We turn again to the fifth chapter
of Leviticus and the passage we read from, we'll read a few
verses from verse one in this chapter, which concerns the trespass
offering and the guilt of the people that leads to their offering. this trespass offering. And if
a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and it is a witness,
whether he have seen or known of it, if he do not utter it,
then he shall bear his iniquity. Or if a soul touch any unclean
thing, whether it be a carcass of an unclean beast, or a carcass
of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, if
it be hidden from him, he also shall be unclean and guilty. For if he touch the uncleanness
of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be, that a man shall be defiled
withal, and if it be hid from him, when he knoweth of it, then
he shall be guilty. or if a soul swear pronounce
him with his lips to do evil or to do good, whatever it be
that a man shall pronounce with an oath, and if it be hid from
him, whence he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one
of these. And it shall be when he shall be guilty in one of
these things, that he shall confess that he hath sinned in that thing.
and he shall bring his trespass offering unto the Lord for his
sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a kid
of the goats for a sin offering, and the priest shall make an
atonement for him concerning his sin. Trespass offering. The chapter goes on to speak
of two alternative offerings. First here, the first offering
suggested is a a lamb from the flock, a female or a kid. If
the person cannot bring that, they're instructed to bring two
turtle doves or two young pigeons. And if they cannot bring that,
they're instructed to bring some fine flour, as it were, a meat
offering. Three alternative offerings going
down in order, but each with meaning, and each to be offered
because of the trespasses of the people, because of their
guilt. So many times we read in this
chapter that if a person does this or does that, then he shall
be guilty. If you touch an unclean thing,
you shall be guilty. If you hear someone swear and
don't say it, don't mention it to someone else, then you shall
be guilty of it. If you see something done and
don't speak of it, you are guilty of it yourself. If you touch
something which is unclean, you are guilty of it. Guilty. Not only if you've done the thing
yourself, but even if you are just in the midst of sin, if
you've touched someone else who's a sinner, if you've touched something
unclean, then you're unclean. If you've heard someone purposing
to do something, something wrong, and you keep it quiet, you're
guilty. There's as much guilt spoken of in this chapter through
connection with others, with the sins of others, as there
is through their own sin. But the overwhelming emphasis
is on guiltiness. Now all the references to being
found guilty in this book of Leviticus are centered on this
fifth chapter. There are a few references in
the prior chapter, Chapter 4, to being guilty. There is one
reference in Chapter 6. But there are five references
to being guilty in Chapter 5. All this guilt is centred on
these offerings. And it's very much the subject,
the theme of the offerings here, the guilt of the people, their
trespasses, their disobedience, their rebellion against Almighty
God. Both individually and collectively.
Both in terms of what they've done and also in terms of what
they're contaminated by just by living and breathing amongst
other sinners. How easy it is for them to be
influenced, carried away, defiled by that which is around them.
Guilty. Trespass and guilt envelop this
chapter as it envelops us as we live in a world of darkness,
a world of rebellion, a world which has turned away from its
maker. Guilt envelops us. We live amongst
sinners. We are sinners. amongst sinners. As Romans 3 makes plain, there
is none righteous, no not one. There is none that have truly
sought after God. There is none on the earth ever
who has lived to serve God. All men, all women, have gone
about from the womb, seeking their own glory. There is none
that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulcher. With their tongues they have
used deceit. The poison of asps is under their
lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. Their
feet are swift to shed blood. Destruction and misery are in
their ways. And the way of peace Have they
not known there is no fear of God before their eyes? That's a description of all.
By nature we have no fear of God. We don't think of God. We don't care about God. We think
of ourselves, our jobs, our families, what we will do, where we will
go. But not of God. There's no fear of God before
their eyes. We have no fear of Him. No fear
of standing before Him one day. No fear of what He might think
of or say of us. No fear of judgment to come.
No fear of the consequences of our thoughts and our deeds. No
fear. And Paul goes on, now we know
that what thing soever the law saith, it saith to them who are
under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
may become guilty before God. And all the world is guilty.
