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Leviticus 16-20
Shall we turn now to Leviticus chapter 16, and the sixteenth chapter of
the book of Leviticus deals with the most holy day in the year, in the
Jewish calendar; and this is Yom Kippur. The day of atonement.
Now, the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron,
when they offered the strange fire before the Lord and died.
And the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother not to come at
simply any time into the holy place, inside the veil, before the mercy
seat which is on the ark: lest he die. For I will appear in the cloud
above the mercy seat (16:2).
The mercy seat, inside of the veil was where man was to meet God. You
weren’t to go in there at any time. There was only one day in
the year that the high priest could go behind the veil into the mercy
seat. On this particular day, he went in twice. The warning of God is,
“Just don’t come in at any time, lest you
die.” You only come on the prescribed day, in the prescribed
way. When the day did come that the priest was to go into the mercy
seat to offer the sacrifice, first of all, for his own sins and then to
come in again to offer the sacrifice for the sins of the nation. As he
would go into the holy of holies, he would be wearing, or he would
have, tied around his ankle, a rope, in case the priest would die
before the Lord. They would not go in to get him, they would just drag
him out, under the mercy seat. But, God is warning now, in light of the
fact that two of Aaron’s sons died in that they were seeking
to offer the strange fire to the Lord, that He did not command.
Our service for the Lord isn’t something at our own whim or
caprice, “Oh I think I’ll do this for
God.” Really, our service for God needs to be directed
service. If God leads you, then you should. But if God
doesn’t lead you, then you’re intruding in areas
where God hasn’t called you and you’re apt to be
just spinning your wheels, at best. It’s important that we be
led in our service for the Lord. Paul declared, as he wrote to the
Ephesian church, “Paul an apostle, by the will of
God.” Good! But you just are not an apostle because,
“I want to be an apostle.” You’re not
just an evangelist because, “I want to be an
evangelist.” You are what you are by the will of God, and if
you are what you are by the will of God, then you will be successful
and prosperous in it. If you are what you are by your own will, then
you’re going to be finding yourself in complete frustration,
because you just cannot do the service of God, unless called of God to
do so, and anointed by God to do so. So, it has to be in the right way.
Your approach to God has to be in the right way.
And thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of the
young bull as a sin offering of the ram, as a burnt offering (16:3).
On this particular day he was not to wear the royal priestly garments
of the high priest, but he was to put on linen tunic, linen trousers,
with a linen sash, and a linen turban. These are the holy garments, and
thus he is to, first of all, take a bath, wash himself in water and
then put on these linen garments. Then he was to take from the
congregation of the children of Israel, two kids of the goats as a sin
offering, and one ram as a burnt offering.
And Aaron shall offer the bull as a sin offering which is for himself,
and make an atonement for himself, and for his house. And then take the
two goats and present them before the Lord at the door of the
tabernacle of meeting. Then he cast lots upon the goats. The one lot is
for the Lord, and the other lot is for the scapegoat. And he is to
bring the goat upon which the Lord’s lot fell, and offer it
as a sin offering, but the lot on which the scapegoat fell shall be
presented alive before the Lord to make an atonement upon it: and to
let it go as a scapegoat into the wilderness (16:6-10).
Now that basically is the overall deal. Now he comes back to specifics.
So he, first of all, just lays it out in an overall way. There is to be
a bull for himself and his family’s sin, offered with a ram,
for a burnt offering for himself and his family. Then there were to be
the two goats for the sins of the nation. Lots were to be cast. One
goat was to be sacrificed to the Lord, slain and sacrificed. The other
goat was to be released in the wilderness. There was also to be the ram
for the burnt offering. Now he tells him how he is to go about doing
this.
Aaron shall bring the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself,
and make atonement for himself and for his house, and he shall kill the
bull as the sin offering which is for himself: And shall take a censer
full of burning coals of fire from the altar, and with his hands full
of sweet incense that’s been beaten fine, he is to bring it
inside of the veil: And he shall put the incense on the fire before the
Lord, that the cloud of incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the
testimony, lest he die (16:12-13).
