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The Glorious Gospel of Grace (CCD)
Christ Church on October 30, 2022
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Outside the Camp (Leviticus #4)

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INTRODUCTION

The entire sacrificial system of the Old Covenant pictures the many facets of our sin and God’s promise of forgiveness and cleansing, but the Sin Offering is perhaps the sacrifice that underlines this point the clearest. And perhaps what many Christians miss is the fact that God cannot dwell with a people who are forgiven and clean. The holiness of God burns against all evil and sin, and when sin accumulates in a land, so does His wrath, unless justice is done.

THE TEXT

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the sons of Israel saying, ‘If a person sins unintentionally in any of the things which the Lord has commanded not to be done, and commits any of them…” (Lev. 4:1-35).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The Sin Offering is presented for anyone who sins unintentionally in anything that God has commanded must not be done (4:2). The Sin Offering is presented for four scenarios: the anointed priest (4:3-12), the whole congregation (4:13-21), a tribal leader (4:22-26), and any other Israelite (4:27-35). The Sin Offering reminds us of elements of the Ascension and Peace Offerings: the worshiper brings the animal to the door of the tabernacle, he lays his hand on the head of the animal and kills it, and the fat of the entrails is put on the altar and goes up in smoke to the Lord (4:4, 8-10, 15, 24, 26, 29, 31, 33, 35). However, there are two unique elements of this offering: first, the sprinkling of blood in the Holy Place for the High Priest and congregation and putting blood on the horns of the altar (4:6-7, 16-18, 25, 30, 34), and second, when the Sin Offering blood is brought inside the Holy Place, they are to burn the hide, the flesh, and the head and legs outside the camp (4:11-12, 21, cf. 6:24-30).

UNINTENTIONAL SIN

The word used to describe “unintentional” sin is used elsewhere to describe the difference between this and “defiant” or “high-handed” or “presumptuous” sin (Num. 15:27-31). A famous example of this is when Israel goes up to fight the Amalekites in the Promised Land after the 10 spies bring back the bad report. Israel was warned not to go, but they went up anyway and were defeated (Num. 14:40-45, Dt. 1:41-44). A similar contrast is at work in descriptions of accidental murder versus premeditated (Num. 35:9-34). But there seems to be a sense in which all sin is considered “unintentional” if the perpetrator ultimately repents. “… even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. Yet I was shown mercy because I acted ignorantly in unbelief… It is a trustworthy statement, deserving full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, among whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 1:13, 15).

MAKE ATONEMENT

What the Sin Offering teaches is that sin not only brings guilt, but it also pollutes the land and the tabernacle (Lev. 15:31, Num. 19:13). On the Day of Atonement, once a year, the High Priest sprinkled blood from a Sin Offering inside the curtain on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant to cleanse the sins of the people (Lev. 16:15-19, 30, cf. 14:52, 1 Jn. 1:7). Therefore, the blood of the Sin Offering sprinkled in the Holy Place and wiped on the horns of the altar is for cleansing. “Atonement” literally means “covering.” In the New Testament, the Greek equivalent is often translated “propitiation,” which means turning away wrath (Rom. 3:25, Heb. 2:17, 1 Jn. 2:2, 4:10). The wages of sin is death, but sin also defiles. We need to be forgiven and cleansed. And atonement does both. Because of the holiness of God in the midst of His people, their sin collects on Him and His tent. So that is what must be cleansed. All of this foreshadows when God sent His only Son to “tabernacle” among us (Jn. 1:14) to take our sin judicially upon Himself and to bleed and die to make us (and our land) clean. We are the unclean ones, and it should be our blood, but the Clean One bled to make us clean.

CONCLUSION: GO TO HIM OUTSIDE THE CAMP

Hebrews describes the Sin Offering for the congregation: “For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach” (Heb. 13:11-13). To follow Jesus is to be reckoned unclean by the world, but it is the only way to be truly clean in the sight of God.

“What the law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us” (Rom. 8:3-4). The blood of bulls and goats could not actually take away sin, but that blood was a promise of the blood of Christ which was to come. That Sin Offering makes us bold. There is now no condemnation.

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Pressing On (Further Up #1)

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INTRODUCTION

Underlying much of the modern culture wars are questions, confusions, and conflict over the nature and possibility of progress, maturity, and excellence. What is possible in this world? And if real cultural progress is possible, how is it possible? For the next several weeks, we will be looking at a series of texts on the pursuit of excellence and maturity. Christianity gives good reasons for optimism, but not for the reasons the world gives.

