Rev. Don Campbell
Leviticus 5-7
THOUGHT FOR TODAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2019
TWO KINDS OF SIN
As we learned yesterday, sin is costly. Moses sums up the rules: “If anyone sins, doing any of the things that by the Lord’s commandments ought not to be done, though he did not know it, then realizes his guilt, he shall bear his iniquity. He shall bring to the priest a ram without blemish out of the flock, or its equivalent, for a guilt offering, and the priest shall make atonement for him for the mistake that he made unintentionally, and he shall be forgiven. It is a guilt offering; he has indeed incurred guilt before the Lord” (Lev 5:17-19).
The question might be asked, what was the state of the transgressor between the time he committed the act and the time he realized his guilt? Recall from our reading on February 8 that a bull was offered each morning and a lamb each morning and each evening as a sacrifice to make atonement. The person who sinned unintentionally was covered by these sacrifices. However, if his guilt became known and he refused to offer the sacrifices, his sin was no longer unintentional, but deliberate or with a high hand. “But the person who does anything with a high hand, whether he is native or a sojourner, reviles the Lord, and that person shall be cut off from among his people. Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him” (Num 15:30-31).
The writer of Hebrews warns: “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10: 26-31).
Because John said, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9), some conscientious Christians worry that they might have committed an unintentional sin of which they are unaware and are therefore unforgiven. Was God more merciful under the law than he is under the gospel? GOD FORBID!
When we read v.9 in context, We get the true picture: “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us” (vv.5-10). As we walk in the light, the blood of Jesus cleanses us. If we are aware of sin in our lives and refuse to confess to the Lord, then we are trampling on the Son of God, profaning his blood, and outraging the Spirit of grace. There is no sacrifice for such sin.
Can one repent of this kind of sin? Let the Spirit answer: “For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (Heb 6:4-6).
What does the writer mean by “have fallen away”? The term does not always mean the same thing. For example, all the apostles fell away, but all were restored (Matt 26:31-32). Look first at the name of the epistle: “A Letter to the Hebrews.” Jewish believers had been enlightened, tasted the heavenly gift and shared in the Holy Spirit. The letter addresses the superiority of Christ and the new covenant sealed by his blood. Some, perhaps because of persecution, were in danger of abandoning faith in Christ for the Mosaic system. He writes, “Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end” (3:12-14). These are not struggling saints who have fallen into trespasses. These are those who trample underfoot the Son of God and profane the blood of the covenant by which they were sanctified and have outraged the Spirit.
CONNECTIONS Hebrews 10:26, Gal 5:19-21
1. The KJV renders Hebrews 10:26 as “if we go on sinning willfully.” This is helpful because we can contrast it with “willing.” A word much in use today is “consensual,” which means “done with the willing agreement of all the people or groups involved.” Two people willingly have sex, but one or both are married to another person. They consented to sin. Two other people have sex, but it is against the will of one. The sin is not adultery, but rape. The victim is innocent of sin. Willful sin, on the other hand, is “having or showing a stubborn and determined intention to do as one wants, regardless of the consequences or effects.” Paul lists some of the works of the flesh (Gal 5:19-21). When would one of these willing acts become a willful act and beyond the pale of Christ’s blood?
2. The term “consenting adults” is often used today to minimize or completely deny the sinfulness of sex outside of marriage. Doe the fact that two people are consenting adults minimize or maximize the sin?
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