Now he is going to enter into the very presence of God. The cloud of
God’s presence is to rest within the holy of holies. The holy
of holies is to be lit by an incandescent glow of God’s
presence. The other outer place, the holy place, the outer tent, was
lighted by the seven candles of that lampstand. Inside the veil, inside
of that room, lit by the presence of God. Coming into the very presence
of God Himself, for the people. He is to approach this with this
incense, this little burner of live coals, and put the incense on so
that he comes in, there’s a cloud of incense that fills the
room, covers the mercy seat.
And then he shall take some blood of the bull and sprinkle it with his
finger upon the mercy seat, and on the east side: and before the mercy
seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood, with his finger, seven times.
And then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, [then he goes out,
and now he kills the goat of the sin offering], which is for the
people: And he brings it’s blood inside of the veil to do
with that blood as he did with the blood of the bull and sprinkle it on
the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat. And so shall he make
atonement for the holy place because of the uncleanness of the children
of Israel, and because of their transgressions, for all of their sins,
so shall he do for the tabernacle of meeting, which remains among them
in the midst of their uncleanness. And there shall be no man in the
tabernacle of meeting, when he goes in to make the atonement in the
holy place [he is to do this alone] (16:15-17).
On all the other days of the year, the other priests are the ones that
did the sacrifices. They were the ones who butchered the animals, cut
them up, and laid the pieces upon the altar. But on this day of
atonement, Aaron was to act alone for the people. He had to do the
whole thing himself, no one could come into the place of the tent of
meeting while Aaron was involved in this particular ministry.
And he shall go out to the altar that is before the Lord, and make
atonement for it; and take [this is the outside altar the place where
they burn the sacrifices], and he shall take some of the blood of the
bull and blood of the goat and put it upon the horns of the altar and
all around. And he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger
seven times, to cleanse it. And when he has made an end of atoning for
the holy place, the tabernacle of meeting, and the altar, he shall
bring then the live goat. And Aaron shall lay both his hands on the
head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the
children of Israel, and all their transgressions concerning all their
sins, putting them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away by
the hand of a suitable man (16:18-21).
So, the first goat is killed and the blood is sprinkled seven times
before the mercy seat and seven times on the altar outside. But then
the live goat is brought, and he puts his hands on the head of this
live goat, and confesses all the sins of the nation, laying them on
this goat. Then the goat is led by a suitable man, one of the priests,
out into the wilderness. When he gets out into the wilderness, the goat
is released. It’s called the scapegoat. It is released into
the wilderness that it might flee over the mountains.
This is a symbol of the two-fold work of Jesus Christ, as far as our
sins are concerned. Christ died for us, that He might forgive us our
sins. But He has also separated our sins from us, never to be
remembered against us again. Now that is to me, a tremendous thing to
me, that God doesn’t bring up my past. God doesn’t
remember my sins against me again. Jesus has put away my sins, He has
separated me from my past. And so, the scapegoat, escaping into the
wilderness, being lost in the wilderness. Gone, is a symbol of how my
sins are gone.
Years ago in the days of youth for Christ, we used to sing a chorus,
“Gone, gone, gone, gone. All my sins are gone! Now my soul is
free and in my heart’s the song, buried in the deepest sea,
yes that’s good enough for me.” Oh how thankful I
am that Jesus has put away my sins. We often times talk about
forgiveness, but when we do, we really don’t understand
forgiveness from a scriptural standpoint. Because when we talk about
forgiveness, we don’t talk about a complete or total
forgiveness, which we have from God. You may do some stupid thing and I
would say, “Why would you do that?” And you would
say, “Oh, I’m sorry, forgive me.”
“Okay, I forgive you.” And tomorrow you come by and
you do the same stupid thing. I say, “What’s the
matter with you? Didn’t you learn yesterday that you
shouldn’t do that?” “Oh, I’m so
sorry, forgive me.” “Well okay.” You come
along the next day and you do the same thing again! And I say,
“Alright, what’s the matter with you?