We're each born in sin. From the womb we go forth speaking
lies. We're defiled from the moment
we're born. You only have to look at a child,
a babe, a youngster. And although they're sweet on
the outside and although our natural affection is towards
them, we don't have to teach them to disobey. We don't have
to teach them to rebel against their parents. They're never
taught to say no. One of the first words they learn
is no. And they show forth the character
of man from a young age. We will not be ruled. We will
not serve. We love our own ends. And God's
law that he gave unto the Jews was given to them to show them
what they are. Thou shalt have no other gods
before me, he says, and yet we're full of other gods. We're full
of other things that we worship. Thou shalt not bear false witness
and yet we bear false witness every day. Especially children. Who did that? He did, not me. We're full of lies. We're full
of justifying ourselves. We're full of trying to defer
the guilt and paint ourselves in the best light and yet we
know We know what we are before God by nature. We are guilty. But it's because of that guilt
that in this law Moses is instructed to teach the people that they
should make offerings for their trespasses. That they should
make an offering unto God to atone for what they have done
and for what they are. And yet these offerings are but
a picture because ultimately the offering of a lamb or a turtle
dove or some fine flower was just a picture, it could do nothing.
It pointed the people to their need of an offering which could
be accepted by God, which could atone for their sin. It declared
unto the people that they are guilty and they need to be forgiven
of that guilt. They need that guilt to be taken
away. They need God to forgive them. But the offerings themselves
are but a picture. Which is why Paul in Romans says
that the law made none righteous. That the law was given that all
the world may become guilty before God. But by the law, by the deeds
of the law, by the offerings of the law, no man was justified. It was a picture, a picture of
Him who was to come, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who came into this world of darkness,
into this world of sin, into this world of guilt and shame. to be an offering, to be a trespass
offering, who could truly take away the sins of the people. Trespass, guilt, the guilty,
not just what we do but what we are tainted by. Not just what
we've done ourselves but that which is around us, that which
is in us, that which corrupts us, that which shames us. And it's important to see that
as an introduction to this chapter that these examples given in
these first few verses very much have to do with the guilt that
comes upon us not just through what we do ourselves but through
contact with others through living in a sinful world because there's
a certain innocence involved in these examples and yet a defilement
as a result God is instructing these people that they must make
offerings not just for those things they've consciously done
but they may just overhear somebody else and become guilty of what
they've heard. They might just touch someone
or something and be defiled. There's a certain innocence and
yet they're corrupted by it. And it's this contrast between
the innocence the innocence and the guilt which is being conveyed. Because there's that guilt which
comes just by being amongst, just through contact. There's
a certain claustrophobia in these verses. You can hardly move in
this world without seeing, hearing or touching something by which
you become guilty. You can strive all you like in
yourself to be as righteous and holy as you like. You can try
to separate yourself from others. You can try to be as undefiled
and yet it still gets you. The most religious of people,
the most zealous in religion, whatever religion, ultimately
find themselves full of corruption. You can't be in this world without
feeling the effects of sin. Both within and without. Within and without. How easily
the guilt comes upon us. As Ephesians 2 tells us, as Paul
tells us in Ephesians 2, of our state by nature we are dead in
trespasses and sins by nature as those fallen rebels those
who were born of Adam descendants of Adam who sinned against his
maker we too have been born and we too have sinned and rebelled
and we're born as it were in deadness in death we're dead
in trespasses and sins we're in them Not just dead because of them
but we're dead in them. We're surrounded by sin. We're
sunk as it were. We're drowning in the waters
and we cannot escape. And we cannot escape the uncleanness
and the iniquity that's all around us. No matter how hard we strive
to be holy, we're guilty. It's said here, If a man touch
the uncleanness of man, whatsoever uncleanness it be, that a man
shall be defiled withal, and if it be hid from him, when he
knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty. If you but touch a
sinner, you become unclean. These were the days when they
knew much of leprosy in those lands. when the uncleanness of
leprosy was before their eyes. And they knew what it was to
touch a leper and to fear the instant contraction of that leper's
disease upon themselves. They knew what it was to be unclean
and they knew what it was to be made unclean. They knew the
impact of leprosy. They knew how easy it was to
be defiled. And it's into such a world, such
an unclean world, such a sin-filled world, that God sent His Son,
the Lord Jesus Christ, as His trespass offering for His people. For these offerings pictured
in this chapter could make nothing perfect. But God, because He
loved the people, be from the foundation of the earth because
God purposed that he would deliver a people from this sin sick world
because God purposed that he would save a people from their
sins sent his own son into this world to offer his son as a sacrifice
for sin to offer his son as a trespass offering and he sent him into
a world of iniquity. A world in which that man, Christ
Jesus, the Lord Jesus Christ, the world in which Jesus, the
man, could not move without being affected by sinners all around
him. Jesus could not move in this
world without meeting sinners. All around him was darkness. All around him was iniquity.
