There is one specific sin of
which the scriptures speak distinctly, in some ways distinguishing it
from other sins. The scriptures speak of this
one sin of which we must be forgiven. But it is a sin of which none
are aware or even suspicious until they're born of God and
taught of God. It is a sin that must be acknowledged.
It must be confessed. It must be atoned. It must be
forgiven. But it is a sin of which none
are aware or even suspicious unto the born again by God's
almighty grace. It's called unknown sin. And Leviticus chapter four is
all about atonement for unknown sin, sin of ignorance. Now I cannot in this message
give a full exposition of these 35 verses, but that's not my
intention or purpose. I simply want to declare the
message of this chapter to you. The message is Christ, the sin
offering. particularly distinctly set before
us here as the sin offering for sin of ignorance. First, I want
you to see that the sin offering, the offering described in this
chapter is specifically called a sin offering. Not a trespass
offering, but a sin offering. Again, as I told you when we
had the scripture reading, remember the word sin offering. Everywhere
in the Old Testament are sin. Those two words literally from
the Hebrew text is one word, sin, sin. Speaking of Christ
who was made sin for us when he died at Calvary. But there's
a distinction made between the sin offering of Leviticus 4 and
the trespass offering of Leviticus 5. These sacrifice for the sin
offering is described in chapter four. The sacrifice for the trespass
offering is given to us in chapter five. The distinction is made
for a reason. It is ever the short-sighted
tendency of man to judge the character of a person by what
he does. It is ever the short-sighted
tendency of fallen humanity, that's you and me, to judge the
character of a person by what he does. God judges the character
of a person by what he is. There's a huge difference. God
sees the sin that's in us and declares that sin is what we
are. The trespasses we commit are
but the fruit of what we are. Sin is our nature, what we are. Trespasses are the deeds of evil,
the fruits of our corrupt nature. Religion only deals with the
fruits of sin, our trespasses. Religion teaches folks to cut
off the limbs and never gets to the root. Religion teaches
people to change their behavior, never gets to the heart of the
matter. But God deals with both what we are and what we do. And he deals with what we are
first. then he corrects what we do.
He convinces us of what we are and corrects our lives by his
grace. So as we read these 35 verses
of Leviticus 4, we find no mention of any particular act of sin. You read them with me. No particular
act of sin is mentioned. We see the priest, the whole
congregation, the ruler, and the common man, all standing
before God, confessing their sin, confessing themselves sinners,
but no mention is made of any particular sin at all. In the
trespass offering, specific acts of sin are dealt with. Here,
we have specific persons. But they're not even named for
anything they do. The experience of forgiveness
is spoken of here. And there are five distinct things
involved in the experience of forgiveness. Now, please understand
why I stress the experience of forgiveness. Forgiveness was
accomplished when Jesus Christ put away our sin by the sacrifice
of himself at Calvary. Forgiveness was accomplished
from eternity in the purpose of God when Christ, the Lamb
of God, was accepted as our surety and our substitute before the
world began. Forgiveness was accomplished
at Calvary. And forgiveness accomplished
is experienced only when the sinner comes to faith in Jesus
Christ. I should say, when the sinner
comes to Jesus Christ in faith. When God works faith in the sinner,
sprinkling the blood of Christ upon the guilty conscience, then
and then alone do we experience forgiveness. The sin, in order
to be forgiven in the experience of it, must be made known. That's
the first thing. It must, as the text says, come
to his knowledge. If there's no known need, there
can be no need for a sacrifice. Look at verse 14. When the sin
which they have sinned against, it, the commandment of God, is
known. Then the congregation shall offer
a young bullock for the sin and bring him before the tabernacle
of the congregation. This obviously has reference
to the convicting work of God the Holy Ghost. Sin cannot be
confessed and the experience of it cannot be known until we
have been made to know our sin. Not just our sinful deeds, our
sinful acts, but our sinful nature. Men are talked into religious stuff. They're talked into being baptized,
joining the church and professing Christianity when preachers start
dealing with their sins, their acts of sin. And don't misunderstand
me, there's a place to deal plainly and forcefully with acts of sin. There are things named in the
book of God that are evil. We have no right, nor should
we seek authority, or find a reason to call something sin. God does
not identify as sin. But there are specific acts given
in the word of God that clearly are sin, spoken up plainly in
his word, in the giving of the law, identifying acts of sin. But here, the Lord God teaches
us that we must deal with sin. Jimmy, that's what you are. That's
what you are. You'd never get mad if you weren't
sin. You understand that? You'd never
even have an inclination to cheat or to lie or to steal acts of
sin. All of those they are if you
weren't sin. You'd never even have an inclination to adultery
or fornication if you weren't sin. Sin is what we are. And
until a man, a woman, is convinced of what he is, he will never
trust Christ the Lord. When he, the spirit of truth,
has come, he will convince you of sin, sin, sin. There's not much that you do
that's wrong, that you don't know is wrong. In fact, I'll ask you, and you
can raise your hand, Anybody here ever done something wrong
and you didn't know it? You knew it before you started
if you got a question about it you knew it ahead of time Acts
of sin are easily identified Listen to the scriptures when
he is come He will reprove, convince the world of sin, of righteousness
and of judgment. Paul put it this way. I was alive
without the law once, but when the commandment came, when God
burned his word in my heart, sin revived and I died. You and I must see ourselves
in the mirror of God's holy law. and rightly judge ourselves accordingly. Second, the sin not only must
be made known, if we would have forgiveness, it must be confessed.
