In this sermon, the preacher discusses the offerings that were made in the tabernacle as described in the book of Leviticus. The tabernacle was a portable place of worship where sacrifices were offered on behalf of the people. The preacher explains the structure of the tabernacle and the different offerings that were made, including the sin offering. The purpose of these offerings was to seek forgiveness from God and alleviate the consequences of sin.

Will you please open your Bibles to the first chapter of the book of Leviticus. Yesterday we saw that we can regard the book of Leviticus as a handbook of holiness. And although of course the uncleanness there is often an artificial uncleanness, we saw that it speaks to us of the defilement that sin brings. We saw that this book was meant to teach the Jews to discern between what was clean and what was unclean. And how contact with this, that and the other rendered them unclean and therefore unfit for fellowship with God. But this book doesn't only deal with what is clean and unclean. It doesn't only tell us how we may be defiled and thus unfit for God. But the great theme of this book is to tell how a sinning people, often defiled, often perhaps rendered unfit for fellowship with God, may nonetheless be cleaned and restored so that a holy God may continue to dwell among them. Again I remind you that which made Israel different from any other nation was that God chose to make his dwelling place among them. That was a wonderful privilege but it imposed great responsibilities. As I said it made certain things unclean that weren't unclean to anybody else. But that tabernacle also enshrined a whole system of sacrifices which were meant to portray for us the way in which man may be restored to God, cleansed from sin, the way in which a holy God may yet continue in grace and blessing with people no better than us. And so it is the opening chapters of the book of Leviticus deal with the offerings which were prescribed. If the artificial uncleanness spoken of in Leviticus is meant to picture for us the defilement of sin, the offerings so carefully delineated in this book are meant to picture for us the Lord Jesus Christ and the wonderful and complete remedy for sin which he has accomplished for us. And so as I say the early chapters deal with the prescribed offerings. If you will look at the first chapter and verse two, the Lord says to Moses, speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them, if any man of you bring an offering unto the Lord he shall bring your offering of the cattle, even of the herd and of the flock, and then followed all sorts of details as to what they were to bring and how they were to bring. That word begins with if. They hadn't got to bring an offering but there was instinctive in Israel and in all the religions of that day a feeling that they must bring an offering to God. All right, says God, if you bring an offering it's got to be along these lines. And you must be punctilious in observing the instructions I give you when you bring an offering because these offerings are intended to be for succeeding generations a wonderful portrayal of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. They weren't to make up anything. Every detail for those who have eyes to see has something significant to tell us but significant to tell us supremely of the Lord Jesus. Sometimes I've heard the offerings explained as picturing our offering of ourselves to God. I don't think that's true. This is Christ and these offerings give us various aspects of the work of the Lord Jesus for us. I don't get a lot of peace out of my offering of myself to God. It can never be complete. It can never be the ground of my peace but I find my rest and my help and my peace in his offering of himself to God and God's acceptance of that offering on my behalf. The great lesson of these offerings is not me for Christ. You'll soon wallow in despair if your emphasis is me for Christ. There is a place for me for Christ but it's not the ground of your peace. The thing we can put over these offerings is Christ for me and therein is growth because the Bible says we're to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Jesus Christ. It doesn't say grow in goodness. Not sure whether I've grown in goodness. Sometimes I feel I've grown the other way. Growth is growth in grace, growth in our appreciation of Christ for me and to find my peace in him and to find my life in him I've got to learn to go out of my poor wretched self to him and Christ for me is the theme of these offerings. Now there are five offerings that Israel were to offer. If they were to make an offering it was to be along these lines one or other or several of these five offerings. In the first chapter you can cast your eye down and you can see the subject is the burnt offering, the whole burnt offering. In the second chapter when any man will offer a meat offering. Do understand in the authorised version meat doesn't mean meat as we understand it. When Jesus said I have meat to eat that you know not of he didn't mean that he had a chop. Meat in Elizabethan English means food and therefore you can regard this second offering as the food offering or the revised version says the meal offering. It was flour. Indeed the revised standard version brings us right up to date and it calls it the cereal offering. That's the second one. In chapter three we go on to what is called the peace