Gooding, David: 6 - The Damage Sin Does

Let us begin our study this evening by reading from the book of Leviticus and chapter five. We have quite a long reading there, the whole of chapter five and the first seven verses of chapter six. And if anyone sin, in that he heareth the voice of adoration, he being a witness, whether he hath seen or known, if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. Or if anyone touch any unclean thing, whether it be the carcass of an unclean beast, or the carcass of unclean cattle, or the carcass of unclean creeping things, and it be hidden from him, and he be unclean, then he shall be guilty. Or if he touch the uncleanness of men, where whatsoever his uncleanness be, wherewith he is unclean, and it be hid from him? When he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty. Or if anyone swear rashly with his lips to do evil or to do good, whatsoever it be that a man shall utter rashly with an oath, and it be hid from him, when he knoweth of it, then he shall be guilty in one of these things. And it shall be, when he shall be guilty in one of these things, that he shall confess that wherein he hath sinned. And he shall bring his guilt offering unto the Lord for his sin which he hath sinned, a female from the flock, a lamb or a goat for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him as concerning his sin. And if his means suffice not for a lamb, then he shall bring his guilt offering for that wherein he hath sinned, two turtle doves or two young pigeons unto the Lord, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering. And he shall bring them unto the priest, who shall offer that which is for the sin offering first, and wring off its head from its neck, but shall not divide it asunder. And he shall sprinkle of the blood of the sin offering upon the side of the altar, and the rest of the blood shall be drained out at the base of the altar. It is a sin offering. And he shall offer the second for a burnt offering according to the ordinance, and the priest shall make his atonement for him as concerning his sin which he has sinned, and he shall be forgiven. But if his means suffice not for two turtle doves or two young pigeons, then he shall bring his oblation for that wherein he hath sinned, the tenth part of an ephah of fine flour for a sin offering. He shall put no oil upon it, neither shall he put any frankincense thereon, for it is a sin offering. And he shall bring it to the priest, and the priest shall take his handful of it as the memorial thereof, and burn it on the altar upon the offerings of the Lord made by fire. It is a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for him as touching his sin that he hath sinned in any of these things, and he shall be forgiven. The remnant shall be the priest's as the meal offering. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, If anyone commit a trespass and sin unwittingly in the holy things of the Lord, then he shall bring his guilt offering unto the Lord, a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to thy estimation in silver by shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary, for a guilt offering. And he shall make restitution for that which he hath done amiss in the holy thing, and shall add the fifth part thereto, and give it unto the priest, and the priest shall make atonement for him with the ram of the guilt offering, and he shall be forgiven. And if anyone sin and do any of the things which the Lord hath commanded not to be done, though he knew it not, yet is he guilty, and he shall bear his iniquity. And he shall bring a ram without blemish out of the flock, according to thy estimation, for a guilt offering unto the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him concerning the thing wherein he erred unwittingly and knew it not, and he shall be forgiven. It is a guilt offering. He is certainly guilty before the Lord. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, If anyone sin and commit a trespass against the Lord and deal falsely with his neighbor in a matter of deposit or of bargain or of robbery, or have oppressed his neighbor, or have found that which was lost, and deal falsely therein and swear to a lie. In any of all these that a man doeth, sinning therein, then it shall be, if he hath sinned and is guilty, that he shall restore that which he took by robbery, or the thing which he hath gotten by oppression, or the deposit which was committed to him, or the lost thing which he found, or anything about which he hath sworn falsely, he shall even restore it in full, and shall add the fifth part more thereto. Unto him to whom it appertaineth shall he give it in the day of his being found guilty. And he shall bring his guilt offering unto the Lord, a ram without blemish of the flock, according to thy estimation, for a guilt offering unto the priest. And the priest shall make atonement for him before