What Kind of Sacrifice do you bring.

Introduction

under the Mosaic law, Five Major offerings were available to the people of God. All five pointed to Calvary, Each one shows a different aspect of the work of Christ on the cross. these offerings were divided into two kinds— the sin offerings (I’m sorry) and the sweet-savor offerings (Thank you God)

the two sin offerings depict what Calvary means to us; the three sweet-savor offering reveal what Calvary means to God. the sin offerings deal with sin from the standpoint of our guilt; the sweet-savor offerings deal with sin from the standpoint of God’s grace. the sin offerings reveal how the holiness of God is satisfied by the work of the Cross; the sweet-savor offerings tell us how the heart of God is satisfied by the work of Christ. the sin offerings set before us the reasons for the Cross; the sweet-savor offerings portrays for us the results of the Cross. In the sin offerings, God deals with our worship ( we can’t come before GOD anyhow). In the sin offerings, God deal with us as sinners; in the sweet-savor offerings, He deals with us as saints. In the sin offerings, we learn how vile we are; in the sweet-savor offerings, we learn how virtuous we now are in Christ.

There were two kinds of sin offerings. Both were designed to bring before us the enormity of our guilt in the sight of God. We tend to take a complacent view of our own sin. God doesn’t. Our sin kindles His wrath on one hand and His compassion on the other.

In the sight of God, our sin is so horrendous and the enormity of our guilt is so great that some remedy had to be found that was proportionate with the guilt of the whole world, on the one hand, and with outraged holiness of God, on the other. that is what the sin offerings were all about. there were two of them, one was actually called the sin offering; the other was called the trespass offering. the sin offering dealt with the principle of sin; the trespass offering dealt with the practice of sin.

Dealing with the principle of Sin (the sin offering)

Dealing with the principle of Sin (the sin offering)

We do what we do because we are what we are. that is true of every creature in universe. it is even true of God Himself. We, ourselves, are not sinners because we sin; we sin because we are sinners. An apple tree, for instance, is not an apple tree because it bears apples. it bears apples because it is an apple tree. this is the principle underlying the sin offering. it makes provision for what we are by nature— sinners of Adam’s fallen race.

a. Guilt finds us out

The 4th chapter of Leviticus makes that perfectly clear. Again and again God uses the word to get it to remind us of our culpability there are no exceptions for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God . Even after we are saved there is no state of Holiness in this life that puts us beyond the reach of Temptation and the possibility of sin;

God begins with the ordained priest: if the priest that is Anointed do sin according to the sin of the people… () God Demands a higher standard of behavior from those who have been consecrated to the ministry than he does of others. This is evident in the kind of sacrifice a guilty priest was supposed to bring to God. An ordinary sinner could bring a sheep, a goat, a dove, or even some flour. The priests had to bring a Bullock. His sin loomed so much larger. His offering had to be match his greater calling and greater responsibility.

Next we view the organized people, the congregation of God’s people, as a body of believers. , . The corporate sin of the gathered people of God is regarded as seriously as a sin of a priest.

14 awhen the sin 1which they have 2committed becomes known, then the assembly shall offer ba 3bull of the herd for a sin offering and bring it before the tent of meeting.

15 ‘Then athe elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be slain bbefore the LORD.

New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), . “ . The corporate sin of the gathered people of God is regarded as seriously as a sin of a priest.

The Elders of God’s assembled people where to take the blame and will require the to act representative on behalf of the people. it was their duty to make sure that the other people realize their guilt and were made aware of the cost of the restoration.

Sin in the congregation is always a serious matter. It calls for a mature measure of appreciation for the death of Christ to effect reconciliation with God in such a case. The Bullock, the largest of the sin offerings, reminds us of that. Failure on the part of the organized people of God to confess their corporate Sin and seek cleansing leads eventually to apostasy. The Holy Spirit leaves them to their own self will. An unrepentant person will resist the Holy Spirit , A believer can grieve the Holy Spirit , and the corporate body Israel in the Old Testament, the church in the New Testament can quench the Holy Spirit .

Where the Holy Spirit has been quenched the congregation might go on functioning as though nothing had happened, but there are no results except Carnal and worldly ones. The congregation settles down and Carries on its affairs but Ichabod can be written over the whole thing. The glory is Departed. The Laodicean church is an example of that .