offering. All of them different, different rules, different sorts of offerings. The peace offering and then in chapter four we have the sin offering. Very different from the other offerings and then in chapter five we have the trespass offering and in the various offerings which are offered in the historical parts of the Old Testament. You hear them offering this and that. It's always one or other of these five offerings. Very often as we shall see two of them together. Now as I say all these offerings are different in a number of respects but they have one thing in common. They all go through the fire and I suggest to you that these offerings give us differing aspects of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ for us poor sinful failures. But all of them have this much. They picture that work of the Lord Jesus Christ which he did for us on Calvary. They all speak of the Lord Jesus going through the fire and I believe growth in grace will mean for us a growing appreciation of what happened up there between those two thieves. Far more happened up there than any of us realize. We thought we saw it all when we were saved. I do believe, I will believe that Jesus died for me. But oh there's depth there and that is where God finds his greatest delight. And so we see these five offerings. Now of these five offerings two are quite obviously far more important than the other. They recur throughout the Old Testament far more frequently. One is the burnt offering. Indeed a burnt offering was offered twice every day. Quite apart from the exigencies of any specific failure every day the priest offered the burnt offering upon the altar. And then of course it was offered on many another extra occasion. And the other important offering is the sin offering. And invariably you see these two going together the sin offering and the burnt offering. We shall see the significance of this thing I'm going to mention. The burnt offering is often offered alone never the sin offering. Sin offering yes but always followed by the burnt offering. Well now we shall see that this portrays for us two of the most basic aspects of what the Lord Jesus has done for us, done to secure our peace with God and our liberty. And so this morning we're going to look at the sin offering and tomorrow at the burnt offering. I don't think we shall look at the other intervening offerings we won't have time there are other glorious things to explore in this book. But if God helps us to see what is meant in these two offerings I believe we shall have gained something that's going to bless our hearts and show us the way of peace and freedom as never before. And so I want you to look and we'll read through part of chapter four. Before we do so realizing that many of us are new Christians and we are making the acquaintance of these things for the first time I must just remind you of the structure of the tabernacle because these offerings were offered in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a tent like this a portable place of worship though of course it wasn't a place in which the people gathered it was a place in which the sacrifices were offered on behalf of the people. And the tabernacle proper was a tent like this I can't at the moment haven't done enough research to compare the dimensions of the tabernacle with this I don't know it might not have been all that different rather smaller I believe I'm quite sure. And it was divided into two and there was two partitions there was the holy place up there and then they hung a great curtain here beyond which was the holy of holies. And then outside there was an outer court not covered over but with a partition a fence a canvas a linen fence all round with supports and the layout was simply this the priest would come into the outer court first of all and there people could see it over the top or through the doorway would be the brazen altar an altar of brass on which all the major sacrifices were offered. And then coming further towards the inner sanctuary still in the open air was the brazen lava a great pond a great well a lava huge thing supported on imitation animals and that was full of water and the priest in making his approach to the sanctuary would offer the sacrifice at the brazen altar but before he could enter the holy place he would have to wash himself in that water all of this is full of significance we may touch upon it we may not we shall see. And then into the holy place now the priests were permitted to come into the holy place frequently every day indeed they had to and what was there in the holy place well there was the table of showbread where the bread every day was put there there was the candlestick which had to be attended that the oil would continue to cause the lamps to shine and then there was the altar of incense a small altar of incense where the incense was offered up that was the holy place and then there was the holy of holies within which there was only the mercy seat the inner sanctuary here was the greatest portrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ the Old Testament can give us we needn't go into the details this golden box with the law inside then commandments with a cherry beam overshadowing the mercy seat growing out of the lid which was called the mercy seat and so on and into that holy of holies the high priest went only once a year he only and then only once in the year and we shall think later on about that