the Lord, and he shall be forgiven, concerning whatsoever he doeth so as to be guilty thereby. Now let's read just a few verses from Psalm sixty nine. Psalm sixty nine. Save me, O God, for the waters are come into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there is no standing. I am come into deep waters where the floods overflow me. I am weary with my crying. My throat is dry. Mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head. They that would cut me off being mine enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restored that which I took not away. The Lord give us good understanding of his holy word. And now tonight we have to deal with a topic that is somewhat gloomy. And the coward in me would like to apologize in advance, because I'm afraid that a lot that we shall have to consider tonight could conceivably be distressing. And you know, I'll tell you a secret about preachers, that they like preaching on the lovely things, because the congregation respond well. But woe betide the preacher that preaches on solemn things and distressing things. He won't be asked again. And yet, you know, though the coward in me wouldn't want to apologize in advance, because our study this evening, as I say, shall in some part be distressing. Yet, of course, I mustn't apologize, may I? I can and do apologize for my faulty exegesis and for my very imperfect exposition. That I do apologize for, but I may not apologize for God's holy word. And as you know, I didn't write Leviticus, and in particular, I didn't write chapters five and six. so that if tonight we find them directing our minds to things that we would rather forget and not face, things that stir memory and open cupboard doors to find skeletons lurking in our cupboards. Then we shall have to trust the kindness and love of God, shall we not? That God writes these things for our good. Lovely as his salvation is, it is not escape from reality. It is a salvation that can take us by the hand, and because it can give us complete forgiveness of all our sins, give us the courage with God to face ourselves, to face our past, and to face our present and be realists along with God. And why do I talk like that? Why, because tonight we come to study the offering that is called in the Old Testament the trespass offering or the guilt offering. As I have suggested in the title of this talk, we are to think tonight of the damage that sin does. On Tuesday evening, our heart was warmed. We were thinking of the stain of sin, and therefore we thought of the blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord, that cleanses us from all sin. So tonight we think of a sacrifice that deals with our trespasses, and of course, in a sense, we shall find our study glorious. It reminds us of our blessed Lord Jesus, and through him that God has forgiven us all our trespasses. Our blessed Lord has taken the handwriting that was against us, all that long record of our trespasses against God and against man that stood contrary to us, that called God's law to witness that we had broken his law and gone against the purposes of Almighty God and wasted God's time and wasted our own lives and done damage to ourselves and damage to our fellow men and women. All that long, sorry list of our trespasses, and the New Testament tells us that our blessed Lord, when he died for us, he took the handwriting that was against us, and oh, what lovely words they are. He blotted it out. As in the ancient world, when a man had a long debt that he couldn't pay, and then somebody came along and paid it for him, they didn't write on the bottom of it, receive with thanks, like we do in our modern world. They got out a sponge because the old piece of paper would have been written with lamp black and with a sharpened feather or a stylus, and therefore, when the debt was paid, the creditor would get out a sponge and he would sponge it all out. Paid. And the apostle, by inspiration, uses that vivid illustration. Oh, my brother, can you see in your mind's eye the handwriting that was against you? Mine was a long, long, long, long list. I'm happy to tell you that could you rise tonight into the presence of God and see the divine ledger books? Ha, you'll say, God, could I have a look at account number so and so? He'd say, which one was that? Gooding's account. Do you know that chap was here tonight preaching as if he were someone special? Could we have a look at his account? Ooh, you'd see it occupied, I don't know how many pages, I have to tell you that, with shame. I tell you what, you'll find it all sponged out. All my sins, all the bliss of this glorious past, the truth, my sins, not in part, but the whole, were nailed to his cross, and I bear them no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. He sponged out the record, and then the Bible tells us he took it out of the way, that ugly record, and he hammered it to his cross. He nailed it to