There are some Bibles here if
anyone else needs any. We have a few Bibles. If you
have a few Bibles, we'll be on page 121 in your pew Bible. Leviticus chapter 4. We've been studying on the five
great sacrifices that we read about in Leviticus. We find them
in other places in the Bible, but here they're listed for us
in the first five or six chapters of Leviticus. You probably already
forgot the ones we studied on. I should just stop here and ask
you if you remember the ones. Remember the burnt offering?
That's the first one we studied on, wasn't it? You remember one
of the characteristics about the burnt offering? There was
a characteristic about the burnt offering that, particular to
it, you probably don't remember what it was, do you? God got
all of it. God got it all. The second offering
we studied about was what they call the meat offering. It's
really the meal offering, the grain offering. And that represented
to us Jesus Christ in His life, His holy life. God and man joined
together in harmony in one perfect person, Jesus Christ the Lord.
And then we saw the peace offering, the offering of reconciliation.
Christ has made peace through the blood of His cross. And tonight
we're going to come here to see the sin offering. We're going
to look tonight at the sin offering. I think this is really, to be
honest with you, probably one of my favorites. I want to begin
reading in Leviticus chapter 4. And let's begin in verse 1. We'll read down through verse
12 and stop there. And then I'll say something about
the other verses. But let's begin in Leviticus
4, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speaking to the children of Israel, saying, If a soul
shall sin through ignorance against any of the commandments of the
Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and shall
do against any of them, if the priest that is anointed do sin
according to the sin of the people, then let him bring for his sin
which he hath sinned a young bullock without blemish unto
the Lord for a sin offered. And he shall bring the bullock
unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the
Lord, and shall lay his hand upon the bullock's head, and
kill the bullock before the Lord. And the priest that is anointed
shall take of the bullock's blood, and bring it to the tabernacle
of the congregation. And the priest shall dip his
finger in the blood, and sprinkle of the blood seven times before
the Lord, that is, before the veil of the sanctuary. And the
priest shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar
of sweet incense before the Lord, which is in the tabernacle of
the congregation." and shall pour all the blood of the bullock
at the bottom of the altar of burnt offering which is at the
door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And he shall take
off from it all the fat of the bullock for the sin offering,
the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon
the inwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them.
which is by the flanks and the gall above the liver, with the
kidneys it shall he take away. As it was taken off from the
bullock of the sacrifice of peace offerings, 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 his inwards, and his dung, even the whole bullock shall
he carry forth without the count 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 burned." Now if you go
on and study the rest of this chapter beginning there at chapter
13 through the remainder of that chapter, these sacrifices are
repeated for the most part, but there is some distinction between
them. They had a sacrifice that was to be offered here for the
priest that sinned. And then if you begin down in
verse 13 where I left off, if the whole congregation had sinned,
then they were to bring a bullock and offer the bullock just as
the priest offered his bullock. Then if a ruler had sinned, he
was to bring a male goat and he was to offer for his sin just
as the priest offered. And then, if a common person
had sinned, that person was to offer a female goat or a female
lamb for his sin. Now, you see there how the Lord
accommodated these people in the offering of these sacrifices.
Even what they offered, the Lord accommodated them. You can see
how the priest would offer a huge bull. Because all he had to do
was to tell the twelve tribes, the other eleven tribes, bring
me a bullock. They furnished the priest with
everything they needed. You can see how a ruler could
offer a bullock. He was a rich man. He was a ruler.
He could offer a bullock. But when it comes down to a common
person, he was to offer a female. The ruler was to offer
a male, not a bullock, a male goat. But the common person was
to offer a female goat or a female lamb. Now, I'm sure Bob could
reason this out for just a minute and could tell you why a common
person would offer a female lamb or a goat instead of a male.
A ruler would offer a male because he may have 300 or 400 in his
flock. So he may have 30 or 40 males.
But a common person, just a person like we are, may not have over
ten or twelve in his little flock, and he may just have one male.