He's to come the man who brings the sacrifice and lay his hand
upon the bullock's head. The wise man Solomon said, he
that covereth his sins shall not prosper. That is he shall
not prosper before God. but whoso confesseth and forsaketh
them shall have mercy. John said, if we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If you would have forgiveness,
you must confess sin. If you've got no sin to confess,
you've got no forgiveness to seek. Some of the men were just
asking me about an experience I had just recently. And a fellow
said to me, he said, I forgive you for all you've done. And
I looked at him right square in the eye and I said, I haven't
done anything. I don't need your forgiveness and don't want it.
I haven't done anything, not one thing against you. And you
know it. So I don't need your forgiveness.
And most folks have the idea they haven't done anything against
God. It's just they've done nothing against God, they don't need
forgiveness. You will never find forgiveness until you confess
your sin. But confession won't take it
away. Knowing it won't take it away.
Sin must be judged. God said, kill the bullock, kill
the lamb, kill the goat, kill it! The sin must be judged. The sinner must kill the sin
offering with his own hands. thus identifying himself as the
guilty one, guilty of the Savior's blood. Thereby he declared both
his heart enmity toward God, identifying himself with the
guilt of crucifying the Son of God. And he identifies with the
justice of God in punishing sin. That's pictured with the sin
laying his hands upon the sacrifice and killing it. Fourth, the sin
judged in Christ is atoned. It's made known. It's confessed. It is punished. sin being punished,
judged in Christ, is atoned. Look at verse 26. The priest
shall make atonement for him. The priest shall make atonement
for him. Jesus Christ, when he died at
Calvary, made atonement for our sins. We do not atone for sin,
he made atonement. Hold your hands here and turn
to Romans chapter five. Romans chapter five. In the experience of grace, we
simply receive the atonement. In the experience of forgiveness,
we simply receive from God that which Christ has done on our
behalf. Romans 5 verse 10. For if when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God. You see that? God was
in Christ reconciling us to himself. If, when we were enemies, we
were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more,
being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Since God
reconciled us to himself before ever we knew anything about it,
now that we've come to experience his grace, we don't have to be
concerned about God turning his back on us. We shall be saved
by his life. Look at verse 11. And not only
so, but we also, joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom
we have received the atonement. We have received the blood shedding
of Jesus Christ by which justice has been satisfied. And here's
the fifth thing involved in this forgiveness. The sin confessed,
judged and atoned for is forgiven. Verse 26 again in Leviticus four,
it shall be forgiven him. whom atonement is made, have
their sins forgiven them. All for whom blood was shed,
have their sins forgiven them. All for whom Jesus Christ died,
have their sins forgiven them. Ephesians chapter one, verse
seven. Colossians chapter one, verse
14. In whom we have redemption through
his blood, the forgiveness of sins. The forgiveness. I would like to convince everybody
who hears me when you read those words together in Ephesians 1
and Colossians 1 Where the comma is put an equal mark In whom
we have redemption through his blood that equals the forgiveness
of sin when Christ died All for whom he died must have their
sins forgiven him forgiven them This forgiveness we receive is
instantaneous. We receive the forgiveness of
sins. Oh, how joyful to the sinner,
crushed with the load of sin, to be forgiven his sin. Immediately,
the burden rolls away. This forgiveness is complete,
absolute forgiveness. It is irreversible forgiveness. It is assured forgiveness. I
know that my sins are forgiven because my sin has been revealed
to me. My sin revealed to me, I have
confessed and God said if I would confess my sin, he's faithful
and just to forgive my sin. And I know that my sins that
I've confessed have been judged for Christ was made sin for me. And I know if Christ died for
my sins, my sins are atoned. God can ask for nothing more.
and now I'm assured of this forgiveness. For Jesus Christ was made sin
for me and died for my sins and payment God cannot twice demand. First at my bleeding surety's
hand and then again at mine. Now, let's get to the heart of
the matter. Secondly, let's look at the sacrifice
of the sin offering. Here we see the great work of
our Savior, the Lord Jesus, our great sin offering, by whom our
sins have been put away. Here in the sacrificial sin offering,
we see the glorious gospel doctrine of substitution. The Lord Jesus
Christ was made sin for us. Our Savior's character is set
before us in the requirements given for the sin offering. Look
at verse three. The sacrifice for the priest
must be a bullock without blemish. In verse 14, the sacrifice for
the congregation must also be a young bullock without blemish.