his cross. I think I hear the hammer blows yet. For as men drove the nails through his hand, he was hammering the list of my sins to his cross, sponged out and forgiven, because there he paid the price. How glorious, isn't it? Ah yes, but on Tuesday we were thinking together of things like that, and you will perhaps say to me, but what's the difference then? On Tuesday we were talking about the sin offering. Why now do we need another offering called the trespass offering or the guilt offering? And so we shall start with that. What is the difference? And I have to warn you that the learned exegetes, theologians, scholars, and commentators are themselves not quite agreed. Where does the sin offering finish and the trespass offering begin? And some of the very learned would tell us that, actually speaking, the sin offering carries on from chapter four through chapter five as far as verse sixteen. and they say the trespass offering doesn't begin until verse seven— uh, sorry, until verse, uh, uh, sorry, uh, sin offering, let me repeat, the sin offering carries through chapter five right up to verse thirteen, and then the trespass offering, they say, begins at verse fourteen. Why do they say that? Or they say you'll notice that at verse fourteen the scripture says, and the Lord spake unto Moses, as though this was some new beginning. And they say, if you look back to chapter five verse one, there's no and the Lord spake unto Moses. We just carry on as we were before, with an and if anyone sin or something. And they're perfectly true. But for you who are equally learned commentators, just let me protect myself when I point out that you can't always use that phrase just like that, can you? You look back in your Bible to chapter two, verse one. Chapter two, verse one, we begin a new offering. It was, we found when we studied it, the meal offering. So chapter one was the burnt offering, chapter two is the meal offering. Look at chapter two verse one, and there is no such phrase, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying. Yet who would deny that chapter two is a different offering from chapter one? And actually, you see, if you turn back now to our chapter five that we have just read, you will look in verse six, and it says, when a man has sinned in certain things, he shall bring his guilt offering. There is our technical word, a trespass offering, a guilt offering. Verse six says it. So now what will our learned commentators say? Oh, they're ready with an answer, of course. Ah yes, they say, but it's just slipped the word in there just a little bit, but actually they say, look at verse eleven and the last few ver- phrases, the last few words of verse eleven, um where it says, for it is a sin offering. And they say, therefore, that the guilt offerings don't really start until verse fourteen. That isn't quite true either. You see, it's a complicated matter, isn't it? But it's like this, that some trespass offerings, they had this special feature that when you came to offer your trespass offering for the Lord, sometimes the Lord would demand a straightforward trespass. But sometimes, if you came to atone for a trespass, God would say, well, now as your trespass offering, I want you to bring a sin offering. And on another occasion, he would say, for your trespass offering, I want you to bring a meal offering. And sometimes he would say, for your trespass, I want you to bring a burnt offering. For burnt offerings and sin offerings and meal offerings, they could all be used on certain occasions as trespass offerings. So you'll forgive me at least, won't you, even if you don't agree with me, for that little explanation, and I'm going to say really that the trespass offerings start with chapter five, verse one. And you say to me, but Mr. Preacher, why have you wearied us like that, taking whole five minutes to explain such technicalities of a cold, thirsty evening? Well, my good sir, you don't know the rank of theologian that is that's sitting next to you, and if I didn't say it, why, how he would, uh, get my bacon as he went out of the door this evening. So I had to say that bit for the sake of the theologians, and now we can forget them mercifully and get down to our study. And there's a sin offering and a trespass offering or guilt offering. You say, what's the difference? Well, you'll notice this, of course, they both deal with sin. But on Tuesday, we found that the sin offering is dealing with the stain of sin, the way that sin stains our conscience. The guilt offering is dealing with the damage sin does. That isn't put away quite so quickly. Or look at it another way. If we went back to chapter four and looked at the sin offering, we should find that the offerings that had to be brought when people sinned, some were large and some were small. You say, what made the difference? Well, the difference was who did the sin. Oh, you say, oh, wait a minute. I