We continue this morning in our verse-by-verse study through the book of Numbers, the book of Numbers. If you'd make your way to chapter 15, Numbers chapter 15, we come to a lengthy narrative and at first glance it may seem tedious, it may seem relatively unimportant for us today. However, this chapter in God's Word presents one of the most important and oft-repeated principles and lessons in all of Scripture, namely, the impossibility of keeping the law. The impossibility of keeping the law. Folks, let me say on the front end, you did not, now that you're a child of God, Keep the law perfectly, and that's what made you a Christian, a follower of the Lord, nor can anyone. And as we enter in in June to a study in personal evangelism at 9.30 a.m. right here in the auditorium, we need to be remembering that the world out there cannot measure up in their own strength, ability, righteousness, goodness. They need, and we needed, someone who did measure up and who could attain righteousness through his own effort, namely the God-man himself. And so Numbers chapter 15 speaks to this very issue, if you'll look with me. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye are come into the land of your habitations, which I give unto you, and will make an offering by fire unto the Lord, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice in performing a vow, or in a freewill offering, or in a solemn feast, to make a sweet savor unto the Lord, of the herd or of the flock, then shall he who offers his offering unto the Lord bring a meal offering of a tenth part of flour mixed with the fourth part of a hen of oil and the fourth part of a hen of wine for a drink offering." And the idea of a hen or an ephah and the like, those are amounts of measurements, like we would use a quart or a pint, that sort of a thing. A drink offering, continuing in verse 5, shalt thou prepare with a burn offering or a sacrifice for one lamb. Or for a ram thou shalt prepare for a meal offering two-tenth parts of flour mixed with the third part of a hint of oil. And for a drink offering thou shalt offer the third part of a hint of wine for a sweet savor unto the Lord. And when thou preparest a bullock, for a burnt offering or for a sacrifice in performing a vow or peace offerings unto the Lord, then shall he bring with a bullock a meal offering, a three-tenths part of flour mixed with a half a hen of oil. And thou shalt bring for a drink offering half a hen of wine for an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. Thus shall it be done for one bullock or for one ram or for one lamb or a kid. According to the number that you shall prepare, so shall you do to everyone according to their number. And all who are born of the country shall do these things after this manner, in offering and offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord. And if a stranger sojourn with you, or whosoever be among you in your generations, and will offer an offering made by fire of a sweet savor unto the Lord, as you do, so shall he do. One ordinance shall be both for you of the congregation and also for the stranger who sojourns with you. An ordinance forever in your generations. As you are, so shall the sojourner be before the Lord. One law and one ordinance shall be for you and the stranger who sojourns with you. It's interesting, that is repeated multiple times in this passage. Repetition's the key to learning. God wanted to make sure, do you understand what I am saying that you're to do? It's for the Israelite. It's for the person who comes into your camp and is a part of you from a Gentile nation. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speaking to the children of Israel, saying to them, When you come into the land to which I bring you, then it shall be that when you eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer up a heave offering unto the Lord. Verse 20. you shall offer up a cake of the first of your dough for a heave offering as you do the heave offering of the threshing floor so shall you lift it high or of the first of your dough you shall give unto the lord a heave offering in your generations and if you have erred and not observed all these commandments which the lord has spoken unto moses even all that the lord hath commanded you by the hand of moses from the day that the Lord commanded Moses, and henceforth among your generations. Then it shall be, if anything be committed by ignorance, without the knowledge of the congregation, that the congregation shall offer one young bullock for a burnt offering for a sweet savor unto the Lord, with his meal offering and his drink offering, according to the ordinance, and one kid of the goats for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for all the congregation of the children of Israel, and it shall be forgiven them, for it is ignorance. And they shall bring their offering, a sacrifice made by fire unto the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their ignorance. And that shall be forgiven all the congregation, and the children of Israel, and the stranger who sojourns among them, seeing all the people were in ignorance. And if any soul sin through ignorance, then he shall bring a she-goat of the first year for a sin offering. And the