June 7, 2013
"BUT I DIDN'T MEAN TO DO IT"
Leviticus 3–4
John Cox
Central Truth
All sin separates us from God. Because He loves us, God has provided atonement so we can be forgiven and restored in relationship to Him. In the Law of Moses, animal sacrifices were merely the placeholders until the ultimate payment was made by Christ's sacrifice in the New Testament.
Key Verse | Leviticus 4:27–28
"If a member of the community sins unintentionally and does what is forbidden in any of the Lord's commands, he is guilty. When he is made aware of the sin he committed, he must bring as his offering for the sin he committed a female goat without defect." (Leviticus 4:27-28, NIV 1984)
Leviticus 3–4
Laws for Peace Offerings
1 If his offering is a sacrifice of peace offering, if he offers an animal from the herd, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish before the LORD. 2 And he shall lay his hand on the head of his offering and kill it at the entrance of the tent of meeting, and Aaron's sons the priests shall throw the blood against the sides of the altar. 3 And from the sacrifice of the peace offering, as a food offering to the LORD, he shall offer the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails, 4 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins, and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 5 Then Aaron's sons shall burn it on the altar on top of the burnt offering, which is on the wood on the fire; it is a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD.
6 If his offering for a sacrifice of peace offering to the LORD is an animal from the flock, male or female, he shall offer it without blemish. 7 If he offers a lamb for his offering, then he shall offer it before the LORD, 8 lay his hand on the head of his offering, and kill it in front of the tent of meeting; and Aaron's sons shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 9 Then from the sacrifice of the peace offering he shall offer as a food offering to the LORD its fat; he shall remove the whole fat tail, cut off close to the backbone, and the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 10 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 11 And the priest shall burn it on the altar as a food offering to the LORD.
12 If his offering is a goat, then he shall offer it before the LORD 13 and lay his hand on its head and kill it in front of the tent of meeting, and the sons of Aaron shall throw its blood against the sides of the altar. 14 Then he shall offer from it, as his offering for a food offering to the LORD, the fat covering the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 15 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys. 16 And the priest shall burn them on the altar as a food offering with a pleasing aroma. All fat is the LORD's. 17 It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.”
Laws for Sin Offerings
1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If anyone sins unintentionally 1 4:2 Or by mistake; so throughout Leviticus in any of the LORD's commandments about things not to be done, and does any one of them, 3 if it is the anointed priest who sins, thus bringing guilt on the people, then he shall offer for the sin that he has committed a bull from the herd without blemish to the LORD for a sin offering. 4 He shall bring the bull to the entrance of the tent of meeting before the LORD and lay his hand on the head of the bull and kill the bull before the LORD. 5 And the anointed priest shall take some of the blood of the bull and bring it into the tent of meeting, 6 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle part of the blood seven times before the LORD in front of the veil of the sanctuary. 7 And the priest shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar of fragrant incense before the LORD that is in the tent of meeting, and all the rest of the blood of the bull he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 8 And all the fat of the bull of the sin offering he shall remove from it, the fat that covers the entrails and all the fat that is on the entrails 9 and the two kidneys with the fat that is on them at the loins and the long lobe of the liver that he shall remove with the kidneys 10 (just as these are taken from the ox of the sacrifice of the peace offerings); and the priest shall burn them on the altar of burnt offering. 11 But the skin of the bull and all its flesh, with its head, its legs, its entrails, and its dung— 12 all the rest of the bull—he shall carry outside the camp to a clean place, to the ash heap, and shall burn it up on a fire of wood. On the ash heap it shall be burned up.
13 If the whole congregation of Israel sins unintentionally 2 4:13 Or makes a mistake and the thing is hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they do any one of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, and they realize their guilt, 3 4:13 Or suffer for their guilt, or are guilty; also verses 22, 27, and chapter 5 14 when the sin which they have committed becomes known, the assembly shall offer a bull from the herd for a sin offering and bring it in front of the tent of meeting. 15 And the elders of the congregation shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before the LORD, and the bull shall be killed before the LORD. 16 Then the anointed priest shall bring some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting, 17 and the priest shall dip his finger in the blood and sprinkle it seven times before the LORD in front of the veil. 18 And he shall put some of the blood on the horns of the altar that is in the tent of meeting before the LORD, and the rest of the blood he shall pour out at the base of the altar of burnt offering that is at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 19 And all its fat he shall take from it and burn on the altar. 20 Thus shall he do with the bull. As he did with the bull of the sin offering, so shall he do with this. And the priest shall make atonement for them, and they shall be forgiven. 21 And he shall carry the bull outside the camp and burn it up as he burned the first bull; it is the sin offering for the assembly.