In verse 23, the sacrifice of the ruler was no different. It
must be a kid of the goats without blemish. In verse 28, the sacrifice
of the common man must be a kid of the goats or a lamb of the
sheep, this time a female, also without blemish. The sin offering,
unlike the burnt offering, unlike the meat offering, unlike the
trespass offering, was not optional. There's nothing in this chapter
about something that you may do. It's not a free will offering.
This sacrifice must be made. The sacrifice must also be a
sacrifice without blemish. Because he who is our substitute
must be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. Why?
If he had any debt bill, he couldn't pay your debt. If he owed God,
anything for his own sins. He could not pay for your sins. He must be without blemish, holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. The holy, spotless,
unblameable Lamb of God is our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He died for us as the just for the unjust. A perfect sacrifice. a mortal sacrifice. He really
did die. It wasn't just that he appeared
to die, any more than he just appeared to be made sin. He was
made sin. God killed his son and he died
in our stead at Calvary. And this one who died is a sacrifice
of infinite worth. He is God. He is God. Isaac Watts wrote his hymn differently
than is in our hymn books. Well might the sun in darkness
hide when Christ the mighty maker died. Watts wrote the hymn this
way. Well might the sun in darkness
hide when God the mighty maker died. He who redeemed the church
with his own blood is God, our Savior. He never ceased to be
God. With each of these sacrifices,
there was the ceremonial laying on of hands. The sinner laid
his hands on the head of the sacrifice. And as you have seen
already in these sacrifices, that portrays and symbolize our
faith in Christ. The sinner comes and lays his
hands of faith upon Christ the Lord and confesses his sin. But it symbolizes much, much
more than this. Much, much more. As I said to
you a moment ago, the confession of sin does nothing to take away
sin. This laying of hands upon the
victim to be slain portrays in this ceremony the mysterious,
glorious work of God in the transference of sin from the sinner to the
Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner's substitute. Turn to Isaiah 53,
I want you to see it, Isaiah 53. My countless sins transferred
to him shall nevermore be found, lost in his blood's atoning stream
where every crime is drowned. Look at Isaiah 53, verse four. Surely he hath borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows. Yet we did esteem him stricken,
smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep
have gone astray. We've turned everyone to his
own way. Now how could he who is the holy,
spotless, innocent, without blemish, Lamb of God, how could he be
wounded for our transgressions? How can he be bruised for our
iniquities? How can the chastisement of our
peace be upon him? Judicially, legally, justly,
righteously, in only one way. And that is if somehow our sin,
our guilt is transferred from us to him. Watch it now. And
the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. God laid on him the iniquity
of us all. Now we don't have to guess what
that means. We don't have to guess. We can't begin to understand
it. We can't begin to comprehend
it, but we don't have to guess about it. The word of God is
crystal clear. He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he
opened not his mouth. He is brought as a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth
not his mouth. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. And who shall declare his generation?
For he was cut off out of the land of the living. For the transgression
of my people was he stricken. And he made his grave with the
wicked and with the rich in his death. Because he had done no
violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Now watch verse
10. What does it mean? The Lord hath
laid on him the iniquity of us all. Yet it pleased the Lord. It satisfied God, the God of
all justice and truth, to bruise him. He hath put him to grief,
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. When thou
shalt make his soul sin. God, by a wondrous, mysterious,
Method of grace that no man can understand, let alone explain. Did what only God can do. He
transferred sin and guilt from his people to his son. When thou
shalt make his soul sin, Well, brother Don, how can you read
that that way? That's the way it literally reads.
Isaiah is written here just exactly that way. Our translators properly,
I don't fault them at all for translating it an offering for
sin. The word is sin. When thou shalt
make his soul sin, sin. How do you know? Because in 2
Corinthians 5, 21, the apostle Paul quotes from Isaiah 53 and
says, he hath made him sin for us who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in him. Now, when the sin's
transferred, the victim must be slain. Don't miss this. There's no atonement. There's
no forgiveness. There's no blessing until the
victim is slain. You see it in verses four, 15,
24, and 29. As soon as sin was transferred,
the victim was slain. I thank God more than my words
can express to him or to you for the incarnation of Christ.
