Sun.’s Devo - A Better Covenant

Read: Leviticus 4:1-5:19; Mark 2:13-3:6; Psalm 36:1-12; Proverbs 10:1-2
Today we will talk about the sin offering and the guilt offering. The sin offering is for a person who unintentionally disobeys one of the commandments of the Lord and wants to repent. Moses addresses four different groups of people: the priest, the community, a leader and an individual. The priest and the community are to offer a young bull where its blood is to be sprinkled on the altar and the four horns of the altar. The leader is to offer a male goat and the individual is to offer a female goat. In all these cases the priest will make atonement for the person or persons for the sin they committed and they will be forgiven. If someone does not speak up or testify of a sin they have seen, they will be held responsible.
Anything that makes a person unclean, when he realizes he is unclean, he is guilty and must confess and bring an offering to the Lord. The offering is determined by what they can afford: either a lamb or goat or two doves or pigeons or flour.
The guilt offering is for the person who has committed a violation in regard to any of the Lord’s holy things. His offering is to make restitution for what he has failed to do. For us, this would be like refusing to do something the Lord has told us, refusing to tithe, refusing to read our Bible, etc. The Holy Spirit is our compass and he will convict us of what we are suppose to be doing. When we repent and do what he says, we are forgiven.
In Mark, Jesus was accused of eating with sinners and tax collectors. He explained that the people who were well didn’t need a physician. He also explained that there were times when the old covenant needed to give room for the new. He used the example of sewing new unshrunk cloth on an old garment. It would eventually tear away from the cloth as it got wet and shrunk. Then he said that if you pour new wine into old wineskins, the wine will burst the skins and both will be ruined. Jesus was referring to them as the old cloth and the old wineskins. In order to receive the new covenant they had to have a new man - they had to be born again.
The Pharisees had so many rules that strangled the people and Jesus came to set them free. The Pharisees used their law as their excuse to kill Jesus.
Lord, help us to embrace everything you promised in your new covenant of grace. Let us not be tempted to fall back under the law.