You’re really weird you know. You do the same thing over
again, when you know you ought not to!” You say,
“Oh, forgive me!” “Wait a minute, come
on. I forgave you yesterday, and the day before, and I’ve had
it!” Well, I really didn’t forgive you yesterday
and the day before, in a true sense of forgiveness, because if I had
truly forgiven, I wouldn’t be bringing that up! So, watch out
when you say, “Okay, I forgive you.” Because
you’re never to bring that up again. Or you didn’t
truly forgive. Now, we are told to forgive, even as our Father in
heaven forgives us. Wait a minute! If I truly forgive, I’ll
not bring it up again. I’ll not bring up your past. Some
future time, when maybe you’ve done some other thing I
won’t say, “Oh you just have a pattern,
you’re doing this and this. Don’t you remember how
you did that five years, ten years ago?” Always throwing up
the past. That isn’t true forgiveness. That is one thing God
will never do to you. Your sins that He has put away, He has put away
completely. Your sins that He has forgiven, He has forgiven completely.
I mean, He has erased the book clean! Never to be remembered against us
again. How glorious is that forgiveness of God.
When this goat was released in the wilderness, they would send a signal
back, the priest would stand on high places, all the way out. Several
priests would leave with the goat, and at each mountain peak the priest
would wait. And they would go out, out, out until the priest would be
out in the wilderness by himself with the goat, he’d turn the
thing loose, untie it, turn it loose, chase it off, and when it went
over the hill, he would turn and wave to the priest on the hill behind
him. It’s gone. He would in turn, wave to the priest on the
next hill, who would wave to the priest on the next hill, who would
wave to the priest on the next hill, who would wave to the priest on
the top of the Mount of Olives, who would signal to the high priest,
standing at the door of the tented meeting. It’s gone. He
then would go out and announce to the people,
“You’re sins are gone!” They’re
gone! And the people naturally would rejoice. You know, “Our
sins are gone! The goat is disappeared and the sins are
gone!” Great cause for celebration.
Then he was to take off his linen outfit that he’d been
wearing, and he was to wash himself again. Take another bath. Then he
is to put on the high priestly garments. Those beautiful priestly
garments that are described in Exodus. The one who released the
scapegoat in the wilderness is to come back and bathe his body in
water, wash his clothes. The bull that was taken for the sin offering,
and the goat were to be taken out of the camp and burned completely.
The person who did that was also to wash their clothes and bathe in
water, before they came back into camp.
Now this is the statute forever, it’s to take place in the
seventh month, in the religious calendar of the Jews. The religious
calendar began in April, and so on the tenth day of the seventh month,
was Yom Kippur, and it usually fell in October, this day of atonement.
Now, the Jews still celebrate Yom Kippur today. It is still one of
their Sabbath days. However, rather than approaching God with the
sacrifice of the animals, through the high priest, Yom Kippur is now a
day of reflection, and it is the day of reckoning. The day when you
reflect upon the past year, and your good deeds and your bad deeds, and
it is the day in which you are hoping that in this past year
you’re good deeds have exceeded your bad deeds, and that is
why the week before Yom Kippur, you’ll find many Jews
scurrying around trying to do benevolent and wonderful things.
They’re trying to get the calendar caught up before the day
arrives, so that when they reflect on Yom Kippur, they can be
comfortable and satisfied. “Well I’ve done more
good than I did evil.” And they are seeking now to approach
God through their works of goodness and with that anticipation of hope
that they overbalance my evil works that I have done.
Chapter 17
In the seventeenth chapter, God deals with the subject of offering
sacrifices, not in the open field, but just at the door of the
tabernacle. Now, up until this time, up until the establishing of the
priesthood in Israel, every family had their own priest. The families
would offer their own sacrifices. Going back into the book of Genesis.
Noah offered a sacrifice before the Lord. Cain and Abel had offered
their sacrifices before the Lord. When they offered their sacrifices,
they would offer them in open fields. When Abraham offered his
sacrifice, they were in open fields. They did not have the sanctuary.
They did not have the place of meeting, and thus sacrifices were
offered almost any place. Now that they had the tabernacle, the
sanctuary, there were to be no more sacrifices offered in open fields.
