6 And as a penalty they must bring to the priest, that is, to the Lord, their guilt offering, a ram from the flock, one without defect and of the proper value. 7 In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.”

Here’s the twist. Here’s the change.

This time the sin feels much more deliberate. You don’t deceive someone about property by accident. You don’t cheat your neighbour unintentionally. You don’t play fast and loose with the lost property by mistake.

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We’re now firmly in the realm of intentional wrongdoing.

And let’s be honest — when we’re caught in sin, it’s very tempting to play the “unintentional” card. “I didn’t mean to…” Sometimes that’s true. Often, it’s not.

Here, restitution with fellow people is clear. The stolen goods must be returned. Full repayment is made. and (like in ouro first example) an extra 20 percent is added. And a ram is brought — again, not a mangy one, not the runt of the litter, not one you kinda want to get rid of anyway… but a valuable one.

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And once more, through sacrifice, there is a way back. Grace. Forgiveness. Relationship restored with God and with neighbour.

So this whole passage — in all three examples — is about dealing with the debt of our sin.

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Dealing with the debt of our sin

That’s our single major heading today. Except of course I’m cheating with 6 sub-headings… so let’s draw out the main strands.

First sin is ALWAYS…

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1. Against God and People

Sin is always both vertical and horizontal.

In the first example, the worshipper deprives the priests of food — sin against people — and disobeys God’s command — sin against God.

In the third example, the thief deprives his neighbour of property — sin against people — and disobeys God’s law — sin against God.

Even in the second example, where the human victim isn’t obvious, sin against God still pollutes the world and contributes to the moral mess we all live in and suffer under.

These are not distant, irrelevant examples.

Here are some more examples…

It’s the man hooked on porn, robbing his wife — or future wife — of intimacy and faithfulness, and breaking God’s law in the process.

It’s the less-than-honest tax return, bending the law of the land and ignoring God’s command to be subject to governing authorities.

It’s the loose tongue, careless gossip, and whispered conversations that trash reputations and fracture church families - and disobey God’s commands on speech (“let no unwholesome talk come out of your mouth”)

We live in a ruined world. We are all sinners and sufferers. And all sin creates a debt — owed to others and owed to the Lord.

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2. Intentional and Unintentional

Here we have 2 out of 3 examples where the sin was an accident… or at least where the sinner has some plausible deniability… AND YET sin is still sin.

I am not guilt-less simply because I didn’t intend what happened.

Don’t hear me wrong - God is interested in our intentions… our desires… our heart motivations - of course he is… elsewhere in scripture we read that many times.

But the fact remains - God is utterly, enduringly holy… he cannot mix with sin - even sin done without meaning it. No our debt is still owed to him.

It’s important that we face this and believe this truth… our therapeutic culture doesn’t like this idea… our world tells us nothing is ever really our fault… that we all get to blame our circumstances, or our parents, or our genetics, or whatever…. but Leviticus won’t let us squirm away like this.

It’s not so say that our background or our upbringing or anything else doesn’t effect us - of course these things do… but, in the end they don’t remove my guilt.

Speaking of guilt… did you notice the tone of these instructions… in all three examples the tone is… (this is point 3)

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3. Serious and Urgent

These instructions are not optional.

Unlike the fellowship offerings, these sacrifices must be brought.

The language of the passage is crystal clear

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“They are to bring a ram…” “They must make restitution…” “They are guilty…”

No gradation. No cheaper option. A ram. Without blemish. Costly.

Our sin is real. Our sin is serious. Our sin is urgent.

Our culture says, “You do you.” “No regrets.” “Don’t ever change.”

That is dangerous.

It leaves us living in denial, feeling guilt while pretending we don’t.

God offers something far better.

PAUSE — BREAK OFF

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4. Fess up and Face up

You may have seen - both in example 1 and example 3…. that the people who have been wronged get paid back…. PLUS an additional 20%. That’s the way to make things right - says our passage.

And you may be thinking though, ‘ouch - it seems a bit steep’.

But this is in contrast to some other instructions which are MUCH STEEPER…. listen, for example, to the laws given in Exodus 22:1 SLIDE

Exodus 22:1 NIV

1 “Whoever steals an ox or a sheep and slaughters it or sells it must pay back five head of cattle for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.

This aint 120% payback… this is 500% payback. What’s the difference? When you read the context… it’s fairly clear that Exodus is dealing with theft which is exposed by others… and Leviticus is assuming the guilty party chooses to confess themselves.

We still have some vestiges of this in our legal system I think - you may get a shorter sentence if you come and own up and plead guilty for your crime… vs continuing to deny it.

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And so there is our pattern, our model. When we know we are guilty… we confess to those we’ve wronged. FESS UP.

And did you notice the pattern in the examples… fess up to people first… make amends with people first… then go to God.

