Leviticus 4:1-35 (Teaching)

[0:00] I know we kind of blew through Leviticus 3 last week.

[0:13] And the reason behind that was because I knew I had a lot to read in Leviticus 7 as well. I hope it was helpful.

[0:24] I hope it was understandable, I guess I should say. I've been guilty in the past of reading like that, even when I didn't have to.

[0:37] I just want to make sure I get to the next part. But hopefully that was helpful. Thus far in Leviticus 1 we saw the burnt offering.

[0:48] And that offering was completely consumed when it was brought. In Leviticus 2 we saw the meat offering, or what some people refer to as the grain offering.

[1:02] That was the offering that was brought symbolized giving our whole selves unto God. But not only that, showing that we trust completely in God.

[1:15] And of course giving them thanks. And lastly when we come to the peace offering. And quite frankly I understand the burnt offering is first.

[1:26] And I understand that as far as the order of the offerings throughout the first seven chapters of Leviticus goes. It's probably the most important one. But the peace offering is nevertheless my favorite.

[1:40] So I really enjoyed last week going through that. Once again I hope you got something out of that. But the main thing to remember about that peace offering like I emphasized last week is that offering was not brought to God.

[1:54] To obtain peace with God. That was the purpose of the burnt offering. And it was brought in thanksgiving that you had peace with God. So always remember that.

[2:06] So this week we move on to chapter 4 of Leviticus. And chapter 4 we change gears a little bit. And the three offerings that we just very briefly recapped on.

[2:21] They were just that. They were offerings. They were free will offerings. They began with if any man brings, if any man wants to in other words.

[2:32] But here in Leviticus 4 we change gears. And commandments begin. And Leviticus 4 has to do with the sin offering.

[2:43] And there are lots of words to bring should they sin. And you'll notice as we go through this there's 35 verses in this chapter. And with Lord's help we'll get through all those tonight.

[2:55] And hopefully make it home before bedtime. I'm kidding. But we'll get through those tonight. But you'll see that it's for ignorance in as God causes.

[3:08] Now you keep in mind that in the New Testament the book of Acts it's said that at one time God winked at the signers. But now commands all men everywhere to repent.

[3:19] And this is the time that the book of Acts was talking about. That God would wink at ignorance. Not that he would overlook sin. God has never overlooked sin. He didn't overlook sin in the garden.

[3:31] He didn't overlook the sin of Cain with Abel. He's never overlooked sin. So to wink at sin is not to overlook it. There's always been a payment that had to be made for sin.

[3:45] So when we read these words of ignorance or it's done in ignorance. And we think about the book of Acts. And how it says that at one time God winked at sin.

[3:59] Don't think that he was just overlooked. There was still payment. There were still consequences to sin. God didn't just overlook it, sweep it under the rug and forget about it.

[4:11] So with all that in mind, something else I'd like you to keep in mind as far as the New Testament goes. As we read through Leviticus 4 in the book of 1 John which we're teaching in Sunday school right now.

[4:23] In the book of 1 John there's an often quoted scripture in 1 John says, My little children, since I write these things unto you, that you sin not.

[4:37] But if any man does sin, we have an advocate with Jesus Christ the righteous. And I think that's an awesome verse to hang on to as we go through Leviticus 4.

[4:48] Really as you go through the whole Bible thank God. But especially Leviticus 4 because that's exactly what it's getting at here. Leviticus 4 that these things were written unto the Israelites that they sin not.

[4:59] Not just Leviticus 4 but Leviticus 1, 2, 3, 4 all the way through. Leviticus, everything in Jesus, everything in the book of Exodus, everything in the scripture is written that we sin not.

[5:13] But if any of us do sin or does sin, we have an advocate with Jesus Christ the righteous. So keep that verse in mind as well as we go through this. So Leviticus chapter 4 beginning at verse 1 says, And the Lord spake unto Moses saying, Speak unto 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.

[5:42] 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 bullet without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offered.

[5:55] We'll stop right there. So we begin verse 2 saying, The Lord speaking unto Moses saying, Speak 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.

[6:13] Then he kind of swaps it a little bit, not really swaps, but he switches gears a little bit. He goes on verse 3, If the priest that is anointed do sin according to the sin of the people.

