You know that these sacrifices are dealing with sin. and that we're not the exception. cannot escape the drumbeat of guilt.
However, as believers, we also know that the drum beat of guilt. brings the opportunity for grace. Grace is something, not only what God does, but what he is. eager to do and go one step further. is excited about it.
Who is able to present you faultless with exceeding joy. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Leviticus. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching.
But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Leviticus chapter 5 with today's edition of a cross-reference radio. Leviticus chapter 5. Two things will Stand out as we go through this. I think there's the danger of over-analyzing Leviticus when you read it in your private times or study it. Or maybe you're just intimidated by the That is just all over the place.
I would suggest, if that is the case with you, that you just simply major. In the majors, and not the miners. the surface meanings can really yield meaningful insights By just comfortably reading and not getting bogged down with, well, I don't understand that. I'm talking about the book of Leviticus. I don't think it's.
That way with all books. Um Long lost. along with the second Jewish Temple when it was destroyed by the Romans, Were the experts? of the Levitical offerings.
So we don't have all the information that we need anyway. And the language has changed slightly with the Hebrew, and those who lived in the days of Moses and in the days of the Temple. They didn't struggle with Leviticus. They understood what they had to do, but we come along hundreds of years later And if we're not careful. We miss out on the blessings because we're too busy struggling to understand the book as we do with other books.
Well, first up is the trespass offering. It's mentioned ten times in the section dealing with that offering, which spills into chapter 6. Sin offering occurs eight times. And that is not to be dismissed. And there's a superficial well, not superficial, but a surface.
There's a surface lesson there. When you see a repetition, well, maybe there's some meaning to that even in Leviticus. But if you fast forward to chapter seven, In the seventh verse. Moses has written for us, A trespass offering is like the sin offering, there is one law for them both. And so we don't get too caught up.
Well, what's the difference between the trespass and the sin? There are subtle differences, but they are subtle. And hopefully we'll cover some of that. Jacob, he asked Laban, he says to him in Genesis 31:36, What is my trespass? What is my sin?
They would just join together those two, the trespass and the sin. And in some areas, it's to our benefit to scrutinize the difference between two things, but this might not be one of them. The sin offering mixes into the trespass offering. Kind of just merges into, like you're getting on the interstate, you just merge right on in. And uh that's sort of metaphorically depicting how these two are joined together.
Both of them require atonement. Because both of them are involved with sin. But the trespass is a little bit more deliberate. A deliberate brand of sin or wrongdoing, but regardless of how much or how little we understand the details. In Leviticus There is always that unmistakable drum beat of conviction About personal sin.
heard in the distance, As you're reading it. You know that these sacrifices are dealing with sin and and that we're not the exception. cannot escape the drumbeat of guilt.
However, As believers, we also know that the drumbeat of guilt brings the opportunity for grace. Grace is something, not only what God does, but what He is. Eager to do, And go one step further. is excited about it. Who is able to present you faultless with exceeding joy?
I'm not making these things up, I'm benefiting from them as a believer.
Well, all of this is in Leviticus. And so we now look at verse one. If a person sins in hearing the utterance of an oath, And as a witness, whether he has seen or known of the matter If he does not tell it, He bears guilt.
Well, you may have heard in the study Bibles things about Sins of omission and sins of commission.
Well, if you've omitted something and it's a sin, you just committed a sin, so what's the difference? The guys like to come up with these. words and phrases and sometimes they hit home runs, other times they have a strikeout. But, and that's not a strikeout, that one. It's just if you fail to do something, can it be a sin?
Yes.
Well, then you committed it by not doing it.
So that's cute.
Well Uh god also judges mankind by what man should have done. And in this case, a witness who does not come forward to testify concerning sin is guilty of not coming forward. These these are civil laws. And if you look at the governments today, well, monarchy, I don't know, there aren't many of them left. That's a good that's probably the best government there is if the king is good.
Problem is that king dies and somebody else comes up and is not so good. It's terrible. Then there is the the Communists, Communism, Socialism mixed in with that. Which is really a religious entity that pretends to be a political entity, and they are, of course, abusive and they worship the party. And there's not even cake or hats or anything, it's just this party.