thought all sins were the same, and it doesn't matter who did it. Oh, it does, my good friend. You see, here's a good gentleman, and he's not long been converted, and before he was converted, he was an alcoholic and a drug addict and living a poor, broken life. And then he got saved, and he found the Lord. Thank God. Two months after he was converted, the old temptation to go on the drink got at him, and in a moment of weakness he gave way, and the police picked him up that Saturday night dead drunk. Sad, isn't it? Oh, of course it's sad, but not so sad as this, that one night coming out of a plush hotel, there was an elder of a church, and he couldn't stand on his two pins either. He'd been at a businessman's meeting, and he got drunk. All the Bangor newspapers would make a scandal of that. That's a hypothetical case. You haven't got an elder like that in Bangor, of course you haven't. But, uh, oh, if it were to happen, wow, the song and the dance that the Bangor newspapers would make of the elder of the church caught drunk and disorderly in the street. And you see, it's the same sin. It's more serious with the elder because of his long experience, because of his office in the church, and the sin brings more disgrace upon the Lord and upon his people. Of course it's more serious. Yes, said our Lord, you know it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment from then for you respectable, uh, people of Capernaum. Sodom and Gomorrah were lurid sinners. They sinned against the light, but how little light they had compared with you privileged people in Capernaum. With the Son of God in your midst, you sin against the light, but oh, what more grievous sin. For the more privilege, the higher the office, the more grievous is the sin. So the sin offering measures the seriousness of it by who it is that does the sin. If a priest that was anointed, the high priest sinned, he had to bring an offering as big as if the whole nation had sinned because of his high office. And it teaches us, who are the Lord's people, that sin becomes more serious the older we get, the more we know. Says James to the teachers in the church, be careful, my brethren, be careful. You who stood there telling people what to do and not to do, you shall receive the greater judgment. And we come to the trespass offering. Now again, the seriousness is measured and differs in different circumstances. But note now, please, what the difference is. The difference is no longer according to who does it. The difference is the damage done. Some sins do more damage than other sins do. And you see, when it comes to damage, it doesn't matter who does it, does it? Car skids along the road, knocks your child down and kills your child. Now, mother, I suppose it makes some difference to you whether the driver was an elderly man, who was a little bit fuddled and he couldn't react quick enough, and he ran into your child and killed. Or it was a learner driver, and she'd only passed her test two days ago and found herself in a tight position and didn't know what to do and panicked and ran over your child and killed him. Or it was a, a, a wild youth showing off to his girlfriend in the front seat and speeding more than he should. Well, mother, in the end it doesn't make a lot of difference, does it? Your child is dead. As far as the damage goes, doesn't matter whether they did it intentionally or whether it was an accident, the damage is done. It'll never be put right in this world. And you'll see these chapters are going to talk to us then about the damage sin does. It doesn't matter who does it, and it doesn't matter whether it was done deliberately or not deliberately. As far as the damage is concerned, the damage is done, and there lies the sadness of the situation. And so now we shall notice another distinction between our offering tonight, the trespass offering, and the sin offering. And that is this. When a man sinned, he just had to bring his sin offering, and it was forgiven. Ah, yes. Because the stain of sin can be blotted out by the blood of Christ. Now we're thinking of the damage sin does. So now you'll find very frequently that there have to be two things. Not always, but in many cases. Where the damage can be estimated, then two things have to happen. One, there is a sacrifice to God to deal with his wrath against sin. Two, there has to be restoration and restitution made. Yes? Let me illustrate that. Because if I come back driving my car through Bangor High Street, whatever that is, at eighty miles an hour, and the policeman catches me, I shall be up before the magistrate. And when the magistrate says, now the reading is that you have been fifty miles an hour beyond the limit going through Bangor High Street. No good my saying, but I didn't knock anybody over. You magistrate, I didn't do any damage. You say, can't help if you didn't. You broke the law. And you must pay the penalty of breaking the