THE TEXT

“For our citizenship is in heaven; from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ…” (Phil. 3:20 NKJV)

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Progress and excellence are words that only make sense if there’s a transcendent standard. What are we pressing for, what are we aiming at? We are aiming at the goal that Jesus aimed for when He saved us and nothing else (3:12). Our initial salvation doesn’t arrive at that perfection, rather, it is the only ground for pressing on, forgetting the things behind and straining to win the prize (3:13-14). This is the mind of Christian maturity: not being satisfied with where we are but pressing on together for that goal (3:15-16). This task includes following the example of others who walk like this (3:17). But many refuse to look beyond this world, and that’s a complete dead end (3:18-19). Christians are colonists of the Kingdom in this world, getting everything ready for Jesus, leaning into the resurrection (3:20-21

FOR WHICH HE LAID HOLD OF YOU

The call to perfection and maturity is a call to the most excellent life in every respect. But sin messes with this: our sin simply weighs us down (Heb. 12:1), but perhaps most deviously, our sin lies to us saying this is as good as it gets, and in the other direction, perfection and holiness aren’t as good as God says. But Paul has just finished saying that nothing in this world compares to the excellence of Christ and the resurrection (Phil. 2:7-11).

For a Christian, aiming for perfection is like aiming for home. Excellence in Christ is what you were made for and saved for. A good deal of our problem with growing in holiness and maturity is our vague and impersonal attempts to be “really good” or “not sin,” which is always a crushing weight, like pushing a rock up a hill only for it to roll back down on you every day. But this is why the first verse of our text is so important for understanding Christian maturity: we are only called to lay hold of that for which Christ laid hold of us (3:12). We are only called to seize/win/grasp that for which we were seized/won/grasped by Christ. Paul made the same point in the previous chapter: “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13).

All of the commands of Scripture: love your wife, submit to your husband, obey your parents, bring up your children in the Lord, tell the truth, do not fear, and repent of all your sins and forgive one another – those are commands that Christ has obtained the obedience for. God does not command except what He also has for prepared for us (Eph. 2:10). Just as there is no temptation for which there is no escape (1 Cor. 10:13). If you are in Christ, think of the call to press on toward the prize of perfection in Christ as the gift of learning to drive a fabulous sports car at the Indy 500. All the “rules” are things like: shift your gears like this, make the turn like this, use your brakes like this. Or think of Eric Liddell who said that God made him fast, and when he ran, he felt God’s pleasure. You were made for perfection. You were made for glory.

FOLLOWING EXAMPLES

Paul’s example is still set before us in his letters in the New Testament. Reading the Bible is following examples, putting the lives of the faithful before you as patterns. Do you need to persevere in difficulty? Set Abraham before your eyes. Or meditate on the lives of Moses, Job, or Elizabeth. Do you need wisdom? Consider the lives of Joseph, Solomon, Esther, or Paul. And of course, immerse yourself in the gospels, following the perfect example of Jesus.

But mark the lives of the saints around you as well: Do you see a marriage that is flourishing? Do you see a father delighting in his kids? Imitate them; follow their examples. Ask to talk to them, ask for advice, or invite them over for dinner. Do you see a Christian businessman who is prudent and excelling? Do you see a fruitful wife and mother, full of joy and wisdom? Note them, watch them, talk to them, and learn from them.

And Scripture is clear that wisdom also notes those who are not walking in the light. They are enemies of the cross, who serve their own lusts and appetites, who glory in their own shame – they are proud of their sin. They are obsessed with earthly things. So note this in Cain and Pharaoh and Achan and Ahab and Judas, and note it in those within the church today who are obsessed with what is fair or fads or rumors or fears, or simply muddle along in apathy.

OUR CITIZENSHIP

The old King James says our “conversation” is in heaven, but the word has more political connotations than that. “Polituema” is related to the word for citizen, citizenship, and city, and it’s the Greek root for our words “polity” or “politics.” In that Roman world, the concept was well known, especially in Philippi which was a Roman colony. The idea was that colonists went together to establish an outpost of the Empire in order to bring the ways of Rome to a new land. Only here Paul has reoriented the mission. The Philippian Christians are colonists, but they are colonists of Heaven. They are citizens of heaven, assigned to Philippi to establish an outpost for the Empire of Jesus, from which they await the King. We set our minds on things above precisely so we can see that Kingdom come: “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. Mortify therefore…” (Col. 3:2-5)

CONCLUSION

The image Paul uses in Philippians 3 – the prize he is pressing toward, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to what is up ahead – this is the image of a race. It could be a foot race, but it could also be a horse race or a chariot race. And given what he says, Christ is the horse who is carrying us to glory. He is our Savior. We cannot lift ourselves or propel ourselves to this maturity or excellence, but we press toward the goal for which Christ has laid hold of us. Don’t look back. Fix your eyes on Jesus, reaching forward toward His glory in your family, your business, the arts, science, technology, our city, our nation, and the world.