So the Lord tells them to offer a female goat or lamb. The Lord
was always accommodating these people. Always accommodating
to them. It was never a burden for them
to bring a sin offering. He accommodated them. But there's
one thing about it. No matter who you were, from
a priest down to a common person. If you sinned, you must have
that sin atoned for, or you was guilty before God. Yes, He accommodated
them, but He required that sin be atoned for. Now, you'll notice
here in this verse I read to you, in verse 2, and in all of
these verses, in every party, this is what said when they brought
their sin offer. It was the sin for sins of ignorance. Now, you'll notice that if you
read through all of this chapter, in every case, if they sin through
ignorance. Now, what does this tell us?
What does this tell us? Well, it tells us this, that
a person can sin against God and not even be aware that a
person can be guilty before God and subject to be punished for
that sin and not even realize what he's done. I want you to
look here in chapter 5 and verse 17. It goes right along with
it. Chapter 5 and verse 17. Look at this. If a soul sins
and commits any of these things which are forbidden to be done
by the commandments of the Lord, Though he wished it not, though
he doesn't know it, yet is he guilty and shall bear his iniquity."
We're sinners whether we know it or not. And we may sin against
God and not even realize it, but we're guilty. We're guilty. Most of the sin we do. Most of
the sin we do. We're ignorant of it, aren't
we? until God brings it to our thoughts and our minds. Sin is
a deceitful thing, and our hearts are ignorant as to the nature
of that sin until the Lord is pleased to reveal the sin that
we've committed to our conscience, to our hearts. Here in verse
13 and verse 14, look at this. In verse 13 and verse 14. If the whole congregation sin
through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly,
and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the
Lord concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty,
when the sin which they have sinned against it is known, then
the congregation shall bring the sacrifice." And look over
in verse 23. He says the same thing in all
of these. And if his sin, wherein he has
sinned, come to his knowledge, he shall bring his offering,
a kid of the goats, a male, without blemish. If his sin, which he
sinned, come to his knowledge." Now, what is it about sin that
we cannot know it unless we're taught it? Unless our heart is
reminded of it. What is it about sin that lost,
unregenerate people do not know anything about it? And even you
and I as believers, what is it about sin that even we can't
know it? Very much about it. How is it
that it deceives us as children of God? Remember the story of
David? We often talk about David. Committed
murder. committed adultery, and yet didn't
even realize what he'd done until God sent the prophet. And then
he said, oh, I've sinned against God. Look what Peter did. Denied
the Lord and cursed and never knew it until the Lord looked
at him and the rooster crowed. What is it about sin? Let me
give you four things about sin that you and I, by nature, are
ignorant of. Four things. First of all, The
origin of sin. Men are ignorant about the origin
of sin. And let's look at this just quickly
in two different aspects. I was talking to a preacher today
and he said, you know, he said, he said, what's happening in
our churches today? We do not know what took place
in the garden. Preachers are in our pulpits
preaching today and trying to preach the gospel when they have
no idea what took place in the Garden. What happened in the
Garden of Eden? That's where sin entered, isn't
it? By one man, sin entered unto this world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all
men. Now, that's a mystery, is it
not? When you and I were born into
this world, we were born guilty because our first father sinned. Now, you go to your average church
member, and you talk to them, and see if they know this. See
if they're not ignorant to this truth, the origin of sin. And look at the origin of sin
in another aspect. When a person becomes angry,
he loses his temper, and he strikes out. He hurts somebody. He does harm. Or he kills somebody. Or he begins to lust in his heart
and he commits adultery. He commits fornication. Or he
becomes greedy and covetous and he steals something. Or he becomes
religious and he begins to worship the creature rather than God.
He commits idolatry. Where does that sin come from?
What's the origin of that sin? If he makes himself a little
idol to bow down and worship it, does the sin originate in
his hands? Where does it come from? His
heart, doesn't it? Out of the heart proceed evil
thoughts, fornications, adultery, drunkenness, false witness. All of these things come from
the heart and they defile the man. Now, people will talk about,
oh, I saw a bad movie. Well, if it's bad, you wouldn't
be watching a bad movie. But I sin because I watched a
bad movie. Where does that sin come from?
