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a sweet aroma to the Lord. Thus it shall be done for each 
young bull, for each ram, or for each lamb or young goat, 
according to the number that you prepare, so you shall do 
with everyone according to their number. All who are native-born 
shall do these things in this manner, in presenting an offering 
made by fire, a sweet aroma to the Lord. And if a stranger dwells 
with you or whoever is among you throughout your generations 
and would present an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to 
the Lord, just as you do, so shall he do. One ordinance shall 
be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells with 
you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations. As you are, 
so shall the stranger be before the Lord. One law and one custom 
shall be for you and for the stranger who dwells with you. 
Again, the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to the children 
of Israel and say to them, when you come into the land to which 
I bring you, then it will be when you eat of the bread of 
the land that you shall offer up a heave offering to the Lord. 
You shall offer up a cake of the first of your ground meal 
as a heave offering, as a heave offering of the threshing floor, 
so shall you offer it up. Of the first of your ground meal, 
you shall give to the Lord a heave offering throughout your generations. 
If you sin unintentionally and do not observe all these commandments 
which the Lord has spoken to Moses, all that the Lord has 
commanded you by the hand of Moses from the day the Lord gave 
commandment and onward throughout your generations, then it will 
be, if it is unintentionally committed without the knowledge 
of the congregation, that the whole congregation shall offer 
one young bull as a burnt offering. as a sweet aroma to the Lord, 
with its grain offering and its drink offering, according to 
the ordinance, and one kid of the goats as a sin offering. 
So the priest shall make atonement for the whole congregation of 
the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it 
was unintentional. They shall bring their offering, 
an offering made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering 
before the Lord for their unintended sin. It shall be forgiven the 
whole congregation of the children of Israel and the stranger who 
dwells among them, because all the people did it unintentionally. 
And if a person sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female 
goat in its first year as a sin offering. So the priest shall 
make atonement for the person who sins unintentionally, when 
he sins unintentionally before the Lord, to make atonement for 
him, and it shall be forgiven him. You shall have one law for 
him who sins unintentionally, for him who is native-born among 
the children of Israel, and for the stranger who dwells among 
them. But the person who does anything presumptuously, whether 
he is native-born or a stranger, that one brings reproach on the 
Lord, and he shall be cut off from among his people. Because 
he has despised the word of the Lord, and has broken his commandment, 
that person shall be completely cut off, his guilt shall be upon 
him. Now while the children of Israel 
were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks 
on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering 
sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. 
They put him under guard because it had not been explained what 
should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, 
The man must surely be put to death. All the congregation shall 
stone him with stones outside the camp. So as the Lord commanded 
Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned 
him with stones, and he died. Again, the Lord spoke to Moses, 
saying, Speak to the children of Israel. Tell them to make 
tassels on the corners of their garments throughout their generations, 
and to put a blue thread in the tassels of the corners. And you 
shall have the tassel, that you may look upon it, and remember 
all the commandments of the Lord, and do them, and that you may 
not follow the harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes 
are inclined. and that you may remember and 
do all my commandments and be holy for your God. I am the Lord, 
your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your 
God. I am the Lord, your God. Amen. Well, the book of Numbers, 
as we remember, is given that title precisely for the two censuses 
that occur in the book. So chapter one, we see a census 
of the first generation, all able-bodied males ready to go 
fight. Remember, they are on their way 
from through the wilderness into Canaan, the land of promise. 
When they get there, it's going to mean warfare, it's going to 
mean battle. And so they wanted to have an 
accurate count and assessment of their military might. Of course, 
that first generation sins, which we've seen over the last couple 
of weeks, And then there's a second numbering of the children of 
Israel in Numbers chapter 26. So that will be the generation 
that ends in the book of Numbers on the plains of Moab. There 
on the plains of Moab is a series of exhortations, the book we 
call Deuteronomy. to prepare them to go into the 
land, and then Joshua takes them in the conquest to dispossess 
the land of all the Canaanites. And if you go back for just a 
moment to Numbers chapter 9, we see God's purpose and plan 
in Numbers 9 at verses 15 to 23. We won't read the whole section, 
but this basically rehearses or repeats what we see in Exodus 
chapter 40, in verses 33 and 34. When the tabernacle is constructed, 
the Shekinah glory of God comes upon it. There in Exodus 40, 
no one is able to enter into that particular tabernacle because 
of God's glory. Even Moses himself is kept out. 
