So I invite you to turn in God's holy word to Numbers 5. And our text this evening will be verses 1-10 of Numbers 5. Numbers 5, verses 1-10. This is the word of the Lord. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous, or has a discharge, and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead. You shall put out both male and female, putting them outside the camp, that they may not defile their camp in the midst of which I dwell.' And the people of Israel did so, and put them outside the camp, as the Lord said to Moses, so the people of Israel did. The Lord spoke to Moses saying, Speak to the people of Israel. When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord and that person realizes his guilt, he shall confess his sin that he has committed. He shall make full restitution for his wrong, adding a fifth to it and giving it to him to whom he did the wrong. But if the man has no next of kin to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for wrong shall go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of atonement with which atonement is made for him. In every contribution, all the holy donations of the people of Israel, which they bring to the priest, shall be his. Each one shall keep his holy donations. Whatever anyone gives to the priest shall be his." The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our Lord abides forever. Let us pray. Lord, we ask that your spirit would be with us this evening to give us knowledge, insight, and understanding into your word. Lord, that your spirit would help us to see the depths of your beauty, your majesty, and the heinousness of sin for what it is. We give you thanks for our Lord Jesus Christ, who has made satisfaction, made atonement for our sins. And it's in his name that we pray. Amen. Well, last time that we were together, we were in Numbers chapter four, and we saw the absolute holiness of a transcendent God who dwells with his people, the absolute holiness of a transcendent God who dwells with his people. And the logical thing to talk about once you talk about the utter holiness of God is to talk about man's sinfulness. Perhaps you haven't recognized this, but up to this point, Numbers has not really talked about sin head on. We've had a census of the military. We've had a census of the priests. We've had camping arrangements, how the tribes are to camp around the tabernacle. We've seen the duties of the different clans of the Levites. Some had to carry the Ark of the Covenant and how that was to be transported. They couldn't even look at or touch the holy instruments of the temple. But we haven't really talked about sin. So what do we do with sin in light of a holy God who I dwell with, as verse three puts it? I know you've heard people ask, or perhaps you've asked yourself, why do bad things happen to people? Why do bad things happen to people? Sometimes bad things happen due to a particular sin or set of sins, but other times bad things happen simply because we live in a world that is affected by sin. We live in a world that is tainted by sin. And so sometimes particular things happen to people, not because they've sinned, but because they live in a world that's infected with sin. Think about if you or someone you know has sliced off the tip of a finger or thumb while working with power tools. Is that because you sinned? Not necessarily. You could have just not been paying attention. It could have been a simple accident. I've been in a car where the roads have been wet. We've had a car accident. Is that car accident because somebody sins? No, it's because the roads were wet. You come down with the flu or bronchitis or some other illness. You're born with food allergies or develop them later in life. None of these things necessarily happened because you committed a particular act of sin or acts of sin. We have an example of this in the New Testament actually, the disciples in John chapter 9 Ask Jesus who had sinned that caused this particular man, a particular man that they were looking at, to be born blind. Who sinned? Jesus says it wasn't due to this man sinning or his parents sinning that he was born blind. It was simply because of the glory of God. He was born blind so that Jesus could demonstrate his divinity in causing a blind man to see again. Nevertheless, sickness, car accidents, blindness, food allergies, home mishaps happen because we live in a sin-tainted and a sin-infected world. Imagine, if you will, standing in two feet of sewage. I know that's not a pleasant thought, but just imagine it with me. The stench is going to get on you, isn't it? You're going to smell like sewage. It's going to cling to your clothes. And this is what it's like to live in this world that has been darkened and deadened by sin. We are mired in the muck of a sinful world, such that even if we did not commit any actual sins ourselves, we would still live in a sin-tainted, sin-infected world, and we would still suffer mishaps, accidents, and other bad things, quote unquote, would still happen to us. The taint and stench of sin would still affect us, and it does still affect us. And this is the point of verses one through four, where we have situations in Old Testament Israel where ceremonially unclean people, are unclean, but it's not due to a particular sin. This is the first point. Ceremonially unclean, but not due to a particular sinful act. In the Old Testament, a person was considered unclean if they had leprosy. All sorts of diseases fall under that category, skin diseases. They were unclean if they had some sort of bodily discharge, and in the Old Testament, this is usually related to marital intimacy and reproduction. You were considered ceremonially unclean if you came in contact with a dead person, if you touched a dead