GOD'S GREAT WORK

Lev. 4:20

    The sacrifices of Leviticus are full of information regarding what God did at Calvary.  They are types of our Lord's great work of atonement.  When we look at them, we cannot help but be struck with how terrible sin is.  We must realize also that every individual person is guilty of sin.  Ecclesiastes 7:20 says, "For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not."  Romans 3:23 tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.  O that men would realize the sinfulness of their sin. 

    These sacrifices also reveal to us that God hates sin.  Psalm 7:11 tells us, "God judgeth the righteous, and God is angry with the wicked every day.  O my reader, are you one who is still in your sin?  I cannot tell you that God loves you.  Instead, I must tell you that God is angry with you all the time.  You cannot even plead ignorance as an excuse.  Lev. 4:13 says, "And if the whole congregation of Israel sin through ignorance, and the thing be hid from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done somewhat against any of the commandments of the LORD concerning things which should not be done, and are guilty;".
    Our Lord's atonement is the basis for reconciliation.  You are victim of our Lord's anger because of your sin.  Well the only way you can be relieved from that anger is through His atoning blood.  No one else can make atonement for you.  Christ did .  Notice Heb. 10:10, "By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all," and again in Heb. 10:12, "But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God"

    Forgiveness is the product of atonement.  It is pictured as a covering.  Psalm 32:1 says, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered."  Forgiveness is connected with Justification.  Ps. 32:2 says, "Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose sporit there is no guile."  Imputation is the key.  It is used by God in our justification.  Justification does not impart righteousness to us; that comes with sanctification.  Justification is not an acquittal.  Acquittal declares the defendant not guilty.  None of us can claim that.  Justification sees us in our sin and knows our guilt.  Yet it imputes to us righteousness and declares us to be just.  It is beautifully depicted in 2 Cor. 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  The clause, "who knew no sin," should be with the pronoun "him."  It is, God has made Him, who knew no sin, to be sin for us.  In other words, He Who was spotless completely without sin was made sin, or our sin was imputed to Him.  Every sin of every one of God's elect was imputed to Jesus, and He died for them..  By the same token, it says, "that we might be made the righteousness of God in him."  Just how righteous are we made?  I speak reverently, but in this imputation all of Christ's righteousness is imputed to us, so that by imputation we are made as righteous as Jesus Christ.  He took all our sin and gave us all of His righteousness.  That is what Lev. 4:20 means to us.