I thank God more than words can express to him or to you for
our Savior's life of obedience by which he brought in everlasting
righteousness. I thank God more than words can
express to him or to you for the example of life Christ left
for us to follow. I rejoice in our Savior's glorious
exaltation and his sovereign dominion. Oh, how I thank God. for Jesus Christ crucified. For the precious blood of Christ,
it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul. There's no redemption,
no salvation. no grace, no pardon, no forgiveness,
no righteousness in his incarnation, or in his life, or in his example,
without his blood. It's the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. Now this whole work of atonement,
once the animal was publicly slain, was done out of view of
the common man before the Lord. What a picture then of faith.
It was a work done completely out of sight, performed by the
priest alone within the tabernacle. This is what that means. Atonement
is God's work. The Lord God said, when I see
the blood, I will pass over you. Atonement, atonement, this matter
of being reconciled to God is totally out of our sails. It's the work of Christ alone.
Atonement. must be received by faith, believing
God. The sacrifice is made out of
sight of the people, and the priest comes out with the blessing
of God upon the people, and they receive forgiveness by the word
of the priest, only by faith, because God said it shall be
forgiven him. Here's the third thing. The precious
blood of Christ is effectual, sin-atoning, justice-satisfying
blood. This fourth chapter of Leviticus
sets before us the glorious efficacy of Christ's blood atonement.
That's beautifully symbolized in the sin offering. As soon
as the victim was slain, the priest carefully caught the blood
in a basin. And collecting that blood, the
animal slain in the court of the Israelites is set before
us. I hope mentally you can see it.
There lies the animal at the foot of the brazen altar. The
priest has caught the blood in a bowl. And then he goes into
the court of the priest. He goes by the golden altar of
incense, which stood in the holy place. He proceeds along and
dips his fingers in the blood in that bowl. And he sprinkles
the blood seven times. Seven times toward the veil,
which concealed the Holy of Holies. That veil was made of expensive
tapestry. Gorgeous, gorgeous, that heavy,
thick veil. But can you imagine what it looked
like by the time our Savior cried, it is finished, and the veil
was rent in twain? It must have looked like a vesture
dipped in blood. It must have looked like a piece
of rich, rich tapestry. covered with blood, that was
the intent. That was the intent. To us, nothing
is really more repugnant. Nothing more repugnant. I'm not
told, I don't know by experience because I've not tried to do
it, my wife tells me blood's one of the toughest things to
get out once it's set in. Dirty state, is that correct?
One of the toughest things to get out. Brother Mark Henson
has mentioned to me a number of times in the last several
months. Isn't it amazing that God takes that which is dirty,
repugnant, filthy, that which we try to avoid, blood, and uses
blood, his son's vesture dipped in blood. and makes our sins
to be washed, our souls to be washed from sin as white as snow. Oh, the wonder of his grace.
Seven times toward the veil, the blood of the sin offering
was sprinkled by the priest. Why did he begin there? He began
there to show us that our only approach to God, our only acceptance
with God, our only communion with God is by blood. The veil,
of course, was not yet rent because the access to God had not yet
been fully revealed. The sprinkling of blood showed
that the only thing that could open a way of access to God for
guilty sinners was blood. The blood of God's own Son sprinkled
seven times in all the perfection of righteousness, justice, truth,
and grace. In all the perfection of God,
that's His salvation revealed. The blood has fulfilled the type
to the letter. The blood of our Redeemer has
fulfilled it all. When the Lord Jesus Christ had
sprinkled, as it were, seven times, perfectly, his own heart's
blood before the Holy Lord God, he cried, it is finished, and
the veil fell. Split wide open from top to bottom. Declaring that God now accepts
sinners in justice by his blood. by the blood of Him who was delivered
for our offenses and raised again for our justification. Through
that perfect offering of our Savior's precious blood, we have
access to and boldness into this grace wherein we stand permanently
accepted of God, justified, righteous. Blood then was smeared on the
horns of the altar. The priest backed away from the
veil to the golden altar of incense. And that altar of incense had
four horns pointing to the four corners of the earth for which
God's elect must be gathered. And he dips his fingers again
into that bowl and he smears some blood here and he smears
some blood there and he smears some blood there and he smears
some blood there until the The horns of that altar are glistening
in the light of the candlestick shining forth mercy to the four
corners of the earth declared by the blood atonement. The horn
is indicative of strength and power. particularly the power
of Christ's blood. Accepted of God is the power
of our mediator, our intercessor, our advocate at the throne of
God. Thank God the Father hears him
pray. His dear anointed one, he cannot
turn away the presence of his son. The blood poured out at
the altar of brass. Now that priestess comes, he
comes and he continues to move backward and he gets to the great
brazen altar where the burnt offerings were consumed with
fire. And there he takes the rest of the blood and pours it
out before all the people. What does that mean? What does
it represent? The only ground of a sinner's acceptance with
God. is the bloodshed of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer. The shedding
of his life's blood, the pouring out of his life's blood. There
where the blood of the Lamb was spilt. I've had some preachers
tell me we shouldn't sing that, that the blood of the Lamb wasn't
spilt. Oh, yes, it was. It was spilt by the sword of divine
justice. God spilled the blood of his
Son. and it was poured out freely
by Christ who poured out his heart's blood for us. The only
ground of acceptance before God is the shed blood of Jesus Christ. And through the blood of Christ,
God accepts us as he accepts his son. Did you get the picture? There's blood everywhere. What
a blessed sight, blood on the veil, blood on the golden altar,
blood on the horns of the altar, blood poured out, blood all over
the priest. Hear what the blood speaks. Expiation
is accomplished. Justice is satisfied. Sin is
put away. Forgiveness is accomplished.
Sinners are accepted. Now, the sacrifice of Christ,
our sin offering, is one sacrifice for all our sins. But this is
made specifically for a sin of ignorance, an unknown sin. What is that peculiar unknown
sin spoken of here? I can find only one in all the
Word of God. I can find only one unknown sin,
only one. Our Savior said, Father, forgive
them, for they know not what they do. And I'm certain that has a direct
connection to our Savior's words in John 16, when he said, when
he, the Spirit of truth has come, he will reprove, convince the
world, convince his elect scattered throughout the world of sin.
because they believe not on me. Because they believe not on me. Now listen to me. No one ever
knows that unbelief is unbelief is unbelief is unbelief. is a crime against the commandment
of God until he's convinced of sin, because he believes not
on the side, until he's born of God and taught of God. And
then, like the publican, he lifts up his eye to the temple, the
throne, the mercy seat, lifts up his eye to Jesus Christ crucified,
and he says, God, be merciful to me, the sinner, confessing
his sin. One more thing. The sin offering
sets before us something of the horrid shame of our Lord Jesus. That shame he endured as our
substitute when he was made sin for us and suffered the hail
and ignominy of God's holy wrath for our sin. Look what had to
be done with the carcass of the slain sacrifice. Once the fat
was burned before the Lord, the carcass along with the dog was
carried forth without the camp and burned. Verse 10, Leviticus
four. And as it was taken off from
the bullock of the sacrifice of the peace offering, and the
priest shall burn them upon the altar of the burnt offering.
And the skin of the bullock and all his flesh with his head and
with his legs and with his inwards and his dung, even the whole
bullock shall he carry forth without the cap 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. The priest takes the carcass
of the slain animal and carries it without the camp in a long
procession of some four miles to a place where the ashes are
poured out. And there he burns the whole thing, not on the altar,
but on the ground. What a picture. of our Lord's
utter humiliation. When he was made sin for us,
he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And God
in justice slaughtered his son. I can't help but to think that
our Savior may have been referring to this very passage of Scripture
When it said in Matthew 24, wheresoever the carcass is, there will the
eagles be gathered together. Our crucified Redeemer is He
around whom God's people, described throughout Scripture as eagles,
are gathered. And they fly to Him and gather
to Him in faith, gather to Him in the ordinances, gather to
Him as we come to worship Him, gather to Him in daily prayer,
gathering to the Savior. They're gathered by His grace,
gathered by His Spirit, and they gather to Him continually, ever
feasting, like eagles, not buzzards, feasting on living things. And Jesus Christ crucified is
the living Savior upon whom we feast. He is our bread, He is
our drink, He is our nourishment, He is our strength, and we gather
to Him. Now, what shall we do who come
to Him who is our Savior, our Redeemer? We go forth to Him
without the camp, bearing His reproach, identifying with Him
in the waters of believers' baptism in His death as our substitute. that which is the most reproachful
thing there is about the gospel, the accomplished redemption of
Christ by the sacrifice of himself. And we identify with it and we
confess him. And by him, we offer to God our
sacrifices, our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving continually. Oh, thanks be unto God for his
unspeakable gift, the Lord Jesus Christ, our sin offering, because
he who knew no sin was made sin for us. and being made sin for
us has made us the very righteousness of God in Him. Amen.