law, even though no damage followed. Yes. But suppose, in addition to breaking the law, I come through Bangor High Street at eighty miles an hour, collide with your car and just about ruin it forever. Hm. Then the magistrate will impose the fine on me for breaking the law, and another hefty fine for breaking the law and driving without due care and attention, and you'll be after me. You want the money for your damaged car. And no one might say, oh, oh, sorry, I, I paid the magistrate. Well, I wouldn't say you paid the magistrate, do you? Paid Her Majesty the Queen, if you like, it's nothing to do with me. Glad you have been fined. That'll teach you. But now I want the money for the damage, won't you? And I shall have to pay it, or else my insurance company. Two things, the fine for breaking the law, and then the payment for the damage. Oh, my dear brother, then, when I begin to think about this, sin begins to look solemn, doesn't it? And so I shall find, as I say, two things, as I come in my need to Christ. A sacrifice to pay the fine, the penalty of sin for having broken God's law. What about the damage my sin has done? Who's going to put that right? Well, you'll have to do it, says God, if you can. If it's in your power to pay back, you'll have to pay it back. You say, God, I- I'd do that if I could. The thing that haunts me, some of the sins I've committed have done a damage that I could not possibly pay back. Here's a young man brought up in a Christian home. His mother was a beautiful Christian mother, and his father was a delightful Christian father. But the boy grew up selfishly, kicked over the traces, went to the very dogs and disgraced his parents, found himself in prison more than once among the worst of the offenders. And gradually and bit by bit, he killed his mother, and she died at forty six, prematurely old, heartbroken. Boy eventually comes out of prison, hears the bo- gospel and gets converted. And God forgives him. I won't bring his mother back, will you? There's a university lecturer who's supposed to be reading, uh, teaching Bible, and he teaches modernism, and he breaks the faith of this girlie and that young student. They go out into the world thinking there's nothing in Christianity or the gospel either, and they perish eternally. Suppose the lecturer eventually gets converted and come to see how wrong he was. Is God forgiven? What about the damage? You know, that's a topic we don't often like to think about, isn't it? The damage sin has done. Yet we wouldn't be realists, would we, if we didn't face it. And so now you'll have to take your courage in both hands. So shall I. As we face God's long list of the areas in which trespass could occur, both in Old Testament and now in modern times. And he divides them into three groups. And there's the first group in chapter five, verses one to four. In that group are sins against truth, verse one. Sins against cleanliness, verses two and three. Sins against truth once more, verse four. Let's take them one by one. Now, first of all, a sin against truth, says chapter five, verse one. If anyone sin in that he heareth the voice of adoration, he being a witness, whether he hath seen or known, if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity. For there were situations in ancient Israel when God would demand that a man stand by the truth and confess the truth and tell exactly what he knows. And if the man refused to say what he knew, then God called it a trespass. Now, of course, some of those occasions were special occasions, weren't they? It was when a man was put on oath. In many circumstances, we don't have to say everything we know, do we? And sometimes wiser counsel is to keep our mouths closed. But this verse is envisaging a time where a man is standing perhaps in court. Someone maybe has been murdered. And our man we're thinking of is called up to give evidence. And he doesn't want to give evidence. And so in the Jewish court, they put the man on oath. And says God, if in that circumstance he doesn't stand with the truth, then he's guilty. Why would he be guilty? Because a man might lose his life. The wrong man be convicted. Or a murderer set loose on the public. Because this man refused to stand with the truth and confess what he knows. That is why, for instance, our blessed Lord, you will remember in the Gospels how when our Lord was brought before the high priestly court, and they asked him many questions, as did the civil governor Pilate, and he answered never a word. But then the high priest charged him and put him on out, I charge thee by God that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ. And our blessed Lord knew that if he said yes, they would condemn him to the cross for it. Why didn't he keep quiet then? Ah, but Leviticus chapter one had said, if they put you on oath, you must confess the truth. Do you know that could have particular reference, couldn't it? I think