Brothers and sisters, no sin comes from without a man. No
sin will come from without you. Every sin we commit comes from
within us. It comes from our heart. Two of my granddaughters, one
of them was aggravated the other and got one upset. And I said, you know why you
did that? You know why you got your sister upset and made her
cry? You've got a bad heart. You've got a bad heart. And she
got aggravated at me. She started pouting. I said,
what's the matter? She said, you told me I had a bad heart.
Does she know that? No, she doesn't know that. Why? Because the heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked, listen, who can know
it. We talk about being sinners,
but listen, we can't know we're sinners until the Holy Spirit
shows us our sins. You remember the story, if you
read the book, Philbin's Progress, when Hopeful and Christian was
talking to old ignorance, and they were talking to him about
his heart being bad, and he said, well, my heart is not that bad.
And they said, how do you know it's not? He said, my heart tells
me. Am I a good neighbor? Am I a right handsome fellow?
Well, sure I am. Just ask me. Now, ask my wife. Go ask my neighbors. We can't
know the origin of sin, can we? It's in the heart. We blame the
hands, we blame the eyes, we blame somebody else. But if I
sin, it comes from my heart. It comes from my heart. It's
my nature. That's the first thing. That's the first thing. Man is
ignorant of that. Man's not a sinner because he
sins. Man sins because he's a sinner. It's not so much what we're doing
is our problem. It's what we are. We need what
we are to be changed. Secondly, A man is ignorant of
the evil nature of sin. Nature of sin is evil. Sin is evil. Do you know why
sin is evil? Because of who it's against.
It's against the God whose eyes are pure and His nature is holy. David said, Lord, against Thee
and Thee only have I sinned and done this evil in your sight. God is holy. And every sin that
we commit is against God. How evil, then, sin is. If you
and I can comprehend the holy nature of God, then we can comprehend
the evil of our sin. And yet, men sin. Men sin all
day. They go home and lay down on
their beds and sleep good. Why? Because they are ignorant
of the evil nature of sin. The Apostle Paul said, I had
not known sin. I had not known sin. That is
something, ain't it? He was one of the most religious
men, probably had several books of the Bible memorized, and yet
he said, I had not known sin. Until the Lord awakened him and
convicted him of his sins, and then he changed his whole opinion
about sin. And then he said, when I would
do good, Evil is present with me. He saw the evil nature of
sin. Oh, wretched man that I am. But
I tell you, we can't know that, can we? Until the Lord shows
us the nature of sin. Thirdly, ignorant of what sin
deserves. Ignorant of its wages. Ignorant
of what it's earned. If I told you tonight That you've
sinned against God and you deserve to be punished forever and ever
and ever. That God should right now put
you in a lake of fire, in outer darkness, and punish you under
His wrath forever. What would you think about that?
Guilty. But isn't there something down
inside you somewhere that says, that just ain't right. That just
ain't right. Man, my sin, I know I ain't perfect,
but my goodness, punish me forever? I tell you what, it's tough to
come to terms with that answer. Depart from me, you curse. Depart
from me, you worker's iniquity. Where? Into everlasting fire. That's what sin deserves. The
wages of sin is death. Eternal death. Eternal misery. Eternal destruction. But find
one man in a thousand who knows that in his heart, and will say
amen to it. Fourthly, and it brings us to
this, it just naturally brings us to what we're looking at this
evening. This is the reason why the world
is not serious about the way of redemption, the way of salvation,
the way of forgiveness. because they're ignorant of sin. And that's not looking down on
anybody. That's not saying, oh, look at me, we're so smart. We were in the same boat and
still are to the same degree. But it brings us to this. Until
a person is brought to the knowledge of his sin against God and the
evil of it, he will never truly feel his need of a sacrifice. for his sin. Now, that's just
it, isn't it? They that are whole need not
a physician, but they that are sick. And the reason men aren't
seeking the Savior, and the reason they're seeking, but they don't
care which Savior they find, is because the Holy Ghost has
never laid the guilt of their sins upon their conscience. When we're convicted of our sins
by the Holy Spirit, we're convinced of our sin, I'll tell you one
thing we'll be afraid of. I don't want to be deceived.