All around him was uncleanness. Everyone he saw was full of hatred
for God. Everyone he saw was full of sin. And yet God's Son, God's very
Son, that perfect man in whom there was no sin, the just man,
the innocent, came into such a world, came into such claustrophobia,
came into a world in which he knew the commands of the law
here, that if he but overheard somebody sinning like these,
then he should make an offering. And if he but touched an unclean
thing like these, then he would, as it were, become unclean himself.
He knew what it was like to walk amongst sinners, and yet he came. And yet he came. He knew, as
it were, the risks involved. He was walking into the den of
lepers. He was walking into that unclean
place outside the camp, outside the city, that place where the
lepers dwelt, that no one went to for fear of contracting that
awful disease and yet Christ came. And he came into this den
of lepers in this world. And he went himself physically
to where there were lepers. And he touched them. And he made
them whole. He made them whole. Oh the love
of Christ, that he should come into this world, this world of
sin. and touch sinners, and hear sinners,
and see sinners, and love sinners, and come that he should offer
himself up in their place as their trespass offering. He came
to the lepers, to the lame, the deaf, the dumb, the blind, the
dead. And the religious poured their
scorn and hatred upon him, for so doing. Says in Luke, then
drew near unto Christ all the publicans and sinners for to
hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes
murmured, saying, this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them. What a shameful man. These religious
try to separate themselves. So fearful of contracting, as
it were, the guilt from these sinners. So fearful of being
defiled themselves. Seeking to make themselves as
righteous as they could. They avoided sinners. And yet
here comes the Son of God into their midst. And He ate and drank
with publicans and sinners. He went to where the worst were. And He had pity and compassion
upon them. and he earned himself the scorn
and the rejection of the religious world because of his love for
the worst, the base, the least, the despised, the nothings of
this world. And why did he do this? Because
he who was innocent would come to the guilty and would take
their guilt and take their shame and take their corruption and
take it upon himself when he was nailed to that cross and
take it away in death that they should be washed clean. That's
why he came. Though he was innocent, yet he
took their sin as his own and was slain for it. He became responsible
for it. Their trespasses became his. Their guilt became his. Their shame became his. Their sin became his. And he became their sin offerer. He died the just for the unjust,
the innocent for the guilty. The Lamb of God whose blood was
shed to wash away his people's sins. That's why he came. He came into this claustrophobic
world as the innocent for the guilty. That's why these pictures
of the trespass offering and the guiltiness which demands
it give examples which convey, as it were, a certain innocence
by which sin has come upon. Christ the innocent came amongst
the guilty, touched them, and took their sin upon himself that
he should make them clean. This is a chapter very much about
substitution. About the substitutionary sacrifice
of Christ for his people. About the just for the unjust. The one who would stand in their
stead. The one who said unto almighty
God, slay not that sinner, but slay me in his stead. Put his
crimes upon me. I will pay the fine. I will pay the price. I will
pay the ransom fee to set him free. Crucify me, not him. And that's exactly what he did. When he was nailed to the cross,
God took his people's sins and laid them upon his own son. and
slew him. He took the sword of divine justice
and thrust it into his son's side. He poured down the fires
of his wrath and burnt the sacrifice. He shed the blood and sprinkled
it. He judged his own son in the
place of his people, a substitute. suffering for the sins of others,
taking their guilt upon himself by touching them. Christ came
to the leper, touched the leper, made him whole and was made a
leper in his place. This is a chapter about Guilt
through contact with others, whether by sight, by ear or by
touch. Here the one becomes guilty of
the other's uncleanness. And this is what Christ had to
endure if he were to become one with his bride, his people, his
church. He must take her sin upon himself. He must take her uncleanness.