So the book of Leviticus comes to give us the sacrifices on 
how man then is able to enter into the tabernacle. But it's 
not just the dwelling place or the meeting place of God with 
his people, but the guidance of God over his people. And that's 
the emphasis in chapter 9, verses 15 to 23. Through the pillar 
of cloud, God would be their portion and lot. That is not 
God, the pillar and cloud, but rather it is a visible representation 
of God, namely His guidance and His presence among them as they 
wander through the wilderness. So they ultimately depart from 
Sinai in chapter 10, verse 11, and we see that they are on their 
journey. Now in chapter 11, so we've got this sort of idealized 
version of God's guidance with the children of Israel, but then 
we have the reality of the sinfulness of the children of Israel. In 
chapter 11, they are lusting and craving after meat, which 
was absolutely unwarranted. They weren't that long in the 
wilderness. They had a plentiful supply of manna. There were lots 
of ways that you could prepare manna. But their heart motivation 
was ultimately that they wanted to go back to Egypt. If you go 
to chapter 11 at verse 4, it says, Who will give us meat to 
eat? We remember the fish we ate freely 
in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, 
and the garlic. But now our whole being is dried 
up. There is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes. This 
wasn't a small thing. Again, the idea being is that 
in their hearts, they're turning back to Egypt. So since they're 
turning back to Egypt, they're turning from the living and true 
God. And that's the assessment that 
God makes in verse 20. Notice that he promises that 
they will eat meat. They're going to eat it such 
that it comes out of their nostrils. And in verse 20 it says, But 
for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes 
loathsome to you, because you have despised the Lord who is 
among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we ever 
come up out of Egypt? So they have the special presence 
of God. They have his guidance. They have Moses and Aaron, the 
men that he authorized to lead them. And yet they continue in 
their hearts to sin against God. They desire to go back to Egypt. Then in chapter 12, we have rebellion 
against the leadership of Moses, which is ultimately rebellion 
against the leadership and authority of God, because God put Moses 
in charge. But it comes from within Moses' 
own family. It is launched by Miriam. and 
Aaron, and of course there is judgment upon Miriam specifically. Numbers 13 and 14 is a reconnaissance 
mission. Chief men from each of the tribes 
are tasked with going into the land of Canaan to survey the 
land, to see if it is a good land, to see what military threat 
might lay in the land. And so they are sent to fetch 
some fruit, to bring it back, and to encourage the children 
of Israel. And the chapter starts off with a reminder of God's 
gracious promise. Notice in 13.1, "...And the Lord 
spoke to Moses, saying, Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, 
which I am giving to the children of Israel." This goes all the 
way back to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. God promised 
to give them a land, an exceedingly good land. This was the purpose 
behind the Exodus. God delivers his children out 
of bondage from Egypt, promising to take them into that promised 
land where there would be an abundance of milk and honey. 
So, of course, the spies go, they survey the land. They initially 
report that, yeah, it's a good land. There are some obstacles 
to be sure. Caleb in verse 30 says, let's 
go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome 
it. And then the 10 spies revised 
their report and noticed specifically they say that it's a bad land. Verse 32, they gave the children 
of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out 
saying, the land through which we have gone as spies is a land 
that devours its inhabitants and all the people whom we saw 
in it are men of great stature. So they function there as anti-prophets. Caleb and Joshua are faithful. 
Caleb and Joshua, operating in the context of the promise of 
God, operating in the context of the power of God, are confident 
that they can go and vanquish the Canaanites and take possession 
of land. But the anti-prophets say, no, 
there's no hope for us, we better just, you know, say no. And so, 
of course, in chapter 14 the congregation listens to the antiprophets. They don't listen to Joshua and 
Caleb. They don't go up at once. Rather, they reap the judgment 
of God Almighty. And that is precisely what happens. He doesn't decimate or obliterate 
the entirety of the generation. He does the ten faithless spies, 
but he makes the promise that that first generation is not 
going to enter into the promised land. So that's the backdrop. And so as we approach chapter 
15, it's sort of a reminder of things that have already occurred 
in the Pentateuch as a whole, and a reiteration of God's faithfulness 
and His covenant promises to them. Chapter 16, we'll see more 
rebellion in the form of Korah and men with him that, again, 
challenge Moses' leadership. So as we look at chapter 15, 
though, we see the laws of offerings in verses 1 to 21. Secondly, 
the laws concerning sin in verses 22 to 36. And then finally, a 
reminder concerning the law in verses 37 to 41. We're not going to do a very 
detailed investigation of all the things that are written here, 
but rather just a flyover to give the sense of the passage. 