22 When a leader sins, doing unintentionally any one of all the things that by the commandments of the LORD his God ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 23 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring as his offering a goat, a male without blemish, 24 and shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and kill it in the place where they kill the burnt offering before the LORD; it is a sin offering. 25 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of its blood at the base of the altar of burnt offering. 26 And all its fat he shall burn on the altar, like the fat of the sacrifice of peace offerings. So the priest shall make atonement for him for his sin, and he shall be forgiven.
27 If anyone of the common people sins unintentionally in doing any one of the things that by the LORD's commandments ought not to be done, and realizes his guilt, 28 or the sin which he has committed is made known to him, he shall bring for his offering a goat, a female without blemish, for his sin which he has committed. 29 And he shall lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill the sin offering in the place of burnt offering. 30 And the priest shall take some of its blood with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 31 And all its fat he shall remove, as the fat is removed from the peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar for a pleasing aroma to the LORD. And the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be forgiven.
32 If he brings a lamb as his offering for a sin offering, he shall bring a female without blemish 33 and lay his hand on the head of the sin offering and kill it for a sin offering in the place where they kill the burnt offering. 34 Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out all the rest of its blood at the base of the altar. 35 And all its fat he shall remove as the fat of the lamb is removed from the sacrifice of peace offerings, and the priest shall burn it on the altar, on top of the LORD's food offerings. And the priest shall make atonement for him for the sin which he has committed, and he shall be forgiven.
Dive Deeper | Leviticus 3–4
In our house, it's not uncommon to hear our kids explain away their misbehavior with words like "I didn't mean to do it," "I didn't know," "I forgot," or my personal favorite: "Yes, I hit her, but she made me do it." When I hear those words, part of me wants to laugh. But it also makes me sad. You see, my kids are just like me. One of the ugly truths about me is that I often don't own my sin. Just like my kids, I am an expert in denial, rationalization, minimization, and blame shifting when it comes to my thoughts and actions.
This hit home with me last fall when our community group read a book together called Respectable Sins, by Jerry Bridges. Bridges talked about how we are quick to condemn big ticket sins like murder or adultery, but we ignore or tolerate more subtle sins like anger, lust, pride, and selfishness. I was guilty as charged. I realized I was giving myself a pass with these more subtle sins. For example, my anger wasn't really a sin because I was provoked. Or if it was sin, it wasn't that big a deal compared to other types of sin. I had fallen into the trap of rationalizing and minimizing my sin.
God has a very different perspective on this. In His eyes, all sin is a big deal. All sin hurts us and hurts our relationship with Him. This comes home in Leviticus 4, where God establishes a "sin offering" to help people who have committed "unintentional sins" to atone for their sins and be restored to Him. The sin offering lets us know that (1) all sin, even unintentional sin, is significant and separates us from God, and (2) God has made provision to forgive us and welcome us back into His arms.
Salvation for people throughout all of history has always been through faith. Before Christ came, they had faith in a Messiah who had not yet come; today, we have faith in a Messiah who has already come. But we all have faith in the same Messiah. Jesus is the fulfillment of the Law and the ultimate atonement for all our sins. Through His payment we are offered the free gift of eternal life. And as Paul put it in 2 Corinthians 9:15: "Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
Discussion Questions
1. Are there areas in your life in which you tend to rationalize or tolerate sin? If so, what are they?
2. How does your sin impact your relationship with God? How does it impact your relationship with others?
3. Romans 6:23 says, "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Have you accepted Christ and asked Him to forgive you for your sin? If not, why not do that now?
4. Ask God to help you root all sin out of your life.
5. In addition to asking God for help, ask your community group and the people you are close with to help you in your efforts to flee sin and pursue godliness.