priest shall make an atonement for the soul that sinneth ignorantly, when he sinneth by ignorance before the Lord, to make an atonement for him, and it shall be forgiven him. You shall have one law for him who sinneth through ignorance, both for him who is born among the children of Israel, and for the stranger who sojourns among them. But the soul that doeth anything presumptuously, Whether he is born of the land or sojourner, the same reproacheth the Lord, and that soul shall be cut off from among the people. Because he hath despised the word of the Lord, hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly be cut off. His iniquity shall be upon him. And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man who gathered sticks upon the Sabbath day. And they who found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and unto all the congregation. And they put him in prison because he was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall be surely put to death. All the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp. And all the congregation brought him outside the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died, as the Lord commanded Moses. And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speaking of the children of Israel, and bid them that they make them fringes in the borders of their garments throughout their generations. And they shall put upon the fringe of the border a cord or a thread of blue. And it shall be unto you for a fringe that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them. and that you seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which you used to play the harlot, that you remember and do all my commandments and be holy unto your God. I, the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God, I am the Lord your God." Wow. What a presentation of God's law we see in verses one through 41 of this chapter. God had originally given the Mosaic Law at Mount Sinai about a year to a year and a half earlier or so. The people then committed the grievous sin of unbelief. They said, we can't go in the land. There are giants there. God's not big enough. He's not strong enough. He's not wise enough. We've got a better plan. We're not gonna go in. And so God, of course, said, you're going to be in the wilderness for 48 years. And he wanted Moses to restate these elements of the law. I like what commentator Jensen wrote. He said, lest there be any mistaken notion that the laws of Sinai, including the laws of offerings, had been abrogated, that is, set aside or replaced, the law explicitly cited some of them again. And the minutia of dealing with these laws. I mean, you'd almost need somebody assigned nonstop, 24-7, just to keep track of all the specifics about all of the various laws. It was truly a burden that they were carrying, and it even It even gave allowance for if you sin ignorantly in forsaking one of the laws or not observing one of the laws, but you did so because it just got past you. You just simply didn't know. There was provision for that. There was also a statement made about those who sinned presumptuously regarding the law of Moses. And we saw that the man who sinned on the Sabbath was stoned to death. The law, the keeping of the law Folks, is a human impossibility, and God knew that. More on that in just a little bit. Let me specifically speak to this text very quickly. First of all, we see in verses 1 through 21, laws concerning sacrifices. And this is reminiscent of the book of Leviticus, when so much of the law was given very specific instructions about how they were to offer sacrifices when they got into the promised land, and they were to be kept. And any foreigner was also to keep this offering to the Lord, whether it be an offering of Grain, whether it be an offering of grapes, or whether it be an offering of animals which graze, and there's your three GRs. Grazing animals, grain in the field, grapes off the vine, any of those and all of those have very specific instruction on how their offering is to be brought. So the laws concerning sacrifices, verse one through 21, and then verses 22 to 31, laws concerning unintentional sins. if likely through omission, they had an offering that they were to bring. No offering was provided for intentional sin because the person who willfully broke God's law with a high hand was going to face judgment and not give an opportunity for an offering. Now, it says, shall be put out from among the congregation. Commentators differ on what that specifically means. It could be removed, separated physically, that is, you're no longer a part of that. Certainly, at a minimum, it means that. But in the case that we see about violating the Sabbath, it also can mean and did mean physical death, being stoned to death. So these were severe, restrictive, and very specific laws, and they were bound to that as God's national people. And then thirdly, There were laws concerning the Sabbath, verses 32 to 36. I've alluded to that. The man was stoned to death. And there were laws concerning remembrances, that is, tying that or weaving that blue thread through the tassel on the garment. Now, this is not well known. This doesn't seem to be… In my 40 years of pastoring, I don't know that I've ever