Walking in Purity Pt 1

All right, Ian, I'm going to plug in now. Sorry about earlier.

Good evening, everybody. Let's all stand.

And as I silence my phone, because I almost forgot, y'all don't forget to silence yours either, because I get really, really distracted. I'm about as bad as Ryan. Yeah, it's bad. So, yes, let's go ahead and get started. Let's pray. Let's begin worshiping.

Father, thank you for everyone here tonight. Thank you for bringing us all together. Giving us the time. Giving us a place. Giving us hearts just to come together and worship you. We want to sing to you. We want to be touched by you. Please speak to us through your spirit and through your word and teaching. Change our hearts, Father. It's in your name. Amen.

Amen. Walk out. Your great love will lead me through.

I will say, whoa. The silence. You are. Won't. And your truth will hold. Great love will.

To show. I need it. One forty-five. And David says, I will extol you, my God, O King, and I will bless your name forever and ever. Every day I will bless you on the glorious splendor of your majesty and on your wonderful works. I will meditate. So as we sing this next song, I just encourage us to take some time to reflect on how God has worked in and through our lives.

I think we can all look back at different points even before we came to a place. A place of faith where we could see evidence of God working to work things out for good. So let's be focused on that as we sing.

Y'all can go ahead and have a seat.

In Psalm 145. Beat the same verse. The Bible is good, but we don't need to be too repetitive here. All right. So we're going to sing, Lord, I need you. And I confess I find without you that God.

Oh, just me. Grace is more. Grace is found.

Teach my song to rise to you. And temptation comes my way. And when I cannot stand, I'll follow.

My righteousness, oh God.

Thank you, God, for your reminders of how much we need you in our lives and all of its ebbs and flows and ups and downs and the troubled seas and in the high times in the mountain, God. And we still, we still need you. So right now, I just pray that we would come before you with hearts ready to receive your word, ready to receive truth and be changed by it. And it's in Jesus' name.

Amen.

Good evening. Glad you could be here tonight. If you would open up in your Bibles to the book of Leviticus, chapter 17.

Leviticus 17. Leviticus 17. We have been looking in this, last half of the book of Leviticus at sanctification, the walk with God. And there's a handful of things that we've looked at. First of all, we talked in chapters 14 and 15 about the importance of walking in holiness. In that aspect of holiness, meaning that there was so many aspects about us as humanity

that is just really unholy as far as the Lord is concerned, unclean as far as the Lord is concerned, not the least of which are some of the skin diseases, which really have a great representation of sin in our lives. And they must be cleansed. And the only way that there could be cleansing was through the blood of a sacrificial lamb. And in the same way, our sin has to be cleansed by the blood of Jesus.

And then in chapter 16, we looked at walking in freedom. And that great chapter on the day of atonement, that day of atonement in which the sins of the children of Israel were atoned for for another year. And we saw that beautiful picture of those two sacrificial goats, the one goat that was for the blood sacrifice, the sacrifice that would have been spilled on the altar and atoning for the mercy seat as the blood was applied to the mercy seat there. And then the sacrifice made on the altar.

And then, of course, that other goat was the scapegoat in which the high priest would confess the sins of the people. And then the scapegoat would carry those sins out into the wilderness. The only problem was for the children of Israel, they had to do this every year. The fact of the matter is that according to what it tells us in the book of Hebrews, no longer do we need to, we need to repeat this sacrifice every year because what the sacrifice of the blood of bulls and goats could only do for one year, Jesus did for all time.

And he was not only our perfect sacrifice, his blood covering our sins, but he was our perfect scapegoat carrying all of our sins, not just away into the wilderness, but as far as the east is from the west. Well, now as we move into chapter 17 through 19 of the book of Leviticus, we're going to look at the walk of purity, walking in purity. And really, this is going to be part one because there's an aspect of it for our own lives, but then it moves into the aspect of the priesthood with walking in purity as well. So there's three things we're going to look at tonight.

They're divided up in these three chapters. The first is purity and sacrifice. The second is purity and body. And the third is purity and love. And so let's first of all talk about this purity and sacrifice. So chapter 17, verse one says this. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak to Aaron and to his sons, to all the sons of Israel, and say to them, this is what the Lord has commanded saying.

Any man from the house of Israel who slaughters an ox or a lamb or a goat in the camp or who slaughters it outside the camp and has not brought it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord before the tabernacle of the Lord, blood guiltiness is to be reckoned to that man. He has shed blood and the man shall be cut off from among his people. The reason is so that the sons of Israel, may bring their sacrifices, which they were sacrificing in the open field, that they may bring them into the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting to the priest and sacrifice them as sacrifices of peace offerings to the Lord. The priest shall sprinkle the blood on the altar of the Lord at the doorway of the tent of meeting

and offer up the fat in the smoke as a soothing aroma to the Lord. They shall no longer sacrifice their sacrifices to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. This shall be, a statute to them throughout their generations. Then they shall say to them, any man from the house of Israel or from the aliens who sojourn among them who offers burnt offering or sacrifice does not bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting to offer it to the Lord.