He must take her iniquity. He must take her guilt. He must
be made guilty in her place. that it might be said of her
at the end when Christ cried out it is finished when he said
it's finished on the cross when he'd taken all the sin and the
judgment upon himself that it might be said of her not guilty
She who was full of guilt, she who was full of shame, she who
was a sinner from head to toe, when Christ has suffered in her
place, God said by divine judgment, according to law, according to
righteousness, He looked upon that one and said, not guilty. If she is you, if she is me,
if he stood there as a sacrifice for us, then at the end of those
three hours in the darkness, his father looked upon us in
him and said of us in Christ, not guilty. He could not see
one spot, one blemish, one failure, one transgression, one trespass
in his people. He looked, he looked them up
and down, inside and out and he looked at the record books
and there was nothing there he could say perfectly, righteously,
justly of all his people in Christ not guilty because Christ had
been slain in their place. as the Lamb of God that taketh
away the sin of the world. These offerings described here
are of three kinds. First, the Lord instructs that
a lamb or a kid of the flock be sacrificed for a sin offering,
a female. But if the person is not able
to bring a lamb, then they're instructed to bring For their
trespass, two turtle doves or two young pigeons for a sin offering
and a burnt offering. And then if they cannot bring
that, they're instructed to bring an ephah of fine flour for a
sin offering. A lamb, two doves or pigeons
and flour. Three orders of offerings and
all full of meaning. Why the three? And why the three
listed here? Well, we've seen in previous
chapters regarding the offerings, the meanings behind each. We've seen the connection between
the offering from the herd, the bullocks, with the father. We've
seen the lamb as being appointed to the Lamb of God, Christ. We've
seen these doves as being an emblem of the Holy Spirit. And
we've seen in the meat offering, the flour, the bread, a picture
of the body, the body of Christ. So here we see a connection between
the Lamb of God, the Son of God who's slain, whose blood is shed
for sinners, and the Spirit of God as pictured by the turtle
doves, and the body of Christ as pictured by the flower. There is, as it were, in the
flow between this first offering and the final offering, a flow
here from Christ, through the Spirit, unto the body. From the lamb, through the dove,
to the flower, from Christ, through the Spirit of God, to the body
of Christ. And we see spiritually behind
these things, as it were, the spirit taken of the blood of
Christ and bringing it unto the people and applying it to the
body applying it to the body and he can do this because he
has taken their sins and their sin and laid it upon Christ in
their place who took it away that he should take of the merits
of his blood and sprinkle it upon their hearts as a witness
to the truth that their sins are no more. No more. Oh, what a unity there is here
between Christ and his people in these offerings. It was their
guilt that brought about the necessity that he should die. But it's his death that caused
the spirit to take off his blood and apply it unto them. They're
one. There's a unity between Christ
and his people. A unity, a bond. A bond in the
spirit of God. They're one, they're wed. And
this is why in this particular chapter, When Moses instructs,
when the Lord through Moses instructs that an offering be taken from
the flock, it's said that it should be female. We've seen
in other chapters that there's clear instruction with some of
the offerings that a male should be offered. And there's reasons
in each place why. Well here it's a female. Well
why is the, Offering from the flock here female. Well obviously
Christ himself is male. But it's because of the connection
here between the one offered and the body to whom it's applied. Here is an offering for the bride.
Here is the unity between the people of God and their saviour. the bride here the son of God
is taking upon himself the sins of his bride the sins of his
people he's taken her iniquity upon himself that he might make
her clean so the lamb is female because the people are washed
in his blood and made to be of one flesh with him one flesh
This whole chapter is about guilt and about trespass. It's about
that which emanates from Christ's bride. It's about that which
demanded that Christ should die in her place. Therefore the offering
is female. He may be the offering but he
bore her sins not his. He may be the one that was slain
for iniquity but it was her iniquity not his. He may be the one that
died but he died for her who was once dead that she might
live. The lamb is bound to his body
by his spirit. The doves when offered are offered
as a pair as we've seen before one a sin offering the other
a burnt offering. And again here we see, as we've
seen in other chapters, the contrast between the two aspects of Christ's
death, the necessity that sin be dealt with and that sins be
dealt with. The necessity that blood be shed
by one offering to take away the sins of the people and that
the other offering be burnt to take away their sin, what they
are in themselves. full of sin the first offering
is a lamb whose blood we see shed the final offering is flower
which is burnt we see a sin offering in the lamb we see as it were
a burnt offering at the end in the flower in the body that sin
which is in the flesh and we see in the doves in between the
two as the two are united in one Christ took away his people's
sins when he washed them in his blood. And he was burnt, as it
were, as flour under the wrath of God for their sin. He was
a thorough substitute. He left no stone unturned. He
left nothing undone. He brought in for his people
the righteousness of God. which is why Paul in 2 Corinthians
tells us when he's speaking of this further exchange, this substitution,
he tells us that Christ was made sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. He in his flesh was made sin,
that we in him might be made the righteousness of God. And
he from his flesh shed his own blood. the blood springing forth
out of his heart to wash away those sins which sprang forth
out of our fallen hearts when we rebelled against our Maker.
