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Christ Church on January 2, 2022
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Repentance & Restitution (Leviticus #5)

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INTRODUCTION

The Sin Offering taught us that the guilt of sin not only needs to be paid for but also cleansing. Here, the Reparation/Guilt Offering teaches us that sin must always be repented of and some sins require us to do restitution.

REVIEW

Leviticus 1: Ascension Offering – God invites us to draw near with all that we are: the whole animal goes on the altar.
Leviticus 2: Tribute Offering – God provides our daily bread and all things, and therefore, He claims our full allegiance: bread on the altar.
Leviticus 3: Peace Offering – God invites us to have fellowship with Him and one another with a meal: the fat goes on the altar and we eat together in the presence of God.
Leviticus 4: Sin Offering – Our sin defiles us and our land, but God takes it upon Himself so we can be clean: the blood goes in front of the veil and on the altar for cleansing and the carcass is burned outside the camp.

THE TEXT

“Now if a person sins after he hears a public adjuration to testify when he is a witness, whether has seen or otherwise known, if he does not tell it, then he will bear his guilt…” (Lev. 5–6:7)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

It is unclear how the Reparation Offering is related to the Sin Offering (if at all), but the clear emphasis here is on the effects of certain sins: failure to testify (5:1), thoughtless oaths (5:4), sins against the sanctuary (5:2-3, 15), sins of deception, theft, or damage (6:2-3). In these instances, it seems that a sin offering would ordinarily be offered and then depending on the exact offense, a Reparation Offering would also be required (5:6). For those who could not afford the ordinary Sin Offering, two birds or even a grain offering without oil might be offered (5:7-13). The Reparation Offering was always a ram without blemish and included twenty percent restitution (5:14-6:7).

PUBLIC TESTIMONY & OATHS

On the one hand we know that “whoever meddles in a quarrel not his own is like one who takes a passing dog by the ears” (Prov. 26:17), but we must not close our eyes or remain silent when injustice is being perpetrated right in front of us (Lev. 20:4). Here, the first situation seems to be a public hearing presumably for a crime (Lev. 5:1). The law requires two or three witnesses to convict someone of anything (Dt. 19:15). Failure to speak up when you know that a witness is lying or else you were a witness that can provide other crucial information is not only bearing false witness but participating in the miscarriage of justice and unjust penalties. False witnesses are liable to receive the punishment that would have fallen on the falsely accused (Dt. 19:16-21). This is part of the problem with anonymous witnesses: they cannot be held accountable.

RESTITUTION

When someone is convicted of their sin, they are to confess their sin to the one they sinned against and to God (Lev. 5:5-6), and they are to restore what was damaged in full plus twenty percent (Lev. 6:1-5, cf. 5:16). The principle is full replacement plus a double tithe. The double tithe seems to be based on the ordinary requirement of the law of double replacement for stolen items that are found (Ex. 22:4). This is based on the lex talionis (“eye for eye”): what you intended to do to another is done to you (but no more) (Lev. 24:19-20). When a thief repents, he restores what he stole plus the double tithe as an admission on his part that he deserves to have to restore double. If there is no one to give the restitution to, it is given to the Lord (Num. 5:5-8). But unrepentant thieves who sell or destroy stolen goods can be required to restore up to four or five times the value (Ex. 22:1), which Zacchaeus did when he repented (Lk. 19:8).

WHAT IS REPENTANCE?

Don’t miss the fact that when Zacchaeus announced his restitution, Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house… For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Lk. 19:9). Notice that Jesus didn’t say that Zacchaeus was being legalistic and shouldn’t worry about paying people back since we’re under grace and not under law. No, Jesus calls this “salvation.” In fact, the New Testament repeatedly calls unbelievers to “repentance” for salvation (Acts 3:19, Lk. 24:46-47). Repentance means turning away from sin and turning to God (Acts 26:18). Faith in Christ is the first movement of repentance, but a faith that does not follow through with the fruit of repentance is no real faith (Lk. 3:8ff). Also notice that this restoration process is part of what Jesus came to save. When Jesus saves lost people, He also restores economies, livelihoods, and families through repentance.

CONCLUSION

Once again, Jesus is the fulfillment of this sacrifice. Isaiah 53 says that the Suffering Servant (Jesus) would become our Reparation/Guilt Offering (Is. 53:10). And just as God provided the ram as the substitute for Isaac on Mount Moriah (Gen. 22:13), Jesus is our ram on Golgotha, our full restitution to God, so that times of refreshing may come (Acts 3:19).

While the notion of “reparations” has been highly politicized in our day, Christians do not object to concrete wrongs being put right, even old ones. We believe in the healing of real restitution, but we object to the tapeworm of reparations: guilt that can never be forgiven and grievances that can never be put right. And part of this means trusting that full justice awaits the final judgment.