The man also shall be cut off from his people. And so what God does here is he deals with the way that they were to not only slaughter their own animals for food but also for their sacrifices. He tells them, first of all, if you are going to slaughter one of your animals for food, bear in mind they're in the wilderness. They've only got so many animals while they're in the wilderness.

There's a lot of sacrifices to be made. So this particular statute about just the general killing of an animal for food is going to be relaxed a little bit when they come into the promised land. But the statute of where they were to offer sacrifices was to be a statute forever. We'll deal with those two differences. So the first thing he tells them is that if you are going to slaughter one of your animals,

whether it be in the camp or out of the camp, you need to bring it to the doorway of the tabernacle of the tent of meeting. Otherwise, it will be considered bloodshed on your part and you'll be held accountable for it. He says what you need to do is bring it to the doorway of the tent of meeting and it will be a peace offering. Now you may remember what this peace offering looked like.

The peace offering, a portion of it was sacrificed on the altar. The kidneys and the fat were burned on the altar as a sweet smelling aroma to the Lord. A portion of it was given to the priest but then a portion of it was given to the sacrificer. So that he could have a meal that essentially he shared with the Lord because it was like fellowship between himself and the Lord.

And so he says, if you are going to slay one of your animals to use it for meat, do so at the doorway of the tabernacle. But the statute goes even further and it says, if you're going to offer a sacrifice, you can't offer that sacrifice just anywhere that you want to because you are to, as it says in verse 7, you shall no longer sacrifice your sacrifice. to the goat demons with which they play the harlot. He says, you're not just supposed to offer a sacrifice anywhere you want to on a high place or out in the field.

You must do it the way that God has intended for it to be done. The way that it has been prescribed according to the law to be done. Now as you move into the Old Testament and into both the books of 1st and 2nd Kings, you'll notice if you've ever read through those books that every time there's a good king that comes along, it will say, this good king, this good king did away with all of the idol sacrifices, but it'll always throw a but in there. Not always, but a lot of times it'll say, but they did not tear down the high places.

Have you ever read that and you thought to yourself, so what are the high places? Well, the high places are kind of what he describes right here. Places where you could offer sacrifice to the Lord without having to make that trip all the way to the temple. It was, if you will, a compromise in the worship of the Lord. It was not what God, God prescribed in his law.

And this is what he's saying not to do right here. That's a statute that is to continue forever is that they were always to make sure that when they brought a sacrifice, it had to be brought to the doorway of the tabernacle in the way that God wanted it to be brought. Now there's a little bit of personal application for us here, I believe. First of all, we realize that sacrifice is always to be made in God's way.

There should be no compromise in our lives. Even, even in the smallest ways. Isn't it kind of interesting when you read through those books of the kings and you read that and you think, oh, they did so good, but then it throws that little caveat of, but they did not tear down the high places. In other words, they still sought God in the way that they thought they should.

There was an aspect of compromise that was in their lives. But that brings us to the second point, and that's that we must approach God as he has prescribed in his word. In other words, in our worship of God, we need to make sure that it always lines up with what the word of God has to say. I read this great story in a commentary and it said, there was an article that had gone around, and I believe it was the LA Times back in like the 90s, I think is what David Guzik's commentary said.

And he said they interviewed a lady by the name of Sheila. And they asked Sheila, it was an entire article about how much religion in our country has changed over the last 20 to 30 years, again, back in the 90s. He said, they asked Sheila what exactly her religion looked like. And she said, well, I like to add a lot of different things together. As long as I'm doing a pretty good thing,

I call it Sheila-ism. Now, that's kind of a funny statement, is it not? And yet, what do oftentimes we do in our worship of the Lord? We come up with our own way to do it. Now, when we look at the world, we realize the world does that a lot, right? The world will tell you, hey, as long as we're all seeking God, it does. It doesn't really matter what name we attach to him.

It really doesn't matter what picture we put on him. It really doesn't matter what we call him, as long as we're all approaching God. Well, according to this, that's absolutely not true. And it's one thing when the world says it, but it's a whole other thing when we start doing this within the church. And we start saying, this is the way we want to approach God.

Sure, it's not really in the Bible. It gets a little bit outside of what the Bible says, but don't we have a little bit of creative license in our worship of the Lord? Well, according to this, we don't. According to the Bible, we really don't have that sort of creative license to get outside of anything that the Bible says in our worship of the Lord. That's why I just got done reading a book

about how much church is being compromised in the word of God and the way that we approach God. And they put a quote from Chuck Smith in there, which I thought was just fantastic. The man had an incredible amount of wisdom. God-given wisdom. And he, when asked about Calvary Chapel's approach to the word of God and worship, he said, we stand on the twin towers.

