0:10
amen so um as we move on through the offerings we took a week off last week so I want to update a little bit um moving into and and moving into next week we're going to be talking about
0:22
what um what one author called moral taxonomy or the classification of sins uh it's a it's a big
0:43
deal of course we're probably all familiar with the uh Roman Catholic mortal and venial sin and we'll be talking about that more next week but uh
0:54
although the reformers threw off that distinction uh the church has actually had a really hard time not trying to categorize sins and their
1:07
punishments and so much so that um that's that's become the the um dominant the word is hamar theology or doctrine
1:17
of sin and that is we we have this sliding scale of of sins um not maybe officially as the Roman Catholics do but
1:30
nonetheless we do think some sins are worse than others and it does seem apparent as we'll see next week that scripture would agree to some extent but I think it's very interesting that in
1:40
the discussions of venial mortal um and and the various different sins like the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit and the sin unto death that we read in the New
1:51
Testament very little if any reference is made to Leviticus or to any of the of the pentet um where where the U sin in the presence of
2:04
Yahweh is is first laid out in terms of its significance its impact and its its uh its atonement and I think we have to
2:16
keep in mind even as we think about different sins and especially as we move into um what are going to be the the the last two
2:27
last two sections of the um the general and the particular sacrifices we're going to be moving into actual sins that people have
2:38
done it's it's they're enumerated and elaborated in Leviticus beginning in chapter 5 and then on through chapter 6 verse 7 um and and as I mentioned last
2:50
week these verses in the Hebrew Bible are actually part of chapter 5 chapter five runs through what we in our Bible is chapter 6: 7 and I think the Hebrew
3:02
Bible has got it correct but um we're going to be moving into the actual mention of sins and I think it's important that first of all we're rather late in the game to be mentioning
3:15
specific offenses um and I think that teaches us a lot about the nature of sin and the fact that um we're still talking about
3:27
sins that are that are either unint I this word shagaga in the Hebrew which is throughout it's kind of scattered throughout this section and also numbers
3:38
15 but also we're going to encounter another phrase it was hidden from him so that the the Israelite committed a sin but it was hidden from him you
3:49
know so we're we're dealing with for the most part inadvertent unintentional or even ignorant sins and yet the other phrase phrase that we find in these same
4:02
passages is his guilt shall remain so while we're fussing over how bad this sin is worse versus another
4:13
sin Leviticus is telling us even if you don't know what you did I mean we're going to get into when we get into the offerings um they they don't even know that they
4:25
did anything there's actually one that's it's almost entirely provisional uh because the the the man didn't know that he had sinned and yet something's wrong and he senses that something might
4:37
be wrong and so he he brings a guilt offering but he can't bring restitution because he doesn't know what he did so that teaches us something about Sin that is really not um
4:49
emphasized much in the commentaries or the theologies um especially in the taxonomy as we as we do try to do a classification of sins um it it's
5:01
interesting to me that I mean the quotes I'm about to give you um are actually from a Roman Catholic Theologian um P3 Paul
5:13
Satan he says the transgression of the law is always considered in its objectivity independently of the subjective state of the offender I think
5:24
we talked a little bit about this last week but or two weeks ago um the the state of state of mind or the attitude or intention the motive or we might say the heart of this
5:39
the offender is not taking into a taken into account how far does sincerity go with a
5:52
God anybody it don't get you anywhere okay sincerity doesn't sincerity doesn't wash but it does do with us and that's why we have so much trouble with the Old
6:02
Testament and with all of the you know the the god of the Old Testament seems so retributive no it it has never been different that that God's eyes are too
6:13
pure to even look upon evil and so um what we tend to look at the subjective and you know he meant well or he was sincere um that doesn't wash okay I was
6:27
going to say you know the mindset of Good Intentions kind of settled in on some church thinking
6:49
thinking the Old Testament that's that's history well if we can get out of the Old Testament then we might be able to um allow ourselves good intention I don't think Paul will let us do that though uh I don't think the New
7:00
Testament actually lets us do that Jesus himself in The Sermon on the Mount says you will be perfect as your father in Heaven is perfect uh good intentions
7:10
sincerity um don't wash with a holy God and that's really what we're talking about here we're not talking about how do I get my sins forgiven how do I get
7:21
to heaven we're talking about dwelling in the presence of a holy God and a holy God dwelling in the midst of his people that Dynamic is the backdrop of really
7:34
the whole pentat took but primarily from Exodus on and certainly Leviticus with the construction of the Tabernacle um Satan goes on he says
7:47
responsibility or responsibility or imputability on the one hand and ignorance or involuntariness on the other hand are Accord according to our
8:00