So as we look at the laws of offerings, we need to first be 
reminded of God's grace. After the problems that I've 
just outlined in Numbers 11-14, which culminate in not only the 
death of the antiprophets, but in a failed attempt by the children 
of Israel to take the land at the end of chapter 14. Notice 
verses 39 to 45. They do not have divine guidance. In fact, Moses says, don't go 
because God is not present with you. They nevertheless march 
onward to try to engage the enemy, and of course they are chased 
back according to verse 45. Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites 
who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them and drove 
them back as far as Hormat. So basically in chapters 11 to 
14, you got a lot of bad news. You got a lot of difficulties 
and a lot of challenges and a lot of trials and a lot of heartaches 
and a lot of sin and a lot of rebellion. And so 15, one and 
two is a great reminder of God's grace. And the Lord spoke to 
Moses saying, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, when 
you have come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving 
to you. Back in chapter 14, specifically, 
look at verse 23, there is a promise of judgment. 14, 23, they certainly shall 
not see the land of which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any 
of those who rejected me see it. That's repeated again in 
chapter 14 at verse 29. The carcasses of you who have 
complained against me shall fall in this wilderness, all of you 
who were numbered according to your entire number from 20 years 
old and above, excepting, of course, Caleb and Joshua. And 
then again in verse 35. I, the Lord, have spoken this. I will surely do so to all this 
evil congregation who are gathered together against me. In this 
wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die. Now 
brethren, it might have occurred to them that things were certainly 
not going as well as they had anticipated, as they had expected, 
or as had they wished. And so 15.2 is a reminder that 
they are going to come into the land. Not the first generation, 
this would be more of the benefit of the little ones. Look it again, 
1431. But your little ones whom you said would be victims, I 
will bring in, and they shall know the land which you have 
despised. So there's going to be judgment 
on that first generation, but that judgment of God does not 
exhaust all of God's perfections. There is grace, there is mercy, 
there is kindness, there is all of the blessed promises that 
he's already issued through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, through Moses to 
the children of Israel. there will be a seed that inherits 
that promised land. And so this is a reminder, the 
people would in fact inherit the land. When you have come 
into the land, whatever trials we've seen, whatever difficulties 
there have been, whatever enemies we face, you're going to come 
into the land. It may not be in a manner that 
you think, but it's going to happen because God Most High 
is Most High, and He has absolute power and authority, and if He 
has purposed it, it will most certainly come to pass. So the 
people would inherit the land, and the people would in fact 
receive the promise of the Lord, which I am giving to you." That 
is repeated throughout the Pentateuch to remind the children of Israel 
that the task that they're about is a good one, it's God-ordained, 
and it's ultimately for their good. They're going to inherit 
a land that is flowing with milk and honey. then notice we've 
got the requirement for God's offerings in verses 3 to 21. All of the difficulties, all 
of the hardships, all of the judgment does not sideline the 
religious commitments of the children of Israel. In fact, 
perhaps an idea might be that the more we involve ourselves 
in the means that God ordains, the more that we attend to those 
things that he has used or is using for our sanctification 
and our conformity unto the Lord Jesus Christ, we might avoid 
some of the circumstances that befell us in chapters 11 to 14. In other words, the maintenance 
of regular communion with God through God's ordained means 
of grace is one of the best preventative measures so that we don't suffer 
under the chastening hand of God Almighty. I don't think this 
is a throwaway chapter. I don't think this is some editorial 
sort of a mistake. I'm not sure why an editor plunked 
this right down here in the middle of all this stuff. I'm pretty 
certain that it's there to remind the children that faithfulness 
to your God in the laws of sacrifice. Faithfulness to God when it comes 
to sin, faithfulness to God when it comes to God's law is absolutely 
crucial to avoid the certain situations that you've just experienced 
there in Numbers 11 to 14. And so I think the New Covenant 
sort of parallel to that is a right use of the means that God has 
ordained. That's not going to accept us 
from every trial, every hardship, every affliction. It's certainly 
not going to curtail every sin in our lives, but it's certainly 
a better vantage point in which to fight the good fight than 
if we're not using those means that God has ordained for our 
growth. This is the overarching theme 
in 2 Peter 3, 2 Peter 3.18, but grow in the grace and in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Well, why do you 
think Peter does that? Do you think he wants you to 
go out there and just be able to fight and beat up people on 
the streets because you know more than others? No, it's for 
your own well-being. The psalmist in Psalm 119, he 
says, your word I have hidden in my heart. Why? So that I might 
not sin against you. When our kids were little, and 
perhaps they have it in Canada as well, I think, I'm sure they 
do, Awana. In Awana, kids go, and they learn Bible verses, 
and they wear vests. And for every Bible verse, they 
get a little jewel. Not a real jewel. I wish they 
would have been real jewels. It would have helped us now. 