of some men I know in this province, and they got converted. The kind of thing they did before they got converted. Oh, what a lot they know. Must they tell? Bible says if they are put on oath, whether they have seen or heard or known. They must tell. Says a Christian man to me, but if I tell what I know, I could lose my life. What's he got to do? Humanly speaking, our Lord lost his life too, didn't he? For standing with the truth. As we think of those momentous things, perhaps in passing we ought to think of ourselves, didn't we? Not that we often put on oath about it, but if it is important to stand with the truth, at another level, my brother, my sister, we know the truth, don't we? The gospel of men's salvation, they need it, lest they perish. Suppose an argument comes up in your factory and the whole question of Christianity rises and whether you are or you are not a Christian. What are you going to do? Have we not got to stand with the truth? And out with it? Whatever it cost us, whatever jeering and mockery and ragging and everything it costs, ah, but standing with the truth is all important, isn't it? What damage I could do at that level by never confessing Christ or standing with him. It is one of the saddest stories in our gospels that when our Lord was on trial for his life, Peter was given the chance to stand with the truth and with the Lord and denied him. Sin against truth. Sin against clean- cleanliness, says God. Spends two verses on it. Doesn't matter what kind of uncleanness. If a man knowingly or unknowingly contracts uncleanness, then he shall be guilty, says God. You say, what's so important about that? Well, you just imagine the hundreds of thousands of Israelites in their camps. And here is a man that has touched something infectious, and he's going to bring an infection into the camp. You say, but he doesn't know. Yes, I know he doesn't know, but look at the damage it's going to do. Very serious, isn't it? Worse still, if he knows it and is being irresponsible. You say, well, God will forgive me. My good man, but what about the damage you do? I wonder what God would say to our modern world. Not merely with external physical uncleanness, but what about the way some men behave and contract AIDS? And then give their blood, and unsuspecting babies and patients in hospitals get a blood transfusion infected with AIDS? You suppose that God in heaven feels about the damage that sin does? And you know, if God is concerned with physical uncleanness and the un- uh, the damage that physical uncleanness can do, what about mental health? Oh. I once was told by a Christian worker who worked in Glasgow, and he used to go and visit the children's homes that the- where the children were being looked after by the state because their parents had failed them. He said he went into one room, and when he went into the room, there was a nurse with a little boy, and the boy screamed, and the nurse had to ask my friend to go out, and she pacified the child, and then my friend was called in, and the nurse stripped the little boy, and there were big marks all over his body, and in his Scots language he told my friend, but my father always beats me. The nurse explained that the father used to come home drunk and get a red hot poker and beat the child with a red hot poker. Well, you can see the physical damage. What about the mental and psychological damage? Are concerned about mental health? Not here in Bangor, nor in a million miles from Bangor, but what if two Christian parents are always quarrelling? And there are big rouse of little child at the time when he needs emotional stability. He is wounded in his psychological makeup. It will dog him for the rest of his life. And isn't God concerned about the damage done to the child's mental health. You be careful the way you behave in your church, says the writer to the Hebrews, lest a root of bitterness spring up and many be thereby defiled. The church can get defiled, can't it, by all sorts of things. Sometimes doctrinal disputes. When the church has to stand against heresy, yes. Sometimes all sorts of personality clashes that s- s- stretch the assembly and split it always, and all the distress and the tears. And some get offended in their faith and go off into the world. The damage done by sin, a root of bitterness, and many defile. So this solemn thing is needed. Have you ever known it happen in an assembly? And from sins against uncleanness, we come back to sins against truth. Says the Holy Spirit, you see, if a man irresponsibly takes an oath and he promises he's going to do this and this and the other, and then he doesn't do it, well, God will hold him guilty. Why? Because of the damage it does. Do you see fancy promising in the name of God, in the name of a- a- a- of the Lord God Almighty and swearing an oath, and then not doing it? That drags God's name down into the dust. Yes, and it damages whoever it is