moral standards incompatible and contradictory terms but they were not so comp incompatible to the Hebrew legislature who looked upon the transgression of the
8:11
law from its objective angle independently of the State of Mind of offender now it it is the U underlying thesis of
8:26
Armenian doctrine of sin that God cannot command of us what we are not able to do that's that's the fundamental premise
8:38
of pelagianism and then arminianism is that if God commands us to do something obviously we must have the ability but what we have done with that is we have
8:50
made the uh the definition of sin or at least the the intensity of sin to be proportional to our motive to our
9:02
intent okay and what Satan is saying and again it's somewhat ironic that he's Roman Catholic he was Roman Catholic um he's saying that that what we read here
9:14
is that ignorance or even involuntariness and involuntariness and responsibility are not in compatible in fact they're actually joined in
9:26
Leviticus that a person can sin involuntarily or ignorantly and yet bear the guilt of that sin now what this does at least for me
9:39
is it it it teaches me that sin is a whole lot deeper than what what we do and that atonement has to be a whole lot deeper than what we don't
9:51
do you know does that make sense that it it's actually not really very behavioral and I I think this really goes hand in glove with what Paul
10:03
teaches especially in Romans concerning sin that it it's not really so much about what it is we did wrong or what we have to do
10:13
right it's more of an understanding it's not it is that okay that's so easy to be misunderstood and Paul of course in Romans kind of admits that he says you
10:25
will say let us sin that Grace might abound so it's an it's an easily misunderstood how how can we just let people to themselves in terms of not
10:36
sinning we got to tell them what to do and what not to do preaching sins is gonna cast all this in Shadows yeah it does it it it casts
10:47
the the real depth and intensity of sin into the Shadows it it's all surface and it what you end up with is whitewash
10:57
sepers okay and that's that's what religion does when it turns to morality or moral or moral taxonomy is that we we're not as bad as the next guy this sin is not as bad as
11:08
that sin and besides I meant well you know my heart was in the right place the heart is desperately wicked who can know it I mean if we're if we're truly biblical in our anthropology and our
11:20
hamar theology our doctrine of man and our doctrine of sin then there's a whole lot we would not say in defense of Our
11:33
uncleanness but that's what we're we're getting even when we get into particular sins which is what we're moving into this evening we still find them to be unintentional or involuntary or that phrase hidden from him and yet the guilt
11:47
remains so really we don't want to believe it but it's impossible to live with God yes it's impossible to live with a holy God I I I am I've said this
11:59
before that I I have no biblical proof of this but I'm fairly well convinced that hell is the presence of God without Grace because he is an all-consuming
12:10
fire I don't Frank and he's also ubiquitous he's ubiquitous he's omnipresent okay and to be in his presence I mean this we've talked about the fact that he was dwelling in the
12:20
midst of his people but there was still the the barriers of the priesthood and the first Veil and the second Veil they were they you know he was not walking
12:32
with them in the cool of the day as he did with Adam before the fall okay to to be in his presence is is um it's impossible for a sinner who who can
12:44
dwell in your presence who can Ascend your Holy Hill we don't want to believe that no we don't because we don't I that come up with something we have to come up with something that's the essence of religion is to come up with something to
12:55
coexist with the gods now most man-made religions in Pagan religions one could hardly use the word holy in reference to Zeus okay the word holy is not a pagan
13:08
term it's a uniquely Jewish term and a concept and and it only intensifies the uh the
13:22
inherent Chasm Carl Bart referred to God as holy w h l l y holy other he's also holy other h l y but because
13:32
of the of the Holiness you know he is I guess he's he's kind of the uh the passages that in Jeremiah you you thought I was just such a one as yourself okay we we tend to
13:45
remake God in our own image um and especially when it comes to our sins we we remake his law and his Justice in our favor and he grades on a curve okay uh
13:59
but when we get to something like Leviticus you know God is going to have to become almost in his dotage if he is no longer like the God we encounter here
14:09
in Leviticus is he still an still an absolutely holy God and the answer is yes which means we still cannot dwell in
14:21
his presence without mediation so this also as as I mentioned a couple weeks ago um this also tends to thicken our view of Christ you know that he didn't
14:33
just come to forgive our sins he came to defeat sin and as long as we are continually absorbed in our sins then we're really
14:45
not walking by the spirit because we are not walking in faith um and if we try to amarate our the guilt of our sins then
14:56
we're trying to do what Christ has already done already done and and that's not good so um again this is um this is something I think we have
15:06
to um just let it be kind of let it percolate let it sink in that it's not about what we did wrong or
15:20
what we do right that sin has been introduced into the creation and has corrupted it thorough so that we are conceived in iniquity and
15:32
born in sin before we have yet done anything we are sinners in that we are conceived in sin and that sin is is and
15:45
