Rev. Don Campbell

Leviticus 16-18

THOUGHT FOR TODAY, FEBRUARY 19, 2019

A ONCE-FOR-ALL SACRIFICE CLEANSES SIN ONCE FOR ALL

Today’s reading gives rules for the Day of Atonement, the exclusiveness of the tabernacle as the only acceptable place for offering sacrifices, and laws against incest, adultery, and bestiality. Our focus will be the Day of Atonement, which occurred in the seventh month and the tenth day. It was the only required fast day given in the law. Detailed instructions are given for the bathing, dressing, and officiating of the high priest, including the sacrifices, and the sending of the scapegoat away into the wilderness.

We recall those daily offerings were made each morning and each evening to make daily atonement. In addition, when an unintentional sin became know to one, a sacrifice had to be offered for the atonement of the specific sin. Yet, Moses said, “This shall be a statute forever for you, that atonement may be made for the people of Israel once in the year because of all their sins” (16:34).

It is sometimes said that their sins were rolled forward until the time of Christ when his once-for-all sacrifice truly removed those sins. One may dispute the metaphor of rolling forward, but the idea is certainly scriptural: “For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? (Hebrews 10:2-4). “Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, since a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant” (Hebrews 9:15).

The writer cannot mean that we have no awareness of sin in our lives because John said that if we say we have no sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). The idea is that we should forget what God has forgiven—not in the sense that we have no recollection of the act, but we carry no guilt. Paul is our case study. “For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me” (1 Corinthians 15:9-10).

Paul knew what he had been, but he was not motivated by guilt but by grace. I hesitate to condemn anyone’s prayer, but all my life I have heard conscientious brothers pray, “Forgive us of our many unforgiven sins.” Unless we are denying our sins, we have no unforgiven sins. Having learned how to pray by listening to others, in earlier days, I used the phrase “our many unforgiven sins. In my later years I have come to pray something like this, “Father we thank you for your mercy and for the grace in which we stand. If we have sins of which we are unaware, make us aware.”

We may be at peace with ourselves and not be a peace with God, but if we are at peace with God, we should be at peace with ourselves: “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Romans 5:1-2).

CONNECTIONS Matthew 27:3-5

1. In a sermon “All the World Is Guilty of Sin and We Know It,” I affirmed that the world, including many believers, do not forgive what God forgives and forget what God forgets. Instead, we deal with guilt in five dysfunctional ways:

(1) Deny it—or at least deny responsibility for it.
(2) Hide it deep in our souls where it abscesses.
(3) Gild it with religion, meaning we overlay it with a veneer of religiosity.
(4) Silence it with addiction.
(5) Follow the example of Judas (Matt 27:3-5).
Are you trying to deal with guilt apart from grace?
If so which of the five are you attempting?

2. Although research refutes this, some contend that religion is the case of much mental illness. Could this be true with those who try to deal with guilt in one of the five dysfunctional ways?

3. If you would like to read some of the research, here is a link – Religion fosters better mental health:
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/talking-about-men/201712/religion-and-mental-health-what-is-the-link

“Link to YouTube Video – Religion Restores a Sense of Identity”