We look next at the officiating Prince. What happens when sin is discovered in one of the rulers of the Nation? The prince in Israel was ordained the secular ruler of God’s people. His exalted position sometimes exposed him to powerful Temptations. The case David and that of Solomon come readily to mind. David tried for a while to sweep his sin under the rug. Solomon acted with high-handed recklessness that called for divine reproof.

Serious as sin was in the life of a prince, it was not put on par with that of a priest or that of God’s people viewed corporately. the sin offering for a secular ruler was to be a kid of the goats.

Finally, there was a sin offering for the ordinary person, a member of the rank-and-file of those who made up the nation. The sin offering of an individual was the same as that of a ruler. For all Are leveled by the fall small and great, rich and poor, young and old, men and women, Bond and free. All need the cleansing and forgiveness that can only be found at the cross.

Throughout much of this Old Testament legislation, the Holy Spirit frequently emphasizes the fact that much of our sin is caused by our ignorance. It runs like a refrain through these verses: if a sold commit a trespass, and sin through ignorance… (Leviticus 5:15). Ignorance is no excuse. Suppose an American Tourist in Jamaica were to be stopped by the police for driving on the wrong side of the road. Would it help him in court to plead that in the United States everyone drives on the right hand side? Of course not! The judge would remind him that he was not being judged by the laws of the United States but by the laws of Jamaica. You should have acquainted yourself with the law by which you would be judged. Ignorance is no excuse.

God, likewise, holds people responsible for knowing His word and His laws. Most people could not quote The Ten Commandments, let alone the entire Bible legal code of 613 commands. Nor is God impressed by the glib statements, just let your conscience be your guide. Conscience, indeed, is God’s vice-regent in the heart of humankind, but a conscience can be silenced. It can also be seared. Consciences are often subjective and, therefore, need to be monitored by an outside, objective, absolute standard— in other words, it has to be kept in line with God’s word. There Is No Escape From the word of God it is the final Arbiter in all matters of faith and morals. We are liable before God just as much for sins of ignorance as we are for sins we commit with malice and aforethought. God sees to it that our sins always finds us out . Thank God, then, for the sin offering!

b. Grace finds a way.

God is holy but He is also love. His holiness says, “Punish!” His love says, “Pardon.” Calvary is the place where the holiness of God meets the love of God and where they kiss each other (). it was God’s matchless, everlasting love that moved Him to provide us with a means, commensurate with both His Holiness and our Helplessness, to put away our sin and guilt.

The sin offering had to be without blemish. If the Lord Jesus had harbored in his heart for one fleeting moment just one single sin, he would have been disqualified as a substitute. Calvary would have been in vain. The Lord Jesus was sinless in thought and word and deed. He was holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners .

The Sinners give was brought home to him in the ritual of the sin offering. He had to place his hand upon the sacrifice, symbolically transferring his sin to the substitute. Then he, himself, had to kill the Sacrifice by doing so he proclaimed that it was his sin that made such a drastic remedy necessary – just as it was our sin that took Jesus to the tree . Once the sinn:er had done the Dreadful work of slaying the sacrifice, the priests took over. The entire process of cleansing was in the hands of the priest for there is no way we can cleanse ourselves from guilt.

The sacrifice of the sin offering now entered another stage. The body of the victim was taken to an isolated spot outside where it was burned to ashes dust it was that Christ suffered outside the camp in loneliness and despair. He was cut off from God and humankind and plunged into abysmal darkness. HIS orphan cry Echoes down the ages, my God, my God why hast Thou forsaken me? .

In the order in which the five offerings are introduced, did burnt offering and the other sweet – Savor offerings come first; the sin offerings, last. God begins with the highest of the offerings, the one that was all for him. Then he moves steadily forward to the sin offering. In the actual order of experience, however, the opposite is true. We begin with the sin offering and progress toward the burnt offering. Consciences quickened by the spirit of God cry out for a sin offering. It is not until people have grown in Grace and begun to increase in the knowledge of God that they appreciate the worship aspect of things as represented in the burnt offering. Even at that, there will be various stages of growth. That is suggested by the various sizes of the animals used – a Bullock, a sheep or a goat, a turtle dove or a pigeon. The various values of these creatures suggest the different levels of apprehension and appreciation of the Offer-er. Some of God’s people have a much greater comprehension of the work of the Cross than others.