must be offensive to God your sin Isaiah says your sin has made a separation between you and God uh and so um I I just want I want to remind us of that as
15:56
we go through because again it's so easy to fall back into the to the taxonomy of or classification of sins and especially this evening as we move on because the
16:07
first section um when we talk about the particular sins the ones that are actually associated with some Behavior they break up into three
16:19
categories the first being the unintentional sins uh Leviticus chapter 4 the second or what I call the guilt
16:30
sin because Moses introduces the word Asam which is guilt we talked about this two weeks ago he he introduces that word in chapter 5 to the point that many of our
16:40
English Bibles actually have the the offender bringing a guilt offering as a sin offering bringing his guilt offering I think it's verse six of chapter 5
16:52
bringing his guilt offering before the Lord it shall be a sin offering which is confusing but as I mentioned before there's no word offering there it's just the word
17:04
asham he's bringing his guilt before the Lord and it is a sin offering that he's bringing okay and because that's um uh fairly clear I think from the text and
17:15
then the third section is the the sins that have C or the offenses that have caused loss and generally loss that can be uh financially valuated
17:28
okay so these are these are actual sins that are committed and it's the third section that we're turning to this evening um that we want to talk
17:39
about so this is a little summary table it's actually on page 87 so you don't have to rewrite it uh it's in your notes but remember I I mentioned
17:49
that some of these sacrifices are so similar that it seems like you're just reading the same thing over and over again and I do do like it when commentators tabulate them and put them
18:03
side by side because that's where you can find the subtle differences and that's where the distinction between them is is most apparent now these two
18:14
sections are very similar this first one and this second one are essentially identical they are sin offerings the first one
18:26
emphasizes the social status of the offender showing that that there is a a distinction now we're going to look at this um probably next
18:38
week when you when you're reading through the um first few chapters of lyticus Leviticus it might be helpful if you have a bunch of different color
18:49
markers to highlight the same phrase because when you when you do that you you see the similarities but then the differences
19:02
stand out so you know the burnt offering was to be to be completely offered to God none was left for the priest although the hide was left for the but no
19:13
food well later on when we get into the actual procedures the law of the offerings in chapter later in chapter six and on into chapter 7 we find out
19:25
that even these two sin offerings the priest was not the priests were not allowed to eat of them so there's that distinction again remember this is it
19:36
says the offering the sin offerings where the blood is taken in to the tent shall not be eaten the the sacrifice is to be completely consumed by fire so
19:49
we're learning that there's the hierarchy that the more significant a person is in their in the community's relationship to God God and that would be the high priest and the community
20:01
itself that these are the greatest offenses and that's shown by the fact that there's no portion left for the priests okay we also talked about the
20:12
fact that um for the for the guilt offering I'm sorry the sin offering when the person was poor and and there's an interesting statement there about his hand cannot reach is the
20:26
way the Hebrew it's it's very poetic if his hand cannot reach for a lamb he may offer two Turtle does now oddly one of them needs to be a burnt offering and I
20:37
can't quite figure that one out but when he can his hand cannot reach even Turtle does he may offer fine flour but he must
20:47
not add frankincense or oil to it because that would make it a peace offering so see the distinctions are very subtle but they're very important
20:58
and that's why I said if you do highlight you can sometimes they kind of stand out a little better as to for example highlighting what it is the priests are to receive as their portion
21:10
and then what they are not allowed to receive and that kind of makes a distinction between what would otherwise be almost identical sacrifices so
21:21
um we move on then to the the three offenses let me get the passage out
21:34
Leviticus and actually we're in the first part we're in this we're in this one tonight and then this one next week um we have the three
21:49
offenses that are again it's it's hard to understand how some of these are unintentional or ignorant but the three offense offenses offense offenses what I call the guilt
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witness touching something unclean or touching
22:42
point out is that all three of these are referenced and oriented toward the whole Community the whole congregation they are individual
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offenses but they are offenses that impact the impact the community okay um and well it's not necessarily as clear in some of them uh these two I think are the most clear
23:06
first and and the third one but uncleanness is is also oriented toward the community because of the spread of ritual uncleanness and the way it is
23:18
really contagious on contact anyone in the now this at this point it's anyone and literally it's it's one soul in the Hebrew of um
23:32
chapter 5 verse one now if a person sins now the again the Hebrew is nees that's one
23:44
Soul okay again I think that's somewhat significant that we're not we're not we're only talking about at this point we are talking about an