And the twin towers that we stand on are this, the inerrancy of God's word, and the power of the Holy Spirit. He said, if you only have the inerrancy of God's word without the power of the Holy Spirit, it becomes dead legalism. If you only have the power of the Holy Spirit, without, without the inerrancy of God's word, then it becomes a sideshow that will eventually devolve into chaos. He said, you must have both.

You must have the inerrancy of God's word, which always puts the correct parameters on what we would call the working of the Holy Spirit, not because the Holy Spirit needs those parameters, but because we need those parameters. But if we don't have that power of the Holy Spirit at work in our church, then why on earth are we studying the Bible? If the power of the Holy Spirit isn't transforming our lives, if it's not creating in us a heart of worship, if it's not creating in us a heart of purity, if it's not creating in us a heart of service, then what on earth are we doing in studying the word of God? We may as well find something much more interesting to go do.

But we need those two things working together in our lives. And that's kind of what he points out here. He says, you either do it my way or you don't do it at all. And I think in the church in general today, we could stand to hear, we either do it God's way or we just, just shouldn't do it at all. Because isn't that kind of what he told a lot of the churches in the book of Revelation?

Is he said, you're doing really good, except I have these things against you. You've kind of gone your own way. And listen, while it's a wonderful song, you can go your own way. It's not good for scripture. And it's not good for our worship of the Lord. And so he goes on from there to talk about this purity and sacrifice as we jump down to verse, 10, and it says,

and any man from the house of Israel or from aliens who sojourn among them who eats any blood, I will set my face against that person who eats blood and will cut him off from among his people. For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. Therefore, I said to the son, the sons of Israel, no person among you may eat blood, nor may any alien who sojourns among you eat blood.

So when any man from the sons of Israel or from the aliens who sojourn among them in hunting catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out its blood and cover it with earth. Well, we'll deal with that last part here in just a minute. Now, this is one of, if I remember correctly, seven times in the law that God is specific about saying you shall not eat blood. Now, it's kind of interesting, is it not, that he has to continue to point this out?

Do you know why he has to continue to point this out? Because the pagan customs at that time, that was one of the big things that you would do is you would eat blood or you would drink the blood. As a matter of fact, there were barbaric tribes that once they had defeated their enemies, they would drink blood from the skulls of their enemies. Perhaps you've read little things like that in your history books.

And do you know what you always find is that those people dealt with a lot of blood. A lot of diseases. You know why? Because blood carries disease in it. Like, this is not just for spiritual reasons, although we'll deal with the two main spiritual reasons in just a minute, but it was also for the good health of those that were dwelling because you know as well as I do

from modern science just all of the garbage that blood carries with it. All of the things, while it's important for life, it also carries a lot of the diseases. So, again, he tells them, this is not what's to be done. I realize that all of the nations around you are doing things like this. This is not to be who you are. This is not to be what you're like. And then he tells us why.

There's two reasons. Notice what it says in verse 11. For the life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls. For it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement. He tells them there's two reasons why you shouldn't eat blood. The first reason is because the life of the body is in the blood.

Now, what he said there is that there should be a sanctity of life because that's exactly what our blood contains. While it contains all of the diseases and all those kinds of things, it also is the one part of our body that if it stops flowing to any other part of your body, that part of your body dies. Why? Because the life of the body is in the blood. And do you know what?

God always made sure that the people, the people of Israel understood that the sanctity of life is key. That life has intrinsic value. Everyone's life has intrinsic value because it has been created in the image of God. Again, we have just come out of the sanctity of life month, and I feel terrible that I didn't bring that up, although I feel like us as a church hold life in a very high regard, even the lives of the unborn.

But it's kind of interesting what's happened to life here lately, is it not? That life has somewhat become disposable over the last 30, 40 years, maybe 50, 60 years of however long we've had abortion on demand. Sometimes it shocks me just how long that's actually been. And we've lost the sanctity of life. And as we've lost the sanctity of life, not only through the evil of abortion,

but also through the evil, and I'm calling it evil, of the teaching of evolution within our schools, we have completely robbed kids of the intrinsic value of their life. Because if we tell them, first of all, you only happened, you were not formed by a creator, and then we tell you that life is disposable, and then we let them play video games in which life is constantly disposable in the video games, and I know I'll get a tax on that. I've worked around. I've been teenagers for way too long for that not to happen.

I'm used to fielding those things. And then you play a video game, or you watch a movie in which there is murder after murder after murder, and death after death after death. All of a sudden, they start going, does life even really have value? And it's a lot easier for them to either A, take the life of another, or B, take their own. Because we have not taught kids

that their life has intrinsic value. And that there's sanctity in life. God wanted to instill within the nation of Israel and all who would read the scriptures just how valuable life is. He says, so don't drink the blood. Don't eat the blood because that's what carries the life. But of course, the second reason, which is every bit as important, is because it would be the blood that would make atonement.