Many Christians wonder why they feel like they’re running on fumes; one reason is often failure to fully repent and do restitution. Christ died not merely that you might be made right with God, but also that you might go make it right with anyone and everyone you have wronged. This fruit of repentance is not a harsh duty but the real fruit of Christ in you. When Christians live consistently in that kind of repentance it is truly refreshing to everyone, and when millions of Christians begin living that way, we will have a Reformation on our hands.

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The Deep Well of National Repentance

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The Text

I know also, my God, that thou triest the heart, and hast pleasure in uprightness. As for me, in the uprightness of mine heart I have willingly offered all these things: and now have I seen with joy thy people, which are present here, to offer willingly unto thee (1 Chronicles 29:17).

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Light in the Dwellings of Israel

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The Text

“They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings” (Ex. 10:23).

Introduction

There is something glorious here for us. The pagans were struck with darkness and could not rise, could not go out, could not move for three days, but all the children of Israel had light in their homes. The text doesn’t tell us exactly how this worked. It doesn’t say if there was some kind of massive cosmic miracle taking place or if the darkness was simply less intense in Goshen, such that the lanterns and candles actually worked or whether there was some other supernatural light being given. But either way, this moment is glorious. There was thick, paralyzing darkness in Egypt, but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

The implication seems to be that there was still darkness in the land of Goshen, but that while Israel had to stay home, there was a relative blessing in the midst of the plague. Everyone was stuck at home, no one could go out, but where there was an additional darkness inside the homes of the Egyptians, all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. Everyone had to stay home, but there were two very different experiences of that darkness. In one experience, there was no variation, only darkness, inside and outside, all the way through, but in the other experience, there was significant variation. The darkness was on the outside, but there was light on the inside. All of the children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

It is still unclear exactly what has happened in our land, in our world, and what is happening. Whatever your views of this current moment, whether you are more concerned about the virus, or more concerned about the panic, or more concerned about government overreach and loss of civil liberties, or if it’s some or all of the above, whatever your opinions, whatever your concerns, the message is that for those who know God through Christ, no matter the darkness outside, there should be light in your homes, light in your families, light on the inside. Whatever the darkness, whatever the hardship, whatever the cause, you can say it however you like, but your sentence should end: but all of the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. But all the people of God had light in their homes.

So my question is: if you call yourself a Christian, if you profess faith in Jesus Christ, is there light in your home? Is your home full of light? When the story is told of these days, will it be said of you and your family, that even though the world was full of darkness, the people of God had light in their dwellings? What is your home like? What is your family like? What is your marriage like? Is it full of light? Is it a joyful place to be? Is it a comforting place to be? Or is it fearful, biting, angry, grumpy, cold, or distant?

The Light of the Word 

The people of God should always have light in their homes because they have the Word of God in their homes. “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path” (Ps. 119:105). In Ephesians, it says, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light… Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:8, 19-20). Do you want light in your home? Then you must have the Word open, and you must have no fellowship with the works of darkness. You must have no fellowship with the works of darkness on the internet, on Netflix, or in your heart. But rather you must expose them, hate them, repent of them. And instead you must read the word, sing the word, and obey the word. The Word is light. If you put a garbage can over a lamp, it won’t give any light. So open the Word. Open it and read it. Read it out loud. Let it shine. Read all of it. Commit to obeying it. Do whatever it says with joy. And sing the Word, or start learning how if you don’t know how. And notice that singing the word is how it dwells in you richly. That’s how you turn the dimmer switch up to full blast. Do you want the word to shine in your home brightly? Then sing the word loudly. Do it with thanksgiving always and for all things. When the Word is in your mouth and in your heart, your home will be full of light.

The Light of Fellowship

The people of God should always have light in their homes because they have fellowship with God and one another in their homes. “This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and 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 Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin” (1 Jn. 1:5-7). Again, you cannot say you have fellowship with God and walk in darkness. You cannot serve God and mammon. You cannot love God and love the world or the things in the world (1 Jn. 1:15). If anyone loves the world, the love of God is not in him. And a bunch of church-going people really need to hear this word. You go to church, you sing in the choir, maybe you are even in leadership, but you do not love God. You love the world. You are full of the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, and you do not know the Father.

How can it be that a land full of so many professing Christians is so corrupt and so thoroughly wicked? How can it be that cities full of so many church going people murder so many babies, by the thousands, every single day? The answer is that there are many people in this land who think they are Christians, but they are not. They are full of darkness and there is no light in them at all. They do not have fellowship with God, and they are walking in darkness. They are liars. And this is evident in their relationships with God and those around them. They have constant bickering with their spouse, tensions with their children and parents and co-workers. Why do they not have fellowship with those around them? Because they are walking in darkness.