23:55
individual but my point is what the individ idual does has a direct impact on the congregation on the community and if allowed to go
24:07
unatoned it will contaminate the community and we see that we see that in the history for example um um achen and
24:17
what he did at Jericho ah what's the big deal he took a few you know articles of clothing and some gold ingots no that will destroy and I think goes on into
24:28
ananas and ananas and Safa Okay the reason that it was treated that way I think they're parallel to naab and abue in Leviticus chapter 10
24:38
that they offered up Strange Fire and the Lord consumed them and then at the beginning of the church it was like okay just so that you know who you are that you are the people of God here is the sin against the Holy
24:51
Spirit you're dead you're dead Okay just you know the parallel I think is is unmistakable personally but what we're uh we're seeing there is that you know
25:02
was it really a capital offense they did bring a a gift right no they lied to the Holy Spirit and that would be that would defile the
25:14
congregation okay so our orientation has not only been toward moral taxonomy but as we've often talked our orientation is so individualized we really have a hard
25:25
time understanding the concept of the people of people of God we we think of ourselves as individual children of God but we don't think of the people of God and we don't
25:37
really understand that our offenses against God's law defile the whole congregation Paul says A little leaven
25:47
leavens the whole lump okay and and so he says cast out the leaven U it doesn't take much and I think that's the lesson we learned learn
25:58
from especially these sins here and then and then even more so with these because these are direct offenses against God and His priesthood and against the
26:08
neighbor the the countrymen um so to talk about talk about these so now if one Soul sins after he hears a public adjuration to testify
26:20
when he is a witness whether he is seen or otherwise known if he does not tell it then he will bear his guilt now guilt now a number of
26:30
commentators have treated this as perjury so let's look at the first one
26:41
um failure to not perjury it's not lying under
26:53
oath and I think the reason that we think it's lying under oath is because because of the format of our judicial system that we're placed under oath after we have been brought to testify
27:05
that's not how the system worked now you've you've read about the Cities of Refuge to which a man can flee if he has committed a crime to avoid the the
27:16
Avenger of blood particularly the crime of of homicide whether it's voluntary or involuntary you know it's it's the death of of someone and the k man is is under
27:29
law free to avenge the the dead cousin or brother or whatever so the the offender flees to the City of Refuge and
27:39
it's it's left to the Elders of the city to determine the guilt or innocence or degree of either whether there was malice a forethought whether it was an
27:50
accident but he knew the head of the axe was loose you know that the ox had gored before you know those types of things but they also have established
28:02
the law has established especially in capital cases that they must be on the basis of two or more witnesses that it cannot be on just one
28:12
person's claim so what they would do and I think this actually went into the Middle Ages in some European cities is they would basically go around the city
28:24
calling out and and putting the city under oath give glory to God if you know anything about this situation come
28:50
okay aen yes he does glory to God yeah yeah and and also Caiaphas does the same with Jesus give glory to God are you the
29:01
Messiah okay so um you know it's it's there in the scriptures so this isn't just you know trying to piece together ancient history it's there but what we're what we're dealing with here is
29:11
not someone who's lying under oath it's someone who is not testifying though he knows the truth and by doing so he is
29:23
thwarting Justice and Justice is one of the the key principles you Malachi 68 you know Justice is one of the key characteristics of the people of God living in harmony with their God is that
29:35
there will be Justice in their midst so there's there's no way that the elders they they weren't there they didn't see it okay it okay um the also the the situ you know there
29:47
are a number of situations where for example a woman who is ravished did she cry out well you know within the city that was an issue but it was if it was
29:58
out Beyond then that was not required because no one would hear okay so there was Justice written and into the process
30:09
but it could be thwarted even if one Soul did not come forward and say I know what happened I will testify it could
30:19
also be for the sake of clear inoc well that think in terms of witness against someone's could be also yeah the exactly
30:30
I I I'm glad you said that because I I did I was thinking that um Justice is not always not always condemnation Justice is is is often a quiddle um and to avoid false
30:43
condemnation and and so and this is this is very important in terms of um the equality of the social classes that that there be um Justice is blind you know
30:54
that there be truth in Justice and so when the public adjuration is made that's the process by which the person who fled to the city is going to
31:05
be judged he's going to be prosecuted or acquitted on the basis of those who come forward and say now I I saw what happened and it was a complete accident
31:16
um and you know he should not he should not be held guilty for this or yeah um you know we were actually there and we talked about the fact that his act said
31:26