[6:24] So we've gone from any person to the priest and he continues and says, Then let him bring for his sin which he hath sinned a young bullet without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offered.

[6:37] And some people will say that this priest that's talking about the cause, It talks about the anointed priest, it's specifically talking about the high priest.

[6:48] And I'm inclined to agree with that. However, keep in mind all the priests, all of Aaron's sons were anointed. They were anointed by commandment over the book of Exodus.

[7:00] By the command of God, you read about it again in Leviticus, you read about it again in the book of Numbers, As a matter of fact, but all of the priests were anointed. So we need to keep that in mind.

[7:12] But as far as the typological value of this goes, I believe that he was specifically talking about the high priest in this. Because the book of Hebrews in the New Testament speaks about Jesus Christ not having to give anything as an offering for sin for himself.

[7:31] There was no sin with Jesus Christ. The sons of Aaron, they had to do this because every one of them had sin in their lives. Just like every one of us here tonight, every one of us have sin in our lives.

[7:44] But Jesus Christ, who never knew or never had any God in his mouth, God was not found in him. Sin was not found in him. He never had to once offer up anything for his own sin because that sin never existed.

[7:58] He's God, it's impossible for him to sin. It's not that he won't sin, it's that he cannot sin. It's an impossibility with Jesus Christ to do so.

[8:10] So for the typological value, I'm inclined to believe that when it says the anointed priest, I believe that it's specifically speaking of the high priest. And if you go over to Leviticus chapter 16, we won't turn over there tonight.

[8:24] And it talks about the day of atonement. Only the high priest was allowed to go back to the Holy of Holies on the day of atonement. And I believe that that would have been the anointed priest that we're talking about here.

[8:37] Now, do I know that for a fact? No, I absolutely do not. I wasn't here 3,500 years ago when all this was being written. But like I said, as far as the typological value of it goes, I believe he's specifically talking about the high priest.

[8:54] If the priest says anointed do sin according to the sin of the people, that he shall bring for his sin, which he had sinned to the young bullock, without blames unto the Lord, for a sin offering, 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, 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 the 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 covered the innwards, and all the fat that is upon the innwards, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, which is by the flames in the call 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, with his legs, and his innwards, and his done, even the whole bullock shall he carry forth without the camp, 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.

[10:34] I know that was a lot of reading, but this is just, this is only the commandment given for the priest sent off, as I said last week, if you ever don't appreciate Jesus Christ, read through Leviticus, this was what the priest had to go through for his sin offering, if a priest had sin, this is what he had to do, and we're going to get to the rest of it, to everybody else here in just a moment in Leviticus 4, it covers the ground for everybody, from the priests, from the ones that were in charge of the service of the Lord, the ones that were in charge of the tabernacle, they were in charge of the worship of God, they were in charge of intercession, they represented God to the people, all the priests did this, it wasn't just Moses, and it wasn't just Aaron, the priesthood itself represented God to the people, and they intercessed between the people and Almighty God, but this priest had sin in his life, everything we just read which highly resembles the peace offering, it brought that up in the scripture, as far as taking all the fat out of it, and the kidneys, and the call above the liver, and all these other things, and if you were here last week, we read that all the fat belongs to God, it's all the Lord's, because that was the richest part of the animal, and that's the one that would be most desirable to the people, even to the priests, that would be the most desirable part of the animal, that God says all the fat is mine, all the fat is the Lord's, and but we read also it says in the skin of the bull, and the skin of the bull, verse 11, and all his flesh with his head, and with his legs, and his inwards, and his dung, even the whole bull shall he carry forth without the camp, 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, and we need to remember those two verses, because it differs a little bit, when we get into the rest of the congregation of Israel here, just a little while, so verse 13, it says, and if the whole congregation of Israel send through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done something against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty, when the sin that they have sinned against it is known, then this congregation shall offer a young bullock for the sin, and bring him before the tabernacle of the congregation, and the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock, which is before the Lord, and the bullock shall be killed before the Lord, and the priest that is anointed shall bring of the bullock's blood to the tabernacle of the congregation, and we'll stop right there for just a moment, so we've already, we already see a little bit of a difference here, remember when the priest was offering, had an offering for his own sin, remember this is a commandment of God, this is not a free will offering, this is, if you sin in ignorance, this is what you have to do, this is my law, this is my statute, and my decree, and this is what you must do, the priest had to bring the animal, had to bring it to the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and kill it, and sprinkle the blood, and spread the blood, now backing up just a little bit, when we were talking about the priest, and what he had to do, he had to sprinkle, or has to sprinkle the blood several times, and put it on the horns of the altar of the incense to the Lord, what is that incense, what is that a symbol of in the Old Testament, when they burnt incense, that was a symbol of prayers, under God, that was the symbol according to Scripture, of God hearing the prayers of his people, and so they would put this blood upon the altar of incense, but one other thing we need to concentrate on, and I didn't bring this up even, this goes as well for the burnt offering, but one thing I didn't bring up is the priest, and the congregation of Israel whom we are reading about now, and the common man, and the leaders of Israel, everybody that is brought up here in Leviticus chapter 4, they bring these animals, they lay their hands upon their head, and I know we've covered that a couple of different times reading through these chapters in Leviticus, but when they lay their hands on that animal, and they lean on that animal, I told y'all the Hebrew word for the lay on the hand, means to lean heavily upon, and when they do that though, not only are they trusting that animal, they're trusting the Word of God, and these, for this sin offering here, they're trusting that the Word of God, this offering will appease God, this will suffice God, as far as their sin goes, but what else are they doing? They're confessing that they sinned, when they bring a sin offering under God, and I said the same thing would go for the burnt offering, but when they bring this sin offering under God, and they bring it, and they lay their hands upon it, and they slaughter, they're confessing their sin to God, so, and folks, it would do the church a whole lot of good, I'm not talking about Fr. G. Gospels,