Come join the party and you go there and there's no party. All right. Anyway, then there's of course Islam, which adds nothing to Western civilization, is not needed, not wanted. And it's very destructive. And then there's the government based on Judeo-Christian values.
And that's what we're getting out of this. These are Judeo-Christian values that. I think are the better of the four in this world. Of course, when God rules, it will all change for the better, every bit of it. This is for the society to benefit from.
If there's a crime committed, a witness needs to step forward. He's limiting it. He's talking about several different ones here, but they expand. They're very broad. Verse 2: Or if a person touches any unclean thing, whether it is the carcass of an unclean beast or the carcass of an unclean livestock.
of unclean livestock. or the carcass of unclean creeping things. And he is unaware of it. He also shall be unclean and guilty. What?
How's that work? Or if he touches human uncleanness, whatever uncleanness with which a man may be defiled. And he is unaware of it when he realizes it. then he shall be guilty.
So, unintentional trespasses, that's what's happening here, against God's law, which is a little different from the first one. This one has to do with Religious rites. Um So you're guilty if you don't know that you committed a sin, then it comes to your attention, you have to act on it, bring your sacrifice at that point. Otherwise, you can't bring the sacrifice, you don't know what you did wrong and what kind of sacrifice to bring. Unlike the man who was collecting sticks on the Sabbath day, which was deliberate and unpardonable.
He was just it was blatant sin.
Well, this is not blatant sin what we have here. And this is not good news for those who wrongly suppose they're going to be judged based on their supposed good behavior because the Bible is telling us. No matter how good your behavior is, you have some hidden sins in there. There's some sins you don't know about. And God's not just going to say, oh, they don't count, they do count.
And they still have to be addressed. Of course, they are in Christ very wonderfully, but in the Old Testament, this is the lesson that God was trying to share with His people. That the sin is in the camp. Verse four. Or if a person swears, speaking thoughtlessly with his lips, To do evil or to do good?
Whatever it is, that man may Pronounce that a man may pronounce by an oath and he is unaware of it, When he realizes it, Then he shall be guilty. in any of these matters.
Now, his realization may come to him by a witness.
Somebody may come along and point it out to him. This may be in a courtroom setting. Once he realizes it, he has to act upon the guilt. We are not free to make rash, reckless, Commitments. Jesus, not only did He steer us away from it, but He warned us.
He said, Let your yes be yes, and your no no, for whatever is more than this. is of the evil one.
Well, if nothing else in that sentence got your attention, it would be that remark about the devil. Proverbs 20, 25, Ecclesiastes 5, verses 4 through 6, all deal with. the very same thing. If you're going to give your word, make sure you do everything you can to back it up and think twice before you give it. Verse 5.
And it shall be when he is guilty in any of these matters that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing. Verse 6, and he shall bring his trespass offering to the Lord. For his sin. which he has committed, A female from the flock. a lamb or a kid of the goats.
As a sin offering So the priest shall make atonement. For him concerning his sin.
Well, there's the sin offering still showing up because they're joined. Moses, incidentally, is still receiving the laws. Concerning the offerings, at this point, Chronologically in Leviticus. They're not offering these things at the temple yet. The priests still have to be ordained, and the temple has to be anointed.
That comes in chapter 8. And they wouldn't know what to do anyway, because Moses is just learning himself. And so he's grabbing all of this information. Later on, it will be put into book form, what we call Leviticus. And uh Dealing with repentance, atonement, accountability, and responsibility, all of that.
belonging to the recognition of a sin committed.
Now, if they're not sincere in bringing these offerings, then their sin goes deeper than the skin. It's Deep down in them. That insincerity Job makes this remark about the hypocrite. The hope of the hypocrite shall perish.
Well, if you're a hypocrite, you pay attention to that. Or then or you're maybe you're an apostate or just a heathen. But if you are a righteous person and you hear these warnings coming from Scripture, you sort of scramble to fix it. Verse 7: If he is not able to bring a lamb, then he shall bring. To Yahweh.
For his trespass which he has committed, two turtle doves, Or Two young pigeons were One as a sin offering. and the other as a burnt offering. I'm sure somebody can tell me why they call them turtle doves and they look nothing like turtles. And turtles can't fly. I don't get that one, but I'm sure one of you might have it.
And that'd be interesting to just. Say, wow, why did they look that up? Uh anyway. The first bird brings atonement. Restoring The guilty individual, but the second bird is one of dedication.
And so you have one dealing with the sin, an offering with the birds, which are for mainly the poor. And the second, the dedication.
So you have the past. And the future expressed. You have the person saying, I sinned, past tense, I want to fix this. And the offering is in the present tense, and then they bring the dedication offering, saying, I'm going to do what I can do to not. Sin again.
Verse 5, and he shall bring them to the priest. Who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first? and wring off its head from its neck, but shall not divide it completely. Then, verse 9, He shall sprinkle some of the blood of the sin offering on the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering.
Verse 10 And he shall offer the second. As a burnt offering according to the prescribed manner, so the priest shall make atonement. on his behalf For his sin. which he has committed and it shall be forgiven him Well, you know, if you were going to go down to the temple and make these offerings. You'd be thinking about this stuff.
And after it took place, I think most sincere. Devout people would Think through these things and find the application what it all means. Uh just yesterday I'm you know working through all of this. And I I felt the Lord say to me, Why did you pick Leviticus? Yeah.
He didn't say that. Anyway. As I mentioned, the first bird was for the sin. And the second And that's why the blood was involved, and the second was consumed by the fire as a whole offering, according. to the offerings listed in chapters.
One through four.
Now, because we get the whole burnt offering, the sin offering, the grain offering, we get these offerings like this. In Leviticus One through six. Does not mean that's how they were. handled. That's why I mean we don't have all the information.
Because, as you do the research and go through other books and you pick up little comments here, like the The sin offering shall be first. You pick these things up and you find out the sin offering comes first, then the dedication offering. Sin's gotta be dealt with first. And this comes from reading all of the Torah and looking in other places to see how Hebrew words are used. And it takes a lot of work.
I'm not recommending that, nor am I steering away from that. I'm just saying, don't be overwhelmed by Leviticus. And I wouldn't be intimidated about reading it unless you had to do it at a recital. Verse 11, But if he is not able to bring two turtle doves or two young pigeons, then he who sinned shall bring. for his offering one tenth of an ephoth of fine flour, as a sin offering, he shall put no oil on it.
For it is a sin offering.
Well, we can just move down to verse 13 because these other details have been covered and they really don't. Merit additional comment. He does say it is a sin offering at the end of verse 12, but verse 13 says: The priest shall make atonement for him. For his sin. that he has committed.
in any of these matters, and it shall be forgiven him The rest shall be the priest as a grain offering, So this is uh an offering for the poorest. of the poor. And he could ask the priest for frankincense if he had to, if the offering called for that, and some of them do called for that. We'll come to that later. Uh but they were excused from having to bring uh oil.
And they were Not excused. from laboring to mill the flour. They had to still grind out the f the the flour, the wheat very fine into fine flour.
So they still were participating in this process. Imagine what you're thinking when you say, I'm doing this, I'm taking this down to the temple because I need to be right with the Lord. Verse 14, then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Now I don't pause there. Because we read that phrase, the Lord spoke to Moses over a hundred times in Scripture. And there's a cousin to that.
The Lord said to Moses another 74 times. I just think those things are fascinating. I think they're instructive. I think they're. Inspiring.
To see God ministering with his people. But so the Lord spoke to Moses, and God had a lot to say to Moses, this man with a speech impediment. And uh there's something wrong with that. That's humor, an action. Yeah.
All right, I'm not trying anymore tonight, and I've said it before. Yeah. If a person, verse fifteen, Commits trespass and sins unintentionally in regard to the holy things. Of Yahweh. Then he shall bring to Yahweh as his trespass offering a ram without blemish from the flocks.
With your valuation in shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. as a trespass offering. Verse 16, and he shall make restitution. For the harm that he has done in regard to the holy thing. And she'll add one-fifth to it.
and give it to the priest.