was loose and he kept using it and you know it came off and hit the other guy in the head and killed him well that's involuntary manslaughter you know he's not Innocent but he's not guilty of of
31:38
homicide or first-degree murder so we you know we we have these um distinctions in our own legal system and we just and we also
31:48
do in a sense we do post for Witnesses you know has anybody seen this did any was anybody there that night who saw this come forward if you don't come
32:00
forward then Justice is thwarted in your community and that is this is where again it's the nature of sin not sins
32:10
because when that begins it's like a cancer that then spreads throughout the community until no one comes forward because they hear well so and so saw it and they didn't come forward but why
32:22
would a person when we when we look at it um it doesn't say whether the person does this unwittingly or ignorantly in fact it certainly implies that the
32:35
person is doing it with full knowledge I mean this is a person who saw what happened they know they saw what happened they hear the public adjuration
32:46
to come forward and they don't so this cannot be the unintentional sin okay but on the other hand is it a sin with a high hand is it
32:59
the sin of numbers 15 that has no atonement well obviously not because here it is here is the sacrifice that will give them again the the results of these are all the same atonement and
33:11
forgiveness okay so why would a person not bear witness okay so what we're looking at is not coming
33:37
under oath and so they they stand before Yahweh as to whether or not they will put themselves forward for the truth or deny Justice whether it's condemnation
33:49
or acquittal they are an agent of Injustice but why would would they do
34:04
this why would they not come forward why would a person not come
34:18
cience of Reason apathy or inconvenience that's that's
34:32
okay that maybe it'll it'll come out that you are actually part of the of the disagree well I don't know that yeah I don't know that that would have been
34:43
much of much of a I guess it could have been people have always disagreed with the law well if you don't think it was
34:56
wrong that would be a form that would be a form of imp a um that's actually uh Disobedience or Rebellion did I spell that right yeah
35:07
doesn't look right um how about just fear fear of reprisal yeah yeah that's actually a common theme in in movies especially
35:19
westerners you know John Wayne no one wants to talk you know because the bad guy he owns the whole V you know and it's the same
35:30
plot and so no one wants to come forward and say who actually shot so and so because you know the big bad guy is going to is going to get them so there's this fear of
35:54
all um undeniable human responses um I mean I I use the example it was it's such a minor thing but you know I'm at I'm at an intersection light's red my light turns green and the
36:05
guy beside me and the guy no the guy behind me I go forward well the guy coming the other way decides he wants to make a left turn right into my front bumper okay he didn't have an arrow or
36:17
anything the guy behind me starts going around I jumped out of the car and got in his way I said you're not going
36:31
he had no intention of witnessing because I'm sure he was late for whatever he was late for right nobody wants I mean I am so thankful when I barely miss seeing an accident I'm like Lord if it's going to
36:42
be an accident let it be behind me okay I ain't got time for this but you know that's the you know the absolute
36:53
it's inconvenient and yet how do you establish truth establish truth if the eyewitnesses refuse to testify that's really what we're talking about here what happens to your community what
37:03
happens to Justice in your community when the members of the community are either too scared apathetic or harried to come forward well it was the same
37:15
thing 5,000 years ago or 3,000 however long it was you know it was the same thing then people didn't want to get involved as it might come back on them
37:27
okay I think I think um you know one of the questions then is how does this person come to be aware that they have
37:37
committed they know they have but how do they come to the point where they um deal with it
38:00
um verse yeah uh when he yeah when he it shall be when he becomes guilty in one of these that he shall confess that in which he has sinned um the phrase he becomes guilty well he became guilty the
38:11
moment he heard the adjuration and did not step not step forward but it I think it is the the the psalm you know when I kept silent about
38:21
my sin my body wasted you know I I think that there as we look at these verses they say it it it was hidden from him
38:32
but then he became aware of it but we're not told how Okay uh and I think that there was and probably still is a
38:43
connection physiological emotional perhaps there's a connection between unconfessed sin and our own mental state and awareness could
38:54
also be in any of these cases that the effect is the effect comes about the miscar of Justice the rering of others
39:04
unan or the spread of an uncleanness of some kind the calling iny you said you were going to do this can it be that as well just that
39:15
the the consequences come to Bear well I think the consequences that come to bear for these actions can weigh upon the person's conscience Paul talks about
39:26
that even of the Gentiles the conscience alternately acquitting and accusing um and and they do have a conscience and I think that those who U who stand in the
39:37
way of way of Justice unless their conscience is seared it will trouble them U to the point that perhaps they they come forward I also I also think that there
39:48