It would be the blood of those animals that would make atonement for sin. It would be the covering for sin. Therefore, why would I want to eat something that is the covering for my sin? Because not only did God want them to understand how important blood was of animals because it's what covered sin, but then they would hopefully understand how important the blood of Jesus was.

It would not just cover their sin, but take their sin away. He said, those are the two reasons why you should not do this. Because the blood has great value. As a matter of fact, one of the commentators that I read said that right there is the key verse for all of the book of Leviticus. And everybody should memorize verse 11. Of chapter 17, because it is so key

in your understanding of all of the book of Leviticus. And I thought, never really thought about that, but that's not a bad point. And so he tells them, you need to understand, if this is what you do, then you'll be cut off. Now, he deals with one other thing in verse 13, verses 13 through 16. He says, so when any of the sons of Israel or from the aliens who sojourn among them in hunting

catches a beast or a bird which may be eaten, he shall pour out his blood and cover it with earth. For as for the life of all flesh, its blood is identified with its life. Therefore, I said to the sons of Israel, you are not to eat the blood of any flesh. For the life of all flesh is in the blood. Whoever eats it shall be cut off. When any person eats an animal which dies

or is torn by beasts, whether he is a native or an alien, he shall wash his clothes and bathe in water, remain unclean until evening, and then he will become clean. But if he does not wash them or bathe his body, then he shall bear his guilt. And so he deals even with the aspect of animals that are killed in the field and the hunting situation. Again, the blood needs to be completely drained, covered with earth because from the earth it came and from the earth to the earth it returns.

And so he deals in chapter 17 with this aspect of purity and sacrifice. It must be done God's way and we must follow God's rules for it. Now, as we move into chapter 18, we deal with purity in the body. Now, if you have a study Bible, it's probably labeled something like laws of morality or laws on immoral religion. Or immorality forbidden. Something along those lines.

And so what we get to deal with today in chapter 18 is all of the ugly things that were taking place in the world at that time. And they're all of the ugly things that still take place in the world today. And so he starts off like this. He gives, first of all, this principle for purity. It says, The Lord spoke to Moses, chapter 18, verse 1, saying, Say to the sons of Israel and say to them,

I am the Lord your God. You shall not do what is done in the land of Egypt where you lived, nor are you to do what is done in the land of Canaan where I am bringing you. You shall not walk in their statutes. You are to perform my judgments and keep my statutes to live in accord with them. I am the Lord your God. So you shall keep my statutes and my judgments

by which a man is to live. A man may live if he does them. I am the Lord. Did you notice a theme that was repeated over and over in there? I am the Lord. And that's the first thing I want to point out because essentially as God lays out the principles for purity, he tells them three things. Number one, he tells them, I am the Lord your God. That represents for us, first of all,

the standard for purity, but it also represents for us the standard bearer for the law. That God has absolutely the right to make the law and we'll address this at the very end of our study. But God absolutely has the right to make those laws. Because he is the Lord our God. And he is not just the standard giver, but he is the standard bearer because he is absolutely and completely holy.

And all of the things that go on in the world today that he's about to address are completely and totally unholy. And as we think about the fact that he is the Lord our God, the God who created us, we have the distinct understanding that when the God who created us begins to give us rules, begins to give us regulations, and begins to give us rules, begins to give us, if you will, as far as the world is concerned, restrictions, it's not because he wants to ruin our fun. It's not because he wants us to live a life that has no freedom. It's because he wants us to live a life that is full of freedom.

He wants us to live a life that is free from guilt and shame and that is free from the bondage that sexual sin brings into our lives. And that's exactly what the Lord's going to address when he says, with the nation of Israel. So he first of all tells them, I am the Lord your God. I am the standard and I'm going to set the standard for you. The second thing he tells them

is what not to do. He said, all of the things that you saw taking place in the land of Egypt, don't do those. All of the things that are taking place currently in the land of Canaan, don't do those. Let me sum that up for you. Don't be like the world around you. It's amazing to me and I'm just as guilty as anyone else. Just how much the morality of the world

has crept into our lives as the church. The morality of the world has crept into our lives as Christians. And the morality of the world absolutely changes the way that we think about things. Chuck Smith, and the study that I read from Chuck Smith was I think from 78 to 82 is when he was putting this study out when the 5,000 series came out. And he was talking about,

how horrific some of the movies at that time were. And I thought, oh man. He'd really have a hard time with TV today. I was having a conversation with somebody the other day. And I said, I remember when the church boycotted NYPD Blue. Do you guys remember those days? Anybody? When that came out and we were just like, that is filth. Now it's on like TV land or something like that, right?

Like because that's the innocent show that's on TV now. Because all of the stuff that is currently on TV, you're like, I don't have enough hands to cover everybody's eyes for the things that take place. I don't know how many shows I've started because I like a good like mystery sort of a show where I have to try to figure out who did it and things like that. But the problem with all of those shows is twofold.