[16:20] I'm talking about the church, the body of Christ, to do some confession of sins to God, to recognize their sin, for what it is, they're not oopsie-daisies, and they're not mistakes, it's sin, and sin is a serious thing in the eyes of God.

[16:37] You read through these sacrifices that we've been reading about the last few weeks in Leviticus, you read about this one here, the bullet that the priests had to bring, and the different sacrifices that we've read about, folks, it was violent, it was violent things that happened, and that shows what God thinks about sin and how sin must be punished.

[16:59] We need to keep all those things in mind, and we do, as believers, we still need to confess our sins to God, and when these people remember, this wasn't heathen, these wasn't pagans, they weren't Moabites and parasites, they were Israelites, they were God's chosen people that he called out of Egypt by the way of Moses, he parted the Red Sea, he was bringing them to the Promised Land, and he had given them his law at Sinai at this point, not long before this, and all these other things, but it was God's people, and he was saying, when you sin, so that tells me that we will sin, and that we do sin, and because what we're reading here, it's a confession of sin that these people were making, when they laid their hands upon that animal, they were saying, I have sinned, but I'm trusting the Word of God that that sin is not going to be credited to my account, this animal is going to suffer the death that I should suffer, that's how serious God is with sin.

[18:01] I need to keep these things in mind, but as far as the whole congregation of Israel, I said there are a couple of differences, one of them is the elders, the priest himself that was given the offering in the first part of this chapter, he would lay his hands upon it, but as far as the whole congregation of Israel, the elders would come, which represented the nation, and folks, this nation that we live in right now, it could use some confession and repentance, it could use a whole lot of confession and repentance, and I believe that just as God says here to this congregation, if it would do that, if our nation would do that, you'd see a 180 degree turn of this nation overnight, but that's not happening, why?

[18:55] Because we're stiff-knacked, we've been blessed by God so much that we take His blessings for granted, and I say that knowing what the Israelites done, I'm fast-forwarding into the Old Testament now, but the Israelites did that, they took the sacrifices for granted, they took the peace offering for granted, they took the meat offering for granted, they took the burnt offering for granted, they said, well, if I just take an animal, or if I just take my meat offering, or if I just offer a peace offering, then that's what God wants, no folks, God never wanted the animal, He wanted a relationship with His people, He never wanted the blood, that was the commandment that He gives, because all sin is purged by blood, that was the commandment that He gives, but He wanted a relationship with His people, and when they followed the statue, they done it for the right reasons, and their heart was in the right place, then it pleased God, but when they started polluting the altar, they started polluting the tabernacle, they started bringing their sick and their lame animals for the sacrifices, and God knew that that would happen, but when they started doing that, that's when it upset God, that's when it angered God.