I've got to be careful how I atone for this sin. I've got to be
careful how I put this sin from my conscience. I don't want to
deceive myself. I want to know Christ. I want
His blood to cleanse me. Why? Because we realize the evil
of our sins. The knowledge of our sin is not
to drive us to despair. The Lord never convicts us of
our sins to drive us to despair. He convicts us of our sins. He
brings it to our knowledge in order that we may look to the
fountain that's open for sin and uncleanness. That's why He
does it. We've got it recorded here in
verse 13 and 14 that I read to you of chapter 4. when the whole congregation sinned,
and verse 14, when the sin which they have sinned against is known,
what do they do then? Then they bring the sacrifice. But not until the sin is known. However else the knowledge of
our sins may affect us, they humble us, they make us afraid
of sin, they cause us to mend our ways, But one thing the knowledge
of our sins, listen to this now, must ever do, it must ever cause
us to look to that fountain that's open for sin and uncleanness.
If God is teaching you about your sin, then know this, He's
going to show you where your sin can be put away. He's going
to show you the fountain open for sin and for uncleanness. Every case in here that you can
look at in the fourth chapter, the knowledge of sin, when they
brought the atonement, this was what was said. Look here in verse
20. In every case, this is what is
said. And he shall do with the bullock
as he did with the bullock for sin offering. So shall he do
with this, and the priest shall make an atonement for him. and it shall be forgiven them. Every case, this was what said.
Look down here in verse 26. This was the ruler. And he shall
burn all his fat upon the altar as the fat of the sacrifice of
peace offerings, and the priest shall make an atonement for him
as concerning his sin, and it shall be forgiven him. Every case that sin was brought
to the knowledge, Then atonement was made, and it was forgiven."
Isn't that wonderful? I'll tell you why it's wonderful.
Because when God teaches us the evil of our sins, and who our
sins are against, and the punishment it deserves, then when we see
atonement is made, and sin is forgiven, then we're filled with
joy. This word atonement It means
several things. We use different words to describe
it, but atonement. It means to reconcile. It means
to purge. It means to cover, to pacify,
to put away, to forgive, to cleanse, to be merciful to. It means several
things, doesn't it? You can look the word up in your
concordance. It means expiation. It means satisfaction or reparation
made by giving than equivalent for than injury. Now listen to
this. This is what Webster says it
means. Satisfaction or reparation made by giving than equivalent
for than injury or by doing or suffering that which is received
in satisfaction for than offense or injury. Jesus Christ. atoned for our sins. He made
satisfaction to God. One of the greatest blessings
and joys between the eternities is when you and I come to the
knowledge and reality that our sins, which are so great and
which are so many, have been atoned for. Jesus Christ has
satisfied. He has been punished for our
I want to quote two scriptures for you. If you want to write
these down, you can read them later, but let me quote them so I won't
take the time to turn there. In Isaiah 53, verse 11, listen
to this, in regard to atonement, satisfaction. God shall see the
travail of his soul. Jesus was hanging upon the cross.