can be a even more direct an individual uh and divinely directed impact of unconfessed sin unconfessed sin because it it's the Holy Spirit it it
40:00
also reminds me of of uh David's encounter with the prophet Nathan you know when he when he tells the story of the ulam and and the the rich neighbor who doesn't want to bother slaughtering
40:12
any of his so he goes and steals the one you lamb of the poor family and David said who is this man you know David's all about all about Justice and that was the original you're
40:22
the man you know it had gone so much out of David's of David's mind that he could not even see that this story was about
40:33
him that that's the the uh the numbing impact of impact of continued refusal to confess and repent
40:44
is we become seared in our conscience and we don't we don't even know we did it anymore okay I think that's what the psalmist that's what I think did David write that Psalm when I kept silent
40:55
about my sin I don't know whether it was a davidic Psalm but you know there there isn't I think that's something we have to read into the passage but we do have to do that because we're faced with
41:07
first unknowing and then becoming known that is in the passage and I think it it it um it's necessary for us to at least
41:19
surmise how how did it become known to this person because we're going to want to encounter one where um it's it doesn't EV evidently ever become known
41:29
one of the guilt um offerings it it doesn't appear that it ever became known but it's suspected that I may have done something wrong and therefore I'm going to bring a guilt offering okay so um the
41:43
first one he fails to testify when uh the community is put under oath in a in a case the second verses two and three are actually the same
41:55
thing if a person one Soul touches any unclean thing whether a carcass of an unclean Beast or a carcass of an unclean cattle or a carcass of an unclean
42:06
swarming things though it is hidden from him he is unclean and he will be be then he will be guilty or if he touches human uncleanness of whatever sort his
42:17
uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean and it is hidden from him and then he comes to know it he will be guilty so verses 2 and three are are pretty
42:54
a concept that I I don't don't think we investigate deeply enough this idea of uncleanness and the reason I say that
43:05
is we really don't have any equivalent Concept in New Testament writings the idea of of uncleanness and it
43:16
pervades the Old Testament that there's the so many ways and and so many of the ways we talked about a woman delivering child that
43:27
that's not a sin in fact um this is not these are not necessarily sins that are
43:43
committed for example carcasses needed to be disposed of they had to be carried out and buried for the for the hygiene and the health
43:54
of the community the say with corpses you know they have to be handled the issue seems to be that the person maybe person maybe inadvertently contacted
44:08
uncleanness or he forgot about it he just going about his day he touched a dead cow and yeah that made him ritually
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unclean but he got on with his work and just forgot about it rais the point of convenience that but convenience be can become such a matter of habit that it
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tends to forgetfulness in other words David's sin left his mind I'm not saying he's culpable that's clear so is this
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guy what I'm saying is psychologically the effects of unconfessed sin is to desensitize to further sins
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and the the the issue of convenience what he you know what he should have done was gone and washed and told the priest but he had work to do you know he
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still had the rest of the 40 to plow or whatever you know or the Sheep to shear and he touched you know he could be shearing a shearing a lamb and come upon a festering
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wound he's wound he's unclean but he still has 50 more sheep to shear to shear so convenience not a good time Lord you know I'll I'll catch you you know
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tomorrow and then tomorrow comes and it's out of his mind okay we're not all that sharp upstairs when it comes to our sins and keeping them up to date and
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current we're much better at forgetting them or minimizing them and then it's hidden from us that's what the the text says it's hidden from him but
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then he is made aware of it again that phrase that that doesn't it's not explained but he is made aware of it he comes to know it is what verse three
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says he will be guilty he is guilty he will bear his guilt and the point of all of this is it doesn't really matter that he has forgotten about it or that it's
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not convenient for him what matters is he has brought uncleanness into the camp and that uncleanness will spread through an apathy toward the idea of
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cleanness okay now much has been said about the distinctions of clean and unclean and we'll have opportunity to talk about that in Leviticus but the the
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modern notion that God was doing this for their Nutritional Health is ludicrous okay it had nothing to do do with
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anything inherent in the various animals or the configuration of their Hooves or how many stomachs they have okay or