But they get a little jewel, and they put it on their vest. 
And it kind of gives a bit of an incentive for the child to 
learn their memory work. You know, it could be just a 
carnal pursuit of more jewels on your vest as well. The psalmist 
says, your word I've hidden in my heart so that I might not 
sin against you. I think that the religious emphasis 
in the midst of rebellion that we see amongst the children of 
Israel is to underscore the reality that a commitment to religious 
life will help at least perhaps stay the effects of the rebellion 
that we have inclinations toward. So these reminders in the midst 
of their trials are most absolutely crucial for that. You see this 
repeated emphasis on this sweet aroma to Yahweh. It doesn't mean 
that God has nostrils or He doesn't smell a good steak the way that 
you and I do. It's spoken in the manner of 
men. It means something that He approves of, something that 
He receives. The Apostle uses this of Christ's 
sacrifice in Ephesians chapter 5 in verse 2. God through Moses speaks of the 
grain offering. Again, this is not something 
new to the legislation. You see it in Exodus chapter 
29, and then in a couple places in Leviticus chapters 2 and then 
6. And of course, that section in 
Leviticus 1 to 9 essentially deals with sacrifice and priesthood. How does ungodly man, or how 
does unholy man enter into the presence of a holy God? That's 
how Exodus ends. Leviticus 1 to 9 comes with the 
answer. Through a bloody knife and through 
a smoking altar. And so the grain offering isn't 
new. But then notice the emphasis, 
not but like it's new, but the wine offering. I think that the 
mention of the wine offering in verses 5 to 12 does two things. It not only stipulates how you're 
supposed to present your particular sacrifice, but remember, 15 isn't 
just an editorial, well, we need some filler between 14 and 16, 
so we're going to just throw... People look at the Old Testament 
that way. People, if they can't explain 
something, conclude that this was a later redactor or editor 
who insert that there for reasons unknown. But there's so much 
connection between chapter 15 and everything that preceded 
it, it must mean that God has it there for a very particular 
reason. So notice that emphasis on the wine. That wine harkens 
back to the affirmation of the promise of God with reference 
to the land of Canaan. Go to chapter 13, verse 21. So they went up and spied out 
the land from the wilderness of Zin as far as Rahab, near 
the entrance of Hamath. And they went up through the 
south and came to Hebron, Ahimon, Sheshai, and Talmud, the descendants 
of Anak were there. Now Hebron was built seven years 
before Zohan in Egypt. Then they came to the Valley 
of Ashkel. And there cut down a branch with one cluster of 
grapes. They carried it between two of 
them on a pole. They also brought some of the 
pomegranates and figs. The place was called the Valley 
of Ashkel because of the cluster which the men of Israel cut down 
there. and they return from spying out the land after 40 days. So 
it affirms the promise of God. Yes, there's going to be milk 
and honey, but yes, there's going to be grapes. There's going to 
be an abundance of grapes. When you come into this land, 
and you go through your religious obligations, and you offer up 
the grain offering, you offer up the wine offering, there is 
going to be an abundance for you to do that very thing. So 
not only does it affirm the blessing of God upon that particular land, 
but it also serves as a condemnation of the antiprophets. If you're 
still in chapter 13, I already read it. Look at verse 32. They 
gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they 
had spied out, saying, The land through which we have gone as 
spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the 
people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. There we 
saw the giants, or the Nephilim, the descendants of Anak, came 
from the giants. So they revised that report from 
good land, problematic people, to bad land, horrible people, 
there's no hope for us. And so what God is saying in 
terms of the wine offering, or the addition of the wine to the 
offering, is that there's going to be an abundance, that the 
antiprophets were wrong, that the promise of God is correct, 
and you need to march onward. And do not be dissuaded, do not 
be persuaded to go back to Egypt. Rather, be faithful to your God. And then in terms of the application 
of these requirements, note, it's applicable to native-born 
Israelites, verse 13, and the law is applicable to the strangers. 