great day the day of atonement when the high priest went in once in the year now that's just the layout you have to know that to understand various illusions when we think of the sin offering now shall we look at chapter 4 and the Lord spake unto Moses saying speak unto the children of Israel saying if a soul shall sin through ignorance revised version if a soul shall sin unwittingly 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 don't know what that phrase means according to the sin of the people but the revised version says if the anointed people priests shall sin so as to bring guilt on the people if a priest sin sins he might involve the whole congregation in guilt what a solemn thing then let him bring for his sin which he has sinned a young book without blemish unto the Lord for a sin offering and he shall bring the bullock unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation but 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 that's into the holy place not at the Holy of Holies this is often happening not once in the year but into the holy place 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 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 covers 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 call above the liver with the kidneys it shall he take away as it was taken off from the Bullock at 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 legs with his head and with his legs and his inwards and his down even the whole burnt offering shall he carry forth without the camp unto a clean place where the ashes are poured out and burn him on the wood with the fire where the ashes are poured out shall he be burnt so that is what is to happen if a priest sins then in verse 13 and if the whole congregation of Israel sins through ignorance once again err unwittingly and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly they don't know it's happened 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 offer a young Bullock and much and exactly the same is done for the young Bullock as in the previous instance then in verse 22 when a ruler has sinned first of all a priest then the whole congregation when a ruler has sinned against any of the commandments of the Lord verse 23 the revised knocks out that word or when he has sinned if his sin wherein he has sinned come to his knowledge he shall bring his offering in his case a kid of the goats a mare without blemish and he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat and kill it verse 25 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 no this time the blood doesn't go into the holy place it's put upon the horns of the altar of burnt offering and he shall burn his fat upon his fat upon the altar and a further passage tells us in such a case the body was not burnt outside the camp but eaten by the priests within the holy place in certain cases the blood was brought right into the holy place in which case the body was always burnt outside the camp but in certain instances this is one the blood was not brought into the holy place but only to the altar of burnt offering in which case the body was to be eaten by the priest this is these are the restricted the instructions you say it seems a bit complicated but I think we shall find there's a very simple meaning a picture for us in all these things verse 27 and then you come further down the scale and if any one of the common people sin through ignorance verse 28 if his sin which he has sinned come to his knowledge then he shall bring his offering a smaller offering yet a kid of the goats a female without blemish and that is dealt with in the same way as the one with regard to the ruler and the blessed end of these offerings is this take verse 26 and the priest last half shall make an atonement for him as concerning his sin and it that thing that had been done shall be forgiven him and forgiveness with God means an alleviation of sometimes the disciplines that he has to put us to because of our sin well now as you've looked at that and listen to it and maybe it's you have some familiarity obviously certain things have struck you now the first thing that strikes me with regard to this offering this sin offering was it was to be offered for sins done in ignorance for sins done unwittingly every time it's if someone sinned unwittingly against any of the commandments of Lord he's done something wrong he doesn't know he's done it it's only later that is made known to him oh what have I done because remember they were very much impressed with the holiness that was to be there the presence of the Lord God right in their midst look what I've done what is what is this going to mean for us what shall I do now there was always this provision for peace and forgiveness when a thing had been done unwittingly and then it was made known well now it's interesting to note that that is the great scope of the redemption of our Lord Jesus you may think it may limit it but it doesn't what the Lord Jesus did for us on the cross he did it for sins done in ignorance indeed he said he did he said he did he said on the cross father forgive them for they don't know what they do they did didn't know who it was they were putting on the cross it was a terrible sin but done in ignorance 1 Corinthians 2 says with none of the rulers of this world knew had they known it they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory it was a sin done in ignorance and of