spoken about the blue thread that was woven through each of the tassels on the lower part of the garment. Seemingly, this was men who did this. It could have been women. It doesn't specify, but it is a masculine noun. And so, he said, tell the people, probably tell the men that they're to do this. And Jesus did this, in fact, in fulfilling the law, because it says in Mark 6 and verse 56, wherever he entered into villages, cities, country, In other words, we're touching the hem of his garment, where the tassels were, where the blue thread was woven, signifying, I'm remembering God. This was an observance for remembrance, like we have the Lord's Supper on a monthly basis. Do this as often as you do in remembrance of Him. And so when they saw the tassel with the blue thread woven throughout it, in essence, the people knew, This is reminding me of the Lord. This is reminding me of him taking us, bringing us out of Egypt, and setting us free and all. And so, there were observances of remembrance. So, we see the presentation of the law in chapter 15 of Numbers now I want to get to the meat of this not that this wasn't meaty But the meat of the message that is in Romans chapter 7 if you would look at that very quickly Romans chapter 7 The purpose we've been given it now. Why did God give it? well the book of Romans lays out all the theology and probably the better it'd be better to say the theology of God's laws because In chapter 15 of Numbers, it just gives us a recitation of what it is. It doesn't really speak specifically to the theology behind this. Well, Romans chapter 7 certainly does. In Romans 7, verses 7 through 12, says that, wherefore the law, now, you could put Numbers 15, you could put the Ten Commandments, you could put the book of Leviticus, God's law, is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, works death in me. By that which is good, that sin by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. I'm sorry, I began in verse 12. I mean, I meant to begin in verse 7. That's when one of you is supposed to say, Preacher, you're on the wrong verse. How many of you all knew that I was on the wrong verse? Come on, raise your hand. You at least had an inkling. You thought that I was on the wrong verse. Real high. Come on. Who will be brave? And not one of you. You all are so nice. Is this Pastor Appreciation Month? Verse seven, my bad. I knew I was thinking, I'm not prepared to preach this. No, it's verse seven. What shall we say then? Well, this is what we should say. It started in verse seven. Is the law sinned? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known covetousness, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me, generated in me in all manner of coveting. For apart from the law, sin is dead." In other words, I could sin and I wouldn't be particularly aware of it until I saw what the law said. Then, uh-oh, the spotlight is shining on it. For apart from the law, end of verse 8, sin is dead. For I was alive apart from the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived. Sin was stirred up. I died, and the commandment which was ordained to life I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore, the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." So the law, which you could summarize maybe in the Ten Commandments, had a purpose, and the purpose is twofold. Let me offer what that purpose is. First of all, and again, 1 Timothy 1, it's not that the law is anything wrong with it. The law is fine if you use it lawfully. So I need to know what actually is the purpose of the law. If you were to ask 100 people out there on the street, what's the purpose of the 10 commandments? My dad would have said this before he came to know the Lord. Well, you try the best you can to keep the Ten Commandments and one of these days God will weigh the scales to see how well you did. And of course that is altogether not the purpose of the Ten Commandments or any portion of the law. So what is the purpose of the law? Let me offer two fundamental primary considerations of why the law exists. First of all, the law is effective in salvation for the lost in that it reveals that person's sin. God's law reveals sin. That's what verses 7 and 8 very clearly tell us. If there wasn't any law of God, and I was coveting, I would not particularly know that that was wrong, not the specifics of the law, until I came to know thou shalt not covet. And the law all of a sudden became alive, and my sin became alive because I recognized how wrong it was. And so the law doesn't cause sin, it stirs up the awareness Sin it reveals it in One's heart. I like what Martin Luther wrote on this It says the law God's law must be laid upon those that are to be justified that is to be saved that they may be shut up in the prison thereof in other words the prison of I have broke the law until The righteousness of faith come that when they are cast down and humbled by the law, they should fly to Christ. The Lord humbles them, not to their destruction, but to their salvation. For God wounds that he may heal again. He kills that he may give life. And so the law, the Ten Commandments, thou shalt and thou shalt not. I don't measure up. I don't keep it. What am I going to do? My only option, the