We know that strangers were with them because of chapter 11. Go 
back to chapter 11. Notice in verse 4, now the mixed 
multitude who were among them yielded to intense craving, so 
the children of Israel also wept again and said. If you go back 
to chapter 12 in the book of Exodus, we know it wasn't just 
Israelites that left, Egypt, It was probably, well, it was 
the case that the Egyptians were, you know, they weren't discriminatory 
in who could serve as slaves. They would have taken slaves 
from whatever people group they could have. So when the mixed 
multitude sees the God of Israel act on behalf of Israel through 
the plagues, and especially the killing of the firstborn, The 
mixed multitude says, hey, can we jump on board with that? If 
you notice in 1238, a mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks 
and herds a great deal of livestock. So it wasn't just the children 
of Israel. It wasn't just ethnic Israelites, 
but there were others with them as well. And so the law of God 
governed both the native-born Israelite and the stranger. Again, 
that ought not to be a concept that's real difficult to get 
our minds wrapped around. When you join somebody's country, 
when you join somebody's culture, when you join somebody's religion, 
you have to abide by that country, culture, and religion. So that 
doesn't get the vibe or the thought or the feeling that the strangers 
were picketing on how unfair it was that they had to actually 
sacrifice the Yahweh. No, the law was applicable, it 
was universal, and as well, it was perpetual. Perpetual insofar 
as the covenant that governed it. So notice in 15, one ordinance 
shall be for you of the assembly and for the stranger who dwells 
with you, an ordinance forever throughout your generations. 
As we've seen that word forever many times in the Old Testament, 
doesn't always mean eternal. forever is conditioned by the 
covenant. As long as there is an old covenant, 
then you must abide by this aspect of it, that the old covenant 
has been fulfilled or fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ, that 
the new covenant has been inaugurated, that it is in play. Therefore, 
those things are not for the new covenant church. It's not 
the case that we need to present these sacrifices because Christ's 
sacrifice was once for all. And then there's heave offering. 
Again, this isn't new. You see it in Exodus 29 and Leviticus 
chapter 10. Basically, it is an appreciation 
for the good gifts that God has given. Another word would be 
wave offering. It is to acknowledge God's kindness, 
it is to acknowledge God's goodness, it is to acknowledge the bounty 
and abundance that He had blessed them with, and therefore, as 
they come before the Lord, they do so with hearts filled with 
gratitude and with love expressed through this particular heave 
offering. That brings us then to the laws 
concerning sin, verses 22 to 36. You've got the commission 
of unintentional sin, both on the part of the congregation, 
verses 22 to 26, and then on the part of the individual in 
verses 27 to 29. Again, this isn't new. Leviticus 
4 deals with unintentional sin. You might ask, well, how could 
somebody unintentionally sin against the Lord? Do you really 
need to ask that? I mean, come on. There was ignorance, 
perhaps lack of knowledge. Somebody could have been sleeping 
when the law was read. There's just a whole host of 
reasons as to why somebody might sin unintentionally. You've got 
the issue, verses 22 and 23, the congregation sins unintentionally. That doesn't mean every single 
member of the congregation, but the congregation is culpable. 
Again, the strong connection between this section, especially 
the sin that is intentional, and the congregational nature, 
it speaks to Numbers 14. The congregation cited with the 
antiprophets, the congregation listened to those who detracted 
from the word of God. 15 is right there with 14, absolutely 
crucial in our understanding. So you've got that emphasis on 
atonement through sacrifice and priesthood in verses 24 and 25, 
and God's forgiveness according to verse 26. And again, all of 
this typologically points us forward to the Lamb of God who 
takes away the sin of the world. That sacrifice of Jesus, which 
is an aroma, pleasing aroma, to God the Father. And then with 
reference to the individual, notice in 27a, and if a person 
sins unintentionally, then he shall bring a female goat in 
its first year as a sin offering. Same remedy. He offers it or 
gives it to the priest, the priest offers up, makes atonement, and 
he is forgiven. The universality of the precept, 
verse 29, you shall have one law for him who sins unintentionally, 
for him who is native-born among the children of Israel, and for 
the stranger who dwells among them. Now, verses 30 and 31 is 
a bit more difficult in our New Covenant 
situation because, again, if you ask the question, what believer 
would sin intentionally? All of them? Right? I mean, not with the high hand, 
and that's what's in view here. So let's try to navigate this 
from a bit of a New Covenant perspective helping us. Notice 
in verse 30, but the person who does anything presumptuously 
or with a high hand, Whether he is native-born or a stranger, 
that one brings reproach on the Lord, and he shall be cut off 
from among his people, because he has despised the word of the 
Lord, and has broken his commandment. That person shall be completely 
cut off. His guilt shall be upon him." 
