Leviticus Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Leviticus

Sin Offering

In this chapter, sin is mentioned 13 times; sinned 6 times; sin offering 12 times; but not even once is sin mentioned in chapters 1, 2, & 3.

In the previous offerings, the offeror = worshipper; but here the offeror = convicted sinner.

James 3:2 (JND) We all often offend

Leviticus 4:2 - If a soul sins through ignorance - willful sin not contemplated here. Willful sin = apostasy (Leviticus 13 & 14)

Psalm 19:12 - secret faults - Secret = hidden things; things not discerned. Not sins of omission but acts committed, but things we do not suppose to be sin.

Probable causes:

• Want of knowledge of Christ (the truth)
• Too little tenderness of conscience
• Hardness of heart
• A corrupt nature

These four things would cause sin to be unperceived. See Hebrews 5:1-2

I. Pauls sin - Sin of ignorance (1 Timothy 1:13; Deuteronomy 19:4; Acts 9:1-4)

a. Pauls affections were not against them zeal for law zeal is not bad, but blind.

b. His will is not opposed to judgment (Acts 26:9). Will is good but misled.

c. His understanding is faulty that poisoned all. He believed:

• Jesus was an imposter.
• Christianity was a pestilent sect.

So his sin was a sin of ignorance.

II. Peters denial Sin of infirmity

• He knew who Jesus was,
• He knew he ought not to deny Him. Peter could not plead ignorance,
• Fault not in Peters will to make it a sin of presumption. The denial was contrary to his resolution. He honored the Lord in his heart though he denied Him with his tongue. He wept bitterly (Matthew 26:75; Mark 14:72; Luke 22:62),
• Affections: here he failed. Seeing the brutality and fearing, he denied the Lord out of weakness.

III. Davids murder of Uriah - Sin of presumption

• He knew the law of God. Therefore, not a sin of ignorance.
• Not a sin of infirmity (2 Samuel 11:15) swept away in the heat of lust, as his sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:2),
• It was resolved he willed it.

Great Transgression (1 John 5:16, Hebrews 10:26)

Apostasy = the abandoning of Truth (Christ)

• Not mere indifference to the Word (Christ). It involves intellectual acceptance of the truth (Christ).
• Not to be confounded with error not necessarily believing false doctrines. An apostate acknowledges certain doctrines are true but fails to believe them in his heart.
• An apostate can acknowledge Christ Jesus without accepting Him.
• Apostates have received light, but not life.
• They have known and accepted the written Word but have never met with the Living Word.
• Apostasy is a deliberate rejection of the truth after it is known (Hebrews 10:29)
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Apostasy expressed:

2 Thessalonians 2:10 revealed truth, but not the love of it.

Simon exercised some sort of belief, he was baptized, but he never personally accepted Christ Jesus he gave a mere intellectual assent. (Acts 8:13-14, Acts 8:18-23 - v.21 heart not right; v.22 unrepentant, not forgiven)

Greek: APOSTASIA = fall away.

Used twice in the NT Acts 21:21 forsake; 2 Thessalonians 2:3 falling away.

Examples of apostasy 

John 6:66 - forsaking

1 Timothy 4:1 - turning the back on knowing truth.

2 Timothy 4:3 turning away from truth to seek the false

2 Peter 2:20-22 - having intellectual knowledge and rejecting Christ.

The Sin Offering

Four classes of people are in view in connection with the sin offering.

Verses 3-12 procedure for the priest and the whole congregation.

Verses 13-21 for the other two groups. The procedure is not the same as in the first two.

Ten details of the first two

• A young bullock unblemished (v. 3, 14).
• At the door of the tabernacle (v. 4, 14).
• Laying of hands (v. 4, 15).
• Killing the offering (v. 4, 15).
• The blood sprinkled 7 times (vv. 5-6; 16-17).
• The blood put on the horns of the altar (v. 7, 18).
• The blood at the base of the altar (v. 7, 18).
• All the fat burnt upon the altar of burnt offering.
• The rest of the bullock taken outside the camp.
• The whole bullock burnt Hebrews 13:11-12.

THE PRIEST

Verse 3 - compare v. 14 becomes known; v.23 come to his knowledge; v.28 come to his knowledge.

This is NOT said of the priest = holy sensitiveness belongs to the anointing. The measure of our holiness can be measured by our sensitiveness to sin.

(Discipline often necessary Psalm 119:67).

Turn to God at once we avail ourselves of Christ in sin-offering character. We dont need to be occupied with our sin.

Satans tactics: He tries to keep sin before us; he darkens our soul; he hinders our turning to God lest we learn the value of Christ in relation to our sin.

The first movement in regard to a believers sin is on the part of Jesus Christ, the Righteous (1 John 2:1)

His advocacy (present service) results in suitable soul-exercises.