thing. Now think about that. You've buried a friend. You've buried a loved one. That has made you, under the Old Testament regulations, that's made you unclean and it is required, God requires for you to be removed from the camp lest you defile His holiness. Now, you haven't sinned necessarily. The person who died didn't necessarily die because of their particular sin. Now, death is a side effect of sin. It's a result of sin to which we are all guilty to which we will all succumb. But nevertheless, you're unclean because you buried somebody, it's not because you committed a particular act. And we find the concept here in the Old Testament is that you are less than whole, W-H-O-L-E, whole, less than whole. Anything that made you less than whole made you unclean and not fit to be in the presence of a holy God. To be unclean and enter the tabernacle would defile the tabernacle, which meant God would not be able to dwell in the midst of His people. Worship would cease as the sacrifices could not be offered. The lampstand could not be kept burning. The day of atonement could not be kept, and so forth and so on. All the duties of the priest and the Levite servants in the temple and the tabernacle would come to a halt if it was defiled by a person who was unclean, less than whole. And so thus, these people, though they were unclean, not due to an act of sin, still had to be removed from the camp. They're removed from the presence of God so that God, a holy God, can continue to dwell with his people through the tabernacle, through the animal sacrifices, through the priesthood. You see, in the Old Testament, uncleanness was seen as contagious, just like the flu is contagious. When you get contagiously sick, what do you normally do? You isolate yourself, right? So that other people will not get it. That's the idea going on here on a spiritual level. The taint and stench of sin has passed to all of us through the imputation of the guilt of Adam's sin. We're born guilty, we're born bearing the guilt of Adam's sin, we're born under the power of sin, we're born into a world that has been affected by sin. We call this original sin. So we all enter into this world unclean. We all enter outside the camp of God's people. Even before we've even committed an actual act of sin ourselves, we enter into this world unclean. But if you read the book of Leviticus, particularly chapters 13 and 14, we read of how one with leprosy could move back into the camp of God's people. This person could once more be restored to God's people and bring his or her sacrifices, could enter into the tabernacle and worship with God's people. Same thing for a person with a discharge. Read Leviticus chapter 15. Same thing for a person who had touched something that was dead, a dead person in Leviticus 11. God made provision in each one of these scenarios for a person to no longer be outside the camp, but to be able to move back into the camp of God's people and experience his presence and experience worship. And I hope you see where I'm going with this. God has made provision for us to be able to move from our state of being outside the camp of God's people into the camp of God's people through Jesus Christ, has he not? This section should make us see Christ and the provision that we have in him for all who come to him, trusting in him by faith and faith alone. But it should not only make us see Christ, see His work foreshadowed here in the Old Testament, but it should also increase our amazement and our gratitude for what Christ has done. Let's go back to our sewage analogy. And I hope this analogy sticks with you, no pun intended. Christ came down into a sin He stepped into the sewage Himself by adding human flesh to His divinity and entering into this world, and yet He did so without sin Himself. And He entered into the sewage, taking on humanity, being made like us in every way, even being tempted, yet without sin, so that he could lift us up out of the sewage. Think about that. Let that sink deeply into your heart and into your mind. Wow, that's amazing that he who is without sin experienced the side effects of sin by entering into this world. Think about it, Jesus was mocked. In a world without sin, there would be no such thing as mocking. Jesus was beaten, not because of any sin He had done. In a world without sin, there is no beating of others. He tasted death. In a world without sin, there is no death. He experienced the sewage of sin in an even greater way than you and I do because he was perfectly sinless, perfectly holy, unlike you and me. We are sinners standing in the sewage. He was sinless standing in the sewage for us. Perfectly righteous. chose to stand in the sewage, chose to be treated as a sinner, somebody ceremonially unclean, so that through his death, which makes a person unclean, he could make you and me clean again. Our proper response should be, wow, not only is that quite profound, but that is utterly amazing. He became unclean so that we who are unclean might have His cleanliness, His perfect righteousness credited to our account, though we were undeserving. We don't deserve Him standing in the sewage next to us, friend. We don't deserve it. And yet that is the grace and mercy and the love of our heavenly Father. So that's the first point. Ceremonially unclean, but not due to a particular act of sin. In verses 5-10, we have a situation where people are considered ceremonially unclean due to a particular sinful act. This is our second point tonight. ceremonially unclean due to a particular sinful act. In this section, sin in general is covered. It's called a trespass against the Lord is how the King James Version translates it. Acting unfaithfully against the Lord is how the New American Standard translates it. Breaking