So this has been dealt with as well in the Pentateuch, but the presumptuous 
nature, the high-handedness is pretty obvious there. We see 
as well the reproach. It's on the Lord, and the penalty 
is that he shall be cut off. If you turn to chapter 10 in 
the book of Hebrews, it seems to me that legislation like we're 
looking at here in Numbers is probably at least somewhere in 
the background of the apostles' argument in the book of Hebrews. 
Hebrews 10. Hebrews chapter 10, it's a classic 
passage on what we call apostasy. And it might help illustrate 
the difference between the situation of the intentional sin that we 
find there in Numbers 15. Notice in Hebrews 10, 26, for 
if we sin willfully, after we have received the knowledge of 
the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins. Now, brethren, 
I should tell you what I think this is talking about. I don't 
think this is talking about, you know, last week you missed 
reading your Bible one day, or last week you raised your voice 
at your child. I'm not saying that's okay. Don't 
raise your voice unless you're telling him to avoid the car 
that's speeding down the road. That's a good time to raise your 
voice at him. I think the book of Hebrews was written before 
A.D. 70, and I think the particular 
emphasis in the book of Hebrews is to call professing Christians 
that happen to be Hebrews to faithfulness and fidelity in 
Christ. See, if you were an Israelite living in Israel at that time, 
you would have been pressured greatly by friends, families, 
neighbors, work associates. If you went to the sect of the 
Nazarenes, if you went to Jesus as the Messiah, You could have 
lost your job. You could have had lots of difficulties. You could have been thrown out 
of your family, excommunicated. Remember, there's time coming, 
Jesus says, they'll put you out of the synagogues. They'll kill 
you thinking they do service to God. So I think the emphasis 
in the book of Hebrews is an appeal to these people not to 
turn back to Moses. It's not saying Moses is bad. 
But he's saying Moses pointed to Jesus. Jesus has come. Jesus is your Lord. Jesus is 
your Savior. Jesus is your priest. That's 
why in Hebrews the emphasis is over and over and over and over 
again on the superiority of Jesus. He's better than the prophets. 
He's better than the angels. He's better than Joshua. He's 
better than Moses. He's better than Aaron. He's 
better than the Levitical priesthood. Why? so that they wouldn't turn 
back to those things which weren't better. Stay faithful to Jesus. So here, the apostasy in view 
is having heard the gospel, having professed faith in the gospel, 
and then having submitted to the pressure to turn back from 
the gospel. It's what I think is going on 
here. People will disagree, but I just think it's good to have 
the sense, or at least a sense. And it's one of the interpretations 
out there. So if we sin willfully after 
we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer 
remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation 
of judgment and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. 
So these weren't people that were saved and lost it. They 
made a profession. They made a show. And then it 
goes on to say, anyone who has rejected Moses' law dies without 
mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. Of how much 
worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who 
has trampled the Son of God underfoot? which is very appropriate to 
the argument. They're trampling the Son of 
God, the Messiah, the one sent by the Father to save his people 
from their sins. To reject him and to resist him 
is a rejection and a resisting of not only Jesus, but the one 
who sent him according to Jesus in John 15. It is a gross sin. Of how much worse punishment 
do you suppose will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son 
of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which 
he, this is not the sinner, it's Christ. You should see a capital 
H there, by which he, Jesus, was sanctified a common thing, 
and insulted the Spirit of grace. For we know him who said, Vengeance 
is mine, I will repay, says the Lord. And again, the Lord will 
judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall 
into the hands of the living God." So that's an apostasy passage, 
but also chapter 6 in the book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 6. Notice in verse four, for it 
is impossible for those who were once enlightened and have tasted 
the heavenly gift and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit 
and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the 
age to come if they fall away to renew them again to repentance 
since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God and 
put him to an open shame. Defection from or apostasy from 
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And specifically, when 
we look at these passages, there's an impossibility built in. And 
I think we're tempted to read those passages and say, well, 
that's not fair. What if they're sad? What if 
they have remorse? What if they feel bad for having 
done it? The person who commits apostasy, 
according to Hebrews 6 and 10, will not feel bad. There will 
not be remorse. It is high-handed. It is presumption. It is a casting off, in total, 
the God of glory and majesty. I think that's probably more 
what's in view in the intentional sin there in the book of Numbers, 
Numbers 15. There were lots of prescriptions 
and lots of things given for persons who committed sin. I 
mean the very passage we're in. There's atonement to be had, 
the day of atonement. On that day of atonement, according 
to Leviticus chapter 16, there are two goats that are utilized 
in that ceremony. One of them, the high priest, 
takes, cuts, and then carries the blood and pours it onto the 
mercy seat. The other goat, the high priest, 
lays his hands upon it and confesses the transgressions of Israel. 