He was suffering for sin. God shall see the travail of
his soul and shall be satisfied." Satisfied for what? For the injury,
for the offense did to his holy character. Jesus Christ satisfied
our offense and our injury to the character of God. When the
priest, this is one of the amazing things about this sin offering
that I like so well. When the priest caught some of
the blood of the bullock or the goat or the lamb, he went inside
the holy place and he sprinkled that blood before the veil before
the Lord. And then he would dip his fingers
in the blood and he put blood upon the horns of the altar of
incense. And that tells us not only was
the offense moved, not only was the sin atoned for, but in its
place was a sweet-smelling aroma. And Jesus Christ is not only
atoned for our sins, He's not only satisfied for our sins,
but in the place of that offense is this sweet-smelling aroma. Ain't that wonderful? That's
wonderful. That's what the priest did. The
second scripture I want to quote for you is Romans 5, verses 8-11. Listen to this. God commended
His love toward us, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us. Much more then, being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if
when we were sinners, We were reconciled to God by the death
of His Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life,
and not only so, but with joy in God through the Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement." The atonement
and everything that it means, satisfaction, reconciliation,
purging, forgiveness, peace, everything that that means, we
have received it into our hearts. It has come to us. And Paul said,
we joy in God. We joy. It brings a joy to our
hearts. We joy in God. I tell you, I
imagine it was a source of great joy when these people who had
sinned against God and it comes to their knowledge. Don't you
imagine it was a great joy to them when they realized that
an animal could be offered in their stead. Instead of them
dying, they could take an animal and offer it to God for their
sins, to atone for their sins, and it would be forgiven them.
Isn't it a wonderful thing, brothers and sisters, when sin comes to
our knowledge That instead of us bearing the wages of it, instead
of us dying, we can remember one who has already died in our
stead. One who satisfied God in our
place. That's a wonderful thought, isn't
it? Wonderful thought. I want you to look just for a
minute now at the procedures that these priests went through.
And I'll do this and we'll close. The procedures these priests
went through in offering these sin offerings. I read it to you
here in verses 5 through 7. You can read it there for yourself.
He went into the holy place and he sprinkled the blood before
the veil. Now you remember what the holy
place was. The tabernacle. It was divided with a veil. And
the first room you went into was called the sanctuary. It
had the altar of incense there, the veil, and the candle with
the seven lampstands. He went into the first place,
the first room, and he sprinkled it and anointed the incense,
the altar of incense, and sprinkled that blood before the Lord. God saw the blood. And then,
we read about this in verses 11 and 12, that he took the body
of the bullock, or the goat or the sheep, and he took it outside
the camp, and he put it on a the wood that they had piled up.
He lit the wood, and he burned the body of that beast outside
the camp. Now, those are the two things
that he did. I want you to turn over to the book of Hebrews,
chapter 13 with me. The book of Hebrews, chapter
13. What makes this sin offering? so helpful to us, we can go to
the New Testament and see the Hebrew writer spoke specifically
of this burnt offering. Look at it in Hebrews chapter
13 and look in verse 9. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 9. If
you've got a few Bibles, it's on page 1314. Verse 9. Be not carried about with divers,
that is, various and strange doctrines, It is a good thing
that the heart be established with grace, not with meats which
have not profited them, but have been occupied therein. We have
an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the
tabernacle. Now here it is. The bodies of
those beasts whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high
priest for sin to atone for sin, They are burned without the count. Now that's what we've been studying
on this. Who does that represent to us? Look in verse 12. Wherefore Jesus also, that he
might sanctify, he might set apart and make holy the people
with his own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go therefore
unto him without the count, bearing his reproach. Now we have two
things here in this text. We have one thing that everybody
could see with their eyes. And then we have one thing you
could only see by the eye of faith. When they took this bullock
or this lamb or goat outside the camp and set it on that wood
and lit it, anybody who wanted to, The man who had brought the
sacrifice, who had sinned, he could stand there and watch that
flame consume that body. Now, what does that tell us about
the Son of God? There were thousands and thousands
of people that stood when He hung upon the cross outside the
city of Jerusalem. There were thousands that came
by there and witnessed His suffering. They've got it recorded in Roman
history, tells us about it. Josephus, the Jewish historian,
tells us about it. But more than that, this Bible
gives us the infallible proof that outside the walls of the
city of Jerusalem, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, hang on a cross,
and the fire of God's wrath consumed Him. Now, when you read in the
Bible about judgment, the wrath of God, the fury of God, the
anger of God, so often it comes under the symbol of fire, God
consuming them. His fire has consumed us. His wrath and His fury is like
fire, the old prophets used to say. Many people stood there
and witnessed that. And when you and I want to see
that, all we have to do is turn our Bibles to Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John, and we can stand there watching the fire of God's
anger as it pours out upon His Son, seeking satisfaction for
sin, seeking an atonement for sin. He said Himself, He said,
Is it nothing to you who pass by? Behold and see, if there
is any sorrow like unto my sorrow, wherewith the Lord has afflicted
me in the day of His fierce anger. His fire is poured into my bones. So the fire of God fell upon
His Son to satisfy for sin. But Brother Todd and I made a
good observation the other night, I thought it was very good. He
said in the Old Testament sacrifices, sometimes the fire of God fell
and consumed those sacrifices, just as it did in these beasts.