But the promise is right here: If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. And many Christian people don’t even know what that fellowship is like. Do you know the joy of Christian fellowship? The peace? The glorious freedom of having no secrets, no bitterness, nothing to hide? Many people have settled for an average American home, which is not the same thing as a Christian home. A Christian home is full of light, full of joy, full of peace, full of fellowship.

And do not misunderstand: Christian fellowship is not sinless, but it is fellowship that is constantly being cleansed by the blood of Christ. And this happens by confession and forgiveness: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” Do you want light in your home? Then confess your sins. Do you want light in your family? Then forgive your dad, forgive your spouse, forgive your brother, your sister. And get back into fellowship with God.

Conclusion: The Light of Christ

Of course, all of this is pointing ultimately to Christ Himself. The light we are talking about, the light we want in our homes, in our families, in our marriages is not some impersonal force, some mystical power, some religious experience or feeling. No, the light we are talking about is the presence of a person. And that person is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the Light of God. He is the Word of God, and since He is the Son of God, He is the One who grants us fellowship with God. No one comes to the Father, except through Him

If want light in our homes, we must have Jesus in our homes. And this is not just a nice religious saying. This is not me saying that you need traditional family values in your home. This is not me saying that you need to try harder or turn over a new leaf. No. We need Jesus in our homes. The reason Jesus has been largely banished from our public square is because we didn’t want Him there. And we didn’t want Him there because we have largely ignored Him in our homes.

“In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in the darkness; and the darkness did not comprehend it… That was the true Light, which lightens every man that comes into the world” (Jn. 1:4-5, 9). You cannot have a home full of light unless you have Jesus in your home. And if you have Jesus in your home, there is nothing that can make your home dark.

This is just another way of saying what Paul says in Romans 8: “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuade that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:35-39).

And if you have that kind confidence, then your life will be full of light, your home will be full of light. How can you have that kind of assurance? How can you have that kind of confidence? The only way to have that kind of assurance is to have Christ dwelling in your heart, Christ living inside of you. Christ in you, is the only hope of glory (Col. 1:27).

But how can Christ, a man, dwell inside you? How can Christ be in our homes and in our families? The answer is Christ is risen from the dead. Christ rose victorious over all sin, all death, all decay, all tyranny, all guilt, all shame, all darkness. And He rose with healing in His wings. He rose with endless life and light to bring. He rose to make all things new. He died so that your sin might die in Him, and He rose so that you might rise with Him.

So the free offer of the gospel is that if you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, then you will be saved. His light will shine on you. His light will fill you. And Christ Himself will come and dwell in you and drive away all the darkness.

This is what we need our land right now. Do we want the public square full of Christian light? Then our homes must be full of Christian light. Do we want the darkness of abortion, the darkness of sodomy, the darkness of economic insanity, the darkness of government tyranny driven back? Then let there be light in our homes. That light is the Light of the Word, the light of fellowship with the Father and the Son, the light of Christ filling our hearts and our homes.

In the coming years, let it be said of these days, that though they were very dark, all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. All the people of God had light in their homes. The Christian homes were full of unexplainable joy.

And Amen.

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On Trampling the Courts of God

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Introduction

In a recent press conference, the president said that his desire was to have our country emerge from this crisis in a matter of weeks, not months, and that it was his desire for the churches of our country to be packed out on Easter.

This is a laudable desire on at least two levels, and we should support and applaud it, as I do. But there is something more that still needs to be said about it. Packed churches are better than empty churches, but in themselves are not nearly enough.

The Text

“‘The ox knows its owner and the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.’ Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, Children who are corrupters! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked to anger the Holy One of Israel, they have turned away backward” (Isaiah 1:3–4, NKJV).

“Hear the word of the Lord, You rulers of Sodom; Give ear to the law of our God, You people of Gomorrah: ‘To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who has required this from your hand, to trample My courts? Bring no more futile sacrifices; Incense is an abomination to Me. The New Moons, the Sabbaths, and the calling of assemblies— I cannot endure iniquity and the sacred meeting. Your New Moons and your appointed feasts My soul hates; They are a trouble to Me, I am weary of bearing them” (Isaiah 1:10–14, NKJV).

Summary of the Text

As Isaiah opens his magisterial book, he immediately confronts the great sinfulness of Israel. But even though they have been greatly compromised, it is a corrupt nation that has kept up the formalities. They have kept up appearances. So Isaiah begins by pulling back the curtain, stating clearly that they have badly strayed. They are a sinful nation. They are laden with iniquity. They are a brood of evil-doers, corrupters. They have forsaken the Lord, and made the Holy One of Israel angry. They have turned away backward (vv. 3-4).

So hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom on the Potomac (v. 10). Listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah on the Hudson (v. 10). What is it to me if the churches are packed out on Easter (v. 11)? Who asked all you people to come in here to trample my courts (v. 12)? Your prayers, your offerings, your songs, your stupid songs are an abomination to me (v. 13). And why? Because God is holy and cannot endure iniquity combined with sacred assembly (v. 13). Our packed churches are a trouble to Him (v. 14), like so much smoke in the eyes.

Amos speaks in much the same way. Away with the noise of your songs (Amos 5:21–23, NKJV). Get them out of my hearing.

The Mystery of Lawlessness

There is such a thing as being hellbent. And when people are hellbent on their sin, God could write His judgments in the sky in big block letters, and they would stare stubbornly down at the ground rather than read such pure words. “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tonguesfor pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds” (Rev. 16:10–11).

But how does this apply to our text, and to our situation? The 2 trillion stimulus relief bill—quite aside from whether that was a good idea—was held up in part because the secularists wanted it to include relief for Planned Parenthood. And California, which has all non-essential services in lock down, has seen fit to allow pot shops and abortion clinics to remain open as “essential.” You must stay at home unless your job is that essential one of dismembering babies. It is hard to comprehend what is more ghoulish—the fact that they do things like this, or the fact that they think it is not ghoulish.

You may believe that the danger we are confronting is that of the coronavirus. You may believe that the great danger we are confronting is the panicked official over-reaction to the virus. Or you may believe, as I do, that it is a combination of the two, with heavy emphasis on the latter. But if you are a Christian, whatever you believe the threat to be, you must also believe that it is a threat that was delivered to us by the hand of God. “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people be afraid? If there is calamity in a city, will not the Lord have done it?” (Amos 3:6, NKJV).

Now, let us suppose that God lifts His hand from us in His great mercy, and by mid-May things have returned to normal. In mid-May we will be just days away from June, designated as Pride Month, a time of LGBTQ celebrations. Wouldn’t it be better to call it Dog Returning His Vomit Month?

Really? Seriously? Do such rebels really think that a respite would not be the mercy of God? They would much rather think of a much simpler explanation—like God running out of ammunition perhaps? This is like Pharaoh thinking, when the plague of frogs was removed, that Jehovah had somehow run out of frogs. “But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the Lord had said.” (Ex. 8:15). And though God did not repeat the frogs, it was not because He was out of them. It was because He intended to use the rest of His arsenal.

This is a Godquake

As believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, keep your eyes on what He is doing, not on what our grand poohbahs think they are doing. And above all, do not look at what your own fearful heart is doing.

“And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: For our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:27–29

Asking God to Do What It Takes

Moral stubbornness is a great mystery. When the United States obliterated Hiroshima on August 6, 1945 with an atomic bomb, it is not often remarked that this one devasting bomb was not sufficient to get the Japanese to surrender. That had to wait for the obliteration of another city, Nagasaki, three days later. Taking this simply as an illustration, what should your prayer in this extraordinary time be? Your prayer should be that God would do what it takes to get us to surrender to Him. We don’t want God to just bomb just one city and then leave us to our corruptions.

“If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.” Ex. 15:26 (KJV)

Earlier in this chapter from Exodus, the people of Israel had just been celebrating their deliverance from Egypt in the great Red Sea miracle. Three days later they came to the waters of Marah, which were bitter and undrinkable. Moses made the waters sweet by throwing a particular tree into the water, and then he made a statute or ordinance for them, whereby (it says) he tested them. And then he gave them the words of our text, which begin with a series of conditionals. If they diligently hearkened to the voice of God, if they did what was right in His sight, if they paid close attention to His commandments, and obeyed His statutes, then what? Then the diseases of Egypt, which were commonplace enough there to be called by that name, would not be visited upon Israel. We see here that God’s governance of the world is personal. These things are entirely in His hand. The world is not governed by deaf, dumb and blind microbes (Ex. 15:26). Our problem in all this is that we have offended God.

“He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty . . . There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.” Ps. 91: 1, 10 (KJV)

And in this text from Psalm 91, we see that the Almighty casts a shadow, and in that shadow is a secret place, a hiding place. The person who resorts there is one who must dwell there, he must abide there. And the shadow that is cast there is cast by the great Rock, who is Christ. In that resting place, the plague of self-sufficiency and pride will not come near you. Christ drives all of that away.

The Sum of the Matter

So if this Easter simply sees our churches packed with Americans, that by itself would be the greatest disaster out of this long series of disasters. But we should long to see the churches packed out with repentant Americans. When we look at the corruption centers called our state capitals, not to mention our national capital, the problem is not that these people represent us. Our problem, to be pondered deeply, is that they represent us well.

And so if the Lord lifts His hand from us, then our behavior after that point, unlike Pharaoh, must be different. But it will only be different if we have seen Christ in the interim.

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