Probably the Ten Commandments is what he goes through. God 
forgive us that we've had other gods before you. God forgive 
us that we haven't kept the Sabbath holy as we ought. I think that 
sin is pretty consistent among sinners. As long as there's been 
sinners, we've kind of been doing the same sorts of sins. So the 
high-handedness of the presumption is this intentional throwing 
off the very promise and the very glory of God and a yearning 
or a desire to go back to Egypt. In the immediate context, it's 
the antiprophets. They lied. They deceived. They twisted. They distorted. They reneged on God's promise 
and they swayed the congregation to follow them in a pathway that 
led to destruction. Because as we read the New Testament, 
we find that even at the best of times, the people of God struggle. So I guess my bigger point is 
don't read Numbers 15 and say, man, I actually did scream at 
my kid, and I kind of wanted to. I must be going to hell. Well, if you are, you're going 
to be going with lots of us. I don't think that's what's in 
view. Look at Romans 7, for instance. Romans chapter 7. What the Apostle 
Paul says in this particular passage. Romans chapter seven, specifically 
verse 15. And conversely, kids wanna yell 
at their parents too. I don't wanna leave Sophia out 
here. Not suggesting she does, but yeah, it's a two-way street. Notice in Romans 7, verse 15, 
for what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to 
do, that I do not practice. But what I hate, that I do. That's 
remaining corruption. Galatians 5, the flesh lusts 
against the spirit, spirit lusts against the flesh. These are 
contrary to one another so that you don't do the things that 
you want. So the bottom line is we shouldn't want to sin. 
That's the reality. But if we do sin, we have an 
advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous. So 
when it comes to this intentionality of sin that we find in Numbers 
15, I would suggest it has a primary reference in the context of those 
10 antiprophets that had brought reproach upon the name of God 
and had been cut off from the congregation for their wretchedness. In a new covenant setting, We 
have an advocate. 1 John 2, 1. My little children, 
these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. There's 
the ideal. And if anyone sins, here's the 
real. We have an advocate with the 
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the propitiation 
for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole 
world. If you read the older commentators, John Owen, for 
instance, John Calvin, on those apostasy passages, In Hebrews 
6 and 10, they say things like, oh, he doesn't mean drunkards, 
murderers, liars. He doesn't mean that. Now they're 
not saying it's okay to be a drunkard, or it's okay to murder, or it's 
okay to lie. The specific sin in Hebrews 6 and 10 is to defect 
from Jesus. It is to throw the Son of God 
underfoot. It is to join in the crime of 
the unbelieving Jews that Jesus upbraids often in His ministry 
for wanting to kill Him. So back to Numbers chapter 15. this law concerning presumptuous 
sin." Now, brethren, it is a good thing for us to consider God's 
antipathy toward sin should be a fear in our hearts so that 
we don't sin against Him, so that we'll guard our hearts, 
we'll guard our minds, we will be careful, we will put on the 
Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill 
its lust. But at the same time, I don't 
even want to say but, I want to say and. When you sin, go 
to the mediator. Go to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
And then in that last section there, not the last as a whole, 
but the last section in this subsection, there's a specific 
example of intentional sin that is dealt with in verses 32 to 
36. Sabbath-breaking, the fourth commandment, Exodus chapter 20, 
Deuteronomy chapter 5. The children of Israel knew all 
too well to remember the Sabbath day, to observe the Sabbath day, 
to keep it holy. They had been given lots of prohibitions 
on what they were and were not allowed to do on that Sabbath 
day. And so here you have somebody 
violating that Sabbath day. And again, we read this and we 
say, man, that is horrible. I can't imagine killing somebody 
because they gathered sticks on the Sabbath. But if they knew 
they could be killed for gathering sticks on the Sabbath, it's on 
them, right? I just, you gotta understand, 
this is God's word. And if we try to Monday morning 
quarterback it, say well that just doesn't seem right, that 
doesn't seem fair. The law was published, the law 
was read, the law was celebrated, the law was enforced, the law 
had carried sanctions and consequences. And this stick gatherer, may 
have some other unsavory sort of ideas. One has suggested, 
now we can't know for sure, maybe he was gathering them to sell 
them. There's no prohibition against having sticks on the 
Sabbath. You just couldn't gather them. So you got some lazy people 
that didn't put enough sticks in their garner for the Sabbath 
day. This guy comes along ready to sell, ready to profit on your 
profligacy, on your laziness. We don't know the specifics other 
than he violated the law of God. But it also illustrates in a 
positive way congregational participation in a good way. So in Numbers 
14 the congregation listens to the antiprophets. In Numbers 
15 the congregations learn their lesson. Notice, now while the 
children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man 
gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And I just sound like Joe 
Biden with that whisper. Sorry about that. That was horrible. 