There’s a pattern for us.

But here’s the net thing to notice… No. 5 now…

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5. Grace and Forgiveness

What is the purpose here?

It’s so easy to end up not seeing the wood for the trees.

Look at the end of v16… Lev 5.16 SLIDE

Leviticus 5:16 NIV

…The priest will make atonement for them with the ram as a guilt offering, and they will be forgiven.

Or look at the end of v18 SLIDE

Leviticus 5:18 NIV

…In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the wrong they have committed unintentionally, and they will be forgiven.

Or look at chapter 6 v7 SLIDE

Leviticus 6:7 NIV

In this way the priest will make atonement for them before the Lord, and they will be forgiven for any of the things they did that made them guilty.”

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As our culture moves further and further from its Christian heritage… there is less and less grasp on forgiveness.

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We have replaced Christian culture with two other things…

SLIDE - THERAPEUTIC CULTURE vs CANCEL CULTURE

On the one hand we have therapeutic culture - “you didn’t really do it, it wasn’t really your fault…”

And on the other hand we have cancel culture - “you did really do it… you did really write that on twitter 10 years ago and now you are on the bad list, the cancelled list and you cannot get off that list….”

And of course these two cultures feed each other… if you’re afraid you’ll get hit by cancel culture you’ll do all you can to appeal to therapeutic culture to try and show it wasn’t your fault an you’re not really guilty.

Our world wants JUSTICE - but only for those on the other team to us…

Our world wants MERCY - but only for me (because it wasn’t really my fault anyway).

Our GOD GIVES US JUSTICE AND MERCY. With God we do not need to deny our sin - in fact we must not… we do not need to downplay it’s seriousness - in fact we must not…

But with our God a way is made for real in like ours… in real sinners like us… to really be dealt with.

And all of that brings us on to our final point.

PAUSE — BREAK OFF

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6. Shadow and Reality

If I were to go outside onto the street just now… and if there was bright sun (a long shot I realise)…. My body would cast a shadow.

If you were to look down at the shadow you would see the basic shape of me - you’d learn a bunch of stuff about me… but you wouldn’t want JUST to spend your time looking at shadows - you’d want to look up to the real me - to see the reality.

(Unless you’re of the view that I have a face for radio, in which case you might want to look down again — but you see the point).

Leviticus is giving us SHADOWS…

Speaking of the Old Testament patterns of religion (including these sacrifices) Paul says SLIDE

Colossians 2:17 NIV

These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.

SO we’ve spent some time looking at the shadows in Leviticus… now we LOOK UP to the reality of Christ…

We’ve looked at the patterns in Leviticus… now we look up to see all of this fulfilled in Christ….

A ram must be brought and killed as an offering the Hebrew word here is ASAAM.

Just listen to how Isaiah 53 - speaking prophetically about Jesus - uses that same word…

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Isaiah 53:8–10 NIV

By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death, though he had done no violence, nor was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin…

Likewise… when John the Baptist first lays eyes on Jesus - what does he say?

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John 1:29 NIV

The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!

The blood of bulls or goats or (in this case rams) could never take away our sin… could never fully pay for it… they were, in the end signposts on to Christ…

He comes in JUSTCE - sin must be paid for, the wages of sin are death.

He comes in MERCY - paying in our place, or offer us forgiveness.

So come to Jesus! (RIFF)

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And having come to Jesus perhaps these points of application are worth thinking on as we close… (I can claim no riginality here - I’ve taken these from one Bible commentator - G. GEOFFREY HARPER)

■ No sin is too small or unimportant for God to be concerned about. Even a little yeast spreads throughout the dough - so don’t delay, come to Christ who can do justice and bring forgiveness.

■ Sin against people constitutes unfaithfulness towards God. We must not think that wronging our neighbor has no effect on our relationship with God. So come to Christ with your sin… and know his grace.

■ God is active in His people to bring conviction of sin – a key role of the Holy Spirit (John 16:7–8). We must develop a sensitivity to His prompting. Don’t dismiss the still small voice of the Holy Spirit working in your conscience.

■ Ignorance is not the same as innocence. Don’t buy the lie of our therapeutic culture… don’t live in the cognitive dissonance of denial - come to Christ, find his grace and forgiveness.

■ Divine forgiveness is intertwined with interpersonal forgiveness. Even in the Lord’s Prayer, we ask God to ‘forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors’ (Matt. 6:12). If we will not forgive others…. How can we claim to have understood and recieved the forgiveness of Christ? If Christ has been so merciful to us.. how can we without grace from our neighbour?

■ God’s people are ideally marked by an increasing willingness to have sin exposed in order to rectify quickly any issues that are causing relational harm with God and neighbour. Keep short accounts with God and man.

Because… 1 Peter 3:18 SLIDE

1 Peter 3:18 NIV

For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

Let’s pray