Number one, they go way too far with all of the violence. But number two, the immorality becomes too great that you just can't watch it anymore. It's just, it's too much. And you just have to go, well, there goes another one that I really can't watch. I can't watch anymore. There's a show out right now and I've not watched it. And from the reviews I'm reading

from some other people, I probably won't. It's called Yellowstone. And so that was the one that everybody's kind of promoting right now. And again, I don't plan on watching this show. And from what I've read, praise Jesus, I'm not gonna watch this show. But I don't know how many people I know that are Christians that are like, oh, I can't wait for the next season of Yellowstone.

And then I started reading some reviews from people I know and I'm like, why are they waiting for the next season of Yellowstone? Let's just pretend that show's not on because no one should watch that. And yet, those things have crept into the church today and we call it okay because it's just entertainment, right? Well, he says, don't be like the world that's around you.

And then the third thing he tells them, he says, instead what you should do is obey my statutes. In other words, if you will just do what I tell you to do, there is gonna be great freedom in your life. As a matter of fact, the Lord goes so far as to say, verse five, you shall keep my statutes and my judgments by which, pay attention to this, a man may live if he does them, I am the Lord. Isn't it kind of crazy that that's exactly what God talks about when he says morality?

He says, listen, if you wanna really live your life, if you wanna live your life to the fullest, if you wanna live your life the best that you possibly can, do what I tell you to do and you will live real life. Not the fake stuff that you watch on TV. Not the garbage that you're so ashamed of from before you got saved. Such were some of you, but you have been redeemed.

And so, he tells us those three things as principles. Number one, I'm the Lord, I get to make the rules. Number two, don't do what the world is doing. Number three, do what I tell you to do. And so he goes on from there to begin to restrict the things from what they've seen around them. Bear with me because it gets a little bit ugly, but probably no uglier than,

flipping through the channels on TV. It says, None of you shall approach any blood relative of his to uncover nakedness. I am the Lord. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father, that is, the nakedness of your mother. She is your mother. You're not to uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's wife. It is your father's nakedness.

The nakedness of your sister, either your father's daughter or your mother's daughter, whether born at home or born outside, their nakedness you shall not uncover. The nakedness of your sons, daughter or your daughter's daughter, their nakedness you shall not uncover for their nakedness is yours. The nakedness of your father's wife or your father's wife's daughter born to your father, she's your sister. You shall not uncover her nakedness. You shall not uncover

the nakedness of your father's sister. She's your father's blood relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your mother's sister for she is your mother's blood relative. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father's brother, you shall not approach his wife. She is your aunt. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your daughter-in-law. She's your son's wife. You shall not uncover her

nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of your brother's wife. It is your brother's wife, your brother's nakedness. You shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter, nor shall you take her son's daughter or her daughter's daughter to uncover her nakedness. they are blood relatives. It is lewdness. You shall not marry a woman in addition to her sister,

wisdom to live by, as a rival while she is alive to uncover her nakedness. Now that last verse, I bet you if Jacob was looking back on that, he was like, that is a true story right there. Anyway, so I'm teaching that part in Genesis right now to my Bible class, and we're trying to make it as much like a soap opera as we possibly can. Speaking of soap opera, essentially what God said in all of these verses is he forbid incestuous relationships. It sounds

awful to say out loud, doesn't it? And yet, when you read through some of that, those are storylines, right? I mean, believe it or not, that storyline's on some shows right now. Like, I hear about some of this garbage that's on, and you're going, whoa, that's, people do that kind of thing. As a matter of fact, it's what's ruined the lives of a lot of young people in our culture today,

is the fact that this, this is an issue. Now, me, I like to summarize, and so if it were me writing the Bible, I would have just said incestuous relationships are wrong. But you see, God knows the human heart, and he knew he had to address them in detail. Do you know why God knew he had to address them in detail? Because we as humans are always looking for loopholes. And we're like, oh,

but he didn't mean that. And God's like, nope, sure did. Said it right there. I meant that one, too. That's, that's part of it. And so he deals with that aspect of things. Now, the next thing that he deals with are what I labeled as other forbidden relationships.

Verse 19, and you shall not approach a woman to uncover her nakedness during her menstrual impurity. And in case you wondered, you shall not have intercourse with your neighbor's wife to be defiled with her. Just in case you found yourself justified, because you're like, well, I don't do all those other things. God's like, and your neighbor's wife, never mind. Right? Like, I mean, none of us can be justified in this, because the problem,

is he deals with every illicit sexual relationship that's out there. I think sometimes in the, in the church culture, we can say, well, they did something wrong, but at least it was heterosexual. At least it wasn't homosexuality. I've heard people say that before. It's like, yeah, but it's still sin. This is why you can't look down on anybody for what their sin is. And say, well, mine's not as bad as theirs. And God's like, yeah, it is.