has been dependent upon the promise. What would you think, like my brother, if, if God himself did it? Oh no, those lovely scriptures, you went home and you read them. Hebrews chapter six, that God willing to show more abundantly the absolute security of the promise, he interposed with an oath. And you say, look at that, that's marvelous. God has said that if I trust in Christ, he, what he swears an oath on it, I shall never perish. My sins and iniquities he'll never remember again, nor cause me to pay their penalty. And tomorrow you'll find that God's changed his mind. Oh, did I swear on earth? Oh, well, I forgot about that. Well, if you thought God would behave like that, my good man, you'd say there's no heaven. The whole universe would go dark around you. There would be no security. You would be an ab- ab- absolute spiritual, moral, and emotional wreck if God behaved like that. Depend for your very heaven on the fact that when God gives his oath, it remains eternally. Yes? And you've got to behave like that, says God. Well, you say as a Christian, I don't swear oaths. Good for you. Did you ever make any solemn promises? And you kept the lot, of course. You said I'd be there at the prayer meeting. I'll come and help you to give out the tracts. I will now, I faithfully promise. And then the football match was on the TV. Yes. Not you, of course. God, all the businessmen here would never do it. I've known some businessmen, um, they're going to make your suit, you see. And they jolly well know they can't get it done by next Tuesday. But they're afraid that if they don't say they will, you'll take the order elsewhere. Oh yes, yes, I'll have it done come next Tuesday. Yes, it will be there. I know next Tuesday, of course, it is. Never did intend to do it by next Tuesday. And there's you having to go to your daughter's wedding in your old corduroy trousers, because... Oh, you grin, but there's a lot of businessmen do it that way round, isn't there? Not Christian businessmen, I hope. Or to make great promises, faithful promises, and not to keep them, is God your guilty. What other areas are there? Well, the other two great areas we can deal with briefly. They are all together more solemn, but we can deal with them. First of all, there are sins in the holy things. Look at what chapter five, verses fourteen onward. If a man sin in the holy things. Well, now this is even more serious. Trespassing in the things of God. You say, how do you do that? Well, take one example. Says the Prophet Malachi to his people, will a man rob God? You wouldn't dream of going down the street, hopping through your neighbor's window and stealing his video, would you? Of course not. You ever rob God, my friend? Malachi was asking the question about paying tithes. Israel were under responsibility to pay tithes, and some of them didn't pay. And you'll actually rob God, will you, says Malachi. You say, we Christians don't have to pay tithes, do we? We're not under the law. No, you're not under the law, you're under grace. That means you pay more or less than the Jews do. Do. And if we never cheated God and kept back what is God's portion. Suppose I, as a teacher of God's word, come to you in the holy things of God, and to get your popularity, I tell you it doesn't matter whether a man is born again, you haven't to take notice of that, you see, God is love. And you can perish as a result of it. I tell you that being saved, you don't need to get baptized. And what right have I to take God's holy things, God's straightforward commandments that tell us we must be baptized if we are believers? What right have I to tell you you don't have to keep God's holy commandment? The blessed Lord says we have to keep the Lord's Supper, and I come along and say, well, it doesn't really matter, you know. Who do I think I am? The impertinence of me robbing God of your obedience. Sinning in the holy things. Who say, well, I, I did tell my friend that, oh, it doesn't matter whether you're baptized or not. But you see, I hadn't read the Bible, I didn't really know. You did it in ignorance. Well, you say, yes, I, I didn't really understand in those days. Well, that's a pity, because the Bible says you're guilty. Whether you know it or not. You say that's severe, that's stern. Oh? So it is. But we're thinking of the damage it does. You make a mistake and you give next door neighbor's child who's got the cough, and you give him a little poison instead of a cough mixture. She said, I didn't know the difference. Well, perhaps you didn't. What's the difference in the result? And they're not only offenses in the holy things. The beginning of chapter six, God talks to us about, uh, trespasses in ordinary everyday life, in business. Man doing business deed, or somebody finding something and pretending he hasn't found it and keeping it when he should have given it back. Or entering a contract and then breaking the contract, and