This was the practice of the heathen nations around them, as they would
sacrifice to their pagan deities, they would sacrifice anywhere in the
open fields or wherever. And God said, “It’s not to
be so. When you offer a sacrifice, you are to bring that sacrifice,
now, into the tent of meeting.” And if you do not bring it to
the tent of meeting, to offer it there, then it isn’t to be
accepted by God.
As they offer their sacrifices, the priest then takes the blood of the
sacrifice and offers it to the Lord. Verse seven:
They shall no more offer their sacrifices to demons, after whom they
have played the harlot (17:7).
So there were sacrifices to the pagan deities, and God said,
“That’s to be over. This is a statute
forever.” Then in verse ten:
And whatever man of the house of Israel or of strangers who sojourn
among you who eats any blood, I will set my face after that person who
eats blood, and will cut him off from among his people (17:10).
Whenever they killed an animal, they were to bleed that animal
thoroughly. That is why an animal wasn’t to be strangled. If
you strangle the animal, then the blood remains in the flesh. They were
to kill the animal actually by the slitting of the jugular vein, and
then let the thing bleed thoroughly. Even to the present day, when they
eat meat, they can only eat meat that has been killed under the
supervision of a priest or a rabbi who makes certain that the animal is
bled properly and bled thoroughly, because they have the prohibition of
eating blood. The sanctity of the blood. For God said, “The
life of the flesh, is in the blood, and I have given it to you to make
an atonement for your souls.” It is the blood that makes
atonement for your souls. So they were to have a high respect for the
blood, because, first of all, the blood was the life of the flesh. It
is the stream of life, the red river of life, it’s been
called, whereby our bodies are sustained; and the shedding of the blood
is equivalent to the dying. It is a symbol of dying, the blood being
shed. But God required it because the penalty of the law against sin,
was death. So that animal that you brought for a sacrifice was your
substitute. It was taking your place. It was dying in your stead. It
was receiving your just dues for your sins.
It was necessary that the blood be shed, in order for there to be an
atonement for sins. “For it is the blood that makes atonement
for the soul.” Now, God, in His word, never abrogated this
law. God never changed or altered this law. God did provide a sacrifice
through Jesus Christ. A permanent sacrifice through Jesus Christ. In
the book of Hebrews as there is the comparison made between the
Levitical sacrifices, and especially on the day of atonement, and the
sacrifice of Jesus Christ. It is pointing out that the sacrifice of
Jesus Christ is superior and better to the sacrifice made by the
Levitical priest, because, it points out that, he had to go in yearly
with a sacrifice, and daily sacrifices were to be made. But Jesus,
having sacrificed Himself, once and for all, has now sat down at the
right hand of the Father, waiting until His enemies become His
footstool. Waiting until all things have been brought into subjection
unto Himself. So, the sufficiency of Christ’s sacrifice, in
that it was one sacrifice and for all. But, we still approach God today
through sacrifice. It’s the sacrifice of Jesus, through the
shed blood of Jesus who gave His life for us, we have our approach to
God. But you have no approach to God, apart from sacrifice.
That is the dilemma that a Jew must face today, who seeks to come to
God on Yom Kippur, weighing his good works against his evil. There is
no atonement. There is nothing in the scriptures that speaks of
atonement through good works. The scripture only speaks of atonement
through the sacrifice, through the shedding of blood, and without the
shedding of blood, there is no remission of sins. Now these Old
Testament sacrifices were all of them looking forward to that sacrifice
that Jesus would make, as the Lamb of God, slain for our sins. But if
you do not have Jesus Christ, and have received His sacrifice for your
sins, then you are still in your sins. There is no atonement. For the
blood makes atonement for the soul.
Therefore I said to the children of Israel, No one among you shall eat
blood. [Why? Because the blood is sacred, it is the atonement for the
soul, it’s the life of the flesh.] No one among you shall eat
blood, nor shall any stranger who sojourns with you eat blood. And
whatever man of the children of Israel that sojourn among you who hunts
and catches any animal or bird, that it may be eaten (17:14).
When you’re hunting the animal, and you’ve shot it,
then you bleed it out there, and then you cover the blood with dirt.
You can’t bring that animal into the priest, you’ve
already shot it, but you bleed it thoroughly and then you cover it with
dirt.