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Christ the Friend of Sinners

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INTRODUCTION                            

If Satan could successfully get us all to believe one lie, what would that lie be? Is there an aboriginal lie, one that lies at the root of every twisted thought or desire that we might have? And there is a scriptural answer to that question. The assumption behind the first question posed to our first mother contained that foundational lie. The question was, “Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Gen. 3:1). The lying assumption was that God was not ultimately good, and that He did not have the best for His creatures in mind.

The primeval lie is that God is not to be trusted. The primeval lie is to encourage us to have hard and erroneous thoughts about God.

THE TEXT

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8–9).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

The great problem with a text like this one is that we hear the lofty words, and we immediately default to our factory settings. But our factory settings were established for us in the Fall, and entertaining them were in fact the cause of the Fall. If we are believers, we tell ourselves that our hard thoughts of God are actually high thoughts of God, but this is not the case.

The text tells us that God does not think the same way that we do, and we need to remember that this applies—in the first instance—to how we read texts like this one. God’s thoughts are not like ours, and His ways are not like ours (v. 8). The heavens are much higher than the earth, and God’s ways and thoughts are that much higher than our ways and thoughts.

But here is the problem. Define higher.

The context of this wonderful passage is not what many would anticipate. Seek the Lord while He may be found (v. 6). Call on Him while He is near (v. 6). If the wicked and unrighteous man forsakes his way, what will God do? He will have mercy on him (v. 7). If a vile man comes to God, this God will abundantly pardon (v. 7). Why is this? Because God doesn’t think the way we do—or the way the devil does, for that matter.

God’s words of pardon and mercy come down on the earth like the rain and snow that give moisture to the earth (v. 10). Forgiveness grows, green and luxuriant (v. 10). God’s word of forgiveness is not impotent (v. 11)—it will prosper. It will result in songs of salvation (v. 12). Our salvation will be an everlasting sign that “shall not be cut off” (v. 13).

SQUASH YOU LIKE A BUG?

The natural man can believe that Almighty God can squash him like a bug. But confronted with a passage like this, we think the text is saying that we should always remember that God “can squash us a lot flatter than that.”

When we focus on the greatness of Almighty God, we revert to thinking of Him as the ultimate Zeus, a storm god who wields fistfuls of thunder, lightning, and blue ruin. And there are passages in Scripture that do talk this way, but we must always remember that the true greatness of this God is revealed to us in the juxtapositions.

Where does God dwell? He dwells, according to the prophet Isaiah, in two places.

“For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” (Isaiah 57:15)

He dwells in the high and holy place, and He also dwells in the contrite and humble place. And how can He do this? He functions this way because His ways are not our ways. His thoughts are not our thoughts. He is full of tender mercies.

THE HEART OF CHRIST

The men of Christ’s generation didn’t get much right, but they did get one thing right. Christ was the friend of sinners.

“The Son of man is come eating and drinking; and ye say, Behold a gluttonous man, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners!” (Luke 7:34).

The father of the prodigal son was looking down the road, longing for the return of his wastrel son. When he saw him coming back, bedraggled and humiliated, what did he do? He ran down the road and embraced him—and thus we have the parable of the running father. He then ordered the fatted calf to be killed, and party clothes to be put upon his loser son, and he hired a loud band, one that the older brother could hear out in the driveway. Did this father think that what this loser son really needed was another party? For one who had spent his entire inheritance on hookers and cocaine? Apparently so.

Just before this parable, the Lord told the one about the lost coin, and He concludes it this way. “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10). He doesn’t say that the angels rejoice (although I dare say they do), but rather that there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God. Who would be doing that but God Himself?

“The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty; He will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing” (Zeph. 3:17).

THE FEAR OF GOD IS NOT WHAT WE THINK

We all know that Scripture calls us to a life of moral rectitude. God wants us to walk worthy of the gospel of grace. We do not want to give an inch to any kind of moral disorder (Rom 6:1-4), of course not. But the grace of God does not encourage moral disorder, and the fear of God is not craven.

“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears” (Isaiah 11:1–3, NKJV).

