Numbers 15:22-24

We had gotten, in the previous sermon, to where I was just beginning to show additional evidence that God does not judge our activities as all being on the same level, that He weighs the attitude in which something was done, and the circumstance in which it was done, and who does the deed. All of these factors matter very much.

If we were to read the whole chapter I think we would see this more clearly, but I think that we can see just from the amount we have read that God is serious about His commandments, and because He is serious and we want to be like Him, so should we be. They are not to be treated as trivial. They are not to be treated in a casual manner regardless of what the law is, because all unrighteousness is sin. Regardless of how critical the law is to God's purpose, we want to be righteous, and we want to hit the mark. We want to make a bull's-eye every time, if we can.

We can also see from this context that He is gracious, and He has made allowances for the circumstances under which the sin was committed. Ignorance implies that the sin was done without knowledge, or that it was done unintentionally, or that the person merely strayed through error because he made a simple wrong judgment.

On the other hand, "presumptuously" means "with a high hand." The picture is with a hand clenched into a fist and shaking as though the person is looking up at God and is saying, "I know what I am doing, and I am going to do this. Regardless of the consequences, I am going to go ahead and do it." The word indicates ostentatious, a sense of bravado.

I think you can readily see that there is a great deal of difference in regard to seriousness that God holds a sin to be in a person's attitude and the circumstance of the sin. It is interesting that immediately after what we just read in Numbers 15 that Moses, as his pattern is, gives an illustration of what he means.

Numbers 15:22-24

Note the term ignorance.

Presumptuously means with a high hand. It indicates the raising of a clenched fist, as though the person is defiantly challenging God and His command.

When we begin the next time we are going to start with the premise to show you that God judges differently by attitude, whether a sin is done by a person presumptuously, or whether it is done in ignorance. We are also going to see that it makes a difference who commits the sin, and to me that one gets a little scary.

I think you can already begin to see that everything is not on the same level. If we are going to judge correctly—to judge what we are doing, and judge what others are doing, and judge what we should do, or what we should not do—it takes a great deal of understanding of God's law and connection with God by means of His Spirit to reach a right conclusion, a right judgment. We are supposed to judge righteous judgment. That is a command from our Savior Jesus Christ.

Numbers 15:22-29

Let's go back to Numbers 15. I think that this "sin" aspect of it really needs to be understood. These are the laws of the offerings (here in Numbers). And God decides, when He is giving this to Moses, that He needs to show Moses how He (God) differentiates between "unintentional sin" and "intentional sin."

Now, God says that when there is an unintentional sin done in Israel—whether it is done by a whole group of people (a whole congregation) or just one person—that they have a certain offering that they need to bring. The priest shall offer it, and God will forgive them. Okay. Clear on that? It's pretty simple. Now, verse 30. Here's the other side of the coin: