For the Jew, righteousness before Yahweh was the goal. I want to be right with God.
Well, this is also the aim of the Christian and should be of the church. But We are to be more aggressive. Than they were. Instead of radiating light from the promised land. A Christian is called to go out into the fields of the world.
Where the lost souls are? and transmit the gospel. 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. Leviticus chapter 5 is where Pastor Rick will be teaching today on this edition of Cross-Reference Radio. 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. As humor, an action. Huh.
All right. I'm not trying anymore and I and I've said it before. Yeah. If a person, verse fifteen. Commits trespass and sins unintentionally in regard to the holy things.
Yeah. 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 a 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, this calculated by the priests, 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 uh that can cause us to be a little sloppy. I I 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's one side of the story. But as we prepared the communion articles, he just 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 when possible and Fines. The trespass speaks of an injustice committed, an act where the sin offering can just be in the heart. the trespass offering Finds its way into action, and that's some of the subtle differences that are here.
Verse 17. 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. In all 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 strife.
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. And so that's pretty heavy language. What's this beaten stuff?
What does that mean?
Well, if 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.
Now we come to the sixth chapter. And This It's a microcosm.
Well, let me go backwards, say it this way. Paul gives us In a single verse, In microcosms, he sums up. The purpose And the meaning of a believer's Service to the Lord. In Philippians chapter 1 In the 27th verse, he says, Let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ. In the same verse, he says, with one mind striving together.
for the faith of the gospel.
Well the connection between Paul having that. Microcosm of the gospel in that one verse and the Jewish laws here is that. For the Jew, righteousness before Yahweh was the goal. I want to be right with God.
Well, this is also the aim of the Christian and should be of the Church. But We are to be more aggressive. Then they were. Instead of radiating light from the promised land, a Christian is called. to go out into the fields of the world.
Where the lost souls are? And transmit the gospel. Whether it is across the sea or across the street. They're both part of the world. We all have our callings and our leadings.
And as we come now to this sixth chapter, we are mindful on the heels of the fifth chapter that the Jew wanted to be compliant. The righteous Jew wanted to be compliant with this scripture, and so does the righteous or the born-again Christian. We want to be compliant. with the preaching of the gospel. And what really pushes that forward?
Is this hunger and thirst for righteousness Jesus said, For you will be filled. The purity of heart, for you shall see God. And all of those beatitudes tie in. Purity of heart leads to being a peacemaker. which are invaluable.
in a setting of hostilities. There are some Christians, and we've got a few of them here. That are outstanding in that sense. They just are just spiritual peacemakers. I don't even think they're conscious of it sometimes.
But they're all connected: that hunger and thirst for righteousness, that poor spirit before the Lord, recognizing that we cannot afford to get into heaven but by the grace of Christ. And so let's see how all of this sort of increases From Old Testament commandments to New Testament zeal. Verse 1, and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Verse 2: If a person sins and commits a trespass against Yahweh, by lying to his neighbour, about what was delivered to him for safe keeping or about a pledge or about a robbery. or if he has extorted From his neighbor, verse 3. or if he has found what was lost, and lies concerning it.
and swears falsely In any one of these things that man may do which he sins.
So now we're really getting into the trespass offerings. The sin offerings, it was part of the sin offerings in chapter 5, and now it's really ramped up into. Little bit more detail. These five. Violations are not meant to be exhaustive.
They're samples to establish the principle. And here it's deceit and it's harm, the harm towards others. A trespass is to find yourself. Where you don't belong. You have no right to be.
And that has many applications to it. I have no right to be outside of God's word. I have no right to be loveless. I have no right to be vindictive. There's a lot of things that I have no right to do as a Christian.
They are trespasses. Forgive us our debts as we forgive those. Who are indebted to us has to do with being. With trespasses. The New Testament.
Uh it's making the same point using different language. Different Greek words to say the same thing. If anyone is caught in a trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one to the spirit of meekness. I mean, these are powerful teachings that escape us. If we go too long, Uh without that affliction of soul that makes us examine ourselves.
Anyway, the list involves some level of motive of intent, this list, fraud, robbery, lying, extortion, and tampering with the truth. Falsifying information. And whenever we come across Trespass, whether the word is there or just the fact. It almost always involves a conscious act of treachery.
Well, that's what we have here. About what was delivered to him for safe keeping, it says here.
Well, that could be, for example, embezzlement. You're entrusted with Someone else's property, and you start taking some, helping yourself to portions of it.
So while these sins wronged one's neighbor. They wrong God too. And this is the beauty of The Judeo-Christian law. Is that it has God in mind and it has people in mind? At verse 4 Then it shall be because he has sinned and is guilty that he shall restore.
what he has stolen, or the thing which was extorted. Or what was delivered to him for safekeeping, or the lost thing which he found. He found it and he didn't tell anybody. It's like, man, this is a nice watch. And he keeps it.
Even though it's inscribed but dedicated to, he knows where it goes, but he's keeping it for himself. In verse five, Or all about which he has sworn falsely, he shall restore it. Full value, add one fifth more to it, and give it to whoever it belongs. On the day of his trespass offering.
Well, of course, it's under the picture of he's come to his senses. That's why he's at the temple. His sin has come to the surface. And hopefully he's sincere and not just obeying the law. In verse 6, and he shall bring his trespass offering to Yahweh, a ram without blemish from the flock, with your valuation, a trespass offering.
to the priest.
So the priest would be there to make sure that 120% of the restitution fee was paid. And so the priest shall make atonement for him. Before the Lord he shall be forgiven. For any one of these things That he may have done in which he trespasses. Oh, yeah, well, what does the New Testament say to that?
The New Testament says, well, if you're the victim, How's your heart doing with this? You see the person repenting, trying to Give restitution? Are you still bitter? Maybe there was a family heirloom. And they damaged it.
It can't be restored, and now you get a penalty fee or something, whatever. It's always two sides to these things. To forgive usually involves loss. You've lost something. And you still forgive, and you gain Christ's likeness in that sense.
Verse 7: So the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord and shall be forgiven. For any one of these things that he may have done, which he trespasses.
So grace is there. Forgiveness and restoration, wherever there's grace, there's going to be forgiveness and restoration. Verse 6. Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Command Aaron. And his son saying, This is the law of the burnt offerings.
The burnt offering shall be on the hearth, upon the altar all night until morning And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it. All right, we changed gears now. This goes a little deeper. And probably is more beneficial to us as Christians looking back at this behavior. The laws of sacrifice were given To the priesthood.
for the people to do From chapter one to chapter six, verse seven. That Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Verse 7, right in front of us. Those dealt with five major offerings.
From the worshipper's perspective, Now from Leviticus 6 verse 8 into chapter seven, verse thirty eight. These are instructions for the priest. His perspective, his side of the offering. And you kind of miss that if you're not careful and you're trying to get through Leviticus in your devotional time, you probably do miss these kinds of things when you're kind of forced to pick it apart and you say, okay, look at that. There's a twist and turn here.
And there's quite a few of them in this sixth chapter alone. There is some overlap and therefore repetition. I'll try to avoid that as best I can. In the burnt offering the priest was charged to observe Threefold carefulness. He had to be robed.
in his garments of pure linen, And the rules he had to follow. There was a dress code for the priest. And I think many churches could benefit from dress codes. They're not going to happen, but You just kind of notice these things. I do not think everybody has to be forced to wear a coat and tie, though I am very comfortable in a coat and tie, anyway.
The third thing is he had to dispose of the ashes which signified the atonement. And here's the most powerful one. He had to guard the fire, Which is the element by which the offering passes from the giver to God. Without the fire. What use is the altar?
That would happen for the golden altar as well as the brazen altar. That is the primary one in. being spoken of here. These offerings, again, not implemented until the tabernacle was anointed, the priests were consecrated. We'll get to that.
But these this is a very powerful section here tucked away in Leviticus 6. Let's look at verse 10. And the priest shall put on his linen garment, and his linen trousers, he shall put on his body, and take up The ashes of the burnt offerings which the fire has consumed on the altar, and he shall put them beside the altar.
