In the OT days before Jesus came, God prescribed certain sacrifices to be offered for sin.

These were by no means the only sacrifices God required for sin. There were the daily sacrifices the priests made both in the morning and the evening for the sins of the nation. And then there were sacrifices required from all the people on the three major feast days each year.

Question. What if we were living under the OT system? What if you had to offer a goat or a lamb (and the best from the flock) every single time you unintentionally sinned? Would have had to offer a sacrifice this week? Last week? How many goats and lambs would you have had to offer last month? For the year? And how would this make you feel about your sin?

We would have a new idea about the cost and the penalty of sin. And if every time we sinned it cost us a choice goat or a choice lamb, some of our best livestock, we would begin to see that sin was very costly and very expensive and very serious. That sin is not something that can be forgiven cheaply or simply. And probably we would become much more careful not to make mistakes and not to sin--even unintentionally.

But now Jesus has come. We are no longer required to offer such sacrifices everytime we sin. Read Hebrews 10:11-13. Should we be less cautious about sin now that Jesus has come? Should we be more careless about committing sin - even unintentional sin - now that Jesus has paid the penalty for all our sins once and for all and now that we don't have to offer a choice animal every time we sin? Shouldn't we be grateful to Jesus for paying our sin penalty and releasing us from the need to sacrifice our own animals everytime we sin?

And shouldn't we show that gratitude by being even more careful than ever to refrain from sinning? Sin is expensive. We can praise Jesus for paying the penalty and making the sacrifice for us. And we can show our praise to him by being more careful than ever before to refrain from sinning. Romans 6:1-2.