faith with the Lord is how the ESV translates it. All of these get at the sense that that's that sin is seen as a type of spiritual adultery. This word used elsewhere is used for acts of adultery, and sin is a violation of a covenantal relationship, a covenantal marriage between God and His people. And it's clear in the context here that that particular sinful act has been committed against another human being. But even though it's been committed against another human being, ultimately it's considered as a sinful act against God himself. Because you see, sin affects us not just horizontally in our various relationships with one another, but sin also affects us vertically in our relationship with God. Now we're not told why this person in verse six realizes their sin. When a man or woman commits any of the sins that people commit by breaking faith with the Lord, and that person realizes his guilt, we don't know why this person has come to a realization of their guilt. Perhaps their own conscience has convicted them of sin. Perhaps another Israelite, another fellow believer has come to them and rebuked them for their sin. It could be the work of the Holy Spirit, making that person aware of what he or she has done. We're not told specifically how this person realizes their guilt. We're simply told that this person does realize their guilt. I have broken God's law in committing this act against a fellow Israelite, against a fellow human being, and I know that I am guilty. It also seems that this section in particular has some sort of stealing in view. Could have stole somebody's property, somebody's time, somebody's spouse, we don't know. But stealing seems to be the sin that is primarily in view here. And instead of being brought before a judicial court, before the elders at the gate of a city, this sinner brings himself to justice by bringing himself, realizing his guilt, and coming before the Lord. And once the sin is realized, there's three things the person has to do. Beginning of verse seven, he has to confess his sin, confess his or her sin. And then he has to make a full restitution plus 20%. That's what that fifth means. Whatever was stolen, he has to restore to the person he wronged, plus 20%. So 120% he has to give back. So confession, restitution, and then in verse 8, he is to bring the sacrifice, the ram of atonement, with which atonement is made for him. So he's got to confess his sins, he's got to make it right on the horizontal level with the person that he or she wronged, and then he's got to make it right on the vertical level through the death of an animal, which of course foreshadows the death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But God goes even further. What if the person that you wronged, what if the person you offended has died? What if the person you offended has died and has no next of kin? What do you do? How do you make restitution? to somebody who is dead and who has no relations, no family or kin that you can do in their place. Well, in that case, verse eight, you were to bring it to the priest. It's dedicated to the Lord. You bring your restitution plus 20% to the Lord, and the Lord gives it to his priests, and the priests get to keep it in full, verses nine through 10. So whether it's particular acts of sin, stealing, lying, lust, whatever it was, we live in a sin-stained world. We see that we are unclean, we see that we are unholy, we see that sin defiles us, Simply by being in sewage, the stench clings to us. We see in this passage that sin is a transgression of God's law. And yet we see that the work of Christ answers not only our general defilement by having Adam's sin and the guilt of his sin imputed to us, original sin, but it also makes satisfaction for the actual sins that we commit. Listen to 1 John 1, verse 7. The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. Here we have a picture of the sewage being washed off of us. The blood of Jesus is like a spiritual decontamination room where hazardous and dangerous materials are removed through powerful water sprays and other means. Jesus cleanses us. from all sin, not just sin in general, not just original sin that we inherited from our first parents, but the actual sins that we commit out of that sinful heart. Hebrews 2.17, Jesus had to be made like his brothers in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make satisfaction for the sins of the people. Make satisfaction. Not only has his blood sprinkled our hearts clean from a guilty conscience, but it's also satisfied the wrath of God so that God's wrath is turned away from us. We don't have to endure the wrath of God anymore. We don't have to fear God as a judge anymore. We can come to him as a father, as little children. Yes, we may still experience His fatherly displeasure, as the confession puts it. He disciplines His children. He disciplines those whom He loves, but that's not the same thing as His eternal wrath that He pours out on Satan, that He pours out on the demons, that He pours out upon those who ultimately refuse to repent of their sins. We don't have to fear that. He is satisfied and appeased the wrath of a holy God against sin on our behalf. And so through Jesus, we get to be in the camp to worship God, to experience the presence of God, and to have fellowship with God's people. But this passage does more, it doesn't do less than point us to Christ, but it also does more than point us to Christ. Not only do we see Christ here and His work on our behalf, but in this we also have a picture of church discipline. Very popular topic, right? I know you love talking about church discipline. If the Old Testament Israelites are the church of the Old Testament, than people who were formerly in the camp, people who had access to true