• Humbling because of sin results in exposure to us what we are.
• Christ is better known and more appreciated in our heart (bullock apprehension)

v. 4 the door = open and candid

How do we cover sin? (Proverbs 28:13).

a. by falsehood which denies sin

b. by hypocrisy which conceals sin

c. by boasting which justifies it

d. by loud profession which tries to make amends for sin.

Confession must be made:

• To the Lord Himself
• We must acknowledge the wrong
• Sense its evil
• Abhor the sin
• Not throw the fault on others
• Not blame circumstances
• Not plead natural weakness
• Forsake evil disown present and future intention to dwell with it.

There is a fleshly reluctance to own the wrong we have done. To own it gives us moral elevation. Peter, Moses, and David did not mind their sin being put on record. They were morally apart from it by self-judgment. They had no thought of preserving their own reputation.

v. 4 before the Lord - 9 times

James 5:6 - Beware of the Roman Catholic trap to bring people under the power of a false priesthood.

Saul - 1 Samuel 15:30. Compare 1 Samuel 2:30

(Penitential Psalms: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143)

Jabezs prayer 1 Chronicles 4:10

v.4 lay his hand and kill = identification with the substitute in death.

v.6 seven times = He apprehends afresh the perfection of the efficacy of the blood of Christ (Hebrews 10:14)

this is the error of the Catholic Mass. We are NOT being washed again nor is there a reapplication of the blood.

v. 6 before the veil = his flesh; Christ in His humanity way of access opened.

v. 7 Blood upon the horns of the altar of incense (in the tabernacle). The offeror returns to liberty and confidence in prayer (1 John 3:21-22).

v. 7 Bloodthe altar of burnt offering (at the door of the tabernacle) forms the basis for the delight in the excellency of Christ (fat)

BURN

v. 10 burn = Hebrew word Katar = turn into fragrance by fire ascended to Jehovah

v. 12 burn = Hebrew word Sarap = burning up (or rather down) the sin offering nothing ascended to God.

v. 11-12 Complete consumption in holy judgment of what is offensive to God complete rejection of the fallen man.

Psalm 51:5 Ashes = judgment eternally exhausted.

Hebrew 13:11-12 Jesus went forth bearing His cross without the gate.

• Therefore, leave the camp of the worlds sin and religion. Jesus did no sin not of the world; separate from sinners
• For our sanctification cannot grow in grace and yet be conformed to world.
• 2 Timothy 2:12 to win the crown.
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v. 13 sin of the whole congregation = a serious matter; like the sin of the priest, it interferes with the service of God.

Are we exercised about the sin of the congregation? What is the sin of the whole congregation?

Does the present situation give God pleasure?

Revelation 2 & 3.

• Ephesus, Revelation 2:5;
• Pergamos 2:16;
• Thyatira 2:21;
• Sardis 3:3;
• Laodicea 3:19;
• In Smyrna 2:8-11 and Philadelphia 3:7-13, no repentance is called for.
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The church in Ephesus:

• Left their first love,
• Not in subjection to Jesus as Lord. They dont own His headship,
• Does not own in a practical way the reality of the presence of the Holy Spirit - mans order prevails.

The Lord takes account of the sin and gives the eldership an opportunity to repent.

v. 14 We have a responsibility when the sin is known to us. Assembly exercise is deeper than that which is purely individual. Should we leave an assembly because of sin in it? When they refuse to judge sin, they sanction sin. Then the remedy? 2 Timothy 2:19b-21

The sin offering of the assembly = anointed priest a large apprehension of Christ.

v. 22-26 (Ruler-Leader (NIV))

Therefore, this calls for an energetic apprehension of Christ in sin-offering character.

• Offering in proportion to the offeror. A leaders sins affect confidence reposed in him and fellowship, and cannot be restored without adequate evidence he has judged himself. Therefore, a kid of the goats a male required. Im sorry not enough, two birds will not suffice, or a handful of flour.
• The measure of ones self-judgment = the measure we apprehend Christ as the sin offering. David = an example of Ruler/leader who sinned.
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We must read the penitential Psalms: 6, 32, 38, 51, 102, 130, 143

v. 24-26 Procedure:

A little difference to first two. Note the omissions.

• Place of the killing north side of the altar
• North sacrifice slain (Leviticus 1:11);
• East ashes deposited (Leviticus 1:16);
• South rivers of cleansing flowed out (Ezekiel 47:1);
• West faced into the holiest (Hebrews 10:19).

b. Blood not sprinkled before the veil = (only priest could enter)

c. Blood not put on the altar of incense.

d. The carcass not taken without the camp, nor was it burned; only the fat.

Significance of the two altars.

• Brazen altar = which all Levites may approach
• Golden altar = approached only by the priests.
• Brazen altar = represents the need of the individual
• Golden altar = represents the need of the assembly
• Approach to the golden altar = communion with God
• Approach to the brazen altar = cleansing
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Ruler and common people individual need in view for personal forgiveness, cleansing and restoration.