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chewing of the cud that that's not the point the point is God is making distinctions because he's all about distinctions and the primary distinction
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is between clean and unclean and and so he's he's establishing a a classification of clean
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animals not because they are somehow better than the other ones I think it's it's almost arbitrary the commonality of them was for identification if it splits the hoof
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it's okay if it doesn't it's not okay okay if it choose the cut it's okay if it doesn't it's not okay so these are just these are just visual easily seen
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classifications or identification markers but the obedience was not to be made mechanical it was to point back to the
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absolute Holiness of the God who dwelt in their midst the idea of ritual impurity then is a corporate idea far more than an individual one the
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individual is individual is unclean but what's what's important about that is that because he's unclean he cannot approach the Tabernacle he
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cannot partic participate with the community until he becomes clean again so this the offense is individual but the impact is Corporate
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and I think that's true of all of these then the third one um that he professes or he swears
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so when a person or if a if one Soul swears thoughtlessly with his lips to do evil or to do good in whatever matter a man may speak thoughtlessly with an oath and it is hidden from him and he comes
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to know it he will be guilty in one of these okay um you know Jesus says do not swear by heaven or by
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Earth he says do not make a vow but rather let your yes be yes and your no be no because anything beyond that is is from the evil
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one why do we swear and I don't mean profanity I mean oath taking Okay
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we're what're not init of actually yeah yeah why why you know why do we have to put a person under oath in a courtroom I'm not trustworthy no we're not
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trustworthy uh how do you feel when a Salesman says can I be honest with
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it um I I you know we encounter that and it makes us think well what are you being otherwise you know if you have to announce that you're now being honest what were you
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before we we make ODS to ODS to how do I say this um I I think what you were saying about trustworthy it's almost as though we are
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protesting our own trustworthiness but in taking the oath we're actually highlighting our basic
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untrustworthiness aren't untrustworthiness aren't we and when we're made to take an oath and this is one of the reasons why the anabaptist would not do it
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because when we're made to take an oath we are we are being immediately impune with impune with falsehood why would I need to take an
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oath I'm sitting here you're asking me questions I'm going to tell you the truth and also if I have to take an oath you think that's going to
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matter if I'm going to lie an oath is not going to make me tell the truth I will will simply lie under oath people do it all the time um so
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oath taking is taking is offensive to the Lord and yet he makes an allowance and there are
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vows but those vows are to be kept and that's really what this is about so what he's saying is if you you know you're you're you're in
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you're in an argument or you're in a situation where you rashly say God is my witness I I will do this and it's a good
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thing that you're going to do but then you don't do it or you say something that is evil and that comes back on you because you threatened somebody in
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absentia under oath you've brought God's name that's that's the key here now we've had conversations uh in our family uh um you know what what is what is
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swearing okay um you know Christianity has often been accused of creating its own language you know so
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for example the the capital of of the Netherlands is Netherlands is amsterd okay because we can't say that other word that's not swearing okay that may be
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profanity and profanity is simply vulgar meaning it's the common language but profanity is not what the
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Bible's talking about when it says taking the lord's name in vain the person who continually says the Lord told me to do this or the Lord told me to do that is probably more guilty of
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swearing than the Sailor or the Irishman who drops the bomb every other word word but will not use the name of the