They found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those 
who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron 
and to all the congregation. Positive participation on the 
part of the congregation. I think that's probably more 
the specific application or issue that we're supposed to take away 
from this little bit. Yes, he's a Sabbath breaker. 
Yes, he's going to be executed. But yes, positively, the congregation 
is functioning the way that they're supposed to. They're not listening 
to the words of the antiprophet. They're being governed and regulated 
by the law of God. through Moses, the functioning 
prophet with reference to the children of Israel. So verse 
34, they put him under guard because it had not been explained 
what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, 
the man must surely be put to death. All the congregation shall 
stone him with stones outside the camp. So as the Lord commanded 
Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned 
him with stones and he died. So that shows us intentional 
sin. It shows us, as well, positive 
congregational participation in the life of Israel. Very much 
different than what you find in chapter 14, verses 1 to 10. This is the way that we learn, 
right? Sometimes we do foolish things. God brings sanctions 
or chastisement upon us. We hopefully learn our lessons 
so that we don't duplicate the error. And it seems like at least 
at this point they're on the right path. And then the final 
section is basically just be reminded about the importance 
of the law. The tassels. Remember the Pharisees did this. 
They wore such things. This is legislation in Deuteronomy 
chapter 22 as well. Now, this doesn't mean go down 
to your local Christian bookstore and buy a fish, you know, ribbon 
and wear it on your arm, but that was pretty much the point. 
Not a fish ribbon, but that tassel, so that when you looked at that 
tassel, you were mindful of the law of God. What's the point? Being mindful of the law of God 
will help promote doing the law of God. You're not going to do 
what you don't know. Back to the whole argument for 
the due use of the ordinary means. We're not going to apply scripture 
if we don't know scripture. We're not going to apply the 
law if we don't know the law. So the tassels were to function 
in that capacity, to remind them of the law so that they would 
do the law and thus incur the favor of God versus the judgment 
of God. So in conclusion, just by way 
of a broad overview, their sin did not negate God's promise. 15.2 is words to live by. When 
you have come into the land, you are to inhabit which I am 
giving to you. Their sin did not negate God's 
promise. Their sin did not stop God's 
plan. God is going to get them to the 
land of promise. With or without them? No, it's 
going to be with them. It's going to be not the first 
generation, but the second generation. Remember that meme, I'm going 
to keep you safe even if I have to kill you during COVID. Okay. Their sin did not outweigh God's 
grace. It's a good New Testament application. And as well, their sin did not 
relax God's law. God doesn't say, well, I know 
I see that you're having a tough time with it, so let's just relax 
it a little bit. Let me just get rid of some of 
the more peskier elements of it. No, the law of God is unchanging. The law of God stands above that. They're to remember that law. 
The problem isn't the law. The problem is the heart of the 
sinner. And if the heart of a sinner can be reminded by a tassel of 
the goodness of God's law, such that it provokes in him to do 
God's law, like the psalmist, your word I've hidden in my heart 
so that I might not sin against you, that is a valuable thing 
for you to utilize and for you to profit by. And then the experience 
of God's grace in the old covenant is a glorious, glorious display 
of grace. far surpassed by the experience 
of God's grace in the New Covenant. What we have in Jesus Christ, 
what we have in that Advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ 
the Righteous, what we have in terms of the gospel of our salvation, 
which is predicated on the notion of the riches of God's grace, 
As great as the grace is in the old covenant, it's greater in 
the new covenant, not greater in the sense that God got better 
or something like that. But by design, he pours out the 
fullness of grace and truth through our Lord Jesus Christ. The law 
came through Moses, but grace and truth through our Lord Jesus 
Christ, John says in the prologue. Well, let's pray. Our Father 
in heaven, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the consistency 
that we find throughout Holy Scripture and for the way these 
passages all fit in the context of Israel's wanderings. I pray 
that you would cause us to reflect upon these things, cause us to 
see how important the use of the means are for our good and 
for our growth, and may you cause us to be faithful, to hide your 
word in our hearts so that we might not sin against you. And 
we pray this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. Well, any questions 
or comments? All right. All right, for sure. Hey, good 
to see you. Hey, nice to see you too. Yeah.