The grace of God is liberty in Christ. It is not the death of legalism, or the disorder of licentiousness. It is liberty. What is it that can enable a man to stand upright in his moral integrity, and to have that moral stand to be saturated in grace? We all want to know what that looks like, and so to see what it looks like we are summoned to look to the only place where it has been perfectly done—in Christ crucified and risen.

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Everlasting Consolation (2 Thess. #4)

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INTRODUCTION

This is a passage in which we can clearly see the basic Pauline cast of mind. How does the apostle Paul think about the relationship of gospel truth and gospel living? How do the two fit together?

THE TEXT

“But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work” (2 Thess. 2:13–17).

SUMMARY OF THE TEXT

Paul acknowledges that he has an obligation to be grateful for the Thessalonians (v. 13). They were brothers who were beloved of the Lord, and his gratitude includes the fact that God had chosen them for salvation, using the two instruments of sanctification by the Spirit, and their belief in the truth (v. 13). God called them to that salvation by means of the gospel (v. 14), so that they might come to obtain the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 14). That being the case, they were instructed to stand fast (v. 15). Hold on to the traditions you have received, the apostle says, whether verbally or through an epistle (v. 15). He then wraps up this exhortation with a benediction. May the Lord Jesus and God the Father—who has loved us, and given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace (v. 16)—comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work (v. 17).

APOSTOLIC TRADITION

This section of Thessalonians is the one place in the Bible where tradition is mentioned positively. Everywhere else it is negative. Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for setting aside the commands of God for the sake of human traditions (Mark 7:8-9, 13). Paul warns the Colossians to beware of philosophy, vain deceit, traditions of men, and the rudiments of the world (Col. 2:8). Paul states that in the time of his unbelief, he had been “exceedingly zealous” of the traditions of his fathers (Gal. 1:14), which was not a good thing. The apostle Peter reminds his readers that they had been rescued from their vain way of life received by tradition from their fathers (1 Pet. 1:18). Protestant Christians are therefore justified in giving a wary stink eye to any exorbitant claim made on behalf of tradition.

But there is one place where tradition is lauded, and it is here in 2 Thessalonians. Fortunately, we are given two important clues about the content of this apostolic tradition. First, in our text, Paul says that “the traditions” were what they had been taught, whether by spoken or by written word. In other words, we should expect the oral traditions, which we do not have, to be very much like the written traditions, which we do have. And second, in the next chapter, Paul gives us a sample, using the word tradition. “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us” (2 Thess. 3:6). So what was that tradition? Work hard. Show up on time. Don’t call in sick when you aren’t. Don’t be a malingerer. In short, the apostolic tradition is not esoteric at all.

THE PAULINE CAST OF MIND

Earlier I mentioned the Pauline cast of mind. Here it is.

When Christians live as Christians should live, this is an occasion for gratitude to be rendered to God. When we live right, we should thank Him. The initiative in salvation lies with God. God is the one who chose you for salvation. And why? Because He wanted to. He chose the slave to sin that He was going to liberate, and His method of liberation was to give the holiness of the Spirit and the faith that enabled us to believe the truth. When we abandon all attempts to hang onto our own glory, surrendering all of it in a God-glorifying gospel, what is the result? He calls us by that gospel, and He calls us up into the obtaining of the glory of the Lord Jesus. When we surrender the glory of man, He invites us up into the glory of God. These things being the case, we should contemplate them, and respond in an appropriate way. What is that? First, stand fast in the truth of what we are saying. Second, hold to the apostolic tradition, which is that you should get a job. Here is the gospel, so stand up straight in it. When you stand up straight in the gospel, the Father and the Son, who called you to that gospel in the first place, will preserve you there. God will do this because He loves you. He has given you an everlasting consolation. He has given you good hope through grace. He will comfort your hearts. And then what will He do regarding the rest of your life? He will establish you in every good word and work.

WHAT THIS ESTABLISHED WORK ACTUALLY IS

There is consolation here, indeed. There is hope and there is comfort. The grace of God is abundantly present. But we must take care not to import our own “traditions” into this picture. God’s comfort is not a Big-Rock-Candy-Mountain kind of comfort.

Notice that God does not promise to float you like a feather on a zephyr up to Heaven. It is not that kind of a good time.

He establishes us in every good word and work, and work is what? It is work. The fact that there is the promised glory of a golden harvest does not erase the fact that there are months of work out in another kind of golden reality, the heat of the summer sun.

This is the way of Christ. It is the apostolic tradition. Salvation is all of grace, which is why we work so hard.

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