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Lord in vain okay so I think we we we have sanitized this concept by prohibiting a form of speech under
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the rubric of swearing but then incorporating a form of speech that is swearing when when when you say when you bring the lord's name into whatever
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you're doing you are making an oath are you not you are associating the lord's name with what is your decision
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and you are doing it flippantly okay I will tell you from a pastoral perspective that throughout the
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years and I'm sure this is true of every church and every pastor's experience I do not think this is the least bit unique it is the Lord that is leading people to the
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church and often within a very short period of time the Lord is leading them elsewhere which means the Lord doesn't know what he's
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doing but he does what these people do are doing is they are swearing rashly okay rashly okay so I guess the takeaway is we we
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should not use the Lord 's name flippantly or rashly or hastily in respect to anything that we
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are proposing to do think we should do think we shouldn't do because we just don't know the will of the Lord that well and we are not being given direct
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Revelation so I mean there's an application I don't think the Lord likes his name being used rationally now any more than he did in the wilderness back in the day and especially since
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there is no time with God so you know he's not saying okay I really bugged me when I was younger but I've kind of gotten used to it I'm chill with it now no that's the same with sincerity he's
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not chill with his name being used rashly I cringe when people say the Lord has led me or the Lord is telling me like show me please in the scripture
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where that is and then I'll feel better because we you're you're taking a rash oath and you're not going to keep
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it people ask why do we not have membership membership is a vow in fact the the Fellowship Bible Church membership sheet is essentially a
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vow you you are committing you're committing your time your resources your energy to the ministry here at Fellowship Bible Church that is a
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vow and I'm just not I don't know Mark and I have talked about it over the years it's like why should we encourage people to do what at least our own history tells us that most people in American evangelicalism are not going to
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do okay they're not going to honor that vow so we are leading them into temptation we are leading them into a situation where they are they are making
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a vow that we know they are most likely to break and why should we have to why should a church need a membership
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certificate are we not part of the body of Christ okay does it change your attitude toward one another to know that someone signed a sheet of paper and the other
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person didn't well if it does you're naive you shouldn't it shouldn't change your attitude nor should it change the elders attitude toward the people oh oh
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you know we we can go over there at midnight because they're members everyone else has to wait till late in the morning okay I would say you know putting my try
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to put my mind in that place if I'm my my goal is to subvert the church I would certainly look for places where I feel
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like people this safety measure into something like signing form oh yeah and they can just do away with it and that's that's all that's good enough for them yeah oh yeah that that's that's kind of
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the yeah that's the ridiculous nature of of also of also confessionalism that no self-respecting heretic would refuse to sign I mean if you're I mean seriously we know the the
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Devil Himself masquerades as an angel of Light how much more his his minions um that you know sure they're they're not coming into the church saying I'm coming here to tear everything apart no let me
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where do I sign the Lord's leading me the Lord's telling me you know I'm I'm confessional I'm going to be a member I don't think we're taking sin seriously Aaron F
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story secet chch she never been a secretary she
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signed yeah yeah oh yeah oh I love those yeah letters of letters of reference letters of reference yeah sure you can have them for however long they stay okay should just be a chain letter oh
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yeah some time Serv firstan I remember they have part of the service where they said these are all people that have had their membership transferred from another church please