worship, are now outside the camp and have lost that access to the worship of God. Matthew Henry, that old Puritan commentator, writes this, quote, The means of maintaining the purity of the people of God in the New Testament is church discipline. Church discipline is meant to restore and reconcile a repentant believer to God as well as restore and reconcile him to his spiritual family. Church discipline is not to be administered in anger any more than you administer discipline to your own children in anger. It's meant to draw a person, it's meant to make a person come to his or her senses. What you're doing is wrong, repent. You've professed faith in Jesus Christ, but your profession and your actions are not matching. Awaken and repent. Should a professing believer refuse to repent after multiple exhortations and increasing levels of discipline are administered, the last step of formal church discipline is excommunication. put that person outside the camp. And by doing that, it removes the unrepentant from the midst of God's people, a person who is acting in a manner that makes him or her less than whole. In other words, what we see here is that the holiness of individual Christians has an effect upon the holiness of the church Christians considered corporately together. And I want you to think about that. Your holiness and my holiness has effect upon our holiness. Think about the churches that are addressed in the New Testament. This church tolerates false teaching. Repent of your sins quickly, lest I come and remove your lampstand. This church tolerates false teaching and sexual immorality. Repent of your sins, lest I come and remove your lampstand. Paul writes to the church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 5. There's a man who's committing a sin that's not even named among unbelievers. Put him out of your midst. Because by tolerating sin in the corporate gathering of God, you're tainting, you're defiling the entire camp, so to speak. And God says, I will not dwell in a contaminated camp. I cannot dwell in a contaminated camp. So my personal holiness, your personal holiness, is going to affect the holiness of this congregation corporately considered. Think about what happens, what's the logical progression of a church that lets sin go unpunished? Well, just think about it with your own children. What's the logical progression if you let your children go unpunished? They just do it more and more, right? The sin increases, the sin increases. And that's exactly what you see with churches that do not address sin. A church that lets sin go unrepented of, that church is headed on a road toward backsliding or even apostasy. And that brings great harm to the church, That brings great harm to the name of Jesus Christ. A church that will not practice church discipline ceases to be a church, friends. And do we not see this all around us today? Historically speaking, this is what we see with the church. Think about the mainline denominations. They started by first denying some of the foundational principles of the Christian faith. Jesus wasn't born of a virgin, miracles don't really happen, so forth and so on. The Bible's just another human product. It's not the divinely inspired Word of God. They started by tolerating such teaching within their presbyteries, their churches, within their myths, started denying bits and pieces of the Bible. But you know that if you give the devil an inch, he will take a mile. Will he not? And now look at the mainline denominations today. Tolerating, actively promoting open blasphemy against our God and King while still trying to call themselves a church. Tolerating those things that are a stench to our Lord and Master. They've overthrown the Bible wholesale. They've made shipwreck of their faith and shipwreck of the faith of many who sat under their preaching and teaching. It all starts with no church discipline, no pursuit of personal as well as corporate holiness. But even for those previously under church discipline, even for those previously excommunicated, there is hope. The same offer of forgiveness through Jesus Christ is extended to the unrepentant and the unclean who are formerly in the camp to come back into the camp, come back to Christ. He will forgive you of your sins. He who touched and healed lepers, which would have made him unclean, instead made them clean. He who touched dead bodies, which would have made him unclean, those bodies came back to life. They were restored. Jesus healed a woman who had a discharge of blood for 12 years. Touching her or being touched by her made him unclean, and yet she was healed. She was made clean. Jesus will welcome the prodigal who confesses and turns back to Him in repentance. So what do we do with sin in light of a holy God who dwells with His people? We look to Christ who has dealt with our sin in His body on the cross. He's dealt with our original sin inherited from Adam and Eve. He's dealt with our actual sins that we've committed. Not just the sewage that is on the outside of us, not just the stench that is on the outside of us, but the stench that is within us, that is in our hearts. We look to Christ, we pursue holiness in our personal lives. We want to be conformed and transformed into the image of his likeness, do we not? We want to put away the aroma of sin and death and have the fragrance of Jesus Christ, do we not? We want to be a sweet smelling aroma. And when necessary, we exercise church discipline as well as church restoration. Don't forget that part. Church discipline and church restoration in the name of Jesus Christ. So that through Christ, we continue to have access to God's presence in corporate worship, fellowship with the saints while shining brightly in a sin darkened world. Amen and amen.