[20:09] When you read over in the Book of Micah, it says, he has cheated the old man, what is good, what did the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God, that's what God wanted, it wasn't necessarily the sacrifices, it wasn't the oil, it wasn't the grain, it wasn't all these things, He wanted a relationship with His people, and this here, what we're reading to not, is how, once the burnt offering was done, remember Leviticus chapter one, the burnt offering was done, and there was also a continual burnt offering that was offered, the morning oblation, the evening oblation, constantly, but individuals could bring their burnt offerings as well, yes, that got them in the right relationship with God, this is the sin offering, though, this is for ignorant sin, as we've read, and you may have heard people pray, I've prayed it too, and He said that I don't know about, please forgive me, something along those lines, that's pretty much what we're talking about here, but we're also talking about people that walk with God, people that know God, they know who God is, these are the same people that saw the lightnings and saw the quakings and experienced the presence of God up there on Mount Sinai, they saw all these things while Moses was up there experiencing God Himself, they saw these things, so they knew who God was,

[21:44] I know who God is, and if you're here born again, you know who God is, that does not negate the fact that sin still angers God, and sin will still separate us from God, it will break off fellowship with God if we have sin in our lives, and that's why people pray like that, they might confess specific sins, and then at the end of that they might say, anything else that I'm thinking or anything else that I've done that I'm not aware of, Lord, but we're talking specifically about people that walk with God, that were delivered by God through the Red Sea and on their way home at this point, and verse 15, the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullet before the Lord, and the bullock shall be killed before the Lord, the priest that is anointed shall bring to the bullock blood to the tabernacle of the congregation, and the priest shall dip his finger in some of the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the Lord, even before the veil, and he shall put some of the blood upon the horns of the altar, which is before the Lord, that is in the tabernacle of the congregation, and shall pour out all the blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering, which is at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and he shall take all his fat from him and burn upon the altar, and he shall do with the bullet as he did with the bullet for a sin offering, so shall he do with this, and the priest shall make an atonement for them, and it shall be forgiven them.

[23:18] Now, we just read something real important, and we blew through it, but we're going to back up, and he shall do with the bullet as he did with the bullet for a sin offering, who is he, the anointed priest?

[23:31] What sin offering? The sin offering that the priest had to bring. This tells me that there was a very common practice for the priest to first offer, give a sin offering, so that he could intercede on behalf of the people.

[23:50] Folks, the New Testament teaches that we're all kings and priests. We all have our access to God through Jesus Christ.

[24:03] We have direct access to God, yes, but it is through Jesus Christ that we have that. Now, when it says here that he shall do with the bullet for a sin offering, it's talking about the offering that we read about previous to this, the offering for the priest once again, fast forward to the New Testament to the book of Hebrews, where it speaks about Jesus Christ, and I'll have him make an offering for his sin.

[24:29] So, before the priest could do this and intercede for the congregation of Israel, for the nation, for the believers in God, for those that have witnessed the greatness of God, for those that have witnessed the fury and the terror of God at Mount Sinai, before he could do anything for them, he had to do for himself.

[24:51] And it is the same way with us as kings and priests. If I have sin in my life, I'm in danger of having my prayer life shut off until I confess that sin under God.

[25:02] It was the same way for these priests. If they had sin and they didn't do the proper things and offer the proper sacrifice in the proper way, and they didn't dig out all the fat and the kidneys and the colorectal liver, if they didn't do it exactly as God said, they would not be able to intercede on behalf of the people of God.

[25:21] And this is just the whole nation of Israel that we're talking about here. So, they had to do that. A lot of times when I pray, I'll begin with forgiveness for my own sin.

[25:32] I'll begin with how great God is, yeah. But then I'll go on into forgiveness of my own sin, a lot of times when I pray. Because if I've got sin, and especially if I know what we're talking about ignorance in here, but if I know that there's something there, especially if the Holy Spirit brought it to my mind, you need to repent of this.