Well, he goes on from there. Oh, it just gets more complicated. He goes on from there to say, you shall not give any of your offspring to offer them to Molech, nor shall you profane the name of your God. I am the Lord. Now, this next one that he deals with, we may not get to 19 tonight. We'll just see. This next one that he deals with, with this offering of a child to Molech, I believe

takes on about two, takes on two different aspects of things. And I didn't realize this until I studied, this go around. Most of us that have studied the Bible for very long know that when it talks about offering a child to Molech, it's speaking of a God that humans were sacrificed to. From what I understand, there would either be a God whose hands were set out like this, or there would be a hollow portion of his belly that would get heated up. And what they would do

is they would take infant children, and they would sacrifice them to this God by placing them either in the hot hands of Molech, whose hands were outstretched, or in the carved out belly that was filled with fire. We would call it infanticide. And it's horrific to think about. It's almost hard to even talk about from this stage where we should only talk about holy things, and yet God told them this should not happen. And isn't it interesting that we have somewhat sterilized it in our culture,

and we've called it choice. We've called it reproductive rights. Because that's what we now call the sacrificing of a child to Molech. As a matter of fact, we've gone so far as the governor of Virginia at one point in time saying that after a child was born, if it survived the abortion, they would make the child comfortable until it finally died. I can't imagine with what God did to the nation of Israel because of their kings offering children

to the God of Molech that he won't have a child. I can't imagine that he won't have a child until they have to judge us for the same thing. But you see, I learned something else about this idol of Molech. They said there is some historical evidence to point to the fact that it wasn't always infanticide of putting an infant in to be burned. Sometimes it was simply the

turning over of a child to be a cult prostitute. We would call it the child sex trade. Do you know what's going to happen this weekend in California? When the Super Bowl is over, we're going to have a child who's going to be a cult prostitute. We're going to have a child who's going to be a cult prostitute. We're going to have a child who's going to be a cult prostitute.

When the Super Bowl comes to California, we know that there will be more children trafficked on this weekend than in any other weekend of the entire year. It's the sickening untold truth of what happens when a lot of men gather in one place. Friends, it sounds ugly when it's written on the pages of Scripture, but unfortunately, it's written in the pages of our culture. God is not pleased with it. So as we see,

our nation with supply chain issues, with economic issues, and with what I would call the leadership that we deserve, we need to understand why it's happening. We need to understand that anything good right now that happens in this nation is because of God's grace, not because of how great we are. He goes on from there to say, you shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination.

It is an abomination. This next one is going to get me in a lot of trouble. But God is very specific about the fact that homosexuality is a sin. Now, there's two different prevailing arguments right now. The first one is that we're born that way. Someone's born a homosexual, and there's nothing that they can do to change that. Now, I'm going to say something mildly controversial here, but follow me out on my entire argument.

Everyone is born. Sin manifests itself in the life of people in different ways. With some people, it manifests itself in the area of dishonesty. With some people, sin manifests itself in the area of heterosexual sin. With some people, sin manifests itself in the area of anger or murder. And with some people, the sin nature manifests itself in the area of homosexuality. But it's all sin.

And in the same way that I fall in endure all these Even after I die, there's no pulling over from sin. that are even are different ways to heal a person or to save a person. And so what does it do that to heal a person who can't find their son? Forissance can do no good to him. And so way that I can't say well he's born a murderer so there's nothing we can do about it I say there's

something that can be done about those who have been born with the sin nature that manifests itself in the way of homosexuality because I believe wholeheartedly that there is freedom in Christ there's freedom from all of those things in Christ but there can be no freedom until we first admit that there's a problem there can be no freedom from these things until we first admit that it is a sin and we as the church I feel like have done a real disservice to the homosexual community because we have ostracized them and treated them as outcasts when instead what should be done is we should treat them as sinners in need of a savior because that's exactly what the issue is because they too have been created in the image of God their life has intrinsic value

and Jesus loves them more than we can ever imagine and he wants to see them set free from their sin the other argument that people give is that well this is an old testament statement and it's not really something that you see in the new testament coupled with that as they say Jesus never addressed homosexuality in the gospels and so I would like to address those two arguments really quickly first of all homosexuality is addressed in the new testament it's addressed at least twice but it's not addressed in the new testament it's addressed in the new testament once in the book of Romans once in the book of first Corinthians in the book of Romans it's treated like all of the other sins that we need to make sure that we put them all on the same scale

and not weigh it differently than everything else but in the book of first Corinthians he says this that's who you were such were some of you but you have been redeemed but you have been washed now coupled with that I said is the argument that well Jesus never actually addressed homosexuality in his teaching and it's true Jesus never actually addressed homosexuality Jesus never actually physically said homosexuality is wrong. However, Jesus also never said pedophilia is wrong. I feel pretty good about the fact that he was opposed to it. But Jesus actually did deal with homosexuality, only he dealt with it in a very broad brush way.