Another suggestion: the difference of degree in apprehension of sins consequences (babes, young men, fathers)

In the first two cases correspond to Joshua 7:11, 19 (Achan), 1 Corinthians 12:26; Ephesians 4:3. Their apprehension of the blood goes beyond the brazen altar.

The question is what happened to the offering? Not burned but eaten (Leviticus 6:24-26).

Examples of eating the offering:

• Meat offering Leviticus 2:3 (food for priests). Learning Christ in his moral glories and His sufferings.
• Peace offering Leviticus 3; 7:15, 19 eaten in fellowship with the altar.
• Sin offering -Leviticus 6:24-26 eating the sin offering by the priest (i.e.: Knowing by a deep in-wrought experience the meaning to God of Gethsemane and Calvary). Oh, make me understand it (K.A.M. Kelly)
• Example: Daniel 9:5, 8, 9 (Leviticus 6:26 shall eat it)

Leviticus 5:1-13 The sin offering continued.

• Sin offering: 4:1 to 5:13: 48 verses.
• Burnt offering: 17 verses.
• Meat offering: 16 verses.
• Peace offering: 17 verses.
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So much is said about the sin offering because so much sin exists among the Lords people.

Leviticus 5:1-6: Three specific instances: cover in principle every kind of sin amongst the people of God.

• failure to witness v. 1,
• failure to maintain separation v. 2-3,
• failure in self-control v. 4.
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• Sin of remaining silent when evidence should be given (sin of omission) (James 4:17).
• Sin of guilty silence when
• witness should have been given,
• faithful reproof,
• warning, or
• Loyal defense when another is being defamed or wrongly accused.
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Refusal to bear witness to the Lord Jesus Christ for

• Fear of man ridicule,
• Through self-interest. Matthew 26:63-64; 1 Timothy 6:13 shows the confession is in the presence of the hostile world; owing Christ before unbelievers. Possible to evade the reproach by sidestepping Christ. Confession brings Christ into evidence in a positive way.
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• v. 2-3- touching what is unclean.
• The first was the sin of omission. This is a sin of commission (1 John 3:4).
• Different degrees of uncleanness, large and small. Failure in separation is:
• Personal failure,
• Fellowship is compromised (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)
• v.2 = typifying things outside oneself; association with unbelievers (2 Corinthians 6).
• v.3 = 2 Corinthians 7:1- pollution of flesh and spirit.

Causes:

• Unwatchful in our thoughts and desires,
• By deliberate contracts and associations, business principles, practices and methods; questionable entertainments, doubtful literature, etc.
• The cross that frees us from condemnation cuts off all sins of association with the world Galatians 1:4; the flesh Galatians 5:24; the devil 1 John 3:8; and self Galatians 2:20
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• Talking rashly v. 4 (Exodus 20:7; Matthew 26:74; 5:33-37; James 3:2; Ecclesiastes 5:1-5; Deuteronomy 23:21-22)
• v. 5 guilty in one of these things-
• Result: joy is clouded; no freedom in service or in prayer; freezing fellowship.
• Provision: v. 6-12 God takes account of varying capacities. There is not the same capacity for the apprehension:
• of Christ
• for self-judgment
• There are moral differences, just as there are mental and physical differences.
• v. 6 female from the flock a lamb of kid of the goats.
• v. 7 - two turtle doves/pigeons
• v. 11 - fine flour
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God accepts any measure of true exercise. Of a person whose exercise is feeble we may say there is little in him; but we should not think little of him. We must understand his divine value even though he does not understand.

These provisions are made in grace. God knows our ability and will not accept a handful of flour when we ought to bring a sheep. Our moral capacity is being increased by the spiritual exercises (Hebrews. 5:14).

The blessing of the offeror:

It shall be forgiven (Leviticus 4:20, 26, 31, 35; 5:10, 13, 16)

The atoning lies behind the forgiving.

• Gods forgiveness is sure (Psalm 130:4)
• Gods forgiveness is waiting for all who will have it. (Psalm 86:5)

Practical teaching of the sin offering:

The practical application of the death of Christ in Romans 6:

6:6 We have quit sins services as a master; its influence is destroyed as a power.

6:7 we are freed from its claim as a penalty.

6:12 We are unresponsive to its suggestions so that we do not yield to its voice.

6:14 We rejoice in the shall not of the Lords deliverance from its dominion.

6:11 We are separated from sins pollution as we reckon we are dead to its sway.

6:25 We are no longer partaker of its rations (wages = rations - compare 1 Corinthians 9:7).

6:22 We have our fruit unto holiness.

The cross that frees us from condemnation cuts off sins associated with

• Galatians 1:4; the flesh,
• Galatians 5:24; the devil 1 John 3:8,
• Galatians 2:20; the self.