Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20071017.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Leviticus: Fellowship With A Holy God
Part I: Acceptable Relationship With A Holy God, Leviticus 1:1-7:38
D. The Sin Offering: The Need For Christ's Atonement For Mortal Weaknesses Or Waywardness
(Leviticus 4:1-5:13)
  1. Introduction
    1. Fellowship between mortal man and an infinitely righteous God is impossible in practical terms due to the corruptive, decaying weaknesses in mortal man that have been caused by his sin nature!
    2. Yet, Christ's atonement covers for our weaknesses and unintentional sins as taught in the Sin Offering, and we view its charge for insight on forgiveness and living wisely in view of such weakness (as follows):
  2. The Sin Offering: The Need For Christ's Atonement For Mortal Weaknesses Or Waywardness.
    1. We learned in a past lesson that after God's presence had filled the tabernacle in Exodus 40:34-38, in great contrast to God's having presented Himself with staggering harshness in pure righteousness on Mount Sinai, He gently spoke from the tabernacle on having fellowship with Him, Leviticus 1:1-2.
    2. Such fellowship required not only a wholehearted commitment to God [the Burnt Offering (Lev. 1:1-17)], not only the donation of one's whole life to God [the Grain Offering (Lev. 2:1-16)] and not only a full application of Christ's atonement [the Peace Offering (Lev. 3:6-11)], but handling sins arising out of our mortal weakness and waywardness as seen in the Sin Offering of Leviticus 4:1-5:13:
      1. The Sin Offering did not deal with sins of open rebellion against God, Bib. Know. Com., O. T., p. 180. Such sins were handled on the Day of Atonement as we will see from Leviticus 16, Ibid., p. 195-196.)
      2. Rather, the Sin Offering itself handled non rebellious sins that were done "'unintentionally'" and "against 'any of the Lord's commands' (it could include sins of omission as well as commission; cf. Num. 15:22-23)." (Ibid., p. 180) These sins arose out of ignorance or weaknesses (like the habitual sins of alcoholism or losing one's temper) that grips the believer in his sinful mortality. (Leviticus 4:2)
      3. The way the instruction on the sin offering is organized reveals important applications as follows:
        1. Non rebellious sins by various parties affected others to the degree of the wrongdoer's POSITION in the community; thus, differing costs of the sacrifices were needed proportionate to such a party's position and influence: (1) non rebellious sins by a priest required a young bull to be sacrificed with some of its blood being sprinkled before the curtain of the holiest of holies and anointed on the horns of the altar of incense in the tabernacle and the rest of the blood being poured out at the base of the bronze altar outside, Lev. 4:3-12. (2) The same sacrificial practices were to be performed in the case of similar sins by the whole congregation (Lev. 4:13-21), revealing that God saw the deeds by a priest in his position as affecting the moral direction of the whole community! (3) Non rebellious sins by a secular ruler required a less-costly male goat whose blood was applied to the bronze altar's horns and poured out at its base versus being taken into the tent as in the former two cases, Ryrie Study Bible, KJV, 1978 ed., ftn. to Lev. 4:22-26. (4) Other individuals could bring (a) an unblemished female goat (4:28) or a lamb (4:32), or (b) the poor could bring less costly doves or pigeons (5:7), or (c) even "a small portion of fine flour (5:11)", Ibid., ftn. to Leviticus 4:27-35.
        2. Typical non rebellious sins are listed in Leviticus 5:1-4: (1) withholding evidence when called to testify (Lev. 5:1); (2) accidental defilement in touching unclean parties (Lev. 5:2-3) or (3) the inability to fulfill a rash vow that had been made in poor human judgment, Leviticus 5:4.
    3. Typologically, these sacrifices reveal Christ intercedes for our sins of weakness, Hebrews 5:1-2; 4:14-16.
    4. However, this passage also reveals that the higher role a believer is given with God's people, the greater the effects of his sins, so he must sense his accountability and so live very carefully, cf. Luke 12:42-48.
Lesson: The sin offering reveals Christ's death atones for sins confessed by believers that have been done in weakness; however, as acts by those higher in oversight are proportionately more influential, the higher their role, the more care leaders must exert in living in accountability to God, cf. James 3:2!

Application: May we rejoice in God's forgiveness of our confessed non rebellious sins; yet, as we are given greater position, may we exert greater CARE in our actions due to our influence on other people!