All that was left was ashes because the fire consumed them. But when
the wrath of God, the fire of God, fell upon Jesus Christ,
not only did it consume Him, but He consumed the fire. There
is no fire left, is there? There's no wrath left. There's
no fury left. Why? Because Jesus consumed it
in His own body. We've often made this statement,
when death gaped upon Him, He swallowed it up. When justice
stood with indignant view against Him, what did He do? He opened
up His side and justice was satisfied. Now the Lord God can say, there's
no fury in me. Are you in Christ tonight? then
there's no wrath for you. There's no anger of God against
you. There's no condemnation against
you. Your sins have been satisfied
for you. The wrath of God has been poured out. And you know
something? There's people who saw that. Thousands of people
who saw that. Saw the wrath of God upon His
Son hanging up on the cross. And we can go here and read about
it. But there's something else that took place that you couldn't
see. When they were out, side of the camp watching the bullock
or the goat or the lamb being consumed by fire and nothing
was left but ashes blowing in the breeze. By the eye of faith
they knew this, that in that tabernacle The priest was there
with the blood of this victim, sprinkling it before the veil
and anointing that altar of incense. He was there with the blood,
making an atonement for their sins. They couldn't see it. But
as sure as the victim was on the fire, that was how sure it
was that the priest was making an atonement. And brothers and
sisters, when you and I See the Lord Jesus Christ hanging upon
the cross, suffering the vengeance of God for our sins. One thing
we can be sure of, through the eyes of faith, we can see it.
Jesus Christ Himself, by His own blood, going into the presence
of God, making atonement for our sins. Now look real quickly,
and we'll close on this, but look quickly in chapter 9, Hebrews
chapter 9. Now look at this in verse 11.
Hebrews 9 and verse 11. But Christ being come to an high
priest of good things to come, by greater and more perfect tabernacle,
not made with hands like Moses made, that is to say, not of
this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but
by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place,
having obtained Eternal redemption for us. Now, we didn't see that,
did we? Only our faith can see that.
Only our faith can see that. And when they killed this bullock,
or they killed the sacrifice, you'll notice what they did with
the blood all but the little basin. They poured it all out
there at the burnt altar. where they burnt their sacrifices.
They poured it all out at the altar. When they took that animal
out to burn him, he had no blood in his body. It was all poured
out. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He
raised from the dead, remember He appeared to His disciples,
and He said to them, It is I, be not afraid. They thought they
saw a spirit, and remember what He said to them? A spirit has
not flesh and bone, as you see me." Why didn't he say, a spirit
has not flesh and blood, as you see me? That was the saying in
those days, flesh and blood. Flesh and blood does not reveal
this to you, but my Father did. I show you a mystery. Flesh and
blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. They were always talking
about flesh and blood. But the Lord Jesus said, I don't
have flesh, I don't have blood. Ain't that what He was telling
them? A spirit hath not flesh and bones as his..." Why didn't
he say a spirit hath not flesh and blood? He didn't have any,
did he? He didn't have any blood. Where
was his blood? It had all been poured out there
at the foot of the cross. When they put a spirit inside,
when they took him down from that cross, he was as white as Raymond. He was white. Why? He had no blood in him.
He was given to atone for our sins. That's what it took. But
bless God, God accepted it. And now our sins are atoned for
and we're forgiven. What a beautiful, beautiful picture
of sin offering.