[25:52] And I don't, I could pray for a half an hour and it ain't going to go anywhere. With that on my heart and with that on my mind. Then it's going to get in the way of my prayer life with God. And I ain't saying God's going to boot me into hell if I die right then and there, but it will get in the way of my prayer life with God.

[26:11] So, I need to confess my own sin. This priest, when he brought that animal, he laid his hands upon the animal, he confessed his sin, and blood was shed for the remission of his sin.

[26:22] And a substitutionary sacrifice was made. Someone died in his stead where he should have died. So, when the congregation of Israel is sinned as a nation, and they recognize that, and the priest is making an intercession for them, if he hasn't done what he needs to, God's not going to recognize the offering that he's making on behalf of the nation.

[26:46] I hate the thought of someone calling me and saying, I need you to pray. Someone's been in a bad car wreck, or someone's had a heart attack, or something along those lines.

[26:58] And my life being such a wreck was sin that I can't get through to God for that person. I hate the thought of my boy calling me and saying, your grandson's in bad shape, and I couldn't get through to God on his behalf.

[27:15] Folks, we need to confess. We need to confess, we need to pray, we need to repent, and stay in the right relationship with God, if for no other reason for that.

[27:26] But, we'll continue on. Verse 21, And he shall carry forth the bullet without the camp and burn him, as he burned the first bullet.

[27:39] It is a sin offering for the congregation. Verse 22, And the ruler has sinned and done somewhat through ignorance against any of the commandments of the Lord, his God concerning things which should not be done and is guilty, or 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, and he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the Lord.

[28:11] It is a sin offering, and the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it upon the horns of the altar of the burnt offering and shall pour out his blood at the bottom of the altar of the burnt offering.

[28:24] 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.

[28:35] That's some of the most encouraging words that we've read so far in the Lepidicus 4. The very last line that we read, and it shall be forgiven him if it's done the way that God says, and it's no different in our lives.

[28:49] It's no different in the life of any lost sinner that's out there. If we come to God the way that God has said to come, if you notice folks, the only thing they brought was a sacrifice.

[29:02] God didn't say that the offeror, now we're talking about the offeror specifically here, especially this leader that we're talking about now, he didn't say that the offeror has to go through any big elaborate ceremony, he didn't say he has to bring his own tools, he has to bring this or that.

[29:21] All he's got to do is come and place hand on that animal and claim the promise of God that his sin will be forgiven if he goes through the way that God has prescribed for him to go, and it shall be forgiven him, not it might be, not God will chew on it, not God will ponder it, it says it shall be forgiven him.

[29:44] That's just about as good as Romans 10. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord, you believe in your heart that God have erased him from the dead, thou shalt be saved, there's no maybe, there's no gray area there, that's what it takes to confess and believe, and yes, repentance is in there too, people say, well you have repentance, that's adding the work to it folks, Jesus Christ didn't add a work to it when he preached repentance, Jesus Christ said only believe, He said he that believes on me hath everlasting life, hath eternal life, so it is believe, and it is faith, and it is repentance, what were these people doing?

[30:25] They were believing God, but it got to the point, once again fast forward on into the Old Testament, where they were depending on the ritual as opposed to depending on the one that had decreed the ritual to them, that's what got him in trouble, that's what gets a lot of church folks in trouble, that's what gets a lot of saved people in trouble, in spiritual trouble, when you feel like you have no spiritual power, when you feel like the Holy Ghost just ain't abiding with you anymore, it's not necessarily that he's not, it's just that we're depending on the motions, we're depending on our church attendance, instead of why we're going to church, because God saved our souls, we're not depending on the one that is the head of the church, and that we are the body, and we're not understanding that, we're just depending on the ritual for it, these people here, when they got to depending on the ritual, as opposed to depending on God, so I got them in trouble with the Lord, but all these things we just read, remember this is the ruler, and this ruler, it could have been an elder of the Israel lives, it could have, you know, once they got into the Promised Land, they started settling their towns and settling their regions, it could have been, well we would classify as a mayor, or a governor, whatever the case is, but it was a ruler of the people, specifically that we're talking about here, so we've gone from priests, the ones that are in the service of God, and they intercess for the people, and they're the religious elite really, of this day, then we get to the whole nation, the whole congregation of Israel, now we've gone down to a ruler of the people, in verse 27, we get to one more section, and if any one of the common people sin through ignorance, praise God, that's me, if any one of the common people, any one of the nobodies,

[32:22] I'm not a leader, I'm certainly not a nation, I'm my own priest, yes, according to the New Testament, I'm not a high priest, I've got one high priest though, Jesus Christ, but a common person, so we've gone through the entire, everybody that could be ranked in the nation in Israel, God has made a way for their sin to be forgiven, he has made a way for everybody, not only does that show that everybody can repent, and everybody can bring their offering, God, their sin offering, and everyone can lay their hands on it, and confess that they have sinned, and that blood be shed for their sins, not only does it make a way for them to be forgiven, and then to be restored back into fellowship with their God, but it also shows that everyone's a sinner, everyone is a sinner, God made a way for everyone to repent, because everyone needed to repent, and that's what a lot of folks, and especially church folks, that's what a lot of folks get in their head, is boy, I'm good,

[33:30] God really digs me, look what God's done for me, folks, that's sinful in and of itself, that's pride, and God hates a proud look, according to Proverbs chapter 6, we've got to be careful with such stuff, but if any one of the common people sin through it, and once again we're talking about ignorance, and while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments of the Lord concerning things which ought not to be done, and be guilty, or if his sin, which he has sinned, come to his knowledge, then he shall bring for his offering a kid of the goats, a female, without bluemish, here's another difference, it says that the common person can bring a female, why was that?

[34:14] Well, the female goats wasn't nearly as valuable as male goats were, females were valuable as far as they were able to, it takes a male and a female to multiply, we're all well aware of that, but that was really the only value that a female goat had, was to multiply the flock, the male goats were of more value, so he says the common person can bring a kid of the goats, a female, without bluemish, for his sin, which he has sinned, and he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay the sin offering in the place of the burnt offering, and the priest shall take of the blood thereof with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, and shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar, and he shall take away all the fat thereof, as the fat is taken away from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it upon the altar for a sweet saber unto the Lord, and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him, once again, not that it may be forgiven him, it shall be forgiven him, since the priest shall make an atonement for him, and I remember when we've already covered it, this priest had to make an atonement for himself before he could do this, but in the rest of these, the priest is making an atonement on behalf of the nation, and on behalf of the leaders, and on behalf of the common people, and folks, there is one high priest now, one, that has made an atonement for the entire world.

[35:50] He has made a way to be forgiven. He has been the sin offering for all mankind, he's been the burnt offering, and all these things. Another thing that we've read here a few times going through Leviticus 4, is where it says that you'll take these sin offerings, and they'll be killed in the place of the burnt offering.

[36:13] Remember folks, Leviticus 1, the burnt offering has already taken place. The burnt offering is what completely restored fellowship with fallen Israel, and with fallen individual Israelites, the burnt offering done that.

[36:27] This is a sin offering for ignorant sin that they bring for individual sins, and God doesn't put a limit on this either. He doesn't say you can only bring one sin offering per day.

[36:39] I read that nowhere in the Scripture, but we need to, we need to repent, and we need to seek God every day, because of our sin, because of our flesh, because we are sinful, y'all have heard me say it before, but not sinful because of what we do, we're sinful because of who we are.

[36:59] We're naturally sinful people. We're born into this world as children of wrath, and God miraculously saves us and turns us into sons and daughters of righteousness.

[37:12] But by nature, we're all children of wrath, every one of us. But it says, he shall take the fat, or I'm sorry, verse 32, and if he bring a lamb for a sin offering, he shall bring it a female without blurs.

[37:26] So here we have again, a female, a female lamb, once again less, less valued than the male would have, and he shall lay his hand upon the head of the sin offering, and slay it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering, and the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering with his finger, and put it upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering, shall pour out all the blood thereof at the bottom of the altar, and he shall take away all the fat thereof as the fat of the lamb is taken away from the sacrifice of the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn them upon the altar according to the offerings made by fire unto the Lord, and the priest shall make an atonement for his sin that he hath committed, and it shall be forgiven him.

[38:11] So in all these sacrifices, regardless if it was a priest, if it was the nation, if it was a leader, or if it was a common peasant in Israel, we have a way for everybody to be forgiven, but that way is the exact same way for every one of them.