only thing which is provided is fleeing to Christ where I can find mercy. That is the purpose. That's why the minutiae was given in Numbers, primarily why the minutiae of the law was given there in Numbers chapter 15, as well as for the people to be identified as those who followed the law. For Hebrews 7, 19, written to Jews, says the law, the writings of Moses, does not make anyone perfect, does not make anyone acceptable before the Lord. Verse Galatians 3, 24, the law is our schoolmaster, it's our teacher, to bring us unto Christ that we might be justified by faith. It was never the intention of God for anyone to be justified by the keeping of the law, Because we can't keep the law. The law was given to show us that we can't have God's righteousness in and through our own effort, but only in the righteousness of Christ. And so what does it do? What does it do with the lost? Well, it condemns the lost. The law condemns the lost. It's not something to which we're to aspire. It's something that we're to see as in a mirror, measure up our own life compared to the holy law of God, and walk away condemned in our own eyes. Romans 3.19. We know that whatever thing the law says, it says to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. So the purpose of the law with the lost is for the person to see the law and to walk away shaking his head saying, I am guilty. I don't measure up. I haven't kept the Ten Commandments. In fact, I violated them in every way, shape, and form. God help. That, you see, and in doing that, man gets zero credit. God gets all glory for saving a soul. Amen? That was his intention. He's jealous. God is a jealous God with righteous jealousy and says, I alone deserve all glory and I won't share my glory with another. So if you're going to try to work your way to heaven, it won't happen because you cannot keep the law. But Jesus did. and being clothed in him, being wrapped up in him, you now are acceptable to God. John MacArthur wrote. Not until a person smashes himself, and I like the passive, not until he is smashed against the demands of the law and the accusations of conscience does he recognize his helplessness and see his need for a savior. Not until the law has arrested and imprisoned him and sentenced him to death will he be driven to despair in himself and turn to Jesus Christ. So it condemns the lost, but it also is used to convert the lost. Not that keeping it converts you, but that, because you can't get one step closer to salvation by keeping the law, but it converts you in that it invites grace. It says, I can't keep it. I've never been able to keep it. I know the hidden secrets of my heart, and God, I know you know them as well. Therefore, I must have mercy. And in fact, that's what scripture says in Romans 8, verses 3 and 4, for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, through my flesh. I couldn't keep it. God sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh. He didn't send him in sinful flesh. He sent him in what appeared to be sinful flesh, that is humanity. He became a man. In the likeness of sin, but and for said he sent him for sin to pay for sin Condemned sin in the flesh that is he had victory over sin in his humanity So that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us and so folks when you are in Christ You are viewed as acceptable, acquitted, forgiven, and now given a new nature and a righteous standing before the Lord because of what He has done, if you've received Him. It is absolutely amazing grace that the infinite, self-existent, eternal God would reach down while we were yet sinners and die for all who will believe. To God be the glory. Numbers chapter 15 tells us, gives us the minutia. I mean, I just feel overwhelmed in reading Numbers 15 with how does anyone keep this? You can't. You can't. Provision is made. And the ultimate provision, as John the Baptist says, behold, the Lamb of God who takes away And if you know him, that's happened with you. And we're reminded in Galatians 2 and verse 16, you're not justified by the law, but by faith in Christ. Some people feel like, well, I'm good. I'm not that bad preacher. Well, are you this good? James 2.10 says, whoever shall keep the whole law, let's say you keep 99.9% and yet offend in one point, you are guilty of it all. Guilty of all, all of the weight of the law rests upon your shoulders because you have violated one point. And in fact, Galatians 3.10 talks about this, cursed is everyone who continues not in all that is written in the book of the law to do them. Cursed is that one. And so folks, in our evangelism training, We need to keep right at the forefront of our minds that when we share with folks the gospel, we need to give the bad news first. And that is, you have not kept God's holy law. You are condemned. You are cursed. The Word of God says so. I mean, if I had cancer, and the doctor prescribed chemotherapy or radiation, I wouldn't be interested in taking it if I wasn't convinced that I had the cancer. You all follow? That makes sense. And so unless a person recognizes that he or she is absolutely, utterly lost and hell bound, then that person cannot appreciate the mercy of God in Christ. And so we must share the law with the lost. What about saved