course it was the work of the Apostles in the acts to inform the people of what they did that was the burden of their message whom you put on the tree God raised up and showed it to be Messiah in Christ they said what have we done men and brethren what shall we do and they were told God had anticipated that very situation and then you will remember that Paul attributed the grace of God to him because the sins he did were done in ignorance if you like to turn to 1 Timothy 1 13 verse 12 rather 1 Timothy 1 12 and Paul says I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that he counted me faithful putting me into the ministry who was before a blasphemer a persecutor injurious outrageously insulting that means but I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief his actions seem to me absolutely deliberate but God said oh no he didn't know what he was doing I know there were certain reactions were utterly wrong but he didn't really know and mercy reached me he said because I did it ignorantly in unbelief and when he was awakened to see what he'd done on that road to Damascus that the one whom he was persecuting was none other than the Messiah he repented and grace reached him and he found there was a sin offering for such a sin as he had seen well now as I say you might think well that rather limits the atonement of the Lord Jesus I know I've done things ignorantly and unbelief but there are other things I have to confess I've done absolutely willfully are they not provided for by the atonement of our Lord Jesus I don't think you did sin as willfully as you thought you did yes willfully but I dare to say it was done in ignorance no man truly knows what he does when he said he thinks he does but let that man be awakened by free grace on high and he gets a view of his sins he never had before by comparison his view of sin was utter ignorance to what he had what he gets now and God in his mercy is going to take account of your sin your very worst as being done ignorantly in unbelief for which he's provided the sin offering you get the same thing brought out in other types and shadows of the Lord Jesus notably the city of refuge you may know that in Old Testament times if one man killed another rough-and-ready justice was exacted by the next of kin it was their responsibility to track the murderer down and kill him and the law was satisfied he was called the Avenger of blood but of course supposing one man didn't murder another deliberately but he killed the other unwittingly as a result of an accident well the Avenger of blood might not make a difference and further injustice would be done in that that manslayer would be killed even our law makes a difference between murder and manslaughter and the kind in laws of God did and God wanted to protect the manslayer and therefore there were certain cities six of them scattered throughout Israel called cities of refuge and the manslayer had only to get into one of those cities no matter how near the Avenger of blood might be in his track and he was safe now I don't know is this new to you but of course we who love to preach the gospel from every part of the scripture love to portray the city of refuge as a picture of our Lord Jesus he is the sinner's city of refuge but notice it was for the manslayer the one who had done what he did unwittingly the murderer couldn't take refuge in there he could temporally but when his came the case came up for adjudication he would be handed over to the Avenger of blood but not the manslayer here's the same thing again and what it comes to is this that God in his mercy is prepared to take account of your slaying and mine of the Son of God because we've all been guilty of it as manslaughter and not murder now you see that very clearly in Acts chapter 3 and here you have Peter telling the people what they've done they've done something in ignorance they're slain their Messiah but he makes it clear that God's going to take a very merciful view with regard to that terrible crime he's going to regard it merely as manslaughter for which there's a city of refuge verse 17 and now brethren I know that through ignorance you did it as did also your rulers but those things which God before showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ should suffer he has so fulfilled repent ye therefore for there's a place of refuge for you and so when Peter first stood before the people who put the Son of God on the cross he gave them this encouraging news perhaps the greatest incentive for them to repent was this merciful view that God was going to take of their sin but the people who were given this offer of this city of refuge refused to flee that they wouldn't accept the fact that they were wrong in doing what they did they were shown what they'd done but they weren't prepared to bring the sin offering and so it is in chapter 7 you see their sin is given another view and now they're charged not with murder with manslaughter but with murder at 751 Stephen speaking he stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears you do always resist the Holy Ghost as your father's did so do you which of the prophets have not your father's persecuted and they have slain them which showed before of the coming of the just one of whom you have now been the betrayers and the murderers now he's charging them with murder for which there is no city of refuge and as I understand it sin only becomes willful sin in God's