[38:28] Blood had to be shed, and innocent life had to be taken, an animal that does not know what sin is, an animal that all it knows how to do is be an animal.

[38:40] A sheep knows how to be a sheep, a goat knows how to be a goat, a bull knows how to be a bullock. None of these creatures have any idea what sin is. They are completely innocent, and they had to die instead of these guilty Israelites.

[38:56] And we know from the New Testament scripture, we know from our own personal salvation experience, from preaching and teaching of God's Word out of the New Testament, that the land of God is able to wash away all of our sins and make us completely whole, but it was still blood that had to be shed.

[39:17] It was the same way for these Israelites as it was for us, but it was a different blood. But every one of these sacrifices, they pointed to that ultimate sacrifice. They pointed to the ultimate sacrifice that Jesus Christ wouldn't make one day after a while.

[39:35] I think it was last week, maybe the week before, these folks had no clue who Jesus Christ was. They did not know Jesus Christ by name, but they knew there was a Messiah promised.

[39:47] And God put all these ordinances in place, and all these offerings that we're reading about, in place to point toward, to be a shadow of what was to come, which wasn't His, Jesus Christ.

[40:01] Now all this being said, you might ask the question, when we come through all this and all of us talking about ignorant sin, what about sin that people are aware of?

[40:14] What about sin that people think about, that contemplate, and they follow on through? And God addresses that too, not here in this chapter.

[40:26] It's actually addressed in the Scriptures chapter 6, which we'll hopefully get through in a couple of weeks. But it's actually better addressed in Numbers chapter 15. That issue is, and we'll touch on that real quickly.

[40:43] As far as the New Testament goes, we all know that Jesus said himself that the only sin that man could not be forgiven of was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

[40:56] Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost. And most people, most Christians, don't even know what blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is. I'll tell you what it is.

[41:07] It is a complete and utter rejection of God, not the Word of God, not the work of the Holy Spirit, and not the Holy Spirit showing them their sins, and of those people not repenting.

[41:19] It's not calling the Holy Spirit a bad word. And that's what a lot of people think it is. That's not blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. And we know that in the New Testament, because of what the Old Testament says about it, there's no way to a number of chapter 15.

[41:37] There's no sacrifice that's given in Scripture that can be made for someone to utterly reject the Word of God.

[41:48] There's no sacrifice for the end of the Old Testament. Now, you could take someone like me, my own testimony, who blatantly rejected the Word of God for years, and God can still save my soul, and he did.

[42:06] But in the Old Testament, there was no sacrifice for that. And once again, you read that better in Numbers 15, actually, than you do in Leviticus chapter 6. But that's just in case someone was wondering about that, because I said we're talking about ignorance in here.

[42:21] Do you remember, speaking of all the ignorant sin, brought up here in Leviticus chapter 4, you've got to remember these are people that walk with God and knew whom God was.

[42:33] And they knew why they were making these sacrifices. And they knew all these things, and they had received the law from God through Moses, Mount Sinai, and now God has given them these ways to come back into relationship with him, through the burnt offering and the sin offering that we're reading about here.

[42:58] And again, God didn't give his law to a bunch of heathens and pagans, he gave it to his own chosen people. And these offerings that he wrote here in Leviticus, he didn't give those to a bunch of heathens and pagans, he gave those to his own chosen people, those whom he had already delivered.

[43:16] So, and again, if you keep in mind the verse that was quoted before it began tonight on 1 John, these things I write unto you that you sin not.

[43:28] He's already given them those things, he gave them those back at Sinai, he gave the entire nation of Israel his law and his commandments. These things I write unto you that you sin not, but if any of you do sin, if any man does sin, we have an advocate with the Father of Jesus Christ, the righteous.

[43:48] They had advocates in the form of priests here, they had sacrifices in the form of these animals, these innocent creatures that we were talking about, but every one of those were a shadow of Jesus Christ.

[44:02] They were a foretaste of what was to come in Jesus Christ. Where not only Jews could be saved, not only Jews could claim to be God's people, but the Gentiles could as well.

[44:15] And that brings us to the end of Leviticus 4. Anybody got any questions or comments?