So here's where knowledge of other verses concerning linen garments is very helpful because it reads as though. He takes off whatever he's had on, he puts on linen garments, he takes the ashes away. Then you get to the verse 11, then he takes those linen garments off, he puts something else on, he takes the ashes out of the camp. But actually, there's only two changes, not three. This garment is a linen garment, according to Exodus 28, 42, and 43, verses 42, 43.
They have linen garments. Yeah. So that's what they're wearing in all their duties, except when they take the ashes out of the camp.
Now, we so we'll have to talk about this because everybody's wondering, maybe, I would think, about these linen trousers. Yeah. The priests Approached the altar in their linen garments, that was mandatory, and the trousers were underneath.
Sort of uh a loincloth that covered the hips and thighs. And when carrying these ashes from the whole burnt offering or from the altar. They'd have to take off those linen garments. to dispose of The sin which what was left of dealing with it, the ashes and Sin is a contaminant. Heggai chapter 2 verse 12, he talks about how Unclean things contaminate clean things.
just by touching them. But it doesn't work the other way around. Such is life. Destruction happens in an instant, but construction takes a long time. As a rule, Well, and After the death of our Lord Jesus he was wrapped in white linen.
John makes that clear in chapter 19, and so does Luke in Luke's Gospel 23. Verse fifty three. Not only is the linen fabric associated with the death of Christ, it is associated with his finished work. Revelation 19:14, and the armies in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, followed him on white horses. That's us.
That's a long You know, the the long-range plan of the Lord. That long outlook. And it is a glorious one. And so, yeah, we see the word linen in the scripture related to the priest. We think of Christ.
Well, you think of Christ, you think of what he's done for sinners. And that's One evidence of it there in Revelation 19, 14. The less flesh that is visible, the better. As a rule, and thus those linen trousers, make no mistake, these priests were working hard. And there weren't a lot of them in the early stages.
There were not a lot of priests. Aaron had four sons. We find out later some of the grandsons were acting as priests, but there were still not that many. They're going to lose two of them. In a day, and we'll get to that in chapter 10.
John's Gospel: It is the Spirit who gives life, the flesh profits nothing, and so let's cover it up. As much as we can, and take up the ashes of burnt offerings which the fire has consumed on the altar. And he shall put them beside. the altar.
So he s takes them up, places them on the side, because he's going to change his clothes. And the rest of verse 11 now. Then he shall take off his garments, put on other garments, And Carrie The ashes outside the the camp to a clean place.
So there's so much activity happening on this. Temple grounds. Between the animals coming in, the people, the people bringing in more water and more wood, where were the knives? Sharpened. Where were the axes sharpened?
That would be outside the camp, felling trees to bring in firewood. I mean, it's just a lot of this, this is a national temple, it wasn't a church. This is the temple of the nation.
Now, when it says they were to take the ashes to a clean place, that means don't dump them in the trash pile outside the camp. There's a place that has to be separated and even. The complete The process of the offering was under code, was regulated by God. Verse twelve, and the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it, it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it.
And he shall burn on it the fat. of the peace offerings.
So Every morning they had the altar these burnt offerings, but what's omitted here is the sin offering in front of it that you get somewhere else.
So again, these are working. Proverbs 30 verse 16, fire never says enough. You could put water on it to stop it from eating everything. But looking at verse 12, the first sentence is outstanding metaphor for the believer. and the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it.
It shall not be put out.
Well, that altar is my heart. The fire for the Lord, the fire for my faith. You can't say, you're not supposed to say. I'm just tired of Christianity. I'm tired.
I'm weary of trying and failing, and I'm tired of other Christians, and I'm tired. You know what I mean? Write for that. It's a soldier kid that you know, I'm tired of the war, I'm going home now. You get shot in the back that way.
In an organized army.
So, you know, here we are. Yeah, you get tired. That's what Moody used to say. I'm weary in the work, not of the work. But you 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. Uh