people? Well, the law is secondly effective in sanctifying the saved because it reveals the holiness of God. And anything that I can learn about who God is as his follower, and I want to emulate, and I want to mimic that, and I want that to be part of my life, be holy for I am holy, 1 Peter 1, then that is beneficial in my life. So how does it do it? brings conviction of sin. I tell you, when I was lost, I would sin with the best of them, and it not particularly bothered me. I mean, I really, I did not agonize. I wasn't even hardly aware of sin in my life when I was lost until I Someone witnessed to me and I saw I'm condemned because I am a sinner. But now as a believer, I simply cannot sin and get away with it. Oh, I can sin. but not sin and get away with it. I am always, always convicted about my sin. You know, the Word of God will do that. In Hebrews 4, 12 and 13, the Word of God is quick, it's powerful, sharper than any two-edged sword. It will pierce even to the dividing center of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and is a discerner in thoughts and intents of the heart, no creature. Hidden everything is manifest in his sight Everything is naked and open unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do so the Word of God in the life of the child of God convicts and convinces of his holiness and My lack thereof and Prompting me down that path and then what else does it do well? the law conforms me to Christ That is, my life is changed. My life is changed. When it says, thou shalt not covet, now I have to analyze, okay, am I materialistic? Am I a lover of money? Am I being stingy? Am I being selfish in this? And my life, because I'm convicted as a child of God, I now conform to what His will. for me says in Hebrews 5 I'm convinced talking to believers for when for the time you ought to be teacher you ought to have grown up and be a teacher you once again have need of the first principles of the oracles of God you need milk and not strong meat because Everyone who uses milk is unskillful in the word. He's a baby but strong meat belongs to those who are full age who are mature and how did you get mature and even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil." In other words, the Word of God convicts me and conforms me based upon what he has said. So folks, Numbers 15. is of infinite importance, because it shows that mankind fails relative to the law of God, and it drives a person only to grace in Christ. Galatians 4, 4 and 5 says, when the fullness of time was come, God sent forth his son, made a woman, made under the law. He had to keep it all, and he did perfectly. to redeem those who are under the law that we might receive the adoption of children. Share the law of God with the lost. Just use the Ten Commandments. Do you keep this perfectly? Do you keep this? Do you keep this? An honest person will say, no, no, no. I have failed miserably. Woe is me. And the good news is life in Christ. I close with this sobering thought. I studied up on this man a little bit. Warren Wearsby tells us about a German poet, last name Hain, when he had chronic illness in his last years, bedridden, really, for the last number of years of his life. And someone was witnessing to him about forgiveness in Christ and hope of heaven and all. And Wearsby wrote, when the German poet Hain sat on his deathbed, of course God will forgive me, that's his job. He understood neither the awfulness of sin or the high cost of God's grace. And that's true. You cannot view it that way, as God is obligated, because after all, he's God, and he's a forgiving, loving God. That's only half of the message. The front half of the message is, you are condemned, and you stand rightly judged and condemned, only awaiting the sentence. But the good news is Christ paid that debt if you'll but call upon him. Have you called upon him? Have you truly called upon the Lord Jesus to save you, forgive you, make you his own? And you've done so by faith without offering any of your own goodies. If so, you can rejoice in the law of God while not being able to keep it. He did keep it. To God be the glory. Lord, I'm so thankful for your word. I believe it was shared accurately because you've given us the various components of what it means, what the law was for, all the minutiae of it, the weight of it, the burden of it, and the failure time and time again by everyone save Jesus. who kept the law perfectly, though he was tempted in all points, yet without sin. And so, Lord, we are grateful for that word, that truth, that you have become the sinner's substitute for all who call upon you. So thankful that pushing 48 years ago this month, that was the case in my life, and give you praise and thanksgiving. Bless these dear folks who know you, with hearts filled with gratefulness, though not being able to keep the law themselves, they received mercy from the judge because of the one who did keep the law. And now may we tell that story to a lost and dying world. And Lord, any here who are watching by way of internet, who maybe have come for the first time to the awareness of this, and now the need for mercy. Move on the hearts to bring repentance and faith as only you can. Gifts of God will give you thanks, Lord Jesus, in your name. Amen.