sight when having been given the offer of mercy having shown this been shown the sin offering had been shown the city of refuge you refuse to repent you refuse to flee there you refuse to come to the Lord Jesus Christ all right says God now your sin is willful it was never willful in the middle of it but I regard it not no no longer now as manslaughter you have murdered the Son of God for which there is no salvation please turn the cassette over now do not fast wind it in either direction I regard it not no no longer now as manslaughter you have murdered the Son of God for which there is no salvation willful sin cannot be forgiven because you won't repent of it there's only one unforgivable sin and there's a sin you won't you won't repent on of course the moment you do repent of it it's no longer willful no and it's forgiveness please don't get me wrong sin is only unforgivable while you won't repent and while Israel wouldn't repent then they were going to give account up for murder of the Son of God in the day of judgment but of course we know that many who did resist first later repented and they found that Jesus the city of refuge the sin offering was available to them and so this is the gracious offer of God to treat our worst transgressions as sins done in ignorance you didn't know you didn't see sinners I see it I remember a bit I know of a very intimate story told of Billy Graham I don't think he would mind telling it and it was years ago before that great campaign which where God began to use him in a special way a group of them were having a prayer meeting and Billy Graham gave a little message said he said he said you know I hate sin I hate sin and later along at midnight they were having an all-night prayer meeting those that those leaders were in prayer and they all began to repent that they didn't hate sin but they didn't hate sin and suddenly someone felt a figure come right out of the fountain fall in his face you know God I was wrong when I said I hated sin it was Billy Graham I don't hate sin as you hated and so God says no you don't you've done many things things you'd ever seen to be sin things you know to be sin but you and I don't know the full extent the depths the insults to God all the ramifications but God says if you walk with me I'll show you you see he doesn't intend us to go on in sins of ignorance he intends to reveal them progressively to us that I believe is what job one job John means when it says one John one said if we walk in the light as he is in the light walking in the light is having these sins done in ignorance revealed to us they come as a shock sin is a revelation from heaven and a merciful one how can you really be forgiven what you don't depend on and how can you repent of what you don't see we're all in a realm of illusion about ourselves but as I begin to whatever to respond to whatever like God gives me he'll give me more and I will progressively see that to be sin which I never saw to be sin before oh you say what a terrible way of progressing no no for what the light reveals the precious blood is there to cleanse and when you have the most painful revelation of motives and thoughts and actions when you see the effect of what you've done you didn't see it at the time there's no need for the sinner to despair but ahead of time God has provided a perfectly adequate sin offering that can cleanse that man and put that man right as right with God as grace can and of course in the process I have an appreciation of the Lord Jesus and of grace that I never had before and that of course is growing in grace I don't know any other way to grow in grace but this way one other verse along this line will you turn to psalm 19 psalm 19 verse 12 who can understand his errors cleanse thou me from secret thoughts and the revised version I have a two version Bible I can see the glance what the revised how the revised version translates it and there it is cleanse thou me not from secret thoughts but from hidden thoughts it isn't merely from thoughts that I commit in secret and it isn't merely faults which I hide from other people hidden faults are faults which are hidden from me and my dear friends as a vast row of things that are hidden of course it's a wretched process we don't want to face the truth and we kid ourselves it isn't what we think it is and we give our other people an impression of ourselves which isn't the truth and we keep on acting a lie and telling a lie sometimes only unconsciously but eventually we come to believe our own lie and we really believe that the impression we give of us of ourselves to others is ourselves and God's got to begin with introducing us to ourselves a whole world of hidden faults now God in his love is going to reveal them to us but it isn't going you needn't mustn't make heavy weather of it you must be reconciled that this is the sort of man fallen creatures are it shouldn't be a surprise to you to have this or that revealed it's hurtful in our pride to own it but that's all and more than that grace there is my every debt to pay blood to wash my every stain away don't you see how this makes a path of progressive holiness really possible the fact that there is this sin offering the fact that grace is for people like us provokes us to a new honesty and a new willingness that's why when you get away from Jesus and you don't see the cross you don't see the blood as perhaps you did you become more and more unwilling to own up and be honest but the nearer we are the more we're encouraged to tell the truth about ourselves to God and come into freedom again well now that's taken rather a long time the sins done in ignorance but don't you think it touches on a very wide issue all right now the one who sinned has had the painful revelation but there's the prescribed offering the sin offering and he's to bring this offering and you will notice the things that he's required to do we're back in leviticus four now he's to bring the offering the bullock in the case of the priest to the door of the tabernacle and he's to lay his hand upon the bullock's head that's the first thing now these are the sparrows that delight to fly in the tabernacle of the lord um i think yes we have the two doors open at meantime don't let uh the birds of the air distract our attention or take the seed away from our hearts yes all right don't worry now again and again in the old testament sacrifices the offerer the sinner had to lay his hand upon the head of the book now what does that mean sometimes it's thought that he symbolically transferred his guilt to the head of the victim but i don't think that is true i believe this laying the hand upon the head was identifying himself with that offering i believe it meant that i see myself as this offering and what's going to happen to this offering i see as happening to me i believe that is what is meant in ordination the laying of hands upon people when saul and barnabas were sent forth to the gentiles the church laid their hands on them we identify ourselves with these brothers who are going out with the gospel and they go out as us there are representatives what they do they do as us in our name and surely that is what is meant by ordination group of people who set a man apart and say what he does he does in the name of the whole church he does it as us and when that offer laid his hand upon the head of the offering he says what this lamb this bullock does he does as me what happens to him is really happening to me and i recognize the death that this bullock is doing is dying is my death is what i deserve and we've sang tonight this morning to be not my faith would lay her hand on that dear head of thine what a lovely picture of repentance and faith in our lord jesus oh when i've seen what i am when i've had this new revelation and i've got to put this right and get right with god i find that god has found the sin offering already i don't have to slay him he's already been slain by god's appointment but i have to go to the cross and identify myself with jesus and saying lord this has happened in me deserve that that's my death that's what this deserves that's what i deserve that's been such a help to me it really helps me to get right down to it isn't just a mistake oh i'm sorry about that it deserves all the bloodshedding and judgment bearing of the lord jesus and my faith would lay her hand on that dear head of thine while as a penitent i stand and there confess my sin i confess this whatever it may be as occasioning the death of the son of god and as needing all that to put me right do you know if there's only one sinner in the world and he committed only one sin it would have needed all of calvary to restore that man to god so vast is sin and at the cross you've got to take the same view of your sin as god does and see it as worthy deserving that terrible judgment bearing of the son of god yes it used to i remember some occasions it was very much with me you know god uses pictures at one time more than another and i remember having to got wrong with god over something perhaps something came between me and my wife and i had to get away just before i had and i remember lord i want to be clear i'm right now virtually laying my hand upon your head this has happened i'm the one who's watched this deserve that and you don't get peace with god through what the lord jesus has done save as you're prepared to take that view and then to the offer did the slave the priesthood and i believe that that is linked with what i just said i've got to see my sin as occasioning the death of the lord jesus i've got to look on him whom i have pierced and mourn for him i'm not to mourn merely for what sin might cost me but i've got to see what it's cost my substitute on the cross sometimes i find that repentance and faith in the lord jesus doesn't always bring me into peace because i haven't taken that view of it i haven't taken that view it's a very solemn thing no one's a sinner in the situation but you and then will you notice the beast having been slain the blood was taken verse six and sprinkled seven times before the veil and then in verse seven upon the horns of the ultra sweet sweet incense and the surplus the rest poured at the bottom of the burnt offering altar the brazen altar that blood was offered for the eye of god now there's a phrase that's often used in law cases that and i was a foreman of a jury for two weeks a most interesting experience and we came to realize two things that in that court justice had to be done and it had to see be seen to be done and with regard to my sin justice must be done and it must be seen to be done and god must see that it's done and so the bloods of the lord jesus shed at calvary is offered to the eye of god by that same lord jesus his powerful blood did once atone and now it pleads before the throne and god sees that justice has been done because understand