And if any man eats something that died naturally, [you see, it
didn’t have a chance to bleed], or was torn by beast, whether
he is a native of your country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his
clothes, and bathe in water and be unclean until evening, and then he
shall be clean. But if he doesn’t wash, then he shall bear
his guilt (17:15-16).
Chapter 18
Now in chapter eighteen, he deals first of all, with incestual
relationships, and suffice it to say that God has thoroughly forbidden
incestual relationships.
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the men of Israel
speak to them saying, I am the Lord your God. According to the doings
of the land of Egypt, where you dwell, you’re not to do.
According to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you,
you shall not do: nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall
observe my judgements and my ordinances and walk in them. I am the Lord
your God. You shall keep my statutes and my judgements; and if a man
does, he will live by them (18:1-5).
So the law and life through the law, depended on your keeping the law.
“He that doeth them shall live by them.” Now, in
Egypt, it was alright to marry your sister. It was an accepted practice
for years in Egypt. Inter marriages within the family. You could
actually marry your mother, and so it also was in Canaan and they did
not think much of incestual practices, but they are something that God
completely forbid and so, He goes ahead, in case you say,
“Well ours is a special case, she’s you know, my
uncle’s wife.” Well, no. He covers that. He just
goes through and covers each relationship, so that a person,
“Well, He didn’t cover this one, so this
one’s alright.” you know. He was pretty thorough,
He covers them all, any kind of relationship that you might think of,
sister-in -law, brother-in-law, or whatever, He covers, and says that
it’s not to be done. Verse nineteen,
A woman wasn’t to be approached sexually during her menstrual
period. You’re not to lie carnally with your
neighbors’ wife. You’re not to let any of your
descendants pass through the fire to Molech. Nor shall you profane the
name of your God: I am the Lord (18:19-21).
It was very common in those days to offer infant sacrifices to the god
Molech. They would heat this little iron god, to the point of the iron
glowing a red hot glow, and then they would put their babies in the
outstretched arms of this little iron god, and sacrifice their babies.
Cause them to pass through the fires to Molech. God is strictly
forbidding this. This was a common practice in Canaan. And on any
special occasion, you’d bring one of your babies and
sacrifice it to your pagan God. If you were going to build a house, you
want good luck for the house, you would take your baby and sacrifice it
to your god, and then the baby’s remains would be put in a
jar, and placed in the walls of the house, as you build the house, it
would be encased in the jar of the wall of the house. Many of the
houses that the archeologists have unearthed, in the walls, they have
found the jars with the remains of the infants who were sacrificed as a
good luck potion, really, in the building of the houses, and God is
strictly forbidding these kind of things.
Homosexuality is forbidden in verse twenty two, we’ll get to
that further in chapter nineteen. Not to lie with a male as with a
woman. It’s an abomination. Nor beastiality, and it is
forbidden both men and of course, women too. But he deals with both.
These of the things that the nations before them were doing. They
weren’t to follow it. It’s because of these things
that God caused the nations to vomit out the people. It’s
because of these things that these people were dispossessed from the
land, therefore you’re not to follow those practices, lest
you also become dispossessed in the land. Verse twenty seven,
For all of these abominations the men of the land have done, who were
before you, and thus the land is defiled. Unless the land vomit you out
also, when you defile it, as it vomited out the nations that were
before you (18:27).
And if anyone were to do these things they were to be cut off out of
the nation.
Chapter 19
Now in chapter nineteen, the key is in verse two, “You shall
be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” So God’s
requirement of holiness from his people because He is a holy God, and:
Thus you are to reverence, or revere your mother and father, and keep
His Sabbath. Do not turn to idols or make molded Gods. And your
offerings that you offer to God, [verse five] are to be of your own
free will (19:3-5).
That’s the only kind of service that God wants.
That’s the only kind of gift that God wants from you.
Something that you give of your own free will. God does not force you
to give to Him. God doesn’t pressure you to give to Him. If
He did, it would no longer be meaningful. God wants a meaningful,
loving relationship with you. Not a legal relationship. “Oh,
I have to do that, I guess.” And God says, “Forget
it!” God doesn’t want you to feel like
you’re forced to give service to Him. It’s got to
be from your heart, of your free will.
