Suppose you sin by violating one of the LORD’s commands. Even if you are unaware of what you have done, you are guilty and will be punished for your sin. For a guilt offering, you must bring to the priest your own ram with no defects, or you may buy one of equal value. Through this process the priest will purify you from your unintentional sin, making you right with the LORD, and you will be forgiven. This is a guilt offering, for you have been guilty of an offense against the LORD. (Leviticus 5:17-19)When I was younger, we always had the invitation song (what other churches called an altar call). And invariably someone would come with the plaintive comment, “If I have done anything to offend someone, I am sorry.”
It always smacked to me of an all-purpose, one size fits all request for forgiveness and I always saw it as worthless. And it is. But it is also the mindset of many people in the church. What if there was some sin I did and forgot to ask forgiveness?
The Israelites, although they lived with a loving God, also lived with the knowledge that nothing they could do could remove what they had done wrong. There was no place for forgiveness in the Old Law, there was only appeasing God and removing your guilt from in front of him.
And the laws were many and varied and covered every aspect of life. Not only that, but they were also somewhat equal. A law was a law, and if you broke any law, you broke the Law.
But what happened if you inadvertently sinned? What if you did something wrong that you did not know was wrong. What if you shook hands with a person who had improperly handled a dead body? Or if you did something beyond what you were supposed to do on the Sabbath? Or – the list goes on.
What do you do then? You have sinned and didn’t know it. There is a sin recorded to your name and you had no knowledge of it, but would in some way suffer the consequences. What do you do?
You bring a sin offering for unintentional sins and give it to the priest. He would offer the sacrifice and you would be forgiven. But when you did it again, even if by accident and not to your knowing, you would be guilty again. And have to do it again.
When Jesus came, he brought unconditional forgiveness. That means that, as long as you try to do what is right, he will forgive you.
Yes, you make a hundred mistakes during the day or week or month, depending on how good you are. But no matter ho good you are, you will do something wrong. When you do, God forgives you.
There is no need under the law of love that is in the grace of Jesus Christ to have to worry about something you might have done and ask forgiveness for that thing particularly. That is a penance-based religion, not a grace-based one.
When Jesus came, he came to set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8) and to give us freedom through the Spirit of life. That means that, yes, we do things that are wrong. But no, we do not have to ask forgiveness for each and every one or go to hell.
Grace keeps us free. If we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin (1 John 1:7).
If we are in him, we are cleaned. Praise God for his grace.
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