Because if you remember, when Jesus was questioned about divorce, the very first thing he said is, you remember what was said in the beginning, that God created them male and female. And for this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. There's no question about how Jesus felt about this particular sin, because he needed to say nothing else than to define exactly what marriage is between one biological male and one biological female. He did that as he defined it.

So, I'll wait for the comments. I'll wait for the comments to come rolling in. Now, he goes on from there in verse 23 to say, Also, you shall not have intercourse with any animal to be defiled with it, nor shall any woman stand before an animal to mate with it. It is a perversion. Now, this is one that you would have to think, duh, right? Like, this one just makes sense.

But you know what's an interesting thing to do? Now, be careful, Google will get you in trouble. But I thought, you know, I feel like I read a story not too long ago about a guy that marries a dog. So, I did a Google search. Nothing inappropriate came up, I promise. I did a Google search, man marries dog. Do you know how many articles came up from different countries

about men that have married their pets? We can say, oh my gosh, that's a no-brainer. Of course we know that bestiality is wrong. And yet, the perversion continues. The perversion continues because, listen, our flesh is never satisfied. Our flesh... Our flesh is never satisfied with sin. We always need it to go one step further. We always need it to go one place further.

Because that's what our flesh does. So, he addresses it here. He says, that's a sin. Now, he goes on from there in verse 24 to say, Don't defile yourself by any of these things, for by all these the nations which I am casting out before you have become defiled. For the land has become defiled, therefore I have brought its punishment upon it. So, the land has spewed out its inhabitants.

He says, but as for you, you are to keep my statutes and my judgments and shall not do any of these abominations. Neither the native... Oh, I just lost my place. Neither the native nor the alien who sojourns among you. For the men of the land who have been before you have done all these abominations and the land has become defiled so that the land will not spew you out

should you defile it. As it has spewed out the nation which has been before you. For whoever does any of these abominations, these persons who do so shall be cut off from among their people. Thus, you are to keep my charge that you do not practice any of the abominable customs which have been practiced before you so as not to defile yourselves with them for I am the Lord your God.

Now, as he finishes up the things that are forbidden, he tells them, don't defile yourself with all the things of the land. I love that he puts that last little qualifying statement on it. He says, don't defile yourself with all of these things of the land. Don't allow that to be who you are. Why? Why does he say don't defile yourself with all these things of the land?

He says, because the land is about to spew out the nations that are there before you. You know what the word spew means? You probably do. Literally means to vomit out. He said, the land is about to vomit you out. The land is about to vomit you out. The land is about to purge itself of the sin that's taking place there now. So I don't want you to be like them

because in the same way that it's going to vomit out all of the people that are in there now, meaning the Canaanites, it will do the same thing to you. And do you know what was absolutely true about the nation of Israel? For a while, they did okay. But you see, they found themselves in the exact same pattern of sin that the people of the land were in. To the point where eventually

God had to remove them from the land or perhaps the land had to spew them out because they had become just like the nations that they were driving out before them. Two points, and it's late enough, I'll close with these two points that I'd like for you to pay attention to. The first point comes to us out of the book of Galatians chapter six.

Galatians chapter six, and I want you to look at verses seven and eight.

Galatians six, seven and eight, it says this. Do not be deceived, God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will of the flesh reap corruption. But the one who sows to the spirit will from the spirit reap eternal life. He says, don't be deceived because whatever you sow, that you'll also reap. In other words, what you put in,

that's what you're going to get out. Garbage in, this is what we, what I was told in junior high, what I've always told my kids, not only my youth group kids, but now my kids as well. If you put garbage in, you're going to get garbage out. Again, it's the Olympics is going on right now, and I've not watched much of the Olympics, but I always love all those stories about the sacrifice that the people have to make.

And it's absolutely true that the sacrifices that they have to make are so key. Because if those Olympic athletes do not fuel their bodies, properly, then they will not be able to perform at the level with which they need to perform. Unless your sport is curling. I feel like that one doesn't matter. But all of the rest of the sports, you've got to fuel your body correctly.

Right? Sunday afternoon, I was watching that cross country skiing. Oh my gosh. Have you ever watched, I mean, those guys just die when they're, they don't really die, I don't think, when they're done, but they just come in and they just collapse. But they're, they're all these slender built guys. And I bet if you asked every single one of them what their diet was like,

McDonald's is not involved. Right? Because they've got to fuel their bodies properly. Why? Because what you sow, that you will also reap. It's true of our lives physically, and it's even more true of our lives spiritually. If all I'm putting into my life is all of the garbage of the world, then do you know what's going to come out? Of me? All of the garbage of the world.

I had to share this story with my girls the other day because they go to a school where people say words Jesus doesn't like sometimes. So I had to share them, with them my own experience of when I work construction. I said, I did really good the entire time I worked construction of keeping my mouth clean. And it was really hard because you're around people that talk really bad all the time.