this whereas calvary's self-offering was the greatest act of the love of god it's also the greatest act of the justice of god this is what sin has deserved and the judgment that it deserves has been exhausted by that blessed one on the cross and god has to see it that's helpful it isn't my estimate of the blood of christ that is the ground of my peace it's goddess god's estimate is it enough for him and sometimes we mourn and we chasten ourselves and we don't get into peace so i wish i could see the blood more listen it's where he sees the blood jesus the sinner's friend we hide ourselves god looks upon thy sprinkled blood it is our only plea and god satisfied shown by the fact that he raised our lord jesus from the dead as an old couplet said says if jesus had not paid the debt he ne'er had been at freedom said no i've had my humbling and then i know that god's satisfied and if he's satisfied why cannot i be satisfied too and then you will notice the fact and certain of the inwards are burnt on the altar i'm not going to talk about that this this morning because that's a little anticipation of a glorious truth which is developed to the full when we come to the burnt offering but there's a hint of it even in the sin offering we will pass over that thing but then you will notice that the rest apart from these inwards the rest of the body the skin verse 11 the flesh the head the legs the inwards and even the whole book is taken outside the camp to a clean place where the fire is burning and there the whole body is consumed with ashes and so you see the bloods in the holy place but the body outside the camp and of course that pictures for us the complete consumption in the lord jesus of what is offensive to god and that in holy judgment he was bearing my sins in his body on the tree god had to treat him as he'd otherwise have to treat me and at calvary the judgment of god fell without sparing him there and all that was offensive in man was consumed in holy judgment in the person of the one who had never sinned and it's not only that my sins have received their judgment at calvary not only have my sins been put away but i've been put away that's god's estimate of me that derelict form out there outside the city wall is me at my best as well as at my worst and i need to appreciate that fact you know the christian life isn't you being better and trying to be nicer and sweeter it's rather you accepting that estimate progressively of yourself that estimate revealed at calvary in order to have another live and another express himself there's only one beautiful thing about the christian and it's not the christian it's the lord jesus who lives in the christian but that's not likely to be a real thing save as i progressively am willing to go to that cross and see myself judged in him and accept that fact blessed is he that expected nothing he shall not be disappointed and if you don't learn to expect any good from yourself you accept that estimate well it won't be such a surprise when you find it's true but you'll learn to turn to calvary with relief for forgiveness and cleansing and to let again that blessed lord jesus to take over and express his life where you have been such a failure and so you see this interesting thing the blood within the holy place the body outside the cap doesn't it's pictured for us the two great sides of the work of the lord jesus that terrible judgment bearing of his out there but a judgment bearing that was so sufficient that be our failures what they are god looks upon that sprinkle blood it's enough to give us peace the vilest offender who truly believes that moment from jesus a pardon received because of the sufficiency of that blood and what happened outside the camp and now i turn to what must be the last point this this morning and that is the very interesting thing that there are different offerings for different classes of persons did you notice that if the priest that is anointed to sin verse three he's to bring a book verse 13 if the whole congregation congregation of israel sin they're to bring a young bullet too when a ruler has sinned he brings a kid a smaller offering and when one of the common people sins then he brings yet a smaller one in the case of the ruler he's to bring a male a kid of the goats a male in the case of the common people he can bring a female female presumably being of less value than a male no i don't mean that as a joke i mean it's just no no it's just presumably that's what's meant you see these graduations actually i i knocked over in a car a sheep you see and uh had it been a male it wouldn't have mattered so much but if the female very valuable and i had to pay quite a sum to compensate the farmer because he could have read from it so in so today a female is of more value maybe commercially but here i presume it's graduated in this way now what is this meant to me does a leader when he sins need a bigger sacrifice for peace of course not there's one sacrifice for everybody what does it mean i believe when you have these graduated offerings and we shall see them again in the burnt offering tomorrow it means differing appreciations of the one offering there's only one offering for the whole world but what a different appreciation there is of that one offering between christian and christian i've heard people testify and speak of jesus and i said oh how wonderful i'm afraid i haven't got quite that view of him they see a