Now, when you reap your harvest, verse nine,
You’re not to wholly reap the corners of your field, nor are
you to gather the gleanings of your harvest. You’re not to
glean your vineyard. You’re not to gather every grape of your
vineyard. You shall leave them for the poor and the stranger, for I am
the Lord your God (19:9-10).
This was one of the welfare provisions of the law, we’ll get
it more completely in the book of Deuteronomy. When you were going
through, and cutting your grain, you got one shot. If you
didn’t make a clean cut when you first shot it, you
couldn’t go back and hit it the second time, you had to leave
that for the poor people. As your servants were gathering the grain, if
they dropped some on the ground, they could not pick it up off the
ground. That had to be left for the poor people. So, God’s
provision when you picked your crop, you only picked once, you
didn’t go through and have the second picking. When you shake
your walnut trees, you get one shake. Whatever green walnuts hung on,
you had to leave them there. Then later on the poor people could come
in and jump on the branches and get the walnuts that were left. If you
went through the peak picked your apricots, you had one picking. Those
that were green that were left on the tree, let them ripen later, the
poor of the land could come and have them. So it was a very excellent
welfare law, as I see it. As God has always interested in the cause of
the poor.
You should not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another,
you’re not to swear by the name of God falsely, nor profane
the name of God. You’re not to defraud your neighbor
(19:11-13).
If you hire someone to do work for you, you’re not to keep
his wages overnight. I mean, you had to pay them at the end of the day.
You couldn’t say, “Well I’ll pay you
tomorrow.” Not like today where you get paid once a week or
twice a month. You had to get paid the day that you finished your work.
Then I find that this is quite interesting.
You’re not to curse the deaf. [That would be sort of a mean
thing anyway. I mean they can’t hear you. You’re
not to take advantage of that fact, that he can’t hear you,
and curse him, just because he can’t hear you.] Nor are you
to put a stumbling block before the blind (19:14).
Now, that would be a dirty trick. There’s a blind man coming
so you lay a block out there and watch him trip over it. Basically the
Lord is telling us that we ought to be kind to people with handicaps.
Now, it’s interesting to me how cruel children can be, to a
child that has a handicap. You know if a child has to wear glasses,
“Oh four eyes!”, you know, and they can be very
cruel to a child. And I guess there’s something in our
nature, because in a pen of chickens if there’s one
that’s weird or odd, the others will peck it to death. They
call it hen-pecked. Just thought you’d be
interested in the origin of that word. So God is taking up
the cause of the handicapped. You’re not to mistreat them
because of their handicap.
Then also you’re not to be partial to the poor, nor honor the
person of the mighty, but your judgement should be equitable (19:15).
No matter if the person is poor, you say, “Oh he’s
so poor, you know, better let him off.” No, if he’s
done wrong, he’s to pay the penalty for his wrongdoing. If
he’s rich, you’re not to say, “Oh boy,
he’s so influential and rich you know, lets just let him
pass.” No you’re not to show partiality, but be
straight across the board. Equitable in judgement. You’re not
to go around as a gossiper.
You shall not hate your brother in your heart, you shall not take
vengeance nor bear any grudge against the children of your people,
[Now, here it is.] you shall love your neighbor as yourself (19:17).
Now, when Jesus was questioned by the lawyer, “What is the
greatest commandment?” Jesus said, “Thou shalt love
the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy mind, with all thy
soul, and with all thy strength. And the second is like unto the first,
You shalt love your neighbor as yourself.” So, he quotes this
as one of the greatest commandments. The first one is loving God. The
vertical axis upon which your life revolves. Loving God foremost, above
and beyond everything else, but then, along with that, and in
conjunction with that, and not separate from that, you are to love your
neighbor as yourself. And upon these two, Jesus said, “Is all
of the law and the prophets.” It’s all fulfilled in
these two. Now, go back to the tables of stones, the two tables of
stone upon which God had inscribed the ten commandments. The first four
commandments had to do with your relationship with God. “Thou
shalt not have any other Gods before me. Thou shalt not make any graven
images. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” Had to do with
man’s relationship with God. It is dealing mainly with the
negative, “Thou shalt not, thou shalt not, thou shalt
not.” Jesus puts it in the positive. “Thou shalt
love the Lord thy God. Completely, totally. That takes care of the
negatives. If you have a positive love for God, then you
don’t have to worry about the negatives. The second table had
to do with your relationship with your fellow man. “Thou
shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not murder. Thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not lie.”, and the not, not, nots’.