So the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram, Of the trespass offering. And it shall be forgiven him. Atonement for sin unknowingly committed continues. But where there is The possibility of restitution that now becomes the trespass, that's one of the outstanding parts of the trespass offering. Both the trespass and the sin offering.
Were compulsory when it was brought to mind, you were mandated to come. It was not voluntary, it was law. Here it was the RAM plus 20%. for violating the articles of the priesthood. Maybe you touched something that you weren't supposed to touch or knocked it over or something.
Anyway, there's calculated by the priest, they handled the shekels and. The you know, what exactly would be the 20% of what your offering was. I think one of the great lessons out of just this offering is that we're not to be casual about the articles for ministry. Happens very quickly. We become unafflicted in service.
That means we're very comfortable. And that can cause us to be a little sloppy. You know, years ago ministering in in New York Uh there was the the head usher. You know, forever is going to be in my memory. I hope he's not as shallow as.
I thought he was then. I hope he's not that way now. I get to tell the story, so remember, it was one side of the story. But as we prepared the communion articles, he would snack on the things, and I just was. terribly bothered by that.
And this is so, I think of him doing that, and I think of this. That we're not to be casual about the articles of ministry. It's no longer just grape juice. It's no longer just, you know, the wafer. The significance is given to it.
In fellowship with Christ. The one who owns the metaphor and the symbolism. And we're to be sober about these things, not overly bearing, not worshiping them. We're not threatened by that. But at the same time, we learn from the Scripture and we see God pays attention to how.
the ordinances were given and how they're handled.
So, the sin offering has to do more with the principle of sin, its nature. That subtle difference I was talking about. But the trespass offering Deals with restitution with p when possible and f Fines. The trespass speaks of an injustice committed, an act where the sin offering can just be in the heart. the trespass offering um find its way into action.
And that's some of the subtle differences that are here. Verse seventeen. If a person sins and commits any of these things which are forbidden, to be done by the commandments of Yahweh, Though he does not know it. Yet he is guilty and shall bear his iniquity. Verse 18, And he shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish from the flock.
And then he says, I don't have to sort more of the same, so I'll skip over most of verse 18. Except He emphasizes regarding his ignorance. He says in verse 19, it is a trespass offering. He has certainly trespassed against Yahweh.
So, you know, Moses is receiving this, it's very real to him. He's wanting to fulfill all of this to the letter. And so will be the Levites, and so will be the devout. Not knowing the Bible does not excuse you from sin. You know, ignorance of the law is no excuse.
of the law. But the law also has no right to be merciless and cruel. And of course with God He is not merciless, nor is he cruel. Biblical ignorance is not something to boast about. It's not something to be content with.
We who would come out on a midweek and listen to a Teaching on Leviticus. us certainly not casual about our faith. and we want others to be as excited. And to tell them that it is not an honor to not know what God says. There's no honor in going through life.
Twisting what God says. ignorant of what he says or casual about it. And so here in 17 through 19, the unintentional crime is against God, and he demands accountability.
Now, there's an interesting section in the Gospel of Luke in chapter 12, beginning in verse 47, where Christ is giving a parable, but there's some heavy teachings in it. And he speaks about the servants that do wrong. And he speaks about the ones that didn't know they were doing wrong. And he says, and that servant who knew his master's will and did not prepare himself. or do according to his will shall be beaten with many stripes.
But He who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. Where everyone whom much is given from Him much will be required, and to whom much has been committed of him, they will ask the more.
So that's pretty heavy language. What's this beaten stuff? What does that mean?
Well, it's still under the law, but if anything else, it makes the reader say, Let me make sure I don't trivialize these things of God. But Thanks for tuning in to today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Pastor Rick Gaston is currently going through the book of Leviticus. We're glad you joined us. We trust that you're gaining some valuable insights into God's Word as we go through this Old Testament book.
Cross-Reference Radio comes to you from Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Virginia. If you'd like to subscribe to our podcast, you can do so by going to your favorite app store and downloading from there. For any additional information about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreference radio.com. Make sure to come back again for the upcoming edition in the book of Leviticus, as Pastor Rick has much more to share. We thank you for being with us right here on Cross Reference Radio.
Yeah.