Newly awakened sinners cannot see the fine point of all this. All they know is that they are under deep conviction of sin and desperately need a sacrifice, a substitute, a savior. The Old Testament sinner learns God has provided a way of Escape. It was probably rare for a sinner to see beyond his ritual sacrifice to the savior.

Dealing with the practice of sin(the trespass offering)

We are Sinners by Nature. That is the message of the sin offering. The sin offering these with our standing before God, which is perfect in Christ. The trespass offering deals with our state, which is often deplorable. The sin offering deals with the principle of sin and, hence, with our standing. The trespass offering deals with our practice of sin, thus, with our state. The sin offering has to do with sin(original); the trespass offering has to do with sins(practices); the sin offering deals with the root of Sin; the trespass offering with the fruit of sin.

One of the distinctive features of the trespass offering is the way it called not only for Redemption but also so far restitution. A simple illustration will make that clear. A Hebrew citizen is nagged by his conscience, which drives him at last to the priest. He brings a lamb to offer as a sacrifice.

What kind of an offering is this? The priest ask. Are you bringing a burnt offering, a peace offering, a sin offering, or a trespass offering? The man looks bewildered. He confesses himself ignorant of all these options.

Have you brought your lamb because you wish to worship God – because you want to express to him the love and devotion you have for him?

Well, save the man, I would like to do that, of course, but I’m not ready for that kind of thing. The truth is, I have sinned, and I need to get right with God.

Ah! Responds the priest. You will need to offer a sin offering or a trespass offering.

Again the man is at a loss.

the man is at a loss.

Do you want to confess to God that you are a sinner, or do you wish to get right with God over some specific sin?

That’s it, the man replied. About a year ago I stole a hundred sheep from a man, and I know God is displeased with me.

Well, then, your lamb is to be a trespass offering. Tie it up to the post over there. You will need to make restitution with your victim. Leave your lamb here and restore to your neighbor the hundred sheep you stole. Get a receipt and bring it with you.

After a while, the man comes back. The priest looks at the receipt.

This is just for a hundred sheet, he says.

That’s all I stole.

I understand that. The law of the trespass offering, however, requires that you add 20% to what you stole and that you give this extra to the man you wrong. That way he will become the Gainer. God requires you to get right with your neighbor before you try to get right with him. God wants you to learn that sin is a costly business.

The man comes back after a while with an additional receipt his lamb is slain, and all is now well with the man his neighbor, and his God.

Our own legal system could profit by incorporating into its penalties full restitution where possible and an extra bonus to repay some of the loss and inconvenience experienced by the one wronged by the crime. It would be a healthy deterrent to repeat offenses.

There Are Spiritual implications to all this. There is a sense in which God not only makes the wrath of man Praise Him but the sins of men as well. Under the law of the trespass offering, the wronged party actually became a Gainer. God himself has become a Gainer, so to speak, by what has happened. God can demonstrate his omniscience and omnipotence by his acts in creation. The fall of our race and God’s awesome Plan of Redemption has given God a stage upon which to demonstrate, for time and for eternity, The unsearchable Riches of his grace and everlasting love.

Moreover, we have become gainers. Adam might conceivably have lived in his innocence in the Garden of Eden for a million years and then falling into sin. Or he might have lived forever in a sinless State and brought a sinless progeny into the world. In time one of them might have sinned. And even if they, too, where to live in this day in sinless Perfection, they would have remained children of Adam. God, however, as a result of the Fall, has devised something better than that. He has thoroughly dealt with the same question that his people are to be saved to sin no more. More than that, they are exalted Above All Creatures as Sons and Daughters of the Living God.

Gainers indeed! The Apostle Paul develops this trespass – offering truth in . The phrase much more! Is repeated five times in connection with the government of God verse 9, with the goodness of God verse 10, with the gift of God verse 15, with the glory of God verse 17, and with the grace of God Rest 20.

Yes, gainers indeed! For all eternity we are to be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ :12 for all eternity will be able to point us out as the Supreme exhibits of his love.