Jesus here picked up the positive, “Just love your neighbor
as yourself.” Love is the fulfilling of the law. Loving God
fulfills every relationship of the law. Loving God foremost. That will
fulfill every law that deals with your relationship with God, and
loving your neighbor as yourself fulfills every obligation to your
neighbor.
Now, I refuse, as heresy, the statement that you’ve got to
love yourself in order to love your neighbor. That’s a bunch
of baloney! You all love yourselves! Why do you spend so much time in
front of the mirror? You say, “Oh I hate myself,
I’m so ugly.” No you don’t hate yourself!
If you really hated yourself, you’d be glad you were so ugly.
The bible says, “No man hates his own flesh, he loves
himself”, and so this business, “Oh
you’ve got to learn to love yourself so you can love your
neighbor”, is not really scriptural. There is already that
implied assumption and truth that basically we do love ourselves. Let
us say that we could take, at this point, a good wide angle lens
picture, maybe using a pitch high lens or something, and we could get a
picture of the congregation here, and we would blow it up, real big. We
would put it on the back wall. So you would go back to look at the
picture. Who’s’ the first one you’re
gonna look for? Don’t tell me you don’t love
yourself. And you may say, “Oh that’s a horrible
picture”, “What do you mean? I look
great!”, “It’s not the right
profile”, “Aah it’s an ugly
picture”. Well, you know, they caught you, you blinked or
something, in the camera, and you’re talking about yourself.
The rest of us, all of the rest of us look great. But it’s a
horrible picture because it didn’t catch you right, you see.
But I hate myself. No you don’t. You just love your neighbor
as you love yourself. Do you see that you’re fed three times
a day? Do you see that you have a roof over your head? Love your
neighbor as you love yourself. Do you see that you’re
comfortable? Love your neighbor as you love yourself.
Who’s my neighbor? Oh, we’d better not go into
that! A man was going to Jericho, and he was beset by robbers, and he
lie bleeding on the ground, and the priest came by and he walked around
him. The Levite came by and he skirted around him. The hated Samaritan,
as far as the Jew was concerned, came by, and he saw the man and he
picked him up and he put him on his beast, brought him to the inn. He
washed his wounds, he said to the man in charge of the inn,
“Take care of him. I’ll give you the money to take
care of him, until he’s strong and healthy again. If
there’s anything owing, I’ll pay you when I get
back, when I come back by this way.” Jesus said,
“Who was his neighbor?” Who is my neighbor? The man
who is in need. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Now, you’re not to have mixed breeding with your livestock,
you’re not to sow your field with mixed seed, nor are you to
wear mixed materials in your garments (19:19).
That was for their day, it’s different now. But they
weren’t to mix linen and wool in a garment.
Then it deals with relationships with a woman who is a part of a
concubine of another man, and what is to be done in order to get an
atonement for the sin.
Interesting, when you come into the land, you plant your fruit trees.
The first three years, you’re not to eat of the fruit. The
fourth year, whatever is on the tree belongs to the Lord, and the fifth
year, you can start enjoying the fruit of the trees.
You’re not to eat anything with it’s blood.
[You’re to thoroughly bleed anything that you eat.]
You’re not to practice divination or soothsaying. [Ouija
boards or the rest.] You’re not to shave around the sides of
your head, nor shall you disfigure the edges of your beard (19:26-27).
Now, this was to look like those pagan worshipers, who had special ways
of cutting their hair and their beards, to look weird, shaving their
heads, you know, and leaving a long lock down the back or something.
You’re not to look weird like that.
Nor are you to make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, or have
any tatoo marks on you: for I am the Lord (19:28).