all such things like that, says God in your daily life, you see. If you break your contact and you cheat, then you have trespassed. No good saying, but oh Lord, you see, uh, I got forgiveness of my sins and uh, the Lord Jesus has forgiven me, so I don't have to pay the income tax inspector. I can do a bit black marketing on the side. Says God, no, you won't, because he's my minister, that income tax inspector. If you don't pay him, you'll not pay me, says God. And if you cheat. That's a trespass. You say, what a gloomy, gloomy talk you've given us tonight. I have. It's God's word, my brother. You say, how can I find relief for my trespasses? Now mark two things. Some of these trespasses, you'll never measure the damage. Therefore, God does not call for restitution. Damage cannot be measured. How many souls did you influence against the Lord in your unconverted days? And how many of them are going to be lost forever? Who can tell? What we've sinned against God. In all these many things, sins against truth, sins against cleanliness, sins against truth, we sinned against God. Then we need a sacrifice. Oh, thank God that we come now to why we began. There is a sacrifice that can bring us forgiveness with God, having forgiven us all our trespasses. In the sacrifice the Israelite was asked to bring, you find a little phrase now and again, bring a bull again. Ah, but what happened if a man's means suffice not? He can't pay. Oh, says God, we'll let bring two birds. Oh, but this man is so poor he can't even pay two birds. Has God let him bring a handful of flour with him? If his means suffice not. Well, even the best board couldn't pay our debt against God. But my friend, when I think of the damage of my sin. Hearts I have broken. Souls I have misled. Which will ever put it right? Oh, I praise God for the hope that not only has the death of Christ paid for my sin, but for all who will trust the Savior, the damage will be undone. There's heaven paid for by Christ. Then he restored that which he took not away. Terms? Says Christ, now look here, if you want me to forgive your trespasses, you will have to forgive other people their trespasses, which I'm not going to. Not going to. I can never forgive him, that stupid. I warned him against it, but he would show off. He comes roaring his car down our cul-de-sac, and I warned him time and time again. I said, one of these days you'll run over my child. Listen, and the stupid fellow comes running down the drive in his car and ridiculously battered my child and killed him. I can never forgive him, and I'm not going to. Oh, my friend. Who's paying your debt? Who's paid for the damage your sin has done? When you say Christ paid my debt. And if he's forgiven you your debt, his conditions are that you forgive those indebted to you. Yes? And he warns us solemnly with the story of the man that was forgiven a little debt by his master, and having been forgiven, he went out and caught his brother by the throat and nearly throttled him, and he had only a tiny little debt and couldn't pay. Ah, but his fellow believer put him in prison and wouldn't forgive him. So the Lord got hold of number one, and he disciplined him and put him through the mill. Oh, my brother, if I expect the Lord to pay my bill because he forgives me my trespass and the damage done. He will demand that I forgive those who trespass against me when they repent and forgive them the damage done. Finally, in the things of the Lord, says God, if you have cheated God, for instance, in divine things, then the first thing you'll do is bring a sacrifice. You'll say, yes, I've done that. I wasted my life, I spent my time for myself, even as a believer, you know. I robbed God of hours of my time. Now you're repentant of it, my brother. There's forgiveness in Christ. Thank God for the sacrifice of Christ that covers the way you have robbed God. What are you going to do about it now? Second thing God says what you'll do, if you can, is to make restoration for it. You say, how can I? My brother, if God has forgiven me, for having robbed him of my time and my money and my love, forgiven, must I not try to make it up, repay with unlimited devotion and uncalculating loyalty. Hasn't I done it? And what if I've cheated my fellow man? Well, says God, you'll do it the other way around then. You want me to forgive you? First of all, you'll restore what you've cheated about to your fellow man. And when you've restored it to him, then you can come and seek my forgiveness. What a solemn thing it's been, hasn't it? And I mustn't apologize, and I'm not going to. These are realities. By God's grace. Because of the security we have in Christ. By God's grace, we can face them shortly. With any distress they may cause us. Rejoice in the sacrifice of Christ that paid our debt and paid for the damage. Ah, but where we have the responsibility, God give us the grace to see that we make the restoration.