EXTRACT

Many will admit that things are not what they ought to be, but will excuse them on the ground of human infirmity, or errors in judgment, or want of light. The Lord Himself, in grace, takes account of the sin in Leviticus 4 as done “inadvertently”. But the plain fact is that all the things in the Christian profession of which the Lord disapproves are SIN. Place is given everywhere to the man who was condemned at the cross. Whatever is wrong in the Christian profession, and contrary to the commandments of the Lord, springs from man after the flesh. The one who brings the sin-offering judges this in the light of the fact that Christ bore the judgment of that man, and died to bring him to an end before God. In the recognition of this he can call on the Lord out of a pure heart, as morally apart, by the death of Christ, from that man. But this makes the sin of “the whole assembly” a very grave matter, and when we see it in this light we must take the path of separation.

I would put it to any heart that loves the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. Would you like to go on with something of which He disapproves? If the congregation and the elders of the assembly will not bring the sin-offering of the congregation, the faithful individual must. And how could we call on the Lord out of a pure heart if we go on with things which He has made known to us to be sin? Hence 2 Timothy comes in. We are to withdraw from iniquity, to separate from vessels to dishonour, and to turn away from those who have a form of piety but deny its power.

C. A. Coates (‘An Outline of Leviticus’, pp.49, 50)

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