We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13
Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
I am going to begin concluding our devotions in Hebrews by focusing on one verse…but to understand it, we need, as is often the case, to understand what Leviticus
says to us from chapter 4 and so I encourage you to turn in a Bible to that passage.
A few years ago the Wall Street Journal ran an article entitled, “To Hell with Sin: When being a good person excuses everything.” Remember that this comes not
from a theological journal or even a modern Christian bookstore, it comes from the Wall Street Journal and describes the author’s visit to what is a typical American Christian church.
“The service had little of the right-wing rhetoric I had expected. It consisted mostly of inclusive happy talk…could it be that a church need not be on the radical
fringe to be tolerant of evil? Can such tolerance creep just as easily into a church whose theology resembles nothing so much as a Hallmark card? The church primarily focused, not on God, and the demands of salvation but on man and his earthly needs. The church
focuses on healing, affirming and consoling, on accepting others for exactly who they are. Largely drained of doctrine, it strikes the observer as little more than a club for good works, a kind of Red Cross with a steeple on top. Thirty years ago the psychologist
and scholar Philip Rieff shed light on this question in his classic work, “The Triumph of the Therapeutic.” Traditional Christianity, Mr. Rieff observed, made great moral demands on believers.
Its goal was salvation; consequently, it exhorted believers to die to self, repent of sin and cultivate virtue, self-discipline and humility. Today however, he
continues, psychological man, is rapidly shouldering Christian man aside as the dominant character type in our society. For psychological man, the offspring of Freud and his ilk, life centers not on the soul but on the self. Psychological man rejects both
the idea of sin and the need for salvation. He aspires to nothing higher than feeling good about himself. Mr. Rieff summarizes it this way: Christian man was born to be saved, psychological man is born to be pleased.
I realize that none of this is a surprise to you. We are well versed in how there are many who bear the name of Christ and yet fail to deal with sin according to biblical
faithfulness. We are also aware, I trust, how easily we can do the same.
What I found intriguing was WHERE these observations came from…The Wall Street Journal! Even the world seems to know what we are supposed to be about and yet, they
are as puzzled by our impotence as many of us are.
The Leviticus text is a focus on the sin and the trespass offerings. In these offerings as opposed to the sweet aroma offerings, (burnt, grain and peace offerings)
sin is the emphasis, it is confessed and judged. It is sin requiring sacrifice, requiring bloodshed, yet it is sin atoned for, blotted out and pardoned.
This offering was, for the OT saint, the most comforting of all the sacrifices, as this aspect of our Savior’s work, is the most comforting and joyful meditation of
all, to us. If we were sinless, if we were those who were without blemish then such as this would not be needed, it would seem somewhat of a waste of time. Or if there were no remedy for sin, no substitute, no hope. If God hadn’t done anything about it and
we were like the fallen angels…But that is not the case.
To us who know ourselves sinners, and as such, subject to the wrath of God and justly so, we will behold Him who knew no sin, who became sin for us, and we will do
so with awe and great rejoicing. The only way to fully understand, apprehend and bow the knee to the sacrifice of Jesus, FOR OUR SINS, is to begin to apprehend how fully reprehensible they are AND how fully reprehensible we are.
The one who fails to see sin correctly, who views it lightly, who doesn’t want to be reminded of their particular sins, or of their nature, will be the one who fails
to understand grace.
I have found that those Christians who most complain about sin being preached or taught too much, who cry out for more grace in the sermons or in the teaching, are
usually the ones who understand their own sin very little and God’s grace even less.
Brothers and sisters, you are bad. I am bad. I will not tell you otherwise. Every small sin in you required a payment that you could not give! However, what I will
tell you, is that as bad as you are, and as sinful as you are, Christ Jesus is infinitely more gracious and more beautiful. And so much so, that he has borne your sin in his body on the tree. HE is good.
To be continued…
Prayer: Father, I know you are good, right and true. I know that the consequences that You allow, even though at times they are hard, are nonetheless mitigated
by your mercy; I never get what I deserve and for that I thank You. Give me the grace and strength of faith to accept what You bring and find a voice to praise You in the midst, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: Sing to Jesus