Today, we are not under the law and if you, in your young years, wanted
to show how tough you were, and had a tatoo put on your arm, or
whatever, you know, don’t go around feeling guilty or
whatever. I like this verse thirty two:
You shall rise before the gray headed and honor the presence of an old
man. [That is giving honor to the aged and old people, and I think you
should.] And fear your God, for I am the Lord (19:32).
You’re not to mistreat the strangers that dwell in the land,
you’re to remember that you were once a stranger in the land
of Egypt.
You’re not to be unjust in your measurements (19:36). [Or in
the weights or volumes. You’re to have just balances.]
Now, there was a practice you know, their balances, their scales were
balanced scales. So you had your little weights, for the selling, you
put the little weight on the one side, your eight ounce weight, and
then you would put the eight ounces of peanuts on the other side, and
came to the balance, you know, you had the eight ounces. Well, some of
these unscrupulous merchants had two sets of balances. One for when
bought things, and the other for when they sold them. The bible in
proverbs speaks about these just balances, and how that God wants just
balances. The same balances that you have for buying as you have for
selling.
We recognize the importance of standards of weights and measures, and
for years the United States government had the standard bureau of
weights and measures, to make sure a gallon is a gallon, a quart is a
quart, an inch is an inch, a yard is a yard, a pound is a pound. Can
you imagine the chaos that would ensue if we didn’t have
standard weights and measures? So God is just establishing a law of the
standardization of weights and measures.
Chapter 20
Now, in chapter twenty, we deal with sins which are to be punished by
death.
If any gives any of his descendants, [if a person offers a sacrifice of
his child to Molech] he is to be put to death. If a person turns to
fortune tellers, mediums, and familiar spirits: then that person was to
be cut off from the people. If a person cursed his father or mother, he
was to be put to death. If a man committed adultery with another
man’s wife, they were both to be put to death. If a man went
into his father’s wife, he was to be put to death. If a man
had relationships with his daughter in law, they were both to be put to
death. If a man lies with another man, as he lies with a woman, [the
homosexual] was to be put to death. If a man marries a woman and her
mother, [and of course they did have the plurality of marriages, but
you couldn’t marry the mother and the daughter both] they
were to be burned with fire. If a man mates with an animal
[beastiality], was a sin punishable by death. And a woman approaches
any animal and mates with it, she and the beast are to be put to death.
If a man takes his sister, his father’s daughter, or
mother’s daughter, and it is a wicked thing, he shall bear
his guilt. If a man lies with a woman, during her menstrual period,
they’re both to be spiritually unclean, bearing their guilt
(20:17).
Then the uncle’s wife, and pretty much the same things as we
covered in the earlier chapter, as far as, incestual relationships. So,
the final verse:
A man or a woman who is a medium, who has a familiar spirit shall
surely be put to death: they will stone them with stones, their blood
shall be upon them (20:27).
So, people who practiced divination, spiritualism, spiritism, they were
to be put to death. Heavy, heavy duty, and yet God was trying to
separate a nation, to preserve that nation. Because, these practices
that God was forbidding and was so severe against, are the very
practices that rot the fiber of a nation and bring destruction upon
that nation. It was important to God to preserve the nation until He
could bring forth His Son into the world, through the seed of Abraham.
And so, God’s preservation of these people were the
fulfilling of His divine purposes, and thus the rigidity of the law was
important for a strong nation.
Shall we pray.
Father we thank you tonight for your strength, and for your help, and
for your word. Let us Lord, live in accordance to it. Walk in
it’s light. Lord let us live lives that are pleasing to you.
We thank you for the blood of Jesus Christ, that cleanses us from our
sins. We thank you Lord that you have made such provisions for us
through Jesus. Lord we thank you that He has fulfilled the law for us,
so that all we must do today is believe in Him and His sacrifice for
us, and the gift of eternal life is ours. Lord be with your people, and
bless your people this week. Give them your godly wisdom. Guide them
Father in their business dealings. Help them Lord in their school
activities. Lord we pray that you’ll just surround us with
your love and with your care, that we might walk Lord, in a way
pleasing to you. In Jesus’ name, Amen.