Numbers 29

Numbers 29:7

This was a repetition of the law as given in Leviticus. “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD” (Lev_23:27). This chapter concludes with the law of offerings for the Feast of Tabernacles. Offerings for their sins and trespasses are mentioned, but always this is given in addition to the burnt offerings. There are marvelous lessons for us in these two chapters. Friend, you and I are sinners. Even if you didn’t know it, you are a sinner. If you and I pay close attention to the Word of God, we will find that we are sinners and need a Savior. We need Christ! We need a Savior who died for us and paid the penalty for our sins. Sin is what has brought sorrow into this world. Sin has brought the tears and the broken heart. God hates sin. I’m glad He hates sin. God is moving forward todayundeviatingly, unhesitatingly, uncompromisinglyagainst sin. He intends to drive it out of His universe. God will not compromise with it at all. He will not accept the white flag of truce. He intends to eliminate it, and I’m thankful for that. Because it is sin that has robbed you and me of our fellowship with Him, sin is an occasion for mourning. When was the last time you wept over your sins? Have you been before God, my friend, and wept over your sin, over the failure of your life, over your coldness and indifference? My, how we need to confess that to Him today. It is not because God is high and we are low, or because He is great and we are small, nor because He is infinite and we are finite that we are separated from Him. He says it is our sins that have separated us from Him. That is the occasion for weeping. Let me be very frank with you. I was ordained into the ministry in 1933, and was an active pastor for thirty-seven years. I have had successful pastorates, as man judges those things. There has always been an increase in attendance, and a new interest in Bible study, thriving and growing young people’s work, and people being saved. You may ask, “Isn’t that a cause of rejoicing?” I confess to you that I don’t rejoice. I look back and I see my failure, and I see it in a very glaring way.

Don’t misunderstandI’m not guilty of shooting anybody or of committing adultery, but I failed my Savior in so many ways, so many times, and I confess that to Him. I let things come in to separate me in times when I needed His fellowship and wanted His fellowship. But I’d let these things come in the way. That is occasion for mourning, even for weeping to this day. But God did not want His people to spend a life of mourning. There was only one day of mourning. All the others were feasts of joy. These were the sin offerings and the trespass offerings. Christ has atoned for our sins on the cross. How we needed that! But the emphasis is on the burnt offerings, the burnt offering continually every day and the burnt offerings of the feast days. God is delighted in His Son. All of the details speak of our Savior and how wonderful He is. He is a sweet savor offering; that is who He is. He is the non-sweet savor offering; that is what He did. He was made sin for us, He who knew no sin. I am the sinner, but He died in my stead so that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. He took my place down here and He has given me His place up there. If you are saved today, you have as much right in heaven as Christ has. Did you know that? You have His right to be there, and if you don’t have His right, then you have no business therein fact, you won’t be there. We are accepted in the Beloved. That is the basis on which God receives us. If you are in Him, you just can’t improve on that at all. How wonderful this is.