What a substitute! What an exchange of places! What a transfer of sin, of guilt,
of shame, of judgment! Oh that this saviour should come
into the darkness. Come into the filth and rebellion
of this world. Come into this violent and evil
world. We live in days where you can
hardly hear any news of any events in any country but that you hear
of this war and that war. Of this bloodshed and that bloodshed. And you can hardly visit a city
in this land where there is not violence reported every week,
where there are not those who are murdered and those who are
injured, where the violence is seen on every side. That's the
heart of man. With some it's constrained and
kept within, with some the worst we see are a few violent words
and a loss of temper. but unleashed it leads to the
death and the bloodshed and the wars that we see in the worst
of places. That's the world into which Christ
came. A world of darkness. Our world. A world in which we dwell. A
world in which we by nature sin. A world whose guilt we as individuals
have each added to. A world of sinners. But He came. He came into such a world. He came unto people like you
and I. He came to the lepers like you
and I. He came to rebels like you and
I. And rather than condemning, He
came as one who delights to show mercy. Rather than condemning,
He came as one who would offer up his life to save. There was
a woman. found in adultery, found in the
midst of sin by the Pharisees and scribes. And they brought
this woman, they dragged him before the Saviour. And they
said, we found this woman, this guilty woman, in the very act. And Moses says, we should stone
her, she should be judged. Now what sayest thou? And he
said unto them, he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. And they each went out one by
one. and only Christ was left with
that woman. And guilty though she was, a
sinner though she was, defiled and shameful though she was,
Christ said under her, thy sins be forgiven thee. I will not
judge thee. because he knew that he would
take her sins and take them to the tree and take them to judgment
and he would pay the price for her iniquity. That's the compassion
he has for sinners. Do you know his compassion? Did
he come into this world to be offered up a trespass offering
for you? Did He come to where you were
sat as a guilty leper and touch you? Has He come in His Gospel
and stretched forth the arm of grace by the Spirit of God and
touched you a leper and said, thy faith hath made thee whole,
thy sins be forgiven thee? He came to where the lepers are,
to the guilty, to his bride, to the woman caught in her sin,
to the sinner, to the bride, the female, to that one whom
he makes holy and without blemish through his blood, to that one
for whom he died, his bride. As we read in Ephesians in chapter
five, Ephesians 5 verse 25 gives us
some instruction as a picture of Christ and his bride. We're told husbands love your
wives even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of
water by the word that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it
should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives
as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth
himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth
it and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. For we are
members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined
unto his wife, and they too shall be one flesh. This is a great
mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless,
let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband. O Christ loved his
wife, he loves his wife, he gave himself for his wife, he took
her iniquity upon himself, that she should be perfect, a glorious
church. not having spot or wrinkle or
any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. Has he done that for you? Has
he touched you by the hand of grace? Has he taken away the
condemnation? We're guilty by nature. We know
we're guilty. We know we've not loved God as
we ought to love God. We know we've broken his law.
We know we've gone astray. And there are plenty of people
who can remind us. Plenty of people who will point
the finger and find condemnation. Find things with which they might
condemn us. But if Christ has touched us
and washed us and shed his blood for us and suffered for us and
forgiven us then there is now no condemnation. No condemnation. Paul says in Romans 8 verse 31,
What shall we say then to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us? He that spared not his own son
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather that is risen again. who is even at the right hand
of God, who also maketh intercession for us. Who shall separate us
from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it is written,
for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Nothing can separate us from
Christ's love, God's love, if we're in Christ. Are you in Christ? Has he shed his blood for you?
Has he taken away the guilt? If he has, I remind you, No one
can condemn. No one can condemn. Because he's taken away the condemnation. He's taken away the judgment.
He's answered every charge. He's washed us clean. We are
perfect in Christ Jesus. And no one and nothing shall
be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus, our Lord. Amen.