They actually come up, invent new ways to say bad things. Things I never even imagined. But the summer, one summer I worked seven days a week for 35 days straight. 10 hour days. And it was around nothing but guys who just spewed vileness out of their mouths all the time. And I loved them. They were friends of mine, but they didn't love Jesus. And their words showed that they didn't love Jesus.

And I struggled more that summer with having to bite my tongue and not allow things to come out that Jesus didn't want me to say than ever. And I failed once that summer. And I let something out that I shouldn't have. And I mean, I could have knocked the guy I was working with over with a feather. He was so shocked to hear it come out of my mouth. And I had to say,

I'm really sorry. But you know why? It's because garbage was constantly going in. I learned a lesson that summer. If there's going to be a lot of garbage going in, then I'd better wash my mind as often as I possibly can. And I had to learn that summer that every time that I worked by myself, I needed to be listening to Christian music. I didn't care how cheesy it was or if I liked it.

I needed to be listening to Bible teaching. I needed to be hearing the word of God constantly because otherwise, I knew what was going to end up coming out of my mouth. Because what a man sows, that he will also reap. And so God told him, if you start sowing to the flesh in these areas, if you start acting like the people of Egypt or the people of Israel, or the people of Israel, or the people of Canaan, you will reap what you've sown and it will be that the land will spew you out.

Back to Leviticus. One last point that I'd like to make.

I didn't start off this point. I got this from somebody else, but I carried it to this extent. Isn't it kind of interesting how often God talks about the land speaking? Remember when Cain killed Abel and he said, the blood of your brother, what did he say, remember? It cries out from the ground. And then when you come to this part right here, it says the land will spew you out.

God doesn't say he's going to be the one that does it, although ultimately that is the case. He says the land will spew you out. Then when you move into the New Testament, you know what's kind of interesting? Remember when Jesus came riding into Jerusalem on the foal of a donkey, or on the colt of a donkey, and they said, they're all saying, Hosanna, blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.

And all of the religious leaders were like, tell them to stop saying that. And he says, listen, I could tell them to stop talking, but if they do, then these very rocks are going to cry out. Now, if you move into the book of Romans, remember what it says in Romans chapter 8? It says that all of creation groans, longing to be set free. It was just kind of an interesting thought to me

that that's what the land is constantly doing. Why is the land doing these things? Why is it singing praises to Jesus and groaning over sin? Because even creation wants to be able to worship God. But all of creation is groaning right now. All of creation is saying, I'm so tired of this right now. Why? Because it wants to be set free from the sin that is holding it back.

I started thinking today, I know, bear with me. I started thinking today, and I thought, you know, there's the perfect picture of this in a movie that I watched one time. It's called The Chronicles of Narnia. Perhaps you've seen it. Remember that scene in Narnia, which, by the way, can we all appreciate the fact that C.S. Lewis, when he talks about the sin of sin,

when he talked about the curse of sin on the land, it was winter? I'm just saying, right? There's no better picture of the curse of sin than winter. Right? And I say that tongue-in-cheek, but I also kind of mean it. As a groundskeeper, I always knew that spring was the most perfect picture of God's grace that we've ever had. It is the most beautiful picture

of what God wants to do. And I believe that every spring, nature goes, one more year, and it's not going to be long. Maybe this year is going to be the year that we're set free from our groaning. But if you remember correctly, Aslan is on the move, which is a great line in the movie, too. Aslan's on the move, right? Just kind of sent... Anyway, so you get really excited because Aslan,

oh, no, he's killed, but then he comes back to life. And when Aslan comes back to life, remember what happens? All of winter melts down, and everything is this beautiful shade of green. Why? Because creation had been groaning, longing to be set free, set us free from the curse of sin. What did the life of Jesus do? It set us free from the curse of sin. And that's what creation is groaning for right now.

Why does God tell them they need to quit? Because listen, if the land's going to spew out those guys, it's going to spew you out, too, because creation is groaning for me just as much as anyone else. And I don't know about you, but I find my heart groaning quite a bit here lately. There's hope because there's Jesus. He tells us to walk in purity, even though purity's not what we see around us,

but we're reminded that he is the Lord our God. He sets the standard. He's the standard bearer. And everything that he tells us is because he loves us so much and wants what's best for our lives. Well, we didn't make it to chapter 19. We'll have to cover that one next week because there's a lot of great stuff in chapter 19 that I don't want to shortchange it.

So we'll end there for tonight, and we'll talk next week about love. Would you bow with me in prayer? Father, we come before you, and I just thank you for the time that we've had in your word this evening. I thank you for not only the areas of sin that you point out that we need to flee from with all of our hearts, but Lord, that you give us hope knowing that you are our God and you're always looking out for what's best for us.

And Lord, we thank you and we praise you for who you are. Be with us as we go out from here. In Jesus' name, amen. One more thing before you guys head out. Aaron is going to be at the back signing more people up to get your picture taken for the directory. So if you've not had a chance to do that yet, go see Aaron after the service, okay? Lord bless. Have a great week.