sufficiency a preciousness in him that i don't see there's their differences of appreciation and that is of course linked with what i said about growing in grace as i know more of my sin i have to have a greater appreciation of the lord jesus of the blood of his judgment bearing in order to get peace with god and i believe that's what's meant here if a priest that is anointed to sin in his case he may be guilt and chastening on the whole congregation of israel and when at last he's seen what he's done he's made he's convicted i tell you he'll need a young bullock so to speak he'll need a larger appreciation of the lord jesus for peace than the new convert he feels so much worse about it his conscience is the more educated he sees the solemn thing he who has been given some measure of leadership in the lord's work should have failed as he has and you'll find him mourning at a depth that another man wouldn't and mourning over things that another person i don't know what he's making such a fuss about ah but you see to whom much is given of him much is required and those of us who have been given some responsibility you know there's been time you've had an awful struggle to rejoice again after some failure and you've needed a very special revelation of that dear lord jesus and his blood are the sufficient of that sacrifice to gain peace you didn't need to have a struggle it could be as quick as anybody else's but being human the weight of guilt seem to be greater on our part than a part of other people and god seemed to be more scrupulous with us and so according to how much is given us to that extent we need even a larger appreciation of the lord jesus for peace it's the same way and so of course it is with the with with the whole congregation of israel it's a young bullock there then when a ruler sins it's a somewhat less and when a common people it doesn't mean the new convert is to look upon sin lightly he he doesn't need so much of jesus for peace he needs the whole of calvary but on our side we need to we need that ever increasing i wonder do we who've got some leadership been entrusted with some responsibility you may not be a minister you may have a sunday school class are you sharper on sin than those to whom you speak in yourself do we know greater humbling and as a result are we going to our people with a larger conception of christ being able to say my heart is full of christ and longs it's glorious matter to declare of him i make my noble songs i cannot from his praise forbear there's been deep dealings deeper perhaps in that man than in others though none of us must ever take sin lightly but that's how it works out i think this is the most interesting thing are these differing offerings i only know for myself uh when i got to studying this this morning i felt so convicted i felt that i could have risen earlier but i feel god showed me that i was relying on the blessing of yesterday and oh it'll be all right it'll come and when i began to go into this and saw how much one couldn't begin to tackle how little i knew how little i'd really gone into this and that i found i wasn't heading to have peace i was struggling struggling to get it and the lord says you need to repent the practice of the pride that was relying on the past and i had to see this i had to see my sin offering i had to see that blood within the veil satisfying god i had to see that even for that pride it needed the judgment bearing of the lord jesus and to come just as one who's newly laid his hand upon his sin offering some people say that's nothing much to repent about isn't it god won't let you off but don't start raking around for sin at whatever level you're walking with jesus he would deal with you and lead you on to a further level but every time you direct your gaze to the lord jesus yes as i say there's the difference in the offering will you notice in the case of the priest and the whole congregation the blood went inside and the body outside in the case of the ruler the common people the blood only went to the brazen altar and the body was eaten by the priest it's the same thought oh sometimes i felt so bad i had to have almost a special revelation it seemed to see that blood enough for me i when i was first saved it was enough to know that jesus died on the cross and that was all but we go on we go deeper not going on to new unexplored truths we go deeper in the same blessed spot where we began and find ever deeper depths well we must stop there but thank god for this sin offering that's being provided ahead of time to take care of whatever revelation of ourselves is made to us god help us to be willing to walk in this way of holiness to walk in the light as he is in the light knowing that as we do so jesus my sin offering is already slain the blood is there for my peace god help us to lay our hands upon his head maybe over matters even today and to go on our way rejoicing and gain new testimonies of grace even today let us pray now lord jesus we thank thee that for every deficiency of which we can be reproved and convicted thou art the answer that our sin offering that our city of refuge and we pray thee lord give us a new willingness to walk in that light and say to thee yes lord you're right i'm wrong on this point again or some other knowing of this precious grace that meets us now may the grace of our lord jesus and the love of god and the fellowship of the holy spirit be with us all evermore amen